Finding Purpose In The Storm

Why Are All of These Terrible Things Happening? Am I being punished? Will this ever end? 

Many people ask themselves these questions many times, especially during the most turbulent times of their lives when things just don’t make sense, especially when things appear to be growing worse, and when God feels distant and seems silent. As a small child I remember my mother rising early and ending the day with the Lord on her heart. Jesus Christ was her mentor, her example, her friend, her companion no matter what she faced. The anointing was evident in her face, her countenance, her tenacity to continue, and the time she took each night to teach me about the Lord through Bible readings, songs, and games we played. This was the first time I learned that no matter what we have to face in life or how egregious the circumstance, God still sits on the throne and has a wonderful plan for all of the struggle. 

When the storms Increase in Velocity so does God’s Mercy. 

There are times in our lives when we are doing all the right things, when we’re trusting and believing that the same God who brought us through hard times in the past, will deliver us as quickly as He did before, or in the same manner. We cry, we wait, we pray, and we trust, but still there seems to be no relief, no answer. As the storms increase in strength and seem to never end, we begin to wonder if we are being punished, targeted, or forsaken, and many of us begin to doubt the true existence of God because we fail to fully understand beyond the five senses why a loving God would allow seemingly unbearable pain. It is hard to conceptualize how God could suddenly turn His back and walk away during the darkest moments of our lives leaving us to fend for ourselves in very painful moments. We may feel abandoned, but we are not alone in our sufferings, the Lord Jesus felt this exact way before His crucifixion. He felt separated from God like we often do when we feel pressured or uncertain. He felt anxious and forsaken after having an oneness with God, but continued to be obedient in spite of how he felt. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) 

If we rely on our feelings we will often be misled, because feelings change for a variety of reasons and therefore have nothing to do with obedience. Jesus went to the cross anyway. Furthermore, God doesn't always promise us that things will turn out the way we planned, expected, and anticipated, but He did promise that no matter what we have to face He will always be there with us, even when we don’t feel His presence. He knows every situation, sees every teardrop that falls from your eye, and He has a resolution and a plan to bring you out, in His time. God is the solution to every problem, and has a time limit to every trial. 

Trials and tribulation arrive to strengthen, test, and teach, and the only choices we have through the inferno process, are to either become bitter or better. 

The purpose of trials as painful as they are force us to higher ground, otherwise we would remain stuck in the valley and never reach the mountain top which is God’s intended destiny for us. Sometimes God will allow pressure to force us out of our comfort zone, and we must be willing to stand a little discomfort in order to receive what He has in store for us. Storms in the form of adversity, persecution, job loss, a nasty divorce, bereavement, a wayward child, a broken relationship, a sick loved one, and persecution in any form, is the stretching process we must endure in order to move into God’s intended destiny for our lives. Like a skilled artist, God creates a masterpiece. He never makes mistakes, nor does He crumble His work and toss it into the trash. God continues to build on what He started until it is just right, because only He can see the finished product. Therefore, storms are designed to bring us into a new dimension and transition us to another spiritual level. You may be saying, “Well, I just can’t take another thing right now.” God is saying, yes you can. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. God knows when and how to stop the pressing block before it fully crushes you. If you feel crushed right now, just know that it is God’s way of squeezing you hard enough to reveal your true character, the real person you are on the inside and what you need to work on. It doesn't always mean that you are being punished or chastised, but there is a great lesson to be learned in every trial. Storms cause us to reflect on any sin that may be present in our lives, any bad attitudes we have, or any grudges we continue to harbor. Storms do not dim the way, but produce light in the path of darkness, and there is a light at the end of every tunnel, and it’s not always a train. You can and will survive your storm. 

