Television Preachers

Surfing through the channels this morning a minister caught my attention. I listened to the message and was encouraged in my faith. He used a visual demonstration about the blacksmith and how God refines us , shapes, molds, conforms us through the very things that cause us pain. Maybe that sounds a little depressing but we have all been there, times we question , "Why God?" These kinds of things wake us up and pull us out of the life of safety that we have created for ourselves and we realize we need God more than ever before. Personally I have been guilty of resisting this process. I like things to be easy and conflict free but no one can go through life without conflicts and there is always a choice to make. I have been so tired at times that I just want to lay down and sleep until the worst is past and life is all I think it should be. If only we can focus there is HOPE. If we like Peter in the Bible can keep our eyes on the source of our help in times of trouble those turbulent waves will not overcome us. I am thinking Peter must have started out with great faith taking that first step out of the boat when Jesus walking on the water called out to him but somewhere in between the Savior and the storm he began to take his eyes off of Jesus and sink beneath the waves. It's a choice. Am I going to continue to take those steps of faith looking to my Savior when life throws me what feels like a whammy or am I going to magnify the troubles above my Savior? This morning I was encouraged by a ministers message on TV. I am mostly quite cynical of many ministries because I have seen the damage that is sometimes done in the name of prosperity and so on. I detest those who want these huge donations for the hope of having huge needs met financially, health-wise, spiritually, emotionally or whatever miracle one may need. There is this abundance mentality regarding things. I don't know. I just don't get it. God gives us the strength and grace that we need for each new day, He never promised a life of luxury but He did promise of abundance through Christ. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all." Psalm 32:19 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." John 17:38 "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." Isaiah 12:3 This JOY that depends not on circumstance comes from drawing deep from the river of God's love and grace. It is likened to a tree planted by the river who digs it's roots in deep. These following verses speak volumes to me Jeremiah 17 5This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Television preachers? What do I personally believe? I believe I need to dig deep in my Bible and devote time to prayer first of all and develop a relationship with my Savior Jesus. If I'm not doing that I probably should not watch the preachers on TV. They train people to recognize counterfeit money by learning what the real thing feels like and looks like and to pay attention to details. As a Christian I need to spend personal time searching the scriptures. When I pray for wisdom and knowledge my Heavenly Father is not going to let me down. His Spirit guides into all truth. ~~~ The second preacher who came on this morning made me cringe . He was all about tearing down Christian churches who he perceived to be lacking. He did nothing to encourage the people in their Christian walk or to reach out in God's love. I can see nothing positive in tearing down others who are in the body of Christ! He knew how to get a crowd excited though! It didn't take long and I switched the channel to the Andy Griffith show. The little town of Mayberry and the charm of the life there was more encouraging!