24-26 Sept 2015 Thank
God for Pain – Manna by Dorothy Callies
Acts
14:22 KJV, “. . . we must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
What
was this really about when Paul and Barnabas said: “They encouraged them to continue
in faith, reminding them that they must enter into the Kingdom of God through
many tribulations” (Acts 14:22 NLT)? This was about Paul who were preaching the
Good News in different cities, Lystra and Derbe.
“Now
some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the crowds into a
murderous mob. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, apparently
dead. But as the believers stood around him, he got up and went back into the
city. The next day Paul left with Barnabas for Derbe” (Acts 14:19-20).
What?
Paul got stoned and left him for dead? Why? In New Testament times God did not
always protect His servant from harm. To bring the Gospel’s truth into the
darkness of the world always give people two choices: to accept Jesus Christ as
their Savior or to reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The people who rejected
the Gospel often brought persecution to God’s servants at a great cost of their
lives.
When
Paul was writing to the churches of Galatia, he said, “I bear in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:17). Reading from New Living
Translation about Paul’s many trials from 2 Cor. 11:16-33, makes me wonder how
did Paul goes through all that pains? What was Paul’s secret? Paul was always
thankful for many things, even thank God for pain.
Now
what kind of marks did Paul had in his body? Paul had been whipped many times
while he was in jail several times. Five different times the Jews gave Paul 39
lashes. Three times Paul was beaten with rods. Wow! That’s many marks on Paul’s
body! Why did they do this? They tried to stop Paul from preaching the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
In
2 Cor. 11:27 NLT, Paul said, “I have lived with weariness and pain . . .” KJV, “In
weariness and painfulness . . .” Yet Paul was always thankful . . . even when
Paul had “a thorn in the flesh” (2Cor.12:7). Paul gave us a perfect example how to depend
on God’s divine grace, and now God is saying to you, “My grace is sufficient for
thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2Cor.12:9).
What
impressed me about Paul? I just never thought of how much Paul went through
until I brought up the topic called, “Thank God for Pain.” Sometimes you read
through the Bible, but don’t think much of it until you have the topic to start
with. Then you search the scriptures related to the topic and you realized
there’s something more that brought inspiration you didn’t notice before. Thank
You Lord for teaching me this!
So
if you have problems that you can’t get rid of yet, think about Paul who loves
Christ so much that he was willing to bear the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
think about God’s grace. [Song: Let’s just praise the Lord … praise the Lord …
Let’s just lift our hands toward heaven and praise the Lord … praise the Lord! Repeat]
May
God bless you today!
No comments:
Post a Comment