The End is Greater than the Beginning....

Not long ago, one of my good friends lost his father after a prolonged illness. Although I did not know this man on a personal level, I was listening to my friend tell about his father to me. He explained that the man was a good father, BUT he recounted to me of the man's avoidance in walking with God altogether.

For years, the man dealt with issues of unworthiness of God's love and mercy in his life, and he never made any move towards a life of service towards God for years!
But as the man's illness began to incapacitate him, he realized his need for God in the short remainder of his life. As the days passed, the man grew weaker physically and the years of life not serving God had seemingly caught up to him. To a casual observer, one could think that God had forsaken this man and his final days. But during a family prayer on the man's death bed, he began to repent of the sin in his life and asked God, who it seemed had deserted him, for the saving power of the Holy Ghost to fill him. And God DID! He had already been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ earlier in life and was filled with the Holy Ghost a few short days before he passed on from this life. This life transitioned into another that will be filled with the endless day with the Creator, Savior, and Friend, Jesus Christ!

"You see..." my friend explained, "...during most of his life it seemed to never make sense to him. He could never find the joy that the Holy Ghost could bring him because he always tried to find it in a bottle or somewhere else. But when he realized he came as far as he could go on his strength, he turned to God!"
And while he said these things to me, I thought..."his end was greater than his beginning!"

Notice however, the only caveat is that the end will be greater only with Jesus Christ at the center of one's life can they truly embrace this promise! I've often thought if only everyone could realize the same golden opportunity that is available to has to make their "End greater than their Beginning!"

In the Bible, Job said that a man that is born of women is "few days and full of trouble". I guess that covers everybody, huh? We are trouble, and in trouble, and cause trouble...BUT God is not, nor shall He ever be, confounded by trouble! Moses, David, Job, and Peter all experienced inadequacy and failure during their life and ministry...i.e TROUBLE. Their failures could have defined them forever...but you see, their ending was greater than their beginning!
       
** Moses, after killing the Egyptian, went to the back side of a desert, heard the call of God at the      Burning Bush, and became the leader God chose to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt!
**David, a poor, unregarded shepherd boy not even validated by his own father, was anointed to be king over the nation of Israel, failed with Bathseba, became known as one of the greatest kings in Israel's history and was instrumental in preparing for the Temple of Solomon to be built...by who else? Solomon...David's son!
**Job, who lost it ALL, endured physical affliction and anguish from his wife and peers, and was faithful throughout for God to bless him double and greater from his previous losses!
**Peter, who knew what it was like to hear and see the Master minister to the needy and unsaved, knew what it was like to hear the voice of God, denied his walk with Jesus! Through it all....through later repentance and remorse, became the mouthpiece to trumpet the Message of Salvation to the history of the World!

All of these experienced and could tell you today that their End was Greater than their Beginnings!!!

Whether we want to believe it or not, every soul will spend eternity somewhere. Heaven should be our destination focal point! A life free from the addictions to the flesh and sin can be anyone that desires that change towards God! Why not go about making the right decision and change your spiritual destiny...let God change your direction!

You too, regardless of your spiritual level or vantage point, can experience this great opportunity! All you have to do is give it to Jesus, surrender your life to Him, obey Acts 2:38...and watch God make your endings better than your beginnings!

The Good that comes from your Storm!!

It's tornado season in Indiana and with it a great potential for devastation can happen! Storms and their wake have impacted our great nation over the last few years as well (Hurricane Katrina). Although the damage of a storm can be considerable, there is always something positive that comes from storm!?! I know, crazy as it sounds...it is TRUE!

It was inspiring that many across the nation united to help those in need...many left their homes and their jobs for the purpose of giving aid and comfort to the displaced residents in New Orleans a few years back. But the underlying messages that I received from this was that Hurricane Katrina 1) exposed weaknesses in the levee that needed strengthening; 2) woke up the need for better application of aid and response for the future storm; and 3) reminded us once again to appreciate what we do have and that we are not alone before our storm, in our storm, and after our storm!

May I say equally that spiritual Storms determine a lot within our lives. Let us be clear at the outset of what spiritual parallel that storms are in our lives….

Storms equate as trials, sufferings, hard times, low times, weak times, trying times, failures, thorns in the flesh, lack of faith, and/or physical – emotional – mental pain!

