Though We Suffer Loss

 

Whoever offers praise, glorifies God (Psalm 50:23). We praise Him in our victories, our successes, and our blessings, as well as in our diseases, our worries, our fears and our setbacks (Job 13:15).

There are many times when things do not go our way. We feel frustration, remorse, defeat and hopelessness; yet, we rejoice in the God of our salvation, who is our strength (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

This connection with God acknowledges that He is in control of our life at all times. It humbles us and causes us to shift our focus from our self and our problems to Him, our Problem Solver.

The more we establish and maintain our unity with God, the fewer trials and negative experiences occur in our life. When they do come, as trials always have a way of infringing on the best of times, the trauma is short-lived because of our positive attitude.

We see the daily blessings in the negative situation, and we see the hand of God working in the details to bring us encouragement and support as we suffer loss and ill health.

Job knew the power of prayer. He lost more in one day than most people lose in a lifetime. He suffered anguishing emotional, mental, financial and physical loss all at the same time. Yet, he chose to praise the Lord.

Sitting in the pile of ashes, scraping his boils with broken pieces of pottery, his trust in God never faltered. He endured endless days of torment and suffering with His hope planted firmly in the Lord.

Prayer:

Father God, the length of Job's suffering discouraged him and caused him to question You, and to wish to die and end his misery; but You sustained him through those harsh and unwarranted issues and blessed him with more than he lost. We thank You that regardless of the circumstances we experience You are always in the midst of them with us.

It is encouraging to see that Satan has no power over us. There are only two ways that he can inflict us: if we open the door to him by our attitude and behavior, or if You give him permission. We know that if we walk uprightly before You, anything we suffer will result in more blessings in the end. Therefore, we praise You, even if You decide to slay us (Job 13:15; Daniel 3:8-18).

Thought for the Day:

When we experience the challenges of life, we learn to trust in the Lord with our whole spirit and soul, and to walk in His will rather than in our own goals and plans (Proverbs 3:5-8), as we live each moment by faith in His faithfulness, and guided by His Holy Spirit.

Help for Hurting People

Hurting people go in one of three directions: they clam up and become a loner, hoping to avoid any more pain; or they strike out like a bully, injuring others as badly as they are hurting inside; or they hate the pain they are inflicted with, and they never want anyone else to hurt as much as they do, so they help to carry someone else's burden.

I have no idea what causes people to react in such different ways. Maybe their personality, or their inability to bear any more pain, or the example of others in their life, or an instinctive desire to help someone else will fuel their behavior. Regardless of their reaction, however, they all have one thing in common. They are wounded beyond the ability of their soul to handle any more pain.

Sometimes our anguish is so intense, that we do not want to admit it, even to our self; pain that we are afraid to verbalize, in fear that we will feel the ache all over again, or even more intensely than we felt it the first time. We may not even know or remember the incident, which inflicted this trauma. We may have disassociated from the event, so that we can forget it in the hopes of stopping the pain.

A good method of releasing this pent-up torment is to write about it on a piece of paper - to keep a journal in which we write truthfully and often. We allow our soul to express the cause of our pain and the profound feelings we keep buried deeply within our soul. There is no need to write a whole paragraph, a phrase or a sentence will do.

Reading it to someone else is your option, but not a necessity. Just one sentence is all we need, in order to diffuse the terrifying emotion, which is keeping us in bondage. If you do not remember the incident, then just list the negative emotions rampant in your soul right now: anger, bitterness, revenge, brokenness, depression, discouragement, hopelessness, etc.

Then, ask God to disclose the source of these emotions; to reveal the lies, which Satan planted in this experience; and then to express His truth about this hidden pain. God knows the end of our life from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He was there when we experienced this pain. He wants us to lay our pain at the Cross, and to ask Jesus to make us a new creation; so that He can care for us (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22).

Prayer:

Father God, it takes courage for us to go hunting in the recesses of the jungle of our mind. Weeds, vines and underbrush wall in our pain; and we will have to break through these barriers in order to expose the anguish all over again. Pour out Your love upon us as we embark on this journey. Pull out the splinters of pain that have festered over the years from neglect. Renew a right spirit within us and give us Your joy as our strength (Psalm 28:7, 51:10, 71:26, 94:19; Nehemiah 8:10). Then help us to help other hurting people to find freedom in Your love as well.

