Does Suffering Turn You Away From Jesus or Toward Jesus?

Several years ago, a young beloved police officer was gunned down in our city causing a flood of tears for many, especially his wife.  As anyone would, she deeply grieved over his death and her loss of him. She believed it was the worst thing that could ever happen to her as a young bride.  Soon, anger towards God began to swell in her soul. After the funeral, she set up a meeting with her pastor.

Through angry tears, she told him that she could no longer believe in Jesus because if He would let her husband be taken from her, then she wanted nothing to do with Him.  The pastor lovingly tried to convince her to change her mind but she was immovable.  She walked away from her faith in Jesus never to return.

In another story, a lady came to GLI to receive personal counseling for years of debilitating depression and discouragement.  God worked through the counselor to share with her the freedom found in the Gospel for Christians.  As she began to understand the overwhelming love of God for her, her years of depression and discouragement were replaced with great joy. 

Shortly afterwards, her husband also died without warning.  She was heartbroken, full of grief and anger towards God.  But her story ends very differently.  Because she understood that nothing could separate her from God’s amazing love for her, she released her anger and turned to Jesus in her for comfort and solace. 

The Apostle Paul wrote, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39.

King David wrote that God’s love was better than anything in his life after his son, Absalom, had chased him out of the palace with vicious threats to murder him. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  Psalms 63:3-4

When you truly begin to understand how much God loves you, no matter what comes at you in life, you eventually will turn toward a deeper trust and intimacy with Jesus rather than away from Him.  It may take some time for you to get there, but you will get there.

Are you convinced that God loves you no matter what happens?  Or do you look at good or bad circumstances as indicators of whether God loves you?  The first leads to freedom.  The latter leads to bondage.

I urge you to make a decision today, no matter how you feel or what life is throwing at you, that God loves you no matter what.  If you need help getting there call us at 704-522-9026 for a live or Skype consultation.  God does not want you to live feeling unloved by him for one more minute!  

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Are You Broken?

First let me say a big, "Hello" to all of our readers, in the Carolinas, the USA, Ukraine, Russia, France, China, India, Bulgaria, Germany, Pakistan and even the land of Skype!  I am glad you enjoy this blog.

Brokenness - The very mention of the word causes many Christians to shudder inside, though they may nod their heads agreeing that it is something spiritually necessary.  While Scripture makes it clear that this process is essential for optimum spiritual growth, as well as fruitfulness, there remains quite a bit of uncertainly and confusion regarding it.

Brokenness in Scripture - Romans 8:13 makes a startling statement directed at every Christian when it says, "For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."   A cursory reading of it sounds like God is saying that if you are constantly sinning, that is living according to the flesh, God is going to take you to heaven sooner than you thought!  But this is not the meaning at all.  He is letting us know that because of His great love for us, He is not going to permit us to keep using our flesh to cope with life.  He has provided a way of coping with life which is much much better.  It is Jesus Christ in us. 

Brokenness is not -

Suffering  Though suffering is often used by our DAD to bring us to brokenness, suffering alone is not brokenness.   At GLI, we often hear people tell us they have been broken, when what they really mean is that they have been through a hellacious  time of suffering.  It may be a divorce, a tough marriage, a rebellious child, joblessness, money problems, a family blow up, continuous feelings of low self-esteem and inadequacy, depression, constant worry, habitual sexual sin, unresolved anger and bitterness, major disappointment, illness, adultery or other problems.  When we hear the pain of these legitimate sufferings, we listen compassionately.   However, we also realize that though these are no guarantee of brokenness, they can be the vehicle the Holy Spirit uses to bring them to brokenness.

Unresolved Pain  Today it is common to hear someone say that they are sexually, emotionally, relationally or some other type of "broken" because of events in their past, which are causing negative consequences in their present.  At GLI, we understand what they mean and don't deny that they are in pain.  We also realize they are stuck in patterns that are causing dysfunction.  Yet, this is not the kind of brokenness spoken of in Scripture.  Having said that, we see people in our counseling with those types of issues. We see them receive great healing from Jesus when they begin to experience Him as their Life, on the other side of spiritual brokenness.

Brokenness is - 1.  A growing awareness that no matter how hard I try, my ability to make my life work is getting worse instead of better.  2.  An orchestrated work of God who loves me too much to permit my fleshly coping mechanisms to keep working for me.  3.  The results of the Holy Spirit moving me to the other side of brokenness so that I am changed by Him, not by my efforts.  4.  A growing experience of the reality of my union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.  5. Not a one-time event.  Though many people in our ministry can point to a time when the process of brokenness brought about a huge spiritual paradigm shift in them, they eventually realize that there are other "miniature versions" of brokenness as part of their ongoing conformity to the image of Christ.  See Romans 8:28-29.

How do you know if you are broken?  True brokenness from God will produce lasting transformation in us.  This is a result of a type of death in which our reliance on our flesh is exchanged for reliance on Christ in us, not only as our Savior and Lord, but our Life.  Colossians  4:4 says it this way, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." 

My personal brokenness -  Every person on our staff has an amazing story of their own brokenness.  I wish I could share each of those 35 stories with you.  But for now, I will give you the brief version of my own. 

I remember thinking one day that my life had become like our kitchen table I was staring at.  I imagined that one by one, the legs on the table were being removed in the same way all of the things in my life seemed to have been removed.  My friends had vanished, my goal of starting a growing church was failing, my ability to overcome sin was ineffective, and my relationship with God was stressful.  These deficits had been mounting for quite some time, culminating in me to finally telling my wife, "If this is all there is to being a Christian, it doesn't work."  I think my Father was smiling with joy knowing that I was finally where he wanted me - broken.  It was there that He revealed Christ in me.  It was in such a dramatic way that I had never felt the depth of His love as I did then.  That is when everything began to change and my transformation received a ginormous jump start.

What to do - Tell God you know that He loves you, so you are giving Him your permission to do anything He wants to bring you to brokenness.  Already experienced that initial brokenness?  Have you asked Him to bring your family members to brokenness?  How about your children - a tough one to pray?  And if you believe you need help walking through your own brokenness, contact us.  We've been there and we can help you or refer you to someone else in your area who can.

Believe it.  It's the Gospel!

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding

God Will Not Give You More than You Can Handle

I can't remember how many times I have heard this through the years but it is significant.  It's supposed to be a comforting statement for people when they are experiencing a time of great difficulty.  The idea is that God knows how much strength you have so He will not allow difficulty to become so heavy that you fall under it.

       

I suppose this is a misunderstanding of 1 Cor. 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."  (NAS)  The ability mentioned here is not our ability but God's ability, because without Jesus we can do nothing.

God will give you more than you can handle because, He wants to handle it through you with His strength instead of yours.  As a matter of fact, He will give you more than you can handle because He is jealous for you to get to know His Son, Jesus Christ in you.   That means He wants you to talk with Christ in you as you rely on Him more, instead of talking to yourself so much as you rely on yourself.

The Apostle Paul knew how it felt to have more than you can personally handle.

 He thought he was going to die but he tells us God had a purpose in it.  "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:9 ESV)

Learning to rely on Christ in you through overwhelming difficulties is necessary if you are going to spiritually mature, for it not only blesses you, but others as well.  What a cool plan God has in place!  You get to know and experience Jesus in you more and then others get to know Him more as He lives through you.  "For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you." (2 Cor. 4:11-12 ESV)

Are you going through great difficulty?  Tell God you give up on your own strength and ability!  Then become enamored with Jesus by focusing on and relying on Him!

Believe it.  This is the Gospel!         

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder www.GraceLifeInternational.com 
All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding