The Crisis or the Christ
John 14:1
“Let not your
heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”
In my life,
normal is just a setting on the washer. It
doesn’t happen a lot to me. And talking
to others, I find that normal doesn’t happen a lot to them, either. Life seems, at times, to be filled with
crisis followed by crisis. And many of
these are just minor crises that happen all the time, but what about when the
doctor tells you that you need surgery?
Or when your child moves out in a fit of anger saying, “I never want to
see you again!” Or when a parent
suddenly dies? These are not just
stressful, these are a personal crises that will try to take over your
life. Then the question becomes, are you
focusing on the crisis, or on the Christ?
Is there hope in
the midst of a crisis? Yes, and His name
is Jesus. Hebrews 13:5 tells us He will never leave us or forsake us. Hebrews 4:16 tells us: Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
God wants us to
pray and ask when we’re in a crisis. He
wants us to ask for help. When we do, we
can re-focus and stop looking to the crisis to run our lives, but look to the
Christ. We need to stop looking up
through our problems and look down from God’s perspective. I once heard a preacher say to stop telling everyone
how big your troubles are and begin telling your troubles how big your God
is.
You will face a
crisis from time to time and may even face multiple crises at times. The big thing is not to panic and to rely on
God for strength and grace. The evidence
of His faithfulness is written in the Bible. The Bible itself is a
testimony of His faithfulness to provide us with grace and He will lead us to
the knowledge we need to face a crisis and come through it. Listen to David in the middle of crisis as he
cries to God.
Psalms 5:3 My
voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to
You, And I will look up.
Jesus loves us. He demonstrated
His love by dying for us so that we might be forgiven of our sins and have
eternal life with Him. We matter to Him!
Paul learned to face crises with confidence
because he knew he was in God’s love and was secure in Him. Jesus loves us so much He will fill us with
love even when we’re frazzled by life and under attack.
2 Corinthians 12:9
And He said to me, “My
grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore
most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me.
This excited Paul so much that he changed his tune about
problems; he almost welcomed them from that moment forward.
2 Corinthians 12:10
Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Whatever crisis you are facing today,
place it in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus and leave it there. Don’t forget to rest in His love and His
grace. Remember what He thinks of you
and in your moment of absolute weakness, begin to see Him as absolutely strong.
Stephen Cram March 9, 2014
Daniel 1:8
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he
drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not
defile himself.
Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.
Join Pastor Jon Tuesday nights at 6:30 for Praise Chapel
TV at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/praise-chapel-tv
.
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is from the New King
James Version of the Bible.
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