SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #8 March 9, 1998
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Fight"
Dear Fellow Soldier:
My last letter received more positive response than any I've written so
far. As you remember, it dealt with "How To Handle Impossible
Situations". I felt you would be blessed by the two following excerpts
from letters sent back to me:
1. "Thanks for your recent newsletter! It was a great one! You
mentioned . . . that you believed there was someone for whom the
newsletter would breathe new hope into their hearts. I forwarded [it] to
our best friends . . . a Vietnam Vet. (Mike -- not his real name) was an
associate pastor in a small church we joined. . . . He has suffered much
tragedy in his life -- too much to write about. . . . [Because of some
circumstances with the Senior Pastor], (Mike) lost all trust in the
ministry. . . He hasn't preached since. To add to all that (Mike)
suffers from PTSS, has physical disabilities, and lost his 16 year old
son . . . to an unknown illness.
"(Mike) wrote me a short note after I sent him your newsletter. He said
that he couldn't read it all because it made him cry -- something he has
needed to do for a long time! . . . I think (Mike) is the someone you
were thinking about. I believe God put that in your heart, and I believe
God will use you and what you wrote to help bring (Mike) back. I do not
believe God is through with him. I believe God's call on his life for
the ministry is as real today as it was 15 years ago. " G&JH
2. "Thanks for the very timely thoughts on God's Impossibilities. I
lost my wife with a massive heart attack three months ago. . . . the
second marriage for each of us. We had both lost our first mates to
cancer and had been led of the Lord to each other just 12 years ago.
Together we had gone through the trauma of [losing] three of her four
adult children to cancer in a two and one-half year period. . . . Her
first husband and father were pastors. . . . So you see that this does
not make us immune to sorrow.
"Your words helped me deal with the anger through which I cycle. 'Why did
God put me through this grief again?' There is nothing more difficult
than losing one's mate!
"What seems to help me the most in times of grief is to count my
blessings: I have a Saviour who knows what grief and sorrow are; I was
blessed with TWO wonderful Christian wives; I have three married children
plus my late wife's one remaining married daughter; and I have 14
precious grandchildren . . . and I have many Christian friends. And,
like you wrote, He will never leave me nor forsake me!" DC
REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL IMPOSSIBILITIES:
As I read those and other responses, the Lord reminded me that folks are
real people who face real issues in a real world. This journey is not a
choreographed soap opera with easily-anticipated plots and conclusions.
Life throws us some real sliders and knuckle balls at times, and
sometimes we flat strike out.
In time like these, we desperately need a sense of peace that carries us
through. And, there is such a peace that is available to us for every
day in every situation ---- no exceptions!
THE SECRET TO PEACE: ---- For Every Situation.
Often the reason we cannot respond to circumstances with a sense of
peace, is because we don't have any with which to respond. You see, we
cannot have an external manifestation of peace without the internal
reality of peace.
Three very special scriptures come to my mind:
I. Romans 5:1 ---- Peace WITH God.
Because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God ---- we
are no longer enemies. That was made possible through Jesus Christ, Who
also introduced us by faith into God's grace. We stand before Him simply
through His grace ---- and nothing of our own, and nothing of ourselves.
That fills our souls with joyful celebration. (verses 1-2)
However, we should also have that same joyful disposition in our
tribulations as well! But we usually don't.
Why don't we? That's for another time.
Why SHOULD we? Because tribulations ("thlipsis" ---- the ability to
abide under pressure) produce perseverance ---- the capacity to keep on
when you don't think it's worth keeping on, or you don't have the
strength to keep on.
That word (tribulation) is used to describe the pressure of the press
that produces wine from the grape and oil from the olive, or the mill
that grinds away and produces flower for bread out of the grain.
The great truth is that, in Christ, life ALWAYS comes out of death.
Resurrection Life ALWAYS comes from out of the casket! "Up from the
GRAVE He Arose!"
That life ---- the Life of Christ Himself ---- is what gives us the
capacity to keep on ---- to persevere ---- to never give up ---- to never
give in ---- to never give out! (verse 3)
Perseverance, subsequently, then, produces character ---- integrity ----
strength ---- back bone. And, when we see that character of Jesus being
birthed and matured it us, it fills our hearts with hope! How? The
Holy Spirit has been assigned the responsibility of lavishly pouring hope
out all over us and into our hearts like refreshing, thirst-quenching,
life-generating water (verses 4-5).
