1 What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer! 2 Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer. 3 Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer; Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer; In His arms He’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.
So very sorry Lou Lou as I am not able to convert anyone, Only God can. Also, He is a gentleman and will never force anyone.................... In the meantime, He loves you anyway.
What is the purpose of Athiest to come up with questions and or remarks about the non-existence of God? Is the purpose to change the mind of those who do believe? I can assure you that your mission failed as real believers can not be swayed
I became a believer in May 1975 The day I accepted Jesus as my personal Saviour I can honestly tell you, He changed my life. I receive answers to prayers that humble me, and make me say; Wow. thank you, Lord, You did it again!
The prison director knew about Pastor Li’s death and, realizing that his little orphaned daughter was now speaking with him, a slight tinge of compassion welled up in his heart. He told her, “I have a job, but it is not interesting and pays very little.” She exclaimed, “I will take it!”
The prison director took her outside to an area above where 3,000 prisoners worked below the ground in an iron mine. He said, “Do you see this red button? Your job is to stand next to this pole all day, every day, and when someone tells you to push it, you must push it straight away. This button is the emergency button and when it is pushed a siren is triggered deep below the ground which makes the men evacuate as fast as they can. This button should never be pushed by accident, or without us telling you to push it.” For day after day, week after week, young Sister Li stood next to the pole with the red button. When she received her first pay—just a few dollars—she and her family were overjoyed.
One afternoon, as she was standing next to the pole, she suddenly heard a voice say, “Push the button!” She spun around to find no-one near her and was confused. A few moments later she heard the same voice again, this time louder: “Quick! Push the button now!” Sister Li again turned but saw no-one. She thought she was losing her mind and just stood there confused. She couldn’t push the button unless there was a major emergency, and nothing looked any different from normal. A few seconds later she heard the voice for the third time, but on this occasion, it was with great authority: “Sister Li, push the button now!”
This time she realized it was no less than the voice of the Lord that had been speaking to her. She didn’t understand why He was telling her to push the button but she knew she had to obey. She immediately pushed the red button and the emergency alarm sounded deep underground.
Three thousand men emerged to the surface as quickly as they could, confused and eager to learn what emergency had taken place. The prison director came running from his office and demanded to know why Sister Li had pushed the button and brought production to a halt. Then, just moments after the last man had evacuated from the mine, the ground started to shake violently. A strong earthquake struck that lasted for about 20 seconds, completely collapsing the mine to such an extent that nobody has been able to enter again to this day. When the shaking stopped an eerie silence came upon the gathered mass. Every eye was fixed upon the tiny frail figure, still standing next to the pole and the red button she had so jealously guarded.
The terrified prison director asked in a stammering voice, “Comrade Li, how…how did you know that you should push the button when you did?” She was given a fruit box to stand on so that she could be seen just above the heads of the gathered men. In the loudest voice she could muster she said, “It is the Lord Jesus Christ who told me to push the red button. He told me to do it three times and finally, I did. Jesus Christ is the only way for you to know the true and living God. He loves you, as seen by the fact he saved all your lives this day. You need to repent of your sins and give your lives to him!”
Immediately all three thousand men, including the prison director, knelt down and prayed with great sobs, asking Jesus to come and forgive them and live in their hearts.
Sister Li and the Earthquake; The terrified prison director asked in a stammering voice, “Comrade Li, how…how did you know that you should push the button when you did?” In the early 1950s as persecution swept through the Chinese church, a pastor named Li lived in Guangdong Province in southern China. Li had a wife and five children, aged from twelve to a newborn baby. The authorities arrested Li for ‘counter-revolutionary’ activities and sentenced him to prison with hard labor in an iron mine in remote northeast China.
Li was ordered to take a train more than 2,000 miles to Heilongjiang Province, where he was to begin his sentence of many years. Li’s wife was understandably devastated. She had five children to take care of including a newborn, and now their only source of income was taken from them. They had nowhere to turn except the Lord. The Lis decided they should travel with their father all the way to Heilongjiang, hoping they would be allowed to visit him in the prison from time to time, and if a miracle happened and he was released early they would be near him. They sold most of their possessions and made enough money to purchase seven train tickets for what in those days was a week-long train journey. During the trip their hearts were heavy. Pastor Li prayed for his beloved wife and children, exhorting them to follow the Lord at all costs and praying earnestly for them, hoping to somehow compensate in a short period of time for what would be years of silence to follow.
The Li family finally arrived at their destination. Many tears flowed as Pastor Li entered the prison. His destitute family found some wooden planks and bits of canvas and constructed a makeshift hut on the side of the road not far from the labor camp. The icy winds and winter temperatures of minus 20° cut like knives through the hut and thin clothes of the abandoned family. The children cried night after night, especially the newborn baby who could not get enough nourishment or warmth. Their existence was so miserable that words cannot adequately describe the inner and outer pain this family went through – all because they loved and served the Lord Jesus Christ.
Life inside the labor camp for Pastor Li was intolerable. He and the other prisoners were forced to work 14 hours per day, seven days a week. The backbreaking work of hauling heavy loads like a pack animal, coupled with the putrid and meager food rations, quickly caused his health to deteriorate. The worst pressure of all for Pastor Li was the knowledge that his beloved family was suffering in freezing conditions just outside the prison gates. Three months after entering the prison, Pastor Li died.
