Why me??

This was my devotion for today:

^3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ^4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Co 1:3-4, NIV)

Why Me?  Why now?  Why not someone else?  Do I deserve this?

All questions that roll around in our minds, or if we are honest its questions we ask God, when life as we know it begins to fall apart.

I will be honest, I can think of several times I've asked this.  When I had to have a fusion done to my spine after rupturing a disc 6 months post op on another disc, when we lost a child at 6 months, or when our finances hit rock bottom.  WHY ME???

Here is what I found, God proved Himself in each situation.  He didn't make the problems go away, but He did walk us through them.  He also has enabled us to comfort some who have dealt with the exact same situations.  It's what he does.  It's what we are supposed to do.

So when we ask ourselves "why me?" the harsh answer is:  "why not you".

Whatever it is your dealing with, whatever it is your going through:

• one, your never alone.  God hasn't left you, He WILL comfort you in your time of need.
• two, you WILL meet someone someday that is going through the EXACT thing you are going through and you will be able to look them in the eyes and say, "I know exactly what you are going through"

Hang tough, be strong, build your faith, and understand that God is using whatever it is to prepare you to help someone in the future.

What do you think?

^13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

^14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Mt 16:13-14, NIV)

 

It's interesting if you pose the question:  Who is Jesus?  You can get a lot of different answers. 

 

A good man

A great example

A prophet

A teacher

A rebel

 

Many people have many, many opinions about who they believe Jesus is, or was, depending on your view.  Everyone is entitled to, and has their own opinion.  Have you really thought about it?  If someone asked you "Who do you think Jesus is?" what would you say.  The catch is do you really believe how you would respond, or are you responding in such a way to get someone off your back.

 

Jesus asks this very question to the disciples in Matthew 16.  Yes, His disciples, the people who are following Him, he asks first of all "who do people say I am".  They responded how they had heard people refer to Jesus.  However, the conversation doesn't stop there.  Jesus then asks:

 

^15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:15, NIV)

 

So, what about you?  What do YOU think?

 

This is what it all boils down to.  What you really think.  Are you convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (as Peter responds in verse 16) or are you not?  This one little question is what holds our eternity in balance.  How you respond, or what you believe about this, well, it determines everything.

 

This determines where you spend eternity, but it also determines how you spend your life in the here and now.  If you and I are convinced of who Jesus is, it will have noticeable affects on our life.

"...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (Jn 10:10, NIV)

 

So, what do you think?

fear

"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself"  FDR, First Inaugural Address 1933 in the midst of the great depression.

Fear has a way of getting to us, cripple us, and even paralyze us. 

If we are honest about it, we all fear something...

We fear losing jobs, we fear losing significant other, we fear failing a class, we fear warfare, we fear change, we fear bullies, we fear dark places, we fear the unknown, we fear future, we fear financial ruin, we fear violence, we fear adulthood, we fear our past, we fear what we cannot explain, we fear opportunity, we fear opinions, we fear spiders, we fear snakes; there is so much that we fear.

^15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.^  And by him we cry, “Abba,^ Father.” (Ro 8:15., NIV)

God doesn't want you to be afraid.  So whatever it is that you fear, God wants you to let it go.  What will it take for Him to convince you that you don't have to be afraid anymore.  You don't have to let whatever it is cripple you anymore.  Whatever your fear is, understand that God is greater than whatever it is you fear.  He understands what it is and why you fear it.  He also wants you to understand that He created you to be an overcomer, He doesn't want you to be slave to that fear.

Whatever your fear is let it go.

I understand, I have fears myself.  We are in this together.  Let's enable our Heavenly Father, our Creator, and our Redeemer to show us we have nothing to fear, because we are His children.

So here is to defeating fear....

Are you listening?

"In those days the word of the Lord was rare..." (1 Samuel 3:1, NIV)

We could probably change that verse to fit 2014 like this, "In these days the word of the Lord is rare"...or is it?

Maybe, just maybe God is still talking and the problem is me.  Maybe the problem is that I am just not listening.

In 1 Samuel 3 God calls Samuel 3 times by name, and every time He did Samuel ran to Eli because he thought Eli was calling for him (1 Samuel 3:4-8).  Finally after that third time Eli the priest tells Samuel that if it happens again to say, "Speak Lord for your servant is listening" (1 Sam 3:9).  Did you catch the end of that?  Your servant is listening.

Couple of things that I think we can glean from this:

• Samuel did not recognize the voice of God.  Three times God spoke to him and he did not know it was God.  Samuel had to have Eli tell him that it was God speaking to him.  So if you think God is not speaking to you, maybe He is and you just haven't recognized its His voice.
• Samuel needed to tune in and listen.  "Speak for I am listening", He had to be ready to listen, he had to be willing to listen.  So if you think God is not speaking to you, maybe He is and you are just not ready and willing to listen.
• Samuel had to be laying down for bed to hear the voice of God.  Makes sense to me.  Think about it when is the ONLY time we are still for more than a few minutes.  So if you think God is not speaking to you, maybe He is and you just haven't been still and quiet long enough for Him to get a word in.

Sometimes in life we have spells where we feel like God is not speaking.  He does, the problem is we are not listening.

So, Are you listening?