Brown's Daily Word 1-4-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord, for the He is the Lord of the Valleys and He also is the Lord of the mountains. He is with us in our trials and in our triumphs. He is the Lord who walks with us when we walk through the valleys of shadows and He also abides with us in the mountains of glory. Knowing Christ and serving Him we have the best of both worlds. He takes away from us the fear of living and also the fear of dying. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
In the New Testament the Book of James tells us to "Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1v2). But, how on earth can we consider trials as pure joy? It feels like James is having a laugh with us. He doesn’t know our problems. Why should we consider it pure joy when we are facing trials?
It is "Because," he says, "you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." How we handle problems depends on our attitude towards them and how we choose to respond to them. There are a number of things we can observe about life in terms of our problems.
First, problems are inevitable. Remember that James says, "Whenever you face trials." If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
Second, problems vary. James mentions "trials of many kinds". There are lots of different sorts of problems, some big and some small. We are guaranteed never to be bored!
Third, problems are unpredictable. An alternative translation of the Book of James suggests that, "When all kinds of trials crowd into your lives, don’t resent them as intruders."
The problem with problems is that they can catch us off guard. They are inevitable, variable and unpredictable. But, the good news, fourthly, is that problems are purposeful. They can develop something good in our lives. They have value. Problems test our faith. James says, "because you know that the testing of your faith..." The word testing is a refining term. When silver or gold is heated to a very high temperature, it melts and is refined by the melting away of all the impurities.
I am sure we have all been under the heat in some way. The classic example in the Bible of someone under intense pressure is Job. Everything went wrong for the man. He lost his family, wealth, friends and his health. He lost everything, except a nagging wife. And this was all a test, according to the Bible.
James writes, "...the testing of your faith develops perseverance." The result of the difficulties in our life can be perseverance, or ‘staying power’. In Romans (c. 5 v 4), Paul writes, "We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us..." We learn perseverance by having to persevere. Our problems mature us and develop our character. As James writes, "perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." God wants to use the problems we encounter to build character in our life. And he uses all sorts of things to do this: circumstances, problems, difficulties and pressure.
It’s a crucial question, for, as we have seen, we all face difficulties. It’s how we deal with them that counts, along with what we can learn through them.
First, we are called to rejoice. "Consider it pure joy when you face trials", says James. He is not instructing us to pretend we don’t have any problems. God is not asking us to deny reality. We rejoice in the problem; we don’t rejoice for the problem. But how can we be happy in the problem? The answer lies in the fact that God has a purpose - testing our faith, developing our endurance, maturing our character. The "consider" part of "consider it pure joy" means to deliberately make up our mind. It’s a choice. Problems in life are inevitable. Misery is optional. We don’t have to be miserable over it.
First, we rejoice. Then, we request. We must pray about our problems. But what do we pray for? James also says (1 v 5): "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him." God’s wisdom gives us perspective on things. We need to pray for strength as well, to endure what we go through. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t have to devastate us.
In all things, we can find something to be excited about. A schoolboy who brought home his report had very poor grades. "What have you to say about this?" asked his mother. "One thing for sure," the boy replied, "You can be proud. You know I haven’t been cheating!"
A man called Wallace Johnson wrote this: ‘When I was 40 years old, I worked in a sawmill. One morning the boss told me, “You’re fired.” Discouraged and depressed I felt the world had caved in on me. It was during the depression and my wife and I greatly needed the small wages that I was earning at the sawmill.
‘When I went home I told my wife what had happened and she said, “What are you going to do now?” I replied, “I’m going to re mortgage our home and go into the building business.”
"My first venture was the construction of a small building. Which developed into Holiday Inns. Today if I could locate the man who fired me I would sincerely thank him for what he did. At the time it happened, I didn’t understand why I was fired. Later I saw that it was God’s plan to get me into the ways of His choosing." James goes on to write (1 v 12), "God blesses the people who patiently endure testing. Afterwards, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him". We cannot control all the things that are going to happen. We cannot control the direction of the wind - but we can set out the sail.
The best way out of a problem is through it. We must be willing to shake ourselves off and continue upwards. As Corrie Ten Boom, a holocaust survivor, once said, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
The writer of Hebrews (12 v 1-3) says, "Let us run with perseverance the race that God has set before us. "
In Him,
Brown

Fresh violence in Orissa before home minister's visit
Phulbani (Orissa): Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Orissa Wednesday to assess the situation in riot hit Kandhamal district amidst reports of fresh violence in the region over the past two days.

Hundreds of people Monday torched two houses, one each at villages Rabingia and Barpada, about 150 km from district headquarter Phulbani. Another mob attacked a house at Daringbadi village Monday, the police said.

A senior district police official told IANS there was no report of fresh violence since Tuesday morning, "but the situation continues to remain critical". Patil is scheduled to visit some parts of the riot-hit district, about 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. At least three people were killed in the district and dozens injured in communal clashes since Christmas Eve. The home minister arrived at the state capital Wednesday morning, to be received by state congress president Jayadev Jena, leader of opposition J.B. Patnaik and senior officials, including state chief secretary Ajit Tripathy.

On Dec 24, mobs allegedly owing allegiance to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal torched 14 churches in the district. Christian groups claim that nine people were killed in the attack.

The Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government in Orissa has been accused of not taking appropriate and timely action in the matter.

The state government has clamped a curfew in the district and deployed more than 1,500 policemen, including three companies of paramilitary forces, but the situation continues to remain tense.


Source: IANS


"Praise God from whom all blessings flow." Today I got the results of the CT/PET Scan. When the doctor came into the office, the look on his face was amazing. He said, "My gosh, this is a fantastic report." "The spots on the liver have completely disappeared and the tumor on the pancreas has shrunk considerably." All my blood counts are in the normal ranges. He recommended my having a maintenance program because this type cancer can reappear very quickly and is fast growing. The maintenance program consists of three treatments with one week off, then three treatments and one week off, then another CT/PET Scan to see where we stand. By then, God will have removed all signs of cancer. Thank you all for your continued prayers; please keep them up. It gives me great pleasure give all the credit to Almighty God. At the end of a movie we watched last week, it said in large letters,
MAN DOES THE MENDING
BUT
GOD DOES THE HEALING
Our time is in HIS hands. Man can do all he knows to do, then the rest is up to God.
I know this to be true.
God bless each and everyone of you for standing with us in traumatic time.
Jack & Jo