However, storms don't just reveal things about us, but what is in us!!!

The Bible refers to Paul , regarding his personal “storm” in 2Co 12:7-10 – “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. (8) For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. (9) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Looking at these scriptures, I can see that there is something good that comes from our storms!!! Paul noticed that his storm didn't cripple him, but gave him strength through the storm! We must remind ourselves that when we are going through a storm, the things that make up our weaknesses are going to change us into something better!

But the problem is NOT THE STORM!!! But it is how we respond to it! We need to change our perspective about Storms!!! In fact, I want to tell you that Storms are Good!!! Obviously not when they are happening, BUT WHAT COMES FROM THEM!!!
BTW...let me just tell you, you’re crazy if you think I am telling you to embrace the Storm and all the negative wake it brings...!!! What I am telling you is to embrace the strength within your storm and the testimony it brings!!!

Hey listen, there are Biblical examples of what I am talking about...I am telling you that there is good that comes from your storms! There are 4 times that tempests/storms are experienced that directly relate to the people of God! (Not talking about rain, but storms!)

THE 4 C’S OF STORMS...

1) CORRECTED: (Jonah 1:11-15, 2:1) Jonah was CORRECTED from his course. We look down on Jonah, but we do the same thing in our relationship with God! It's all about what we want, and not about His will for our life! It is human nature when we lean to our strength and will! We are willful in our desires. Israel has had troubles throughout their history to even today because they consistently strayed from what the Will of God is for the nation! We are the spiritual Israel, we too want to do our own thing! And the consequences are always a warning to change or face judgment! Let's be honest...whenever there is storm trouble in our life, it’s probably because we need a course correction!

2) CONFIRMED: (Matt 14:22-32) Peter was CONFIRMED in his belief that Jesus was the Master of every situation when he called him to walk on the water! Watch this......By stepping out of his comfort zone, Peter’s ability in his walk was changed from ordinary to the extraordinary!!! Did you hear me? His faith and trust was confirmed in such a way that Jesus allowed him to have power over the water! The very thing that threatened to drown him!

3) COMFORTED: (Mark 4:35-41) Disciples were COMFORTED that through their Storm, Jesus was still on the boat! The Storms came, and the Disciples do what we tend to do, they fretted more about the Storms rather than who was on the boat! I find it very curious that the Bible does not record Jesus ever doing the mundane like sleeping except at this place in scripture! He never wasted an ounce of time, so why was He asleep? Why? Think that maybe the fishermen were saying, we got this! We’re fishermen! We can handle this and you can be here when we need you or when we get to our destination!?! We want you on the ship but we can drive it! Interesting that they relegated the Master to the bottom of the boat! But despite all of that, even though they put him on the back burner...Jesus was still present on their boat through their Storm!
When the storm was raging, they knew they couldn’t help themselves and when they got themselves into trouble, they woke Him up! In other words, they empowered Him to move on their behalf! I'm sure they weren't timid or quiet about it either!! IF YOU'RE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE STORM…WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IS WAKE HIM UP IN YOUR LIFE!!

4) CONVINCED: (Acts 27:10-11, 14-15, 21-25, 31, 44) Paul was CONVINCED by an Angel to “FEAR NOT…” during the most fierce storm in his life! We need to understand that there is a God who is concerned with us!

I'm not sure that I can tell you about the why's and the how's so much as to who is in control of them! It is important that we look to Jesus in these trying times and not to our own strength! What comes from our storms is that we have strength in our weakness and we have a testimony at the end that... God is able! We have to be prepared for what we will face in our storms, but we must realize that we can make it through.

Our actions and response will determine what we do during the storm, and what will come from it....to illustrate what I am saying...consider the sad outcome of the recent accident of the NFL players. Though these men had sufficient physical power and ability in any other area of their life, when the storm came, they were helpless to the waves. Just having knowledge of a storm and its potential effects would not be enough.

But the message in this sad story was that their anchor got anchored in the wrong place, and when the storm, wind, and waves came, their ship was turned over.

Their anchor was anchored in the wrong place...

Friend, we need to anchor our anchor into the right place...it is found in the House of God, in Acts chapter 2, verse 38. There is good that comes from your storms, but only if you are anchored in the ROCK, Jesus Christ!!!