To Know Him

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.”  Philippians 3:10

I heard it said recently that we read this verse forwards, but we experience it backwards.

• I am conformed to His death through denying myself and taking up my cross.
• Through this death I fellowship in His sufferings.
• Because I know His suffering and His death, I can then find the power of his resurrection.
• Through these things I come to know my God more.

The word for know is ginosko in the Greek, and it signifies an intimate knowledge and acquaintance.  I want to know my God intimately.  How does this happen?  Through death, suffering, and resurrection.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of when fall inot the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”  John 12:24

This dying to self brings me into a more intimate fellowship and acquaintance with Him.  As I go through the pain and suffering of crucifying my old nature, I get a sliver of a glimpse of the Savior’s suffering me on Calvary.  But this death also puts me in a place to experience His resurrection power.  The dynamite power which Christ from the dead is mine.  To find resurrection I must first die.  All of these things put me into a closer knowledge and more intimate experience and understanding with my Savior, allowing me to say, “I know Him.”

Would I know His goodness if He were not good to me in the bad times of life?

Would I understand His nearness apart from walking through desperately scary times where I just needed to feel His presence?  (The valley of the shadow of death…”")

Would I be as thankful for His plan were I not put in a situation where my plan availed nothing?

Would I have endurance for this Christian race without being placed into a long-standing trial?

Would I know my God answers prayer without having to wrestle with Him over some hard matter?

That I may know Him.  Death is required. 

For the Sake of His Name

I’ve been doing a study recently on suffering and trials and why God allows them into our lives.  Today I came to a Biblical example of these things: the Apostle Paul.  2 Timothy 3:11-12 says that he endured persecutions and afflictions at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.  We know that he battled a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12), and a couple of times he actually enumerated his physical sufferings for Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:9-10 tells us that Paul suffered

• Hunger and thirst
• Nakedness
• Beating (“buffeted”)
• No home (I can identify with that one!)
• Hard work
• Reviling
• Persecution
• Defamation
• Made as “the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things.”

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 gives us an even more in depth look into Paul's sufferings:

• In Labors
• Stripes (beatings) above measure
• Imprisoned frequently
• Close to death often
• Beaten five times with 39 stripes
• Three times beaten with rods
• Three times shipwrecked
• One time stoned
• Spent a day and a night in the sea
• Frequent journeys (deputation anyone?)
• In various perils – from water, robbers, his own countrymen, the heathen, in the city, in the wilderness, from false brethren.
• Weary
• In Pain
• Sleeplessness (“watchings”) often
• Hungry and thirsty
• Fasting often
• Cold and nakedness

Yet this same Paul declared that he suffered theses things because he was appointed as a preacher, teacher, and apostle to the the Gentiles, “nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persudaed that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” (2 Tim. 1:11-12). 

This same Paul said that he said that he suffers trouble as an evildoer, but will “endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory.” (2 Tim. 2:9-10).

This same Paul declared boldly in 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 that he will gladly bear these infirmities and trials, even glorying in them, so that the power of Christ can rest upon him.  He uses these words, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

This same Paul referred to his afflictions as “light” in 2 Corinthians 4:17, and taught us that suffering is but for a moment, and is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

This same Paul told the Roman believers that he has added everything up in his account book (“reckon”) and can see that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18).

Sometimes I feel crushed under the weight of my trials and tribulations.  It seems as if there is no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel, no break in the pain.  And I have not suffered anything close to what Paul endured, and he called it all “light”. 

If I could see with eternal eyes, I would realize like Paul that what feels bulky, and heavy, and crushing to me now will be like a drop in the bucket compared to the weight of glory that it will be some day.  I would be able to suffer and endure more easily because I would realize that this affliction is just for a moment, and it cannot compare to the glory which is coming.  I would be able to declare truthfully that I rejoice when suffering comes, because I know that the weakness I am enduring is putting the strength of Jesus on display. 

Lord, help me to see with eternal vision today.