God’s Mercy is Renewed Every Morning 

As I rise in the morning hours drinking my morning coffee with God, and before I begin my day, I ask for a heaping portion of the renewed mercy He has stored for me this day. God is merciful and full of grace especially during the times we need it the most. He promised to never leave nor forsake us. He promised that no weapon formed against you will prosper, and if God said it then He meant it! Nothing that you are facing at the present moment is a surprise to the almighty that is in control of ALL things, and He has a perfect outcome for you if you remain steadfast and continue to persevere through the torrential storms. Many of us give up and throw in the towel when we fail to see things changing, but God is always up to something and always working every situation out on your behalf. “God’s thoughts for you are thoughts of peace and not evil.” Jeremiah 29:11. Intensity of pain means you’re getting closer to your breakthrough. For example: Right before a baby is born, the mother’s pain is greatly increased, and the physician doesn’t tell her to stop or give up, but coaches her to push harder until the baby is born. Whatever God is trying to birth through you, will bring you great joy if you keep pushing through it. Now, is not the time to stop, you’ve come too far in your journey to throw in the towel. 

God never said that perceived weapons of mass destruction would not be formed; He said they would not prosper. 

The enemy is never going away, so it is a waste of time stressing over every negative thing that comes our way. Satan will do anything and everything to distract you from God's purpose and plan. His goal is to stress you the point where you have no strength to even utter a simple prayer. Don't waste time fighting people or thinking about things you have no control over. Whatever it takes, your biggest fight is in keeping your mind on God at all times, and not trying to put out the little fires the enemy starts. Let the captain handle it all. God is the greatest fire fighter and while you continue to trust Him, He will fight on your behalf. Furthermore, for the sake of Christ, we will have trials and tribulations and we will encounter and suffer many afflictions. However, this period may be a testing time and only temporary, a time when you really need to dig your heels in prayer, fasting, thanksgiving, and praise. God wants to talk to you. He wants your attention. He is using the floods you are presently facing to move you to higher ground. How else could He get our attention? It is hard to hear that gentle sweet voice of God when your mind is cluttered with problems. Whatever you focus on will become bigger and more powerful. Make sense? 

Then why so much pain? Haven't I been through enough? 

The real questions are....Is God setting me up for something beyond my wildest dreams? Is He orchestrating His mighty plan and using my suffering for my good and His glory? Could it be that the most painful and difficult afflictions be a sign that the enemy, that negative intelligence, is scheming to stop the promise through the process by wearing us down and sucking out our energy? Be aware that persecution, afflictions, disappointments, heartache, and set-backs are designed to strengthen and bless you in more ways than you could ever imagine. While trials never feel good, they all work together for your good. Stay the course and never give up. Victory is near to those who continue to trust in God's wisdom even when it seems like nothing is changing. God is always at work. Keep praying, keep believing, keep praising Him, and keep trusting. 

I want you to visualize the firm hand of Jesus gripping tightly to your right hand and walking right beside you through the fire whenever fear rears its ugly head. Picture the Heavenly Father sweeping you off of your feet and carrying you, whenever you lack energy to carry on. 

Be blessed and keep living with your purpose in mind.

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

How many of us, if we are honest, live stressed-out and anxious/worried about tomorrow? If you answered yes to that question, you are not alone. When we live our lives projecting tomorrow’s outcomes we forfeit the grace God supplies to us daily, not in lump sums. How many of us try and store God’s grace for us? We believe with enough planning and control we can predict outcomes as well as secure our future. But we could not be more wrong. How many of us have tried to get a close handle on our lives by predicting the outcomes of our lives. We try and analyze and figure-out every possible outcome and situation until we become exhausted and frustrated. Life happens and we cannot live on tomorrow’s provisions for today.

