Praise-The act of giving God thanks and worship for who He is and what He has done and will do.  When we personally Praise God we recognize who He is and what He is doing in our lives and will do in our lives because we know we can rely on His promises.  We have already seen many of those promises fulfilled, and we know they are currently being fulfilled in our lives.  Ephesians 1 reveals to us that Gods plan has been laid out in such a way as to bring Him Praise.  In this we can have confidence-that no matter what we are experiencing it is going to bring Him praise because that is the ultimate plan.

Lets look specifically at verses 11-12  "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory." (Eph 1:11-12 ) We were chosen!  God knew what you-in your free will-would choose to do with the gospel of Christ.  This choice and us are, as it states in verse 12 "for the praise of His glory".  The very act of you choosing to trust Christ glorifies Him!  So you have already praised God with your life.

Then when we look at verses 13-14 we see the fulfillment of promises that glorify God.  "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory." (Eph 1:13-14 )  So we see here the fulfillment of the promise.  When we hear the truth and believe we receive a seal-the Holy spirit.  The Holy spirit guarantees our inheritance.  That inheritance is our eternal life with Christ-the fulfillment of the promise.  This is all to the praise of his glory.  The very plan of redemption has all been put into place in order that the Lord would receive Praise.

If we know that we are marked with the seal, the Holy spirit, and have been promised eternal life with Chirst that comes with that seal, shouldn’t that be reason enough to praise God for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do in our lives!  No matter what our circumstance now-we know that it is all to the praise of His Glory because that is the ultimate plan.

Have you ever watched a child start a project and asked them what they are making and gotten an answer like "I don’t know yet".  My son does that, he will start building something, or doing a craft, with no particular thought in mind as to what it will look like in the end, but he knows it will be something when he gets to the end.  Then he reaches that point and he will proclaim something to the effect of "Look it’s a cat!" and I will be fascinated that he spent an hour building it and got there not knowing that is where he was going when he started.

As adults we don’t operate that way.  We would never start a project without knowing what we intended it to look like when we were done.  Artists are the only ones who operate with a different mindset sometimes, and even they usually have some idea of what the end result should be like.  God has an end result in mind for us, a very specific end result in mind.  2 Corinthians 3:18 says "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."  We are being transformed, changed into His likeness, that is what God’s end result is for us, we just don’t know exactly what that looks like.  As adults we don’t operate that way, so we will say "wait, hold on, I don’t understand!"  When we can’t see how what is happening fits into the end result of what God is doing it is not because God is hiding it from us, it is because we are not always looking to what He tells us our future is.  We often concentrate on the moment, rather then His promise, that we "are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory".

What better end result!  To be like Him!  If what we are experiencing or being asked to do is going to transform us into His likeness then even when we do not understand it should matter not, because we know He is faithful to His promises.  Unlike the child who starts the project and and doesn’t know the end result, God knows the end result He is taking you to and He is faithful to fulfill the promise and complete the task.  He asks that we place ourselves on His Anvil and allow Him to transform us because we trust Him.

Weighed down by stress, burden, trial, or decision, we began to feel anxious.  Many questions may come to our mind "am I doing the right thing?" "what should I do?" "whats going to happen?" "how am going to handle this?" "why is this happening?".  Anxiousness is part of the package, or so it seems.   There is something to be said on that subject in Philippians 4:6-7 . "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  A clear promise of God to give peace to those who make their requests known to God.

Now this does not come without a request on Gods part.  He asks that we make our requests "by prayer and thanksgiving".    We must first make our request known to God.  Yes He knows our need, but requesting it shows humility and a lifestyle of prayer and communication with God.  We must also go to God with thanks because we believe He is faithful to His promises.  Once we have made our request in prayer and thanksgiving we receive a peace "which transcends all understanding".  In John 14:27 Christ says "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  The peace we receive from the Lord is not a peace that is like that of the world.  It is a peace beyond that which we can gain from any other source.  It transcends understanding because it is beyond that of this world, it is from God himself.  There is no other peace that compares to the peace that comes from the Lord.

What is the source of your anxiousness?  Take it to the Lord in prayer, with thanksgiving because you know He is faithful to fulfill His promises.  One of these promises is to relieve your anxiousness.

