Day 5
“It’s Mine…all mine!”
When did we stop learning how to share? In pre-school we were taught that we had share the toys or we would end up in time out. Yet somehow as we got older it became acceptable to us to want everything for ourselves…we no longer wanted to share. Sometimes what we have can be the difference between life and death for someone else…are we willing to share what God has given us? Are we willing to end our selfish materialistic ways? If we are then God has treasures for us that we can’t even imagine!
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…”
Ephesians 3:20
During World War II, Ernest Gordon served as a captain in the Scottish military. When he was captured by the Japanese army, he was marched deep into the jungles of Thailand along with thousands of other POW’s, where he was subjected to inexpressible horrors. All around him multitudes were dying of sickness, malnutrition, outright murder, and broken spirits. Over the first year of his imprisonment, the prisoners degenerated into moral depravity and animal selfishness. Captain Gordon nearly died of disease and starvation that year but was nursed back to health by the rare nurture of two Christian men. Shocked and humbled by their kindness, he rededicated his own life to the Lord.
Gradually the self-sacrifice of the few began to inspire the many, and within the next year the camp had been spiritually transformed. They began to put one another first. They sacrificed for those who needed it most. They risked their lives to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of their fellow prisoners. They even chose to love their tormentors. Revival was in the camp, and the Holy Spirit was taking over! The valley of the shadow of death served to show them their need for God’s grace and love and push them toward the cross—toward Life.
God has created mankind with a nearly boundless capacity to endure suffering. The human soul can also go far beyond mere endurance in such circumstances; it can thrive! Sometimes hardship is exactly what believers need in order to discover the infinite potential that is Christ in them, “the hope of glory.” Sometimes an impossible challenge is the key to discovering mountain moving faith.
As a church, we are facing a seemingly impossible challenge, but God is using it to help us enter a new level of living in the impossible! Like the priests of Israel, it is time for us to step into the Jordan River and watch in awe as God parts the raging waters.
Prayer focus: Ask God to give us a selfless heart. Pray for willingness to face the impossible and faith to believe for it. Pray that God will bring our congregation to a whole new level of faith and endurance. Imagine what he can do through us, and then ask him to go far beyond even that.
“When God intends to make something wonderful, he begins with a difficulty. When he intends to make something very wonderful, he begins with an impossibility.” Lord Coggan—Archbishop of Canterbury
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment