Trusting God in the Worst Times 10/20/2014

"'And behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.' Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, 'Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God." Job 1:19-22

It is a fact of life that bad things happen to good people. There is no way around it. Our views, thoughts and how we handle such situations, however, vary widely. When more of the story is read, it is revealed that job lost the animals that represent his livelihood, his servants that represent his workforce, his sheep which represent his ability to feed and clothe himself, and his children. All of these things happened and were reported in rapid succession. It is difficult to imagine experiencing greater losses in worse ways than these. What is more difficult to imagine is his attitude.

When most would criticize and become angry at God, Job worshiped and praised Him. Astoundingly, he acknowledged that he was born with nothing, that God had given him all that he had and that God had the right to take it all away. Given human nature, this is the rarest of all possible responses to such calamity.

Beloved, achieving Job's attitude (at this particular point in time) must be the goal of all Christians. So often, we put ahead of God the blessings of employment, possessions, material goods and family that He has so graciously provided. When we become consumed by the acquisition, maintaining or loss of them, we are in effect exchanging the one true God for idols. This is not to say that we should not be great stewards of what we are given or that we should not mourn loss but that we should trust God completely and rely upon Him to keep us in and through all situations, be they favorable or not.

We know that Job would later wrestle a bit with the things that were happening when they got even worse, but he remained faithful, he kept his trust in God and was eventually restored in a way that multiplied his original position in life. It should further be stated that the reason these things happened is because God had faith in him. Can He have that kind of faith in us?

One,


Lee

Choosing Your Attitude 7/16/2013

"Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And let those who love Your salvation say continually, 'Let God be magnified.'”  Psa 70:4

Sometimes it seems that the whole world and every circumstance and situation conspire to get us down, beat us down and keep us down.  Be it health, finances, relationships, politics, the judicial system or any number of other things, it can all have a very depressing effect and lead to both helplessness and hopelessness.  But did you know that your state of mind is that which you choose?

Beloved, we are children of the Most High!  Our Father is the Creator of the universe!  There is nothing that is beyond Him and He has seen to it that we not only have all we need, but more than we deserve.  He has equipped us to deal with all the negatives in life.  Consider just a few things He has told us about navigating the course of our earthly existence:

• Nothing can separate us from His love, Romans 8:39
• We are more than conquerors through Him, Romans 8:37
• We can do all things through Christ, Philippians 4:13
• He will never leave nor forsake us, Hebrews 13:5
• He is with us always, Matthew 28:20
• There is a place prepared for us to be with Him throughout eternity, John 14:2
• We can and should have the mind of Christ, Philippians 2:5
• We are to let our light shine so that others can see, Matthew 5:16

It is sure that there are nights in which tears will fall, but just as assuredly, joy comes in the morning.  Let the people of God focus on all the good that He has made available to us.  Let us consider the things that have been done, are being done and are promised to be done by Him in our lives.  This most assuredly will guide us into not just being "glass half full" people, but being thankful for having the glass and whatever is in it.  God is good all the time.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Committed,

Lee

Have A Great Day 1/3/2013

"This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psa 118:24

Opportunity is a wonderful thing.  It is filled with hopes, dreams and possibilities.  Whether we realize it or not, we are all always on the look out for opportunity.  It gives the ability to accomplish, receive, build, grow, advance and complete.  We position ourselves for it, take advantage of it and try to recognize it should it come knocking.  Do we, however, recognize its source?

Beloved, each day the Lord wakes us we are given the opportunity to do mighty things.  Every day is a blank slate filled with potential.  For this reason we ought to be exceedingly glad.  God has given us one more chance to enjoy His creation, utilize the gifts He has given, pursue the path He has laid out for us and to please Him.  We have an opportunity to "work out our soul salvation."  And we have the opportunity to display to others the kindness He constantly shows us.

Let us resolve not to have a bad day but a great day!  It is not known how many more any of us have, but we have today.  Let us treasure it, exploit it and enjoy it to the glory of Him who made it!

Committed,

Lee

Perspective- 8/25/2011 (rp)

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Ps 118:24

Perspective is an interesting thing. It goes a long way in determining how we interact with environments, individuals and situations. The great thing about perspective is that many times we can choose the one we will employ. An example is the classic question of looking at a glass half empty or half full.

This leads me to the following question: have you ever had a bad day? Without a doubt we all endure challenging circumstances from time to time. The unforeseen happens all of the time whether we are prepared for it or not. It is not unusual for this things to seemingly move in a direction that is not in our favor. This in turn has an effect on our mentality and our outlook. If you are anything like me, once things start to go down hill, you probably bring a lot of other things that have nothing to do with it into the situation since you are headed that direction. I even have a name for it. I call it the "vortex."

My personal issues aside, I realized some time ago that I have a choice in how I view and react to things. I can look at them as inconveniences, problems I do not want to deal with and shout to the rooftops, "Why me Lord?" or I can look at them as opportunities to apply my faith, help others, be an example and (gasp) thank the Lord.

Beloved, as easy as it is to decide that we are having a bad day, we can decide that it is a good day. It is one more day that the Lord has given us to live, to laugh, to love and to glorify him. If we decide not to do that because of our circumstances or situations, it is no fault of his. He gave us another beautiful glorious day and let us decide how we use it. If you were told that today would be the last one you had, how would that affect your outlook? How would it affect what you do with the time? What would your perspective be then?

Loving Like Jesus,

Lee

Looking Back to Move Forward-DD 3/29/2011

"We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."
James 5:11

Life can sure seem hard at times. It seems that we are all struggling to make it most of the time. Yes, there are good times when we are happy and satisfied, but when we cast our minds back, we so often remember the tough times. This is especially true when we are enduring them currently. We sort of pile our present circumstances on to what we feel is a history of tough times.

Why do we find it so easy to look upon our lives with such pessimism? In what nirvana do we really expect to live? There is no life without challenges, complications and difficulties. Even a scant survey of the life of Christ will reveal the most difficult life ever lived. Jesus, however, never lamented his circumstances.

Beloved, if we choose to look back, let us not seek consolidation of woes. If we look with the proper focus, we will see that God has always been there to deliver us through those challenging times. Perhaps the job we lost was to make way for a new and better one. Perhaps running late saved us from an accident. Perhaps the end of a relationship preserved us from a future with the wrong person. We cannot know the things that God is working out in our future, but we must know of the things He has accomplished in our past.

There was a time when it seemed that every time I got a little ahead, something would come along and take it away. I eventually learned that God had so fixed it that every time something would come a long, there was a way for it to be taken care of.

Let us remember that if we can look back on difficult circumstances, God has already delivered us through them. And if you feel that you are enduring much now, be assured that He is in the process of delivering you through current circumstances as well. The only things we need to do is have faith and fix our attitudes.

Loving Like Jesus,

Lee