A Little Suffering For Christ's Sake - Thursday Devotionals

Charles Simeon saw his suffering as a wonderful privilege of bearing the cross with Christ.

One striking witness to this was during a time when the Cambridge University was especially cold and hostile to him.

He reflected on his own name “Simeon” which is the same as Simon who was compelled to bear the cross for Jesus.

“As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.”

Matthew 27:32

He exclaimed about that text:

“What a word of instruction was here--- what a blessed hint for my encouragement! To have the cross laid upon me, that I might bear it after Jesus—what a privilege! It was enough. Now I could leap and sing for joy as one whom Jesus was honoring with a participation in His sufferings.”

Charles Simeon

After being persecuted for 49 years for his faith, he was asked how he had surmounted it, he said:

“We must not mind a little suffering for Christ’s sake.”

Charles Simeon

Simeon strengthened himself with massive doses of meditation and prayer.

A friend of Simeon named Housman lived with him for few months and talked about his discipline.

“Simeon invariably arose every morning, though it was the winter season, at four o’clock; and, after lighting his fire, he devoted the first four hours of the day to private prayer and the devotional study of the Scriptures… Here was the secret of his great grace and spiritual strength. Deriving instruction from such source, and seeking it with such diligence, he was comforted in all his trials and prepared for every duty.”

H.C.G. Moule about Charles Simeon

How many of us take such time to talk with God every day?

Do you take any time during the day to meditate and pray?

Is it enough or could it be more?

How much time is enough?

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Colossians 4:2

This post is part of Thursday Devotionals series. Right now it is going through the life, work and faith of Charles Simeon.

Would you like to read the first part, Are You Ready To Suffer For Christ?

You might also enjoy the second part of the series, Growing Downward.

I also recommend the thrird part for the children of this generation called, All Consuming Interest.

The fourth part is called, Peace Flowed In Rich Abundance.

If you have not yet read the fifth part , This Sweet Hope.

Take some time to read the sixth part also, Blessed Are The Peacemakers.

Hope you will enjoy reading the seventh part, A Double Blessing To Your Ministry.

Are you willing for, A Little Suffering For Christ's Sake.

Never Would've Made It - Wednesday Worship

It’s Wednesday today and time to worship the Lord!

Worship is to reverently honor and give homage to God.

It is an adoring reverence that dedicate to God.

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.

And we should be careful what we do with the best we have.

Whenever we get a blessing from God, we should give it back to Him as a love-gift.

Take time to meditate and pray before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship.

How can we be thankful in all things?

The Bible tells us that we must first be a child of God.

Then, we will receive the Holy Spirit, who will enable us to:

Become more like Christ.

Do the work God wants us to do.

Express gratitude when we feel that we cannot.

Our thankfulness allows us to rise above our problems and to place our focus upon God.

When we thank Him and rejoice in Him, we will be energized by His glory.

Giving thanks is the will of God.

What can you thank Him for right now?

This is post is part of Wednesday Worship series.

Little Nameless Acts Of Kindness - Thoughful Tuesdays

It is the Thoughtful Tuesday today.

There are many people who have been close to God and have given us good thoughts to meditate on.

God's Word gives us many verses we need to pray about.

Today is dedicated to those thoughts, ideas, verses and words that make us think and make us want to be closer to God.

Here are today's thoughts!

Through the centuries men have displayed many different symbols to show that they are Christians. They have worn crosses in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts. Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of this, if one feels it is his calling. But there is a much better sign, a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church until Jesus comes back…Love- and the unity it attests to- is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians and that Jesus was sent by the Father.

Francis Schaeffer

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Galatians 5:16
The New International Version

Veljeni, pitäkää pelkkänä ilona, kun joudutte moninaisiin kiusauksiin, tietäen, että teidän uskonne kestäväisyys koetuksissa saa aikaan kärsivällisyyttä. Ja kärsivällisyys tuottakoon täydellisen teon, että te olisitte täydelliset ja eheät ettekä missään puuttuvaiset.

Jaak. 1:2-4 KR33/38

This post is part of the Thoughtful Tuesdays series.

Why Are You Silent While The Wicked Swallow up The Righteous - Prayer Monday

Have you ever felt that life is unfair?

Have your prayed and called out to God and asked Him…

Why the good people suffer unnecessarily and the evil goes unpunished?

Why do You allow this?

This is not a new question.

We can read in the Bible about Habakkuk, the prophet that lived in the times of deep national distress.

The Babylonian army was poised to sweep across the country and destroy everything at its path.

The prophet agreed with the Lord that the Judah was deserving of His judgment.

But how could Go use such evil people as His rod of discipline?

Habakkuk cried out to God and asked:

“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

Hab. 1:13

Many times we bring this same prayer to God’s feet.

“Dear God, why do you let evil people get away with what they are doing? And why you let bad things to happen to good people? Why is the life so unfair? Let me learn Your ways so I can understand Your wisdom behind this all. I sincerely do not get it! It seems so contrary to me. Give me the assurance that everything is going according to Your plan and show me what I should do. It is hard to not know everything but allow me to humble myself and accept my place. Let me be guided by You. Amen.”

 This message is part of the Prayer Monday series.

A Double Blessing To Your Ministry - Thursday Devotionals

Charles Simeon could take a rebuke and grow from it.

This is utterly essential to survive and thrive as a Christian.

The ability to absorb and profit from criticism, from the Lord and from man.

“Through mercy I am, for ministerial service, stronger than I have been at any time this thirty years… preaching at seventy-six with all the exuberance of youth… but looking for my dismission (i.e. death) daily.”