When the news was passed on to Mrs Li and her children, all hope was lost. The family plunged into deep depression and despondency. Mrs Li could see no way out, and longed to die. The children were miserable beyond words. Mrs Li told them she would have to find a job in order for them to survive. Her eldest child, a daughter aged twelve, said, “No Mama, you cannot work. Our little brother needs you. He cries all day for you and there is no one else to help him. I will go and look for a job.” The little girl entered the prison office and requested to see the director. She said, “My father was put in this God-forsaken place because of his love for Jesus Christ. That is the only crime he ever committed. He was a good man who loved and helped people. Now he is dead. We have nothing. We have no money, no place to live, and no food. We cannot even return to our home in the south. I want to know if there is any job at all in this prison that you can give me.”
I remember falling into this spiritual nadir during my freshman year at college. Nothing in my Christian life worked anymore. Regardless of how hard I tried, I seemed unable to do any of the spiritual disciplines I wanted so badly to do, and used to be able to do. One night, in frustration, I walked to my friend Mike’s apartment. I collapsed in a chair in his living room and began to cry. “Mike,” I said, “I can’t do it anymore. I’ll never be the Christian I want to be. I just can’t do it.”
Mike looked at me and said, “I’m glad you finally realized that.” Some compassion that was! But Mike was right. I was never going to trust Jesus more if I were still able to trust Kevin. Only when I gave up on that shifty old Kevin would I be able to throw myself completely upon God. If you take a Red Cross lifesaving course, they teach you how to rescue a drowning swimmer. The first thing you do—and this seems cruel—is immobilize him; you drag him under if you have to. But only when the victim gives up on his own thrashing efforts to stay afloat will he be able to be carried safely to shore. Paul got to the point where he gave up his efforts and depended solely on Christ’s rescue. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me,” he wrote. “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20)
The second step God uses in the healing process is to convince us that He loves us. “Perfect love drives out fear,” John wrote (1 Jn. 4:18). When we’ve been loved in God’s perfect way, we gradually lose our fear of not measuring up. Often this step will be partly accomplished through a loving person in our church or family or small group. If we can confess the awful and embarrassing sins in our life to someone and still find love from him or her, it helps us to believe that God could love us that way, too.
It may be that we realize God’s love through a period of rest, where we can’t be loved for what we’re doing because we aren’t doing anything. Dave Johnson, a pastor in the Twin Cities, says, “You need to know that God loves you even if you don’t teach Sunday school. So you may have to quit teaching fore month to find that out.” Third, God will teach us that he is ultimately responsible for our spiritual growth. Until now, we’ve wanted so much to grow in Him, but we’ve assumed it was largely our responsibility. Instead, God wants us to learn that He’s more concerned about it than we could ever be. He wants us to be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). God will get the job done. He will give us the desire to pray; He will give us the discipline to stick to it; He will give us the self-control to say no to distractions. We have to learn to trust Him for that. We have to believe that God does work in us “to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13).
All of this takes time. Most of us, from the time we were babies, learned that acceptance depended upon our performance: not crying, sitting still, keeping our clothes neat, earning merit badges, doing well in sports, getting good grades. Psychologists tell us that many people grow up doubting their parents would really love them no matter what they did. So we have to be patient for God to retrain our way of thinking, to convince us He has a love for us that won’t and can’t quit. But God’s not in a hurry. He’ll complete His work in us; He’ll set us free from the snare of Christian legalism; He’ll cause us to realize we’re always “good Christians” as our faith rests on a good Christ. Until then, Jesus’ words (in Lk. 12:32, KJV) shelter us against the occasional sinking feeling that we’re not very good Christians: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
It’s easy, though, to slide into the idea that our stock with God rises and falls with our ability to perform certain spiritual disciplines consistently. As soon as I think God loves me less because I’ve missed a quiet time, I’m in trouble. Suddenly my Christian life is resting not on trust in what Jesus did, but on my efforts at 6 a.m. As Paul explained to his friends in Galatia, “We, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified” (Gal. 2:16).
SHOULD I HAVE MY QUIET TIME? If you’re like me, at this point you’re probably asking, “But if I trust completely in Christ, rather than my effort, for my Christian growth, does that mean I give up praying, reading the Bible, and doing these other things?” That’s the right question, and the answer is emphatically no. There’s nothing wrong and everything right with these spiritual practices and disciplines. Spiritual disciplines allow the presence of Christ to become more evident in our lives. They’re indispensable. The problem is instead the attitude we can unknowingly begin to operate under: that they put us right with God, or that God is more pleased with us if we do them and less pleased with us if we don’t. While we were sinners, utterly incapable of keeping a regular quiet time, God died for us. God’s love for us can’t be increased or decreased by our devotional life or lack of it.
Robert Hudnut, a Presbyterian pastor and the author of This People, This Parish, points out that there are really only two motivating forces in our lives: love and fear. Both are valid, but love is the sweeter and stronger of the two. So I’ve learned to ask myself this question: “Am I doing this more out of love (for God) or fear (that He won’t love me if I don’t)?” I’d like to reach the point where every quiet time, every Bible study, every journal entry is done because I love God so much for saving me. Less and less do I want to do these things because I’m afraid He won’t love me quite as much if I don’t.
