stanpavkovich

I read recently read where one person said his earlier view of life…. was life was like a roller coaster with its ups and downs…. the good being the ups and the down being the bad. But as he has gotten older and wiser he now views life as mixture of both. The good and the bad all the time. That on any given day you can point to what is going well and you can point to what is not going so well in your life…. Family could be going well… job not so well…. job and family going well…. but health not so well.

And obviously some situations will be more difficult then others.

When we face the difficult situations in life…. it challenges our faith. What are we going to believe about God and his plan?…. Is God punishing me? …. Did God forget about me?…. Did he leave me? ….. I thought God loved me and cared about me. …. Aren’t God’s plans to prosper me to give me a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11)?

If we are honest with ourselves some of these questions can mess with our heads.

If you are in the middle of a difficult situation in your life, I want to encourage you with two things. 1) God has a plan. Even if your own sin or bad decision has put you in the place you are in, God is still in control. …. You may not see him or his plan right now or even for several years down the road while you are going through this struggle. Keep trusting in God and following him through the storm and he will show you one day how your situation turn fits into his plan. …. His plans are indeed good because he loves you. As Romans 8:38 says, “God works for the good of those who love him who are called according to his purpose.” Continue to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and walk in his ways. Think of this as a time to draw closer to God. There are times when we may need to change our plans to fit his plans. …. Or change our thinking about something.

Second, I want you to know God is with you. God has not abandoned you or forsaken you because he loves you. We have the promise from Jesus, that as his disciples, those who love him and follow him, he will be with us always to the very end of the age Mt. 28:20. His Spirit is with us in a real, tangible way even if you don’t feel his presence at the moment.

Be Blessed,
Stan

We all have any number of visions and ideals when we are young, but sooner or later we find that we have no power to make them real. We cannot do the things we long to do, and we are apt to settle down to the visions and ideals as dead, and God has to come and say – “Arise from the dead.”

When the inspiration of God does come, it comes with such miraculous power that we are able to arise from the dead and do the impossible thing. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life comes after we do the “bucking up.” God does not give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says – “Arise from the dead,” we have to get up; God does not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand – “Stretch forth thy hand,” and as soon as the man did so, his hand was healed, but he had to take the initiative. If we will do the overcoming, we shall find we are inspired of God because He gives life immediately.
From my Upmost for His Highest…Oswald Chambers

Remember God has a plan and a purpose for you…but as Proverbs reminds us…It comes with much effort.

Don’t give up and be Blessed!
Stan

I’m like everybody else I have crappy days…days where it seems like it would have been to my advantage to stay in bed rather then get up.

But as I read about Paul and Silas in Acts 16, I realize I have nothing to whine about.

Here is the story in a nutshell…Paul casts a demon out of a fortune-teller…. Her master doesn’t like it because she loses the ability to predict the future… so he has Paul and Silas arrested.

Acts 16:22 says, The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Now that is a crappy day! I have not had anything that has even come close to that.

If I was Paul or Silas I would be crying, asking for my mommy…and you had better not ask anything of me because I wouldn’t have anything to offer, I’d be drained and filled with self-pity.

Their backs are bleeding from their beating… I’ve never had a mob form against me… but I’m guessing that’s a little un-nerving. And to top it off they are thrown in the maximum-security cell in chains.

It just doesn’t get much worse than that…. And that’s why this next verse is so unbelievable. Acts 16:25 says, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Paul and Silas could have complained about their circumstances….God, we cast out a demon and this is what we get? We’re on a missionary journey and we get beaten and thrown in jail? They could have complained…But they made a choice to worship God in spite of their external circumstances.

The solution to a crappy day – is worship.

It changes your perspective from the temporary to the eternal…to the fact that I have eternity with God to look forward to, in a place where there is no mourning or sorrow or pain.

Nothing is more difficult than praising God when everything seems to be going wrong…. But one of the purest forms of worship is praising God even when you don’t feel like it. It shows God that your worship isn’t based on circumstances…. Worship is based on your love for God and His character.

Worship is reframing our circumstances.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Be Blessed,
Stan

One of my goals going into this year was to read through the Bible from beginning to end….As I have been reading about Abraham, Moses and Noah it has been a fresh reminder of how when we step out into faith and obedience…it requires action on our part.

When God spoke to Abraham…he invited him to come to a land he would show him, and if he did, he promised to make him into a great nation.
Abraham had to take action to follow God. He had to leave his extended family and his home to go wherever God directed.

When God spoke to Moses from a burning bush asking him to deliver his people from Egypt…Moses couldn’t stay in the desert and go save his people from slavery in Egypt at the same time. …He needed to take action.

When God spoke to Noah to build the ark in the middle of the desert…it made no sense in the natural…people laughed at him but he obeyed and took action.

Some of the action that is required to take… will be uncomfortable.

The Bible is full of examples…. Some had to leave family and country. Others had to leave behind livelihoods, dreams etc.

Everything had to be yielded to God and their entire life adjusted to Him not visa a versa.

Doing God’s will… will cost you something…. However what we gain will always outweigh whatever we lose.

Be Blessed,
Stan