Cling to faith

1 Peter 5: 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

When I consider suffering in our present world; all kinds of suffering; from sickness, satanic attacks on our families, to persecution, and financial distress, I think of all that Peter and the early church had to endure.

From the pages of scripture we can feel their pain and sorrow as they fully embraced a new life in Christ yet encountered the extremely hostile world around them. On one hand, the lost were streaming into the church seeking salvation. On the other, marauders were looking for followers of "the way" to heap upon them mountains of cruelty and hate.

This scripture passage, among others, gave great comfort to those suffering just as it does now. Peter even said ... "consider it pure joy when you experience trials of various kinds."

I know it's not an easy thing to do, but the thrust of these exhortation's is for us to believe in faith that God has not abandoned us. Our countenance, our speech, and our actions must demonstrate a faith in a loving God who is bigger than the broken world in which we live. He is guiding us through the dark valleys of this world which is not our home.

Take Him by the hand and be comforted by His word.
Believe with all your might that ALL things work together for good to those who love Him. Selah

1 Timothy 1:19
Cling to your faith in Christ...

iPhone

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Keith Brake

Image
Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. And the place was shaken...WOW We all need these moments of transfiguration. Times when God makes an appearance leaving no doubt that you are where you're supposed to be doing exactly what is pleasing to Him. God moments...! They happen every day. All day. In big and small ways. The small moments may bring a smile. The huge bring tears. We can fathom only handfuls of the mountainous otherwise we look only for big and miss the multitude of God moments happening all around us. One of those gigantic events happened Sunday. Over 50 of us were jammed into the small hospice room of our beloved LIFE group teacher of 25 years. Cancer had left him unable to communicate. Final days of life's struggle are approaching. Lynn's request for Keith was to have his class meet by his bed, on Easter Sunday, a...
Read more

Go For It

Image
One of the most heart rendering experiences I've ever had occurred on a mission trip to the south pacific. My niece came with me along with a dozen other workers. We arrived at the airport in Manila Philippines for our return flight to America. My niece reached for her passport...and it wasn't there. One thing for certain, you're not getting on an international flight without a passport. It was lost on the bumpy ride to the city. She had everything, but not quite! Everything.. but the most important item... which gave her right of passage. At that point, nothing else mattered. I recall her weeping on my shoulder, "Uncle John, there going to keep me here forever". How God bailed us out of that jam was amazing and a great devotion for another time. What I'm reminded of from this is the story of the rich young man that came to Jesus in Matthew 19. He had everything and had kept all the law. He would have been like the Bruce Wayne of Palestine. He had money, ...
Read more

History or His Story

Image
Sitting with an old friend, catching up with lost years, I asked if he had heard from past aquaintances. His response was, "Thats in the past. I don't live in the past. I'm looking forward." I knew exactly what he meant, and so did the Apostle Paul. Philippians 3: 13-14 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus Someone said, "Dont look back, unless you plan to go that way." I appreciated my friends comment. Mistakes, failure, and regret had been pestering me all week. Presently God was doing many remarkable things all around me but an unhealthy consciousness of past history was preventing me from enjoying the present. I needed a little reminder about straining toward what was ahead. To err is human. To forgive is divine. Th...
Read more