NS Ministries

So I have come to the conclusion that no matter whether or not I believe life is difficult when it does becomes difficult it is DIFFICULT! And before we go any further each of you need to know that when your life is difficult it is DIFFICULT! So do yourself a favor don't let anyone try to tell you that it isn't!

And while your doing yourself a favor by acknowledging your difficulties remind yourself that you are not experiencing them alone! What I would like you to do now is to think about what your difficulties are right now. If you have somehow buried them deep in some hidden closet deep in your mind go get them. If you are trying to bury them please stop trying and allow them to float to the surface. If you have them in sight God wants to say something to you that can and will change your life!

“...Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1 – 43:3)

I have titled this message as Jesus Christ – Life – and the 3R's. We process God's voice in three stages I'm proposing as the 3R's. The R's stand for – Receive – Review – Reaction.

The first thing we need to do is the RECEIVE God's voice. That may seem rather simple but I can assure you there's more to receiving God's voice than meets the eye. It maybe we can hear God's voice but do we really receive it. A number of years ago on a particular difficult day I was asked by a close friend how I was doing. I told him I wasn't good at all that I was experiencing a great deal of difficulty. He took my hand and said, “Glad to hear it.” My friend heard my voice but he did not receive it.

If I were to give offer to give away a check for $1,000,000.00 I suspect there would be a lot of people who would be willing to receive it. If I were to offer to give away my bills totaling $1,000.000.00 I wonder how many people would be willing to receive it?

One of the most important messages inside God's message from the 43^rd chapter of Isaiah is - “When you go through deep waters and great trouble...” And – “When you walk through the fire of oppression...”

Speaking only for myself I would rather not find myself in deep water nor would I like to find myself walking through a fire. It makes much more sense if God were to eliminate the deep waters of life and the fires of life after all he's God!

There are times when I believe what Dr. Peck was really telling us was to accept the fact that life is difficult. However, when you stop and think about what God is saying is he not saying the same thing? It is not true that if we are to receive God's help we must also receive where we are in life?

After we have reached the point where we have received God's voice and where we are in life we find ourselves at the 2^nd R – Review.

Perhaps you are wondering what is there to review – who in their right mind would need to stop and think about the knowledge that God will see to it that we do not drown in deep water nor will the fire burn us up? On the surface that seems like a no brain-er – right? That would be right if it weren't for the 14 letter word – transformation. To really receive God's voice calls for the transformation of our lives.

I understand the Review stage to be most difficult stage because it means saying good by to our old way of thinking and begin thinking as Jesus would think. In the Review stage we come to grips with our weaknesses and our failures – we come to grips with the fact that we are not the center of our world – we come to grips with our limitations – we come to grips that we are not God – where a person with a life threatening illness comes to grips with their humanity – where a person with a new disability comes to grips with a change in lifestyles.

It is in the Review stage where we realize the truthfulness of what the Apostle Paul was talking about in the 4^th chapter of 2^nd Corinthians:

For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.” (2nd Corinthians 4:17 – 4:18)

“...we look forward to what we have not yet seen.” It is in the Review Stage where we not only come to face-to-face with our difficulties but begin to experience God in them. The Review Stage is summed up and the Reaction Stage is introduced in the 43^rd chapter of Isaiah:

“But forget all that — it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” (Isaiah 43:18 – 43:19)

We experience the Reaction Stage at two levels. God's level where he does his God thing. Our level where we do our thing. The greatest difficulty we face in the Reaction Stage is to mesh doing our thing and God doing his thing.

Jesus helps us understand the coming together of God's life with our life.

“Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.” (John 14:10 – 14:11)

Jesus was saying that God works in his life and he goes on to say because of your relationship with him, “The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:12 – 14:14)

It is here in the Reaction Stage where our M Plan (me plan) and God's K Plan (kingdom plan) meet and where we wrestle with which plan will take first place in our lives. In the early to mid 1980's my plans for myself did not center around a life changing encounter with a form of Muscular Dystrophy or the beginning of a number of hip surgeries. But guess what? Life had a different plan and my plans fell along the wayside. When that first happened there were those who tried to convince me that my difficulties were God's plan for my life. But slowly God's voice penetrated my thick skull and I began to hear him say:

For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you," says the LORD. (Jeremiah 29:11 – 29:14)

“They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Slowly I began to understand that if I were to get on the other side of my difficulties I needed to dispose of my M Plan and then give my life to Jesus and let God's K Plan begin to reshape me.

It is in the Reaction Stage where we wrestle with whether it will be our works our God's works will come first in our lives. I believe one of the most powerful “works of God” is the Holy Spirit working in our lives so we will become totally dependent on God. One of the hardest things God asks of us is to place our faith in him and his K Plan. One of the most powerful biblical stories for me is found in the 4^th chapter of Mark.

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's cross to the other side of the lake." He was already in the boat, so they started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). But soon a fierce storm arose. High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Frantically they woke him up, shouting, "Teacher, don't you even care that we are going to drown?" When he woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the water, "Quiet down!" Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. And he asked them, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still not have faith in me?" And they were filled with awe and said among themselves, "Who is this man, that even the wind and waves obey him?" (Mark 4:35 – 4:41)

There is a hidden danger within the story that we cannot overlook – in the story the wind suddenly stopped. In life that may not prove to true. There are times in our lives when God stopped the “Storms” yet there are also times when God gives us the resources to endure the “Storms”. Sometimes we are healed – sometimes we are not. Sometimes we are financially blessed – sometimes we are not. Sometimes our burdens are lightened – sometimes they are not. There are times when peace will manifest itself where God removes our conflict and there are other times when the Peace of Jesus come to us in our conflicts.

I am not sure what all of your difficulties are because of the world in which is we some of them we share. But I know though experience that however big them may be God is so much bigger than they are that there's really no comparison. Though experience I know we make mountains out of molehills and God does not say he will make molehills out of mountains instead he says:

“...Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1 – 43:3)

If you will process your difficulties with Jesus Christ and the 3R's you will begin to experience the truthfulness of those 77 words!

Got difficulties? Get God!

Amen!