Saturday, June 25, 2016

How To Minister To Those Suffering From The Desperation Of A Wounded Heart

My Utmost For His Highest
 
…what shall I say? "Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28
 
“As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour. We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.[…] If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.” CHAMBERS
 
To understand God’s purpose for allowing sorrows into our lives, we must look at the godly result that comes from faith and perseverance.  Two verse references come to mind.  (2 Corinthians 4:7-10) “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” There are many trials that will come our way in this life.  There is no brighter light than the one that shines in the life of a Christian persevering through some great difficulty.  Not because an exercise of their personal will, but because of the exercise of their faith and the presence of the Spirit of God in them.
 
(2 Corinthians 1:3-5) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”  What God does is uses us to minister to others.  We are to be living testimonies of the Gospel and new life in Christ.  A number of people have encouraged me to write a book over the years.  What interested them was not so much me, personally, but hearing or reading about how God intervened in the work He has set our hands to.  In other words, the super-natural results of our exercising faith and obedience. The health and wealth gospel appeals to the lust within people.  The true Gospel appeals to the desperation of the wounded heart.  The world observing our lives should not bring the promise of material wealth and accumulation of possessions.  Instead they should see people just like them, living in victory over the maladies that life on this earth is sure to bring.
 
A word about sin.  There are consequences to sin.  Those consequences can bring great sorrow. But even if you must face the consequences of your sins, you can find forgiveness and restoration in Jesus.  So my encouragement to you is this.  Embrace the consequences with the confidence that God really is the God of all comfort.  You are hard pressed because of your own doing, but God has not abandoned you.  Turn to Him.  Trust in Him.  And let your light shine even in the midst of that darkness to His glory.  CHARLEY

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