Tag Archives: hardship

FIRST THE TEST, THEN THE LESSON

Christian Life, ,

There are many aspects of God’s ways that are opposite to the world’s ways. In fact, I call God’s kingdom “the upside-down kingdom” because, as He said,

Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT
[8] “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. [9] For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

Take, for example, Jesus’ teaching on leadership. Worldly leaders, in the main, say, “Do as I tell you!” Jesus’ way is “Do as I show you.”

John 13:13-15 NLT
[13] “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. [14] And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. [15] I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”

Who is the greatest?

Mark 9:35 NLT
[35] He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

As always, Jesus Himself set the example.

Mark 10:45 NLT
[45] “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

One of the great “upside-down” lessons of Scripture is God’s way of teaching us. Unfortunately, we often miss the point and fail to learn the lesson because we don’t recognise that God’s way of imparting understanding to us is different from ours.

Instead of learning and moving on, we stick at the same place, sometimes blaming God for our troubles rather than being grateful for new understanding…and we fail to move on in our journey to the Father.

Years ago, I prayed David’s prayer, little realising what a profound and far-reaching prayer it was.

Psalms 86:11 NIV
[11] “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness (or, alternatively, “walk in your truth”); give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

Seventeen years later, God is still revealing His way, and I am still learning!

So, what’s His way of teaching us?

Every child is obliged to go to school to be “educated” in a variety of disciplines, ever increasing as knowledge increases.

Daniel 12:4 NLT
[4] “But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”

Are we in that time now?

Our world is advancing in knowledge so fast that education for the young offers a bewildering array of facts to be stuffed into each small brain. When the lessons are taught and, hopefully learned, each child must go through the gruelling ordeal of regurgitating their knowledge on paper as best they know how. This happens not once but many times over in a period of twelve, now thirteen years, since they are now obliged to start their formal education a year earlier. “Big school” begins with and adds another year, Grade R.

However, God’s method of training works differently. He has no desire to stuff our heads with facts. His objective is to prepare us for eternity in His presence, not just as “saved” people but as sons and daughters in His forever family who perfectly resemble His Son!

The task He has undertaken is enormous. He requires us to learn to live new lives, leaving behind both sin and the old sin nature that controlled us and to become increasingly like Jesus.

God has given us His Holy Spirit to help us put to death the deeds of our old nature. He has given us His own nature through which we learn to nurture our new nature by submitting to and obeying Him. He has also given us everything we need to accomplish His objective.

2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
[3] “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. [4] Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

He wants us to trust His perfect love for us in every…yes, every circumstance, good or bad, as He works IN ALL THINGS for our good.

Romans 8:28-29 NLT
[28]”And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. [29] For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

To achieve His purpose, God has given us a textbook, the Bible, a resident teacher, the Holy Spirit, and an effective method of teaching/learning, experience. He knows that we learn best through trial and error. The Holy Spirit and the Word are the interpreters of experience, helping us to better understand the purpose of the test.

Someone once said, “Life is lived forward but understood backwards.” How true that is in God’s “school of life”!

God’s way of teaching, then, is first do the test, then learn the lesson. As back-to-front as this may seem, it’s an effective way to impart understanding and indelibly imprint experience. Learning theory may put facts in our heads but real life lessons are learned the hard way…if we pay attention and apply the lessons.

Hebrews explains God’s method. Since we are incurably stubborn, we must feel the experience first, then internalise the lesson. God has an impossibly high standard, and only His work in us can achieve the goal. Without His work, we will never know the rewards.

Philippians 2:12-13 NLT
[12] “Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. [13] For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Now let’s examine His way of training us for eternity.

He calls it “Discipline!”

Hebrews 12:5-6 NLT
[5]” And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. [6] For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”

Disciples are those who accept and respond to discipline. Why do we need discipline? We all start our new lives like lumps of unformed clay, shapeless and full of impurities. If the clay is ever to become a useful and beautiful artlcle, it must submit to the potter’s skill.

As the potter works the clay, he must first prepare the lump by eliminating whatever interferes with the shape and form he has in mind. Patiently, he works until the clay is smooth and free from everything that would blemish his vessel.

Then the potter puts the clay on the wheel, applying pressure as the wheel turns. Under his fingers, a shape begins to emerge. Carefully he works, an indent here, a raised bit there, guiding and controlling the clay, its shape, its thickness, its final form until he is satisfied that the vessel before him matches the blueprint in his mind.

Then comes the most important finishing touches, glaze and firing the clay. Without these disciplines, the clay might easily collapse into a formless lump again.

