Strength In Suffering

I would like us to look at three verses from the books of Psalms and Proverbs in the Bible that are often used as assurance of healing. As I’ve previously said in my video teachings on healing, we need to be careful that we don’t misuse God’s Word to promise people something that is not guaranteed in this life. Psalm 41:3: “The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.” Psalm 103:2-3: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,” Proverbs 3:5-8 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 7Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. 8This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.” Can we tempt God as Jesus was tempted to do as He was in the wilderness for forty days and nights? Let’s look at that for a moment. Luke 4:9-12 “And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 12And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Here we see the devil quoting Psalm 91. This psalm is all about God’s protection, deliverance, angels guarding and so forth. Jesus could easily have stood on God’s Word, His promise to deliver if He threw Himself off the temple. But He didn’t. He wasn’t going to test God. So often, we test God by praying for healing and expecting it to come. Why are we so self assured if, Jesus, the Son of God wasn’t? We must always take scripture as a whole. There are many times in the Psalms where God doesn’t promise healing and protection. Psalm 44:11 “You have made us like sheep for slaughterand have scattered us among the nations." Psalm 44:22 “Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” In case you thought that was Old Testament only teaching, Paul quotes it in Romans 8:35-39. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The important thing to remember is that no matter what we go through in this life, including death, NOTHING separates us for God’s love. Are we sick? - we have God’s love Are we poor? - we have God’s love Are we alone and isolated? - we have God’s love Are we persecuted? - we have God’s love Are we about to die? - we have God’s love Taking scripture as a whole we can see that God works in all things and in many ways. Some people will be healed in this life, others won’t. Some people will live a long and prosperous life, others will die young having very little. Can we pray for healing to come to those who are sick? We can and we should but not on the basis of an isolated verse in Psalms or Proverbs. We do so on the basis of God’s grace and mercy knowing that He has the power but also knowing that He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. Ephesians 1:11. Proverbs 3 says that if we turn from evil it will be good for our health, for our bones. I think it’s common sense that if we mistreat our bodies through alcohol, drugs, gluttony, sexual immorality etc then our bodies will suffer along with our mental health. So it’s good advice that Proverbs is giving in order for our bodies to be as healthy as possible. The promise I like to stand on is found in 2 Cor 5:1-5 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee”. As we continue on our own healing journey with our son Nathanael, we look to God everyday to bring more and more improvement to him. We so long for his speech to return and more mobility to be restored. These are our wants, in this life. But we also realise that he may not be fully realised in this life. That doesn’t stop us from asking, seeking and knocking. We will and we hope you will continue with us in that knowing that if not in this life, then most definitely in the life to come. Amen Prayer - Father, thank you that we can trust You even in the midst of the most difficult of situations. May we be those who handle Your Word in a way that is honouring to You and those around us. Amen.

Join us in this video as we take a look at 3 John v2. A verse that on the surface looks to be promising healing and prosperity. We take a closer look in light of our own experience as well. Prayer - Dear Lord, help us to handle your Word correctly so that we are not deceived into believing wrong things. Thank you for your love and watchfulness over our lives. Speak to us as we look at this verse together. Amen

It's that time of the year When we remember that death we need not fear For Christ has triumphed over the grave Yet there is so much in this life that we crave Palm Sunday begins the week in which Christ would die Two years ago on the same Holy week Our son, Nathanael’s life would change, oh why? Easter is a stark reminder for us that life is fragile and weak Yet new life is what Easter brings When everything is blossoming and a new shoot springs Yet we found ourselves in the clutches of death and fear Those days were horrific with tear after tear As Easter comes round again We remember Christ suffered and was slain There is in the offering still much heartache Yet He rose again to give us hope every time we wake Over 2000 years has passed and the world keeps on moving His heart for us is still as strong and He keeps on loving Through pain, struggle and tears we have to find His grace At this time of the year especially for us, His tender embrace No one will truly know the pain Christ endured only He For those of us who suffer we know the One who suffered on Good Friday Yes there's deep pain in my heart now and tomorrow Yet Lord help me to cling to the man of sorrows

In this third part we take a further look at Isaiah 53 alongside 1 Peter 2. Let’s dig into what it means to be healed by His wounds/stripes. Again, please add any comments or questions to the subject. Prayer - Dear Lord, we thank You for the work of Christ and all that He has accomplished for us both now and for eternity. Help us to be faithful to Your Word as we study together. Amen

This is part one of our video series on healing.  An introduction to our story and the topics we will cover in the coming days. Please take a look at the video and feel free to share anything in the comments section. Prayer - Dear Lord, We thank You that we can look to You to be our everything. As we look at this subject of healing help us to be humble and ultimately that we will know you more through this series. Amen

