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Seasons of Trouble

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by Brian Waple

This past Sunday, Martin spoke on a section from the Gospel of Mark, specifically, the Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed. In Mark 4, verses 5–6, we read, “Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun, and since it didn’t have deep roots, it died” (Mark 4:5-6, NLT). Later, when the disciples were asking Jesus to explain the meaning of the parable, Jesus replied, “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word” (Mark 4:16-17).

Problems . . . suffering . . . sorrows . . . troubles. We all go through these seasons. We cry out, “God, where are You in this?” And, God is silent. As a church, we have gone through these seasons. Personally, I have gone through these seasons. “God, please show us what You are doing here. Where are You working? How are we being used in this situation?” And, God is silent. The biggest sorrow is that we start to doubt our hope and lose our joy. We understand that this journey can be a challenge . . . that we must endure the race . . . that we’re being tested and purified through difficulty. We understand all of that. But when the pain we experience causes us to lose sight of the hope and joy that comes from faithfully putting our complete trust in God, when we sense that the impenetrable underlying rock is keeping our roots from getting through, we begin to let the seeds of faith die, little by little. I used to believe that these problems were just things that happened to us. I now understand that these troubles are anything that takes our eyes off God and His promises to us.

I have recently become familiar with Psalm 62, which has given me the assurance that I need to be hopeful in the face of trouble:

I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will never be shaken.

So many enemies against one man—
all of them trying to kill me.
To them I’m just a broken-down wall
or a tottering fence.
They plan to topple me from my high position.
They delight in telling lies about me.
They praise me to my face
but curse me in their hearts.

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge.” (Psalm 62:1–8)

It may seem at times that God is silent; that the trouble we experience in this world and the pain it causes are threatening to kill our hope and joy. But take heart—He continues to work on our behalf, because He loves us. Knowing that and living the assurances found in Psalm 62 will give us the refuge we so desperately seek during these seasons of trouble.

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If Loving You Was Easy . . .

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by Jeff Foerster

Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

There it is: Love God. Love your neighbor. And implied in the second commandment, love yourself. Yeah. Okay. Wait. What?

If you were at the Men’s retreat a few weeks ago, you heard these three pieces of counsel. The first two commands are citations of Deuteronomy and Leviticus that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. The third, love yourself, may sound weird and even liable to be abused, given our sinful condition, but it is necessary to be healthy. So how exactly does one love oneself well?

True love embraces truth. The truth is that each of us is a dirty, rotten sinner. If you like theological terms, think total depravity. If not, understand that each aspect of our being, our heart, our soul, and our mind has been corrupted by sin. As they say, I am not as bad as I could be, and I may not be the worst rascal out there, but there is no part of me that is untainted or untouched by sin.

I don’t sound very lovable as the truth sheds light on my condition. And I don’t feel much like loving others, or God for that matter, when I just want to run and hide—Adam and Eve, anyone? But for God. God comes near, and because He loved me first, I can love Him and my neighbor. My standing has been changed; I have been redeemed and remade—no longer a sinner, now a saint.

From this position I can love myself well. From this perspective and by the power of the Holy Spirit living through me, I can love myself well.

Nuts and bolts. Brass tacks. What’s it all about, man?! I am not about to create a picture of chowing down on bonbons, leisure days at the spa, or week long retreats to hot springs near Icelandic villas frequented by hipsters trying to “find themselves” or “lose themselves” or find their “lost selves.” Instead, if I am to love myself well, I will take the long view of things, the eternal view. Instead of indulgence, I will choose sacrifice, and I will like it. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain which he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot, a Christian missionary, gave us that quote to consider. He speaks of salvation, but also for consideration are the eternal rewards for faithful and faith-filled living here and now.

Three pragmatic points to ponder:

Self-Control

The Scriptures lay out that acting in harmony (love) with the Spirit will produce self-control. In practical terms, it means not getting drunk or high, spending or eating excessively, or engaging in any number of other sins. Loving oneself is not indulgence—it’s sacrifice, for our own good (not to mention the positive effects which others around us experience).

Temple

All who are born-again Christians are dwelling places of God. Care for our bodies and minds is important. Our temples are to be well kept, prepared for purpose, but not as an end in themselves. We are not to run ourselves ragged out of a misguided sense of “sacrifice.” Not caring for my body’s need for rest, healthy food, or mental downtime is abuse, not a measure of my efficiency or a cause for admiration from others.

Focus

Loving myself means having life’s priorities clear. Jesus comes first. First in time, first in hope, first in authority, etc. This helps me weather life’s storms and simply helps me experience life in the way I was created to live it. It means setting aside the remote, the keypad, the phone and spending time with the God I say I love.

