I was recently in a service and heard someone use the phrase, “I have been in a wilderness experience.” My mind instantly grabbed a hold of what they were saying and I related to the expression, having known the same feeling. A wilderness experience, a place, situation, or multitude of people or things that makes somebody feel confused, overwhelmed, or desolate, is how the dictionary defines it.
To most folks a wilderness would be something terrible, maybe even to be ashamed of being there. However, as I begin to consider wilderness experiences I quickly realized it was actually a prelude to greater things in a person’s life. Let me share a few thoughts that came to my mind.
Moses was in the wilderness when God called him to lead Israel out of Egypt. In fact, Moses had spent forty years in the wilderness prior to his call. He had even become productive and blessed in the wilderness. The wilderness prepared him to lead Israel. It was in the wilderness that his attitude changed from that of a brash, impatient man who relied on his own power, ability and authority to a man who was gentle, patient and giving of himself.
It was a wilderness time, again of forty years, that prepared Israel to enter into Canaan. It was a time of learning to be obedient to God’s word. It was a time of learning to rely on God and His ability to meet their needs. It was a time of learning that God keeps His promises. When they came out of the wilderness, Israel was ready to rely on Him.
Joshua spent forty years in the wilderness and it prepared him to become the leader of Israel after Moses died. It prepared him face the impossible obstacles such as the Jordan, Jericho and nations that were much greater military powers than Israel and to know that God would fight their battles for them. The wilderness prepared him to stand before Israel and challenge them to serve the Lord God.
Caleb was spurred by forty years spent in the wilderness and declared that he was fully prepared to claim the promises of God. Caleb went on to demand he receive what was his and assured Joshua he was going to lead his people into battle and take their land.
The wilderness brought compassion and insight to a young man who was to be king of Israel. For a number of years David lived in caves in the wilderness while running for his life. This time prepared him for forty years of leading Israel. It was here he learned to treasure the blessings of God. It was here that he experienced rejection and became compassionate toward those who also experienced rejection, even to his own injury.
It was in the wilderness that Elijah had a close encounter with God. He had experienced the power of God in his life. He had witnessed many miracles, food from ravens, oil and meal supplied from God, consuming fire from heaven, a rainstorm in response to his prayer and fleet feet that could out run horses. However, it was in the wilderness that God spoke to him in the still small voice. God showed that he was not alone but others also trusted God. It was in the wilderness that God sent an angel to minister to Elijah and to encourage him, enabling him to return to his ministry. After the wilderness he was able to share the anointing that was upon his life with Elisha and then to pass on a double portion to his disciple. It was after the wilderness that God sent him a fiery taxicab to escort him to heaven.
In the wilderness, John the Baptist prepared himself for the ministry that God had called him. In the wilderness, John received the message, which he preached to Israel. It was from the wilderness that he obtained the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the highest authority in the land and declare a need for righteousness. Jesus pointed out there was none like John the Baptist.
It was in the wilderness that Jesus spent forty days spiritually preparing himself for his ministry. It was here that He withstood testing and temptations that were designed to sabotage His purpose, but they failed. It was in the wilderness that angels came to minister to Him. It was from the wilderness that He came preaching a message of the kingdom of God working miracles and healing all manner of diseases.
After his conversion, Paul took some time to go into the desert of Arabia. We are not sure how long he was there but some feel maybe close to three years. It was during this time that he obtained a personal knowledge of God. He had many years of teaching but it was in the wilderness that God was able “… He revealed his Son to me so that I could proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.” (Gal 1:16) He came from this wilderness experience with a message and mission to take the wonderful message of Jesus Christ to the whole world.
The wilderness can affect us two different ways. When Israel was in the wilderness, many people died because they refused to recognize it as a place of growth and maturity. They looked upon it as their destiny. They saw themselves as grasshoppers and unable to overcome. The other way it can affect us is as a place where God can become personal with us and take us to a new level in Him. He can minister to us and encourage us. He can give us a new message brought about by a divine revelation of whom He is.