WHAT GOD WANTS US TO KNOW; The good news is that if anyone wants our Christian life to be infused with joy rather than guilt, it is God. He wants us to practice every spiritual discipline with the freeing knowledge that His love for us won’t diminish if we blow it. He wants us to know and feel that we’re very good Christians, kids that He cares deeply about. I wish I could say that we can do something to free ourselves from Christian legalism and the accompanying guilt feelings that we’re not very good Christians. But the problem, for we who wrestle with this, is that we’re depending too much on our doing already. The weak spot we need to develop is in the area of rest and receiving from God. Isaiah put it exquisitely:”In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Is. 30:15). What we who struggle with Christian legalism need to learn is not the fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12) but its partner, the rest of faith (Heb. 4:3, Heb. 4:10). But there are some movements of God we can learn to watch for. And we can join in those with prayers of acceptance and gratitude. The first step God uses in the healing process, I’ve discovered, is to allow us to become utterly frustrated and despairing that we will ever be able to please Him. It seems we must reach the point where we realize our inability to pray, to keep commitments, to really thirst for God. I used to be disciplined, we think. What’s gone wrong with me? If you feel or have felt this way, you’re in good company. So did the Apostle Paul. He agonized, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do” (Ro. 7:14–15).
He recognizes a creeping anger about the burden of it all, the sheer work of keeping all the balls spinning: He has to get up early and jog to be a good steward of his body; then he has to pray, to be a good steward of his spirit; then he has to study and memorize Scripture to be a good steward of his mind. All I want to do is please the Lord, he thinks. Why do I feel so weighed down? A tendency to compare your Christian life with others. Some speakers have exhorted me to pray more by citing the example of Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the world’s largest church. He prays for five hours a day. I admire Pastor Cho, but I have to admit that statistic doesn’t inspire me; it paralyzes me. Some days, I have trouble squeezing in five hours of sleep, let alone prayer. How can I ever keep up with that standard?
This is the disturbing side of the disease. Ever so subtly, and unintentionally, we begin to base our value as believers on how much we’re reading Scripture, praying, witnessing, and giving. Then we compare ourselves with others in our church or small group (or in Christian books). If we come out unfavorably, it usually doesn’t inspire us to new heights of faithfulness. Instead, it may make us feel we aren’t as precious to God as they must be. Why hasn’t God blessed me as much as He has them? we sometimes think. I wish I had that kind of time to devote or that kind of discipline or those opportunities to minister. (Ironically, if our comparison comes out favorably, it usually leads to spiritual pride!)
HOW TO BE A “REALLY GOOD CHRISTIAN” The “I’m not a very good Christian” syndrome is not strictly a modern problem; Paul once wrote a letter to a church full of people who felt these symptoms. In it, he not only described the problem but also offered a straightforward cure. After Paul had packed up and left his church, other guest speakers had come with an exciting new message: If you really want to please God, you need to do a few things—set aside certain days for prayer, and so on. These young and earnest church members did those, but there were some troubling side effects. These folks began to think God loved them less if they stopped keeping up with their commitments. If they faltered, their Christian lives were through. When Paul heard about it, his blood pressure must have skyrocketed. He wrote a letter to these Galatians, and as you read it, you can practically see the color in his face:
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? . . . I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. —Gal. 3:1–3, Gal. 4:11
Allow me to paraphrase for those of us who live today. Paul is saying, “Now think: Did God adopt you as His children because you had completed a four-week study? Prayed every day for an hour during that time? Memorized thirty key verses? No, you became a Christian by trusting in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and you keep living as a Christian the same way. It depends on His Spirit, not your effort.”
The Galatians were struggling with legalism—the belief that God’s love and acceptance depend on what we do, not what He’s already done. Scholars believe that in the Galatians’ time, the practices that assured them they were now “really good Christians” were circumcision and observing certain festivals and special days. In our day, the practices are usually prayer, fasting, Scripture memorization, and Bible study. There’s not the slightest thing wrong with any of those spiritual disciplines; they’re great, and I and many other Christians benefit from them. But what makes us “really good Christians” is trust in Jesus. Period!
I could tell something was bothering my wife one evening—she was quieter than usual and didn’t look at me as much. Finally, after the kids were put to bed, she said, “I don’t know what’s wrong .” “What do you mean?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “I don’t . . . I just don’t feel like a very good Christian.” I wasn’t sure what to say. I wanted to tell her that of course she was a wonderful Christian, but she didn’t look like she was quite ready to believe that. So instead I asked, “What do you think is making you feel like that?”
“I haven’t had a quiet time for a while,” she confessed. “After chasing two small kids all day, I feel wiped out; I’m too tired to read the Bible and pray. Mornings are crazy, and the kids don’t nap at the same time, so I haven’t had devotions in weeks. I’m not even sure I have a relationship with God anymore.” A week later, at a small group meeting we attended, the group broke into small clusters for prayer. Karen intended to tell the two women she was with about her problem. But they mentioned their prayer requests first. Both described, haltingly, how they didn’t feel they were doing well with the Lord because they hadn’t been having their quiet times. Karen was amazed. “So it’s not just me,” she said to me on the way home. No, it wasn’t just her. That week I had written in my journal, “Lord, I want to live more simply, as Jesus did, but I love money as much as anyone. I should be out ministering in some way, maybe at the nursing home, but I haven’t got going. I haven’t been reading my Bible and praying like I should. And I want to lead family devotions on Sunday nights, but I’ve been so sporadic lately. I feel like I’ve failed You.”
