BBD 08.25.09 When Bad Things Happen

#1 · August 25, 2009, 12:27 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on August 25, 2009, 12:27 pm
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 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 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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

I'm now on twitter and you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/edwrather.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 911 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

08.25.09

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.

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.

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 that 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. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. 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.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Malachi is very ill and in much pain. He is paralyzed on one
side because of a tumor pressing on his brain. Many prayer needs are posted
at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post
your prayer requests there and they will be forwarded to the Burning Bush
Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

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

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 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 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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

I'm now on twitter and you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/edwrather.

The Burning Bush Devotional

Welcome to the 911 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

08.25.09

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.

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.

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 that 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. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. 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.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Malachi, Cody, and Mica who are young boys
with cancer. Malachi is very ill and in much pain. He is paralyzed on one
side because of a tumor pressing on his brain. Many prayer needs are posted
at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post
your prayer requests there and they will be forwarded to the Burning Bush
Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

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

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
http://www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.