Learning From Life

Learning From Life

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.

John 16:13

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At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him.

            Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, "Are you also going to leave?"

Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life."

John 6:66-68

After Jesus had asked this question to the twelve that were following Him, Simon Peter simply replied by stating the powerful truth he had come to know after following the Lord for the last three years. Jesus really was the One who had the words of "eternal life". This had dawned upon Peter as he had witnessed for himself many times over that truth emanating from the Savior. Regardless of whatever else would happen to Peter during the rest of his life, this was a truth that he would never forget.

Peter's answer was dramatic. Normally, no Jew would ever think of making such a statement about anyone other than Jehovah. It was simply unthinkable! Peter knew that any Jew could be put to death for saying something such as he did (it would have been considered blasphemy), but this game changing truth had not come to Peter lightly. Three years of following Jesus and learning His teachings had left something inside of Peter that would forevermore be an inseparable part of his heart. He had grasped an eternal truth that would never allow his life to be the same ever again.

At this point in my talk, I want us to stop and consider a fascinating thought for a moment: this wonderful truth that Peter had learned was directly from Jesus.  What if Peter had chosen to study and gain his knowledge from the corrupted mindset of the Pharisees? What if he had hung out for three years with them and then followed their perverted examples?

If he had done that, I suppose that his life and thoughts would have turned out differently than they did.

Yes. Very, very differently.

Everyday, all of us face the same choice as Peter did; you know.....the one where that we can choose to learn from whomever we wish? As the hours of our lives flow pass us, we are constantly making important decisions that direct us to where we will gather our knowledge and education. Some get it from TV, others find it in books, and many of us will learn things from the internet. I know that I do.

What we learn, and from whom we learn it, will always have a great impact on where we wind up in life. Those who aspire to become the best doctors seek to learn from those whom they consider to already be the best in their field of study. When one desires to have a great mind, the practical thing he does is to seek out the thoughts of other great thinkers and philosophers. Those who dream to be outstanding physicists try to gain understanding and knowledge from the phenomenal mathematicians and scientists who went before them. People who want to be good parents look to research the thoughts of those who have been successful at childrearing.

There is a wise pattern here, you see. Learn from those who have been successful at what they do.

The people from whom we learn things are those that we refer to as teachers, and most of us have special memories concerning the ones we have encountered in our lives.

Usually, the ones we remember most are those who have genuinely made a difference in our lives. Regardless of whether their enduring impressions on us were good or bad, all of the things we learned from them have impacted us in some special way. It may be that a select few of those teachers left such deep, carved out impressions on us, that they have significantly made us what we are today.

You may be glad of that and you may not.

I sincerely hope that you have acquired some fond memories about the teachers who influenced your life. Hopefully, those memories are about someone who spent time teaching and touching your life in a very positive way.

(If you feel otherwise, then don't despair.  As we shall see later, there is hope even now.)

As we all grew up and left our school day teachers behind, there were others that came into our lives who tended to influence and direct us in many other ways. They were usually those whom we were around every day. Whether we were at work or play, these people, whom we can call teachers of life, reinforced the fact that we all are living in a constant state of learning. We began to learn about things that we never dreamed of when we were in grade school. We soon discovered that we had enlisted in a different learning environment. Part of that was what some people called  the School of Hard Knocks.

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Most of us enjoy learning new things. The desire that we have to learn is very basic to our nature, and that concept is expressed deeply within us since we find ourselves consistently seeking to acquire new knowledge.

Consider some of these things we learned as we grew up:

We learned to walk.

We learned to eat with a spoon.

Eventually, we learned to dress ourselves and to tie our shoes.

Some of us learned to play ball and enjoy sports.

Others learned to play music and seek the arts.

Some people learned to do both.

Some have learned the skills of rock climbing and sky diving.

Others learned the expertise of boating and water sports.

At one time in our lives, most of us learned to drive a car. (Of course, as it is demonstrated daily, some of us learned to do this better than others did.... I'm just saying.... )

Just think of all the processes we have to go through when we learn how to use our computer gadgets. Sometimes we have to consult a book, friend, or online site to learn what we need to know. Once in a while someone will actually break down and read the instructions....can you believe it?  (Usually, it’s not a guy………)

        Here is a list of some of the great things we have learned to use:

                Smart phones.

