“…The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
This morning I kept humming the little tune “The joy of the Lord is your strength…” As I hummed, I began to wonder what this really means. It is one of those things that I know is true, but what I wondered was why? So I went right to the source, to Nehemiah 8:10 to find the context for the joyful statement. The context was the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem after, or at the end of the Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah called the people together and Ezra read the law – the word of God- to them. The result was: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.” After which Nehemiah declared: “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The people knew the joy of the Lord when they understood the word of God. The people were made to understand that though they had been in captivity, they were still God’s people. The joy of the Lord is present when we realize that we are His people. Now that I think of it, when I am down and am having a difficult time getting back up, when I remember that Jesus has saved me, the Holy Spirit is living within me, and God loves me, I experience the joy of the Lord and realize that His joy is really my strength. When I understand that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” the joy of the Lord wells up in me. When I realize that I belong to Jesus I experience the joy of the Lord as my strength. It is my prayer that you have this joy as well. Notice that the text says: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” It was personal for each Isareli. It is personal to us and it means that God has given us His joy, which is eternal joy. Then our minds turn to John 15:11, which informs us: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Jesus intends for us to be joyful people; therefore, He has given us His joy. Since this is joy that has its origin in eternity, and is given by the eternal God, it is, indeed, our strength. This means that there is nothing in this world that can steal our joy in Him. It means that there is nothing in this world that we will have to face without His joy in us. It is during difficult times that we go through that we realize the real strength of the joy of the Lord. James expressed what I am trying to relate to you about the joy of the Lord. Look to James 1:2-4: My brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse (many different kinds of) temptations. 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 4. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and entire, wanting nothing.” If that doesn’t say that the joy of the Lord is our strength, I don’t know where we will find it in God’s word. It is not the only statement that would remind us of this, but it is certainly one of the most succinct. What it means is that our faith is strengthened when we undergo all sorts of trials, and when our faith is tested and we stand in our faith, God’s strength enables us to withstand and to thrive. We are better people because of the tests, and temptations, that life throws at us. That is why each of us can say:“The joy of the Lord is (my) strength.” The joy of the Lord is found in the presence of God in our lives and of His work within our lives. It is God who gives us the strength to go on. It is God who forgives us and leads us into righteousness. It is God who has planted the joy of His Son in our lives. For this we owe Him our lives and our devotion. With this in mind, we can sing: “The joy of the Lord is (my) strength.” Bro. Joe
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“When you said, Seek ye my face: my heart said unto you, your face, Lord, will I seek. 9. Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger; you have been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.”
Throughout the Psalms we find David, and others, crying out to God, longing for His presence in their lives. We have to remember that they did not have the presence of the Holy Spirit in them as we do, but they knew that God’s presence was very important. This is why they wrote about the tabernacle or temple so much, because God was present among His people in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple. When I read this, I asked myself if I really longed for the Lord’s presence, or do I just take it for granted. I’m asking that question for you too as we explore this need. First, we need to realize that today we are God’s temples, and that through His Holy Spirit, He has taken abode in our lives. We have the presence of God in us, but at times we still feel as though He is far away. One thing we have to remember during these times is that God did not move. He is where He has promised to be all of the time. Therefore, when we do not keenly feel Christ’s presence in our lives, we have a spiritual problem that we need to take to Him, repent of it and claim His presence. Remember, if you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within your life, and He is, indeed, with you all of the time. Second, we need to realize that when we feel that God is not near us, it is most likely because of sin. James reminded us of this in James 1:14-15: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” Actually, during most of these times, we know what the sin problem is; we just need to repent of it, confess it, be forgiven and move on in our lives. Sometimes we are reluctant to admit that the problem is sin. The sin might be some habit that we do not want to give up, but is harming us spiritually. There might be any number of reasons why we are reluctant to confess, but we surely need to confess if we want to experience the closeness to God that He has given us through His Spirit. Third, we need to remember that God wants us to feel close to Him, because That is where our security lies. This is why James wrote in James 4:7-8: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.” James wrote that we are to “submit to God.” If we have submitted our hearts and