For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits…For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. 1 Peter 3:18–19; 4:6
After his death Jesus descended into hell, for even in hell he must have people who want to hear him. In every sickness, in every kind of darkness he must also have people who want to hear him. So there is nothing that cannot be healed, nothing that cannot be freed, no reason for us to give up hope.
If you let the Savior come into your situation no matter how difficult and troubling it is, then redemption will become reality in you and through you. It is much more important to pray, “Lord, take me into your hands, let me be under your rulership,” than to live free of suffering. Whoever has this attitude can play a real part in God’s kingdom.
Your suffering is not in vain if you have only God’s kingdom in mind and are willing to share in Jesus’ burden. Open the way, therefore, for him to enter into your very being, into your suffering, and serve him there. You will have to be completely involved in the fight, but then the Savior will come. You will have to let go of all half measures and root out whatever is your pseudo-God, your pseudo-help, your pseudo-hope, or your pseudo-joy. One hope, one joy, one faith, one love – that is our Father in heaven, with whom we want to be.
Don’t assume you can take a little twig of faith, another of despair, a twig of joy and a little twig of sadness – and put them all together in a fine bouquet. There is nothing wholehearted about that. What God wants is a wholehearted “Hallelujah!” We must throw ourselves in, body and soul, and let our suffering be to the honor and glory of God.
Remember, you are a child of God. Remain true to who you are and what he has given you. If you hold on to this hope, then in the midst of the greatest misfortune and darkness, even in death, you will be given strength, comfort, and the final victory.
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Take Up Your Cross
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
Luke 9:23
Jesus came to destroy all the works of the devil, and this is why we are called to fight against every kind of darkness, including sickness. But what does this fight entail? It does not mean we automatically pray for God to help our every need and sickness. Rather we need to direct ourselves to Christ’s death first and recognize our own guilt for the sin and suffering in the world, including the sickness in our own bodies.
Our priority should be that God comes into his own right in our lives. In other words, we must do everything we can to fight against anything that seeks to exploit the grace and mercy of God, anything that turns Christ, our Savior, into our little servant. God is not duty bound toward us. It is we who must deny ourselves and take up our cross. It is God’s glory we must serve, and we must be prepared to let everything go and become poor, so that Christ alone is exalted.
Let us leave behind any begging before God and instead seek how to do justice to his cause. Put your own needs aside and do honest works of repentance, and do so joyfully, without grumbling and lamenting. Let yourself be judged, turn your inner life around, and stop looking at yourself and your own need. Instead, sacrifice yourself for the kingdom of God. Become zealous for him, and God will not let your life be put to shame. You will find that your suffering and distress will disappear by themselves.
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
Luke 9:23
Jesus came to destroy all the works of the devil, and this is why we are called to fight against every kind of darkness, including sickness. But what does this fight entail? It does not mean we automatically pray for God to help our every need and sickness. Rather we need to direct ourselves to Christ’s death first and recognize our own guilt for the sin and suffering in the world, including the sickness in our own bodies.
Our priority should be that God comes into his own right in our lives. In other words, we must do everything we can to fight against anything that seeks to exploit the grace and mercy of God, anything that turns Christ, our Savior, into our little servant. God is not duty bound toward us. It is we who must deny ourselves and take up our cross. It is God’s glory we must serve, and we must be prepared to let everything go and become poor, so that Christ alone is exalted.
Let us leave behind any begging before God and instead seek how to do justice to his cause. Put your own needs aside and do honest works of repentance, and do so joyfully, without grumbling and lamenting. Let yourself be judged, turn your inner life around, and stop looking at yourself and your own need. Instead, sacrifice yourself for the kingdom of God. Become zealous for him, and God will not let your life be put to shame. You will find that your suffering and distress will disappear by themselves.
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
Monday, July 11, 2011
Free Your Heart
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
When overwhelmed by trouble, learn to free your heart. Even if you are suffering from the most dreadful illness, when you can hardly stand it anymore, even if you spend the whole day praying and sighing, free your heart. Chase your illness out of your heart. Set your heart on things above and see to it that God reigns in your heart. You can carry your sickness in a bundle on your back if you like, but it does not belong in your heart. Free your heart, I say. Cast out your misery from your heart, and bear your cross.
Let us not be impressed by sickness. For what is sickness anyway? If we live in an atmosphere of life, sickness is dispelled like a mist. We experience this, time and again, and so do doctors. Our mortal mists are not as dense as they seem at first sight. They dissolve. At some point they are there, then they disappear, and no one can tell where they came from or where they have gone.
So free your heart. Let your head be concerned with trifles, if you like, but God the Savior must be in your heart. Don’t let yourself be so hounded by trivialities that you are of no use anymore. Scores of people are paralyzed because they allow so many little things, especially their aches and pains, to enter their hearts.
Keep yourself free so that even in the deepest suffering, in the most unhappy of circumstances, in short, in all situations, you can joyfully serve Christ. Let nothing cloud your heart, least of all yourself – thinking and worrying about yourself. Instead, sacrifice yourself anew to God with prayer and thanksgiving. In this way you will give God the glory on earth, and he will lift you above all that presses down upon you.
