Quote from Forum Archives on October 6, 2003, 3:10 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I'm not sure where all of you stand in your relationship with
God. All of you have heard of God, most of you would probably
claim to believe there is a God, or at least you have reason to
question the existence of some kind of "higher power", someone or
something that created all things. Personally, I believe in the
God of the Holy Bible, I believe that the Bible not only contains
the truth, it is more than just a bunch of stories, it is the
story of how God created people, how God gave us life and choice,
and as soon as He did that, God had a dilemma to resolve.

You see, God is holy, right, pure, and true. He stands for
everything that is loving and right. He can't stand to be around
things that are untrue and against the things He stands for.
Yet, at the same time, He deeply loves and cares for His entire
creation, but He especially cares about the people He made.

There's an apparent contradiction. How can God love people, yet
people go their own way, do their own thing, and basically go
against just about everything God is and stands for? Well, when
God gave people minds to think, He introduced choice, and choice
leads to wrong choices, doesn't it? Because of God's incredible
love, He wants to give us the choice to freely make mistakes,
then realize that He has provided, all along, everything we need.

God decided to come to earth Himself, not armed with stuff to
torch or obliterate us, but to redeem and save us - mainly from
ourselves! It is the role of Jesus Christ, God in human form,
that came to live, fully God, yet fully man. In His mind, Jesus
Christ knew all things, being in very nature God. Yet He never
once used that great power for anything other than to give of
Himself, to heal, to love, to teach. That's what He did as He
lived. Then we went further. He died, not a meaningless death,
but a death of substitution, a death to cover over and completely
pay our debt. What debt? The debt of sin. The debt of people
going their own way, doing their own thing. We've all done it.
Read Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 - which many Christians already
know. These verses tell us that everyone has sinned, and the
penalty for sin is death. But then they go on to say that Jesus
Christ redeemed us from that sentence of death, and took our
suffering and death, effectively paying the full price for what
we deserve. That's what people mean when they say "We can be
saved through Jesus Christ".

What does saved mean? In essence, it means that we admit that we
have done wrong, we admit that we can't do anything to undo the
things we've done, we need someone else to be our advocate when
the day of judgement comes. Jesus is that person, He is our
advocate, He has already done what it takes. All that's required
of us to to accept the gift He's offered, realize He's paid the
price for our sins, and to live for Him.

If we want to know Christ, though, (and we should), we need to
learn all we can about Him. That's where the Bible comes in. It
is God's Word to us. Prayer is our way to respond to God.

Can God handle it when we get worked up and "ventilate" on Him or
even at Him? I believe the Bible answers yes to this question.
Isaiah lamented and complained, Job complained, David complained,
Jonah complained. Numerous other historical icons complained.
We too complain, don't we?

The message below shows how God will work in us, if, after we're
done belly aching, we'll listen, and allow a quiet inner voice to
speak to us. God will speak within our spirit through His Holy
Spirit, if we clean out the garbage in our minds, read His Word,
confess our need of Him, then quiet down and listen. The message
below describes some of this process.

Yours in Christ,
Brian

SUBJECT: Confrontation With God
by Os Hillman

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the
Lord for the display of His splendor. -- Isaiah 61:3b

"God, is this the way You treat someone who is faithful to
You?" I yelled out loud on the top of the wooded hill where no
one but God could hear me. "I have waited and waited and now
this! I hate You, God! I have had enough!" Those were my words
that day as I wrestled with news of an event that devastated me
to the point where I broke down weeping.

As I sat there among the trees deciding what else I could say to
God, I was speechless. I was angry. I was confused. I wondered
if He even existed. If He did, I felt like He really didn?t
honor my faith and obedience. I sat for hours wrestling
internally with my feelings.

Finally, without answers and sensing that God wasn't answering
me, I turned to leave. I had been sitting on an old oak tree
that was broken at the base. The tree pointed toward the base of
another huge oak tree. Finally, a still quiet voice inside said,
"Today, like this broken oak tree you are sitting on, you are a
broken man. But this brokenness was needed in order for you to
become this large oak tree you see.

Months and even years had passed with many struggles. But God
was true to His word from that day. He began to replace the pain
and disappointment with an inner joy that only His grace could
provide.

Have you ever wrestled with the events of life, feeling that God
has deserted you? Have you been honest with God? He is the
kind of Father who is willing to have those difficult
conversations. He won't always change things, but His purposes
will be accomplished and peace will come if you trust. Trust Him
this day with those things that are most difficult

=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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