Skip to main content

Lessons From The Threshing Floor

Every once and a while The Lord will allow you to go through situations that you would never imagine could be beneficial. Jesus told Peter, on the night that He was betrayed, that Satan had demanded permission to sift him like wheat. Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him and then instructed Peter that when he returns that he was to strengthen his brothers. (Luke 22:31-34)

I do not know what Peter felt during this time. I do know what his life was like after Christ was raised from the dead. Peter was changed. That is in fact putting it lightly. I want to share a few lessons I learned from the grace that God has shown to me as He allowed me to be sifted.
  1. God will stop at nothing to humble his servants. He abhors arrogance and will seek it out to destroy it at all costs and will not tolerate any to remain.
  2. Ministry is a privilege and not a right. No one deserves to be a minister, it is an honor and must be treated as such.
  3. God's Word is the only thing that will heal some wounds. There are times when nothing else will bring peace to your heart but reading the Scriptures and even though it feels, at first, like pouring salt in a wound - the end effect is healing, deep healing.
  4. You can't change another person or force them to tell the truth, you are responsible only to God and you must, YOU MUST allow God to issue justice according to His great wisdom and not succumb to the temptation to handle vengeance on your own.
  5. God will permit the most ungodly events to occur in order to accomplish His good purposes. Learn the lesson of Joseph; what people intend for evil, God will use for good.
  6. The Lord will usher in abundance of grace when He sees His children begin to walk in obedience. There is no end to God's grace and it is so overwhelming at times that it is almost unbelievable.
  7. The Lord does give, but He still reserves the right to take away. He is still good, gracious and kind - and since we deserve nothing, we cannot complain of loss, though we can and do feel the pain that goes with that loss.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Generation of Mark 13:30

At the beginning of Mark chapter thirteen Jesus is leaving the temple area and one of his disciples points out the grandure of the temple buildings. Jesus' remark to that disciple concerns the fact that these buildings will one day be torn down. The disciples question Him further as to the times of these events, and so begins an extended teaching from Jesus on the end times.As Jesus' remarks are drawing to a close, He makes this comment in Mark 13:30: "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." (NASB) So the reader is left to wonder the meaning of this statement. Either our understanding of generation is wrong, or we are understanding what Jesus meant by "these things" wrong. I think there are at least two solutions. The word for generation (genea: Greek) could mean, as some side column reference Bibles note, "the human race". This is possible, since the events have not all happened and the human race
15 comments
Read more

Taming The Flesh Through Suffering

There are at least a dozen books in my pastoral library that deal with battling lust. It is true that this is a huge issue for men and a great source of stumbling to many men and many pastors for that matter - so on one hand I am glad they are there and I am grateful for the insight they have given to me. But I was really struck by a verse of Scripture this morning from 1 Peter 4:1b-2. "for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God." Simply put, I believe Peter is telling us that those who are suffering for Christ's sake have their mind on Christ and suffering and not on the passions of the flesh. The reason so many men battle with lust and fleshly temptations (and I include myself in that group) is that our minds are far from the things of Christ. Suffering in the flesh is the direct opposite of indulging the flesh. The man who is getting lashes on his b
2 comments
Read more

Is That A Bible I See Before Me?

The Weakness of Islamic Evangelism Lately I have been struck by the testimony of those who have suffered at the hands of kidnappers in Iraq. One issue that comes to the front of my mind is Islamic evangelism. Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll spoke to ABC News of her captors holding her at gunpoint and forcing her to read the Koran, which she did. After several days they asked why she had not yet converted to their beliefs. Explaining that she needed more time she continued to read. Again the question came to her about conversion. Finally and saddest of all, she told them that she would convert because she feared for her life. But this leaves us with a strange view of the Koran and the way that Islam chooses to do their evangelism. If the Koran were powerful in and of itself, those who seek to convert Christians to Islamic beliefs would not need to use guns in the process. That is, you should automatically appeal to your most powerful source. The fact that they use guns s
2 comments
Read more