A Day in the Life of Jesus

Recently I have been reading through the Gospels, particularly to watch and see the suffering and trials that Jesus endured while on earth in a human body.  The Scripture tells us that He was tempted in all points like we are, but I know sometimes I feel like I am the only one going through _______________.  Sometimes I even wonder if the Lord knows how I feel or what I am struggling with.

In Matthew 14, we get a glimpse into the daily schedule in Jesus’ public ministry.  It makes me weary just thinking of it, and it helps me know that He understands when I feel like life is swirling out of control and I am weary to the bone.

This chapter begins with Jesus learning that His cousin, and His ministry partner, John the Baptist, has been executed in prison.  Jesus immediately departs for a “desert place”.  I can imagine He wanted to be alone.  To mourn.  To process what had just happened.  Sometimes I feel like I am drowning in everything going on around me, and I can’t quite get a grasp on it because more and more keeps flying my way.  I need to take a break and have some silence.

However, Jesus doesn’t get the silence or the quiet time to pray or talk to God.  The multitudes of people follow Him, and He spends the entire day healing them and teaching them.  When evening comes, His disciples implore Him to send the people away so they can buy food.  But Jesus takes His ministry a step further and feeds the people.  He expends yet more energy to perform a miracle, provide the meal, and clean up the leftovers. 

Jesus instructs His disciples to get in a boat and go while He sends the people away.  Have you ever seen a stadium after the crowd has disappeared?  What a mess is left behind!  Or entertained another family for dinner, and after they go you don’t have energy to wash the dishes?  But I don’t imagine Jesus left the hillside a mess.

Finally, Jesus will get His quiet prayer time.  I sometimes get to the end of my days with five little people and realize I didn’t have time to pray or study my Bible that day.  I’ve been trying to make place for it all day long, but it constantly gets crowded out by the needs of others around me.

Jesus gets to His quiet place, and then He sees that the disciples are struggling in the middle of a great storm.  So He goes to their aid.  My Bible says it was the fourth watch of the night, which I understand to be 3-6 a.m.  As a mom, sometimes I cannot wait for bedtime.  I finally close my eyes in exhaustion, and the baby cries in the night.  Even far into the night Jesus hasn’t had much time to Himself or to rest or to “recharge His batteries.” 

The Lord comes to His disciples walking on the water to still their storm, but they scream in terror and assume He is an evil spirit.  No faith to believe Him or to trust that He would come to their aid.  They panic.  Were they even praying for His help?  Were they looking for His rescuing hand?

Peter musters the faith to walk on the water to go to Jesus.  But in his distraction he begins to sink, and Jesus must perform yet another task – rescuing Peter from drowning, and then stilling the storm.

The weary men finally arrive at the other side of the sea.  But the sleepy town is waking up in the wee hours of the morning, and they hear that Jesus has come.  So they bring to Jesus all the diseased people to be healed.  And so begins a new day in the ministry of Jesus.

I am not putting myself on the same level as Jesus, but I am realizing in new ways that He has experienced the same things I am experiencing.  He has walked in my shoes.  And in dependence on the Holy Spirit, He was victorious and had a successful ministry.  In His strength, I can minister to the needs of my family and others around me today, though I be weary, and though I didn’t get much time to pray, and though the demands never seem to cease.  Even though the baby had me up half the night and I never got to prepare mentally for a new day.  Jesus is there.  Am I like the disciples, of little faith,  not really expecting Him to come to my aid at all?  Or do I have faith to walk this road with Him by my side, knowing He has already traveled the road before and knows its final end?

Synergy

A little more from Romans 8:28…

The words work together mean to “work together, help in work, be partner in labour. To put forth power together with and thereby to assist.”

Some other instances of this Greek word in the NT:

• Mark 16:20 – they went forth preaching everywhere as the Lord was working with them.
• 1Cor.16:16 – Submit yourselves and to everyone that helps with us.
• 2Cor.6:1 – we are workers together with Christ.
• James 2:22 – faith works with works and works makes faith perfect.

The root of this Greek word is transliterated into English as synergy, meaning “a companion in work, a fellow worker.”  The definition of synergy is “the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.”

Therefore we could read this verse, “All things synergize for good.” Everything works together in cooperation with God’s wondrous plan in order to produce a combined effect greater than their separate effects. He is able to bring all of these separate circumstances, events, people, life changes, etc. together to work something far greater than any one of the things alone could work. Only God can do that.

I don’t always see the “synergy” of God’s hand at work in my life right at this moment.  I feel the effects of the current goings-on and get discouraged. But God knows how that is going to work with the past and with what is right around the corner. He brings it all into cooperation as only He can, and just as in creation, the outcome is “good.” In Genesis 1 God saw all that He had made and it was very good. In the same way He is creating circumstances and things in my life to bring about the same wondrous result – good – in my life.

The author of the Bible Study I am working through is Pam Forster.  She summed up the “synergy” of God’s plan in these words:

We may not be able to see good in a particular trial. By itself, there may not be anything we would call good in it, and if it continued indefinitely, with no other demonstrations of God’s grace to temper it, it might be our ruin. But, mixed with all that we experience, all that God allows into our lives, all the different trials and blessings and people — all of these work together to “have a greater total effect than the sum of their individual effects”.

Often times we can look back and with 20/20 hindsight see how God put everything together to produce that total effect of good.  

Stablish.

This word seems to be turning up in my Bible reading a lot.  I assumed it meant the same thing as establish.  And basically it does.  I don’t know NT Greek like Ben does, but I can look up words in Bible Works and Strong’s Concordance.  It seems that there are two main words for establish or stablish, but they have basically the same meaning. 

:: To set fast, to literally turn resolutely in a certain direction, or figuratively to confirm.  To establish, steadfastly set, or strengthen.

2 Thessalonians 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17   Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,  17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13  And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:  13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Romans 16:25  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

1 Peter 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

James 5:8   Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Who is it that does the “stablishing”?  The Lord.  Paul preached.  Paul labored.  Paul poured himself into the people.  Paul wrote epistles.  But it was the Lord that had to do the establishing.  It was the Lord who would make that faith hold fast, and be turned in the right direction.  It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 3:6:  I {Paul} have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

When I think of established, I think of all the signs on business and sometimes in a home that say “est. 1879” or whatever the date was.  There was a pharmacy in my neighborhood which proudly bore their establishment date on their sign.  They had been in business for over 50 years.  Several generations in the family.  But now they are gone – out of business.  What seemed firm and reliable was not. 

Only when God does the establishing is it sure.  I want Him to stablish my heart and my life in Him, so that when the storms come I am unmovable.  Like those big boulders in the Rocky Mountains. They have been there for a long time.  Countless people have climbed on them.  There have been snow storms, avalanches, and wind.  They have held fast.  Firm.  Unmovable.  That’s how I want to be.  Stablished on the Rock.

Thoughts on Thorns

Here are some highlights from a sermon preached by Evangelist Jim VanGelderen at our church’s Family Revival Meetings this week.  This sermon really touched me, and many in our church.  It is from 2 Corinthians 12.

Many Christians want Christ’s strength {the end result} but they despise the ticket to getting that strength {the means}.  The ticket is weakness.

The Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh.  Brother VanGelderen pointed out that this “thorn” may very well have been a person.  His argument comes from the Greek word for messenger in verse 7.  This particular word is never used of an inanimate object, but always of a being – whether human or angelic.

So Satan can use “thorny people” in our lives to provoke us, to cause problems, to tempt us to sin.  But God wants us to take that thorny situation and depend on Him for strength.

We cry out, “Lord change ___________”, but God responds
with “I want to change you.”

Thorns reveal our weakness.  They are our ticket to God’s strength.  But we avoid the thorns because we don’t like to be reminded that we are weak.