Do not become frustrated and discouraged in your wilderness. Remember and stand on the promises of God for you life. Envision the great victories because of time spent in the wilderness. Use this time as a time to focus on your relationship with Jesus Christ learns of Him. Watch as God brings blessings of provision and sustenance to you, ministering to your needs. I know the wilderness isn’t a pleasant place to be but when you have entered the promises of God and look back on the wilderness you will be blessed at what you experienced during that time. Enjoy the blessings of the wilderness…
Just a thought! God Bless…
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Blind Pillow Fighter
Have you ever felt battered by life (not as in cooking batter) from all sides and had no idea where the blows were coming from? Feeling harried unable to find a target to strike back?
I remember when we were teens my brother and I took a couple of weeks, one summer, and spent them with our uncle and his family. They lived on a farm in southern Oregon and we loved spending time with them. Uncle Bill and Aunt Marilyn were fun people and of course, our cousins were too. There was always some type of adventure when we got together. Trust me the truths and details of these shall always remain our secrets.
This particular time we all decided we needed to have a party and invite as many people as possible to it. We carefully planned what to eat, even to the ingredients of the concoctions that we had decided to serve. We planned each game (more like prank), carefully choosing each of the victims, I mean participants. One of the “games” that we picked was a pillow fight; well that is what we called it. We took the two victims and tied a blind fold on them. We then tied a rope around their waist explaining this was to keep them from wondering off and getting hurt. We tied one end of each rope to a pole and we brought the victims together so they knew they could reach each other. We then led them back to their corners, (i.e.) pole, to start the fight. While they were at the pole, we shortened their ropes so they were now unable to reach each other. When the bell rang they eagerly headed to the middle of the area and began swinging their pillows as hard as they could, of course they were unable to hit the other victim because they could not reach them. Now, what made this so interesting and added to the comedy of the situation was a third person also had a pillow but no rope and no blindfold. This person would go back and forth between the victims and willfully hit them with the pillow while the crowd cheered the victims on. The victims would swing wildly and as hard as they could to no avail. They wanderer all over the area their ropes would allow them to reach, again without success. Soon you would recognize puzzlement and then frustration of the victims, as they were unable to hit back while being hit.
It was so funny to those of us watching but was actually a bit mean to the victims. Soon they either became very angry (we did not expect this in all honesty) or they became so frustrated they would just stop and stand there. They gave up trying at all.
Just recently, I came across a passage of scripture that has just been eating away at my heart. In Matthew 9:35-36 Jesus is ministering to the people. He is teaching them and preaching to them. He is healing them of every sickness and every disease. Suddenly He looks at the multitude and it is as if He sees them for the very first time. The words, which are, actually used say, “But when He saw the multitudes…” something takes place in the heart of Jesus at that moment. It goes on to say, “…he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” It was as if the real problem of the multitudes was not the sicknesses or diseases He was healing, but really something else.
The word that I noticed, which did not really seem to fit with the rest of the description of what Jesus saw, was the word “fainted.” As I thought about this, in my minds eye I saw people just falling out on the ground everywhere, unconscious. I saw medical people and friends running to them trying to get them to respond! On street corners, they sold smelling salts at a premium price! This just did not seem to fit the scenario so I decided I had better look up the word. Much to my surprise, the word “fainted” used here means to “flay or to harass!” It also means to skin, to mangle or to vex, trouble or annoy.
Upon, please stay with me a moment and I will try my best not to bore you, further investigation I found the word was used by the Greeks to talk of being so troubled it was as if they were being flayed alive! They were troubled on every hand.
Therefore, when Jesus looked at the multitude He saw people who were so troubled with life they were harassed. Some even felted their troubles were so great they were being flayed alive. In my minds eye I now saw the blindfolded pillow fighter never knowing where or how to respond. He is feeling helpless and hopeless receiving blow after blow!
Have you had life come at you from all directions and realized you had no idea how to respond to it? You had no idea which way to turn or what to do. Coming to the place where you finally just stood there taking blow after blow with no response! I am not talking about good things happening to you in this manner, I am talking about the pains, fear, disappointments of life. I am talking about experiencing feelings of depression and despair!
