In This World You Will Have Trouble

One Sunday I made the mistake of teaching from John, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world,” John 16:33 NET.

Right after the closing prayer, one family went out into the sub-zero weather to find that they had left the van’s lights on and their battery was dead.  Another family discovered their four-year-old had gotten into their van, turned it on, and backed over a parking bumper.  The worship leader went home to find her husband gone with a note telling her he wanted a divorce.  That night the church’s hot-water heating pipes froze up and the parsonage’s furnace broke down.  A parishioner offered to thaw out the church’s pipes with a blowtorch and caught the building’s subflooring on fire.  Then things got worse!

The next Sunday, I promised never to speak on that passage again.

“Trouble” seems to be life’s default setting: flat tires, kidney stones, IRS audits . . . the list goes on and on.  So, I’m assuming you and I will be facing some trouble this week.  But Christ offers us “peace” and “overcoming” victory today as well.

That’s why Paul can write, “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed,” 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 NET.

So, have a “but not” week!  We will have trouble, but not defeat!

QUOTE: Life is difficult.  This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.  It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.  Once we truly know that life is difficult—once we truly understand and accept it—then life is no longer difficult.  Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.  ~ M. Scott Peck

Today’s devotion by James N. Watkins is reprinted by permission from www.jameswatkins.com [please make a hyperlink] copyright © 2009.  He is the author of fifteen books, including Squeezing Good Out of Bad, and over two thousand articles.  He has spoken across the United States as well as overseas.

Sitting On A Hill

I just heard a news report that parents and their young children are not getting enough sleep.  I hope they didn’t pay a lot for that research, because we could have told them that.  My husband and I require different amounts of sleep, but both of us need our down time.  As Christians we also need God time.  Not only time to study and pray, but also time to just sit and be still.  Our spirits plea for us to take time to simply listen and be renewed.  Jesus needed the same thing.

It would have been easy for Jesus to keep preaching, knowing He only had a few days left.  This easily overlooked passage tells us, in the midst of it all He went out and sat on a hill.  How many times have I said, “I have so much to do before I can rest tonight”?  Even Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy One Himself, knew He needed renewal each night.  Yes, parents, children, and everyone else are most likely not getting enough rest.  And every Christian can probably use more time to sit on a hill and be still with God.

PRAYER: Dear God, help us set aside the big to-do list each night and spend a few minutes with You in stillness, sitting on a hill.

“So every day Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, but at night he went and stayed on the Mount of Olives,” Luke 21:37 NET.

Today’s devotion is by Cheri Cowell, a student at Asbury Theological Seminary (Orlando).  Cheri writes and speaks on the deep questions of faith.  Her first book Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life (Beacon Hill) is described as a biblically sound, no nonsense approach to making God-centered life choices.  For comments or to inquire about her speaking schedule, visit www.DirectionAndDiscernment.com.

No Fear

 “What was wrong with me?  Why was I struggling so?”  I asked myself.  “Why was it all hitting me so hard?”  The feelings caught me by surprise.   I was overcome with emotion.  Trying my best to hide my unexplained feelings from the kids, and my husband, I hid in the bathroom till I could regain my composure, but the tears didn’t cooperate, I couldn’t seem to hold them back.  Noticing my puffy, red eyes, my daughter asked, “Mom, are you crying?  What’s wrong?”  How could I explain something I didn’t even understand myself?

Questions flooded my mind, causing a panic.  Questions I couldn’t answer.  I felt out of control.  At times I felt I almost couldn’t breath.  “What’s wrong with me?”  I asked.  (No, I’m not pregnant!)  I quickly realized I had been stricken, not by a common cold or stomach bug, but by something far more destructive.  FEAR.  It had me tightly in it’s grip, and wasn’t about to let go.  It consumed me.  I tried to focus on other things, but my mind kept returning to the fearful thoughts that overwhelmed me.  I couldn’t shake it.

Maybe you to, have experienced this kind of fear.  The kind that causes you to think irrationally, react unreasonably or speak rudely.  It is a powerful emotion.  It can cause you to feel hopeless, helpless, and unmotivated.

