21 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted in General, Jesus heals!, Reflections
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A thought from a friend:
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten….” Joel 2:25 NIV
For everything you’ve loved or lost, God has something else. For everything that’s been stolen from you, God has something else. The situation you are in right now is not the end of the story; God wants to write a new chapter. – He’s not through with you!
04 Sunday Sep 2011
Posted in Healing Image of God, Jesus heals!, Reflections
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Tags
Bible, Christianity, God, hope, Jesus, longing, Religion and Spirituality, unsettled
Some years ago I wrote a reflection on ‘longing for God’. As I read it again now I find that it’s still just as relevant for me now as then. As you read this be encouraged… God is no stranger to our unsettlednesses, our longings, our questions. In fact, rather than churning around and looking for comfort or escape in alcohol, drugs, sex, money, or whatever, God longs for us to turn to him. He alone is able to settle our unsettledness. Do allow him to do so.
Psalm 42: 1-3: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and stand before him? Day and night, I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?” ”
There are times when I am fully aware of my longing for God. It is so strong that my heart aches inside. At other times I have no awareness and am busy thinking and doing other things yet have felt so restless and unsettled. No matter what I put my hand to or think about in my mind it does not settle the unsettledness. What I believe is happening is that my deep longing for God is causing the unsettledness; I am dissatisfied with everything else. My deep being is crying out with longing for God. My outside being (my conscious self) is distracted with many things; some of these distractions may be my efforts to escape from my longing for God.
Then, too, there are my enemies who seems to whisper forever, “Where is this God of yours?” The demons are ever ready to throw this question at me when God seems not to be near, or seems not be hearing or paying attention.
My longing for God gets attacked by myself (the sinful self who is so full of self and does not want a competitor) or by the demons who do not want me to draw close to God in any way.
God knows this. He knows how to deliver me from the taunting demons. And, He knows how to work in my heart so my dissatisfaction deepens until I do turn to Him and am willing for Him to bring about the needed heart changes.
He has made clear in Scripture that He loves us and desires to fellowship with us. He has planted within us this deep longing for fellowship with Him, as well.
Copyright © 2003 Fran Woods
originally published at Bhojli Reflections
27 Thursday Jan 2011
Posted in General
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In Christianity Today is an Q & A article of an interview with Billy Graham on Aging, Regrets, and Evangelicals. Among other things he says:
What advice would you give to people who are aging?
First, accept it as part of God’s plan for your life, and thank him every day for the gift of that day. We’ve come to look on old age as something to be dreaded—and it’s true that it isn’t easy. I can’t honestly say that I like being old—not being able to do most of the things I used to do, for example, and being more dependent on others, and facing physical challenges that I know will only get worse. Old age can be a lonely time also—children scattered, spouse and friends gone.
But God has a reason for keeping us here (even if we don’t always understand it), and we need to recover the Bible’s understanding of life and longevity as gifts from God—and therefore as something good. Several times the Bible mentions people who died “at a good old age”—an interesting phrase (emphasis added). So part of my advice is to learn to be content, and that only comes as we accept each day as a gift from God and commit it into his hands. Paul’s words are true at every stage of life, but especially as we grow older: “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).
The other piece of advice I’d give is the other side of the coin, so to speak. It’s this: As we grow older we should focus not only on the present, but more and more on Heaven. This world, with all of its pains and sorrows and burdens, isn’t our final home. If we know Christ, we know we have “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). I know it won’t be long before I’ll be going there, and I look forward to that day. Heaven gives us hope, and makes our present burdens easier to bear.
I thought his take on old age worth repeating here. I hope it encourages you.
25 Tuesday Jan 2011
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“Good people will prosper like palm trees, grow tall like Lebanon cedars; transplanted to God’s courtyard, they’ll grow tall in the presence of God, lithe and green, virile still in old age.” Psalm 92: 12-14 MSG
We can produce our greatest harvest of fruit in our final years. When the sun goes down the stars come out – we can shine brightest in the closing chapters of our life. So why not live right up till the moment you die?
Old age is not a disease that needs healing but rather a normal progress of our life. God has promised that we will still be fruitful in old age. Are we able to live with that promise? Or, do we like so many, try (vainly) to avoid the inevitable and so waste our energies on fretting about what’s happening to us, attempt to turn back the clock, or use some other denial strategy.
God has good things for us in old age!
Healing Prayer 