March 20, 2009
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All things work together for good by Pastor Don
Last night was a stellar Bible study. There are Bible studies and then there are Bible Studies. This was a Bible study! I typed up my notes instantly because I did not want to miss a single point. It blessed so many in attendance that I just know it will bless you. I know this is a long post, but there was no way to break it apart without destroying the flow of the Holy Spirit in the teaching.
Pastor Don (Pastor Don Moore, Living Word Chapel, West Hurley, New York) pointed out that many people say when a person is suffering, “all things work together for good.” But that is taking a passage out of context. God is not thrilled when you are hurting so that He can turn something into good – God will not arrange a period of suffering so that He can turn it to good, but God can take our suffering and turn it to good. Pastor Don took us to this passage and we looked at it in depth.
He said that a good Bible student will ask several questions of any passage of scripture. Who is speaking? Who is he speaking to? And what is he speaking about.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for usshelmybel17
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Pastor Don is uniquely “called.” What a powerful tutelage…but you serve God faithfully too, Heather. To take the time it does to type this message…your desire for this message to reach others….your hope that something you write will “click” in the minds of some people who might be on the fence about direction to God….all of it…is beautiful, sound and sincere. I do appreciate what you do for God…and for yourself. It’s beautiful. You have put an entirely new slant on this verse for me. I have always believed “blindly” when it came to some passages in the Bible…just knowing that it came from God and that’s IT. It has always been with a certain naivete` when Biblical vernacular seemed different to me. I did not challenge it, I became like sheep. And that was okay. And that was comfortable for my spiritual self, despite the opposition on the outside. I would pray for acceptance of God’s will. When I suffered, I would offer that to God for the salvation of a lost or suffering soul. When I was confused (many times) I asked God that I would accept His will…and plugged on. There is a God and He is powerful in loving ways and He does make all things good, but in that achievement…we must pick up our individual cross (for love of Him) and bear it with the same love He bore His for us. Amen.
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wow. this is exactly what i’ve been thinking about lately. it’s so awesome to be able to see how God truly uses EVERYTHING… for His glory and our good. i’m just in awe today of how He has used things that i thought were bad and unfortunate and didn’t understand at the time…all our sufferings and pain for His glory and our good. gee, it really makes me almost look forward to trials now… i almost find myself getting a little excited….. that hey…this is going to work out somehow, maybe not how i expect or want, but ultimately, it’s all will be good in the end…whether in this lifetime or in heaven. praise the Lord!
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What a wonderful lesson Heather. I so enjoyed this lesson. Judi
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i only read about 1/2, its super long. its really good teaching, especially when it digs into the specifics and challenges people to examine the full context of how those verses fit and plays together for a more centralized message.
one challenge though:
“But sometimes we do not love God – sometimes we are mad at God or angry with God for something, and sometimes we are not doing God’s will in our lives, sometimes we are disobedient. In those cases God does not make all things work together for good. “
let’s examine, does God have to do “good”? or is it that God is good and all that He does is “good?” this pries the question is God the receiving end of definitions or is He the one who defines all things? is He the source? or the creation? the same question can be applied, does God always have to be “just?” does God always have to do just things? or is it that God IS just that all things He does defines what justice is.
this establishes the relational role between us and God. are we the one who define good and thus God must do what we say good? or is it that God is the creator of all things, not just materialistically, but morally, intuitively, that He is the source, the definition of all things good?
if that be the case, then if all things God does is good, we have to realize… that good may not be the “good” we define nor what we want. hence why when we’re disobedient, it isn’t God is not doing good or that He denies us of good… but that we are blinded not to see the good, because we want to see the good by our own design our own definition. hence why the will of man contradicts the will of God. to pursue the will of God is not a matter of knowing what is the will of God, but a matter of empty ourselves of what we define as will and so we then can see clearly what God’s will is.
an old chinese prov:
can’t fill a cup that is already full, must first empty the cup.thanks for the post again.
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This was something that I needed to read. God always provides us with what we need. God bless. Thanks for the beautiful study. I think i will come back and read it again later.
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i just glanced over this again and these 2 paragraphs caught my eyes (’cause you put them in bold). this is just awesome. couldn’t have put it better myself. thanks!
“The key is: to have the faith to accept it and cut the line – that is where we fail. ……. We worry what will happen if they do that, if that circumstance happens, etc.”
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