I listened to this sermon podcast the other day and it blew my mind yet again. So as to process my thoughts out and effectively apply the concepts heard into my living...i'ma download for ya.
The preacher's name is Kris Vallotton. The title of the sermon was Perserverence, Pain & Suffering. (you can download his podcasts for free on itunes): yeah...so not exactly a topic one would naturally gravitate towards choosing to listen to, but thats kinda the why as to what i wanna break down.
We, as Christians...maybe also with the addition of the American outlook...view the above 3 concepts as needing to be avoided. Thats completely how i thought for 20 plus years...and even now have difficulty breaking open the boxed up worldview of the need to avoid pain at all costs. self-preservation. Not feeling the bad. Not thinking the hard. Not going through the valleys...always living for the high...the miracle...the provision of our wants and perceived needs. the "right" answer to our prayers. This is gunna step on sum toes, i jus know it, lol...because it even causes my own self to cringe on writing out the words of truth. Its uncomfortable for me to write out because i know i'm not there...will i ever be??
But the truth is: We need to learn how to live and endure through the ordinary instead of constantly focusing only on the highs and miracles. We miss so much in the normality that life capitalizes on. We are seemingly at a loss for how to perservere and ENDURE pain...and with that...how to endure everyday life. Its a choice. it always is:) the word endure implies choice. Jesus did not enjoy the pain he had to experience on the cross...he chose to endure it. What if he hadn't of chosen to endure? Joy would elude us. Salvation would be null. Because the truth is this: If you do not choose to enter into and endure the pain, suffering and perserverence, you will also be choosing to throw away the best gifts of joy as a reward and result. we will actually miss walking into those places of miracles that we long for. we lock ourselves out, to not only the worst, but also the best. And we live in incomplacency within the normal routine of daily life. we become joyless and unable to endure normality. Its a choice to press in...to make decisions that will bring you to a stronger point for the next day. He gave the example of the task and hard work of splitting logs. the question was asked "How many times do i have to hit the log until it splits?"...the answer "As many times it takes until it splits". Simple truth. But you can train and equip---learn that the log splits when you hit it in the same spot consistently...not when you keep trying to hit it differently...in different spots. Its all about consistency. Our faith is not about seeking and praying FOR the breakthrough as much as it is seeking and praying for the sake of continually going back---continual relationship...prayer...growth. You never know how close you are to the actual breakthrough...but that isnt your focus...the focus is hitting it on the same spot, consistently.
And when that miracle is not seen...we become disillusioned; thinking that something is wrong...its when our expectations don't get met...we begin to think that maybe we are disqualified from God's miracles. We quit. We become disappointed in God...we question his character as a result of a situation gone wrong in our minds...we twist our perspective on his goodness...we drift away from intimacy with Him as a result. we lose that part of our faith that gives us hope. Its when you have to have pure faith---and hope against hope---when we can then...and only then...truly believe. Believe in the character of the God that we serve...belief...when we don't feel or think it---that foundation that we have as the protection against the coldness of this world's hopelessness and death. We stop expecting, we stop believing, we stop praying! when it doesn't go our way or we experience pain...we get hurt...we suffer....this is when we, for some reason, insist on changing something so that we don't have to revisit these feelings. how many times have we stopped praying...one prayer too soon...one more prayer and plea to our Father---and we may have moved his heart? How many times have we given up...on someone...on something...in order to preserve ourselves? Avoid suffering? It is not a sacrifice if it does not cost us something. we are called to sacrifice in this life of faith...for others...for the advancement of the Gospel...for the glory of our King. I think its time that we add the following words to our vocabulary, thinking, and life: Suffering. Sacrifice. Pain. Endurance. Perserverence. It hurts, right? Uncomfortable?...of course. Necessary? You tell me. Do you really want to see the miracles? Do you really want to see what faith, joy, satisfaction and comfort feel like? Do you want to experience these gifts in the middle of the race..the through the ordinary routine? Choose to enter into the struggle...choose true FAITH.
I will choose to fight. I will choose to wake up every morning and enter into the struggle of working this faith out...i will choose endurance even when i don't feel it. i will choose to feel even when it hurts or is uncomfortable...or will prove to cause me pain and suffering. i will choose because Christ chose. I will choose because i desire the more. Oh God, help me to CHOOSE YOU!!!!
Love you all. please continue to pray for me to choose these truths consistently and continue to pursue growth, despite the cost.
good message!! i especially like where he says, "It's all about consistency. Our faith is not about seeking and praying FOR the breakthrough as much as it is seeking and praying for the sake of continually going back---continual relationship...prayer...growth." ...praying for the sake of continually going back, simply for the relationship itself. gosh, i can be so selfish sometimes. thanks for the needed reminder of what prayer and faith should look like and be about.
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