26. WHEN TROUBLE COMES
A. The Big Picture of the
Sources of Trouble
I
refer you back to the chart that describes the various sources of our
troubles. That chart recognizes that the
sources of trouble and evil include the devil, ourselves, the general fallen
condition of the world, and the opposition to goodness and the Gospel. It is important to keep that in mind, and it
is helpful when trying to sort out what is happening to us. At the same time, it is important to keep in
mind that the ultimate reason we suffer is The Law of Sin and Death. I sometimes use a more pleasant-sounding
term: the human condition.
What
this means is that we have been consigned to a life that has its blessings but
also has its troubles. We have been
consigned to that fate because of sin—not just our own sin, but the sin of the
human race.
However,
we must remember that I have developed an understanding of reality that
includes something larger than The Law of Sin and Death. That larger picture includes the victory of
God in Jesus Christ. The Christian world-view
includes specific sources of trouble, which are helpful at times to
understand. It includes an understanding
of sin as the ultimate cause of trouble.
But it always understands life to be concluded under the victory of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So,
I believe that The Big Picture is a great comfort to us in times of
trouble. It helps us to understand evil,
and it helps us to hold onto hope. Yet,
many people—many Christians—take no comfort from The Big Picture.
Many
take no comfort because they simply do not see The Big Picture. Though they are saved, they have a limited
understanding of the things of God. I
believe that they are deceived. They may
be deceived because of their own ignorance.
That ignorance may come from lack of teaching in the particular church
that they attend. Or it may be that they
have not availed themselves of teaching.
Or they may have been taught false doctrines. Some so-called Christian teaching is filled
with “prosperity doctrine,” which often is a selfishness bordering on
idolatry.
Whatever the cause of the
ignorance, the Christian who does not see The Big Picture is deceived. When I say this, I am not saying that they
should know my particular version of The Big Picture. But they should know what the Bible
says. As I commented earlier, many
Christians talk about creation but never talk about The Fall and The Law of Sin
and Death. They never understand the
role of suffering in the Christian life.
Thus, their Christian faith is of no comfort to them when trouble comes.
Other Christians just simply are
reluctant to commit to The Big Picture.
To do so involves giving up The Way Things Are. If I fall in love with life as it is now,
then I am not going to be willing to commit myself to God’s plan for my
life. To fall in love with this life is
to fall in love with an illusion. That
is true, but it is also true that many people do fall in love with this
life. Generally, what they really fall
in love with is some aspect of this life.
For example, suppose a man starts a
business. The business prospers. He makes a good living. Then, something happens—the economy falters
or a big corporation comes to town and directly competes with his business—and
the man’s business fails. Can this man
put this reversal in the context of The Big Picture? Or will he be angry, bitter, and lose
interest in his faith? It depends on
where his real commitments are. If he
understands—with his heart, regardless of his “head knowledge”—his business to
be the key to his happiness and
fulfillment, then his business failure is going to be utterly devastating.
It
may be that the man will “pick himself up, dust himself off” and begin
again. He may again start a successful
business. But, if his rebound is
grounded in his own abilities, then he has not really learned the right
lesson. He has not committed his life to
The Big Picture, no matter what his religious profession might be.
I
fear that many Christians—especially American Christians—have a life philosophy
similar to the man I just described.
They confess a creed and talk about salvation, but their day-to-day
lives, their energy, their focus, their hopes and dreams, are all wrapped up in
the things of this world. By “this
world” I mean their perception of the present order of existence. In I John, we read this warning:
Do not love the world or anything
in the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
For everything in the world—the cravings of the sinful man, the lust of
his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but
from the world. The world and its
desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. I
John 2:15-17
When
trouble comes, our attitude is going to depend to a great degree on our
commitment to The Big Picture. There may
be sadness and regret. If a loved one
dies, we are going to mourn for that person.
We are not being disloyal to The Big Picture to do so. But if we understand any event as ultimately
destructive of our lives and our destiny, then we have lost our vision of The
Big Picture.
B. Our God Is Good
The
foundation of our faith is that we serve a good and loving God. The climax of Romans 8 is the affirmation
that follows:
For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, 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
When trouble comes, our foundation
is secure. Though the trouble assails
our emotions, rocks our self-confidence, creates suspicion about our friends,
throws us into physical destitution, threatens every aspect of our being, it
cannot remove us from the love of God in Christ. The love is in Christ in at least two ways.
It is expressed in Christ as
the Father has given Him to us as a gift of His love. It is found
in Christ as we trust Christ for salvation.
So,
no matter what happens, we know that God still loves us. This is exactly the opposite message we
receive from our circumstances, especially the troubling circumstances. When trouble comes our way, we instinctually
react negatively—with fear, anger, anxiety, inconsolable grief. The circumstances of our life seem often to
speak—even scream—to us: “You are not
loved. You are threatened all
around. The worst case scenario has
come.” So, we have to learn, to train
ourselves—through prayer, Bible study, and seeking the help of fellow
Christians—to think and listen and see with eyes of faith, to believe that God
loves us. “Circumstances” literally
means “the things that stand around.”
So, whatever surrounds us must not speak as loudly as our faith. Our faith is founded on Scripture, on the
work of Jesus Christ, on the witness of the Holy Spirit. If we allow our faith to rest on our
circumstances, then we will be distressed every other day. So, no circumstance can separate us from
God’s love.
A
second reassurance we have from Romans 8 is the following:
And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.
Romans
8:28
This is another affirmation that we
serve a good and loving God. And yet
troubling circumstances would seem to contradict this. If we get a good job and start on a
successful career path, we can affirm that God is working in everything for our
good. But then, if cancer comes or a
spouse dies or our career turns to shambles or some other terrible trouble
enters our life, we fail to see how God is working anything good in such a
situation.
First,
we must define our good. Our faith includes a submission to the
sovereign reign of God. He, therefore,
has the prerogative to define our good.
I believe that God wants our ultimate
good. Our ultimate good is to live
forever with Him. Our ultimate good
cannot be defined in terms of the present order of existence. It is not that God takes delight in suffering
and pain in this present time. But I
must submit to His decisions about my life.
Second,
good is wrapped up in the purpose of God. God works for the good of those who have been
“called according to his purpose.” The
purpose of God is the redemptive project in Jesus Christ. That purpose is not served necessarily by my comfort, my health, my
prosperity. I believe that blessing
comes to me from God, but it comes wrapped in the purpose of God. As I am committed to The Big Picture, I find
destiny and fulfillment and happiness. I
find good. I cannot cling so tightly to any good in
this present order that I cannot release it to hold to the purpose of God.
Finally, we must recognize that our victory
is in the victory of God in Christ Jesus.
We find this affirmed also in Romans 8 as follows:
Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we
are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who
loved us.
Romans
8:35-37
Notice that our victory comes even in the midst of
terrible trouble. For Paul, that trouble
was persecution, especially. It probably
also included the financial hardships of an itinerant preacher (notice
“hardship,” “famine,” and “nakedness”).
Though he looked like a victim, he considered himself more than a
conqueror. Why? The victory has been won in Jesus
Christ. Jesus has risen from the dead,
signaling the utter victory over The Law of Sin and Death. The present order of existence, which
includes poverty, disease, violence, and hatred will ultimately give way to the
resurrection.
Thus, I don’t have to win in order for God to win. I don’t have to succeed, I don’t have to win
debates, I don’t have to have a huge, prosperous congregation, I don’t have to
be financially flush. God’s ultimate
victory FOR ME AND IN ME is not dependent on any of these things. That takes some pressure off of me. It also means that my destiny is not tied up
in the success in these things. That
does not mean that I am not involved emotionally and spiritually and every
other way in the things of earth.
Rather, it means that I understand where the victory is. As the old song says, the victory is in
Jesus. If my business fails, my health
fails, even my life itself ends, I am a winner!
I think that I can have a very good
attitude, if I really believe that. I
can smile, laugh, relax and love people, enjoy a party, if I know that God has
won the victory. Again, I am on the A
Team. I have a stake in God’s great redemptive
program. I shall pray fervently for the
salvation of individuals that I know. I
shall grieve over the bad behavior of folks that should know better. I shall be concerned about the welfare of the
church. But, in good times and in bad, I
know that I am a winner through Jesus Christ.