                Smart tablets.

                Laptops.

                Desktops.

                Modems.

                Routers.

                Web streamers.

                ...and there are myriad of other electronic devices that I don't                         even         know of or have the room to list in this talk.

Most of us will admit that people instinctively have the innate ability and desire to learn. Rarely would anyone question that. But that which will make a huge difference in our lives is this: from whom will we choose to learn?

This will make all the difference, and I cannot express strongly enough how crucial this decision is to your future!

Drug addicts, people in prison, and those with HIV would tell you this is true............

Consider the following true story to help me illustrate this concept:

My wife and I once knew a couple at our church who shared with us that the marriage they were in had deteriorated to the point that terrible trouble was brewing up all the time. Of course, we were sympathetic and understanding to them because we knew that problems like this could happen to any couple. Immediately we agreed to begin praying for this marriage. Sadly, as the relationship between this couple worsened, one of them began to consult with friends at work about the marriage problems they were having. Many of those (as I was told later) had already gone through their own divorces, and to make things worse, some were currently involved with extramarital affairs. Our friend had chosen to learn from the wrong teachers and their marriage worsened immediately. Right away, a terrible decision was made to go out and sleep with someone else. That decision pretty much destroyed any chance to save their marriage, and they soon wound up involved with a very ugly divorce. 

It is no big surprise that things turned out poorly for this young couple and their children.

You see, the problem was not that my friend was a poor learner, the real problem exposed itself when the decision was made to choose the wrong teachers from which to learn. There is always  a terrible price to pay for doing that. The teacher that my friend adopted in this case taught them how to choose hurt, anger, regret, pain, and lifelong scars as companions.

Our hearts broke as we watched this life and marriage being torn apart, while at the same time, deeply hurtful wounds were leaving scars on everyone within the family.

I wonder what different results might have transpired had this couple chosen to consult with and hang around people who had good, solid marriages; i.e. people who could have offered up examples of successful marriages and then provided helpful advice to fix the marriage difficulties they were experiencing?

 --Makes you kind of wish that life had an "undo" button, doesn't it?

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Wrong Teachers

One of the things in life that we all truly need to be aware of is that there are wrong teachers everywhere. The truth is, Satan actually has them lined up eagerly waiting to help us get the "stuff" of life all wrong. They are always waiting; looking for a chance to make us another one of his casualties. On Facebook, many computer websites, TV shows, billboards, and a myriad of other places, we can see Satan's luring call in the seductive titles and icons. He hopes that we will learn how to use the simple act of "click here" at his enticement. If we allow them to do so, Satan can use these wrong teachers to destroy our bright futures and sweet hopes of a happy life.

Actually, when we examine the whole picture, there are both wrong teachers and right teachers along the paths of our lives, and both are eagerly waiting for us to meet them.

If you really care about your own life and those around you, you will begin to make a habit of carefully choosing the right teachers to follow and learn from.

Dangerous Traps

All too often, people can adopt a certain level of comfort while hanging out with those who have gotten things wrong in their lives. Sensing a sort of "connectedness" with the other person's failures brings a feeling of acceptance. Very few things are more intimidating than being around people whom we perceive to be successes at life while we, at the same time, are feeling like failures. This is a very difficult situation in which to find ourselves, and some people just can't handle the emotional strain of it.

Being with those who have failed at something gives us another feeling that we are not alone in our failure. If another's failure happens to be worse than ours is, then we get this warped feeling of satisfaction that at least we are not as big a failure as someone else. The bad thing is, we can become so comfortable with failure that we begin to see it as the norm by which to live.

When we do that, we make the tragic mistake of lowering our own expectations to the extent that we accept failure as the standard to which we live. In this way, we don't feel so much a failure at being a failure.......at least we have succeeded at something.

If you have developed this mindset, then Satan has suckered you into the philosophy of life that he wants for you.

Get used to living in defeat and misery because that will be your constant destiny.

