Continuing on from the Previous Blog...
 
 
6. God loves the people I love, more than I love them!
 
Related to the last point (regarding making mistakes as a parent raising children), it has been so critical for me to see: God loves the people I love more than I do.  We have to remember this when thinking of all the people we are burdened for, to see their spiritual good: our spouse and children, our family, our relatives, our brothers and sisters in Christ, some person I am burdened for.
 
Example: Jesus prayed for His disciples diligently - but even to the end of His life they were so immature, and ungodly - fighting over who was greatest (Luke 22:24), so confident and proud (Matt 26:35).  This was after years of walking with Jesus.  Jesus may have been tempted to be frustrated that they had grown so little after walking with Him for so long!  But He prayed for them (John 17). And He realized, God has to do a work in them in His time by His Holy Spirit.  He said basically, "I have so many things to tell you and teach you but you can't handle them. I am leaving it to the Holy Spirit." (John 16:12-13)
 
God didn't answer Jesus' prayers right away.  Wow!  Even Jesus Himself had to wait and see the Father's answer to His prayer.  But one day, at the right time, God filled the disciples with the Spirit and used them mightily to build His church.
 
And the peace that Jesus had during His time on earth (while seeing what may have been otherwise discouraging results) was this: The Father loves them so much.  He will do spiritual good toward them if I ask. He is even more eager for it than I am.
 
God is mercy - and perfect love toward the people I care about on this earth.  He's more perfect in love and mercy toward them than me.  This has comforted me when I am filled with concern for others.  I will pray for them, and leave it to God to do the work in them which I cannot do with any amount of 'telling' the right words.
 
 
7. Life is a vapor, eternity is coming soon (James 4:14) - so I don’t need to mourn missed chances and missing out, not achieving what I wanted in this world. And I must make use of my short time here for the Lord
 
No one on their death bed ever said, “I wish I had the 5 bedroom house in the nice part of town instead of the 3 bedroom in the mediocre part of town.” No one laying on their death bed ever said, “If only I got that one promotion that I missed out on...”  "I wish I would have excelled in my craft more than I did."
 
Example: Lazarus and rich man (Luke 16:19-31) are both in eternity today. Lazarus suffered terribly for some time on earth.  But for thousands of years he’s been in paradise.  I don’t know how memory works there, but he probably hardly remembers his suffering on earth today!  And for us, the more time gets closer to our last day, and to eternity; the clearer things get to us that these outward circumstances on this 'lower earth' don’t really matter as much as we feel they do in the moment.
 
I think I may have heard some older folks close to the end say, "I wish I had travelled more and seen more of the world."  But I believe even then, if someone has earthly regrets and says something like this - they do not realize that heaven with Jesus is a million times more beautiful than the best beauty of this earth that they can absorb with their eyes, for just a little time.  They don't know the joy of the Lord which we can have is a trillion times better than the greatest joy of this world.
 
Most also don't realize the time slipping away which can be used to live for the Lord, and to lay up treasure in Heaven. Our life is a vapor - I've realized that there should not be a 'waiting', there must be an urgency to my life here.
 
We have forever in eternity to worship the Lord and to know Him, but just a few short moments here to expand our capacity for that worship and knowledge of Him when we get there.
 
Eph 5:15-16 "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil."
 
Matt 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
 
I was at a funeral the other day.  It reminded me of the verse: "It's better to go to the house of mourning, than a house of feasting... because it reminds you of what's really important" (Eccl 7:2 - paraphrased). Life is a vapor, it appears for a little time, and then it vanishes away.  Praise God!  The world is trying to live forever, but those of us in Christ don't need to get sad at the thought of aging, but we instead should be all the more zealous - and to rejoice in being a little closer to the Lord each day.  Our life is a vapor. Here for a little time, and then gone. That makes all the ups and downs of this 'lower world' put into the right perspective, and encourages us to press on for what real "life" is.  This perspective has changed how I live, what my priorities are, and consoles me constantly in any earthly disappointment.
 
 
8.  I don’t need to know the right words to pray effective powerful prayers
 
Example: Peter was in a really desperate situation.  He was sinking in the middle of the sea, and he didn't have time to know what to say or how to say it.  So he did one thing: he cried to Jesus, "Lord save me!!! (Matt 14:30)"  And the very next word after that verse is: IMMEDIATELY (v1).  It says IMMEDIATELY Jesus lifted him up.  It's so uplifting to me to see how the Lord responds, even when we don't know what we're saying or doing. And all it took was a word: "Help Lord!"
 