Jesus went on to think of these people being like sheep without a shepherd. They were fearful and confused! Not knowing where safety lay! They did not know which way to turn or to whom they should turn. Troubled and ready to just stand there and take whatever came their way.
As this dismal picture unfolded before me, I was encouraged to realize that when Jesus saw these people in this condition He had compassion on them. Their needs touched Him. He yearned for them from the depth of His emotions. He felt sympathy and pity for them. To sympathize with a person is to share the feelings of someone else. To say I can understand how you are feeling I have felt the same thing.
When Jesus saw the multitude and saw that, they fainted and were as sheep without a shepherd He sympathized with them. He said I understand how that they feel I have been where they are. From His deepest emotions, He yearned for them. He wanted to help them so much and yet realized the difficulty that would be involved in meeting that need.
When life comes at us, as it does the Blind Pillow-fighter, and bombards us from all sides we need to know there is hope. When life seems hopeless, it only seems that way if we try to handle it ourselves there is hope. When our hearts have been broken, there is hope of healing. When the disappointments and frustrations of life hold us captive in chains of hopelessness, there is hope of deliverance. When we are blind by the failures of the past and the dismal picture of our future, there is hope we will see the beautiful promise that lies before us. When we have suffered at the brutal hand of life, bruised and broken, there is hope of liberty and healing! It is only in Jesus Christ who yearns with sympathy to make all the difference in our lives. In Him is our hope.
Luke 4:18 tells us that Jesus came to heal the broken hearted, to set the captive free, to open the blind eyes, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke also told us that Jesus came to seek and to save those that are lost. He came to save the sheep looking for a shepherd. He came to seek the lost sheep who are wandering without direction. He came to lead us to safety!
Do not lose heart! Do not give up! Jesus can and will make the difference in your life. You no longer have to face life as the Blind Pillow-fighter, not knowing which way to turn, feeling flayed alive by life. You can know that Jesus knows your pain and is willing to make the difference…He is moved with compassion for you!
It is Just a thought! God Bless…
I remember when we were teens my brother and I took a couple of weeks, one summer, and spent them with our uncle and his family. They lived on a farm in southern Oregon and we loved spending time with them. Uncle Bill and Aunt Marilyn were fun people and of course, our cousins were too. There was always some type of adventure when we got together. Trust me the truths and details of these shall always remain our secrets.
This particular time we all decided we needed to have a party and invite as many people as possible to it. We carefully planned what to eat, even to the ingredients of the concoctions that we had decided to serve. We planned each game (more like prank), carefully choosing each of the victims, I mean participants. One of the “games” that we picked was a pillow fight; well that is what we called it. We took the two victims and tied a blind fold on them. We then tied a rope around their waist explaining this was to keep them from wondering off and getting hurt. We tied one end of each rope to a pole and we brought the victims together so they knew they could reach each other. We then led them back to their corners, (i.e.) pole, to start the fight. While they were at the pole, we shortened their ropes so they were now unable to reach each other. When the bell rang they eagerly headed to the middle of the area and began swinging their pillows as hard as they could, of course they were unable to hit the other victim because they could not reach them. Now, what made this so interesting and added to the comedy of the situation was a third person also had a pillow but no rope and no blindfold. This person would go back and forth between the victims and willfully hit them with the pillow while the crowd cheered the victims on. The victims would swing wildly and as hard as they could to no avail. They wanderer all over the area their ropes would allow them to reach, again without success. Soon you would recognize puzzlement and then frustration of the victims, as they were unable to hit back while being hit.
It was so funny to those of us watching but was actually a bit mean to the victims. Soon they either became very angry (we did not expect this in all honesty) or they became so frustrated they would just stop and stand there. They gave up trying at all.
Just recently, I came across a passage of scripture that has just been eating away at my heart. In Matthew 9:35-36 Jesus is ministering to the people. He is teaching them and preaching to them. He is healing them of every sickness and every disease. Suddenly He looks at the multitude and it is as if He sees them for the very first time. The words, which are, actually used say, “But when He saw the multitudes…” something takes place in the heart of Jesus at that moment. It goes on to say, “…he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” It was as if the real problem of the multitudes was not the sicknesses or diseases He was healing, but really something else.