The more I get to know committed Christians, the more I find many of them wrestling with an affliction I call “not feeling like a very good Christian.” They feel they haven’t done quite enough to genuinely please God. Most people won’t admit the struggle until you get to know them well. But I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s probably one of the most common—yet least talked about—maladies in the spiritual life.
SYMPTOMS OF THE SYNDROME; After studying Scripture, reading books by the classic devotional writers (many of whom, I was surprised to discover, felt that way, too), and talking with other believers, I’ve found that Christians who struggle with this problem share some common symptoms. A burning desire to please the Lord. The sense that “I haven’t been doing very well lately” does not afflict the lazy or unconcerned believer. It saves itself for the earnestly committed. People who memorize Scripture, attend small groups, care about missions, and serve in their church are, ironically, the most likely candidates to feel they should be doing more. Only those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” as
Jesus put it (Mt. 5:6), know the gnawing and growling discomfort of not being filled. A fear that whatever you’re doing isn’t quite enough. The feeling’s explainable, I suppose, when you haven’t been able to have a quiet time for weeks. But oddly, it can continue even when you’re consistent and active. If you begin praying for ten minutes a day, you feel that if you were really committed, you’d be praying for thirty. If you’re reading one passage of Scripture a day, you feel a nagging sense of angst that a whole chapter would be better. Those desires for more commitment may, of course, be the prompting of the Holy Spirit. But if you give more time to spiritual disciplines and still fear you’re not doing enough, you may be in the “I’m not a very good Christian” cycle.
A growing anger or frustration with the Christian life. In his more honest moments, the Christian struggling with this has to admit, My Christian life isn’t as much fun as it used to be. What happened to the joy?
The Story Behind How Great Thou Art; Stuart K. Hine was a British Methodist missionary on a mission trip in Ukraine in 1931 when he heard the Russian translation of a German song inspired by Carl Boberg's poem "O Store Gud" (O Great God). Hine began to translate the song to English and added several verses. The third verse was inspired by the conversion of villagers in Russia who cried out to God loudly as the repented and realized God's love and mercy - "And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in."
Stuart Hine and his family left Ukraine as famine and World War Two began, and settled in Somerset, Britain, where he continued to serve as a missionary to Polish refugees. The fourth verse of "How Great Thou Art" was inspired by displaced Russians who experienced great loss and looked forward to seeing their loved ones again in heaven - "When Christ shall come with shoult of acclamation to take me home, what joy shall fill my heart."
The final English version of "How Great Thou Art" was published in 1949 and quickly spread among Britian, Africa, India, and America.
Biblical Inspiration for "How Great Thou Art" "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him." (Colossians 1:16)
"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." (Psalm 90:2)
"Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!" (Psalm 105:2)
How Great Thou Art by Stacie Marshall How Great Thou Art There's nothing like a good hymn to truly make you feel closer to the Lord. When you sing out those lyrics, it's almost like His strength and love wash over us. And one of the most powerful hymns of all time is 'How Great Thou Art.' I just love hearing this amazing hymn and now that I know the story behind the song, it makes it that much more beautiful.
"How Great Thou Art" O Lord my God, When I, in awesome wonder, Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Chorus: Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When through the woods and forest glades I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees. When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing; Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on a Cross, my burdens gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow, in humble adoration, And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art. Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee, How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Maintain Perspective; Move forward. Use your time and energy to find a solution or at least improve your situation. Wallowing in misery suppresses hope, defers resolution, and prolongs the agony. Defeatism is self-fulfilling. Forgive yourself. If personal mistakes contributed to your suffering, forgive yourself. Unrelenting guilt is unhealthy for you and unhelpful for those close to you. If you struggle to do this, ask God to refresh your understanding of his forgiveness. Then adopt his perspective.
Take life one day at a time. Or one minute at a time, if necessary. Do what you can today and what you must for tomorrow, but let future anxieties wait. Find hope where you can. Although God is our ultimate source of hope, identify temporal reasons for optimism. Look forward. Focus on the benefits of an effective outcome or the enjoyable experiences that will remain available after a bad one. Anticipate the goodness that God intends to produce through your affliction.
Do not panic. Think through your alternatives at each juncture. Avoid making rash decisions on bad days. Instead, execute strategies crafted on good days. Never give up. Keep pursuing a positive outcome as long as the possibility exists, regardless of how remote it might appear. Be patient. Give God time to work. He may be pursuing several goals concurrently involving more than your present situation. Consequently, his timetable may differ from yours.
Be thankful. God says we are always in the presence of something good for which we can be grateful. So identify the good things around you—no matter how trivial—and thank God for them. In dire circumstances, the only things worthy of thanks may be his presence, forgiveness, and the promise of heaven, but these things are supremely good. Take the long view. Life on earth is just the first dot in an infinite line. After this, it is all bliss—for reborn believers, anyway. So live for the line, not the dot.
Ask God to help you fulfill the role he has assigned you in this season of life so you do not impede his effort to produce goodness through your affliction. Address The Problem
Accurately assess the nature and extent of your adversity. Never allow your imagination to magnify your distress. Mourn as necessary. God will grieve with you. Own up to your responsibilities. If part of your suffering results from a poor decision, acknowledge what you could have done differently.
Forgive those who may bear responsibility for your situation. Dragging your anger and resentment into the future will slow your recovery. Define an effective outcome. Devise a realistic plan to achieve this result. Garner your resources. Access all available information and training. Enlist outside expertise as needed.
