Patiently Pursue Your Purpose

Luke 8:37-39

Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear.  So he got into the boat and left.

The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you."  So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

This is the account of Jesus driving out the legion of demons from this man and sending them into a herd of pigs.  These verses, which end that account, are interesting to me for a couple of reasons:

First, the people witness this amazing miracle.  This man was so wild and out of control he was living by himself among the tombs.  The demons living in him were so powerful that when the people tried to chain him, he broke the chains.  It seems like the people of the area were terrified of him, but they had learned how to avoid him.  When Jesus drives out the demons and restores this man to being normal, the people are even more afraid of Jesus.  They recognize the power of the demons whom had taken possession of this man and realize that Jesus is even more powerful.  His power scares them so much that they ask him to leave.  Notice that Jesus doesn't argue with these people.  He just gets back in the boat to leave.  But if you notice, he isn't leaving them empty-handed.  He is leaving them with a testimony and an evangelist.

And we know that this man did his job well because the next time Jesus came to this territory, "...people recognized Jesus.  They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was" (Mark 6:54-55).  Clearly Jesus knew what he was doing when he left this formerly demon possessed man behind to proclaim his testimony about Jesus to his village.

That brings me to the second point.  Once the man was healed, he wanted to follow Jesus and be a part his ministry team.  As we have seen, Jesus had other plans.  The man was eager to follow and serve Jesus so he called him to a ministry that only he could fulfill.  The people of the Gerasenes were afraid of Jesus and asked him to leave.  They weren't afraid of this man anymore.  The people were open to his testimony.  They weren't open to hearing Jesus preach to them.  Even though Jesus gave this man a different assignment than what he was looking for, he clearly grabbed ahold of it and told everyone he came into contact with what Jesus had done for him.

This is how it is in our lives sometimes.  We get an idea about how we want to serve Jesus, or maybe we get excited about an organization we would like to be a part of, but when we try to pursue that ministry the door is closed on us.  As with the demon possessed man from Genesaret Jesus isn't rejecting us.  He just has a different plan for us.  Unfortunately, we often aren't told right away what that plan is, like this man; but we can be confident that if we are patient God's plan for us will be revealed to us.  Because just like this man we may want a ministry position right now but Jesus knows better.  He knows how we can best serve him and he will open that door when it is time.

Psalm 37:4-7

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

do not fret when men succeed in their ways,

when they carry out their wicked schemes.

God bless

Jason Fredrick

Why Are You Downcast, O My Soul?

 Psalm 42:5-6

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

My soul is downcast within me; 

therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan,

the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.

Do you ever feel like this at times?  Do you ever wonder why you can't just be happy?

This is a tough place to be.  You can tell yourself, "Just be happy.  Stop being so depressed and grumpy," but that approach never works.  If you have ever been in the same place as this Psalm writer you know that it's not that easy.  You would like it to be.  People around you would like it to be.  But it just isn't.

Whatever you're going through that has put you in this emotional and spiritual funk just has to be gone through.  There is no short-cut.  You have to deal with whatever is causing this "spiritual depression" and learn the lessons along the way.  The problem that makes this so difficult to work through, and help others work through, is that no two situations are the same.  What triggers my soul to be downcast is not the same thing that triggers yours.  Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to working your way out of this funk.

I would love to be able to tell you how to snap out of it as soon as you recognize this onset, but I don't have that answer.  I have been battling this myself, on and off, since September.  There are good days, and there are not-so-good days.  There are days when I feel like I have made peace with my current situation, and there are days when I struggle hard because I am frustrated because I am so far away from where I want my life to be professionally and ministerially.  I am sure some of you reading this know exactly what I'm talking about.

The only way I have found to deal with this and keep searching for what's next is found at the end of the first paragraph of the Psalm above:  "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."  I know that ultimately, this I why I am going through this struggle right now- God is drawing me closer to him.  I need to learn how to rely on him for everything and trust his plan, even when I can't see it.  Even when it doesn't make any sense to me.  I will trust it.  I will trust him.

Psalm 46:10-11

"Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

The best advice I can give you when you're struggling with a "downcast soul" is: Be in God's Word more.  Double the amount of time you spend reading Scripture everyday.  Double up your prayer life as well.  Bible reading and prayer is the best way I have found to deal with this situation.  

Finally, you need to act.  There is probably something that you know you need to do.  Do it!  Step out on faith and do it.  The more it scares you the more you need to do it.  Faith is displayed by our actions not our words.  If you truly trust God's love for you then you need to do the things you know you need to do. 

I know for me, this is typically what causes a downcast soul- I'm not doing the thing I know I need to be doing.  This leads to incredible frustration and depression.  I know I said above that their is no easy solution to this condition, but the best thing you can do is to start doing that thing you've been avoiding.  The thing you've been too scared to deal with.  That thing that you know would change everything for you.  Do it today and trust that God will bless it how he chooses.  Doing nothing will only make your funk worse.  Trust me.  I've tried that before too.  Doing nothing never makes anything better.

The Lord Almighty is with you.  Do it!

God bless

Jason Fredrick