The author of Hebrews writes in chapter 10 verses 19-25:

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Heb 10:19-25 )

Holding onto Christ and others believers seems so easy when our lives our easy, but when our lives are not easy, when the path is rough, it becomes more difficult for us to see why we would do so.  What we need is to be assured that regardless of the condition of our path, drawing near to God is still possible.  This passage tells us that we have a "new and living way" opened for us.  Christs death on the cross made it possible for us to do draw near to God because it removed the veil between us and God.  We have the ability to be washed with a pure water, the water of life that Christ gives. (John 4:13-14 )  When we have confidence in this we can draw near to God at all times, regardless of our circumstance, regardless of what is on our path.

If we are pulling away from other believers in the midst of something rocky on our path, then we are missing out on the opportunity to encourage others believers.  How is it possible to encourage others believers when you are going through a rough journey?  The Lord is faithful to that which He promises, and one of His promises is found in Psalm 145:14 "The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down." (Ps 145:14 )  When we are drawing near to God and He is lifting us up and other believers  see how the Lord is working in our life that is the most powerful way we can encourage them towards love and good deeds.  When we pull away from other believers in the midst of our rough journey we remove an opportunity for them to be encouraged by the Lords work in our life.

If you find yourself pulling away from the Lord because of your circumstance, remember our hope is firm in what Christ did.  A promise firm in the One who is always faithful, who wants you to remain unswirvingly attached to that hope regardless of your circumstance.  He will lift you up, cry out to Him.

When we hit our elbow, scrape our knee, or worse yet break a bone, in the moment we feel pain we think we might not bare.  Then after a few moments, several minutes, or sometimes hours, the pain passes.  Then after a few days, or weeks in some cases, the injury is healed and we are better.  Despite the discomfort we felt in the moment of the blow we ended up getting better in time.  How many times does something happen in our lives that isn’t a physical injury but an emotional injury and we forget that we will, in time, heal just as we do physically?  Sometimes in the moment of the discomfort we think that the pain will last forever, that we will never be the same, we will never heal.

However, despite the discomfort there is a source of healing for whatever discomfort we go through emotionally in our lives. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 "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." (2 Cor 1:3-5 ) Emotional pain may not show, we can’t put a band-aid on it, stitch it, or cast it.  We can’t simply take a pill and make it go away.  It takes a little more effort then that sometimes.  We need to seek the source of the healing in a different way because it is not a physical source of healing just as the pain is not a physical source of pain.  Emotional and spiritual discomfort and pain requires an emotional and spiritual solution.  There is one source for this which will never fail us, one source that heals all these wounds, the God of all Comfort.  If we seek Christ, we can receive the comfort that overflows from Him into our lives.

Like physical wounds, emotional and spiritual wounds will take different amounts of time to heal.  We cannot expect an instant solution like a flash of lightening.  We must be consistent in our seeking, and we must also expect and be looking for what we are asking for.  Luke 11:9-10 tells us "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Lk 11:9-10 )  If we know God is the God of all comfort, and we will be given what we ask for, we know if we ask for comfort when we need it He is capable and willing to give it to us.  One cannot expect to find and receive what one is not looking and asking for.  It is by asking that we receive.  So go today, ask for the comfort and healing you seek.  It is possible to go on despite the discomfort you currently face, however the Lord intends to, and will, give you what you need to heal.  It may take time, but if you are seeking the comfort you need from the God of all comfort, it will overflow into your life just as it is promised.

"I messed up again!"  How many times have you uttered those words?  If those words have crossed your lips or your mind, I am sure if you are like me, it has happened more times then you care to think about.  There are those times we say "stop even thinking about it" or "your attitude is going to get you in trouble" or "if you don’t get yourself out of this situation you are going to regret it later".  None of us are capable of keeping ourselves free of wrongdoing on our own.  Unfortunately we all know that.  Sometimes we hate to admit it, but we realize that we can’t cleanse ourselves after we mess up.