I've sometimes in the past felt the Lord couldn't answer me because I'm not "praying good enough" or I'm "not praying the right thing." This was so important for me to see that: I may not have the wisdom yet what God needs to do.  I don't know what to pray.  I may not even fully understand what the problem is.  But it's enough to: 1. know there's a problem and 2. cry to God for help for it (from the bottom of my heart, and with just an utter dependence on Him that He has to do something).  And He will answer!  Praise the Lord.
 
Romans 8:26 "In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 8:27   and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
 
Pray!  It doesn't need to be perfect, or fully understood by you to know what you're really asking for.  The main thing is: are we crying out to God?  Then He can work with that. So - Pray! God can do anything.
 
Psalm 77:13 "Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? 77:14 You are the God who works wonders"
 
 
9. God desires to place each of us in a local church family, to be built up in Jesus, for spiritual protection and guidance - and to "burn hotter" than we can ever alone
 
A burning branch in a burning bush will be hotter itself and make the bush hotter as well.  A fast runner running with other fast runners will push each other, they run faster together and train better than they would alone.  Like these examples, the same is true in the local church, and I praise the Lord that I've gotten to see that true in my own life for myself.

He equipped our church as a whole, each of us individually - to build each other up.. "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:13)  Praise the Lord!  "God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy" (Psalm 68:6 NLT)

Eph 4:15 "but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 4:16   from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love."

There is growth into Jesus in the local church family, there is protection in the local church family. And there is joy in the local church family.
 
Example: Jesus one time expressed such deep joy that His brothers and sisters in Christ were humble, lowly, godly saints - not great people of the world:
 
Luke 10:21 "At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight."
 
Php 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always."  We can fully, and always rejoice in our Lord.  And the Bible also says in Psalm 16 (David said), "As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight."
 
If I put the two together, I see what was true in Jesus life:
 
"Rejoice in the Lord.  Delight in the saints."  He did this always - rejoiced in the Lord (His Father), and delighted in the saints.  This is how Heaven will be forever as well.  And we can taste of it now.
 
 
 
10. There’s an answer in Scripture for everything from the verses, examples and also principles of God’s Word
 
I've been a Christian for many years.  But to this day, there's constantly situations I run into where I just don't know (in my own wisdom) what to do, how the Lord would respond, or what decision I should make in some circumstance.  The peace I have is knowing this: that if I meditate a bit in any circumstance on the principles of God's Word, He can speak very specifically to any situation through something that is there in Scripture.  It's not just knowing an 'exact verse' that matches my situation (sometimes it is), but it's also how God works, and what His heart is toward particular things.
 
Example: Jesus was one time scolded by the Pharisees because His disciples were eating on the Sabbath.  Jesus knew this was not His Father's heart - to make men slaves to rules and traditions.  And He knew the spirit with which these Pharisees were coming from.  So He responded to them with an example from Scripture: Mark 2:25-27 "And He *said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?" Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."
 
Jesus learned the principle from the example of David: God's heart is that people are the priority, not rules and regulations.  Rules and laws are there for the good of the people, not to be worshiped and placed above concern for people.  He saw God's heart and knew the PRINCIPLES of Scripture.  He didn't just learn the Father's Word, but the Father's ways.  There's the 'letter' of the law and the 'spirit' of the law.  We need to know God's heart to be able to live by His Word in obedience to it, in the right way.
 
And I see that when I come to Scripture like Jesus did, there is an answer to everything for every situation, every single day of my life.  Sometimes I need counsel and help to understand, and so I am bold to ask for help many times when I struggle to understand and see what God's Word and heart says.  And godly counsel when I am perplexed has helped me so many times to see and understand God's Word for my situation ("For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in abundance of counselors there is victory." Prov 24:6).  And when the Lord confirms it, that "this is my Word, and this is my heart for this situation", then I have found over and over that it is a refuge, strength, and joy to know that there's an answer for everything we ever run into in life - to know that we are in God's will if we take the time to study the Word diligently, to meditate on it and know His heart as we go through our life and obey what we understand of His Word and of His heart.
 
Knowing that God will give me help and guidance to any question or problem I have, through His Word is one of the greatest and most encouraging comforts in my life.