You see, the tribulations of impossible situations ---- hopeless
situations, if you please ---- actually produce that which impossible
situations don't even possess ---- hope! Impossible situations, by their
very appearance, seem to have nothing in them but death.
But, when those impossible situations are placed in the hands of the
Master, He gently and patiently leads us through the grinding and
crushing of tribulation ("thlipsis") and produces LIFE! ---- life that is
resilient and strong ---- and tough! Resilient enough, strong enough,
and tough enough to initiate the on-going cycle of character-building
perseverance that leaves a vast deposit of hope and confident expectation
---- which, in turn, prepares us for the next round of tribulation and
its subsequent life-giving processes. That's called "growing unto full
maturity".
Isn't it amazing! That which we have thought would surely destroy us has
actually become the instrument that sustains us ---- and strengthens us
---- and matures us ---- and equips us. Hallelujah to the Lamb!
2. Philippians 4:7 ---- The Peace OF God.
That Peace WITH God Now becomes the very Peace OF God flooding our very
lives ---- the manifested FRUIT of the Holy Spirit. I Cor 14:33 tells us
"He is the author of peace". Ephesians 2:14 tells us He is OUR peace."
My mother's favorite scripture is Isaiah 26:3 --- "Thou wilt keep him in
Perfect Peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
(KJV)
What is required on my part to assure that the peace WITH God I now
possess becomes the peace OF God that will keep ---- guard ---- umpire
---- monitor ---- my life? I believe I am to demonstrate my confidence
in Him by doing the following:
1) Rejoice ---- ALWAYS ---- in the Lord (Phil 4:4)
2) Display gentleness ---- to all people, all the time (Phil 4:5)
3) Don't worry about anything (Phil 4:6a)
4) Pray about everything (Phil 4:6b)
5) Life a life of thankful prayer and praise (Phil 4:6)
6) Repeatedly think on, rehearse, be reminded of, meditate on all of the
above (Phil 4:8)
The result will be that God's indescribable, unfathomable, un matchable
peace will keep ---- guard ---- umpire ---- monitor ---- steady both your
emotions and your mind through Christ Jesus.
Slava Bog! (Croatian for "Praise God")
This will result in . . .
3. Phil 4:9 ---- the GOD of Peace . . . . . . Will be WITH you!
Is the God of peace with you? You will surely say, "Yes! Certainly!"
Yes?
But is He "WITH" you? It's one thing for Him to be with us; it's
another for Him to be "WITH" us.
Conclusion:
Just think about this. In the midst of and emanating out of hopeless
situations, L-I-F-E bursts forth! And reaches His Hand invitingly toward
your soul ---- and says just one word ----" P-E-A-C-E!" It's the same
word He spoke to the storm. It's the same word He spoke to the grieving
mother. It's the same word He whispered to guilty Simon Peter.
That's His special word ----"P-E-A-C-E."
Nobody says it quite like He does.
It cools the fevered brow. It calms the stormy sea. It quickens the
hopeless heart. It soothes the weeping wife. It assures the
guilt-ridden husband. It reaches out to the confused teen. It gives
sleep to the discouraged pastor. It gives comfort to his wife.
One of my favorite phrases in the Bible is in Psalm 85:10 ----
"Righteousness and Peace have KISSED each other!" What an amazing
picture! This is one of the things that passage promises when He speaks.
Verse 8 says, "For He will speak PEACE to His people, to His godly
ones:" As a result of His speaking PEACE to His people, 1) Glory can
dwell in the land, 2) loving kindness and truth have met together, 3)
righteousness and peace have fallen in love, 4) truth springs into
visible life, 5) righteousness shines with life-giving radiation down
from heaven, 6) the Lord promises to give what is good, 7) the land will
again be productive, and 8) righteousness will blaze the trail for the
living Christ and turn that path into a major highway into the
heavenlies!
So, dear friend, there is the secret to peace ---- the peace you need for
your situation. Embrace it! Receive it! Own it! Breathe it!
And ---- speak it!
Someone needs to hear you say it ---- "P-E-A-C-E." "PEACE."
"Peace." "peace." "p-------".
Today is a new day. It is a wonderful day. It is a day of new hope ----
of new beginnings.
Be at peace today.
In His Bond,
Bob Tolliver
ADDRESS: Route 1, Box 87AB, Collins, MO 64738
Ph: 417-275-4854. Fax: 417-275-4855
E-mail: lifeunlimited@juno.com
Copyright March, 1998. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to
share this letter with anyone you feel might benefit from its content.
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