This drives me to ask these two vital questions, "Why would anyone want to accept losing at life as the norm?"

Is this a place in life where anyone would really want to stay?

No, of course not, and there is a way out.....

Right Teachers

Finding the right teachers may be a little harder to do, but they are out there waiting for us. The Lord has them everywhere, and it is very important that we be clear in our understanding of who and what they are.

Get this fact straight first....they are not perfect people.

        Let me relay to you a story I once heard about an interview being

        conducted with someone who was considered to be a successful 

        banker.

        The interviewer started the conversation with this simple question, "Sir,

        would you please share with our audience today what you attribute 

        your great success to?"

        The banker looked thoughtful for a moment as he studied over the

        question. He then proceeded to answer his inquisitor with only two 

        words, "Good decisions."

        At that, the interviewer persisted with a second question, "And what, 

        sir, is it that you feel helped you to make such good decisions?"

        After another short pause, this time the banker replied with only one 

        word, "Experience."

        The interviewer, really wanting more information than just a few 

        simple words, said to him, "Sir, can you then please share with   us

         the steps you took to gain such good experience?"

        The banker then looked as if he were searching his inmost thoughts

        for the correct answer to give to this persevering reporter. Suddenly,         he raised his eyebrows as the answer finally hit him! He drew himself         up with all the sincerity he could muster and proceeded to give out 

        only two more words, "Bad Decisions!"

Good teachers are those kind of people that, regardless of the mistakes they made, have learned that life can be lived in a better way than most people know. When they have experienced failure, (which every single one has in some way or another) settling for it was not an option. If they had any sin hindering them at the moment, they repented of it and then turned their lives over to Christ so that He could "work all things together for good" in their situation..... (Romans 8:28)

These good teachers have definitely made their own blunders, but afterwards they made great efforts to recover. They rejected "doing it wrong" as the norm for living, and then set out to find what "doing it right" actually looked like. They did whatever it took to not stay and live in failure. Many of them went out and found themselves a "right teacher" to help them.

These kind of people can help us avoid a lot of the heartbreak that they may have already experienced while on their own journey. They always have much to say to people who are currently pursuing their own way in life and are willing to learn.

Think through these ideas:

                If you want a successful career, hang out and learn from

                 someone who already has one. Find out what they are doing                  and use it to your advantage. Forget about hanging out with                  your unemployed friends down at the bar. Running with losers                      won't help you cross the finish line as a winner.

                If you want your kids to turn out right, spend time with people                   whose kids did turn out right and learn from them. You will                   probably learn what won't work as well as what might work in                       your situation. There are no perfect parents, but there are                   those who learned to include Christ in their child-rearing, and                   that alone has made a huge difference for them. This is                   something worthwhile learning.

                       If you want to be a success at being a single parent, then find

                    someone who is learning how to do it well, and learn from

                    them. The process of learning to be a good parent is on-going                     and challenging for everyone.

              If you want to weigh less, choose to hang out -- and eat with --                        people who are thinner than you. Learn their patterns of being                   trim. Hanging out with fat people may make you feel better,                   but it won't make you thin. (And praying that prayer, "Lord , if I                    can't be thin, please make my friends fat," won't help anything                     either.)

                If you want to be spiritual, find someone who is spiritual to                    mentor you. Listen to that person's heart as you talk together                    and learn all that you can from them. Examine the bruises                    and difficult times they have suffered through and discover how                    that you, too, can become amazingly closer to Christ through                    your own trials.

It makes sense that when anyone wants to be a success and excel at what they are attempting, they should seek out those who are the best teachers, i.e. those who have had a measure of success at their quest in life.

Who are your teachers when it comes to:

Marriage?

Philosophy?

Morals?

Finances?

Spiritual growth?

Integrity?

Work ethics?

Reject the wrong teachers and seek those who will care for and mentor you. Be careful to allow the Holy Spirit to make the decision for you when it comes to whom He can use to teach you. He will point out the good ones if you are paying attention.

Someone may say, "But Dan, all my friends' lives are pretty much messed up already. What do I do now?"

The answer is simple, but not easy.

Go out to look for some new friends to hang with.

You will never be sorry of doing that.

It may be that you also need a life change that only Christ Himself can provide. Give yourself to Him as fully as you know how and seek Him to bring new friends into your life. He has a better record than all the Christian dating websites put together.

Choose wisely from whom you will learn, and you will wind up having fewer regrets in life.

Proverbs 9:9-11 NLT

9 Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.

10 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

11 Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life.

Humbly submitted,

Dan

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Embracing The Pain

Emotional pain.

Physical pain

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We tend to hate them both.

About 15 years ago, I was intensely sick for about four months. The bleeding inside my head was increasing the pressure on my brain causing me excruciating pain and vomiting. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with me. Some thought it was an extended migraine headache, another was afraid it could be meningitis, but no one knew for sure. They continued to shove a "boat-load" of pain pills at me, while inside, I felt as if I was slowly dying. Days upon days of pain and nausea tortured me. Nothing was good ...nothing was right....

One day, during all this, I remember sitting in the floor in my home weeping and asking the Lord to do something to end my misery. At this point, I was open to all options.

My pain was deep. So very, very deep.

Emotionally and physically I was hurting beyond what I felt was my level of endurance. The longer my physical pain continued, the deeper my emotional pain became as it plunged me into a dark pit of despair.

How in the world could I possibly embrace the emotional pain I was suffering?  Was my life over? Would I ever smile again? Would I ever heal from such hurting? Depression definitely plagued me as all I wanted was to be normal again. I had forgotten what normal felt like.

Eventually, through prayer and the skills of one doctor (out of many), the cause of my physical pain was discovered and fixed. It was some time later that I came to understand something about this whole ordeal. I discovered that, during my sickness, it was impossible for me to embrace the emotional pain I was going through because the physical pain was too intense. That had to pass first. Since then, however, years of God's patience has taught me to embrace the emotional pain I endured because God was using it to tenderly grow me in my relationship to Him and lead me to see His plans for my life. Now, I am not like I once was before my sickness: God has used the pain to make some amazing changes in my life while fashioning me more into what He wants me to be.  Eventually, I was able to embrace and be thankful for the emotional pain I was put through.

Thankful?  Are you totally nuts Dan?

Maybe....... I've been accused of worse things.

But please understand this one thing about me: today, I am a different person because of that emotional pain I endured. I have been brought to a place with the Lord that I could never have gotten to any other way. Those of you who have tearfully walked this same path know what I mean.

Now, don't get me wrong. Memories of that emotional pain still hurt a lot, but I take it to the Lord very regularly and He knows how to comfort me. The pain I have suffered has drawn me into His presence much more often than I would have otherwise gone, and the things that God has accomplished with my emotional pain continue to be deep and life changing. The Lord has decidedly used it for good in my life in more ways than I could have imagined.

...And He keeps on doing so.....

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Resistance is fu-tile. (The Borg)

Most of the time we try to flee emotional pain.

-- We use medicines to dull it.

-- We run after distractions to get as far away from the pain as we possibly can.

-- We bravely try to stuff it way down inside and ignore that it exists.

-- We struggle and aggressively maneuver our steps in useless attempts to avoid it.

All these methods of dealing with heartfelt, emotional pain are counter-productive and sometimes harmful. Billions of dollars are spent trying to fix this kind of pain while the usual distractions concerning the misuse of drugs, sex, and alcohol have ruined millions of lives. After trying all these avoidance attempts, people are usually worse off than they were before they started, and they just can't figure out why.

Listen to me, there is a better way to handle the pain......and it starts with understanding some key concepts.

Have you ever considered that, for the believer, emotional pain can be a powerful, shaping tool in the hand of the Master Potter.......not as a means of punishment, but instead, used skillfully to mold us into an amazing piece of valuable pottery signatured by the Master Himself? There is a technique used in furniture production called distressing. A chest or table is put through a process of scratching, scarring, and denting that makes it totally unique. No other piece is like it, and people tend to enjoy and appreciate its individuality.