Implement your plan. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do the best you can under the circumstances. Then, permit God to revise your plan as he sees fit. Take Care Of Yourself Be fit. Exercise. Eat right. Take time to relax. Get plenty of sleep. Socialize. Spend quality time with family and friends. Go to church. Attend public events.
Stay mentally active. For example, pursue hobbies, read books, join a choir, or play sports. Do things that are both positive and energizing. Identify daily respites. Examples include a daily crossword puzzle, a morning walk, a quiet cup of coffee, or a favorite television show. Find a support group. Identify sympathetic confidants who have lived through your affliction and can share truth and wisdom. If necessary, your church can match you up with these folks.
Handwrite letters to God. Detail everything you think and feel about him and your situation, good and bad, in a stream of consciousness. Hold nothing back; he can handle your honesty. Throw away your letters immediately after finishing them. Do not read them or share them with others.
Keep a journal. Record the blessings God bestows on you and those within your orbit, e.g., Bible insights, answered prayers, secular learning, material provisions, and encouragement from others. Save your journal for future review. Kindly attend to those around you. Ministering to others, especially those outside your immediate sphere of influence, will help keep your problems in perspective, require you to lean on God for stamina, and give you opportunities to share what you are learning.
Avoid things that compound your problems. Curtail activities that make matters worse. Minimize and counterbalance negative influences as much as possible. Follow the right shepherd.
Surviving Affliction; God designed us to function best when we live a balanced life—mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually. Distress can make us wobbly.
Staying intact amid ongoing affliction requires us to maintain our balance to the extent we can under the circumstances.
Below is a checklist to help you assess your current equilibrium and identify areas of your life that may need adjustment. Many items are Bible-based. Others are common sense. Not all are pertinent or practical in every situation.
Focus On God; Check your alignment. Make sure your perception of God matches his self-revelation, as disclosed through nature and in the Bible. Broaden your expectations to include a range of outcomes. We always want God to ease our journey, but sometimes he equips us with better boots. Clear the deck. If you are at odds with God morally, confess your sinfulness to him. Be specific. Turn away from these improprieties and walk in harmony with him as consistently as you can. Surrender yourself. Give God ownership of everything you have, do, and are. Follow him on his terms. Permit him to change you and the direction of your life as he sees fit. Pursue true contentment. Ask God to manifest in you the components of his contentment that you need most, i.e., his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control. Study the Bible. Make it your primary source of spiritual encouragement and edification. Memorize the verses you find meaningful. Meditating on God’s truth crowds out the lies in our heart.
Pray without ceasing Commend God for his attributes. Thank him for the goodness he has already provided. Voice your concerns. Ask God what he wants to accomplish through your affliction and what you should do next to ensure that result. Detail your preferred outcome. Subordinate your preferences to his will. Ask God to glorify himself in and through you as you walk in harmony with him.
Express faith in God. Tell God you trust him to help you endure your affliction, to produce goodness from it, and to resolve it as he deems best. Tell him you are willing to accept his appraisal of what constitutes best. Rely on the Holy Spirit. We cannot walk in harmony with God through our efforts alone because of our inherently sinful nature. Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your stamina, intensify your noble desires, reinforce your self-discipline, and directly empower you as needed.
Intercede for others. God knows your needs and wants before you tell him, so you do not have to devote much prayer time to these subjects. Instead, ask God to bless the people you know. Pray they recognize he is the source of their blessings, draw near to him as a result, and use them for his intended purpose.
Pay attention to God’s silence. He may be unresponsive to your prayers because he is waiting for the opportune time to move forward. Alternatively, he may be waiting for you to align your will with his. Sometimes God is silent because we do not need new wisdom. He has already disclosed his insights in the Bible. Or we already know what to do from previous experience. Or we know other people who know what to do. Or the answers we seek are a simple matter of common sense.
Ask “what” as well as “why.” God welcomes your inquiry about why he has allowed you to suffer, but in addition, ask him what he wants you to learn through your affliction. This question represents a step forward. Give God your wants, needs, and fears. He has a standing offer to hold your burdens for you. He is happy to do it. There is no need for you to strain under their weight. Let God manage the uncontrollable. You cannot do anything about these things anyway, whereas God is sovereign and omnipotent. Do your duty. Suffer well to the extent you can. Be a good example to those around you.
"We Just Prayed" One of the most remarkable stories of how God is using humble, simple-hearted Christians to build His kingdom on Hainan Island was related by Carl Lawrence in his book “The Coming Influence of China.” Lawrence recounts how, in the mid-1990s, two young women came to faith in Christ in another Chinese province after hearing the Gospel via shortwave radio broadcasts.
The two new believers received Bibles and immediately wanted to serve God with all their hearts. A Hong Kong-based pastor met with the two and tried to teach them that they should remain where they were and minister to their neighbors. The girls protested, “No! The Bible you gave us says Jesus told us to go into all the world. We want to go.” Finally, the pastor, feeling ashamed at his own comparative lack of zeal, relented and told the girls there was a need for workers on Hainan Island.
The duo had never heard of Hainan Island before but were certain God wanted them to preach the Gospel there. Two years later the girls returned to the Chinese mainland where the pastor met with them. He had not heard any news since their departure. The Hong Kong pastor used the meeting to introduce the girls to several visiting Western church leaders. After introductions, the girls were asked how their work had been and whether or not they had been able to start any churches. Lawrence explains:
“The women put their heads down and answered, ‘Oh pastor, we have only been there two years…yea, two years. Not many. Not very many’. Their voices were apologetic. ‘We have only been there a short time. The people were not very friendly, no, not very friendly. Sometimes they became very vicious. Yes, sometimes they told us they were going to drown us in the ocean. Several men threatened us. Oh my, and because we were so young, even some of the ladies did not like us. Yes, some even called us terrible names… so not many churches… no, not many.”
Finally, after being asked again by the frustrated pastor, the girls apologized that they had been only able to start 30 churches since their arrival on Hainan Island!
The pastor and his Western friends were taken aback by the news. They asked how many people attended their new churches. After again going through a process of apologies and self-effacing comments, they answered, “Two hundred and twenty.” The listeners presumed that meant the girls had won a total of 220 converts in their 30 churches, but 220 was the number of members in the smallest of their churches!
“How many people do you have in the largest of your churches,” the pastor demanded to know. “Oh…not many…. Less than five thousand. Only four thousand nine hundred. Yes, less than five thousand. We have just started.”
The Western visitors were so touched by the humility and zeal of the two young ladies that they began to weep. One of the visitors told the pastor to ask the two ladies how they managed to achieve such great results.
“What did we do? Why nothing. Yes, we did nothing, nothing.” The amazed onlookers protested, “You did nothing? You have thirty churches - the smallest with two hundred and twenty people, the largest with almost five thousand new Christians! And you did nothing?”
The two evangelists simply said, “We just prayed…. After we prayed, the Holy Spirit would tell us exactly what to do. We would keep praying and He would tell us what to do, and we would do it. Then we would pray again and he would tell us what to do again.
This is not true. You will also want to have sex, and just because your boyfriend might be a Christian, don’t imagine that the temptation won’t be an issue. But again, I’ve done this wrong before, and believe me if you have a non-Christian boyfriend, sticking to this is a whole lot harder, and it causes a huge amount of heartache and hurt. God set this rule for a reason, and it’s too clear in the Bible to try and argue your way around it (me and my friends tried that one too!): “The body is not meant for s*xual sin” – 1 Corinthians 6:13. The Bible pretty much STARTS by telling us that a man (Adam in Genesis) “will be united to his wife” – Genesis 2:24.
This is so difficult to stick to but it’s what God wants from us, obedience to him is tricky, but worth it. But know that if you’ve had sex, you aren’t unforgivable. I’ve found that women having sex before marriage is often treated for some reason as a sin worse than others, it’s not. There is always enough grace, God’s love does not alter when you have sex: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered” – Romans 4:7.
The Christian Relationship Myth
Finally, an actual Christian relationship is really not what you’d think! I imagined that when I did meet and fall in love with the guy God had for me that it would be easy, that I’d be a fantastic girlfriend and that he would never let me down.
That’s not the case, the only perfect love is the love God has for us. Christian relationships are messy, complicated and sometimes they break down. I fight with my boyfriend, sometimes he’s annoying, sometimes I’m frustrating or just not loving him properly. There isn’t a constant stream of sunlight around us. Real life is messy, and relationships are too.
But God is faithful, and prayer that he will sustain you goes a long way. Some days, love will be a choice, but that proves that it’s real. Heartbreak is not impossible for Christians, and the first guy you try to date in a God honouring way might not be the guy, there might not even be a guy (there’s an excellent post on singleness here, sooooo worth checking out), but “The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit.” – Psalm 34:18.
Relationships are both wonderful and testing, but the best way to do them will always be God’s way, whether we like it or not. Your relationship with Jesus is ultimately far more important, but dating and marriage is a gift from God and if you listen to and follow what He says about it, it will be worth i
ELLA Ella is currently a student at Cardiff University in Wales studying English Literature and Religious Studies. She grew up on the south coast of England with 3 younger siblings and loves reading, singing, and chocolate brownies.
GUEST June 15, 2023 - 12:31 pm It is very difficult as it is just to get a date for so many of us single guys today, let alone getting married and having a family since women today are totally the opposite from the past when finding love back then was very much easier. A very big change in women today, unfortunately.
Dating, Sex Before Marriage, And The Christian Relationship Myth written by Ella March 17, 2017
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
Whenever I am thinking on or praying about relationships, mine or other people's, this verse is always an excellent foundation. God makes things work for your good, and that includes your dating life. If you trust in Him and listen to what he says about relationships, He will work for your good.
Dating is complicated, tricky, testing and can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. But it can also be joyful and Christ honouring. Doing it right is flipping hard and requires some serious dedication. I’m not claiming to have this down or to always get it right. In fact, I feel able to talk and write about this topic precisely because I have got it wrong so many times and God has consistently shown me grace and turned my mistakes into good.
I have found that the main challenges facing Christian girls (and the ones I struggled with HUGELY) are dating non-Christians, not having sex before you’re married, and the Christian relationship myth! I’ll briefly touch on these three things from what I’ve learnt in my own experiences.
But honestly, the main lesson I’ve learnt is a difficult one: it’s frustrating and easy to pretend it’s not true, but God’s way is the best way, like it or not.