lives to sin, we are not submitted to God. Therefore, the first thing to do when we feel that God is far away from us, is to submit to Him instead of whatever it is that is making us feel that He is not near. When we submit to God, then we are able to resist the devil, and since it is God that the devil is dealing with at this point he will flee from us. James also writes that we should consciously “draw near to God.” We know that Jesus brought us to the Father by faith, but we need to set our hearts and minds on the presence of God instead of whatever it is that is trying to come between God and us. The promise is that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. In other words, we will have renewed fellowship with Him. We will experience His closeness. When we realize that we are close to God, we are more secure in our Christian lives and more fruitful in our Christian service. I don’t know where you are in your relationship with God right now, but I do know that if you feel He is not close, the problem is within you; it is not God's fault. Through Christ and the Holy Spirit everything has been done that needs to be done to save you and to help you live in the security of God’s presence. Find out what it is that is keeping you from feeling His closeness and deal with it through prayer. Bro. Joe “A man that has friends must show himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
I have been humming the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” all morning. You remember: “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief’s to bear, what a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.” I figured that if that tune was on my mind and I couldn’t get it off that God wanted me to write an article about our friend Jesus. The text that I chose is from the Old Testament, but it is one of the best descriptions of the friendship of Jesus in the Bible. Jesus did, indeed,“show Himself friendly”, and He is a “friend that sticks closer than a brother.” This is what I see in the New Testament when I read about Jesus, and what I have experienced with Him in my life. .What does it mean to have a friend in Jesus? Proverbs 17:17 describes what it means to have Jesus as a friend: “A friend loves at all times, and br brother is born for adversity." Let’s take a look at “a friend loves at all times.” Paul addressed this in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That reads an awful lot like “a friend loves at all times.” There is not a person on earth that Jesus does not love, for He died for all that “none should perish.” In His life, death and resurrection, Jesus befriended all people. He longs to have a relationship with all people. Of course, He doesn’t have a relationship with all people, because many people reject Him. But their rejection is not Jesus’ fault. The fact that Jesus loves at all times means that He loves us, and befriends at all of the times of our lives. He is with us when we are going through smooth-sailing. When we rejoice, Jesus rejoices with us. Jesus is also with us, befriending us, when we are going through difficult times as well. Just because we are not “winning” does not mean that Jesus has stopped caring. He is especially with us when we are going through difficult times. I can attest to this, and I imagine that many of you reading this can attest to the same thing. Look at the second part of Proverbs 17:17: “And a brother is born for adversity.” This means that a real friend will not forsake us when things are not going our way. Jesus is as much our friend in adverse times as He is in the good times. When we are suffering for any reason, we must not assume that Jesus does not care, for He was born, lived, died, arose and ascended in order to be with us in adversity. Christians have to face all of the exigencies of life like everybody else. We can just rejoice that we have a friend that “sticks closer than a brother” at those times. Is Jesus a friend to those who have not put their faith in Him? I think that He is, or will be, but friendship has to work both ways. Proverbs 18:24 informed us that, “a man that has friends must show himself friendly.” Jesus has shown Himself friendly to all humanity, but all humanity has not claimed His friendship. Understand this, Jesus is willing to embrace and save anyone who will come to Him by faith. Think of the thief on the cross. He was really a bad character, but when he saw Jesus for who He really was, he reached out to Jesus and ended up in paradise. Though the thief was a vile sinner, Jesus did not reject him. The world has a friend in Jesus, for He died on the cross for all people. Christian, rejoice today that you have a friend in Jesus, who will not forsake you no matter what is going on in your life. For those who haven’t claimed that friendship, claim it now. Bro. Joe “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
Haven’t you sometimes felt this way? There is something about we human beings that makes us want “to get away from it all.” In a way tourism has almost become a boom market, because people want to “fly away like a dove.” Sometimes the realities of the moment just seem too much for us. David was going through such a time as this, and he wanted to just get away and “be at rest.” For example, look at verses 1-3 of Psalm 55: “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. 2. Attend unto me, and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make a noise. 3. Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.” Come on, let’s cut David some slack here. If we were surrounded by enemies like David was, we would probably want to sprout wings and fly away as well. Well, David didn’t sprout wings, and he did not fly away. This would be impossible for us as well. Where would one go to get away? Let’s say that you are having trouble at work. Maybe there is a person, or people, there who are just making life miserable for you. The first thing is that if you “fly away,” say to the beach, your problems and your anger will just go with you. Besides that, you will have to return to work and the problems will still be there. Getting away might have helped for the moment, but it did not solve the problem at work. It could be that you are just plain tired of politics in America right now. I know that I am. I have caught myself thinking like David, I wish that I could sprout wings, fly away, and get away from the animosity and hatred. “But,” I ask myself, “Where would you go?” There is no hiding place on earth that can shield us permanently from the realities of daily living. What in the world can we do? Is there no hope? Well, just read on. You have probably already guessed what the first thing is that I will write here is that we can pray! This is what David did. Look at verses 16-18 and 22: “As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. 17. Evening and morning and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall answer me. 18. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there are many with me. 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” David flew away, not from the circumstances, but into the arms of God. Another insight that David received through prayer was shared in verse 18: “He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there are many with me.” We sometimes want to “fly away” because we feel that we are in our circumstances alone. This is never true of God’s people. We have God with us at all times, and we have our fellow Christians. Do you remember when Elijah ran away in fear of Jezebel? One of his problems was that he thought he was fighting the battle alone, but God gave him reassurance in 1 Kings 19:18: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (I suggest that you turn to 1 Kings 19 and read this whole account.) Through prayer and trust in God, we will not need to fly away, but we will learn to cope with the realities of our lives. It doesn’t hurt to take time away from our problems, but that will not heal them. We need to learn to trust God, and in trusting Him cope with our lives as they are - change what we can and accept what we can't change. Let Paul reassure you here in what he wrote in Philippians 4:6-7: "Be careful (do not be anxious about anything) for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, 7. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Bro. Joe “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not 'Yes' and 'No.' 19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not 'Yes' and 'No,' but in Him it has always been 'Yes' 20. For no matter how many promises God hasmade, they are 'Yes' in Christ. And through Him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (NIV)
Paul was being criticized by Corinthian Christians because he promised that he would visit them at a certain time, but that visit did not happen because God had other plans. In our text, Paul is defending his honesty by informing them that he did not make promises lightly, and that his message was never “Yes” and “No.” From this explanation Paul saw an opportunity to share a great truth about Christ. His message was that in Christ all of God’s promises are “Yes.” Christ is God’s “Yes” to all that God has in store for us. This reality has not changed, for Christ is still God’s “Yes” to us and to all generations. The following points will explain what it has meant, and still means, that Christ is God’s “Yes.” Christ is God’s “Yes” to a promised Messiah. Without going into great detail about Old Testament prophecies of Christ, it will be sufficient to say that when Christ came everything that was written and promised about Him in the Old Testament was fulfilled. He was God’s resounding “Yes” to this promise. Not everyone realized this, especially the Scribes and Pharisees, but it was, and is, true today as well. Christ is God’s “Yes” to the salvation that we can have through Him. When we use the word “saved” it sometimes confuses people who do not understand what God has done for them. But it is a sweet word to us, for we know that in Christ God said “Yes, you can be saved, delivered and cleansed from sin.” Sin is our great enemy and without God’s “Yes” in Christ it will totally defeat us. Being saved means that we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. We have God’s promise that if we will put our faith in Jesus, we will be saved, that is, we will become God’s children through adoption into His family. This promise is true for everyone who lives on this earth. The Bible says that “whosoever will may come.” It should be our prayer that people all over the world will respond in a positive manner to God’s “Yes.” Christ is God’s “Yes” to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Here is what Paul wrote about this promise in verses 21-22 of 2 Corinthians 1: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. 22. He anointed us, and set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.” The Holy Spirit brings a lot into our lives about which we do not have room to write at the present time, but when we are saved, God’s promise of the Holy Spirit to help us live for Jesus becomes a reality. Here is one promise made in John 16:13-14: “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; but He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is to come. 14. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it made known to you.” Christ is God’s “Yes” to us that we can spend eternity with Him when we have faith in Him and turn our lives over to Him. In John 14 Jesus promised that He would prepare a place for us. Specifically, He promised: “I am going to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am…” I have not written anything new in this article, but I hope that a reminder of what we have in Jesus will give you a blessed day, and make you have a greater appreciation for what God’s “Yes” in Christ means to you. Bro. Joe "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4. Who comforts us in all our tribulation (trouble), that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."
