My God is so big...

Yesterday was my birthday; but, for the most part, it was not a "happy" one.
I was still in a lot of pain from the weekend. I mean a lot of pain. I had to apologize to my mom for how ridiculous I was acting. But my back and muscles hurt so badly. I didn't think I was going to be able to go and eat with them. I missed prayer group. I didn't know if I would get to see Brigitte either. But all I could think about at the time was the pain.
I turned the shower on steaming hot and that numbed it for a while, but then when I got out, it was worse all over again. I tried to calm down for a while, but it got to hurting worse than anything (I sound like a wimp, I know, but I really don't understand what was wrong with me; I've just never ached like that before). So I got back in the shower to numb it all over again. I had been crying out to God, "Please help me!" But in the shower, I calmed down, I got down on my knees, and I began to pray.
But I want to talk about some things that came to mind before I prayed. Namely, satan came in and began to bargain for my release from suffering. He told me to remember that he also has a lot of power. He told me that if I will cry out to him instead of to God, that he will cure me instantly. He promised that then I would be able to live the rest of the day normally. He promised a lot that sounded really good.
You know, I believe that satan probably does have the power to deliver us from suffering and dismay. But right there and then, I looked at him and then turned to God and said, "I would rather spend the rest of my life in pain and anguish and yet be in Your presence than to call out to him and live in luxury." Satan really didn't have much to offer. He seeks the temporary; God seeks the eternal. I call upon God's name and God's name alone. So that's just what I did.
The Bible teaches that, with faith in His answering, God can do miracles when we pray. I worked up the courage and faith and asked for healing. Then I slowly turned off the shower, and didn't know what to expect. The pain came back, I won't lie. It wasn't as bad as before, but it was back. But I kept on begging, "Help my unbelief;" I kept on begging, "Please, God, please." You wanna' know something? The pain never went away. But He still answered my prayer.
Here's how: Paul once prayed that "the thorn in his flesh" (whatever it may have been) be removed from him. And he petitioned the Lord three times about it. But God said, "My grace is sufficient. My power is perfected in your weakness." He healed me somewhat, but the main healing was from the strength that He gave me to endure. He taught me that my God is bigger than my pain.
What more, I am mindful of the scourging Jesus faced, and my pain could only have been a glimpse to His. But He silently endured out of love for His people. I praise God that He was strong. And I praise God because He teaches me to be strong.

More Good News #2

It's been a while since I have done a "Good News Update and Reminder," so I figure this is as good a time as any.
I read something last night at Guy's FAST. It's one of my all-time favorite passages in the Scripture, no matter the translation. But last night I read it from the New Living Translation. Now I'm not too big on taking it as literal Scripture, but I think paraphrase translations can certainly serve their purposes. They put the letters in more of a story form, which is how they were intended: to be read aloud in a group of Christians.
I want you to read this passage of Scripture and just really soak up the meaning:

38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. 39Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Good News Point of the Day: God loves us without fail. God loves us unconditionally. Don't let anyone tell you that you can ever be separated from God's love. Sure, you can turn your back on His love, and not accept His love in your life, but He doesn't ever stop loving you because of that. He is the Father. Our Father. Your Father. My Father. He waits on the road for every prodigal son and daughter to turn back and run home into Dad's arms. He never leaves you nor forsakes you. He forgives you. He strengthens you. His priority is mercy; His passion is compassion. He desires for you to be with Him, and He was/is willing to pay the price for you to follow Him. God is love.

That's good news! That's the gospel message! Please don't take the "good" out of "Good News." God is love. Never forget.

There's Something About the Word "Grace..."

