Embracing the Season of No Embrace (God works all things for Good)

Ecclesiastes 3:5 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones: a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embracing.

 

Over the years I have discovered that divorce has helped me. God works all things together for Good for those who love Him who are the called according to His purpose. (See Romans 8:28) He even turns a negative loss like abandonment and divorce into something beautiful.

Now as I see people getting married, I am happy for them. I am truly glad to see couples in love and getting married and serving God.

And I am happy for me too.

Because I'm single.

Getting married is right for them, in their season. And singleness is right for me, in this season.

Understanding seasons has helped me to maintain a proper attitude toward the romance and marriages of others. It is tempting to want to feel sorry for myself. But I choose.... CHOOSE.... not to do that. It is rather self-centred to make someone else's marriage about "ME".

So my choice is to feel glad instead. Because I know what kind of work goes into marriage, and I know what happens when one marries a false person.

My divorce motivates me to love the Lord fiercely.

My divorce motivates me to fearlessly explore and experience completion (nothing lacking) in Christ, as a single.

It motivates me to minister to other divorced Christians with grace and compassion. 

 
Do I think I will marry again someday? Oh, more than likely I will, years down the road. Marriage is a beautiful God-ordained institution between one man and one woman.
 When the seasons change, I will remarry.

And that's the key... we must strive to understand God's seasons. They don't operate the same way as the natural seasons do. When a season changes in the natural, everyone experiences it. But when seasons change in your life, they are individual changes, not necessarily changes for everyone in your community. That is the beauty of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. God has individual destinies for each of us, within His larger destiny for all His children.

 I don't feel bad about others getting married now, because marriage is a season... it's the season that some people are in. It's the right season for them to be in.

 

And... Singleness is another season, one that many others are in. It's the right season for me to be in now.
 Once we understand that God works in seasons and that not everyone has to do or be the same thing, at the same time, then we can feel more contentment and peace with where God has led us so far.

Over these past 7 years, I have embraced the season of no embrace.

 

That is a miracle.
 

For someone like me who almost idolized marriage when I was a young man, this is a true breakthrough. Don't get me wrong, Biblical marriage is good. But I took it to extremes when I was young. I thought God's whole plan for me revolved around marriage (and this is before I was actually married).

 God did not cause my divorce, but since it did happen, He has turned it for a good purpose. He has used it to challenge me to read what the Bible says about singleness. He showed me that singleness is a seasonal gift. And now, He has succeeded in changing and balancing my perspective on the two gifts (singleness and marriage). He proved to me that singleness is a good season and a gift, just like the season and gift of marriage. God, and His Word, changed my thinking. Praise God.
 

And now, as I have embraced this season, I find that God has filled my arms and my heart with His very own pure love. He has met me here in this season. His love is real. To embrace the season of no embrace is to trust Jesus Christ's unique plan for my life, and to believe what He is doing is right for me, and for His purposes. I choose to embrace His plan and to embrace the pure Love of God.
 

-Pastor Curtis

Mon Oct 24 2016, 11:03PM EST

The Good Scriptwriter writes good and evil into the plot

Did you ever wonder why book authors and script writers use conflict in their stories? Why?
Why is it that our most memorable books and movies have conflict, and antagonists? Why not just have "good guys"? Why create the "bad guys" or employ them in your story? Why do we love stories of good overcoming evil so much?

 

 

Basically, the function of an antagonist is to give the hero someone or something to overcome. A victory is not a victory without there being some form of struggle where the hero overcomes evil.
 
God is the Creator, and the master author. He is the genius scriptwriter, holy, just and wise beyond our understanding. And he has created two general kinds of vessels -

1) vessels of honour and

2) vessels of dishonour,

All vessels are created by God for His sovereign use.

 

2 Timothy 2:20 English Standard Version (ESV)Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.

 

God uses all kinds of rulers and all manners of vessels. He writes both protagonists and antagonists into His story (history).

In the book of Habakkuk, we see that there is a distinction made between the concept of establishing a government and the concept of approving that same government. God set up this vessel of dishonour known as the Chaldean government. He does not approve of wicked governments, but He will sometimes use them to establish right thinking in His own people. God established the Chaldean government as a chastisement to disobedient Judah. Judah had been rebellious for years and refused to listen to God's gentle warnings to repent. So as a result, after years of being ignored and betrayed, God brought temporary discipline to His children.