Charles Simeon

He was not embittered by the rebuke from the Lord but he was impelled by it.

And it was the same with rebukes from men.

If these rebukes came from his enemies, he received them with the sentiment of James 1:2:

“If I suffer with a becoming spirit, my enemies, though unwittingly, must of necessity do me good.”

James 1:2

But his friends rebuked him as well.

How do you receive the rebukes?

Will you accept them gladly, so that even when they have been given with evil spirit, they will do good to you?

“It is God’s will that by doing good you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.”

1 Peter 2:15

Simeon found ways to look at discouraging things hopefully.

When his congregation did not want to accept him as their vicar for over ten years, Simeon said…

“In this state of things I saw no remedy but faith and patience. The passage of Scripture which subdued and controlled my mind was this, “The servant of the Lord must no strive”. It was painful to see the church, with the exception of the aisles, almost forsaken; but I thought that if God would only give a double blessing to the congregation that did attend, there would on the whole be as much good done as if the congregation were doubled and the blessing limited only half the amount. This comforted me many, many times, when, without such reflection, I should have sunk under my burden.”

Charles Simeon

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.”

2 Timothy 2:24

“One illustration of the truth of Simeon’s confidence is the story of one of his preaching trips to Scotland. He happened to visit the home of a minister name Stewart who was not truly converted and was quite miserable. Through the personal life and witness of Simeon Mr. Stewart was transformed and for 15 years afterward was powerful for the gospel.

One of the couples who said later that they “owed their own selves” to the new preaching of Mr. Stewart were the parents of Alexander Duff. They brought up their son in the full faith of the gospel and with a special sense of dedication to the service of Christ. Duff, in turn, became one of the great Scottish missionaries to India for over fifty years.

So it is true that you never know when the Lord may give a double blessing to your ministry to a small number and multiply it thirty – sixty – or a hundredfold even after you are dead and gone.”

John Piper

This confidence is the Lord kept Simeon going more than once.

This post is part of Thursday Devotionals series. Right now it is going through the life, work and faith of Charles Simeon.

Would you like to read the first part, Are You Ready To Suffer For Christ?

You might also enjoy the second part of the series, Growing Downward.

I also recommend the thrird part for the children of this generation called, All Consuming Interest.

The fourth part is called, Peace Flowed In Rich Abundance.

If you have not yet read the fifth part , This Sweet Hope.

Take some time to read the sixth part also, Blessed Are The Peacemakers.

Hope you will enjoy reading the seventh part, A Double Blessing To Your Ministry.

Are you willing for, A Little Suffering For Christ's Sake.

Cry Out To Jesus - Wednesday Worship

It’s Wednesday today and time to worship the Lord!

Worship is to reverently honor and give homage to God.

It is an adoring reverence that dedicate to God.

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.

And we should be careful what we do with the best we have.

Whenever we get a blessing from God, we should give it back to Him as a love-gift.

Take time to meditate and pray before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship.

Many of us have exclaimed, "Thank You, Lord!" following a close call on the highway or after being hired for the job we wanted.

But Scripture teaches more about giving God our thanks.

Our Father never gets tired of blessing us—or hearing our praise.

Especially when we are hurting, or alone, or have difficulties in our lives.

This is post is part of Wednesday Worship series.

Let Your Love Grow - Thoughful Tuesdays

It is the Thoughtful Tuesday today.

There are many people who have been close to God and have given us good thoughts to meditate on.

God's Word gives us many verses we need to pray about.

Today is dedicated to those thoughts, ideas, verses and words that make us think and make us want to be closer to God.

Here are today's thoughts!

The morning is the gate of the day, and should be well guarded with prayer.  It is one end of the thread on which the day’s actions are strung, and should be well knotted with devotion.  If we felt more the majesty of life we should be more careful of its mornings.  He who rushes from his bed to his business and without worship is as foolish as though he had not put on his clothes, or washed his face, and as unwise as thought he dashed into battle without arms or armor.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.  Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.

Proverbs 4:14-15
The King James Version

Jumalallisessa kärsivällisyydessään, osoittaaksensa vanhurskauttaan nykyajassa, sitä, että hän itse on vanhurskas ja vanhurskauttaa sen, jolla on usko Jeesukseen.

Room. 3:26 KR33/38

This post is part of the Thoughtful Tuesdays series.

Embracing The Past - Prayer Monday

May your day be blessed and filled with God's everlasting love and forginess!

On this Carnival Monday I wanted to look back and see what has happened since the last year when I started blogging for real.

Here are three of the posts that I found.

And wanted to share with you!

We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.  
C. S. Lewis

God's Gentelness and Our Pain

When I was a teenager I prayed God.

I asked Him to make me a reflection of Him.

To take away everything unnecessary.

Jesus Christ is always unyielding to my claim to my right to myself. The one essential element in all our Lord’s teaching about discipleship is abandon, no calculation, no trace of self-interest.
Oswald Chambers - Disciples Indeed, 395 L

When In Silence And Solitude

Silence is amazing and I need it for my mental health.

I've always enjoyed being in silence, at home, in nature, any secluded place I can find.

The silence gives me the opportunity to meditate, to be in a constants prayer in the presence of God.

How God Speaks To Us?

From the Bible we can see that God talks to us, His people, in different ways.

Jesus says that His “sheep” will hear His voice.

Does this mean that we will literally hear His voice?

Like Paul heard Him when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus?

Paul could hear with his own ears what Jesus said to him.

 This message is part of the Prayer Monday series.