Hurt Versus Suffering

Has God ever asked us to hurt? Has He asked us to suffer? I've never really thought of this before prayer time with a friend yesterday, but there is not a scripture where God tells us to hurt. There are plenty of scriptures where he warns us that we will suffer. What's the difference?

I started a word study this morning on "hurt" versus "suffer." The Hebrew and Greek words for hurt are tied to evil, distress, calamity and adversity. Most of the verses that have "hurt" are actually God telling us that He will protect us against hurt. Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” In the Old Testament when the three Hebrew boys in exile would not bow their knee to the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar commanded everyone to worship, he had them thrown into a fiery furnace. It was then reported to the king in Daniel 3:25, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." (emphasis mine)

Scriptures that warn us that we will have to suffer have a more eternal perspective. There are actually quite a few Greek words for "suffer," but the one used the most often is "pascho" which means - to be affected or have been affected, to feel, have a sensible experience, to undergo. Jesus tried to tell the disciples before his crucifixion that he would have to suffer. He had to feel pain for us. He asks us if we are willing to share in that suffering so we can be more sensitive to the pain of others. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;” (Phil. 1:29) Our problem is that our finite minds get stuck on the suffering instead of the end result. When God asks us if we are willing to suffer for Him, the destination is not the pain. The destination is that JOY of eternity with Him on the other side of suffering!

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:16-18

I challenge you to do your own word study on hurt and suffering. There are so many more scriptures on this subject. Next time you experience some pain, ask God for His perspective. When you learn to "dwell in the secret place of the Most High" during a time of pain, the enemy will not be able to hurt you. (Ps. 91) You will start experiencing a deeper level of intimacy with God that you would not have had without the time of suffering. God will prove Himself Faithful and True!

Word Check!

This morning I was woken from a deep sleep stirred to pray for some dear friends and their marriage. As I sought the Lord on how to pray for them, I was prompted to go on a journey through the scriptures about abiding in His Word. My prayer is that this husband and wife would each have a tremendous desire for God's Word that will penetrate through the temptation to focus on the bleak outlook the enemy has for their marriage.

The book of John has so much to say about the pros of abiding in God's Word and the cons about not making room for His word. In John 8:31-32, Jesus tells us that if we abide in His word, then we are disciples and we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. If that's true (and we know it is!), then why are so many Christians walking around defeated? Could it be that the truth we know to be right is being choked out by the cares of this world? I think of the parable of the sower and the seed. The seed that fell among the soil with thorns got choked out. Jesus said that the seed was the Word of God. He said that "he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful." (Matt. 13:22) I don't want to be an "unfruitful" Christian. No fruit means no harvest of souls, but first it means no fruit of the Spirit in my own life that would in turn lead to a harvest of souls for His Kingdom.

So, today I challenge you to do a Word check. How much love do you have? How about joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness? Goodness? Faith? Gentleness? Self-control? If any of these are lacking, then you need to pray for a deeper desire to abide in His Word. Is it possible to have all these in the midst of adverse circumstances? Absolutely! I call it being in a God-bubble! It's like that movie from the 70's, "Boy in the Plastic Bubble." John Travolta played a boy that could not go outside of his house because the germs he could acquire in the world could kill him. Finally, they made a suit like a space suit he could wear so he could go out in the world and be protected from all the germs. If you start abiding in God's Word and allowing His Word to abide in you, you will find yourself in the midst of all the mess of your life, but it will be like you are in a protective bubble. Instead of despair, depression, or anxiety, you'll have faith, hope and love! I dare say that you will also start seeing that the circumstances that once weighed you down will start changing. Instead of the state of the affairs of your life influencing you, your new out-look will start influencing them! Relationships will be restored! Bills will be paid! Bodies will be healed!

Lord, thank you for your life-changing Word! I pray for a deeper desire for Your Word. Help me to abide in Your Word today. Even when I cannot stop to physically pick up the Bible to read, please remind me of a verse to meditate upon. I pray that Your Word will take root deep in my heart, in Jesus' Name! Amen!

Lighten Up! Going Deeper! report

God truly showed up and showed out at the Lighten Up! Going Deeper! women's conference this past Saturday! What a kick off as the first conference Legacy Ministries has ever put on. Boy, did we ever have obstacles leading up to the conference! The enemy sure did not want it to happen! He lost, though! BIG TIME!!

Reports from attendees are starting to come in. One lady told me that she did not know what to expect, but she is so glad she went. She said that everything led to the next. Every song, speaker, testimony, etc. kept building up to the next thing all for God's purposes. Another said, "Your conference was awesome the whole day. Sometimes I get bored at other women's conferences, but not this one!" Yet another said,

"It took me a while to understand the "lighten up" part of the conference but once I did I think a shed a few spiritual pounds of judgement! Your style of communicating what God had given you was relaxed and oozed with love for God and His women. I would highly recommend this conference to those that are thirsty for more and want to experience freedom from past hurts and prejudices."

I am going to post some pictures on my website. You can get there by clicking on the title to this blog entry. If they are not there yet, check back. If any of you attended the conference, please leave a comment to this blog. I'd love to read what God did for you!