That day I was fearful of the unknown.  I felt as if every aspect of my life was one big question.  Where are we supposed to live?  What about my husband’s job?  The more questions I asked the more frantic I became because I had no answers.  It wasn’t until I realized that God wanted me to trust Him completely even when I couldn’t see the plan (or control the plan) that a peace came.  Isn’t that what faith is?  It doesn’t take faith to trust God when we can see the outcome.  But it does take faith to trust Him when we can’t see the outcome.  In order to increase our faith in Him and decrease our fear in circumstances, we must focus our minds on Him and meditate on His Word.  We can’t fight fear on our own.  We can, however, fight and win the battle against fear by fighting back with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

PRAYER:  Lord, Thank You that You are the Prince of Peace.  Free me from the grip of fear that too often consumes me.  Increase my faith.  Provide me with Your presence which will guard my heart.  I trust You, Lord, even when I can’t see what’s ahead.  You have a plan and a purpose in it all.  Help me hold on to You.  Let Your Word penetrate deep into my mind and soul so that I can rest in it throughout the day.  Thank You for Your promises. 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does.  Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage,” John 14:27 NET.

Today’s devotion is by Laurie Lovejoy Hilliard of Mom and Loving It Ministries.  Laurie is a speaker and co-author of Bethany House books Mom and Loving It and Hold You, Mommy.  She is married to Charles and has four children, ages 4-14.  www.momandlovingit.org

Living In The Gap

As a teen, our daughter would have loved to live in The Gap, the trendy clothing store at the mall.  Many of us live in the gap, but it’s a gaping hole between jobs or perhaps relationships.  There are gaps in our health (I had three surgeries at three hospitals in two months for one stubborn kidney stone).  No one wants to live in those gaps, but they are inevitable.

There are two major gaps in the life of Jesus.  Twelve years separate the story of Christ as an infant and Christ as a twelve-year old.  Then an eighteen-year gap between twelve-years old and the beginning of His ministry at age thirty.

Luke 2 fills in those gaps with two short verses.  Between infancy and pre-teen:

“And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him,” Luke 2:40 NET.

And between twelve and thirty:

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people,” Luke 2:52 NET.

We rarely think of Jesus, the Son of God, needing to grow in wisdom and maturity, but that is exactly what Luke records.

As gaps open up in my life, my first reaction is to panic or get depressed.  But the gap is also a time that God, in His grace, can help us to mature and grow through the experience.  And pray it doesn’t last twelve or eighteen years!

PRAYER: Father, may Your grace and blessing be with me during life’s gaps.  And may I use them as a time of spiritual growth.

Today’s devotion by James N. Watkins is reprinted by permission from www.jameswatkins.com  copyright © 2009.  He is the author of fifteen books, including Squeezing Good Out of Bad, and over two thousand articles.  He has spoken across the United States as well as overseas.

The First Mystery Writer

Do you like a good mystery?  I love to watch mystery movies; you know the ones that give clues along the way but don’t give the whole picture until the very end. The really good ones toss some turns in there to throw you off so when the mystery is finally revealed you say, “Ohhh, I missed that!”

Did you know that God was the first mystery writer?  Yes, and just like in a good movie, He gave the real clues all along, but many people missed it. And just like at the end of movies, we turn to our friends and say, “Did you get it?” Paul is saying that now. In fact he explains the whole mystery to us because so many missed the clues. People began to think that God might have tricked them with some of His turns, but Paul explains that God’s timing is perfect. He was not withholding the mystery from past generations, but was revealing it in His perfect timing. Praise God, the mystery is revealed: God’s plan includes all the people of the world.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that from the beginning of time You have scripted the greatest mystery ever written to include all the people of the earth.  We praise You today for revealing the mystery to us and for giving us a role to play in revealing the mystery to others.

“Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.”  (Ephesians 3:5-6 NET)

Today’s devotion is written by Cheri Cowell, a student at Asbury Theological Seminary (Orlando).  Cheri writes and speaks on the deep questions of faith.  Her first book Direction: Discernment for the Decisions of Your Life (Beacon Hill) is called a biblically sound, no nonsense approach to making God-centered life choices.  For comments, or to inquire about her speaking schedule; visit www.DirectionAndDiscernment.com.

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