Our pain does something similar to us. The Lord uses it to shape us into a valuable vessel made for His intentions alone. We are crafted into a unique design so that the Lord can use us in His own special way. Isn't it amazing that God would spend so much time on us individually? It is because He loves so much.....

Do you know that there are certain levels of deepness in our relationship to Christ that we can never go to without experiencing personal pain? This idea, while totally true, is absolutely scary to me. I don't know about you, but I have always wanted the deepness in Christ to be prevalent in my life ...... I have just never wanted the pain that might be required of me to get there.

Who does?

Consider the potential outcomes of emotional pain as we hand it over to God and allow Him to use it within us:

-- Pain can drive us tearfully to the feet of the Lord in prayer for hours at a time. Being in His presence that long can produce some amazing outcomes.

-- It can reshape our view of life and show us what really is important. When God

changes our minds and hearts, we always come out stronger, better prepared, and more fully equipped for our journey.

-- Pain can help us discover a new, life-changing strength found only in

Him....it is His supernatural strength within us.

-- It can lead us to a freedom in the Lord that we never knew existed, releasing us from the cruel prisons we have made for ourselves.

--Pain can also be used to powerfully prepare us for the work God is planning for our lives even when we don't yet know what that is!

 Emotional pain did all this and much more for the Biblical figures of Job, Joseph, Paul, and Moses --- just to name a few. If you have read their stories in the Bible, you may know what I mean.

-- All ten of Job's children died and he lost his entire fortune all in one day. As Job tells his story, the deep ache of his heart leaps off the pages.

-- Moses grew up to become a hunted fugitive and then was exiled from his homeland. He spends the next forty years in the desert thinking over the poor choices he made and what he left behind. It was only then that God came to him in the burning bush.

-- Saul (who later becomes the Apostle Paul) gave his approval as he watched believers in Christ being brutally abused and murdered. This made a significant impact on his life after he realized what he had done, and the anguish of his heart is displayed several times within his writings. Paul was changed by this experience so much that, later in life, he writes about actually wanting to experience suffering with Christ. (Philippians 3:10)

Just think of the emotional pain each one of these believers endured.

It was brutal....... just as yours possibly may be today.....

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Joseph

Joseph's story from the Old Testament shows us that he also suffered a lot of emotional pain in his life. (Genesis 37 - 50)

The sequence of events surrounding Joseph's life is quite long, so let me just hit a few highlights for you:

• ·      Joseph was envied and hated by his brothers.
• ·      He was stripped of a special robe of honor given to him by his father and then thrown cruelly into a deep pit.
• ·      Several of his brothers wanted to kill him, but he was eventually sold to some slave traders instead.
• ·      Later, those same slave traders sold him to an Egyptian officer named Potiphar.
• ·      While working hard and being honorable in Potiphar's household, he was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and then thrown into prison to be punished. Joseph spent several years of his young life in jail while his life, day by day, was slowly slipping away.

Do you suppose that Joseph suffered any emotional pain during these times of his life? Do you think that he had any fears or felt mistreated and forgotten by those around him?

Yeah, I'm sure that he did sometimes.

Eventually, through God's plan for him, Joseph was brought from prison to Pharaoh and then made an honored Prince of Egypt. This action saved both the nations of Israel and Egypt from starvation and set into action a prophecy about the Messiah to come. This whole grueling process, starting with being rejected by his brothers and then eventually being brought into the house of Pharaoh as a Prince, took approximately thirteen years of Joseph's life.

Remember, Joseph had no knowledge of where his life would end up during the years of his trials. As far as he knew, he would probably die in jail innocent of any crime.....but God had different plans for him.

It appears that all through his difficulties, Joseph continued to serve God faithfully no matter what surrounded and influenced his life. The emotional pain he suffered did not turn him away from God. This model is extremely important for me and you to apply to our own lives today.

It is very worthy to note that God was intently using all of these painful events in Joseph's life to prepare him to be the kind of Prince God wanted him to be.....

 God is intently using your emotional pain to prepare you for something too......

Just hang in there......

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 A conversation with Jesus

As I sat one morning meditating before the Lord, my mind happened upon a list of the things I do not like about myself.

My anger.