We know God cannot stand the sight of sin.  In the moment Christ died on the cross He became sin for us, separated from God because God could not stand to be a part of sin. (Mk 15:34 , Matt 27:46 )   So then what confidence do we have that He is going to forgive us once again when we mess up?  Mercy.  Hebrews 4:15-16 says "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (Heb 4:15-16 NIV )  If we are confident in God’s promises, and willing to remain on His Anvil, then we know He is going to fulfill His promise to give us mercy and grace when we mess up.

When God molds us part of the process is removing things He doesn’t like looking at in our lives.  If we believe that, then we need to go to Him and say "I messed up again!"  when we do. Why?  Because like us, He understands what being tempted is, but unlike us, He is without sin.  He is capable of helping us in our time of need, removing from us that burden, and giving us the mercy we seek.  Then, once we receive that mercy, we need to ask Him to keep molding us into the person He desires for us to be, remembering that we need Him to accomplish that task in our lives.  Mercy is often followed by a lesson.  It is in the lesson that we learn how to be the person God desires us to be.  Once we have gone to the Lord and cried out "I messed up again" and received His mercy, we need to be people listening for the lesson by ensuring we are in prayer.

If this is the first time you have ever gone to God and said "I messed up", or if you are thinking about it, you can read about the first time I did the very same thing at Reaching Home Plate Safe .

Doesn’t it seem our life is full of questions we don’t get answers for?  Questions for which we get answers we don’t like?  It sometimes seems like we get more answers we don’t like then answers we do.  We ask and ask and ask but the answer never changes.  My 8 year old will ask for something, get a no, and ask again.  Even after we tell him "the answer is not going to change" he still sometimes asks again.  Then there are the times we tell him "wait not now".  He hasn’t yet learned the patience to just wait, so he wants to know exactly when, or he asks "is it later yet?" to try and speed things along.  Though this is highly bothersome when the question has to deal with an 8 year old getting something, or when we are leaving to go somewhere, the only real consequence it might have is the one his parents are going to give him for not stopping.

When it comes to more serious issues, or bigger questions in life, not being willing to live with the answer God has given us can lead to more serious consequences.  When we have been given an answer from God that we are not particularly fond of we have a choice to make.  We can behave like a child who asks again and again in hopes of changing an answer that won’t change, or understand that God knows what He is doing.  Jeremiah 29:11 says "’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’" (Jer 29:11 NIV )  If God knows the plan, and that plan is designed to prosper us, then we should trust that plan.  Any answer He gives us is going to be in line with the plan He has.  It may not be one we understand, but it is one we can know is for our benefit.  The Lord is not going to harm us, so His decision is certainly not going to do so either.

Another answer we get is to wait.  Wait, not yet.  Should we be like the child who constantly asks and never has patience while waiting?  Does the Lord need reminding that He said "wait, not now"?  To say it sounds ridiculous, that the Lord needs reminding, but we sometimes act like we think its true.  Like the child who says to his parents "is it later yet?", we feel we need to tell God "I’ve been waiting long enough–get to it already".  Maybe not in those words, but in that attitude.  Yet it is better that we wait quietly, seeking Him, knowing the Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him.  Lamentations 3:25-26:

"The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD."   (Lam 3:25-26 NIV )

If there is an answer you have gotten from the Lord that you don’t like, remember, He has plans to prosper you.  He is not going to harm you.  If the answer was no, remember that even if you don’t understand the plan, it is a plan that is meant for your good.  If it was a "wait", seek the Lord in the waiting.  It is in the seeking that we discover how we need to be molded so that He can change the "wait not yet" to a "yes".  When we allow God to continue to mold us despite the fact that we get answers we don’t like, we show Him that we trust Him, and that we have faith in His promises.

I know the title seems like a very odd statement.  How can suffering lead to comfort? Suffering is a bad thing in the eyes of man, something we would choose to avoid at all costs, we would rather do without our entire lives.  Unfortunately it is not possible for us to go without suffering.  All of us have and will experience suffering to some degree in our lives, and some of us are experiencing it at this very moment.  But the idea that it can lead to comfort might seem like a rather bold statement until we look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1.