We tend to think of strength and weakness only in physical terms.  We think, “Lord I can do this maybe 25%, but I need you to give me the strength for the other 75%.”  However, the word for weakness is really just the word for strength, negated.  It means zero strength.  Not little strength, but absolutely no strength.  It is speaking of spiritual strength.  Jesus said, “for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5). 

This really resonated with me because that is exactly how I think.  I think that I can sorta do it, but not well, or not completely.  Then when He helps me do it I get proud and think that I did it myself.  Then I stop depending on Him.

So I don’t just need help to do it.  I need God to do it for me.  Through me. 

Our weaknesses need to scream so that we realize it is God doing it.  When I allow the weakness to make me a channel for His strength, then my weakness can scream so much that others are blown away with the power. They may see my weakness, but they will see what God can do with weakness.  They will want to be used by God too.

Every weakness I have is a potential channel for His strength.  He keeps thorns in my life so that we never forget that we are weak.  I  can realize my weakness, and live expecting His Divine power to work in me and through me.  Human strength is powerless to stop the enemy, but inside of me is He Who is Strength.

It’s All About Him

I’m reading through First and Second Thessalonians.  Several times, Paul mentions “walking worthy of God” or “being counted worthy.” 

1 Thessalonians 2:12  That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

2 Thessalonians 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

2 Thessalonians 1:11  Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:

The second epistle opens with a charge to keep enduring the persecution and tribulations which they are suffering.  Paul isn’t specific about what they were suffering, but I think that helps us apply this principle to our own lives.  My trials and tribulations look different from yours.  But each set of circumstances is crafted by the Master Artist to paint a beautiful picture out of our lives which will ultimately be a masterpiece.  A reflection of Himself.  Another piece to bring glory to His name.

The trials and difficulties of life are reality.  We face some things everyday – like the taunting of unbelieving family members, or the pain of a debilitating disease, and certainly the unfriendliness of a godless society toward our faith.  Some things we only walk through for a season.  Right now I am in the “terrible twos” phase of child training.  I can’t wait for this to end!  It may be a broken marriage, the death of a parent, or the rebellion of a prodigal son.

But no matter what you face, or what I face, it can be faced.  Because while God is the one who allows the pain in order to increase our faith, He is also the one who hands us the grace – which is always more than enough – to face our particular circumstance.  So let’s have the Thessalonian attitude toward suffering:

2 Thessalonians 1:2  Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 4  “…your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.”

Verse 5 “…that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer.”

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12   Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:  12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

{emphasis mine}

He gives the grace.  So keep enduring.  Then you will be counted worthy.  Keep on persevering, and allow God to complete His masterpiece.  Because in the end – it’s all about Him.  It’s about bringing glory to Him.  When I think of life in these terms, everything else seems so insignificant.

I was just reading the story of a girl I knew in elementary and junior high school.  She is married now, and she was told that her baby would not survive the pregnancy.  In an interview, she said that she was able to face this news with hope, because ultimately everything God does is for our good, and His glory.  That’s an amazing thing to say when you don’t know if you will ever hold your baby! And God had a different plan for that family, because her little girl, who was born prematurely and weighing less than a pound, is a miracle story.

My friend had it right. It’s all about Him.  Whatever He is doing in my life, or in your life, right now, is for His glory.  May we live worthy of this calling.

Hard Lessons to Learn

I wanted to write this post for my Thankful Thursday post last week (on my personal blog), but I didn’t get it done.  I don’t think I was ready to be able to express everything I’ve been thinking about lately.  Now that I’ve had a few more days to think about them, maybe I can adequately share what I’ve been learning.

You probably know that I like cloth diapers.  And…I had a retail store called Doable Diapers.  But it hasn’t been making money, and we came to a point last month where we wondered if we should keep it open.  I had hoped it would grow and be profitable enough so that Ben would not have to work a full time job when we are church planting.  I put out my fleece prayer request, and God chose not to answer it.  I asked my family members and close friends to pray with me about wisdom for the right decision.  Last Tuesday, we decided to close Doable Diapers. 