My self-centeredness.

My profound ability to say the wrong thing at the worst possible time.

These unwelcome traits really discourage me at times while also bringing a lot of emotional pain to my heart. Thoughts of my weaknesses make me uncomfortable as I recognize how often I trip over them at the most unwelcomed of times. And, of course, it usually happens when I least expect it. There are other things that I could place in the list above, too – but I'm just too prideful to let you know about them....... Oh man, did I forget to mention "pride" in my list? Sometimes we get so comfortable with our own weaknesses we tend to forget and ignore them. You know, this happens more times than we really like to admit.

Busted......

As I was tearfully talking to the Lord about these less than desirable traits that are part of me, I was somewhat taken aback with the thought that, as much as I dislike these flaws about myself, Jesus continues to love me anyway. He showers His love on me when I'm angry, sad, moody, or melancholy. Those less desirable parts of myself from which I wish to be free all come together to make me the person that He loves so tenderly. I began to realize that these parts of me (that tend to bring emotional pain with them) are going to always be there no matter what (at least until I get to Heaven). Eventually, it began to dawn on me that, I should embrace those painful things and then present them to the Lord to see what He could do with them. I have found that He is usually pretty good with stuff like that.

While I was pouring out my heart to the Lord, the following was a part of the conversation we were having:

Me. " Lord, I know that You want me to present myself to You, but I have a lot of stuff that I'm not sure that You really want. Stuff I'm not so proud of."

Jesus. "Yeah? Like what?"

Me. " Well, You know...... all the pain in my life, just to mention one thing. I have a lot more of it than I wish I had.

(Pause)

Do you remember that time.....? "

Jesus. "Yeah Dan, I know that it was really painful for you to suffer through that. I stayed close by and tenderly watched after you......"

Me. " And there was the other time ......"

Jesus. "This one was tough also and I understand what you mean..... that pain kept you struggling for a long time.

Me. " Then there was that really troublesome time I endured...... no one ever knew how deeply I hurt over that..... and still do at times. "

Jesus. "I did.... And I still do. I see it in your actions, and feel it in your heart. It does drag you down quite often doesn't it?"

(Silence, as I know what He is saying is true for me.)

Me. " Lord, can you really use any of my pains and hurts to get glory from?"

Jesus. "I can, if you will give them to Me. In fact, I will work them out for good in your life. You just need to embrace them, bring them to Me, and place them into My hands. Dan, you don't have to keep holding on to them......"

All of a sudden, I felt overwhelmed by His love and acceptance of me.

....I think that I just sat and cried on His shoulder for a while after this........

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Control

Some of our responses to emotional pain are governed by a deciding factor:

Do I let it control me? Or, will I take control of it?

Right here I can hear someone say:

"Dan, you don't understand how deep my pain is !"

Yeah, you are right.

No one knows how deep your pain is except Jesus, and He knows all about it even better than you do. He knows how it makes you act and feel even when you are not aware of its effect on you.

Even though it may be deep, none of us has to allow pain to control us forever; taking our emotional pain and placing it into the hands of Jesus (rather than holding onto it ourselves) will begin the healing. The healing that we desire so much may involve a very long process...and possibly the pain will never go away completely, but holding tightly to our pain, and never giving it to Him will eventually produce some awful things within us.

Anger.

Hatred.

Bitterness.

Self-pity.

Resentfulness.

Lack of trust.

Depression.

I know this to be true first hand......and so do you.....

So, what do we do about it?

Embrace the pain......

Gather it up in the whole of your being and take it to Jesus. See yourself taking each hurt in your hand and talking (or crying) to Jesus freely about it. Then place it into His hands. Part of the whole experience of this is the actual letting go from the tight grasp your heart has on it and mentally placing it into Jesus' hands.

Once during a particularly difficult time of ministry, I remember the Lord leading me to this Bible verse.

Psalms 46:10 NIV

10  He says, "Be still, and know that I am God.........

I lightly acknowledged its truth (as we so often do) and continued to apply my attention to the problem before me. As the days passed, the Holy Spirit brought these words to my mind over and over. Eventually, I began to understand that I needed to seek further what they meant.

