Is life a struggle right now?"Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed - that exhilarating finish in and with God - he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! In this all-out match against sin, others have suffered far worse than you, to say nothing of what Jesus went through - all that bloodshed! So don't feel sorry for yourselves. Or have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either.
It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God?
We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it! "
I hope you'll be encouraged by this article from Kathi Pelton:
LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HOW WE RESPOND TO ITS TRIALS
A Travel Trial and Encounter
It had been one of those days that it seems nothing goes right; actually it had been one of those years! I travel a lot and things were not going well financially. I was broke. It was the last day of another long trip away from my family and all I could think about was being in the midst of their love and warmth. I just had a call from my husband who told me that he and the kids had cleaned the house, were going to make a special dinner for me, and we could all sit around a warm fire together after I got home from another plane ride in the dead of winter. That was how my mood felt that day - like the dead of winter.
I didn't take a taxi to the airport because some acquaintances offered to drive me (over an hour away) since it was on their way home. I gladly accepted the offer, thinking that the company would be nice. They were late in picking me up and then informed me they had a stop to make along the way. I reminded them of my flight times and they assured me that I would have plenty of time to make my flight. As it went, their stop wasn't brief, but time consuming.
I looked at my watch as it ticked the minutes by and my concern about making my flight was increasing. Then the man driving me asked again, "What time is your flight?" I reminded him, and now concern filled his face. It was a half hour before the departure of my flight and we still weren't quite to the airport...I could feel my heart sinking! I felt sick inside at the thought of spending another winters night sleeping in an airport (because I couldn't afford a hotel) but worse yet, another long night away from the comfort of my husband and kids...and that wonderful fire that they had waiting for me to curl up in front of.
As we arrived at the airport, I knew that it was too late to make my flight. I hoped against all hope that maybe there was a delay due to the snow. I ran into the terminal and had to wait in a long line of other weary passengers. Finally, I made it to the front of the line only to hear that my plane had already closed its doors (I missed getting on by about ten minutes) and the next flight wasn't till the next day.
I felt sick inside, home sick and heart sick. I couldn't bear the thought of sitting up all night in the airport. I was hungry and exhausted, and missing dinner and a fire with my family. When my friends realized that I had missed my flight, they offered to drive me to the nearest hotel. I was embarrassed to tell them that I didn't have any money to get a hotel. I said, "I'll just stay here at the airport." Finally, they insisted that they would not only drive me to a hotel, but pay for it too. I wanted to say no (because I was feeling quite sorry for myself and didn't want a "hand out"), but they would not take no for an answer.
After driving me to a nice hotel nearby and checking me in, we said our good-byes. I was feeling so incredibly sad and I was having quite the "pity party" as I got on the elevator to go to my room, asking God, "Why does this have to happen to me when I'm so tired and homesick? And I was ministering for You! Can't there be some help for me?" As I got on the elevator, I noticed a man who was already in it. We were on the ground floor and he had come down from the upper floor so I expected him to get off. I waited for him to exit before I piled in with all of my baggage, but he didn't exit. I asked him if he was getting off and he said, "No, I'm going up." I got on the elevator and stood there feeling agitated, wanting to be alone. The man turned to me and said, "Having a hard day?"
I surely didn't want to talk to this stranger about my day so I just politely nodded. He said, "Life is all about how we respond to its trials. That's how we grow." Right then the elevator arrived at my floor (the top floor) and I stepped off. As the doors closed behind me I realized that the man was still in the elevator. He had gone through all the floors and had not gotten off any of them...but he had given me an important message from the Lord and I needed to respond.
God Questions Me
I felt the tears filling my eyes and quickly entered my room and before I could even set my luggage down, the Spirit of the Lord filled the room and God's voice began to speak to me in questions like He had asked Job thousands of years before in Job 38:3-18:
"Brace yourself like a man (or woman); I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell Me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?
Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.
Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this."
His voice was not angry, but intensely passionate. It was like a parent would talk to their child if they were being irrational and about to stray from their care. If God can sound "hurt," His voice in my spirit almost felt as though I had brought pain to Him through my lack of trust and the accusations in my heart of not being cared for by Him. I wanted the comfort and warmth of my family and He wanted to be my Comforter and my warmth. But first, He had to deal with my wandering heart that had left the place of "daughter" and had taken a posture of "forsaken bride." I had made demands for particular signs of ease and provision when God just wanted my dependence and intimacy, but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself. He had brought provision through my friends - but I wanted independence...not dependence.
Moving From Independence to Dependence
How often do we set up preconceived notions about how God should act with us? I can be very quick to correct my teenagers when they want to decide how and when my husband and I should do something. There were times we had surprises planned for them which were meant to bring them great joy, but their demand for "knowing our plans and purposes" almost aborted a great blessing from coming their way. I had done the same thing with God during that winter day. God had hidden surprises all along the way of my life, but I wanted the provision to come in a way that was predictable and sure. I looked at His surprises as if they were humiliating. I was embarrassed to depend upon others.
We often speak about it, pray for it, but do we really want dependency? Dependency requires a laying down of independence and a taking up of absolute trust.
Many read the story of Job and say, "That wasn't fair. How could God do that to a faithful man?" I felt the same way about my life! I had been faithful in His service. I gave and gave and felt that God was not treating me fairly. But God was jealous for something much deeper than my external provision, He was jealous for me to trust Him and to truly depend on Him. My "American" independence felt like a right that I had, but my independence had become a demand and a wall between a deeper place of intimacy. God wanted time with one of His beloved, and I was demanding some sort of contract to "what His part would look like to me."
Returning To First Love
Let us return to the place of trust and dependence. This is true intimacy. Love is not self-seeking, it is not demanding, it is not easily angered and it does not keep record of wrongs (or perceived wrongs either). I had strayed from first love and was demanding and independent with God.
1 Corinthians 13:4-13: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does
not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and
always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
May we return to the beauty and freedom of First Love once again...
Revelation 2:1-7, "These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found
them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
All My Love,
Kathi Pelton - Choose Life - Email: jkpelton@sbcglobal.net
As posted on The Elijah List http://www.elijahlist.com/
