Thanksgiving Thoughts Part 1

As a parent, the one prayer request that is consistently coming out of my mouth is patience.  If you have to ask why, you don't have a toddler or interact with one on a regular basis.  Then there are the jokes about asking God for patience because He will give you more opportunities to be patient.  While this is true, I am thankful for any situation that is trying.  You may find that weird, but it's Biblical.

During my morning devotionals I have been reading the book of Revelation.  In both 13:10 and 14:12 it calls the believers out in a similar statement:

   “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12, ESV)  

The context here is that there is a lot of bad stuff about to happen to people who have faith in Christ.  Some may be taken captive, while others may be executed.  It is in this dire moment that the endurance of the saints (believers) is called for.  But, it begs the question, how do believers build up endurance to face this type of circumstance successfully?  Moreover, will all have enough endurance to make it through this suffering.

We find the answer to that question in the passage below:

   “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, NASB95)  

James clearly tells us to rejoice in the daily struggles that come our way.  This is so counter cultural!  We live in a society that enjoys complaining about everything.  From the way our government is leading to the WiFi not being fast enough at Starbucks.  The former, by the way, is not a trial in my opinion.

So what do I rejoice in?  I rejoice when my arms hurt after lifting weights.  I rejoice when my bodacious bride has to work long nights because of either conferences or other school events.  I rejoice when our car breaks and we have to put hundreds of dollars worth of repairs on our credit card.  I rejoice and praise God daily when my left knee and right ankle are hurting.  I rejoice when I share the good news of Jesus and I am met with indifference or humiliation.  I consider it joy when __________ happens.

How can I rejoice in those circumstances (all of which and more have been in the last month)!?  I am able to rejoice because I know that God is good.  I am able to rejoice in the midst of these hard times because I have read the rest of the book of Revelation: God Wins!  I can rejoice because I have not suffered to the point of death on a cross.  I can rejoice because I have not, nor will I ever be forsaken or abandoned by God.  As a result, my faith is strengthened.  So when bigger things come my way I will have the endurance to withstand the darkest day.

However, if you don't learn how to rejoice in the day to day hard things that go on in life, how can you hope to be able to stand (endure) when your faith is truly blindsided?  The is answer is you can't!  If you fail to take joy in the difficulties of strengthening your faith, than you will fail to stand when great hardship hits you.  I have experienced some hardships this year and have come out stronger.  I praise God for it!  If you want to talk more about this or could use some prayer regarding this please contact me.

Lastly, remember that we can't start to compare 'hard times' that we are experiencing with that of friends and family.  The reason is that we all go through different seasons and because not everyone expresses pain the same way publicly.  Also, we have this great promise from God:

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Cor.10:13)  One of these temptations is to leave God behind when oppression strikes.  However, the only way to endure tragedy is to embrace God's help even when you feel like He abandoned you in your hour of need.  Just because He didn't intervene, doesn't mean He left you.

So remember this Thanksgiving to “give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV)

This is the song that Christian Hip-Hop artist Tedashii wrote after losing his one year old son Chase.  Listen and learn about endurance better than I could ever write about it.