As I researched this passage of scripture, I found that the words "Be still" meant to "forsake" or "let go of ."

I began to realize that the Lord was instructing me to let go of the pain and problems that I held tightly in my hands and heart.  I needed to let go of them into God's hands so that His healing could begin to take hold in me. I slowly began to see that pain may hold a much higher purpose in our lives than to just make us suffer emotionally.

Romans 8:28 began to take on new significance in my understanding:

28  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.

......Wow....God even uses the pain in my life for my good......cool....

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What are you hurting over?

Unexpected sickness?

Divorce?

An untimely death?

Betrayal by those who say they love you?

Lies aimed at destroying you?

Financial pressures?

Spiritual hurt?

Stupid decisions? (yours, or maybe even someone else's that affected you adversely)

These are some of the situations (plus possibly a million more) with which we all could identify. In fact, it may be painful for some just to read this list.

It hurts me, too.

I have personally found that Jesus is really experienced at handling the things that cause us emotional pain. What we need to do is to embrace all the pain in our hearts and take it to Him - tenderly placing it into His waiting nail scarred hands. He can hold all that we will give Him.

Hang out for a while. Talk to Him. Weep before Him.

I'm not saying that all the pain we have will ever fully disappear from our hearts, but Jesus will begin healing us the very moment we place it in His hands. He will then continue to work the hurt for our good.

Try it. You will see that there is so much more to pain than you ever realized.

Tenderly Submitted,

Dan

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Peace - All Four Chapters

Peace

By Rev. Dan Akins

Chapter One

Peace – What Does That Mean?

This post has been taken down to prepare for publishing at a future date.

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Nameless Servants

Have you ever considered the thought that most of the people who are presently serving Christ are unknown to us? In the same way, many hundreds of thousands (most likely millions) over the ages have served the Lord faithfully without any special recognition. These are those who have served in obscurity and their claim to fame is just not being known.

Usually, it is very easy for people to remember the names of the popular Christians who are well known in media and among the popular church circles. People often gravitate to one of their "camps" and begin to identify with their teachings in some manner or other. Most of the time the teachings of these popular Christians are well intentioned, but if their followers carry out their passion of following too far, it can tend to cause divisions in the body of Christ, and that never has a good result for any of us.

We know that the popular, well known Christians do good works in their own ways, but in this talk, I want to focus on a group of believers that are just as important.....if not maybe a little more so... in some ways.

The point of my subject is to remind us of those many believers who, down through the ages, have faithfully served God without any recognition. Their names and faces are unknown to us, and they have left no permanent remembrance of themselves that we can see. Being known only as people who lived and died in a time prior to us being on this earth, we can't visualize their faces. We know no title that we can attach to their names or even where their graves are today. They are the heroes whose lives and ministries overshadow the ones that capture our popular attention today.

Let's spend a few minutes thinking about some of these people.....

• ·         What were the names of the first guys that carried the ark of the covenant on their shoulders? We know that they were Levites, but what else do we know about them? Were they married? Did they have kids? Does anyone know what made them sad or happy? And yet, they served the Lord faithfully by bearing the ark on their shoulders. It did not matter if the weather was good or bad, if they were sick or had a headache, or even if they were tired or not. They were faithful at performing what God had appointed them to do whether anyone knew them or not.
• ·         What about the ones who cured the skins for the Tabernacle when it was being built? How did they learn to trap? What was each one's favorite color? What were their names? Were they old or young? Men or women? We can't answer these questions about their lives, but we do know that they spent their time serving the Almighty God carrying out the awesome tasks that He had given them. Popularity and fame did not accompany them.

Now, let us go on forward a few years.......

• ·         Can you name any of the people who cut down the trees in order to get the lumber used to build the first Temple? Is there any record of their ages or accomplishments during their lifetimes?
• ·         What about those ladies who provided the meals for the workers that were building the Temple? Were they married or single? What was their favorite dish? Was their hair black or brown? Did their eyes light up when they thought about the Temple being built and how that they were helping? Their faithfulness helped to bring about the first permanent place to worship God, but we are at a loss to name them.