Do you get the picture?

God has a blueprint for His people, Jesus, the perfect Son. Once again, Scripture presents Jesus as our perfect example, model and mentor. Through His Spirit, “Christ in us” is the only way the Father will ever achieve His goal.

Let’s examine the process.

Hebrews 2:10 NLT
[10] “God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”

Much as we hate the thought, God uses suffering to discipline us just as He perfected His Son through suffering.

Hebrews 5:8-9 NIV
[8] “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered [9] and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…”

Jesus learned the meaning and value of obedience as a human through suffering… not by trial and error as we do, but by being perfectly obedient to the Father’s will.

Peter beautifully explains how Jesus suffered.

1 Peter 2:19-24 NIV
[19] For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. [20] But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. [21] To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. [22] “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” [23] When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. [24] “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Although all suffering is painful, the writer to the Hebrews refers to the specific suffering of the believers to whom he was writing…Jewish believers who were tempted to go back to Judaism because of the severe persecution they were enduring.

To them, the writer explains that their suffering, unjust though it was, proved that they were truly God’s children and that He was qualifying them for His presence by making them holy.

Hebrews 12:7-11 NLT
[7] “As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? [8] If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. [9] Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? [10] For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. [11] No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”

Both Paul and this unnamed writer put suffering squarely in the hands of God, not as we often think, random acts of the devil “attacking us”! God calls us to trust Him first, the only way to learn the lesson.

Why would God allow or orchestrate our suffering? Peter clarifies this thought.

1 Peter 4:1-3 NLT
[1] “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. [2] You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. [3] You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.”

Strange as it may seem, according to Peter, physical suffering for Jesus has a powerful way of changing our attitude to sin. Suffering brings us back to earth with a bump, making the fragile nature of our lives that much more real. When we are close to death for whatever reason, sin is much less relevant or attractive.

Does this mean that suffering for Jesus is the only method of discipline that purifies us? What if we are never called to suffer for Him?

Although suffering for Jesus is the special privilege of some, and not all suffer in this way, we are all called to suffer “with Him”. This means that, whatever the nature of our suffering, we share His attitude of trust, submission, and obedience to the Father rather than complaining, resisting, and blaming the devil, “taking authority over him in Jesus’ name!” (which is unbiblical, unauthorised, and nonsense).

In the end, every trial is designed to test one thing, our trust in the Father’s perfect love. Abraham’s final test gives us the clue.

Genesis 22:2, 12 NLT
[2] “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”…
[12] “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you TRULY FEAR GOD. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Do I fear God? Do I trust Him enough to obey Him without question? Do I love Him enough to take His every word seriously? Will I do what He tells me no matter how much it hurts? Will I take up my cross and follow Jesus as my example and mentor no matter the cost? Yes or no?

The tests will continue relentlessly, not to determine whether we pass or fail but to achieve God’s purposes. We will do them repeatedly until we learn the lessons and become what He made us to be, replicas of His Son.

The Power Of The Cross – They Overcame Him By The Blood

Gospel, , , ,

THE POWER OF THE CROSS

THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THE BLOOD

Spiritual warfare is big on the agenda of Christians today. Many “weird and wonderful” teachings abound about spiritual warfare – most of which originate from the Old Testament, as though the death of Jesus means nothing when it comes to the devil.

People do prayer walks and Jericho marches; we are taught to identify the principalities and powers that hold countries or regions in their power (the “Jezebel spirit” is a big one); we have to identify and pull down altars; we must “bind” the evil spirits and “take authority” over them; we must “loose” the power of God and we must “pray against” whatever it is that we must pray against!

Now all of this sounds very “spiritual”. It gives us something to do when we are discouraged by the situations and circumstances around us. We feel better when we have done “spiritual warfare”, even if nothing changes. We do it again and again in the hopes that it will eventually “take” and give us immunity – like a measles vaccine!

But where in the world do we see the apostles doing this in the New Testament? Even Jesus, who should have known better than anyone else how to do spiritual warfare, didn’t do all this stuff. After all, wasn’t the devil after Him? The most Jesus ever did was to send His disciples ahead of Him into the villages and towns where He was to go, not to do prayer walks and Jericho marches, but to proclaim and demonstrate the presence of the kingdom of God. It was the reality of God’s presence and power in the person of Jesus, not their ritualistic prayer efforts that sent the devil and his squatters packing.

Another glaring problem lies in the fact that we don’t understand how God works. When stuff happens in our lives, we blame the devil and go to “war” against him. We are “under attack”, so we declare, almost triumphantly as though being “under attack” somehow makes us important in Satan’s eyes. We must be a threat to him, or he wouldn’t “attack” us!