"Comfort" is a wonderful word. I think that it is the aim of most people to be comfortable. We work and earn money in order to have a comfortable life. “Comfort” is not only a wonderful word, today it is a necessity. It has almost become a way of life. I’m definitely not against being comfortable, so don’t accuse me of being anti-comfort. But I want to point out that the comfort that Paul writes about here is much more than just having a comfortable life. "Comfort" is defined as "a state of well-being." This is what Jesus brings into our lives. He gives us a sense of, not just physical well-being, but a sense of spiritual well-being as well. In Jesus we have security, consolation and peace in our souls. In Jesus we have a promise of comfort throughout all eternity. It is not a shallow comfort that lasts for only a moment. It is a deep comfort that gives us peace and tranquility everyday of our lives. Christian comfort can be described as a sense of well-being, not just for today but forever. This doesn't mean that because of Jesus, we live a life of ease, with no cares whatsoever. This kind of life ended as far back as the Garden of Eden. What it does mean is that because of Jesus' comfort, we are enabled to meet the inevitable problems of life with a sense of security and well-being, knowing that Jesus is with us. You cannot purchase this comfort at a furniture store – or even Walmart. (Okay, I’ll admit that this is a bad joke, but I’m leaving it here anyway.) Jesus doesn’t just give us comfort: He is our comfort. It is interesting that when Jesus told His disciples about His death, resurrection and ascension, He promised to send them a "Comforter." He was talking about the Holy Spirit. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit, Who comforts us with the comfort of Jesus. Praise God! We have received God's comfort. But this is not where His comfort ends. We do not just receive His comfort and sit back and enjoy it all to ourselves. Look at verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 1: "(God) comforts us in all our trouble, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." This means that we do not receive God's comfort to keep to ourselves. He expects us to share it with other people. It should be important to us that if God can bring such comfort into our lives, He can also bring it into the lives of others. We should be concerned that people all around us who are faced with all kinds troubles without the benefit of spiritual guidance, should receive the same comfort that we have. We certainly cannot force this complete comfort on other people. I have had people get downright sore at me for trying to introduce them to the One who could give them this comfort. Some have even accused me of "judging" them because I wanted to do them a favor. This doesn't mean, however, that I would be justified to just stop trying to share this great comfort. Let's get this down good: What we have in Jesus is not just ours to keep, rather, it is ours to share. Every "good and perfect gift" that He brought into our lives is given to us to share with others. It is important that we be about the business of sharing the comfort that we have in Jesus with others. Bro. Joe “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.”
Each time I read about Jacob and Esau, I am reminded that the only real hero in the Bible is God. The Bible always tells the truth about human beings, and this is not illustrated any better than with Jacob and Esau. Esau was the oldest of the fraternal twins, but because he was hungry, and because his brother Jacob knew his weaknesses, he sold his birthright to Jacob for a “mess of pottage.” (You can read the whole thing in Genesis 24:29-34.) We can learn some things from this sordid affair, which I think is one of the points of having the story in the Bible in the first place. Esau teaches us here of the futility, if not stupidity, of living for the moment. Esau was famished and wanted something to eat badly. Jacob knew it and tempted him with the “mess of pottage.” Because Esau thought he was about to starve to death, he didn’t look beyond getting his stomach filled and sold his birthright to Jacob. It didn’t occur to him that his birthright was more important than his stomach. I have to wonder if we have learned this lesson? We see all of the shiny objects, like wide-screen television sets, sleek cars, spiffy furniture etc. and we just have to have them, so we go into debt to have them. We read all of the time about people who let credit card debts pile up until they cannot possibly pay them, all to have the shiny objects that they can’t resist. I think that our government uses the Esau method as well. We just go on getting deeper and deeper into debt, building up a debt for our grandchildren and great grandchildren. (This is not a political statement. Both political parties have done a good job of getting us into debt.) This is only one illustration of our Esau-like behavior. I don’t want to appear too cynical here, but I think sometimes that our economy is built around our insatiable appetites for things and for pleasure. We make decisions based on our desires rather than on common sense. I must confess that I have been guilty of this, and you probably have too. I have wanted “things” to the point of getting into debt. Fortunately, I have learned from my mistakes and know that no “thing” and no pleasure is worth the price that I might have to pay for them. I trust that as you read about this that you will become aware of your own Esau-like tendencies and not give in to the temptations that abound in our affluent and immoral society. When Satan was tempting Jesus in Matthew 4, he showed him all of the kingdoms of the world and told him that He could have all of it if He would just worship him. Of course, Jesus did not succumb to that, and we can be grateful that our Savior was not Esau-like. Satan is not above throwing the same kinds of things in our faces. He wants to blind us to the futility of living for the moment and having momentary pleasure instead of spiritual satisfaction. We need to remember what Jesus said about this in Matthew 16:24-27: “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any (person) will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his/her cross and follow me. 25. For whosoever will save his/her life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his/he life for my sake shall find it. 26. For what is a (person) profited, if he/she shall gain the whole world, and lose his/her soul? Or what shall a (person) give in exchange for his/her soul? 27. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then He shall reward every (person) according to his/her works.” (Of course I added “person” and “his/her” to the text.) What Esau lacked was self-denial. We would do well to look at our own lives and see if we are short on the virtue of self-denial as well. Bro. Joe “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed: came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. 34. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35. And the next day when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him and whatsoever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.”
