God's Will in Hard Times

Going through hard times is no fun.  It isn’t something that sparks our joy. 

Are hard times part of God's will for us? 

If you are a believer, it doesn’t mean you won’t ever go through times that aren't difficult.  Sometimes the difficult places are God’s will for us at that time.  Yes, there are times of suffering that God lets us go through on purpose.  

David knew this too well.  He knew he was going to be the King of Israel, yet he was on the run from Saul who was trying to kill him.  Seriously?  He KNEW God's will, yet he was running for his life.

Even if God has called us to do something doesn’t mean it will be easy or painless.  

Several years ago, I went through a difficult period of time.  I didn’t understand it at the time, but I eventually recognized God’s purpose.  It wasn’t easy but I powered through.  There were many times that if I knew when it was going to end that I could get through it better, but I was never given an end date.  I just had to fulfill my purpose and endure through it. Often when we are in the hard times, we don't see what God is doing until we've been through it and could look back and see what He was doing and why. 

Serving God isn’t always happy times of an endless praise and worship music soundtrack in the background of our lives.  There are days of feeling that God has forgotten you.  Sometimes holding on is all you have. 

Some would lead you to believe that your faith in God will be all prosperity.  Sometimes your faith in God can be quite painful. It isn't all ease and riches flowing without problems.  Some would make you think that you have a lack of faith if you are going through tough times.  Ask Job about that.

I have learned many lessons during the hard times in my life about God, myself and my faith in God.  Sometimes I got through it well while other times I failed miserably.  We all complain so I think God expects it, but I think He's okay about us venting our feelings.  Once again, I point you to Job's experience.  I use Job because many like to brag about the "patience" of Job but if you read the story, you will see that he wasn't very patient at all.  He complained and vented to God about his situation.  Even with our venting, we must also keep the faith.  

The late Robert Schuller once wrote a book called “Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do” and in his book he writes that “Every Problem has a limited life span.”  This means that whatever problems we have will eventually pass.  Of course, the issue I always have with that quote is that we don’t always know how long the hard times are going to last.  The only thing we can do is buckle down and get through it.  Things do eventually change.

Hard times are going to come and go.  Don't let the hard times defeat you.  

Churches Now Open to Political Division

Churches can now endorse and contribute to political candidates.

This is bad news. The Johnson Amendment no longer applies to churches.

The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501 non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. This amendment kept churches from supporting political candidates and keep their non-profit status. The President backed the Internal Revenue Service in a court filing which has cleared a way for churches to endorse political candidates.

This is wrong. No church should EVER endorse political candidates. The pulpit is not the place for politics. This is not the mission of the church. This ruling is going to effectively divide churches even further.

So with this ruling, you will now have Republican churches and Democrat churches. Personally, I will never be involved in church who supports a political candidate - even if they support my candidate.

The church stage should never be a platform for a political candidate of any party. This is not the place for it. Unfortunately our current President has stirred the waters of the evangelical community in pandering their support and has forever changed the church.

What’s next? Sermons about how you can’t be a Republican/Democrat and be a Christian? They have already been doing it but now what held most back has been loosed. This is certainly a slippery slope that the church is sliding into.

When Jesus came, people wanted a political leader but that wasn’t what He was sent to do. He came to establish an eternal kingdom. Political entities are not the savior of the world. The salvation for all mankind has been manifested in Jesus Christ. God knew that our world needed saving long before any national government was ever founded. He demonstrated to the world that redemption could not be accomplished through the power of man, economic strength, military might, or politics. Peace of mind, contentment, hope, and joy—and the salvation of mankind—are provided only through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Some may see the changes to the Johnson Amendment for churches to be further evidence of religious freedom but is it really? We are dangerously close to churches being controlled by the government. It is crucial that we follow Christ and not a preacher’s choice of political candidates.

We're All Going Through Things

What are you going through right now?  We all get wrapped up in our own problems don't we?

Everybody is going through something.

We may share it with someone close to us or we may keep it inside.  There are times that we think no one cares.  I can assure you that there is always at least one person who cares and understands.  

The Bible tells us that Jesus is well acquainted with what the Bible describes as infirmities.  An infirmity is a physical or emotional weakness. We are all human and we are going to have weakness.  Our lives won’t always go as expected.  

When I walk down the street where I live to pickup food, I pass many people.  People from different backgrounds, different cultures and different problems.  We all may be different but we all still going through something.  

There was a contemporary Christian song many years ago called "People Need the Lord" by Steve Green that says:

Everyday they pass me by

I can see it in their eyes

Empty people filled with care

Headed who knows where

On they go through private pain

Living fear to fear

Laughter hides their silent cries

Only Jesus hears

People need the Lord, people need the Lord

At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door

People need the Lord, people need the Lord

When will we realize people need the Lord?

While God usually doesn’t intervene in our lives in a tangible way, He does still care about us and sometimes He uses others to help us.  He can work through the kindness of others.  It doesn’t have to be some supernatural creepy encounter but just a simple act of kindness.

The second verse of the song by Steve Green says:

We are called to take His light

To a world where wrong seems right.

What could be too great a cost

For sharing life with one who's lost?

Through His love our hearts can feel

All the grief they bear

They must hear the words of life

Only we can share

Small acts of kindness, such as helping someone in need or offering a listening ear, can make a big difference in someone's life.  Helping others, especially those who are vulnerable or marginalized, is a way to show God's love and compassion. 

I will admit that many times I am oblivious and not looking for opportunities to touch others with kindness.  An act of kindness can go a long way.  Let's make that effort to be nice to the cashier at the store, open the door for someone or look for ways to bless others.  While we may have our problems, helping others is a good way to help us in dealing with our own.