I feel like things are being stripped away from me one by one.  I know God is working on me and teaching me, and that these are good lessons to learn.  Good to learn now, before we are in full-time ministry.  But they are hard lessons too.  They hurt my pride and self-sufficiency.  They make me weak, and that is when I can fully experience the strength and power of God.

I thought we were doing pretty good on this parenting thing.  Our kids seemed pretty well behaved.  Then Elaine burst into the “terrible twos” stage with a vengeance.  She challenges me on everything, and throws these horrible fits, mostly in public.  Any pride I had in my parenting ability is being stripped away.  Though I know it intellectually, I am learning that I can only raise these children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord if it is the Lord who is giving me wisdom and strength to do so.

I thought I was a pretty good Christian.  Doing the right things, saying the right things, living the right way.  Then I come face to face with reality that my prayer life is struggling, and my relationship with the Lord needs some repair.  It’s humbling to admit you haven’t been completely genuine.  But now I feel like my cup is overflowing every time I open my Bible, and I know this has been a good lesson to learn…again.

I thought I would help supplement the family income and provide a way for my husband to spend more time in ministry and less time at work.  Then my business failed.  And as I look back over the months of sporadic work and unemployment, I realize that it is God who provided our needs and upheld us…not Andrea.  And now with no Doable Diapers, it is God who will continue to be the provider for us now, and in church-planting ministry.

I thought I had a good relationship with everyone.  Then things blew up with my neighbor.  And I had to admit some areas where I had been just as wrong as inconsiderate as perhaps she had.  And that was humbling.  And I didn’t want to do it, but I realized that it is necessary.

One by one God is removing my props.  Everything that was Andrea.  Everything that I thought was good.  But He is replacing them with something so much better.  He is filling me with more of Himself, and that satisfies so much more than anything I could come up with. 

This has been a hard month.  Several really hard days.  Things seemed dark.  But He is giving me the treasures of darkness.

“And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places,
that thou mayest know that I, the LORD,
which call thee by thy name,
am the God of Israel.”
Isaiah 45:3 

We Will Obey God

In Acts 5, we have obedience illustrated in the lives of the apostles.  They were dragged before the High Priest in verses 16 and following.  The charge?  Preaching the Gospel and healing the sick.  When the angel of the Lord came and released them from prison during the night, he instructed them to go back to the temple and preach the “words of this life” (vs.20).  If I had been beaten and thrown into prison, I would have escaped the city at the first chance I had.  But not so with the apostles – they obeyed the instructions from the angel and returned to the temple the next morning to the preach the Gospel.

You can imagine what the response was when the High Priest discovered that they were at it again!  He was not happy.  He was incredulous that they had disobeyed his warning to stop preaching the Gospel (vs.27-28). 

Not afraid, the response was given in verse 29:

“We ought to obey God rather than men.”

So simple.  So profound.  So often not the case.  How many times do we bow to the wishes or demands of society?  We don’t want to stand out, so we choose to blend in.  Preaching the Gospel isn’t popular, so we just hand a tract instead (if we do anything at all).  We don’t want to confront sin, so we find a way to gloss over it or not deal with it.

I like what Gamaliel said in verses 35-39.  Though he was a Pharisee, he was very wise in the counsel which he offered.  He said,

“Refrain from these men, and let them alone:  for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”

I know that sometimes I get very worked up when I come across something that I don’t like.  A political view that I think is wrong.  Someone spewing wrong doctrine.  People in powerful positions who water-down or twist the truth.  I don’t need to worry about them.  Yes – stand for what is right.  But really, if it is of God, I cannot destroy it.  And if it is of men, it will come to nothing.  I just need to rest in the Lord (Ps.37:7).

The last thing which I noticed in this story is the final response of the apostles.  They were beaten before the authorities let them go free.  They didn’t upset, or discouraged, or angry.  In verse 41, they were found “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”  And in verse 42, they returned right away to preaching the Gospel.  What an example they set for us, not only for response to persecution, but also that in trials we may “count it all joy” (James 1).