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John 12:27 - "Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. NASB
Would your soul be troubled? One thing I have noticed about some humans, myself included, is we many times wonder why is this (whatever this is) happening to me. Am I suffering because of some sin I committed? Ask yourself these questions the next time you're suffering or your soul is troubled. "Why is Jesus suffering? What sin has He committed?" The answer is He has committed no sin. Therefore, all suffering is not because of sin. We must never forget this truth.
Years ago I baptized a man into Christ named David. He was informed he had cancer and not long to live. He did not want people feeling sorry for him, he told me. I said, "Okay, I have a plan when you're in the hospital I will send people to see you. I will tell them to visit you and minister to you, but what you need to do is minister to them. Share your faith and tell them how Jesus is helping you through this trial." Every person I sent to visit David came back to me and said, "I didn't minister to him. He ministered to me." As I was at his bedside 45 minutes before he went to be with the Lord, this is what he asked me. "Do you think the Lord has anyone else he wants me to minister to?" I spoke for God that day without really being told what to say, when I told him, "There is no one else God wants you to minister to. He wants you to come home now." In 45 minutes David breathed his last breath. David allowed his troubled soul to have a purpose just like Jesus.
Then put a smile on your face and say, "I am going to make sure that my suffering fulfills a purpose." God hasn't abandoned me. He is allowing me to face this time of trouble to serve a purpose and serve a purpose with it I will. Think About This: Faith helps us face the music, even when we don't like the tune. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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John 15:1-2 - I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. NASU
God, the Father, is the vinedresser. He has the responsibility to help the vine produce the best fruit possible. He does this in two ways. The first is by removing the branch from the vine if it is not producing fruit and that branch will be thrown into the fire later. Secondly, the method of pruning is used to help the branch that is producing fruit to produce even more fruit on the vine. When you prune something you cut if back for the branch to produce even more fruit. Pruning may hurt at first but it will guarantee the branch will produce more and better fruit during the next harvest. The novice vinedresser may find this hard to believe that by pruning back the branches he will be helping to enlarge his crop and produce tastier fruit. When you prune away sucker branches as they are called it allows the sap to feed the good branches. I used this principle on my dad's lemon tree in AZ a few years back. The next season dad's lemons were larger and tastier, but my dad told me he thought I might have initially killed his tree. Where there is pruning there is a certain amount of temporary pain and suffering.
God knows what we need and don't need in our life. He knows better than we do what is best for us. I am sure as parents we have at one time or another believed we knew what was best for our children. It isn't any different with God except He is right every time.
You will notice it is the branch that is bearing fruit that goes through the pruning process. So let me ask you, "What should be pruned from your life?" Think About This: Adversity is never pleasant, but sometimes it is the only way we will learn. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Go To www.SeragosPumpUps.com Heb 5:7-8 - In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. NASU
They have this view of God that He is sitting up in Heaven watching every move His creation is making down here on earth and when they commit a sin He deals out retribution or punishment upon them. If you really think about this view of suffering God would not be doing anything except punishing His creation because we all sin and fall short of His glory. Some also judge your type of suffering. If you have a little financial set back then your sin wasn't that great and God is trying to get you back on the straight and narrow. However, if you are really suffering or something has happened to one of your young children then your sin must have been a horrible one as can be seen in this next scripture text: John 9:1-3 - As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents;… NASU HELLO! Did you read what Jesus said, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents;…" But you can see the disciples believed that this man's blindness was caused by someone's sins. What they wanted to know was this man being punished with blindness because of his sins or his parent's sins. Jesus answers their question with these words, "It was neither…" If you have ever read the book of Job then you realize this was the exact view that Job's friends all believed. Job was suffering because of some sin he had committed and if he would confess it then his sufferings would go away. Although, this is a popular view by many I believe it to be incorrect many times. It was not correct in Job's situation and it certainly isn't correct in our scripture text this morning.
Another scripture to help us understand this verse is found in Philippians 2:8 - "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." As a man, Jesus was going to learn how to die on that cross or He was going to experience death as a man. He could never experience death as God because God can't die. God is life. One of the best things we can do when we are suffering in any way is ask ourselves this question: What can I learn from my sufferings? Do not allow yourself to get caught up into the negative cycle of asking yourself, "Why am I suffering?" The purpose in my mind for suffering is to teach us some things we could never learn without these sufferings. The best way to deal with suffering of any kind in my mind is to ask yourself the question, "What can I learn from this situation?" Think on These: We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future. A person who looks up to God will not look down on people Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Exodus 3:7 - The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. NASU
What James is telling us is God, our Heavenly Father, doesn't change. He isn't one way today and changes tomorrow. There is "no variation" with God. He is dependable. We can trust Him. This is also true of Jesus, the Son of God, as the apostle Paul tells us in the book of Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. I have been asked to preach at the congregation where Barbara and I worship in May. The message I am going to share is about what it means to have Jesus in your boat (or life) from Luke 8:22f. One of my take away points is this with Jesus in your boat be prepared for storms. His disciples came to Him and said, "Master, Master, we are perishing." Some of these men were fishermen. They made their living on the Sea of Galilee. How many storms do you think they had previously encountered? Yet, this time they tell Him we are about to die. It had to have been a very difficult storm for them to believe they were all going to die.
I guarantee it. God not only sees your sufferings, but He is the One who will never forsake you. He saw the sufferings of the Israelites and He sees yours. He is the One you want to turn to in times of trouble. He is the One who sees what we are going through, hears our prayers, and answers them. God is Faithful and we must remain faithful to Him. Think About This: Faith helps us face the music, even when we don't like the tune. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Prov. 24:16 - "For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,..."
A study of Proverbs will reveal the way to overcome adversity is to get back up after you have had your encounter with adversity.
It may have been an illness, a medical set back such as a torn ACL, a rejection of your resume, failure to accomplish a set goal, a divorce or the death of a loved one. There are thousands of ways to get knocked down but if we intend on overcoming adversity we must get back up and re-enter the race. We must get back up on our own two feet and start again.
For some, it would be a conversation with someone that you respect, or watching a movie or reading about other people who overcame adversities. Are you one that is able to motivate yourself? Or are you the kind who will graciously allow others to help motivate you? It doesn't matter which method works for you. What matters is in order to overcome adversity you will get back up and move forward with another plan and a new head full of ideas.
Every time you get knocked down by life you get back up on your feet and start all over again.
I always ask myself "What". What can I learn from this trial? I then write down the things that I can learn and allow these to help motivate me positively to keep moving forward to accomplish my goal. If you ask "Why" you may never be able to determine if the answers you come up with are true. If you're knocked down get back up and you'll be glad you did. If you meet some events that knock you down in life then plan on getting back up and re-engaging. This is the correct way to overcome adversity. Think On These: The difficulties of life are to make us better - not bitter. Say what you will about trouble; it always gives us something to talk about. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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