The word that I noticed, which did not really seem to fit with the rest of the description of what Jesus saw, was the word “fainted.” As I thought about this, in my minds eye I saw people just falling out on the ground everywhere, unconscious. I saw medical people and friends running to them trying to get them to respond! On street corners, they sold smelling salts at a premium price! This just did not seem to fit the scenario so I decided I had better look up the word. Much to my surprise, the word “fainted” used here means to “flay or to harass!” It also means to skin, to mangle or to vex, trouble or annoy.
Upon, please stay with me a moment and I will try my best not to bore you, further investigation I found the word was used by the Greeks to talk of being so troubled it was as if they were being flayed alive! They were troubled on every hand.
Therefore, when Jesus looked at the multitude He saw people who were so troubled with life they were harassed. Some even felted their troubles were so great they were being flayed alive. In my minds eye I now saw the blindfolded pillow fighter never knowing where or how to respond. He is feeling helpless and hopeless receiving blow after blow!
Have you had life come at you from all directions and realized you had no idea how to respond to it? You had no idea which way to turn or what to do. Coming to the place where you finally just stood there taking blow after blow with no response! I am not talking about good things happening to you in this manner, I am talking about the pains, fear, disappointments of life. I am talking about experiencing feelings of depression and despair!
Jesus went on to think of these people being like sheep without a shepherd. They were fearful and confused! Not knowing where safety lay! They did not know which way to turn or to whom they should turn. Troubled and ready to just stand there and take whatever came their way.
As this dismal picture unfolded before me, I was encouraged to realize that when Jesus saw these people in this condition He had compassion on them. Their needs touched Him. He yearned for them from the depth of His emotions. He felt sympathy and pity for them. To sympathize with a person is to share the feelings of someone else. To say I can understand how you are feeling I have felt the same thing.
When Jesus saw the multitude and saw that, they fainted and were as sheep without a shepherd He sympathized with them. He said I understand how that they feel I have been where they are. From His deepest emotions, He yearned for them. He wanted to help them so much and yet realized the difficulty that would be involved in meeting that need.
When life comes at us, as it does the Blind Pillow-fighter, and bombards us from all sides we need to know there is hope. When life seems hopeless, it only seems that way if we try to handle it ourselves there is hope. When our hearts have been broken, there is hope of healing. When the disappointments and frustrations of life hold us captive in chains of hopelessness, there is hope of deliverance. When we are blind by the failures of the past and the dismal picture of our future, there is hope we will see the beautiful promise that lies before us. When we have suffered at the brutal hand of life, bruised and broken, there is hope of liberty and healing! It is only in Jesus Christ who yearns with sympathy to make all the difference in our lives. In Him is our hope.
Luke 4:18 tells us that Jesus came to heal the broken hearted, to set the captive free, to open the blind eyes, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Luke also told us that Jesus came to seek and to save those that are lost. He came to save the sheep looking for a shepherd. He came to seek the lost sheep who are wandering without direction. He came to lead us to safety!
Do not lose heart! Do not give up! Jesus can and will make the difference in your life. You no longer have to face life as the Blind Pillow-fighter, not knowing which way to turn, feeling flayed alive by life. You can know that Jesus knows your pain and is willing to make the difference…He is moved with compassion for you!
It is Just a thought! God Bless…
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Compassion Sometimes Has to be Learned!
Several years ago Melinda and I were on a short vacation on the Oregon Coast. We were playing tourist, stopping at the gift shops and browsing when I came across a coffee cup that caught my attention. I collect coffee cups of special places we visit to remind me of our time there. This particular coffee cup had a picture of a group in a white water raft with the caption, “Don’t whine, just paddle!” I bought the cup because it stated my philosophy of life, “Just deal with it.”