I recently recalled a song that we sang many years ago, 'Because He lives'. Below I use a few of the lines of that song with some thoughts of my own. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Especially in the depths of deep sorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone Even though I still grieve my son Because I know He holds the future I know this as its written in scripture And life is still worth the living Through pain and suffering He keeps giving I know one day I'll cross the river To see His face the Almighty giver We all shall be made whole, complete I long to hear my son shout 'hallelujah' and replete This child can face uncertain days because He Lives! May I continue to know the God who restores and forgives I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives! Until that day I hold onto the King who gives

When our son Nathanael was involved in an horrific accident, immediately people began praying for him for God to intercede. The first thing we pleaded of God was to save his life, to keep him alive. As the days and weeks went by and we knew his life was preserved, we then asked people to pray for healing. Due to the severity of Nathanael’s head and brain injury we needed some massive healing to take place. Have we seen healing take place over the last 22 months or so? Without a doubt we have. Have the medics played a big part? Yes of course, no question. Is he walking and talking? No. Is he doing more than he was 22 months ago. Absolutely. Will he continue to improve as we pray to God for healing? Will he walk again unaided? Will he talk again and converse with folk just like he used to? We don’t know the answers to these questions. But our heart’s desire is to continually seek God and to keep going to Him, just like the persistent widow in Luke 18. However, we cannot twist God’s arm to do what we want. We cannot talk Him into doing what we ask. We cannot demand healing or its timing. We cannot ‘name it and claim it’. It would be wonderful if we saw instant and total healings take place all the time. We could pray for those who are sick and they recover. The same with salvation, wouldn’t it be great if people became Christians when we told them about Jesus. This would be OUR ideal when it comes to salvation and healing. Over our new series of video blogs we’re going to take a look at Scripture and our questions about healing. Especially we’ll look at those scriptures that are often quoted when it comes to healing. The aim of this vlog series is for us look seriously about what scripture teaches about healing and to not give people a false hope and expectation. But at the same time encourage ourselves to focus on the God of hope and the God who does heal. Tune in to our new upcoming series as we look and share together about God’s healing. Prayer - Dear Lord, we thank You that have and continue to do, in Your time, such an amazing healing work in our son Nathanael. Many of us know and have experienced your healing touch in our own lives and those around us. Help us to be faithful in looking to You and Your Word for healing. Amen

What is idolatry? Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones answers…”Well, an idol can be defined most simply in this way: an idol is anything in our lives that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone…Anything that holds a controlling position in my life is an idol…” We often think of idolatry as bowing down to statues and worshipping false gods. Whilst that certainly can be idol worship, there are a great many other things that fall into this category. Food, sex, money, entertainment, drugs, drink, success, comfort etc. Do we allow these things to control our lives? Let’s take it a step further and ask about illness and/or suffering. If we have a debilitating illness, could this become our main focus? I’m certainly not minimising anyone’s illness or the difficulty of chronic pain but could it become all consuming? What about suffering and loss of a loved one. Is it possible to dwell so deeply that we cannot or do not focus on anything else? In our situation with our son and his brain injury, is our focus on what he has lost in this tragedy? or what we once had? Is it on our daily struggle to look after him? For me personally, do dwell on the extreme mental anguish of what happened on that awful day of his accident? Again who could blame us if these things were our absolute focus and the controlling position in our lives. Recently during a morning service in church I felt the Lord give me a gentle nudge. Am I really allowing this whole situation to control my life? The simple and honest answer is yes I am. Who can blame me, who can blame us for allowing these things to dominate our everyday thoughts and lives. But are we making an idol out of our circumstances? If our suffering is all encompassing and all we focus on, causing us to take our eyes off Jesus then it could become an idol. We all have distractions in our lives, we all sin and therefore these things get in the way of our relationship with the Lord which then has the danger of robbing us of our joy, peace, hope etc. This is the reason why God doesn’t want idolatry of any kind to be in our lives, simply because it robs us of all that He has for us. He wants us to put Him first in spite of all the difficulties we face. We have to live day to day living with the consequences of what has happened to Nathanael but we must keep the Lord in view. Our website is strength in suffering not because we want to make an idol of suffering but because we want to show how God’s strength enables us to carry on every day. God does understand our pain and struggle and like the compassionate father in Luke 15 is always waiting for us to reach out to Him once again. Whatever difficulties, challenges and sufferings you face, be mindful to not let these things take your entire focus or control your life. God wants you to put Him first so He can break through in your life. Idolatry can mask in different forms and these things can pull us down and rob us, but know that God wants to help us in our situations because He desires good even in very dire circumstances. He wants to occupy our lives and have the controlling position in our lives. Prayer - Dear Lord, Thank You that You ask or even command us to keep ourselves from idols, even those things that we live with everyday. You know that we often find it difficult to find a way through, but with Your help it is possible. We want you to be the focus, we need You to be Lord and not our circumstances. Help us to that end. Amen