So, I invite you: love yourself, but love yourself well. Give yourself the very best. Your relationship with God will blossom, and as you sacrifice those second-rate indulgences, those around you will be blessed.

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My Dad and David

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By Dan Amos

The Sunday after Easter, my family and friends of my mom and dad gathered for a memorial for my dad. Mom has a certificate that says he died two weeks earlier, but we know that he was healed on that day and is more alive than ever. But this was not a certain conclusion – it was a nail-biter up until the end. I thought about this again this last Sunday when Martin spoke on David’s struggle in Psalm 139.

Dad was what the world would call a good man. Generations of kids remember him as the man who would make time for them and play with them, often when their own dads were gone or too busy. He retired from the Navy after 20 years serving on ships including the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. He served on the ground in Vietnam, and those memories haunted him until Alzheimer’s took all of his memories away.

The father I knew as a child took me to church. I even found a picture of him sitting at home reading his Bible. Dad was not an “up front” kind of person who was comfortable speaking in public, but I have a distinct memory of him standing in church at a Sunday evening service and testifying about what God was doing in his life. I don’t remember the content, but the image is clear. I also remember how we would mercilessly tease him about his off-key singing voice that I heard in church. I would love to hear that voice again!

However, he was haunted by secrets. No one knows what they were, but he occasionally would give us a glimpse by saying they were too awful to be forgiven. He ran from God and tried to hide. For most of his adult life he let the guilt of something keep him from knowing the peace of God’s forgiveness. This caused in me uncertainty – not about whether God would reject me, but about whether I could reject Him. I was somewhere between the Arminian and Calvinist positions and I was certain Dad needed to know where he stood. But he would not talk to us about it.

As awful as Alzheimer’s is, with the mental, emotional and physical destruction it causes, we have to see it as a blessing for my dad. The disease broke down his resistance until someone (who I believe was led by the Spirit) challenged him to make a conscious decision about his standing with God. Dad followed that up the next Sunday by responding to an altar call, and finally found the forgiveness that had always been waiting for him. Not long after, he made a public declaration of his faith while being baptized.

David sinned greatly, but he recognized he could not run from his sin. He repented. He was a man after God’s own heart because he chose to repent and receive forgiveness. I have the hope we get through the Gospel that my dad is in heaven with Jesus. Because he bowed his knee in this life, he was given new life. It didn’t have to end this way. He could have kept running, and the outcome would have been unthinkable. I wish he had chosen sooner – 40 years sooner – but the dad I loved did finally choose, and it is well.

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Walking Away Sad

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By Hannah Comerford

Through the white picture-frame windows, closed by curlicue latches, I can see a short iron gate, bushes and hedges in various shades of green, and a tree bare from winter and covered in ivy. Birds sing. I have tea at my desk. I’m sitting in the home of C. S. Lewis, my hero of both the faith and literature. This room once belonged to his stepson, Douglas Gresham, and now I’m living here for two weeks.

It’s all more than I could have hoped for.

But what if I could give it all up? What if I could turn back the time, drop out of the master’s program I’ve worked so hard to be a part of, give up every precious experience I’m gaining in this beautiful land? I would do this all and more for the one thing I’ve desired for years.

The rich young man in the Gospel of Matthew asked, “What must I do to obtain eternal life?” He left sorrowful because the price was too high.

My problem isn’t so much with price. Through deaths of loved ones, loss of health, and multiple moves, I am not as scared to give things up as I once was. Nor do I have a problem seeing what I can do for eternal life, for I know that, as a believer in Christ’s death and resurrection and payment for my sins, I already have eternal life.

No, my question is both more and less holy. On bad days, I see the children others have been given and ask, “What must I give to become a mother?”

If I give up my career as an editor, my journey toward a master’s degree, the health I’ve worked to maintain, would I then be able to earn this privilege? Perhaps I haven’t prayed hard enough or long enough. Maybe I just need to hurry up and learn the lesson God has for me so He can finally bless me.

My namesake prayed to the Lord and received a son, the prophet Samuel. Why did God answer her and not me? Was it because she bargained with God, promising to give up her child to be a servant in the temple if only the Lord would provide the infant? If I, too, bargain, will I obtain what I seek?

On these bad days, I walk away sad, for I cannot obtain the prize I so desperately want.

The rich young man and I have different questions, yet our problem is the same: we don’t recognize the true prize. It is not eternal life or motherhood or any other blessing—those are gifts given freely above and beyond our life with God.

The true prize was sitting in front of the rich young man. The answer lay in the heart behind Hannah’s prayer in the temple. And it’s free to me and to all believers in Christ.

