Empathy for Victims of Trauma

 Children love to play. In summer, they play in the water and in winter they love to play in the snow.
But one particular Russian woman in Germany hated the snow because she spent her childhood in Siberia. Cold weather is fun, but extreme cold is torture.

Not all people who come from the same country or climate react in the same way. I know a German man in Australia who loves the tropical heat. Other Europeans love winter sports. 

There are truly devoted Christians who love Jesus and worship from the heart in church services, but there are also Christians who fulfil their religious duties for years but can hardly stay awake because of sheer boredom.

Then there are Christians who were brutally abused as children in church or school. For them, worship is torture. 

Some become mentally ill and never recover. Others commit suicide, and others become angry atheists or seek peace in yoga, Buddhism, or the occult.

Some find their way to God in evangelical churches or the Pentecostal movement. 

Normal people have a hunger for tender physical touch, but those who have been severely burned or injured cannot bear to be touched.

Those who have been harassed, abused, or humiliated in church may find church services threatening, not only in Catholic churches, but also in evangelical churches or in the charismatic movement.
 
In the Psalms, we read that we should praise and worship God with reverence and enthusiasm, but will God condemn a wounded soul if someone just wants to pray quietly?

There are also many people who experienced sexual abuse in their childhood or marriage. They are no longer fit for marriage, but they still have strong sexual feelings. 

If they want to obey God, not commit adultery, reject promiscuity, and any kind of sex outside marriage, they may seek relief in masturbation. Should we criticise this escape route when there is no mention of it in the Bible?

In Jesus' earthly life, we see God's deep compassion for wounded and rejected outsiders. Paul emphasises not the law, but the grace of God. Hopefully, we will learn how Jesus and Paul loved our fellow human beings and ourselves with God's mercy.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1 NRSVue

Love is the Answer

 From his birth in Bethlehem to his death on the cross, Jesus was surrounded by conflict and rejection. He was born in a stable. Mary and Joseph had to flee to Egypt to save their child from being killed.

When Jesus began his ministry, he was opposed and persecuted by the religious leaders for three years until they had him executed on false charges.

His country was occupied by brutal Roman soldiers. The Jewish people were divided into religious and political factions. There were religious legalists, violent freedom fighters, and corrupt collaborators who worked for the Roman occupiers.

In this chaotic environment, Jesus loved people, cared for them, practised and taught forgiveness, and loved his enemies.

The world we live in today is catastrophically chaotic. 

Our environment is stressful. There are conflicts in families, communities, and Facebook groups because of different political or religious views, gender identity, and all kinds of difficult issues. 

We see Jesus as a role model in the Bible. He also lived in an extremely stressful time. He loved Jews and non-Jews, Roman officers and cared for prostitutes. 

Paul was a true disciple and also a wonderful role model. He loved and respected men and women, slaves and intellectuals. 

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28 NIV

In the lives of Jesus and then Paul, we always see kindness. Of course, kindness was not always possible. Jesus and Paul could also confront people, but they wanted to treat everyone with kindness as much as possible.
 
Kindness is often lost in this day and age. So many people are overwhelmed by stress and hurt. Rejection has become an epidemic. So many people are rejected, and then they become increasingly defensive. 

Many people hate themselves. How can they love their fellow human beings?

The antidote is not culture war, but kindness and love.

In the daily news and on social media, we see war, culture wars, hatred, and violence, murder, and corruption over and over again. Of course, we often react with outrage, but then we are in danger of becoming habitually horrified.

Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; 
for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 
Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:1–4 NIV

… “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” Lk 10:27 NIV

The antidote we need is not culture war, but love. You cannot love God without receiving God's love.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 Jn 4:10–11 NIV

But if you hate yourself, you cannot receive God's love, nor can you love your neighbour. 

We need spiritual therapy. Think of beautiful memories. Thank God for people who have loved or helped you. Don't let the horrors of this world take away the blessings God has given you in your life. 

God is with you in Troubles

 This life can be very hard. It is normal to feel overwhelmed at times. Jesus came to give you comfort and peace, but your daily experience is often very different, even if you believe in Jesus.

Shortly before his death, Jesus told his disciples that they should be prepared for serious problems.
 
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jn 16:33 NIV 

Jesus knows that we too will encounter difficulties, but he has sent his Holy Spirit to help us through all our problems.

Are you too young or inexperienced to cope with your situation? God wants to guide you with his wisdom.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Pr 3:5–6 NIV

Are you old and feeling weak? That is not a pleasant feeling, but God wants to encourage and strengthen you.

[God] .. forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Ps 103:3–5 NIV

We often have to resist our natural thoughts and feelings by holding on to God's promises so that we can receive God's peace and strength.

God promised to look after the believing Jews in the Old Testament and he kept his promises. As followers of Jesus, you and I can rely on the same faithful love of God for ourselves.

Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; 
Even to your old age I am he; even when you turn grey I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. Isa 46:3–4 NRSVue

Jesus Wants You to be Free

 Jesus died to set you free.
Jesus died to save you from eternal death, to free you from despair and endless hopelessness, without God, without friendship, without comfort.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue
 
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1 NRSVue

Jesus died to free you from your twisted, selfish human nature.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17 NKJV

Jesus died to free you from loneliness.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Cor 13:14 NIV

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 Jn 1:7 NIV

Jesus died to free you from sickness.

… “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Mt 8:17 NRSVue

Jesus died to free you from legalism.

Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 
Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 
Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them.

 Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.

 Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.
Those who do not eat meat do so for the glory of the Lord, and they also give thanks to God. Rom 14:1–6 NRSVue

Jesus died to free us from authoritarian leadership.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 NIV

Submission is mutual.

 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 
In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. 2 Cor 11:19–20 NIV

Here Paul teaches through the Holy Spirit that Christians have the right, even the duty, to resist arrogant, authoritarian, or cruel church leaders. 

God sacrificed Jesus to free women from the arrogant rule of men.

 The extreme subordination of women was not God's intention in creation. After the Fall, God sadly predicted that because of sin, women would be enslaved by men.

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Gen 3:16 NIV

But in the new covenant, women are free.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:28 NIV

It is wonderful that Jesus wants to give us freedom, but we do not receive that freedom automatically.
 
There are people everywhere who do not believe in freedom, even in the church.

 There are many people who do not want to allow you to be free.

But Paul says:

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Gal 5:1 NRSVue

God Loves Like a Mother

 A young Christian woman was going for a walk when she felt a strong prompting from God. She must walk over to a crazy looking, possibly dangerous young man. She must tell him that Jesus loves him.

 She ignored the prompting and walked on, but she could not shake off the conviction that God wanted her to speak to this wild looking man. 

She finally obeyed. When she told him that Jesus loves him, he was overwhelmed with emotion and hugged her warmly. She was more than uncomfortable, but she didn't resist. Then he told her he had come to this place to kill himself, but now he had changed his mind. She had saved his life.

She then sat down with him and explained the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God and he died on the cross to pay the penalty for his sins. If he put his faith in Jesus, and put his whole life in God’s hands, he would be forgiven and have eternal life with God.

He believed and he had a whole new life.

Years later the young woman died of COVID. When she was in heaven, Jesus showed her a crowd of people who had believed and gone to heaven because of the ministry of the young man she had talked to. He had become an evangelist and many people were in heaven because of his preaching. 

Although the woman was happily married, she did not want to leave heaven and go back to her life on earth. But then Jesus reminded her of her 15 year old daughter. Jesus sent her back to earth and healed her. 

She was willing to leave heaven because her daughter needed a mother’s love.

Jesus was in Heaven with the Father, but he was willing to leave the happiness of heaven because you and I needed to know the love of God.

There is no greater earthly love than the love of a mother for her child. This is a picture of how God loves you and me.

God tells us about this in the Bible.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” 
Can a woman forget her nursing child or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these might forget, yet I will not forget you. 
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Is 49:14–16 NRSVue

In the Old Testament, God told the Jews he loved them with the love of a mother. In the New Testament, we see that God loves the world with the same intense love. That includes you and me.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Jn 3:16 NRSVue

Recently I read news report of a mother whose house was on fire. She rushed into the blazing inferno and rescued her six children. She was terribly burned on most of her body. She was in a coma for two weeks but she survived.

This is how God loves you and me. Jesus not only left heaven to suffer on earth, but he suffered the most painful possible execution to pay the penalty for our sins.
Jesus is reaching out to you and me now. He wants to give you a new life.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NRSVue

You can talk to Jesus now. He is waiting for your call for help.

Unsinkable Faith

A faithful Christian is like an unsinkable boat with a buoyancy tank, an emergency radio, and a rescue team ready to respond to a call.

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. Pr 24:16 NIV

God has good plans for your life. Have you failed time and time again? Have your colleagues looked down on you? Or perhaps even your family?

At the age of 40, Moses was a failure. He tried on his own to liberate his Hebrew people. His attempt was a disaster. He killed an Egyptian and had to flee. He then spent 40 years as a shepherd in the desert, a nobody in a foreign land.

Are you considered a problem person? Perhaps you see yourself as a problem?
 
Mary Magdalene was not a successful person when she met Jesus. But Jesus saw great potential in her. Jesus saw her as a holy woman. She was chosen by God to be the first witness of the risen Son of God. When even the apostles despaired, she was chosen to testify to the men about the resurrection.

What do we know about Mary?

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 

She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 
When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Mk 16:9–11 NIV

In religious tradition, Mary is regarded as an evil woman before her conversion, probably a prostitute, but this is pure fiction.

Perhaps she was mentally ill, perhaps somehow disabled or deeply depressed. We don't know. In any case, she was probably not a successful person.

Perhaps you are in a tight spot right now, and not for the first time. If Jesus is your Lord, then he is also your Saviour. He always has a way out for you.

The disciples were in a small boat in a terrible storm. They were experienced fishermen, but this storm was quite extraordinary.

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 
The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” Mt 8:24–25 NIV

Jesus was in the boat. They could not sink when the Son of God was in the boat. When the Creator of the universe dwells in you, you are also like an unsinkable boat. Even if you capsize, you remain in God's hand.

We know the story of how Jesus exercised authority over the weather.

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. Mt 8:26 NIV

The boat was filled with water, but it could not sink because God Himself was in the boat. 

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 
What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. Jn 10:27–29 NRSV

If you have entrusted your life to Jesus, you can trust God to provide for you in the worst situations and rescue you from many predicaments.

You can pray like David and believe too.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by. 

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me. Ps 57:1–2 NKJV 

God Speaks in Near Death Experiences

 There is a lot of rubbish on social media and You Tube. So many fakes! But God also speaks in dark and confusing places. 

Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? 
At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; 
beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: 
“To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. Pr 8:1–4 NIV

God sends his messengers to speak in churches, in prisons, in schools, in businesses,  in hospitals and in social media. 

God speaks through evangelists, doctors, nurses and teachers. 

Some evangelists speak to crowds with microphones. Others pray for strangers in city streets. God sent a prominent German evangelist to visit a brothel to rescue a victim of human trafficking.

Jesus visits brothels, temples and mosques. So many Muslims report seeing Jesus in dreams. There are even reports of men seeing Jesus in a vision in mosques. Many Muslims have become Christians through dreams and visions. 

I love You Tube. The is so much evil there, so many fakes, so much confusion. But … 

... where sin increased, grace increased all the more, Rom 5:20 NIV

In recent decades there has been a dramatic increase in reports of people who have been near death or clinically dead and they have reported supernatural experiences. Many report seeing Jesus. Many describe heaven or hell.

Many Christians believe we are in the last days before Jesus returns. Would not a loving God want to warn people about eternal realities? Wouldn’t God want to reach atheists, criminals, drug addicts and prostitutes before it is too late for them?

Another reason for the increase in these reports is the rapid advances in medical science, which has increased the number of people who have been revived after hear attacks.

So many Christians restrict themselves to Christian gatherings and activities, but Jesus was not like that and he is not like that today.

I have read a dozen books about Near Death Experiences and I love watching interviews and testimonies on You Tube. Please consider watching interviews with Randy Kay and John Burke. 

Randy Kay himself left his body when his heart stopped for 30 minutes. He reports an encounter with Jesus before he returned to his body. In his You Tube channel, he interviews many people who have had similar experiences. Some have been clinically dead for much longer. Some have visited Heaven.

https://www.youtube.com/@RandyKayMinistries/videos

John Burke was a sceptical agnostic before he researched Near Death Experiences. He has interviewed more than a thousand people about their experiences outside their body, including visits to Heaven and seeing Hell. He has written books about these testimonies and shown how they confirm Bible teachings.

You can follow this link to John Burke's podcast where he interviews people who report Near Death Experiences. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YfKmJYfHyI&list=PLllPdD1Oj_72pGRk-sUy4VkA33-vQPdIu 

Some Christians prefer not to look into these things. They may prefer a more intellectual approach. They may want to stick to more familiar, traditional bible teaching. But the Bible encourages us to look into heavenly things.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Col 3:1–2 NIV

Unbelief. Questioning God

 Most Europeans today want to question everything that has to do with God.
It started with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Gen 3:1 NIV

For Martin Luther and the pioneers of the Reformation, the Bible was the Word of God, the foundation of our faith. But then came the Enlightenment, German humanism, and humanistic theology.

German culture was to have a new foundation:
“Did God really say?”

This way of thinking did not begin in Germany, but with philosophers in Italy and France, but German poets and thinkers enthusiastically adopted this view and developed it further.

Then this questioning of everything became the foundation of modern culture, and now we are in the next phase of the aberration, post-modernity. In the post-modern view, there is no longer any absolute truth. You have your truth and I have mine.

Only the findings of natural science are supposed to be absolute truth, but this is not the case.

About twenty years ago, scientists claimed that no new neurons grow in our brains. Now we know that our brains can repair themselves with intensive care. 

We have been misled by humanists, but Christian theology has sometimes not helped either.

There is a widespread theological theory that God determines everything, so we have no free will. God has predetermined who will believe and who will not, who will be saved and who will burn in hell.

Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isa 64:8 NIV

It is true that God shapes our lives. He is the Creator and we are the creatures.

But let us not forget what God says in the book of Jeremiah.

God can treat us as He pleases, for He is the Creator, but He is also just. 

If we trust and obey Him, He will shape us with blessings. If we are stubborn and resist Him, then disaster will befall us.

Then the word of the LORD came to me. 
He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 
and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 

And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 
and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. 

“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ Jer 18:5–11 NIV
 
God can treat us as He pleases, for He is the Creator, but He is also just. 

If we trust and obey Him, He will bless us. If we are stubborn and resist Him, then disaster will befall us.

The biblical parable of the potter and the clay teaches the sovereignty of God but also that God gives us free will to submit to him or turn away. It is up to you and me.

God's Frustration

 God's frustration.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Lk 13:34 NIV

Jesus loved everyone, even the stubborn Pharisees and priests who persecuted him.

… God our Saviour, 
who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Ti 2:3–4 NIV

God wants to save everyone, but many do not want to trust God. 

That is God's frustration.

God sacrificed his best to save everyone.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16–17 NIV

God has plans and purposes that will inevitably come to pass.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Rev 21:1–4 NIV

But God also has intentions and desires that can be frustrated.

He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. Jn 1:11 NLT

When Jesus visited his hometown, the people did not want to respect him as the Messiah.

Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offence at him. 

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 

He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. Mk 6:3–5 NIV

Notice the words, “He could not.” There are things that God can not do unless we let him. God chooses to limit his actions according to our free choices.

God is love. When you love deeply and strongly and those you love, reject you, you feel deep pain. God also feels this pain.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 Jn 4:8 NIV

If you do not experience God's blessing, please do not blame God. 

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Jn 10:10 NKJV

He wants to forgive you, bless you, heal you, and give you a new life. 

It's up to you. 

You can pray this way and receive God's amazing answer, but you must really mean what you pray.
“Jesus, if you exist, come into my life and forgive all my sins.”

Jesus is not a fairy tale.

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jer 33:3 NKJV