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” Comfort is a bit like the Gospel, it’s not something you receive to keep to yourself. When we hear the Gospel and receive what it offers, we then have the joy and responsibility to share it with others. The same is true with comfort. When we are afflicted, the Lord comforts us, we are comforted and receive strength in the midst of the affliction. We are then equipped to comfort others in their need. We can only truly comfort someone if we have been afflicted ourselves, this brings a depth of understanding to relate to another who is suffering. Of course there are varying degrees of suffering and affliction. Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 1 about sharing abundantly in comfort if we have indeed shared abundantly in His sufferings. Paul also talks of sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings in Philippians 3:10. The reality is, that there would be no need for comfort unless one is suffering or has suffered to some degree. Comfort eases or alleviates a person’s pain and suffering. This is what God does with us. We have experienced God’s comfort in our suffering in the last 21 months. This puts us in a situation where we too can help those in a similar situation. God doesn’t just allow us to suffer affliction for no reason. He uses our pain, He uses our circumstances so that we can offer a hand to others. Isaiah 49:13 “Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.” Isaiah 51:12 "I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?” God promises to comfort His people when in affliction. Affliction isn’t something we should look for but more often than not as Christ followers it will come looking for us. Paul alludes to this when he says ‘For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings’. If we are truly following Christ, suffering and persecution follows. 2 Tim 3:12 “Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their faith].” For us personally we may not be suffering because of our faith, but because of our son’s accident - suffering nonetheless. God still promises to bring comfort whatever the root cause of our suffering. Suffering may stem from an adversary who is out to destroy us because of our faith. John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Whatever the cause of our suffering, pain, grief, let’s be confident that God will not leave us in the suffering. He comes alongside with His comfort. “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” John 15:26 The Holy Spirit is called the comforter or helper (parakletos) in  the scriptures. He’s the one who comes to our side and helps and comforts us in affliction. We have this Holy Spirit living within us as Jesus followers and so we are able to comfort others with His comfort that we have received. If you have been comforted with God’s comfort then He will enable you to share that same comfort with others. Let’s all be open to that in the coming days. What really struck me in the opening scripture 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 is the word ‘abundantly’ “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” Abundance is having more than we need. None of us need or want suffering at all. We certainly feel that we’ve had our share of suffering, we’ve had it in abundance. But the positive side of that is God promises to abundantly give us His comfort and it’s this that enables us to comfort others who suffer. Prayer - Dear Lord, thank you that as we suffer, at the same time we receive your comfort. Therefore may we be ever ready to share with others that which we have received from you. Amen

Our minds are full of stuff, good and bad It's hard not to think of how my son was, as his dad. The fun times we often shared Are now places of which I'm scared. Make new memories people say Of course, that has to be the way But that doesn't stop the old memories coming Of times when we'd be out and about running. Overthinking is not something you can just let go The mind finds it easy to run to and fro. Let go and let God, t’is often said But the thoughts keep returning in my head. There is a time for everything under the sun But it hurts greatly when it's your own son. We're so thankful for a great many things But I can't help remembering how he would sing God is good and a God of hope And it's this that helps me daily to cope So when I begin to overthink of times past I know in reality that this won't last. The Bible tells me to think on things that are excellent and worthy of praise. This seems so long, but it's only a phase Eternity is approaching when He will make all things new Until that day, help me, my mind renew.