The rich young man left sad because he failed to see that a relationship with Christ was worth more than all his possessions—and even more than eternal life. Hannah received her answer to prayer because her ultimate goal wasn’t just to be a mother; she wanted the opportunity to worship the Lord by giving Him an offering worth more than the mandatory sacrificial lambs. If she had valued her son more than the Lord, she would not have kept her promise. Instead, she took her blessing as an opportunity to praise the Lord through sacrifice and prayer.

When you’re in love with a person, you’re willing to give up your time, money, and plans in order to be with them. As a wife, you hold dear the engagement ring your husband gave you, but you would give it up if it could somehow save your beloved’s life. Your relationship with the person is worth far more than what they give you.

When we place our ultimate hope, love, and satisfaction in the Lord, we can recognize that anything more than a relationship with Him is like that engagement ring—added grace, blessings from the kind heart of a Father. We can enjoy these things because we know they are gifts from our Father, but we can also willingly lay them down, for they are not the source of our joy.

Perhaps, like I do, you long for a good thing that God hasn’t chosen to give you. Or perhaps God has blessed you with the desires of your heart—family, health, financial provision, etc. Maybe you’re worried that these desires, whether fulfilled or not, can become more desirable than Jesus, that you will become the rich young man. Take heart! As the young man left, Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. . . . With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

On the bad days when we long for things more than we long for Christ, and on the good days when we find our joy in our relationship with Christ first and in His blessings second, may our prayer continue to be that God would do the miraculous and make our hearts long after Him.

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Scary Things!

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By Pastor Martin Schlomer

When I was a young child, I lived in a 100-year-old house that had a large, dark basement with a huge furnace. In the far corner, there was a room where the early homeowners stored coal for the furnace. It was a dark, wet, drafty, and terrifying room with no windows and a large, heavy door. My brothers would dare me to descend the long flight of stairs without a flashlight, through the basement, around the old, noisy furnace, and into the coal room, and stay there as long as I could.

It was terrifying! There were other times when I’d venture into this coal room, but with a flashlight — and while it was still scary, it wasn’t nearly as terrifying. Shining a light made all the difference!

In a few weeks, we will begin shining a light into what most people consider to be a very dark, lonely, and terrifying room. We will begin dealing with the issue of sexual abuse. For many women and men, sexual abuse has been a horrifying part of their lives and they’ve never told anyone. It is a reality they keep hidden behind thick walls of guilt and shame. It has sabotaged their walk with Jesus, their marriages and many other relationships.

On April 21, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, Elim will host our first Hope & Healing seminar, called “Beginning Conversations.” We will take a careful look at the scope of sexual abuse in our culture.

Then on Friday evening, May 4 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 5 from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Elim will host an “Intensive Workshop” that will help people begin the journey toward hope and healing. Both seminars will be a very interactive time, as trauma and sexual abuse counselors Shonna Porter and Mary Jane Apple guide and facilitate our discovery and healing process.

Why is this so important? Why do we need to go there? Wouldn’t it be better to keep that room closed and locked? Absolutely not! When Jesus started His ministry, He began by walking through 40 days of hell on earth. He confronted the Devil on his turf! Shortly after He emerged victorious, He entered the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath. He stood up and read from Isaiah,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19,21)

Then He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” THANK YOU, JESUS! These are words filled with hope! Jesus longs to shine the light of the hope of the Gospel into those dark rooms where we keep the terrifying experiences hidden and locked away. When we do this, we shackle ourselves to the trauma of those experiences, and we become their captives. This is why we’re hosting these seminars and creating pathways following the seminars to help people walk toward freedom.

Is this a scary journey? Yes! But here is the hope: There is freedom for those willing to take this journey!

And there is yet more good news! Because this is so important to nurturing passionate followers of Jesus, last Tuesday evening, the elders committed to making the Intensive Workshop free to Elim attenders and their families! All you need to do is register at ElimEFC.org/Hope and follow the instructions.

In addition, we have generous individuals who are eager to provide scholarships to anyone outside of Elim who cannot afford to pay the advertised cost of the seminar. All they need to do is register at ElimEFC.org/Hope and check the box designated “Request scholarship.”

Please, please, pray for this event! We want the Spirit of our Lord to be powerfully present! We want to see the “release of the captives … and to set free those who are oppressed.”

 

 

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Seeking (and Listening to) the Best Gift of All

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By Larry Short

During Pastor Martin’s sermon last Sunday, “Learn to Listen to the Spirit,” someone asked a great question: “How do we know it is the Spirit and not our inner self who is speaking into our mind?”

Our pastors both had very good responses to this question. Martin focused on John 10:27—“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” If you are God’s, and He is speaking, you will recognize His leading. And Pastor Brian shared that the thing that is most important is that if what we share with people aligns with Scripture, wisdom, and God’s heart, we need not second-guess ourselves, but we can share in faith what is on our heart for others.

Danny Number One

Even as our pastors were sharing this, God was reminding me of what felt like a perfect example of these truths. At a prior church (and yes, this was a long time ago, when we were in our early 30s!), Darlene and I led a community group. There was a very interesting young man named Danny in our group, and he was really struggling. He was a former high priest in the Mormon church who, along with his wife, had come to know Jesus and had left Mormonism. But he was struggling with fear and obedience, and they struggled in their marriage. I was really burdened to try to help Danny, and during one corporate worship time, during one of the songs, rather than singing, I was praying and asking God, very specifically: “What are the keys to Danny? How can I help him?”

No sooner had I prayed this (silently), than an older gentleman whom I had a great deal of respect for, a man named Bob, leaned forward from where he was sitting behind me, put his hand on my shoulder, and whispered into my ear: “The keys to Danny are that he needs to put his fear away and be baptized, as well as humble himself before his wife and ask her forgiveness.” He then leaned back into his seat as a new song began and joined in the singing, smiling at me as I stared at him in astonishment.

To say that I was stunned was an understatement. I had just (silently) asked God a very specific question. And Bob had leaned forward and answered that question!

Afterward, I asked Bob how he knew what I was asking God. It seemed to me he had somehow received a message from God, right? How did that happen?

Bob just shrugged as he replied, “I don’t know. I just felt burdened about Danny and was praying for him. I knew you led the group he’s in, so I thought I’d share my conviction about what needs to happen in his life.”

From Bob’s perspective, this was his own (prayerful) thought process. But to me, it was clearly a word from God, reminiscent of Christ’s comment to Nathanael:

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1:48)

Nathanael was astonished because he had thought that whatever happened under the fig tree was just between him and God. So Jesus’s window into that event had a profound effect on his life, just as Bob’s window into my heart impacted me deeply.

Spooky, for me! But to Bob, of course, it was no big deal—just sharing his thoughts. Regardless, I followed up on that word from God (through Bob). I felt a great sense of urgency to speak to Danny, but the only number I had for him was an office number, and he didn’t start until at least 8 or 9 the next morning. But at about 4 a.m. I gave up trying to sleep and decided to call his office number just to do something.

I was astonished when Danny answered, and he also sounded very surprised. It “just so happens” that he, too, was unable to sleep, and felt compelled for some reason to come into work hours earlier than usual. As he walked in the door about 4 a.m., his desk phone was ringing. Danny was therefore in a strong position to pay careful attention to the urgent message I had to share.

So I shared with Danny what Bob had said: that he needed to put his fear away and obey God in believer’s baptism, as well as to humble himself and ask his wife’s forgiveness. Both were hard things to ask him, he admitted. He agreed to be baptized (I baptized him myself in a backyard pool, a few weeks later), and said he’d think about the other. But, sadly, he never humbled himself to ask his wife’s forgiveness. Ultimately, his marriage failed.

Danny, Take Two (and this one is a much happier story!)

Several times Martin has shared that story (which he shared Sunday during his message) about me giving a word to Pastor Dan Atwood and the confirmation Dan took from my comment that helped him recognize that God was calling him to Faith Community Church. Each time Martin shares it, I feel vaguely embarrassed. I recall the incident, but truthfully, I don’t remember exactly what I said to Dan. And this is because, to me, it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, like it was some sort of “spooky” prophetic event. Instead, it was simply a thought I had, as I prayed for Dan, which I felt compelled to share. But then God somehow used my Bob-like thought process for His own purposes (for which I am deeply grateful!).

I think many times it happens just like this. Jesus urges us to seek the good gift of being filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). I’ve been challenged to start each day by asking, pleading, “God, I certainly don’t deserve this, and it even scares me a little, but please give me Your Gift today. In accordance with Your promise, please fill me with Your Holy Spirit!” God knows I need this. And my conviction is that it isn’t until we are filled with the Holy Spirit that God can then use us to convey His message to others.

Will we be aware of this? Will the message be easily distinguishable as our words versus God’s words? Not in my experience. But, as Pastor Brian shared, this is once again a matter of trust. And trust is rarely clear or easy. But if we are willing to spend time with God, learn to hear His voice, ask to be filled with His Holy Spirit (daily!), and then share our convictions in accordance with His Word and heart, in faith, I believe we will be used by God—whether we know it or not!

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