HERE’S A THOUGHT...

By Richard Lineberry

 

God is Lord Almighty, Omnipresent King, Lion of Judah, Rock of Ages, King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Provider and King of the Universe.

He is Father, Helper, Guardian, Guide, Beginning and End, Creator and Keeper of all things seen and unseen. Nothing has ever escaped His knowledge. He never has a new thought because He always knew everything.

He always was, is, and ever shall be. He is Unmoved, Unchangeable, Undefeated, and never Undone. He was pierced but eases the pain of others’ wounds. He was persecuted and bound yet He brings freedom. He was dead but authored life. He is risen from the dead and still gives power to those who are dying.

The world can’t understand Him and armies can‘t defeat Him. Leaders often ignore Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Nero couldn’t crush Him and the New Age can’t replace Him. There is no one like Him in heaven or upon earth. Kings, Prime Ministers and Presidents will ultimately bow to Him.

He is Light, Life, Holy, Righteous, Love, Mighty, Purity, Eternal. He is my comfort, peace, joy, Lord, Savior, and best friend. He knows me better than I know myself.

I serve Him because I want to. The bond between us is love, his burden is light and His goal for me is abundant life. He knows the future before it happens and gets me ready for it.

When I fall, He lifts me up. When I am lost, He is the Way. When I am confused, He is my wisdom. When I fail, He forgives me.

He will never leave or forsake me, never mislead or lie, forget me, overlook me and never belittle me. He is altogether lovely and does things beyond my wildest expectation. My Heavenly Father can whip the “god of this world” any time or any place. My God is in control and that means all is well with my soul.

WHAT IF THINGS GET WORSE?

By Richard Lineberry

An old story from my grade school years tells me of a man sitting in a dark room with his depression. He moans over his dilemmas but suddenly hears a voice saying, “Cheer up! Things could be worse!” So…… he cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse.

God always demonstrates unusual ways to get our attention and help us. We pray in a bad situation, and sometimes things do seem to get worse before they get better.

Setting a broken bone often hurts worse than the original break. Pulling out a splinter is no fun. A good surgeon knows he mustn’t be deterred from causing pain to his patient for he knows things won’t get better without causing some discomfort. He must look beyond symptoms and get to the root of the problem. To hurt more so you can stop hurting altogether just doesn’t seem like the easy way to alleviate pain and suffering. It is, however, part of life in this world.

When we suffer and ask God for help, He seems to walk with us for a while first. Then at the right time of hHs choosing, He begins to diagnose the problem and give us wisdom and power for relief. Perhaps God has something more in mind in such situations than we do. I think so.

Along the way, Jesus is building a bridge between us and Himself. He wants our total trust. Although uncomfortable at times, the Lord is with us and we can and do recover. This trust bridge is the most important thing we can have. God drives His will, His ways and His total concern across it during our darkest hours. Things sometimes seem to get worse before they get better. The darkest part of the night is just before the dawn.

My prayer for us is that the Lord’s healing and help be right on time for your situation today.

In Affliction and Trial

Selected excerpts from Abiding in Christ

By Andrew Murray

Every branch that bears fruit He prunes,

That it may bear more fruit.

John 15:2

“In each affliction we need to hear the voice of a messenger that encourages us to abide even closer...  Abide in Christ!  This is the Father’s object in sending the trial...  Through suffering the Father leads us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ.  It is an unspeakable  mercy that the Father comes with His affliction and makes the world around us dark and unattractive.  This leads us to feel more deeply our sinfulness, and for a time we lose our joy in what was becoming so threatening to our spiritual life.

Pray for grace to see in every trouble, small or great, the Father pointing you to Jesus and saying, “Abide in Him.”  Abide in Christ; in this way you will become particular of all the rich blessings God designed for you in the affliction… Your assurance of His unchangeable love will become stronger...the love in which, as sympathizing High Priest, He descended into all your sorrows.  Abide in Christ; for by conforming to your blessed Lord in His sufferings, a deeper experience of the reality and the tenderness of His love will be yours.

Say that now you have but one object in life: making known and conveying His wonderful love to others.  You will learn the art of forgetting self, and, even in affliction, using this separation from ordinary life to plead for the welfare of others.  When you see affliction coming, meet it in Christ; when it has come, feel that you are more in Christ that in the affliction, for He is closer to you than affliction can ever be; and when it is passing, still abide in Him.  Let the one thought of the Savior...become your time of choicest blessing...that He and you belong entirely to each other...that you are more completely satisfied with Him and more wholly given up to Him than ever before.

Delight yourself in the assurance that closer union with Him and more abundant fruit through Him are sure to be the results of trial.