Habakkuk 1:12 ESV (God establishes the Chaldeans as a reproof)

12 Are you not from everlasting,

O Lord my God, my Holy One?

We shall not die.

O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment,

and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.

Yet God, in His uncompromising and pure holiness immediately pronounces woe on that same Chaldean government in the next chapter.

Habakkuk 2:6-10

Woe to the Chaldeans

6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!”

7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,

and those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoil for them.

8 Because you have plundered many nations,

all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,

for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

to set his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm!

10 You have devised shame for your house

by cutting off many peoples;

you have forfeited your life.

 

How about division of The ten Northern Tribes from the 2 Southern Tribes? How did the wicked man Jeroboam break away from the southern kingdom of Judah and become king of the Ten Northern Tribes? God tells us in His Word:

1 Kings 11:31 ESV

And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes

God is absolutely sovereign over all peoples and nations. It is our place to pray for the leaders, to stand for righteousness in Jesus Christ, to act and do good, to vote, and to pray for the Heavenly Father's will to be done. He is righteous and His nature cannot mix with wickedness. Yet He ordains these rulers, vessels of dishonour for temporary use... so that we can learn to be OVERCOMERS. Jesus is the Hero of His Story (history) and the main protagonist. And those who follow Jesus follow Him in His role as protagonist. Now we can be protagonists through Christ. Anyone who repents of their sins and evil ways and calls on Christ for forgiveness will be saved by Christ's pure, undeserved grace. It's not just governments which fall into evil... ALL humans have fallen into evil. All of us desperately need the Saviour, Jesus Christ. He can wash you clean in His blood today, if you call on Him.

So God places all the different kinds vessels in nations for strategic reasons. There are a variety reasons such as judgement, or to stir His people out of spiritual complacency and indifference, or to bless obedience, etc. History shows that persecution actually stimulates the growth of the church. Look at the church in early pagan Rome. It exploded in growth despite being a relatively new establishment with few supporters at the start. The emperors persecuted it intensely. Those Roman officials were placed there by God. God placed them there, and then removed them again. 2 Timothy 2:20 tells us some vessels are made for honourable use, and some have been made for dishonourable use. Keep in mind, God is the potter, we are the clay. He is sovereign and just.

AND YET ... if any person will repent, and purge themselves of evil ways, they too can become a vessel of honour for God. God uses ALL the vessels in the house, in His holy and perfect and just plan. The blood of Jesus can cleanse any person, any ruler, anyone with genuine repentance, and love for God. 

 

Jesus is the protagonist and Hero, and He has already defeated the enemy, satan, by dying and rising again from the dead! (Heb 2:14)

 

God bless you!

Pastor Curtis

 

 

  

"Loved and Single" - A Short Story

Loved And Single
A Short Story By Curtis J. Alexander.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The man sat down. He thought and he prayed. He was glad that it was all over. He reflected often on the gratitude he felt. He was grateful for peace.

The pain, the strife, the lies he was fed: all of it was gone. God had set him free from her storm. Here he was, now alone, and blessed. He was sipping his hot coffee, reading his 1599 Geneva Bible.
The silence in the halls was an invitation for him to sing and play piano. The empty bedroom, an invitation to stay up later and study God's word or create a new music video.

Oh there was depression for a time. And he went low. He sank down for a time. Had it not been for the Lord, I am sure he would still be in the pits of pity and despair today. But the Lord hoisted him out of those dark days. He brought him into the light.

The man learned not to trust in women or in things or in marriage. He learned to trust in God and God alone. Women can fail. So can men. Marriages can fail. But Jesus never fails. God never fails. God is Love. Love never fails.

Jesus Christ was and is his completion. Jesus completed him. He had known Jesus as Saviour since he was a small child. But this realization of completion came to him in stages as the Holy Spirit would gently pull back the curtain on his understanding of singleness and the Word of God. The man took 2 years to recover from divorce. After that, he began to reopen himself to the possibility of dating again. Yet dating would be sparse, almost non-existent. And in that sparseness came a dense forest of revelation from God, about God. In that sparseness, came a flood of freedom to the man. Freedom from old sins. Freedom from depression. Freedom from a dependance on romance or marriage. Freedom from a dependance on the idea of soul mates. Freedom to create in a variety of ways: music, photography, poetry and lyrics. Freedom to minister to and love God's people at the local church above the train station.
God had indeed taught the man what it means to be fully dependant on Christ alone. In Christ alone was his sufficiency. In Christ alone was his all. And in Christ alone was the courage he needed to walk the walk of a single, divorced pastor. He was growing in his walk as a disciple of Christ. He refused to be defined by the woman who abandoned him in marriage. She had been viewing God as the enemy. And as a result, he suffered for it. So, he refused to let his identity be found in those who could not or would not love him. He refused to be defined by the woman who married him in pretence and had no intention of remaining with him and honouring her vows. Instead He found his identity in his maker and saviour, Jesus Christ. He welcomed the Love of Christ with all his heart, spirit, and mind.

