Grace for the Place

     Life on this sin-cursed planet is often full of difficulty and hardship.  Jesus promises troubles in John 16:33: "In the world you WILL have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  Praise God, Jesus left glory and came to earth to live a perfectly obedient life and die a death that we deserve and take the eternal wrath of God in my place so that I might have everlasting life and hope during this life.  Sometimes those mountains seem so tall and those valleys so deep.  Our church here hosted a conference in February and I recently grabbed a copy of the messages.  It was done by Dr. Stuart Scott who has been counseling and on staff with MacArthur at Grace Community Church in LA for many years.  He did a message on "God's Grace in our Difficulties" and I just listened to it this morning--so encouraging!  

     I know that because we are all human, any of you that read this suffer through different trials in life.  Some are short seasons while others are lifetime difficulties that will never go away this side of heaven.  Praise God for those that know Jesus the promise is that one Day there will be deliverance from these trials in life, but right now, instead of deliverance, God may be calling you to greater dependence IN the trial, instead of getting OUT of the trial.  The message was from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

"And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.  And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."

    This is one of my favorite passages of scripture, and one I have run to often throughout the trials of life.  Here is some of what Dr. Stuart Scott had to say.

5 Lessons to live by grace and learn contentment in an ongoing painful trial:

1) Realize that God's goodness is the soil where humility or pride can grow. (Anything above hell is a blessing!) (Deut 8:6-17)

2) God always has the perfect remedy to keep us from potential uselessness/fruitlessness (Psalm 119:71, Lamentations 3:32, 38, Romans 8:28-29)

3) The most common and natural response to trial is to request deliverance (verse 8).  **Paul directly prays to Jesus** (Jesus prayed that way in the garden of Gethsemene)

4) Often God's reply to our petition may be ongoing suffering to magnify Christ best, and bring the most glory to our Lord. (verse 9) **Sufficient is first in word order**

5) Our resolve, by God's continuing grace is to be one of embracing God's will with joy.  We resolve to rely on His strength in our weakness.  Jesus and all He is goes beyond all that I am afflicted with.

Other quotes from the message:

"The Lord needs our weakness, not our strength--our strength is often Christ's rival, while weakness is His instrument."

"Ask yourself, 'In the midst of my sufferings, how can I love and serve others?'"

"If we are not heavenly minded as God's people, we will be of no earthly good." ~Richard Baxter~ (Who had severe health issues from age 21 on...at 32 was told he had several months to live, so started studying heaven...he wrote down all that he could and it ended up being 500 pages.  He also lived to an old age, way beyond what the doctors told him, but his health trials were what kept him humble and dependent on the Lord.)

     This message was so convicting and encouraging that I couldn't help but share it with all of you.  I'm not sure if there is a link online or not, but if there is, I will post a link to the message here.  

  In His Mighty Grip,

Rachelle :)