1 Peter 5:10

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."


When we look at the context of the passage we see that Peter is addressing trials and tribulation that the church is going through at this time. I would expect, if I did a bit of research, that 1 Peter was written at a time in history when Christians were going through an immense amount of persecution. 


Verse 8 charges us with the command to be "sober-minded" and then goes on to tell us why.


Why should Christians be sober-minded? Because Satan is just waiting to get the chance to devour us. This verse compares him to a roaring lion. In other words, Satan want to destroy our lives. He wants to ruin our relationship with our Holy God. He wants us to reject our Savior, and in this he "devours" us.


Verse 9 then gives another charge to the Christian. RESIST HIM! Peter speaks imperatively. He tells us to stand firm in our faith and be comforted by the fact that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Your brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing similar sufferings. 


Furthermore, Peter gives the follower of Christ hope in verse 10. He says that after the suffering comes God's grace. After the suffering comes God's restoration. After the suffering comes God's confirmation in your heart that He is with you and has never left you. After the suffering comes His mighty strength. After the suffering comes establishment in his Kingdom, or in other words the purpose for the suffering. 


Peter is trying to tell us that when we go through suffering, it does not return void. God is not gone or missing in those times. He is working, building us up and fashioning us for something down the road that we don't know about or quite understand, but as we wait for God to reveal that future purpose, we are restored and strengthened, and given peace through the wonderful, outpouring of His beautiful grace. 

Stop "but" - ing in

Have you ever noticed how God's timing and our timing are never the same? Maybe that's not the case, but it certainly feels like that throughout our lives. 

I find God saying to me, "Tim, be patient. My timing is not yours, and by the way, don't you trust me by now?"

My response, "Lord, of course I trust you, but..."

Why do I do that? I know God is going to take care of me, yet I still try to rationalize with God how my way is better than His. 

I know I'm not the only one out there who does this...you know...try to "but - in" to God's plan with your own way of doing things. 

Why do we say, "Yes God, but...?" If we truly trust God's timing in our lives, we need to take the "but" out of these sentences.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, 

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Well, that pretty much sums it up for me. I need to stop, and just rest in the knowledge that even though I think God needs to speed it up a little and do things my way, that my timing would be disastrous, while God's timing is PERFECT!. 

"Lord, I rest in you today. Knowing that I will not always understand what you are doing or why you have chosen to do it this way, but I know you will make my life beautiful in YOUR time."

Welcome Message

Good Morning everyone. I have decided to give this blogging thing a chance. I used to love to write in college, but because of "life" I haven't really done much writing since then, but I am excited to see where this goes. 

What can I expect to read on this blog?

This blog is going to be "pastoral" in nature. What I mean by that is that I will be sharing the things God speaks to me about each week. Now, I know what you are thinking, "Forget reading this blog, it's going to be lame!" Well, I hope not. I hope that the things God says to me, and the way He shares them, and the way I communicate them to you will be an encouragement, and thought provoking process. Let me warn you up front, I might get a little controversial sometimes. It probably won't be too heavy, but I do believe God's revelation to us can be very specific, and sometimes as human beings who by "original" nature like to spin things in "our" favor, we miss the great truths of our holy God. So, more than anything, I hope this blog will serve as a "renewing of your mind."

When can I expect new posts?  

My initial plan is to release two posts a week.

Will you be the only writer on this blog?

Initially yes, but I would like to invite guest bloggers in the future. 

What will this blog look like?

I imagine a conglomerate of articles, pictures, and video. I hope to post my own videos and pictures as well as bring in others from commercial sites to discuss. 

Who are you?

You can read my little blurb on the side about where I went to college, but who I really am is a man who has been covered by the grace of God more times than I can count. I am a man who lives and makes decisions knowing I can rest in the sovereignty of my God. I am a man who loves and lifts up his family before himself, and finally I simply want people to know who God truly is.