The man grew stronger in Jesus, and in His Love. He moved on in life. He made mistakes too. And learned from them, in grace. As the years rolled by, more new songs emerged from his tongue and his fingers. His didactic music videos lit up a small corner of the internet. He continued to be used by God in the local church family. And single believers began to ask for his ministry. So he began to ask the Lord for guidance and started to teach the singles how to live as a single for Jesus. He relished it. He realized that his life experiences would now be valuable and helpful in expressing compassion and love to those who did not experience a happy marriage and to those who did not experience any marriage at all. He threw himself into teaching the singles ministry.

With some powerful heart-level healing from God, some new light from the Lord, the man would now be ready to walk this new chapter of his life. He would honour his theme verse in 1 Corinthians 7:17... to walk as the Lord called him. He made the decision to leave the door open to a new marriage someday. Perhaps that would be years from now. It did not concern him, because he already found completion in Christ. He found all the love he needs. Through the loss and pain of abandonment and divorce, this man discovered that Christ was all He ever needed. Christ was and is more than able to love the man and fulfill him in every way possible.

This is the continuing story of a man who is loved and single.

 

If you valued this short story, please consider giving a one-time donation! Thank you!
--
CJA Oct 9 2016 4:23pm EST

God's Sovereignty

God gives rulership to whoever He wants, no one can stop Him or avert His good and righteous plan.
As A.W. Pink once wrote:
"The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say God is sovereign, we affirm His right to govern the universe, which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases... He is under no obligation to give account of His matters to any." (A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty Of God, pg 21)

A Pagan ruler Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, was given revelation about God's sovereignty: 

Daniel 4:29 GNV

"And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass, as the oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou knowest, that the most High beareth rule over the kingdom of men, and giveth it unto whomsoever he will."

See this absolute sovereignty stated again in the New Testament in Romans 13:1-3

Romans 13:1-3 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

"1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers: for there is no power but of God: and the powers that be, are ordained of God.

2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist, shall receive to themselves condemnation.

3 For Magistrates are not to be feared for good works, but for evil. Wilt thou then be without fear of the power? do well: so shalt thou have praise of the same."

Same passage in the ESV:

Romans 13:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)

1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,

God has sovereignty over all nations at all times and works His multi-faceted plan in ways we cannot fathom. Many of us have a list of things we think need to happen in Canada, (or in another country like the US) but God alone knows ALL that needs to happen in our nations. Remember that if you don't like who is leading, pray for them and remember that God set them there to accomplish HIS will (not theirs). These rulers may think that they are accomplishing their own will but just keep in mind that God is working His own will, and doing what needs to be done to wake up His church and His people. We should always pray that God puts the right people in power. And He will answer those prayers, even when we can't understand God's choices.

Habakkuk 1:6 GNV
"For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and furious nation, which shall go upon the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs."

We can rest assured that God does what is best and will sometimes place wicked rulers in power for a season. In the Bible, this is often how God dealt with His people when they refused to repent from continuous sin on a national level.
 Sometimes and in some seasons, He places righteous rulers in power (2 Chron. 34:1-3). It all depends on what God, who is always pure (Hab. 1:13), righteous (Psa. 25:8), and holy (Psa. 99:5) , wants to do. Study the Scriptures, and ask The Holy Spirit to teach you the will of the Lord. Rest in the peace of knowing that God, your Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, is in charge and is taking care of you! 

Luke 12:7 GNV

"Yea, and all the hairs of your head are numbered: fear not therefore: ye are more of value than many sparrows."

No election result, or plot, or political corruption, or other device of humans can stop or change that fact.

Proverbs 19:21 GNV
"Many devices are in a man’s heart: but the counsel of the Lord shall stand."
 

God Bless

Pastor Curtis

Sat Oct. 8, 2016 10:15pm EST