BBD 03.06.17 When Bad Things Happen (Classic)

#1 · March 6, 2017, 2:54 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on March 6, 2017, 2:54 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2009

Burning Bush Devotional

06 March 2017

When
Bad Things Happen

Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also
glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and
perseverance, character; and character, hope. - Romans 5:1-4 NKJV.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. - 1
Corinthians 15:58 NKJV.

We often think of bad things happening to people who have done something that
they should not have done. However, bad things sometimes happen to people who
are just living life, doing the best they can day after day.

Anna Ramirez and her family encountered this sad truth up close and very
personally when they were unexpectedly, and without reason evicted from their
home. The Ramirez home and furniture was auctioned and sold to the highest
bidder by their bank. The family was given only three hours to leave the home
with their personal possessions. The entire unfortunate incident was the result
of an error by the Miami-Dade County Clerk's Office. Eventually, a judge did
rectify the situation, and the Ramirez family recovered their home and
furniture.

Donald May encountered another traumatic incident when he was driving home from
work. An officer stopped him, because of an expired tag on his car. Donald had
a mint in his mouth when the officer stepped up to the window of his car.
Seeing the white mint, the officer believed it was crack cocaine, and arrested
Donald and impounded his car. The officer made several claims that were false
and Donald ended up falsely imprisoned in jail for three months. He was finally
released after tests proved that the mint was just a mint and not cocaine.
Meanwhile, Donald lost his job, his apartment, and his car which the police
department auctioned off. As Donald says, “I lost
everything.”

Bad things do happen to good people who are just busy trying to live life. How
are we to respond as Christians when those bad things happen to us? Do we blame
God? Do we give up on trying to live the Christian life? What are we to do?

What we are to do is to stand up, put one foot in front of the other, continue
on with living life, and serving our Lord. We are the beneficiaries of “grace in
which we stand.” That grace was not, and is not free; it was paid for by the blood
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. While we are still
clothed in this flesh, and living on Planet Earth bad things do happen. We must
not let that deter us from our mission to be “ambassadors
of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).” Instead of being discouraged, we
must stand in the grace with which we have been blessed. Instead of being
broken and beaten by life, we should be “steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that (our) your labor
is not in vain in the Lord.”

How is it possible for us to be steadfast in the face of evil? We can do all
things through Christ, who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13), and we
are His “ambassadors.” Instead of focusing in upon the
trouble, the problems, the pain that life may have sent your way - put your
focus upon Jesus: “…consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls (Hebrews 12:3).” With
your focus on Jesus you will have “perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3),” and you
will be empowered and able to meet any challenge that you may encounter in
life.

Copyright © 2009 - 2017. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
18 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush
Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000
subscribers across the world.

The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM

The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk

Books now available at the Burning Bush website:

New Pastor's
Training Manual

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Substance Abuse

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Sexual Addictions In Times of
Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and Strengthen You (Also available for
download on Amazon.)

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the
Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of
the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please continue to pray for
healing for Michelle Abetz, Brad, Damon D. & wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s
sister), Lexi McCalip, Gary Kirk, and Jeanie.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can help support this
ministry by using this link: www.paypal.me/EdWrather

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

Classic from 2009

Burning Bush Devotional

06 March 2017

When
Bad Things Happen

Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also
glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and
perseverance, character; and character, hope. - Romans 5:1-4 NKJV.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. - 1
Corinthians 15:58 NKJV.

We often think of bad things happening to people who have done something that
they should not have done. However, bad things sometimes happen to people who
are just living life, doing the best they can day after day.

Anna Ramirez and her family encountered this sad truth up close and very
personally when they were unexpectedly, and without reason evicted from their
home. The Ramirez home and furniture was auctioned and sold to the highest
bidder by their bank. The family was given only three hours to leave the home
with their personal possessions. The entire unfortunate incident was the result
of an error by the Miami-Dade County Clerk's Office. Eventually, a judge did
rectify the situation, and the Ramirez family recovered their home and
furniture.

Donald May encountered another traumatic incident when he was driving home from
work. An officer stopped him, because of an expired tag on his car. Donald had
a mint in his mouth when the officer stepped up to the window of his car.
Seeing the white mint, the officer believed it was crack cocaine, and arrested
Donald and impounded his car. The officer made several claims that were false
and Donald ended up falsely imprisoned in jail for three months. He was finally
released after tests proved that the mint was just a mint and not cocaine.
Meanwhile, Donald lost his job, his apartment, and his car which the police
department auctioned off. As Donald says, “I lost
everything.”

Bad things do happen to good people who are just busy trying to live life. How
are we to respond as Christians when those bad things happen to us? Do we blame
God? Do we give up on trying to live the Christian life? What are we to do?

What we are to do is to stand up, put one foot in front of the other, continue
on with living life, and serving our Lord. We are the beneficiaries of “grace in
which we stand.” That grace was not, and is not free; it was paid for by the blood
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. While we are still
clothed in this flesh, and living on Planet Earth bad things do happen. We must
not let that deter us from our mission to be “ambassadors
of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).” Instead of being discouraged, we
must stand in the grace with which we have been blessed. Instead of being
broken and beaten by life, we should be “steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that (our) your labor
is not in vain in the Lord.”

How is it possible for us to be steadfast in the face of evil? We can do all
things through Christ, who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13), and we
are His “ambassadors.” Instead of focusing in upon the
trouble, the problems, the pain that life may have sent your way - put your
focus upon Jesus: “…consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against
Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls (Hebrews 12:3).” With
your focus on Jesus you will have “perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3),” and you
will be empowered and able to meet any challenge that you may encounter in
life.

Copyright © 2009 - 2017. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
18 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush
Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000
subscribers across the world.

The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM

The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk

Books now available at the Burning Bush website:

New Pastor's
Training Manual

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Substance Abuse

Biblical Help
for Overcoming Sexual Addictions In Times of
Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and Strengthen You (Also available for
download on Amazon.)

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the
Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of
the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.

Please continue to pray for
healing for Michelle Abetz, Brad, Damon D. & wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s
sister), Lexi McCalip, Gary Kirk, and Jeanie.

Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).

You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can help support this
ministry by using this link: http://www.paypal.me/EdWrather

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org