Strengthened by Difficulties

Nine months ago I took this photo of a Palm Tree beside the walk way at the Mall, and I mentioned in an article I wrote at the time, that the gardeners had just cut its top off and said they were going to destroy it as it was in the wrong place. My interest at that stage was to observe how beautifully folded the leaves were (like a Chinese fan), and how tightly packed the unopened leaves were. To me that was evidence of God’s designing and programming.  For some reason they didn’t destroy the tree but it looked very unhappy for a while and I thought it would die. However, it has now revived and looks more robust than ever as you can see in this next photo. I am sure the tree didn’t enjoy the rough handling it had but its roots were
firmly established in good soil so it was able to cope with the problems it was faced with and overcame them.

Throughout life we are also confronted with difficult problems that often seem as if they will defeat us and it is then that we appreciate the prayerful hope that Paul expresses in his letter to the Ephesian Christians: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye being  rooted and grounded in love, (just as that tree is well rooted in good soil), may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God”.(Ephesians 3:17), What a colossal “backup” is available to us if we choose to avail ourselves of it.  Indeed, without that “backup” and supply of strength to draw upon we can be easily defeated, just as that Palm tree wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for the good soil and adequate moisture that was there for it to draw upon. I am afraid that we often don’t ask for help in time of need but face it alone because we either don’t know that our Heavenly Father is the King of the universe or we are too proud to ask Him for help: Victorious living comes from faith and “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”, (Romans 10:17), and that really means repeatedly hearing. Somehow I feel that the comma after the first word “hearing” is in the wrong place and should be after the second “hearing,” because we need to hear and hear.

When John Wesley (the famous evangelist who “turned England upside down”) first heard of “Salvation by faith” he had a problem believing it so one of his friends said: “Preach it until you believe it, and then preach it because you believe it.” And he did, with fantastic results.

People say to me: “I don’t understand why God allows sickness, or the death of babies”. Well God doesn’t want either, and Jesus proved this by healing every sick person He met and even raised the dead who had died prematurely and then handed the responsibility over to us when He was leaving by saying: “The works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do because I go to the Father,” (John 14: 12) to those who accept Jesus forgiveness there is a long list of Spiritual gifts that are available. So those who want to, can live victoriously and help others. All we need is FAITH and Romans 10:17 tells us how to get that. (You don’t get it by reading books about the New Testament, you must read and re-read the actual words). Audrey and I were living in town and went out to our property for a visit and found lots of large “Cat-head” burr plants in our orchard (the seed must have come in hay we bought). Audrey was very upset and recalling what Jesus said we could do, when He killed the fig tree, she turned to these burr plants and said, in a loud voice, “I curse you Catheads, in the name of Jesus die” (secretly I thought to myself “she has overdone it this time”) but when we returned to the orchard a few days later I was astounded to see that every plant had died. On another occasion, whilst handling cattle, I got a dreadful chest pain that I recognised as a heart attack so I went and lay on the bed. Audrey came and prayed for me constantly for 2 days, quoting God’s promises in the scriptures (I wasn’t game to move), other friends she phoned prayed too and the pain gradually departed, leaving me weak. After many days though, I returned to normal and felt quite well. Years later I had more pain so went to St Vincent’s Hospital where they gave me a Coronary Angiogram and the Specialist said I needed some by-passes, but added “you had a severe heart attack some years ago”. I said “yes, how did you know?” He replied “I can see where your heart made its own by-pass”.   Best wishes for more faith, Tom.