Being a fairly young pastor, with some knowledge and less wisdom I used the coffee cup for an object lesson in a message and the saying for the title of the message. I must admit, it didn’t go over quiet as well as I had hoped. Another time I told the same group of people we were going to have revival and they could get in, get out or get run over! Some did… Probably won’t do either of those things again.
Just the other day I was impressed with the thought that compassion often has to be learned. There are some folks who are compassionate people just by nature. There are other folks, I guess I am one, whose first tendency is to say, “Just deal with it.” For those of us with that tendency compassion has to be learned and it usually is learned by being in a similar situation.
For the past four and a half weeks Melinda has been in Colorado with our daughter who just had a baby yesterday. This is the longest period of time we have been apart in the past thirty-three years, thirty-one of which we have been married. We call each other two or three times a day and text several times a day. I feel like only part of me is here and it isn’t the best part. I turn to tell her something and she isn’t there. I wonder what she is doing and if she is ok. I miss her terribly! I have come to understand, to a greater extent what it must be like to lose your spouse after years of marriage. The pain and emptiness that must be experienced. At least I can call my spouse on the phone and talk with her. I have learned a little more compassion.
For the past four and a half weeks Melinda has been in Colorado with our daughter who just had a baby yesterday. This is the longest period of time we have been apart in the past thirty-three years, thirty-one of which we have been married. We call each other two or three times a day and text several times a day. I feel like only part of me is here and it isn’t the best part. I turn to tell her something and she isn’t there. I wonder what she is doing and if she is ok. I miss her terribly! I have come to understand, to a greater extent what it must be like to lose your spouse after years of marriage. The pain and emptiness that must be experienced. At least I can call my spouse on the phone and talk with her. I have learned a little more compassion.
My daughter called me several months ago to tell me the wonderful news that she was going to have another baby. She was so happy and excited. I wept because I was afraid of what she would have to go through to have another child. I remembered her other pregnancies and the pain and suffering she dealt with and did not want her to experience that again. I spent the past three days scared, frustrated and feeling helpless. She was in Colorado and I was in Arkansas. She was trying to have her baby and I wasn’t there, didn’t know what was happening and waiting on the word everything was alright. She had a great big baby boy and she and the baby are doing good. However, I came to feel for the moms and dads and loved ones of young men and women who are in danger, fighting for our country. Mom and dad don’t know what is happening at any given moment. They feel helpless and frustrated waiting on the word that all is well.
Compassion often has to be learned. Many years ago my wife and I went through a tough time. It lasted for about three years until finally one night I was able to spiritually break through and get the answer from God I needed for my life. As I got up from praying that night a dear Sister came to me and said that God had given her a word for me. God had allowed this to happen in my life so that I might become more compassionate toward people. I guess I am a slow learner, but I am trying.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every point that we are tempted in. He feels compassion toward us because He understands what we are dealing with. He has felt the same pressures.
The dictionary tells us that compassion is sympathy for the suffering of others, often including a desire to help. It also tells us that sympathy is to feel someone’s pain. It is to enter into and share their feelings. Empathy on the other hand is to simply understand it, yet you remain apart from the feeling.
Matthew 9 tells of Jesus preaching and teaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. He is healing them of every sickness and disease. Then as he looks upon the multitudes He is moved with compassion as He notices they are troubled and had no where to turn for help and direction. That word compassion used there means that the center of His emotions yearned in pity for them. He hurt for them and their lost condition.
When was the last time that our soul yearned in pity for the lost of our world? When was the last time that we looked around us and realized many of the people we brush shoulders with on a daily basis are like sheep without a shepherd, not knowing where to go for help?
Sometimes God allows us to feel helpless and maybe even lost just to try to teach us compassion. Trying to remind us that there was a time when we too were like sheep without a shepherd not knowing which way to turn.
Yesterday I listened to a young man, twenty-three years old, talk about his condition. He was born feet first. He has never experienced a feeling from his waist to his feet. He told us of the multiple surgeries he has had as doctors tried to find a way to enable him to walk. He has spent his whole life in a wheelchair. He can’t drive a car. He depends on other people for everything, literally everything. As he is sharing this with us my heart began to hurt. Then he looked up with a far away look in his eyes and said that he would give anything in the world to be able to walk, to be able to drive a car, to go to the restroom by himself. He said he would dance a jig if he felt a tingling sensation in his feet and was able to get up out of that chair!