3 Day Devotional Posted Online

I'm so excited that the Lighten Up! Going Deeper! women's conference will be here in less than 2 days! I challenged the registrants to join me on a 3 day fast of their choosing to prepare for what God wants to do in thier lives at the conference. I posted devotionals on my website for them to read each day of the fast. Day 1 - "What is Weighing You Down"; Day 2 - "Are You Willing to 'Let Go and Let God'?"; Day 3 - "Preparing to Go Deep"

Whether you are a participant of the conference or not, you may print the devotionals for yourself. You can get to them by simply clicking on the title to this blog post above. Feel free to then come back and leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you. Please be in prayer for our conference. I'm sure I'll have great reports to blog about after Saturday!

Fasting -- Returning to a Foundational Discipline

Fast. What comes to your mind when you see that word? Some might think of it in terms of speed. Others will think of not eating. Our society is so fast-paced that we often times don't have time, or don't take time, to even think about taking time out of our schedule to seek God on a genuine fast. As Christians need to get back to the discipline of fasting. It is becoming a necessity if we want to be stripped of clutter that keeps us from hearing God's voice clearly. Sadly, many Christians have never even fasted one meal. Are we not willing to sacrifice even one meal to find the heart of God?

As I prepare for our women's conference coming up on January 31, God is stirring me to fast. The theme of the conference is Lighten Up! Going Deeper! What better way to get rid of junk that weighs us down and prepare to draw closer to God than to go on a fast? I'm not talking about merely skipping meals to show some kind of "super Christian" label. I'm talking about seeking God. In fact, this time God is leading me on a different type of fast. Rather than going on a certain type of fast, I am to seek Him each day for what to fast that day. It might be dessert or it might be the whole meal. It might even be the computer! This way the focus is not on the fast itself, but it is on merely seeking God and learning to hear His voice more clearly.

Isaiah 11:3-4 (talking about the Messiah) says, "...He shall not judge by the sight of His ears, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with Righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth..." Jesus makes decisions with righteousness. Righteousness, right-standing before God, is extended to us. Prayerfully during this fasting time we will let go of some junk that has built up in our lives that keeps us from realizing that righteousness God offers to us. Then we will be able to make decisions with His direction--His righteousness.

Will you join with me on a fast? How many days? That's up to you and God. What will you fast? That, too, is up to you and God. I pray it will be a time that our focus will be on God and we will learn a new level of trusting God. Is. 26:3 says, "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." May His perfect peace be yours as you seek Him!

BTW, I found a great blog post about fasting at my friend Julie Ferwerda's website. If you click on the title of this post, you will be taken to it.

Also, if any of you ladies in the Atlanta area would like to come to the Lighten Up! Going Deeper! women's conference, go to my website to find out more information or to register. www.legacyministries.info

Trust God...BYSSIW

Lately it seems that God is bringing up the topic of trusting Him quite a bit. I know it's on our money (at least for now!), "In God We Trust," but do we? I have many friends who are going through circumstances of monumental proportions that consequently are bringing them to a test of their trust in God. The circumstances I know of include court hearings, cancer, wayward children, possible foreclosures, divorce, death of loved ones, and on and on the list goes.

One of my friends I am asking you to pray for, Dick Bowley, has a blog on which he journals his journey through leukemia. God is pouring through him as he writes his entries. I feel as though I'm praying for a miracle for my daily devotional author. He calls those of us who read the daily posts and pray for him his POP team (power of prayer). (You can join the POP team by going to http://www.carepages.com/carepages/DickBowley) I read it to see how to pray for him, but I find myself encouraged and ministered to each time. On today's entry, he retold the story of Jesus telling Peter who had just toiled all night fishing and catching nothing to launch out into deeper waters and cast his net. Peter responded with BYSSIW - Because You said so, I will!

Then I read a blog entry by another friend, Amy Woods, about the same subject. (You may read it, too by going to http://life275style.blogspot.com/2008/12/life-275-stylepsalm-275-that-is.html.) On the blog post, she talks about Psalm 27:5 -"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock." There it is again...a reminder that we can trust HIM! He is our only sure foundation TO trust. Thank God, we have Him!

As I go about God's assignments for me today, I will be praying for you and all my friends to be strengthened to go through the trusting test. Please join me in prayer for one in particular, my good friend, Claude Parent. He has recently found out that cancer that he got through once has returned. Thank you for joining with me to pray for wisdom for treatments, endurance for the race and healing for every fiber of his body.

Lord, all our hope is in YOU! We proclaim today that in You, and in You only, we place our trust!!

God Is Working When We Don't Even Know It!

I think this is the first time I have posted on my blog for the second time in less than 24 hours. The reason is I am so excited about what God is doing in my life right now, I cannot sleep! It is 1:33 AM. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a night owl. I usually start shutting down at 9:30 or 10:00.

Rather than continue lying in the bed with a thousand thoughts racing, I decided to get up and go to www.crosswalk.com to read my assignment for my daily Bible reading plan. Today's scripture included the story about Jacob having the dream about the ladder going up to Heaven with angels going up and down it (Gen. 28). It goes on to say, And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

As I read I thought, "That's it! I know how he feels!" Lately God has shown me that He has been working when I did not even know it. I can think of recent examples about Him doing this concerning contacts about my book, Loving God With All Five Senses, my ministry (Legacy Ministries), and the 1st Women's Conference Legacy is presenting on the 31st of this month called Lighten Up! Going Deeper!

If you would like to see what all is going on with any of these things, I invite you to visit my website at www.legacyministries.info. Thank you for allowing me some time to unload some of my excitement so I can go to sleep now!