Author Archives: Matthew, Karen, and God

Suffer For Him!

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him…Phil 1:29

Remember, the Lord Jesus himself said, “ We continue to try to hold on to our lives, to enjoy the things we want and insist on satisfying our desires and pleasures without realizing that inevitably and irresistibly that life is slipping through our fingers and we are losing it.”The one who is willing to abandon it, throw it away if need be — waste it, seemingly — on those concerns that involve the cause of Christ and the gospel, has saved that life. If you are not prepared to suffer, then just forget about being a Christian, for the Word warns us that they who would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer some degree of persecution, and the Lord said, “ Inevitably in the Christian life there will be some degree of putting up with misunderstanding, patronizing pity, ridicule or scorn and the like.” Someone has well said when we appear before the Lord he doesn’t look us over for medals, but for scars. They may not always be physical scars. It is the trials and suffering we go through that deepen our lives.

Oswald Chambers beautifully expressed this. He described how God is purposely working to make us into fine wine, but that we can never attain to this if we keep objecting to the fingers he uses to crush us. We could accept it if God would just use his own fingers to make us his specially broken bread and poured out wine. But when he uses someone we dislike or certain circumstances that we do not want to allow, we push back. Chambers reminds us that we must not dispute the place of our own martyrdom. If we are ever to be made fine wine to drink we simply must be crushed. Grapes cannot be drunk. They only become wine once they submit to the crusher.

So God has wisely designed that life involves suffering. And it is not a sacrifice; it is a privilege that we are granted, for Christ’s sake. Paul said, this is the same struggle you saw I had. He suffered both emotionally and physically.

From Paul’s friends he endured criticism, difficulty, suffering and rejection. It is necessary to our growth in grace. But there is one thing we need not ever do under conflict, and that is to be afraid. Fear is the enemy that will remove us from faith.

Devotional from Ray Stedman

Father, I thank you for the struggles and difficulties you have placed in my life. I trust these circumstances are in your control and through them you are conforming me into the image of your dear Son.

Friendships and forgiveness!

I have lost many of friends over the years because I couldn’t find it in my heart to forgive. When we don’t forgive others we create a foothold for the devil’s foot. Anger, jealousy, rage, revenge and many others. It also shuts down the door to our hearts to trusting any new friends from entering. This story is one that helped to change my heart for the better. My wife has a house cleaning service. She decided to hire a lady part-time to help her because of the abundance of work that God blessed her with. As the new clients were coming in this new lady was helping her. The new part-time hire was in a financial bind. Her husband was waiting on knee surgery and his unemployment hadn’t kicked in yet. She also had an autistic boy that needed constant attention. One day after they started a new job the new hire had gone to the customer and undercut my wife. Meaning that she offered less money to work for the new customer but more than what my wife was paying. She started doing her own side business on top of what my wife was giving her. When my wife found out she was a little upset that her friend would do that to her. She came home and expressed her concerns with me. After much discussion we decided that because of her financial burdens that she could keep the job and still help my wife. The new hire however desired to go off and make her own cleaning service flourish. My wife hadn’t heard from her in about a year. She had move out of town but not doing well financially. She called my wife saying that she was moving back into town and needed work. My wife had forgiven her and took her back. Colossians 3:13 Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. In doing this, this lady has done a great job for my wife. When my wife felt bad she would pick up the slack and when I had a slew of doctors appointments that my wife wanted to attend, she did all the work herself. She is so appreciative to have that forgiveness that she is now blessing us. We all make mistakes and God states in Romans 3:10 As it is written: ” None is righteous, no, not one; Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Do away with worries and fears!

If any of you out there is struggling with worries and fears then I have some encouragement. Do you feel as though God is not hearing your prayers over covid 19? Do you feel as though God’s not even around during this disaster? Keep this verse in mind. Deuteronomy 31:6 Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. That does not sound like a God that wouldn’t hang around to me. God is always watching out for us and hearing our prayers because he loves us so abundantly. If you still aren’t convinced then let’s take a look at John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That to me is a great a powerful God! Take heart in known that God is hearing and doing something about our prayers in accordance with his will.

Praise God for all

Today my wife and I were prepping walls for painting. We usually turn on a Christian radio station and it helps to mellow our mood. As we worked in different rooms I could here the radio echoing off the walls, but I could hear something else that pleased me greatly. My wife is a very good singer but I rarely get a chance to hear her. Today she was humming some songs and singing along with others. As I listened to her sing, it reminded me that we all need to be singing our praises to God especially during these troubled times. Just because we’ve all been hit hard by the Coronavirus doesn’t mean that we aren’t blessed or receiving blessings. Give thanks to God today! Sing songs and praises for all that we have. The security of a house and car. Loved ones that we can hold onto and friends we can rely on. The fact that we have jobs and food. Or that we have our good health and the mighty God that we serve is protecting us as we speak. I’m praising him right now for all of our readers who’s eyes are reading this message now. God bless all of you and keep up your faith.