JESUS DID IT AGAIN

That is some body's shoulder.  I did not want to 

make you sick, so I did not show you mine.

You see, I am an old, old, old man.  About the age

of your great grandfather or older.  That means that

a lot like a car with two or three hundred thousand 

miles on it, I'm falling apart.

Last night I went to bed feeling good, real good.

Had a good day.  No pain, hunger or anxieties and

had even soaked in the tub a while.  What could 

go wrong?

Some time during the night I woke up noticing a

lot of pain in one shoulder, unless I held my arm 

just right.  If I moved it at all there was intense

pain.

I do not know what went wrong.  It had not been

injured or strained during the day.  Possibly rolling

around during the night I dislocated something.  I

do not know, but it sure did hurt.

You can image the joy of "trying" to get dressed 

this morning with one hand.  While trying to get

my shirt on it was impossible to get that one arm

back far enough to go in the sleeve with out it

"killing" me.

While attempting to get that arm into it's sleeve

and the pain so severe I "begged" Jesus to help 

me.  And just about that quick I felt something

snapped, or popped and things when back to 

working again.  Even the soreness was pretty

much gone by the time I had my first cup of 

coffee.

THANK YOU JESUS.

THE HEALER OF BROKEN HEARTS

Images courtesy of: www.Pixabay.com

Life hurts.  If you have not found that out,  you have not

lived very long yet.  Some hurts or pains are minor.  You

know, you pinch your little "pinky".  But mommy's kiss

fixes it.  Then there are hurts and pains that will send you

to the doctor.  Usually some medication and time fixes

those.

  Then, there are hurts and pains that go really

deep.  The kind that mommy nor the doctor can

repair.  The "shrink" (psychologist), the bottle, nor 

the pill can fix.  Often we cannot even share them 

with our best friends.  And if we could, they really 

could not do anything to help.  We call them a

"broken heart".

The "broken heart" might be the cause of relationships,

physical conditions, circumstances or disappointments.

But a broken heart stills hurts.  Usually hurts worse

than any physical pain.  This is the kind of thing I am

talking about today.

And yes, there is a cure.  That is, if you are willing

to take it.

Let's start with some facts.

Contrary to popular belief - there is a God.

Literally millions of us know, experience or 

have a relationship with him.  He is more real 

to many of us than even our family members.

Then there are those who deny him.  They are

like someone you would hand a radio and say,

"Listen to the music."  But they would say,

"No.  There are no such things as "radio waves".

I cannot see them.  I cannot feel them.  And I

cannot taste them.  So, I am not going to turn

the silly radio on."

What they do not recognize is that God is in a

different dimension.  God is "Spirit".  And God

created the "material".  And in the material man,

God put a spiritual dimension that can tune in to

God.

The thing that we are really interested in today

is that,

"He heals the broken hearted, 

and binds up their wounds."

(Psalms 147:3 RSV)

Our purpose now is not to define God or how 

he works.  If we could, he would be no more 

than we are.  But his word "The Holy Scriptures"

or "The Holy Bible" tells us that the one who

created us, loved us (you and me) enough that

he came down and became a man.  Then in love

for us offered himself up as a sacrifice for our

sins, if we will accept that sacrifice for our selves.

God speaking through the prophets of old told 

us that Jesus Christ was coming and what his 

mission was to be.

We could say that this is the very mission statement

of Jesus Christ himself;

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord 

has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted,

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim

liberty to the captives,  and the opening of the prison to

those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's

favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort

all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a

garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead

of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint

spirit;...."

(Isaiah 61:1-3 RSV)

  A fact.

"The Lord is near to the broken hearted,

and saves the crushed in spirit."

(Psalms 34:18 RSV)

Look at his invitation.

"Come to me, all who labor and

are heavy laden, and I will give

you rest.  Take my yoke upon

you, and learn from me; for

I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your 

souls.  For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light."

(Matthew 11:26-30 RSV)

Christ wants to come in and mend 

your broken heart.  But how?

"... because, if you confess with your  lips

that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will

be saved.  For man believes with his heart and

so is justified, and he confess with his lips and 

so is saved.  (Romans 10:9,10 RSV)

Do not try to fool or con God.

It's impossible.  He knows you better than 

you yourself do.  So;

  

simply recognize that God came down to earth

as a man named Jesus Christ to die for your sins.

Then call out to him confusing your sins or 

failures to him.  How loud or low a whisper 

does not matter.  He will hear you.  He even

knows your very thoughts.  Just be serious.

Ask him to come into your life and take over.

Let him take complete control of your life.

Then talk with him about that broken heart.

He will help "fix it".

SUFFERING

Have you ever felt like life is just toooooo much?

All the disappointments, discouragement, pain and

hopelessness is more than you can handle?

I have.

I have lived a long time.  I have walked (Tried to.) with

God for most of those years.  And in the process of trials, 

pressures of life, discouragements, pain, hospital beds 

and heart ache I have learned a few things about suffering.

One.

God uses any and all of these things to TRY to get our

attention.  He wants to draw us to him just like a crying

child will go to it's parent.  If you have been living your

own way - you have just figured out your problem.  Simply

turn to God.

Two.

As a child of God you will still be tested - severely.

If you think being a child of God and the Christian life

is a "joy ride" like some of the "televangelist" would 

have you believe, you better change stations.  It "just

ain't so".

Over the past year or so I have been seeing something

over and over and over in the Scriptures.  For example,

the apostle John who God use to write the book off 

"Revelation" said,

"... I am your partner in patiently enduring the 

suffering that comes to those who belong to his 

Kingdom."

(Revelation 1:9 GNT)

And this is because God has a purpose in it.  No, I don't

like it either, but he is training and strengthening me with

it.  He is preparing me to be with him forever.

Look at these guys below.  They are in army boot camp.

They are enduring training, hardship and suffering 

willingly - for their own good.

So, what am I do do?

TURN TO THE BOOK.

"Good people suffer many troubles,
but the Lord saves them from 
them all."
(Psalms 34:19 GNT)

H.W. Beecher said,

"God washes the eyes by tears until

they can behold the invisible land where 

tears shall come no more."

TROUBLES

I do not know who's car this is.

I assume that they must live up the 

road from me.  But I am sure they 

have TROUBLE.

I was just reading in the Good News Translation

when something Moses said about God's dealing 

with Israel really caught my attention.

..."He sent hardships on you to test

you, so that in the end he could bless

you with good things."

(Deuteronomy 8:16 GNT)

And you know of course the often quoted

verse;

"We know that in all things God works

for good with those who love him,

those whom he has called according

to his purpose."

(Romans 8:28 GNT)

And, 

"My friends, consider yourselves 

fortunate when all kinds of trials

come your way, for you know

that when your faith succeeds in 

facing such trials, the result is the

ability to endure.

(James 1:2,3 GNT)

I do not know the end of the matter yet.

It appears that God has granted me a new

lease on life.  I have just came through a

little over a year of TROUBLE.  A time

I should have died, and part of the time 

I wanted to.  All of this after I have lived

a full life and should be dead anyway.

But what I want to assure you of is;

God has worked things out making 

it more than worth it.  My trials have

accomplished more in one year that

years of praying have.  Well - O.K.

perhaps that is the way God answered

my prayers.

BUT IT HAS ALL BEEN WORTH

IT!

Praise God for his faithfulness to me,

even in hardships and trials.