I began to weep! I have been picking him up on my bus for months and yet not one time I had felt compassion for him. Oh I empathized with him. I thought his life would be so much better if he could walk. Yet never one time have I yearned in pity for a man who couldn’t walk. My mind went to another man in the same condition. For years he had been brought daily to the gate of the temple to beg alms. Then one day a couple of preachers came by and they were moved with compassion for him. They didn’t try to meet his financial need, they went for the greater need and God healed his body.
Jesus was moved with compassion at the need of a powerless man laying by the pool. He felt the man’s hopeless feeling of always being too late to get in the pool in time to be healed when the angel troubled the water. Jesus decided to circumvent the pool and just heal the man.
Sometimes compassion has to be learned. As we deal with the problems of our everyday lives we need to ask God to help us to learn from that problem that we might be moved with compassion for others. We often quote the passage in Romans eight. I wonder if the good that Paul is talking about, is compassion? “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (VS 28) His purpose is that we would become like Him. He was moved with compassion.
Sometimes compassion has to be learned. As we deal with the problems of our everyday lives we need to ask God to help us to learn from that problem that we might be moved with compassion for others. We often quote the passage in Romans eight. I wonder if the good that Paul is talking about, is compassion? “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (VS 28) His purpose is that we would become like Him. He was moved with compassion.
I need to ask myself where I would be if someone had said they didn’t have time for idiots and left me struggling like a sheep without a shepherd. Thank God some have had compassion on me. Go ahead and whine a bit if you need to and I will try and paddle for you. Compassion can be learned.
Just a Thought! God Bless…
Friday, July 3, 2009
Value?
Good morning! I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July holiday. Spend some time with your family and friends and also take a few moments to thank God for this wonderful country.
I was struck by a thought yesterday (I won't go to the funny side of that comment) and thought I would share it with you. I have written several articles and thoughts about forgiveness in the past several months and of over two hundred articles I have written these have generated the greatest response, someone always has something to say. I have written several thoughts about our value, to ourselves, others and especially to God and these have received little or most times no response.
This observation has made me to wonder...is it easy to see that we need forgiveness? That we need to forgive? Yet is it hard to see that we are loved and chosen by God? That He places great value in us? That we are special to Him?
John 3:16 tells us that God was motivated by love. You love someone because you value them. You love someone because you recognize the worth of the person loved. If you consider the to be so invaluable that they are not worth the gunpowder it would take to blow their nose, you don't love them! They are worthless...
We must understand how God sees us! We must begin to look upon ourselves the way God looks upon us, with love. In fact Jesus said the second greatest commandment is that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We have to love ourselves, to place value upon ourselves, in order to obey this commandment.
Remember, God loves you, not because He has to, but because you are special and you are special because God loves you.
Just a thought! God Bless...
Don Doran
I was struck by a thought yesterday (I won't go to the funny side of that comment) and thought I would share it with you. I have written several articles and thoughts about forgiveness in the past several months and of over two hundred articles I have written these have generated the greatest response, someone always has something to say. I have written several thoughts about our value, to ourselves, others and especially to God and these have received little or most times no response.
This observation has made me to wonder...is it easy to see that we need forgiveness? That we need to forgive? Yet is it hard to see that we are loved and chosen by God? That He places great value in us? That we are special to Him?
John 3:16 tells us that God was motivated by love. You love someone because you value them. You love someone because you recognize the worth of the person loved. If you consider the to be so invaluable that they are not worth the gunpowder it would take to blow their nose, you don't love them! They are worthless...
We must understand how God sees us! We must begin to look upon ourselves the way God looks upon us, with love. In fact Jesus said the second greatest commandment is that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We have to love ourselves, to place value upon ourselves, in order to obey this commandment.
Remember, God loves you, not because He has to, but because you are special and you are special because God loves you.
Just a thought! God Bless...
Don Doran
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