Ready? Let’s go…
Dating Non-Christians To start, the Bible pretty specifically tells us we should not be having relationships with non-Christians: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers…What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” – 2 Corinthians 6: 14-15
Your mission to share your faith with non-Christians doesn’t extend to dating them. There is good reason for this instruction, but I remember in my youth groups and with my Christian girlfriends we would find so many excuses to ignore it because we liked guys that weren’t Christian and wanted to justify ourselves!
It’s so easy to do, but I have dated a few non-Christian guys and in my opinion, it’s not worth it. They may be amazing but in my experience, they didn’t pray for me, didn’t try and stick to the values I have, didn’t challenge me, weren’t able to build me up in faith and not having that did not make the fact that they were cute worth the sacrifice.
I’ve been with my boyfriend 6 months now, not massively long but it is my first Christian relationship and the difference that makes is phenomenal. He points me to Christ, shares wisdom, prays for and with me, encourages me when I am feeling doubtful and fights with me to hold firm to my faith and the values we share. My experience, my getting it wrong, has taught me that you might not like what God’s telling you to do, but doing it WILL be what’s best for you.
This includes not having sex…. Not Having Sex Before You’re Married I don’t know what you’ve been taught about sex, including maybe by your church, but I’ve found that often the focus is on young women’s purity, and it’s imagined that you will simply have to deny and fight off men’s advances.
The old rugged cross; On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suff’ring and shame, And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best For a world of lost sinners was slain. So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, Till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown. 2 Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, Has a wondrous attraction for me; For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above, To bear it to dark Calvary. 3 In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, A wondrous beauty I see; For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me.
Man Dies For Mocking God; In 1995 three female evangelists traveled to Xinye County in southern Henan. Just one week later 1,100 people had repented at their preaching, and numerous people were healed of sickness. During one meeting, an unbeliever came up and cursed the sisters at the top of his voice with vile and disgusting remarks. The women tried to ignore his filthy display. After the meeting concluded, a group of unbelievers came up and asked how the three could continue without retaliating, and how they even appeared to have compassion in their eyes for the vile man. They responded, “We leave this man in the hands of God.” At the exact time they said these words, the blasphemous man fell to the ground and died. This caused the fear of God to fall on the people who had witnessed this judgment, and many more people repented and accepted the Lord.
Frozen by the Lord; The official Three-Self church in 1997 conservatively estimated 160,000 Christians living in Henan’s Zhoukou Prefecture, although house church sources say there are probably in excess of a million believers in the prefecture. Much of the growth in Zhoukou has been due to signs and wonders, and unusual events drawing unbelievers to Christ.
It’s more than just believing facts about Jesus. To trust in Christ means to rely completely upon him. Trust is what you do when you fly in a plane. You trust the pilot to get you back down on the ground safely. You trust a doctor when you take the medicine he prescribes. You trust a lawyer when you let him represent you in court. God says that when you trust Jesus Christ in that same way you are saved from your sins. All you have to do is trust Christ completely and you can be saved. When I asked Angela what she thought about that, she blurted out, “Wow! That’s amazing.” Yes it is. It’s the most amazing truth I know.
1. He admitted his need. He did that by taking a personal inventory of his life and realizing that despite all his best efforts, something vital was missing on the inside. In summing up his virtues-which were many and genuine-this good man came to the conclusion that he needed “something else” in his life. He didn’t know what it was, he couldn’t put his finger on it, but deep within he sensed that his religion-sincere though it was-could not fill the gaping hole in his heart.
Nothing else matters until you come to the same conclusion about your life. As long as you go blithely on your way thinking that everything is OK with your life, you can never be born again. It simply cannot happen because you do not feel your need for God’s intervention in your life. You must start in the same place that Nicodemus started a sense of your own desperate need of God.
2. He came to Jesus personally. By that I mean he came on his own, by himself, individually, man to man. He sought and found the Son of God. Nicodemus could not send someone in his place. Nor could a committee have met his need. Salvation involves a personal, individual commitment of your heart to Jesus Christ. No one can do it for you, and you can’t make that commitment for anyone else.
God makes the same offer to you that he makes to the entire world. 3. He trusted Christ completely. I realize the text doesn’t reveal to us the fact of his conversion, but I think it may be fairly inferred from the fact when next we read of Nicodemus, he is helping Joseph of Arimathea take the dead body of Jesus Christ down from the cross (John 19:39). This means he had “crossed the line” and was now willing to identify with Jesus publicly. The most famous verse in the Bible–John 3:16–occurs in this passage and promises eternal life to those who “believe” in him-that is, in Jesus Christ. To believe means to rely on Christ so completely trust him so utterly and selflessly that you are casting all that you are and all that have and all that you hope to become on Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.
Nicodemus did this. So must you if you would be born again. Four Steps to the New Birth You may be saying at this point, “I’d like this kind of personal relationship with Christ, but I don’t know where to begin or what I should do.” This week Dr. Billy Graham celebrated his 90th birthday. Many years he wrote a little tract called Four Steps to Peace with God. These four steps summarize how a person can be born again.
Step 1: God loves you and wants you to know him. The most famous verse in the Bible comes from Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus. John 3:16 tells us that God offers “eternal life” to anyone who believes in Jesus Christ. God makes the same offer to you that he makes to the entire world. He truly wants you to be forgiven and to spend eternity with him in heaven.
Step 2: Your problem is sin, which separates you from God. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.” That simply means that no one is perfect because all of us have sinned in thought, word and deed. Do you know how many sins it takes to send you to hell? Just one–and most of us can take care of that first sin before we get out of bed in the morning.