Thought for the Day:

As we draw nearer to God, we can resist the devil and he will have to run from us. - James 4:7-8

Read these three free chapters offering freedom from the debilitating pain: http://theophostic.com/page13051343.aspx

Spiritual Healing - Part 1

Understanding Bitterness and Anger

Once we repent, our sins are always forgiven (1 John 1:9). However, some sins often continue to plague us relentlessly for two reasons. They are caused by a subconscious lie from the pit of hell, and this lie is still affecting us every day of our life. What is the sin, which so easily ensnares you? (Hebrews 12:1) What happened in your past that draws you to that sin over and over again? 

For instance, my besetting sin is anger. I use anger to protect myself from abuse and neglect. Why do I do that? I had incidences in my life of both abuse and neglect. My soul - my mind, will and emotions - do not want to experience either of these issues again. Therefore, I use anger to fight against anything that even remotely appears to resemble either exploitation or abandonment.

I fight the circumstance and I clash with the person whom I perceive is abusing or neglecting me. I do not even think about it before I react. I automatically over-react to any behavior that involves me, which even hints at being abusive or negligent. This over-reaction in anger is a sin, because it is telling God that I do not trust Him to care for me. I want to control the situation to keep myself safe.

As humans, when something upsets us, it triggers the wounds from our past. We react from the anguish of our soul and complain bitterly about the current issue, because of these ancient wounds (Job 7:11). This bitterness, rooted in the hurtful experiences of our past, will spring up and cause us all sorts of trouble. It will even spoil our current relationships and hinder our walk with the Lord (Hebrews 12:15).

Prayer:

Father God, bitterness and anger reside in our heart over past wounds. Show us the root of Satan's lies, which stand against Your truth (James 3:14; www.theophostic.com ). We need Your forgiveness for sin, as well as Your healing and cleansing from the root of the sin, which allows that sinful behavior to perpetually manifest in our life. Remind us that when Your Son sets us free, we are free indeed (John 8:36).

Thought for the Day:

God wants to cleanse our soul from bitterness and anger and allow His sweet, living water to flow from our soul instead of putrid, bitter water from the painful experiences in our past. - James 3:11

Escaping the Gridlock of Disappointment

 

Our current circumstances will not last forever. God has a purpose in them for us and for those around us. As we focus on Jesus, God gives us everything we need to live a fulfilled life in Him, even during negative circumstances (Matthew 6:33). We look beyond the present moment and focus on the glory set before us, just like Jesus did (Hebrews 12:2). When our faith and hope collide like a car wreck into some abrupt incident, which life T-bones us with, it throws us off course. Disappointment, discouragement, depression; and sometimes, even hopelessness settle into our very bones and they are hard to dislodge.

Our only hope is to draw near to God. Then as we resist Satan, he must flee from us with his entire demonic hoard (James 4:7). We can write in our journal or pour our heart out to God in prayer. We may even read our words scribbled across our journal and realize that God spoke the answer as we unburdened our heart on its pages. God gives us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). We know without a doubt that in the next instant we will hear God’s voice telling us which way to turn to escape this gridlock with disappointment. He may use His Word, a thought, a person or an instance to give us His direction.

My friend lost her baby in childbirth. In the midst of her anguish, God showed her that although her arms ached to hold this precious child, God was already holding the baby in His everlasting arms. What better place for her child to rest for eternity? Life starts at conception, and her baby's little soul is now in heaven with our Savior. This is a fact to celebrate, in spite of their sadness at never having known their child during her temporary life on earth. Their beloved child may have left this mortal world, with all of its suffering and trials, but she did not miss her immortal home in heaven. Right now, she is waiting there for us all.

Once we understand our feelings we can forgive the one who offended us. Once we sleep on it, few things are as momentous as they seemed at first. We may realize that we over-reacted to the situation. We may need to ask forgiveness for our behavior. Once we understand God’s perspective in the situation, hope rises in our soul. We see God’s direction for this new day and we walk in His ways by the guidance of His Holy Spirit. God has a perfect plan for every life. Even a fatal illness is nothing to fear. God has His plan in it and He will work out His purposes through it. We can rest assured that it will accomplish results for our good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, You make all things beautiful in Your time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You help us to keep our perspective centered in Your faithfulness whenever we experience tribulation in this world. We often allow minor issues, which will have no meaning a week from now, to bowl us over and knock us for a loop when they first occur. Remind us that You are the Father of all mercy and comfort. You calm us in our sickness and trials, so that we may share this same consolation with others when they experience similar situations. We experience suffering for Christ’s sake, but we also receive abundant comfort through Him as well (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

Thought for the Day:

Faith provides us with total surrender and trust in the faithfulness of God, over a future outcome, which we cannot yet foresee.