Encouragement Section (it won't let me edit the Archived Section so I made another one!)
How to be thankful for fleas
Have
you heard the story of Corrie Ten Boom? She was a Dutch Christian
Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World
War II. She wrote a book called The Hiding Place which talks about her
life and her time in a labor camp.
Corrie was put into a cell with her sister Betsie. Her worry now was
that the guards would see the Bible, God had miraculously gotten into their hands, and take it away from them, the two
sister's only source of hope and comfort. The place was so infested
with fleas that the sisters could not move without instantly being
covered with the bugs. Betsie told Corrie that they should thank God
for the fleas, Corrie wasn't sure she could do this, but she and Betsie
bowed their heads and thanked God for even the fleas. Weeks later,
Corrie was struck by the blessing that came for her obedience to thank
God in all circumstances; Betsie had heard a supervisor say she
wouldn't step through the door of their cell because of all the fleas,
and neither would the guards. It was because of the fleas that Corrie
and Betsie were able to continue to keep their Bible without the guards
finding it.
I have some "fleas" in my life too. Some are more
than just bothersome which I won't get all into and if I let these in
they bring fear. But when I heard this story about the fleas the thing
that came to mind was my root canal. I have went to the dentist twice
now for a root canal. Each time they give me around 4 shots of
novocaine and they start to drill and I jump from the pain. I get all
geared up to go in and get it done just to have them send me home again
because they can't get me numb. To be honest it terrifies me to go to
the dentist and I've been there 4 times in the last 2 weeks. And now
next week, I go in yet again and this time I'll have an IV to put me
mostly under - whatever that means. I have dreaded it, gotten mad and
frustrated with not only the emotional pain, but the cost. But when I
heard this story about Corrie, I thought can I be thankful for my root
canal?
Everyone has different fleas in their life, some a lot
scarier than others, but we all have them. Will you chose to be
thankful for them or get angry or fearful? The enemy wants to keep us
in fear or in anger. But as James says, resist the devil and he will
flee from you. How do you resist? In repentance. My repentance for
the root canal is to not complain, not go to an unreality of this or
that might happen, and to actually have a heart that says and means Your
will be done I trust you.
GOD IS ENOUGH
Eric started his Nav Night talk with this John Piper Video
(I recommend clicking on that link and watching it, amazing!). After
the video he purposed the question Is God Enough. Take a moment to
ponder this question...
What is it that you want more in the
world? For us it's a baby, maybe it's your health, or a spouse, or a
particular job. If God said no to that one thing you desperately want,
is He still enough? I hope your answer is yes! Let's look at what the
bible says about this...
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
1Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity ;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?"
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Bottom
line - Asaph is having trouble understanding why those who don't follow
God seem to have no trouble and succeed and get what they want and he,
a follower of God, doesn't. By the end of the Psalm he realizes that
success and riches last only for this life, that when he focuses on
eternity instead of the temporary he sees that God is enough!
Do you think I'm going to hell?
I
sat on the Redifer Commons lawn with Steph as we talked about life,
God, and got in the word. She talked about her week and then
exclaimed, "My boyfriend's roommate is Jewish and he asked me if I
thought he was going to hell. I wasn't sure what to say."
How would you answer that?
Relativism plagues our society today. Relativism- is
a philosophical theory asserting that there is no absolute truth, only
truth relative to the individual, or to a particular time or culture,
or both. To put it another way, relativism may be defined as the
radical denial of objectivity.
Jesus said, I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. John 14:6 Wow, there isn't much wiggle room there.
God doesn't make Jesus the only way to be mean or exclusive. Someone has to pay for your sins, either you or Jesus.
I
love this illustration...say you decide to kill someone (I know this is
extreme, but hopefully you'll see the point) and you are caught and you
go before a judge and you are sentenced to the electric chair. The day
comes when they take you to the chair, strap you in, and then count
down 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..and then someone rushes into the room and
says I want to take your place. That's what Jesus did. He ran in and
took our place, but only if you let him. You have to believe AND
receive him to have eternal life. There's no other way.
Of
course, that brings up tons of other questions like, what about those
who have never heard of Jesus, what if you believe and fall away, etc.
By God's grace, we help students wrestle through these questions.
If
you struggle with how to answer a question like this, I think a great
way to answer this pointed question is - would you like to read the
bible and see what God says about that? God's word will not return to
Him void, meaning it will accomplish all God desires. Get people in
His word and things change. One of the girls in my bible study and I
are going to start doing this with students on her floor who don't know
Jesus. We will read the bible and ask them questions. We don't preach
or give them answers, we let the word speak for itself. Eric is also
going to do this with 3 of his guys. Pray God brings students to
himself through this.
I'll share this story in
more detail in a later encouragement, but I went through the book of
John (good place to start with those who don't know Christ) with a girl
awhile back. She was vehemently against Christ, antagonist, and
frustrating every time we met, but she wanted to keep reading.
Eventually, God brought her to himself. She would be one of those 'the
last person on earth you'd think would trust Christ' people.
I
encourage you to start reading the bible with someone who doesn't know
Jesus. If you have questions on how to do this, email me at
jamiestaveness@gmail.com. People
need to hear the good news that Jesus rose from the dead and now we
can be saved from sin and hell and judgment in a way that is safe for
them to ask questions and hear it from God's word. It is powerful!