Living in the past or projecting the future will cause stress, anxiety, worry, fear, fatigue and possible illness. Some of us try and live in the past because we have not “settled” our past or properly let-go and healed our hurts as well as past failures. Some of us try and figure out future outcomes because we live in fear and at the root of that fear is a lack of trust in God. We might say we trust God but deep down where no one else can see, we felt we have been let down by God, forgotten by Him, or discouraged in the waiting process. So we take matters into our own hands because we feel God has not come through for us. We don’t want to admit this because we might look bad or maybe others may not think we are really Christians, or for that matter even love God. I will be the first to say that I love God, the Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit and I am a born-again believer but I have struggled in this area of control and trust. At times the control and trust waxes and wanes but underneath it all, I have struggled to make sense of some very difficult matters in my life. I hope I am not alone in this. I have prayed for certain things, people, and desires for years and sometimes they have become worse, and other times it is a slow trickle to the desired outcome I want, and then there are those prayers and cries that seem to go unnoticed. I said seemed to go unnoticed, because do our prayers really go unnoticed or is it not the time or maybe something that would not be in our best interest? I have so many questions, I am sure like you that I don’t know the answers to. Such as the inability to have children, desiring to be married, sickness of a child/family member, health issues, or even the pain a parent feels for their prodigal child. I have felt many of these personally and I can say for me that is why I developed a need to be in control, secure my future, and to analyze my life because nothing seemed to be in control, so I took control. I projected my future because I lived in fear. Fear of the unknown, fear things will not get better, fear that it will always be this way. Fear causes you to think and behave irrationally. Life seemed uncertain and unpredictable to me so I had to take over and mange my life.

Taking life as it comes and living in the present day is a great way to allow your fears to take a backseat. Living in the past will also cause you great stress, so being and living in the day you have is very healing. Why be anxious for the things you truly do not know will or won’t happen, or why live in regret and past failures? This is not easy to do if you have tried to control your life or try and project possible outcomes of your future. This will not be easy, but let’s start with surrendering. Surrendering all forms of control, figuring-out, analyzing, and living in past regrets. This also entails trusting God with your life and the lives of others you love. This step requires faith and letting-go.

If you live one day at a time, God will supply you the grace you need for that day, to handle the problems and situations that happen that day. However, you can’t take today’s grace and store it for tomorrow. God supplies what you need for that day, not on yesterday or tomorrow. Think about how stress-free you will feel when you live in the present.

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."
Matthew 6:34, The Message

Get Out Of The Way!

We get in God’s way when we refuse to give Him His proper place in our lives.

In any survey concerning spiritual convictions, most North Americans will say that they believe in God, but the quality and integrity of that belief is shown in the degree to which they permit God to exercise His presence in their lives. There are those who call on God quickly when in a crisis situation, but the rest of the time they prefer to run their life their own way. There are those who believe in God for what they can receive from Him. Like the children of Israel, they hold on to God when things are going well, but when their weak faith does not pay off, they shake their fist in God’s face. There are also those superficial Christians who acknowledge God’s everyday attributes; His love, power, and grace, but when they are facing life’s demands they worry and fret.

Now all these have one thing in common. They do not let God have a place or action in their lives. They get in God’s way either by their ego and pride, or whimpering complaints. This all points to a major flaw in the exercise of our religious belief today. God has become something to be possessed and used for personal advantage. In this thinking we fail to see that life consists not in our possessions but in our being possessed. We flaunt our high standard of living and say, “all belongs to us” but we don’t go further and ask the question, “To what do we belong?”

To allow God to have His purpose with us involves openness of mind and heart. This begins when we seriously ask ourselves, “what purpose is my life? To what do I give the highest allegiance of my soul and will?” The Apostle Paul testifies, “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me”, Galatians 2:20.

Competition: The Heart of a Man

It doesn't take too long on my Facebook newsfeed before I can see posts about either hockey, football, baseball or basketball and hear about how "OUR TEAM IS THE BEST".  It seems like competition is woven into the heart of man and some would say that is a bad thing.  I think competition gets a bad rap these days, which is a bummer because I think competition speaks to the heart of what it means to be a man.

Believe it or not, the Bible addresses this topic. Mark 9 tells the story of the disciples arguing amongst themselves about who was greatest. This is classic masculinity in action. Let's keep score and compete to see who wins. When people teach this story, they often teach it like the disciples were doing something wrong, like this desire to be first was a bad thing.

But it wasn't. Jesus doesn't scold them for wanting to be first. Instead, he sits them down and tells them how to actually do it! He says, "Whoever wants to be first among you must be the servant of all." He affirmed their desire to be first, their desire to compete for honors; he just told them they had been keeping score the wrong way. And that's it.