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
When overwhelmed by trouble, learn to free your heart. Even if you are suffering from the most dreadful illness, when you can hardly stand it anymore, even if you spend the whole day praying and sighing, free your heart. Chase your illness out of your heart. Set your heart on things above and see to it that God reigns in your heart. You can carry your sickness in a bundle on your back if you like, but it does not belong in your heart. Free your heart, I say. Cast out your misery from your heart, and bear your cross.
Let us not be impressed by sickness. For what is sickness anyway? If we live in an atmosphere of life, sickness is dispelled like a mist. We experience this, time and again, and so do doctors. Our mortal mists are not as dense as they seem at first sight. They dissolve. At some point they are there, then they disappear, and no one can tell where they came from or where they have gone.
So free your heart. Let your head be concerned with trifles, if you like, but God the Savior must be in your heart. Don’t let yourself be so hounded by trivialities that you are of no use anymore. Scores of people are paralyzed because they allow so many little things, especially their aches and pains, to enter their hearts.
Keep yourself free so that even in the deepest suffering, in the most unhappy of circumstances, in short, in all situations, you can joyfully serve Christ. Let nothing cloud your heart, least of all yourself – thinking and worrying about yourself. Instead, sacrifice yourself anew to God with prayer and thanksgiving. In this way you will give God the glory on earth, and he will lift you above all that presses down upon you.
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Before You Ask
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:7–8
Many people think their prayers won’t work if they don’t utter them clearly enough, or fail to explain to God exactly what they mean, or don’t speak loudly enough to him with sufficient earnestness. But when this happens, prayer becomes so exaggerated that our Savior even forbids it.
Obviously Jesus does not want to discourage us from praying. His point is that when we pray we must have a sense of proportion. Once we have prayed, we must be quiet. We need to be like the farmer who has sown his seed. Help will come only when you are quiet in faith. Also in your sickness or with other needs, learn to be still and look to the kingdom of God.
We can share our needs with the Father in a few words, without making a fuss, and rest assured that God already knows what we need and what he will do to help us. We don’t have to explain our requests in great detail to God, or try and make quite sure that he knows our needs. God knows about even the smallest matters and takes them straight into his heart. We can turn to him by glancing heavenward, with no words at all. We can do this even when we pray about something concrete and tangible, or about something that specifically troubles us. We may realize that what we thought we needed is actually not necessary and that we can find a way right in the midst of how things are now.
This doesn’t mean that we just let things happen – as if everything will come of its own accord without our longing for it. Nor should we just cast a brief and hurried request at God’s feet. When this happens, we too easily lose sight of God, assume that everything comes to us without his help, and we forget to thank him. Then we cease to have a believing heart and are consequently not true children of God.
Jesus said, “Before you ask him.” Therefore we do need to make our requests known to him, otherwise many things will not be given that could have been given. It never displeases God when we come to him with our heartfelt requests. A real child asks for everything, knowing God has an ear for him. We should bring all our burdens and needs to him, for at the very least this helps to make us ever more aware that in all things God is the giver.
God always has our interests in mind. He carries our various needs with fatherly concern, eagerly waiting for us to come to him. He has not forgotten us. And when we feel tempted to think so, then all the more we should remember that he knows it all and cares for us. In fact, he knows much more about us and our needs than we do. Simple, childlike prayer is enough to move his heart, give you something out of the fullness of his compassion, and save you from all sorts of fear and trouble.
Johann Christoph Blumhardt
Many people think their prayers won’t work if they don’t utter them clearly enough, or fail to explain to God exactly what they mean, or don’t speak loudly enough to him with sufficient earnestness. But when this happens, prayer becomes so exaggerated that our Savior even forbids it.
Obviously Jesus does not want to discourage us from praying. His point is that when we pray we must have a sense of proportion. Once we have prayed, we must be quiet. We need to be like the farmer who has sown his seed. Help will come only when you are quiet in faith. Also in your sickness or with other needs, learn to be still and look to the kingdom of God.
We can share our needs with the Father in a few words, without making a fuss, and rest assured that God already knows what we need and what he will do to help us. We don’t have to explain our requests in great detail to God, or try and make quite sure that he knows our needs. God knows about even the smallest matters and takes them straight into his heart. We can turn to him by glancing heavenward, with no words at all. We can do this even when we pray about something concrete and tangible, or about something that specifically troubles us. We may realize that what we thought we needed is actually not necessary and that we can find a way right in the midst of how things are now.
This doesn’t mean that we just let things happen – as if everything will come of its own accord without our longing for it. Nor should we just cast a brief and hurried request at God’s feet. When this happens, we too easily lose sight of God, assume that everything comes to us without his help, and we forget to thank him. Then we cease to have a believing heart and are consequently not true children of God.
Jesus said, “Before you ask him.” Therefore we do need to make our requests known to him, otherwise many things will not be given that could have been given. It never displeases God when we come to him with our heartfelt requests. A real child asks for everything, knowing God has an ear for him. We should bring all our burdens and needs to him, for at the very least this helps to make us ever more aware that in all things God is the giver.
God always has our interests in mind. He carries our various needs with fatherly concern, eagerly waiting for us to come to him. He has not forgotten us. And when we feel tempted to think so, then all the more we should remember that he knows it all and cares for us. In fact, he knows much more about us and our needs than we do. Simple, childlike prayer is enough to move his heart, give you something out of the fullness of his compassion, and save you from all sorts of fear and trouble.
Johann Christoph Blumhardt
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