You probably know the content of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. You remember that a man was beaten by thieves and left half dead on the side of the road. A priest and Levite passed by the man on the other side of the road, but the Samaritan stopped and helped the man. The priest and Levite, when they saw the suffering man, might have said: “Who cares?” Along came the Samaritan and said: “I care.”The question for us is which of these people would we be as we encounter suffering humanity. Would we say “Who cares?” or “I care?” The Good Samaritan has some lessons to teach us – let’s learn them. It is written that the Good Samaritan had compassion on the man. This is what the priest and Levite did not have. It is possible that the priest and Levite had important religious business to attend to in Jericho, and did not want to waste the time to stop and help the man. This reminds us of the Pharisees who were ready to kill Jesus because He healed people on the Sabbath. To put religious activity ahead of compassion for lost humanity is not good. It is not our duty to be “religious;" it is our duty to be Christian. To have compassion on someone is to empathize with them – to feel their pain. Perhaps the Good Samaritan thought, “If this was me, I would want someone to stop and help me, or if this was one of my children, I would want someone to stop and help them." It is possible that the priest and Levite felt sorry for the injured man, but feeling sorry for someone is not the same as feeling with someone. We need to ask ourselves if we have compassion in our hearts for hurting and lost humanity? The Good Samaritan took the time to help the injured man. He used what “first aid” resources he had available at the time. He bound up the man’s wounds and poured in oil and wine. Remember that he did not have bandages and other things that we might have in a first aid kit. He used what he had to help the man. He did what he could to do good to the injured man. We read stories all of the time of where people see people suffering in some way and “pass by on the other side.” It is not unheard of that people have watched people beaten, or raped, and just kept on going. I think that in a case like that a cell phone would be like “binding wounds and pouring in oil and wine.” If one didn’t have a cell phone, there is certainly something that they could do. Like the priest and Levite, people today just don’t want to get involved. Could it be said of us that we do not want to get involved in other people’s suffering? The Good Samaritan was willing to pay to be compassionate. He took the man to an inn and found lodging for him until he could get well. Furthermore, he told the innkeeper: “Take care of him; and whatever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.” The Good Samaritan followed through on his commitment to help the man get well. He didn’t just drop him off at an inn and say: “There, I’ve done my part." It does sometimes cost to act compassionately, but it pays off in our Christian witness. Who cares? Do you care? It is a good question. Caring is not just about helping suffering people on the side of the road. It is about being a good neighbor to others, and showing compassion in all areas of life. Bro. Joe “Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping…”
Job made this statement in reply to his friend, Zophar, who had just given him a lecture about God. It was really in reply to all three of his friends who were giving him “counsel” on what he needed to do to get out of the mess that he was in. Their conclusion was that Job was in dire straits because he had done something very bad and that God was punishing him. If you remember, Job was in dire straits because the Lord allowed Satan to test him. This caused me to do a little reflecting on Job, his plight and his friends. The statement in Job 12:5 tells us that when things are going good for us and not well for someone else, we should not have contempt for them as though they have done something wrong. I am not intimating that God will not bring misfortune to us to straighten us out. After all, the Bible does tell us that God disciplines us. But I think that what took place between Job and his friends should remind us to be careful not to put the blame on God for every bad thing that happens. We have to remember that Satan was involved in this event too. Job’s friends, who were “at ease,” had contempt for him as though he were a blatant sinner. This should teach us not to look at our fellow Christians with contempt when they are going through difficult times, and not to assume that they are being punished for some bad thing that they have done. Misfortune falls to all people at some point in life, and our task as Christians is to give them words of encouragement that will help them, not words of contempt that will only depress them. We read about Job’s friends in Job 1:11-13: “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their head toward heaven. 