The question is not "why do bad things happen

to good people?" - the question is "why do

good things happen to bad people?"

Peter Kreeft

thank you

Seek His Face

Some Christians believe all the bad things that are happening to our country is the wrath of God.  Some believe its the consequence of turning our backs on Him. Or taking prayer out of schools. Or allowing gay marriage. Or abortion.  Some believe its all due to a fallen world.  To a wicked enemy.

But whatever the reason(s) are for the bad things happening, God gave us a way to have influence and I would venture to say we have, in large part, forgotten how to petition the only One who can effectually change anything on this earth.

If my people who are called by my name humble

themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn

from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven

and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chron. 7:14

The age may be a better age than in the past, but there is an infinite distance between the betterment of an age by the force of an advancing civilization and its betterment by the increase of holiness and Christ-likeness by the energy of prayer.

                                                                    E.M. Bounds, The Power of Prayer

Live Before You Die - day 13

God's eternal glory will penetrate the natural world through broken men and women.  And when the kingdom of God comes into contact with the fallen world, we begin to see heavenly effects:  the sick are healed, the dead are raised, bondages are broken, and the supernatural begins to happen.

As we travel on the journey of discovering God's will, the narrow road cuts through a dark valley where God tests our hearts and breaks us.  The breaking process is uncomfortable but very important to endure if we want to see God's will done in our lives.  The valley of brokenness is where we learn to say, "not my will, but Yours, be done." This brokenness, while painful, releases amazing power and makes us useful to God.

When we are broken vessels of clay, then God's power shines out, and all the glory is His.  This is why Paul says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God . . . that, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Cor 1:27-29, 31). God loves to use broken vessels because through them He gets the most glory!

The world values the lofty, powerful, proud, and big.  God values a broken and a contrite heart, a heart that is humble and bowed low before the King.  In Isaiah 66:2 the Lord says, "'This is the one I esteem:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.'"  The psalmist says in Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

A broken person is a person who is crucified with Christ.  It is in this kind of person that God's will is being done and in whom God's kingdom is present and flowing out to the world around him.

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die