If a loved one dies, I am sad. But I mourn as one who has hope, the hope of
the resurrection (see I Thessalonians 4:13-18).
For I know that this death cannot overthrow God’s victory or my
victory. Every day there is evidence
thrown at me that God is a loser. Every
day there is evidence thrown at me that I am a loser. If I put my faith in self-reliance, the
romance of progress, and striving for self-righteousness (see Chapter 10),
then, if I am realistic, I am going to lose eventually. But if I put my faith in Jesus Christ and him
crucified, I am going to be a winner.
C. The God Who Comforts
God is not only a God of victory,
but He is a God of comfort. When someone
loses someone or something, he or she wants comfort, not a pep rally. Suffering is generally one of two types—pain
or loss.
Pain is acute and cries out for
relief. If it is physical pain, then
theology is probably not in order. That
is not to say that saints have not been able to endure pain simply because of
their faith. I heard a story of one of
the saints who was going to be burned at the stake. The night before, he tried to put his hand in
the flame of a candle, and he could not.
Yet, the next morning, he was able to die at the stake. Only the power of God enabled him.
The suffering of loss cries out for
presence. That is, if someone or
something is gone from us, then we
need someone or something to be with us. Folks, especially children, often cling to
something, like a Teddy Bear, at a time of loss. Hugs are important at a time of loss, because
we feel the presence of another person.
God understands that. God was the
witness to His own Son’s crucifixion. He
understands loss. And has become the God
of All Comfort. Read these words:
Praise be to the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 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. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow
over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort
and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in
you patient endurance of the
same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know
that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
II
Corinthians 1:3-7
In this passage, identification is
important. Christ identified Himself with
us, the human race. As He became
identified with us, He shared in our sufferings, literally, through the pain of
the cross. Thus, whenever we suffer, Christ has suffered with us. He has done that whether or not we have
accepted Him. He does it because He
loves us.
When we become Christians, we
identify with Christ. That means that, when Christ suffered, we suffered. Thus, our suffering as Christians is in
one respect the working out of that suffering of Christ in our lives in the
real world. I think that is especially
true in cases of persecution, but it may be true in all cases. The reason I say that is that we place our
whole life in the hands of God when we trust Christ. Whatever suffering we experience is thus a
sharing in the sufferings of Christ.
But there is an “upside” to
this: not only do we identify with
Christ in His suffering, we identify with Him in His comfort. We are given little information about this,
but I think that the comfort that the Father gave to the Son during and after His
suffering is what is referred to.
Remember that in the wilderness after the temptation, angels came to
minister to Jesus (Matthew 4:11). In the
Garden of Gethsemane, He was ministered to by an angel (Luke 22:43). We have also the record of the comfort that
God gave to Jesus after the ascension (see Hebrews 1:13 and Psalms 110:1). Thus, God has comforted Christ, and through
our identification with Him, we experience that comfort.
That is to say, that, because we
have a relationship with God through our faith in Christ, we are comforted by
God. This is one of the many facets of
the diamond of salvation. We generally
understand that we receive many benefits through our faith in Christ. However, many of us are unaware that one of
those benefits is this comfort that comes from God to us through Christ. Somehow, through the Holy Spirit, we
experience God’s “hug” at times of loss.
It is critical for the Christian to
understand this, because, for many Christians, an extreme loss is a crisis of
faith. The remarkable thing is that God
is the ultimate grief counselor. The
trouble with some of us is that we get nervous at the extremity of some
people’s grief. And we are afraid that
somehow they will push God away or that their anger and hysteria are expressions
of unbelief. I remember a preacher
telling a story of his pain after the death of a loved one. He had a great deal of trouble until he
finally got mad at God. Then, an amazing
peace enveloped him. I realize now that
I have been guilty at times of trying to protect God from people’s anger and
grief. I was afraid that they would be
disqualified from God’s comfort if they got mad at God.