Step 3: God’s remedy for your sin is the cross of Christ. Romans 5:8 says that God demonstrates his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. By his death on the cross, Jesus Christ took your place, died the death you should have died, and paid the penalty for all your sins.
Step 4: Your response is to trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. While serving as a guest host on a national radio program, I took a call from a young girl named Angela who asked how you can know you are saved. I quoted 1 John 5:13, which says that you can know you have eternal life through believing in Christ. I told Angela that salvation depends on trusting Jesus Christ.
You Must Do What Nicodemus Did That brings me to the central issue. If you want what Nicodemus found, you must do what Nicodemus did.
1. He admitted his need. He did that by taking a personal inventory of his life and realizing that despite all his best efforts, something vital was missing on the inside. In summing up his virtues-which were many and genuine-this good men came to the conclusion that he needed “something else” in his life. He didn’t know what it was, he couldn’t put his finger on it, but deep within he sensed that his religion-sincere though it was could not fill the gaping hole in his heart.
Nothing else matters until you come to the same conclusion about your life. As long as you go blithely on your way thinking that everything is OK with your life, you can never be born again. It simply cannot happen because you do not feel your need for God’s intervention in your life. You must start in the same place that Nicodemus started-with a sense of your own desperate need of God.
2. He came to Jesus personally. By that I mean he came on his own, by himself, individually, man to man. He sought and found the Son of God. Nicodemus could not send someone in his place. Nor could a committee have met his needs. Salvation involves a personal, individual commitment of your heart to Jesus Christ. No one can do it for you, and you can’t make that commitment for anyone else.
God makes the same offer to you that he makes to the entire world. </h6 class=”pullquote”> 3. He trusted Christ completely. I realize the text doesn’t reveal to us the fact of his conversion, but I think it may be fairly inferred from the fact when next we read of Nicodemus, he is helping Joseph of Arimathea take the dead body of Jesus Christ down from the cross (John 19:39). This means he had “crossed the line” and was now willing to identify with Jesus publicly. The most famous verse in the Bible–John 3:16–occurs in this passage and promises eternal life to those who “believe” in him-that is, in Jesus Christ. To believe means to rely on Christ so completely trust him so utterly and selflessly that you are casting all that you are and all that have and all that you hope to become on Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.
Nicodemus did this. So must you if you would be born again. Four Steps to the New Birth;
All of it is meant to lead us to this important conclusion. Being religious is never enough. If it were, Nicodemus wouldn’t have the time or the interest to meet Jesus. But he comes because, despite all his religious activity, there is still an aching void in his heart. Could it be that Jesus Himself can fill that void?
That brings us to the answer Jesus gives to this cultured, educated, well-respected religious leader:
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:3-5).
Let’s focus on the key phrase “born again.” In the original language it has a double meaning. The word can mean “again” or “above.” In this case both meanings apply. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that the only way to find what he is looking for is to be born again from above. Despite all his learning, Nicodemus is utterly baffled by this thought. Is it possible to re-enter his mother’s womb a second time? No, that’s not what Jesus meant. He’s not talking about a second physical birth, but about a second spiritual birth. You are born once physically. That physical birth introduces you to the physical world. But if you want to enter the kingdom of God (the world of spiritual reality), you need a spiritual birth.
Lest Nicodemus misunderstand this truth, Jesus added an important fact: “You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:7). Notice the tense of that statement. You must be born again. The new birth is not optional for any of us. Jesus didn’t say, “I recommend that you be born again” or “You should be born again if after investigation it seems to meet your personal need” or “I think it would be a good idea to be born again.” No! Jesus used the urgent language of forceful command. You must be born again.
We need a vital experience of spiritual rebirth. </h6 class=”pullquote”> Before we go on, let me remind you that Jesus spoke these words not to some immoral outcast, but to one of the most religious men of his day. By any standard Nicodemus was a very good man and certainly a man we would admire for his intense devotion to God. Yet Jesus told him, “You must be born again.”
Have You Been Born Again? If he needed to be born again, what about you and me? Let me put the question to you directly: Have you ever been born again? Just in case I haven’t made myself clear, I’m not asking about your church membership, your baptism, your confirmation, your giving record, your Sunday School attendance, or your personal morality. Nicodemus had the religion part down pat, but Jesus said, “You must be born again.”
All of us need to be born again. </h6 class=”pullquote”> All of us need to be born again.
*Good people need the new birth. *Religious people need the new birth. *Church members need the new birth.
We all need to be born again, and if we’re going to go to heaven, we must be born again. Without it, none of us will ever see the kingdom of God.
As you read this message, I’d like you to slow down for a moment and ponder the next sentence because it could change your life. Nicodemus represents all of us. He stands for every good, decent, law-abiding, upstanding citizen who ever lived. He was a good man who knew about God, but he didn’t know God personally. That’s the enigma of his personality. His story reminds us that religion is good, but the new birth is better.
We need what Nicodemus needed because we stand in exactly the same place. We need a vital experience of spiritual rebirth. In short, we need what Jesus talked about 2000 years ago.
online today!bcjenny Blog Comments (4,336)
RE: Who made god?
Some people see God as a sort of Santa.An old man sitting on a chair with a large book on his lap.
Writing everything we do good or bad in that book.
God is Spirit and everything we do good or bad is recorded in our own brain just like a hard drive in your computer...............................