Let's try a subject that is a little more up to date.....

• ·         What was the name of the person that led Billy Graham to Christ?

    Some of you may know that. It was an evangelist named Mordecai Ham, but

    having that answer leads us on to another question.

    Who was it that led Mordecai Ham to Christ? I really don't know the answer to

    that one, but even if I did, that generates another question to consider: who

    was it that led  the one to Christ, that led the one to Christ, who then lead 

    Mordecai Ham to Christ, who  eventually led Billy Graham to Christ? Do you 

    get the picture?

Please, I'm not trying to be silly, but I am trying to drive home the point of this talk.

There are many, many, many people, whose names we do not know, who have served Christ faithfully down through the ages.

Even today, many live for Christ in the same way.

They have not written books, produced television shows, blogged on the internet, or spoken at huge conferences, but the Lord still uses them magnificently in the kingdom of God. Many have powerful ministries in prayer and seeking God, but still few people know them. Some have seen God performing great miracles and bringing about powerful revivals, and others have experienced a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit's power and blessing. They may be godly mothers or fathers, friends to those who are in need, or powerful preachers in obscure, out-of-the-way places. The point is, they all know how to follow God with sincerity and faithfulness as much as any who are in the limelight. Some of these people meet at gathering places that are no more than basements, barns, or chicken houses. Some of them meet in fear and secrecy. However, those meetings are full of believers that carry out the work of the kingdom of God in order to spread the gospel to those around. ...........Nameless wonders.

In the past, we have read about Christians who died in prisons after persecution. Some died in the undeveloped areas of early Europe or America, after having lived a life of faithfulness to Christ and sharing Him with those whom they came into contact. I don't have their names, nor do I know anyone else who does except God, and He never forgets.

Others died after having lived a normal life, pointing their children to Christ, and faithfully allowing Christ to live through them in their daily walk. They did the wonderful work of helping to build the kingdom of God, then they passed on and were forgotten by the world.

Today, we easily recognize names like Louie Giglio, John MacArthur, and Chuck Swindoll (I do believe that these are good men with very worthy ministries), but do you know the names of the thousands who pray and give that their ministries may continue? They are all part of that special "Nameless Servants Brigade".

It is very common that we people, on the general scale of things, tend to pay more attention to the most obvious famous ones among us while forgetting those who may be the "hidden treasures" that the Lord has placed around us. The Lord, however, appears to take a different approach. He actually dedicates a special portion of the Scripture specifically to those who were not named.

Hebrews 11:35-39 NLT

35  .........But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.

36  Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons.

37  Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, [some were tested,] and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.

38  They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

39  All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith ..........

These people who are named… but not named….. are very important to the Lord, and their anonymity may be one of the most precious gifts that they have.

I believe the Scripture gives some indication to us how important these nameless people are to carrying out the Lord's plan on the Earth.

Consider these Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 NLT

12  The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

13  Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.

14  Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.

15  If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body.

16  And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body?

17  If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

18  But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it.

19  How strange a body would be if it had only one part!

20  Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.

21  The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you."

22  In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.

23  And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen,

24  while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.

25  This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other.

26  If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

27  All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it.

Look back at verse 22. Three most important phrases are there.

weakest

least important

the most necessary

Now get the point of what is being taught here. Those who appear to be the weakest and least important to the body of Christ are the most necessary ones to be in place.

Where are you serving the Lord?

Is it in a hidden, unglamorous, obscure place?

You may be doing a service for the Lord of which very few are aware, but keep up the good work! I believe that the Lord needs many more of us doing that. The rewards you will receive will be great and eternal!

Are you presenting Christ to only a few people as compared to the opportunities that some other Christians may have to present Him? Who cares? Faithful service is really the goal.

Wherever you are serving is extremely important in the Body of Christ!

Hey! You are extremely important  to the body of Christ!

You really are, you know......so much more than what you fully understand.........

Remember this -- even a cricket can make a thunderstorm a little louder. It may be imperceptible to humans, but God can hear it..........and He is the one who really matters after all.

Humbly submitted,

His servant

xxx

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