13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.” Notice that in the beginning their motives were pure. Their friend had come upon misfortune and they came to comfort him. (So far so good.)They went so far as to sit with him for seven days without saying a word but only grieving with him. That was good, and in this lies a lesson for us. When we want to comfort friends who are suffering, we need to sit with them, grieve with them and keep our mouths shut. If we can’t think of something constructive to say, it is best just to be there and let that be the comfort that we give. I think that what really irked Job about his three friend's attempt at “comfort” was that they assumed that he didn’t know anything about God and that they needed to teach him about the ways of God. In fact, Job said to them in Job 12:1-3: “And Job answered and said, 2. No doubt you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. 3. But I have understanding as well as you: I am not inferior to you: yea, who knows not such things as these?” If we are not careful, our attempts at giving words of comfort can come across as if we are “talking down” to our friend, as though we are spiritually superior. If Jesus didn’t “talk down” to people, we certainly should not. I have found that the best thing we can do for suffering friends is to pray for them and with them, and let God speak to their hearts. If we have words of wisdom to share, share them, but make sure that are really words of wisdom and not words of contempt. God wants to use us to help people, not tear them down. Bro. Joe “Pray without ceasing…”
Paul always stressed the importance of prayer. In this verse he wrote that we should “pray without ceasing.” He did not mean that we should isolate ourselves all of the time and pray. What he meant was that we can and should stay in an attitude of prayer all of the time. We can pray at any time and in any place. We do need to set aside certain times of concentrated prayer where we are alone with God. This can help begin, and or, end our day in good spirits. But we need to remember that Jesus never slumbers; He is never unaware of us. Therefore, we can consult Him any time and at any place. For example, I talk to Him while I drive. (In fact, when I’m driving on I75, do a lot of praying.) It would be good for you to learn to just talk to Jesus whenever you want to or need to. He wants you to do that. One thing that we need to remember about prayer is that it is not a magic formula. We do not talk to Jesus and say some magic words and “poof” we have what we want. 1 John 5:14-15 clarifies this for us: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us. 15. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” God answers us according to His will for us. Why would we want anything that was out of God's will to begin with? I once talked with a woman in her forties who was dying of cancer. In the course of our conversation she told that she was mad with God. I asked her why she was mad with God? She said that when she was ten years old, she asked God for a bicycle and He did not give it to her. I hope that our talk helped her get over this. I would hate to think that she went into eternity mad with God over such a trivial matter. I think sometimes that we mistake Jesus for the “good fairy” who waves a magic wand and gives us what we want. He knows what we need and what we want might not be what we need. If we ask God for something and don’t get it, it means that He has something better for us. Do we think so little of Jesus that we think that He cannot say “no” to us? I have found in my life that when I don’t get exactly what I ask for, I get what He wants and my life is better for it. When we pray in faith, we should not be seeking what we want but what He wants. Have faith in Jesus that He knows what is best for you. Prayer is not just asking God for things. It is our means of fellowship with Him. Some of my greatest times of prayer have been when I just sat, or laid, silently and meditated on Him. This is when I can hear Him in my heart and mind and discover what He wants from me. What Jesus wants from me is much more important than what I want from Him. Sometimes we need to just reflect on God and think about who He is and what He means to us. I find that this time of prayerful reflection helps me to gain a greater love and appreciation for who and what He is in my life. I think that you will find it the same for you. I challenge you to give this a try and see if Jesus wil speak to your heart and mind. It is a wonderful experience. I have heard people say that they have given up on prayer, because God never answered them. He answered, but they missed it because they were looking for what they wanted instead of what He wanted. To give up on prayer is to give up on God. It is not wise to do that. Take Paul’s advice and “pray without ceasing.” Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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