"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."  (2 Cor. 1:3-4 )

God comforts us in all our troubles.  So in our troubles we receive comfort.  In addition to that we can receive comfort from others who have received that same comfort in their troubles.  Once we have received comfort in our troubles from God, we are to be sharing that comfort with others.  So available to us in our troubles is comfort from two sources.  God, the God of comfort, and others who have known this comfort.  The passage goes on to say "For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." (2 Cor 1:5 )

When we suffer we recieve comfort in the same measure through Chirst.  God is a God of comfort.  He wants to comfort us in all our troubles.  He is able to do so because He has compassion that is immeasurable.  We have seen this demonstrated when He sent Christ, and we can recieve the comfort we need when we open our hearts fully to Him. Go to God in prayer, allow Him to give you your comfort in your time of trouble.

Darts are a curious game.  You have a pointed sharp object you throw across the room in an attempt to have it stick in a small circle in the center of a larger circle, hitting the bullseye.  Now that in theory is the way to win the game.  All around this are varying point value areas when you miss the bullseye, some of which are double value, or even triple value.  The hardest thing in darts may be getting the first dart to hit the bulls eye, but harder yet is getting the next one and so on to hit the bullseye with the other ones are in the way!  There is something blocking the path and obstructing the target that might veer the next dart off to the side.  So you might purposefully try to hit the triple or double areas as a second or last resort!

In life we, in a way, are trying to hit a "bulleyes".  We are attempting to remain on course so that our eyes are constantly fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. (Heb 12:1-2 )  If that is our "bullseye", then we need to ensure that nothing obstructs our path on our way to get there.  Part of Hebrews 12:1 says "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles".  We need to a people who seek to remove those things by keeping our focus on Christ, and through listening to the Holy Spirit.   Though some of the things around may seem appealing, like those double and triple points on the dart board, they are in no way equal to the prize we receive when we focus on the bullseye!

Hebrews 11:6 says "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Heb 11:6 NIV )   To know and believe that He rewards us for seeking Him is not only necessary for us to keep our eyes focused on the bullseye, it is also remembering a promise.  "He rewards those who earnestly seek him."  God promises to reward those who seek Him, to credit as righteousness the faith of those who trust Him (Rom 4:4-5 ).

Hitting the target is about getting our focus right, on Jesus.  It is  about keeping the obstacles out of our way, and about believing that God rewards those who seek Him.  Hitting the target in darts may be fun, but missing in darts doesn’t have much of a consequence.  When we lose our focus on Christ and veer off course we may began finding obstacles in our path.  That is when we need to be willing to stay upon Gods Anvil and not run from what He is doing in the molding process.  All of us have times we lose focus, but by earnestly seeking Him we can get back on course and start hitting the target again.

In a storm like a tornado or hurricane one of the biggest priorities is to find shelter. It is key to getting through the storm not only unharmed, but possibly even alive. Sometimes in the midst of such a great storm, especially if someone has never been through a tornado or hurricane before a persons instinct might tell them to RUN! Get away as far as you can from what is happening. Especially with a tornado this can be extremely dangerous, as the tornado is unpredictable.

When we face trials in our lives that are unpredictable, and unexpected, we may suddenly not know what to do. We may decide we want to run rather then face what is happening. The problem with that tactic is that the trial is still happening, the reality of the situation is still at hand.  When we run we only have our back to the storm, and we are become weaker by running off alone.  What we need to be doing instead is seeking a shelter where we can live through the storm unharmed. Yes the trial we are living may be harming us in a physical way, but what we want to avoid is having the trial harm us in an emotional and spiritual way that we will not recover from.

There is a shelter we can seek that will accomplish this for us. Unlike a tornado, where a shelter is a physical place, the shelter from the trials we face in life is not a physical location. It is found in our relationship with God. He is our shelter and peace in storm (Ps. 55:8 ). But even more then that, when we seek Him we will find that shelter (Prov. 8:17 ), that place where we can weather the storm . By running from Him in the storm we only miss the very thing we are looking for, a peace in the middle of the storm. We need to be seeking God and looking at what He is doing in the storm. The shelter and peace we need is in God. He promises us peace (Ps. 85:8 ),  and we know God keeps His promises!

We need to resist the urge to run, resist the urge to fight the trial indepently. Peace is available if we seek the shelter that is available in God, and we do so by spending time in His word, and in prayer.  When we go to God in the trial He is capable of giving us a peace that is beyond that which we are going to find by any other means.

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