The commonality we all share is that we each take up residence within this world and yet, in spite of that, we are worlds apart from one other. During these past months of our own traumatic situation and suffering I’ve discovered that no-one can truly enter into our world of suffering. There is not a single person on this planet that can fully 100% know how I am feeling on a day to day basis. Perhaps some may have had a similar suffering experience, but their way of dealing and coping with it will differ to mine. I can never truly understand someone else’s pain. When my friend’s lost their son, who was also my friend, to suicide a number of years ago, I had no idea what was truly going on in their world. When my own brother died at the age of 37 I had no idea what my mum went through, as she suffered in her own world. Yes, I suffered and hurt when my friend committed suicide and when my brother died but not to the extent and depth of their parents. We can watch on as people suffer who have lost loved ones in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza at war, but we cannot possibly know what’s going on in their minds and hearts. We look at their tears and strained faces but never truly know. Suffering is a lonely place, walking in your own world where no other person is able to fully enter. Only God can truly enter that world and He can seem very absent at times. Psalm 10:1 No-one else knew my son like I knew him before the accident. Only Lindsay, my wife and his mother gets close, she knew and loved him on the same level but differently. It’s this knowing that makes the difference. Some of you may remember Nathanael, our son before the tragic accident in which he suffered a life changing traumatic brain injury, but you didn’t know him and love him like I did, like we did. There are so many things that I could share about him that I miss so much, that it hurts me everyday. If something tragic happened to one of your children, I could never know the depth of pain and suffering that you would experience, how could I possibly be able to? We often look at the events of Jesus’s death and how He felt forsaken by the Father and so we should. But scripture is seemingly quiet about how the Father must have felt as His Son was stricken, how He was slaughtered and eventually died. None of us will truly know what both the Father and the Son went through on the day that changed the course of world history. Does any of this excuse us from reaching out to those around us who are suffering terribly? The truth is we can somehow cross over into someone else’s world even if for a moment without saying a word. In the Bible, Job’s friend started off well as they tried to enter into his world of suffering. “And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Job 2:13 Those who know the story will know that Job’s friends’ initial good intentions didn’t last long.They began to go too far without knowing what it was like in Job’s world of suffering. Our suffering remains intense, it hasn’t gone away. Time passes and others have their own lives to lead in their own busy worlds. But let us ALL, somehow, with God’s help, step into the world of those who suffer. The writer to the Hebrews exhorted his readers to put themselves in the shoes of others, if that is possible. “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” Hebrews 13:3 World’s apart we may be, but, we can and should allow our worlds to cross from time to time. Although we will never truly know another’s pain… Hebrews 13:16 “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Notice the word ‘sacrifice’. It will cost to enter someone’s world when they’re suffering. But God is pleased when we do so. We may not know the severity of someone’s broken heart but we can share, we can listen, we can do good. As we have moved house recently we have been incredibly blessed by others who have helped us lay flooring, helped in moving our belongings, helped in practical ways. A group of ladies in the church have provided meals for us especially as we’ve been unwell during the move. These things have been a massive help and support in the midst of pain and suffering and the stress of transitioning into a new home. They have selflessly left their own busy worlds to enter into ours for a time to share, encourage, give and bless. In the coming days look for ways to make a difference to someone else’s world. Not to understand, because that won’t fully be possible, but to help in whatever way you can. Prayer - Father, Help us to recognise that we all live in different worlds. But with that recognition, help us to enter in and be the blessing that we need to be. Amen

"And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart”. Genesis 6:6 When the Lord created this world He saw that it was good and He was pleased with it. One of the most often overlooked reasons why God created the world and humans was because of love. The love that He shared in the triune God, He wanted to share with others. Jesus mentions the love that He shared with the Father before creation. “Father I want those who you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” John 17:24 The very essence of God is love. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 When we arrive at Genesis 6, we see how humankind messed up and spurned God’s love so much so that He was grieved in His heart. The same is true for us as God’s image bearers. The reason why we grieve is because we first loved. We grieve for what has happened to our son Nathanael because we love him dearly. When someone loses a loved one, they grieve because they loved them with great depth. We grieve when our children mess up and make the wrong choices. God was the same and He still grieves when we turn our back on Him and His gift of love at the cross. Grieving not only helps us to cope with loss but it is also a sure sign that we have and do love. If we see in scripture that God grieves, then let us not feel bad about our grieving which may stay with us always - in fact someone has said that grief doesn’t lessen but instead our lives grow around the grief. Picture courtesy of https://www.sueryder.org/  growing around grief. God could eliminate grief in our lives altogether if He desires, but when we are faced with difficulties and loss that is when God walks closest, through it with us. He is the God who suffers and grieves both with us and for us. Our heavenly Father grieves for us in our brokenness and desires for us to be whole and complete, in a place where we can share in and experience His love without any hindrance. As an earthly father, I grieve for our son who is broken because he is not what he was and that hurts deeply. It hurts because I love him. God hurts because He loves us. This understanding of the depth of God’s love enables us to read John 3:16 in a new light, with that aspect in mind: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Prayer - Lord please forgive us when we grieve Your heart. We thank You that You love us and desire for us to walk in Your ways and share in the love that You, the triune God, shared before You created anything. Thank You that You have done so much for us in sending Christ to make that possible for all. Amen