Paul also emphasizes that his
readers, the church at Corinth, have identified with him and he with them. This means that they, Paul and the church,
share in suffering and comfort through that mutual identification. That was an apostolic kind of relationship,
but I believe we all share suffering and comfort together (see, for example, I
Corinthians 12:25-26).
Our comfort from God makes us
better comforters. I know a woman who
understood her calling was to comfort women who had lost their husbands. She too had lost a husband. When an older woman in the community would
lose someone, then she would show up at the woman’s house. She would hang out for hours, quietly. She was not a theologian, not a trained grief
counselor. She just had a gift of comfort. Our losses can be turned into gifts when we
learn to pass on to others the comfort that has come to us from God.
D. A-Team Purpose
When trouble comes, we can make one
of two mistakes in dealing with our duties, obligations, and commitments. I am thinking especially of our commitments
as Christians to The Big Picture. I have
already described our being on the A Team.
That means we have a calling to join with God in His redemptive
purpose. When extreme trouble comes, as
I have said, we can make one of two mistakes.
One mistake is to abandon our
purpose. Whether we say it or not, we
give witness to a message of meaninglessness.
“I have lost my spouse, there really is nothing left to live for.” So, we lose interest in church, in service to
others, and in God’s work in the world.
The other mistake is to become a
workaholic. That can happen in a
Christian setting as well as any other.
Such a reaction is really an attempt to avoid reality. It is a kind of unbelief, for it says, “If I
avoid thinking about and responding emotionally to this loss, then I won’t have
to deal with what I suspect, which is that this loss is the end of my purpose
and meaning.”
Both of these extremes are
unhealthy reactions to our loss. It
seems to me that we have to deal realistically with our sadness. We have to recognize that we have lost
something very valuable. God will comfort
us. Our friends will comfort us. But we are going to hurt deeply. That hurt can be incapacitating for a while. We have to give ourselves some time for grief
and not enter back into heavy responsibility too quickly. I hope most employers understand this.
On the other hand, our faith tells
us that ultimate purposes have not been destroyed by our loss. Eventually, we must take up our duties
again. If we understand our commitment to
The Big Picture and our place on the A Team, then we understand that our lives
have direction and purpose. Trouble is
distracting and can try to sidetrack us permanently from our purpose. At some point in our recovery process, we
need to reassess who we are and what our ultimate purposes are. I hope that such a time of reassessment will
bring us back onto the A Team.
When that happens, we can
experience some important kinds of healing.
This is because our A-Team commitments inevitably get us involved with
people. And as we become involved in the
needs of others, our pain begins to diminish and we begin to see ourselves as
having a purpose.
Extreme loss has a way of
shattering the rationality of the universe.
Many people fear that they are losing their minds when they are in
middle of grief, because the world does not seem to make sense. As we begin to recover and reach a point that
we can once again be caught up in the purposes of God’s Big Picture, then
rationality is restored to our lives.
Purpose and direction can give a
good kind of inertia to our lives. Inertia
is the property of a body to keep doing whatever it is doing. If it is moving in a certain direction, it
will require force to change that direction.
If it is at rest, it will require force to get it moving. If we have committed ourselves to The Big
Picture and are on the A Team, then we have some inertia. When we experience trouble and loss, that
inertia will resist diversion and distraction.
We will understand our troubles as streams to cross and not puddles to
wallow in.
E. The Church—A Body That Can
Feel
An
important ally in your struggles with trouble is the local church. In I Corinthians 12, the church is compared
to a human body. That figure of speech
is used by Paul to instruct the church in many ways. It teaches unity, respect for diversity of
gifts, and compassion for one another.
When one part of my body hurts, the rest of my body suffers with
it. It can be a stubbed toe. I hate to stub my toe. And when I do, I sit down, grab the foot with
the injured toe, and begin all sorts of reactions—grimacing, moaning, clenched
teeth, rocking back and forth. All of
this is over a stubbed toe.
The
body of Christ, which is the church, feels when one member hurts. Originally, “member” referred to a part of
the body—an arm, or leg, or organ, such as the liver. Paul was using the Greek word that is
translated “member” in that way when he wrote about a “member” of the body of
Christ suffering. So now, we refer to a
person belonging to the church as a “member.”