Yesterday I talked about God's recent teachings for me about prayer; but I also mentioned that He has been teaching me a great deal about grace and mercy. Today, let's look at those words and ideas.
Grace. Just the word makes theologians grab their commentaries and flip pages to prepare for the war. It seems like we found the word grace and instantly built gulfs on both sides of it, one side trying to fight the other, and neither of them really getting the point. There is the side of "Once Saved Always Saved." They sugarcoat everything and make assumptions about God. They say that there's no way that a loving God could ever cast anyone into hell. "No matter what you do, you will always go to heaven, if you just believe." Then there's the side that I like to call, "Once Saved Barely Saved." They would probably think it better if we died right when we came up out of the baptistry. For them, Christ just allowed salvation to be a possibility, but it is still entirely up to us to shoulder and earn that salvation. And we dare not ever sin, or else it's up to us to get that salvation back. And we dare not ever sin "too much," or else God will take away that salvation forever!
The truth? Neither side is right.
It's so much easier though to just pick an extreme and stick with it. And both extremes have human tendecies to make them even more alluring. Once Saved Always Saved tempts that all who follow it can live as rotten and reckless a life as they please. Once Saved Barely Saved plays upon the concept of pride. But the truth is found in the middle ground.
And what an amazing truth it is.
I would say that for most of my Christian life, I followed the horrible tenets of Once Saved Barely Saved. I was as legalistic as they came. I remember one summer I believed that if I wasn't spending time in some sort of spiritual activity, at all hours of the day, I was sinning. It was a horrible and depressing lifestyle. I've been slowly climbing from the ashes of that though. And most recently, God has been schooling me big time in what "grace" really means. Ephesians 1 & 2 absolutely blow me away when I read them now. The language that Paul uses! "The riches of Christ!" "The grace He lavished upon us!" "God is rich in His mercy!" So much so as to, "seat us with Him in the heavenly places!" He "predestined us for His love!" Andy taught this Sunday that God's very priority is to forgive us. When Christ faced the mockery, the slander, the hurt, the persecution, the suffering, what did He say? Was it, "Oh, you wait 'til judgement day"? No! It was, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Christianity made me miserable at times because I would find myself caught up in sin and feel as though there was no way out. I felt destined for hell. But now I can live life "at peace with God, having been justified by faith through Jesus Christ" (Romans 5). And that's a happy, comforting feeling. So will I live that "rotten a life as I may please" because of God's grace? "By no means, we died to sin" (Romans 6). God gave me grace, and in turn (though it will never pay Him back), I give Him my life.
"And though we would not have understood You, there You were, hanging blameless on a cross. You would rather die than leave us in the dark..."

Prayer

Isn't it amazing that God teaches us messages for different seasons of life? Over the summer, God taught me a lot about love. Recently, He has been teaching me a great deal about what forgiveness, grace, and mercy mean in His book (no pun intended). But He has also taught me so much about prayer, and I want to talk about that now.
For a while, praying really became difficult for me. Certain sins or emotions clouded me from being able to feel heard by the Almighty, but I imagine that's something a lot of other Christians face at times as well. But prayer had also become a chore; not in the sense that it was monotonous, but in the sense that I felt it took a lot of work. I felt like I really had to muster all of my focus to speak a word, and that some phrases needed repeating until my heart was truly sincere behind them all, or else they wouldn't be heard. Then I listened to the Spirit and thought on Jesus' words about prayer, and He smashed through every barrier and false idea that I had.
Prayer is not hard work. I speak, in direct prayer or not, and God hears, regardless. But also, the Lord knows who I really am and how I really feel no matter what word I use to describe it. He knows what I'm going to say before I say it, so He doesn't need me to repeat a thing. He is everywhere and anywhere, so I don't need some special mindset to reach Him. He is God, omnipresent and omniscient, therefore He always hears. But He is also my Father, and therefore He always answers and cares.
Yesterday I participated in a prayer group in the evening. A few other Christian men gathered around, and we all laid face down in the dark, and every one prayed about everything on his heart. In a group of 6 men, there was an hour's worth of prayer. It was truly amazing to be so open with Christian brothers and to know that we were all praying alongside one another. I really feel like that's what the early church did.
And I have also realized that there is no worry or want to break me from peace and joy in Christ, because I know that God hears every plea for mercy and every call for strength, and I know that James says that if my faith is that God will answer my prayers, I can count them as good as done. That's why "Amen" has become one of my favorite words. It means "Let it be so;" and now I can trust that it is so.
"I tell you the truth, he can ask that the mountain be uplifted and cast into the sea, and if he has faith, it will be so."