What is painful will end

I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls; which I have made. (Isaiah 57:16)

Our heavenly Father seeks our instruction, not our destruction. His contention with us has a kind intention toward us. He will not be always in arms against us. We think the Lord is long in His chastisements, but that is because we are short in our patience. His compassion endureth forever, but not His contention. The night may drag its weary length along, but it must in the end give place to cheerful day. As contention is only for a season, so the wrath which leads to it is only for a small moment. The Lord loves His chosen too well to be always angry with them.

If He were to deal with us always as He does sometimes, we should faint outright and go down hopelessly to the gates of death. Courage, dear heart! The Lord will soon end His chiding. Bear up, for the Lord will bear you up and bear you through. He who made you knows how frail you are and how little you can bear. He will handle tenderly that which He has fashioned so delicately. Therefore, be not afraid because of the painful present, for it hastens to a happy future. He that smote you will heal you; His little wrath shall be followed by great mercies.

-by C. H. Spurgeon

Resolving Conflict

Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.  But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene (2 Timothy 2:14-17 NASB)

What an important message. This text begs the question: when the world looks at our life and conduct within the church, does it reflect Jesus? Does the way we resolve conflict bring glory to the name of Jesus or does it bringing shame to our testimony and God's name? There is a godly way to stand for truth and settle disputes within the church and there is an ungodly way.

Paul writes: But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. (Galatians 5:15 NASB)

When we quibble with each other and wrangle with words, it ruins the hearers (2 Tim 2:14) and we can consume or destroy each other even if that was not our intent. (Galatians 5:15)

May we conduct ourselves as approved to God - as a workman that does not need to be ashamed. (2 Timothy 2:15)

Trusting God when He doesn't seem to answer your prayer

Sometimes God answers prayer in what we perceive is a mighty way and we praise Him! 

Sometimes we pray and pray about a situation we care deeply about only to find that God chose not to answer our prayer - well, that is, He chose not to answer our prayer in the way we hoped. The fact is, every prayer IS answered, it's just that sometimes the answer is "wait" or "no". Those are hard answers to live with at times.

Why?

A "no" or "not yet" answer usually means we have to wait with broken health, a broken heart, or a broken situation that we are convinced that God would get glory out of if He fixed. We trust in His divine justice and goodness. In our human nature we call out to him to deliver us from the midst of the proverbial fire hoping that deliverance IS God's plan for us. Sometimes though, it is not.

In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 Paul writes that he was burdened excessively, beyond his strength. Have you ever felt like that? I have.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;  indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; (2 Cor 1:8-9 NASB)

Why? Why does God let us become burdened beyond our strength to bear it? One reason Scripture gives us is in verse 9. So that we will not trust in ourselves but in GOD who raises the dead.

God values the deepening of our faith and walk with Him so much that He may allow our lives to be cleansed of anything in the world we might rely on instead of the LORD God: health, jobs, relationships, or possessions.

The Christian has no need to fear though, God always gives us more than he lets be taken from us. 

Sometimes He will restore the situations we pray about, and sometimes He gives us the precious gift of more faith, more perseverance, and  more holiness, taking one step forward to being transformed into His likeness. 

Paul pens:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB)

The best gift we can ever be given is to grow in our faith and our knowledge of God becoming closer to our creator each day.

Child of God - whatever your situation is today, God has you and God loves you.  God will always do what is right - even when it doesn't feel like it. In eternity it will all make sense. For now, we see through a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12). In eternity, there will be no more crying, no more pain and God will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4).

Meanwhile, the Lord is our strength on this earth. He will see us through. Amen.

“I love You, O Lord, my strength.”
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:1-2 NASB)

Sunday's Sermon: A Recap

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Gen 2:18-25 NASB)

The First Marriage

(Genesis 2:18-25)

1. Marriage is a complementary partnership. (vs. 2:18-20)

2. God established the functional roles of marriage. (vs. 2:21-22)

3. Marriage is a companionship based on commonality. (vs. 2:23)

4. Marriage means that two become one. (vs. 2:24)

5. God designed marriage for pure transparency. (vs. 2:25)

We is more important than me in marriage.

Understanding

"The Bible will always be full of things you cannot understand as long as you will not live according to those you can understand." - Billy Sunday

 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. - John 7:17 ESV

"Think over what I say"

In 2 Timothy 2:1-7, Paul gives Timothy three main points to ponder in just seven short verses. These lessons are timely for us as well. 

1. Be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Are you strengthened by His grace today? Are you comforted knowing Christ has paid your debt? Are you strengthened by Christ and the message of the gospel  - which is His grace in action?

2. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

At the time of this writing, being a Christian meant you would endure very real persecution, and Timothy, being a leader in the church would likely get singled out. God has called His children not away from battle, but to battle. This is not a battle fought with earthly weapons like swords or machinery. It is fought with prayer and godly actions with God's strength. It is standing for what is right and good and holy no matter the cost. It is standing for the gospel even when the message is unpopular. 

Know that when we suffer for the cause of Christ now, we will reap eternal glory.

 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV

3. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

Paul puts it this way in Colossians: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.(ESV)

It is so easy to get our hearts and minds entangled with the things that are on earth. Timothy may have worried about persecution and suffering. We worry with health, finances, things that need fixing, job situations, our 'to do' list, the traffic, and the list goes on. While we need to think about these things and handle them in a godly manner, our main focus, our heart focus should be on the heavenly. 

Since we know these things, we can be strengthened by the grace of Jesus Christ and devote our lives (and thoughts) to His purpose.

Back in Timothy, Paul ends these verses with this exhortation: "Think over what I say...." 
 ....................... I will Paul, I will.

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 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,  and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.  Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.  An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.  It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.  Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 ESV

Thoughts From Sunday's Sermon

Sunday we were reminded that Scripture begins and ends with Paradise. We long for that don't we?

We were also reminded that Genesis chapter 2 is not speaking of a separate creation from chapter 1, but rather a change in focus. Genesis 1 focuses on the chronology of events and Genesis 2 focuses on man.

 Paradise is our home.

1.  We were designed by God for relationship with Him. (vs. 4-9)

2. We were placed by God on earth to begin history. (vs. 10-14)

3. We were commissioned by God as managers of creation. (15-17)

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These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,  and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.  And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden,hand the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.  The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.  And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” - Genesis 2:4-17 ESV