So, when a member of the body of which I am a part begins to hurt, I,
too, begin to hurt. I shall not be fully
recovered until that person is no longer suffering.
We
are extremely individualistic in America.
We are trained from earliest childhood to make our own way in the world.
Therefore, the importance of the church
is a lost value for many of us. Churches
today are successful and are valued because of what the do for the individual
and are not seen as values in their own right.
Yet, I believe that God understands us as a part of a group. “It is not good for the man to be
alone.” (Genesis 2:18) That statement
from God was made in reference to the two sexes and the marriage relationship,
but, when one studies Scripture, it seems also to apply to God’s vision for us
to be together as the people of God. We
find our fulfillment in relation to other people. So, it is important to develop your church
relationship and to begin to recognize yourself as not a “lone ranger” but as a
part of the body of Christ.
As we are
integrated into the body, then we develop deep relationships with one
another. Those relationships, hopefully,
reach a point of intimacy, in which we are able to share with other people in
the body the deep issues of our lives.
That sharing is not only an exchange of information, it becomes a matter
of prayer. So, our intimacy with one
another becomes wrapped up in our relationship with God. Thus, as we grow into one another, we grow
into God. Then, when trouble comes, we
very instinctually share the pain. It is
as natural as the body’s reaction to a stubbed toe. We hurt because a part of us hurts.
Sadly,
some people’s instincts lead them to shut themselves off from the body. I have observed many people who are very
guarded about sharing their troubles with the rest of the church. This happens in the small-town churches that
I pastor, where news moves at twice the speed of light! Yet, many people don’t want people talking
about them and their troubles. No doubt
they have observed some negative reactions to the troubles of others. So, I don’t blame them for their
reaction. I blame the church, which has
failed to create an environment of trust.
But, I encourage you to share your troubles with the church anyway. The negative stuff is going to go on. You can’t stop it no matter what you do. Try to ignore it. Because the risk you take by sharing your
needs and troubles with other people is worthwhile. You risk getting some negative comments. You gain some true friends who will pray for
you and encourage you at a critical point in your life.
As
you grope your way into recovery, you also find that the church can really
become your base of operations for recovery.
The church has the doctrines—the truths that provide a rational
framework for your life. It has the
Scripture, which is God’s story that you are becoming a part of. It has the Sacraments, the important symbols
of God’s love and grace to you. It has
the fellowship, the loving, supportive people who are ready to share your life
and to share their own lives with you.
And it has the God-ordained leadership that can help you to find
direction in your life.
F. The God Who Sees
The
book of Genesis tells the story of Hagar.
Hagar was an innocent by-stander in the drama taking place in the
household of Abraham and Sarah, the first family of the Hebrew nation. Abraham had been called by God to become a
great nation. However, he and Sarah had
no children. This became a tremendous
struggle of faith for Abraham. Finally,
Sarah gave Abraham her slave girl, Hagar, to bear a child. This was an accepted practice in that
day. However, it was also against the
promises of God. Well, Hagar slept with
Abraham and became pregnant.
When
this came about, Hagar began to flaunt her fecundity before Sarah, who was
still childless. This angered Sarah and
she began to mistreat Hagar. So Hagar
ran away. At a spring in the desert, the
Lord encountered Hagar. This is some of
their conversation:
And he [the Lord’s angelic
representative] said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai [Sarah was first called this],
where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m
running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.
Then
the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to
her.” The angel added, “I will so
increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
[After
this the Lord spoke to her and predicted that she would bear a son named
Ishmael.] She gave this name to the Lord
who spoke to her: “You are the God who
sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” That is why the well was called Beer Lahai
Roi [“well of the Living One who sees me”]; it is still there, between Kadesh
and Bered.
So Hagar encountered God and found
out God saw her. She was a slave,
possibly a teenager. She had done what
she was told—to sleep with her mistress’ husband. And the result was that she and her mistress
could not get along. She ran from the
situation and encountered God. And she
learned that God was fully aware of her life and all that went on in it. And she found that God cared very much about
her life and her destiny.
In
the midst of our troubles, God is watching.