But that is not what the Bible says.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined – and everyone underdoes discipline – then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all . . . They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness.  (Heb. 12: 7-8; 10)

Satan may be responsible for the hardship, but God uses it for our good. So why fight the devil? James and Peter said that we must resist the devil by submitting to God. (James 4: 7; 1 Pet. 5: 8-9)

As a matter of fact, the very hardships we go through, which we so eagerly attribute to the devil, are the evidence of our sonship and the means of God’s grace. If we understood that, would we so enthusiastically launch into spiritual warfare against Satan, using all the tactics we have learned from the self-proclaimed “generals” of spiritual warfare? By doing that, we are actually fighting, not the devil as we may think, but the very means God uses to purify our faith in Him.

Take Peter, for example. Jesus warned him of what was to come and even said that Satan would do it. He promised to pray for him – not that God would get him out of it but keep him through it because there were important lessons Peter had to learn.

Did you notice, for example that Jesus did not pray that God would stop the devil from sifting him. Instead He said, “I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail.” Did you get that? Trials and hardships are not “attacks” from the devil, as though God were powerless to do anything about it. No! They are God’s means of strengthening our faith in Him.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. (! Pet. 1: 6-7)

How do we overcome the devil? Not by fighting him but by trusting in God. What guarantee do we have that we have the right to trust the Father?

They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Rev. 12: 11)

It was the cross that made all the difference. Jesus dealt with our sin – the very reason for the devil’s power over us – and He exposed the devil as a liar and a thief. He is not Lord; Jesus is.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8: 31-32)

The devil loves the limelight. He wants to be noticed and he’ll get attention by any means as long as he can take our attention away from Jesus. God gave us weapons – faith and truth, all directing our attention away from the devil and onto the One who gave us the victory by His blood.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

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http://luellaannettecampbell.com/

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In The Eye Of The Storm

Bible Study, , ,

IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

“And so, with the tearful goodbyes behind us, we were on our way. We made a straight run to Cos, the next day reached Rhodes and then Patara. There we found a ship going direct to Phoenicia, got on board, and set sail. Cyprus came into view on our left, but was soon out of sight as we kept on course for Syria, and eventually docked in the port of Tyre. While the cargo was being unloaded, we looked up local disciples and stayed with them seven days. Their message to Paul, from insight given them by the Spirit, was “Don’t go to Jerusalem.'” Acts 21:1-4 (The Message).

Was the Holy Spirit a bit mixed up? It looks like it at first reading. Did He give Paul one message and the believers in Tyre another? Since we know that the Holy Spirit would not do that, it is more likely that He was alerting Paul’s friends to pray for him, rather than stop him from going to Jerusalem.

As well-meaning as they were, they could not deter Paul from the course he had chosen, regardless of the cost. He knew that God wanted him to go to Jerusalem. He obeyed, not knowing then that it was the way to Rome, and Rome was his goal. It might seem a devious route but God knew the reasons and implications of that way. There was no other way for Paul to gain entrance to the household of Caesar but through imprisonment and, through it, to influence the entire palace guard for Jesus.

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of my brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the Word of the Lord more courageously and fearlessly.” Philippians 1:12-14 (NIV).

Paul did have to suffer hardship, danger and imprisonment but God was always with him, protecting him from the hatred of fanatical Jews and ensuring that he followed the right course for Rome. Plots to kill him were thwarted more than once and, strangely enough, it was the Roman government that protected him and gave him safe passage out of Jerusalem, offering him the benefits of a justice system that put the lid on the intentions of Jewish radicals.

Sometimes he was only a hairsbreadth from death, but he knew that, as long as he was in the hands of God, he was indestructible until he had fulfilled God’s purpose for him. A long life of living on a knife edge but secure in the hands of a loving Father, had taught him to rest in Him in spite of his circumstances.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 (NIV).

For Paul this was not theory, and there is no way he could have written these words had he not experienced the hard reality of the difficulties, suffering and trials that gave birth to such security in God. It is only a person, like Paul, who refuses to give credit to the devil for his circumstances and lives in the awareness of God’s love, that can emerge from the worst that life can produce and still declare: “I am convinced that nothing can separate me from the love of God.’

There is a place of calm in the eye of the storm. We can only find that place if we choose to rest in the perfect love of God regardless of the whispered lies of the devil to discredit the intentions of our Father God.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear. because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18 (NIV).