Like I said, competition does get a bad rap, because the gap from healthy competition to unhealthy is very narrow. When we call a person "competitive," what we usually mean is that they like to win and they get very bitter if they don't. The desire to be first place in some sport often goes hand in hand with the desire to cheat or to use performance-enhancing drugs to get there. Things like that cause people - usually women - to look at competition on the whole and say that it's a bad thing, that we should all just get along and be nice to each other so nobody has to lose.

Yet I would observe that those things are not actually the fault of competition at all. When a person cheats, his focus is not on the competition, but on the results. A "competitive" person does not like competing, most of the time; he likes winning - he is obsessed with the result. There might be great competition, but if he loses, he is still unhappy. That's the really interesting thing about the way Jesus addressed competition. According to his way of keeping score, you never really know where you are on the leaderboard. All you know is how you're doing at the competition itself - at being a servant to everyone. We'll find out the final score someday, but until then we can't know it, which keeps us from being obsessed with the results.

Believe it or not, Paul actually commands us to compete with one another. In Romans 12:10, he says, "Love with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor." Find out how your neighbor is doing at showing honor, and one-up him. Love more; love harder. Something tells me men get more excited about the possibility of outdoing each other than they would about simply showing honor without the idea of a competition. See, we tend to think that comparing ourselves to other people is inherently a bad thing, because many times it is, but many does not equal always. It can be a very good thing when comparing myself to my neighbor leads me to conclude that I'm not loving people as well as he is. As a man, that competition might just be what I need to spur me to the next level. Proverbs says that friends are supposed to have this effect on each other, just like iron sharpens iron.

Furthermore, the idea of a reward for one's work is very common throughout the Bible. Hebrews 11 observes, "Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." In Revelation 22, Jesus promises, "Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me." Rewards are a form of competition: some people will get the prize, and other people won't, and it all depends on how you live during your life. But the thing about God's prizes, which distinguishes them from earthly prizes, is that one person winning does not prevent the rest of us from winning. There are plenty of prizes to go around. If I compete with my friend to see who can outdo the other in showing honor, we both win. It's the healthiest kind of competition. It's all the intensity of competing, which men like, coupled with all the gentleness of "nobody loses," except for the people who don't try at all to win the prizes.

Polling company Rasmussen Reports has found that 56% of churchgoers are women. In other words, for every 2 men in church, there are 3 women. Why the disparity? What is it about the way the gospel is preached that appeals to women more than men, and why are all those other men choosing football and golf over church on Sunday mornings? I don't mean to suggest that churches are failing to reach men, because there are still a lot of Christian men in this country; nor do I even mean to suggest that all men enjoy and are motivated by a dynamic of competition. But Jesus himself affirmed his disciples when they expressed a desire to be first. He told them exactly how to do it. Shouldn't we conclude that even Jesus understood that some people simply get more excited when they have the ability to compete against other people? If we can introduce that dynamic back into faith somehow, won't we reach a lot of men who feel that Christianity is a good story but is lacking something?

Of course, the man in me wishes there was some way to actually watch my score go up, because that's what I like about sports and video games: I always know exactly how I'm doing at all times. Showing love is tougher. Do I have a 36%, or is it more like a 58.2%? Because I don't know the score, I just have to focus on the process: loving more, showing honor more, serving everyone. And I have to know that God is watching me, keeping my score, preparing my rewards for the day I take hold of them.

The Grace of a New Beginning

And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."  - Revelation 21:5

It is a sign of God's immeasurable grace that no one ever reaches a stage in life where one cannot start over.  Each day that dawns is a new beginning.  Our God is the God of second chances.

Do not allow whatever may have happened in the past to cause you to lose sight of what the future may hold.  If you wish to make a fresh start, make a firm decision to be done with your old life, even though it will still try to enslave you.  All new life comes from God alone.  Continually affirm that new life flows through you as a result of God's grace, and you will receive the inheritance of new life that is yours in Christ.

Lord of new beginnings, thank you that each new day Your mercies are new and I can begin again. Amen.