Reflections

Difficult Circumstances

Difficult circumstances  present no real problem to the man and woman in whom the life of Jesus Christ resides. Of these Edwin Markham says:
Defeat may serve as well as victory
To shake the soul and let glory out.
When the great oak is straining in the wind,
The boughs drink in new beauty and the trunk
Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.
Only the soul that knows the mighty grief, 

Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come

To stretch out spaces in the heart of joy.

Hudson Taylor knew this more than anyone. One day seated with a new missionary in a home in China he filled a glass full of water and then struck the table heavily with his fist. As the water splashed over he said to the young missionary. 'You will be stuck by the blows of many sorrows and troubles in China, but remember, they will only splash out of you what is in you'.

It was said of the quaint Cornish preacher Billy Bray that the more troubles he had the more he would shout 'Glory'. On one occasion he is reported to have said. "If you put me in a barrel I will shout 'Glory' through the bunghole." Troubles and difficulties bring out what is inside us. An old Christian travelling in a train stood up to get his suitcase as the train pulled into the station. It came to a sudden stop causing him to lurch from one side to the other. When he hit one side the passengers heard him say "Glory", and when he hit the other side, "Hallelujah"! The jolting shook the Glory out. Does it do the same in you?

Reflections
Victors-Not Victims
The question of God's abundant life flowing into our attitudes is extremely important. Those who have learned the secret of turning setbacks into springboards and stumbling blocks into stepping stones are those who have learned how to truly live. If you do not learn it then life will be frustrating, and you will become a victim rather that a victor.
Look at this illustration: Jesus has just learned that His friend John the Baptist  had been beheaded and the account continues, "As soon as Jesus heard the news He went by Himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone . But the crowds saw where He was headed and followed by land from many villages. So... He pitied them and healed their sick." ( Matt. 14:13-14). Jesus must have felt keenly the death of John the Baptist and quite naturally wanted to be alone to express His grief to God, His Father. The wound in His heart, however, did not deter Him from looking out on the multitude that had followed Him with great pity and compassion. The
Scripture says, "He pitied them and healed their sick". Christ did not allow the wound in His own heart to block His love and concern for others, but it became the prelude not only the healing of the multitude, but the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.
A nightingale, I am told, sings much more sweetly when a torn presses into its side. And so can you. If you have to work with a thorn in your side then let it bring out, by God's Grace, the sweetest note your life has ever sounded.

Reflections
Changing our minds
You must have heard the story of the grim-looking woman who offering a tract to a passerby, said, 'Would you like to become a Christian?' 'No thank you,'  said the other person, taking a look at her sour face, ' I have enough troubles of my own'.
Why is it that so many people who claim to belong to Christ present such a gloomy image to the world? In the main they are not hypocrites for their lives have no blemish, and their characters are spotless. Yet somehow their lives are not radiant, and they fail to put a desire in the hearts of others to reach out to Christ. Somehow or other we have given the men and women of our generation the impression that to become a Christian is to carry a heavy load, dress in black and live a life that is bleached of all colour. It is true that we do not cheat, swear, get drunk, or
philander with the opposite sex- but neither do thousands of people who are not Christians.
If we claim that a Christian is someone in whom Christ lives, then why is it that we give so little evidence that He is inside us? One possible answer to this is that we have not passed through the experience of which Paul speaks in Rom.12:2. We have surrendered our wills to Christ but there has been no transformation in our minds. Our thinking has never been reshaped. The Bible says it quite plainly, by the renewing of our minds we are transformed. And how is this achieved? By giving our minds to Him, then He gives  His mind to us. 'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus... and be renewed'.

Reflections

Why did God let evil happen

In looking at the apparent defeat of God's purposes in the garden of Eden,  (Gen 3) people sometime say, "why didn't God put out His hand to prevent these things from taking place? Why didn't the Almighty intervene to prevent such a catastrophe?" There are several answers to this question.

1. God made us as free agents and is obliged to respect that freedom. If His heart of love would have been content with marionettes, and not men, then He could have had  a sinless and perfect world.

2. God rules the world by inflexible laws which apply equally to everyone. The universe would be greatly unbalanced if there was no principle of cause and effect. If quinine killed malaria germs on one occasion, and killed the patient on another, no medical service would be possible. Having established the universe on firm laws, God would violate His own nature if He intervened to change them.

3. God foresaw that he would transform evil into good and made the gain greater than the loss. A young army officer said, "Weather in war is always favourable, if you know how to use it."  That is the point, - if you know how to use it. Infinite wisdom  knew how to use man's sin and rebellion to further the divine goal, and  there is, therefore, no sin, no suffering, no frustration, no disappointment that cannot be gathered up by Him  and used for higher ends. God is never nonplussed - He always has a way out. If He  can't do this, then He can do that -  and both are equally good in the final results. When God is faced with problems He does not break up - He breaks out.

Reflections
Evil Thoughts Conquered
Perhaps we ought to make clear that evil thoughts are not sin. Some young Christians when facing the problem of continued evil thoughts are led to believe that they have not been properly converted. The devil whispers to them, 'If you had been really converted, then you wouldn't be having these thoughts'.
An evil thought in itself does not constitute sin. It becomes sin when we contemplate it, fondle it and entertain it in our minds. If wrong thoughts are not evil in their inception they can become perilous in their development and evil in their consequences. Dr. W.E. Sangster, in a dramatic passage in one of his books, describes the process of temptation in this way: "A sinful thought comes and knocks on the door of the heart, but it brings a blush to the cheek and the door is slammed against it. But it comes again and again, gets fingered and looked at from other angles. and briefly considered...and then entertained. So the fatal sophistry goes on until the sin is done. No blush now, no slammed door. The thought that once crimsoned your cheek stalks into your mind and takes its ease like a familiar visitant or an old friend. An evil thought in a white robe: the devil with a halo on."
It is important that we learn how to outmanoeuvre those thoughts that have within them the potential of turning our minds away from God and into sin. The whole battle is fought in the first few minutes so kill at once - stone dead. "We can't stop the birds flying into our hair, but we can stop them building nests."

Reflections
Giving up Resentments.
An essential principle of life in the Kingdom is the forgiveness of others. Whilst the central motive for forgiving others is the fact that we have ourselves been forgiven by God, there are a few other things that we should look at which may help us also in dealing with this problem.
The reason why we hold on to bitterness and resentment is because of a touchy and un-surrendered self. Remember this-it may help you to deal more effectively with the problem. The fact that we hold on to resentment shows that we have a self that is over- sensitive, because it is un-surrendered to the Word of God. So do not concentrate on the symptom-resentment but go straight to the root cause the un-surrendered self. Consider whether or not your un-willingness to forgive is rooted in an imaginary slight or insult. An over-sensitive person  imagines that  when two or three people are secretly locked in a private conversation they are talking about him and so he reads into actions and statements things never intended. Check your attitudes honestly and ask God to help you  with this problem once and for all,
Pray for those who have hurt you and  injured you- every time you think of them. Make it a rule of your mind that every time you think of someone who has hurt or injured you, your thoughts will turn to prayer for them, Once you make your mind understand this principle then you will have no more enemies- for you will have no more enmity.

Reflections
Making Prayer Count.
Although Satan was defeated at the Cross, he is still allowed to exercise a degree of power; but only as it fits in with the purpose of God to provide on the job training for His Church. 
Because the crown is given only to a conqueror (Rev.1;21) the Church must learn the art of overcoming in preparation for her position of ruler ship which will take place when She occupies the Throne, following the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
In order for us to learn the technique of overcoming Satan and his forces , God has given us
the powerful weapon of intercessory prayer. It is His way of enabling us to get the job done, and bring about disruption and disorganization in the ranks of Satan.
As the world is surrounded by evil and malevolent forces which are hostile to our God, the Church has a glorious opportunity  to learn the art of spiritual warfare by making prayer count. If Satan was not opposed by the prayers of God's people, then the balance of power would swing to the side of evil, and the world would enter a time of unimaginable chaos and
disorder. 
It is through the avenue of prayer that the Church releases the Spirit of God, so that He becomes active in the affairs of men, wooing the unconverted, opposing evil and pressing the claims of Christ upon the world. God will not go over the Church's head to work without her, as this would be contrary to His intention of making her co-equal with His Son. 
As Wesley said: "God does nothing but in answer to prayer".

Reflections

Dealing with Guilt

There can be no doubt that if we allow our thoughts and desires to focus on impurity and uncleanness, it will not be long before a cloud of guilt will descend upon our spirits. This guilt is responsible for a great degree of spiritual ill-health, and if unresolved can bring about serious damage and disruption to our personalities.

Some forms of  modern-day psychiatry approach this problem by trying to persuade the person concerned that he is more a victim than a violator of his conscience and he needs to re-educate himself so that he can accept a lower value system. But the problem is not so much that God's standards are too high- rather our performance is too low.

When we violate a spiritual principle, or transgress God's laws in any way, then God has arranged

that a cloud of guilt descends upon our spirits. This guilt is not intended to drive to despair but to draw us toward Him for deliverance. Only God has has the answer to guilt. It must be remembered

that I am talking here, not about false guilt but real guilt, the guilt that arises from a violation of God's

principles ans laws.

We can do several things with guilt when it descends upon our spirits. We can suppress it by attempting to persuade ourselves it is not there. We can suppress it and  try to keep it under control. Or we can confess it to God, ask for His cleansing and forgiveness and seek to live by His power in the future, so that we can be free from its stanglehold and control.