Coffee With The Lord

I don’t know what you may be going through right now – the incredible challenges you may be facing! You may be experiencing despair and be tempted to “throw in the towel” and give up!

Don’t do it!! This morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord” I read this wonderful testimony and “faith affirmation” from Apostle Paul…

“We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us! We are rafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed… Always carrying in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies… So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal!” (From 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 (ESV)

Wow! What a testimony – what a faith-affirmation in the face of incredible challenges! The truth is, what was true for Apostle Paul can be true in my life and yours!

A little later this morning I read this wonderful comment on this passage in the Life Application Bible notes… Gotta tell you, I’d like to turn it into plaque for the wall of our home!!!

As Christians there may be times when… “WE MAY THINK WE ARE AT THE END OF OUR ROPE, BUT WE ARE NEVER AT THE END OF OUR HOPE.”

Sometimes Christians act like little children – “tattletales” on a playground – they run to their teacher and say… that group or person over there (as they point emphatically with their “spiritual” finger) don’t believe exactly like we do, they don’t play by the same “spiritual” rules, they’re not doing the Lord’s work just like we do it! Someone needs to stop them!! They’ll ruin everything!!”

How do you think the Lord responds when we act like that?

Good question! Do you think He says, “Thank you for that important information! You’re exactly right! I’m going to go over and put a stop to what they’re doing ‘in my Name’ and on my behalf right now!! Or does He respond with a rebuke to the “tattletale” – just like a parent or teacher sometimes does on the playground?

Well, fortunately we’re not left in doubt… There is a situation just like that in the Bible…

“John spoke up, ‘Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group!’ Jesus wasn’t pleased. ‘Don’t stop him! No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. If he’s not our enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving someone a cup of water in my name is on our side! Count on it – God will notice!’ On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t! You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck!” (Mark 9:38-42 from The Message paraphrase)

Just gotta say, I don’t want to behave like a spiritual “tattletale!” Somehow I don’t think the Lord has changed his attitude about it. I admit, there are some things that really matter – like the truth of “the Gospel” or misrepresenting what God has clearly said in His Word! But simply complaining about the fact that a fellow Christian isn’t in “our group” or makes a big deal about differences in “ministry style” or arguing about minor differences of in doctrine, won’t win the approval of the Lord.

My Bible reading this morning emphasized “a life-transforming gaze!” …”When one (a person) turns to the Lord, the veil (i.e. that which hinders seeing) is removed.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (From 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV) 

I jotted this in the margin of my Bible today: “Oh Lord, may any ‘veil’ that hinders my gaze be removed and may ‘the gaze that would transform me’ be fixed upon His glory!