God sees us in our deep pain. God
understands and feels what it is like to lose a husband or a child or a friend. God knows how much we may have loved a house
that has burned to the ground. God knows
how much energy and attention we have put into a business that has failed. God understands the hurt and isolation of
betrayal by close associates. God is the
Living One Who Sees Me.
Jesus
visited His friends Mary and Martha.
Their brother, Lazarus, had died.
The story, related in John 11, is a wonderful story of the triumph of
Jesus. At the end, Jesus raised Lazarus
from the dead as an illustration that He is the Resurrection and the Life. However, before Jesus did that act, as He
approached the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus wept. (John 11:35) It is a brief statement, with no
embellishment. Jesus was going to the
tomb to raise Lazarus, and yet He first wept with and for His friends who had
lost their brother. That seems to
illustrate the character of God. God has
all things in His power. He knows the
end from the beginning. He, more than
anyone, sees The Big Picture and knows the ultimate triumph that awaits us. And yet, He is sensitive to the pain we endure
in this present order of existence. It
was enough to make Jesus cry.
One
of the painful aspects of suffering is a sense of loneliness, a sense that no
one really understands our pain. In
those times, God knows, God sees, God understands. You may be a lonely servant girl in the vast
Middle Eastern desert, a lonely figure sitting by a spring-fed pool. But right beside you is the Living One and He
sees you. He knows the hopelessness, the
anger, the fear, the worry, the sadness, the loneliness. He sees, and He cares.
G. The Work of the Holy Spirit
There
are many sources of comfort and strength in our times of trouble and
sadness. I believe that a key element in
our recovery process is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God’s business is to heal us of our human
condition. We need to understand that
statement.
Remember,
first, that the human condition in the present order of existence is a
combination of the creative work of God and The Law of Sin and Death. The redemptive work of God brings about the
victory of the cross and resurrection into our lives. That takes place in processes of salvation,
by which we enter into The Law of the Spirit of Life.
When
we experience a deep loss, especially the death of a loved one, then we are
experiencing an effect of The Law of Sin and Death. That experience can be very damaging. Our loss wounds us deep inside. I have seen people become recluses or bitter,
hostile people, or promiscuous and reckless—all in reaction to death. We have many resources, but there is a need
for an internal healing.
I
believe the Holy Spirit can bring about that healing. Certainly, the church, our own faith, and our
commitment to A-Team purpose can all play a role in our recovery. But we should also avail ourselves, through
honest, persistent prayer, of the healing power of the Holy Spirit. In John 16:14, Jesus says of the Holy Spirit
and His work: “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine
and making it known to you.” So the Holy
Spirit ministers to us the things of Jesus.
That includes the victory of Jesus, which is a victory over sin and
death, and the effects of death. Those effects include the depths of
grief.
I
agree with the experts who say that we need to go through a grieving
process. It is important to experience
the emotions of grief, for those emotions connect us to the reality of our
loss. And I know that we can make a certain
recovery simply by natural psychological processes. But, I think that as Christians, our ultimate
recovery is to walk in the victory of the resurrection.
I
want to caution you in two practical ways.
First of all, do not expect instantaneous healing. Second, do not expect avoidance of
emotions. Emotions generally accompany the
work of the Holy Spirit. Third, do not
expect that you will be delivered from missing your loved one. What you can expect is a recovery into a full
sense of the joy of your salvation. You
can expect once again to find fulfillment in The Big Picture. With that recovery (which may take a matter
of months or even a year), will come healthy relationships and healthy
participation in all of life.
How
can the Holy Spirit do that? By bringing
the reality of Jesus—in all of His love and compassion and redemptive
victory—into your life in a way that applies directly to your need for
recovery. God does not simply write dry
theological texts and then expect us to apply them to our lives. God the Holy Spirit has as His ministry to
take the things of Jesus and apply them to your life situation.
How
do you receive that ministry? I would
encourage you to spend private time in prayer, to be open to the prayers of
Spirit-filled Christians as they lay hands on you. And continue in your devotional and worship life-style
that has sustained you in the past. Wait
patiently on the Lord and seek Him. He
will take advantage of the right time and place to begin His healing process
within you.
No comments:
Post a Comment