Recently I saw a pleasant picture of Puritan pastor John Bunyan in an antique store and was reminded of this one man’s sacrifice and the lessons we can learn from his life. Bunyan was born in Elstow, England on November 30, 1628. England was coming into the midst of great division over things religious and political.

Bunyan was caught up in the religious persecution and imprisoned in the Bedford County Jail from 1660 until 1672. At any time he could have secured his release by promising not to preach. But with a wife and four children (one blind) at home, he refused the demand. His life was marked by a constant difficulties, personal loss, and intense persecution.

How did Bunyan respond to this painful life? Better yet, how should we respond to what seems like senseless suffering, distress, difficulty? What are the possibilities in pain?

Read Bunyan’s own words:

“Doesn’t God often take advantage of the hardest things that come to us, using them to visit our souls with His Spirit’s comfort, leading us through them into the glory of His Word, making us taste the love He has had for us from before the world began? Think about these things—and then let us learn to kiss the rod that disciplines us.”

The early church leader Paul wrote, “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself!’—2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul learned to “kiss the rod.” Here are truths from that passage that can help us during our time of suffering:

We kiss the rod when we see that difficulty restrains arrogance in us.

Paul clearly understood that this pain in his life…this “torment”…this “blow with a fist” had a real purpose to restrain his personal pride. Bunyan also felt he could not do without these holy arrangements. We are a blessed people. So suffering is necessary for us, just as it was for Paul and John Bunyan, to restrain our pride.

We kiss the rod when we see that difficulty restores grace to us.

Paul begged the Lord for relief. In that relief Paul may have known personal sufficiency, but only in pain did Paul experience God’s sufficient grace. We kiss the rod because without it we see God only in the distance. Pain is a magnifying glass that reveals the glory of God.

We kiss the rod when we see that difficulty perfects power in us.

Only in the web of weakness is power perfected. The word for “perfect” means to bring close, to finish, to perform, to accomplish. God cannot perfect us until He wounds us. Although weakness is seldom praised by others, it is powerfully used by God.

We kiss the rod when we see that difficulties exalt Jesus in us.

As Paul (and Bunyan) became weak, Jesus became strong in their lives. This is the principle of depletion. When we decrease, Jesus increases. John the Baptist showed us that truth.

What can God do with our pain? You may remember the book The Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s not Bunyan’s only book, but only the Bible rivals the popularity of The Pilgrim’s Progress.

But George Whitfield said of The Pilgrim’s Progress, “It smells of the prison. It was written when the author was confined in Bedford jail. And ministers never write or preach so well as when under the cross: the Spirit of Christ and of Glory then rests upon them.”

In our difficulties, God does His finest work. And in our difficulties, we discover no other work matters.

QUESTION: What has God produced in you during your season of suffering?

Thanks for reading this article. If it was helpful, please pass it along to your friends and then subscribe to this blog to read future post.

Crosstied exists to “ignite an everyday passion for God” by building bridges to the community, encouraging Jesus followers, and adding value to churches and church leaders through simple, practical, and personal teaching.

This website is one way I hope to help regular people (like you and me) develop passion for God and passion for the ways and will of God in own lives. What better way to begin than to lean hard into the life of Joseph? Whether you are a homemaker, a machinist at the local plant, a missionary in Rwanda, or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, these lessons from Joseph’s life will encourage you and help you fulfill your purpose on the planet.

The Joseph of the Old Testament was much like you and me.

• He had dreams like we have.
• He made mistakes like we do.
• He navigated through a dysfunctional family common to many of us.
• He lived with unmet expectations.
• He was lonely at times.

Although others forgot him, God never did. He experienced major detours, defeats, and disappointments. And most of those were due to the decisions other people made. But despite the offenses of others, he made key, internal choices God eventually used for victory. He was no average Joe, and neither are you.

There’s more to come, but here are a few introductory realities that “No Average Joes” embrace:

1. No Average Joes dream big, but they know God never gives the whole picture at once.
2. No Average Joes make good choices with broken dreams.
3. No Average Joes understand that growing better is a choice.
4. No Average Joes learn “long obedience in the same direction.” They are not in a hurry, and they follow God without conditions.
5. No Average Joes refuse to give up. They possess a tenacious love of God.

So if you are interested in getting better on the inside…if you want to experience God’s best for you…if you want to see how God can take you beyond average, join me on this journey for the next few weeks. Subscribe to this blog. Follow me on Twitter. Share these short posts with friends. And let’s grow into our dreams together.

And please join the conversation by commenting on each blog post. We are going to have a great time!

Thanks for reading this article. If it was helpful, please pass it along to your friends and then subscribe to this blog to read future post.

Hi, I’m Daryl Crouch, a Jesus-follower, husband, father, friend, pastor, leader, and learner. I’m also the founder of Crosstied, a ministry designed to “ignite an everyday passion for God” by engaging communities, encouraging fellow followers of Christ, and equipping churches and church leaders.

My kids will never use a rotary telephone and will never know life without a remote control. Technology has changed the way we communicate so that a world of information is available in an instant. Personally, I like that. But as sophisticated as we have become, we still desire more than a worldwide web of information or even the fastest mode of communication.

Second Chronicles 16:9 reads, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” God’s eyes scan the globe looking for bravehearts…people with hearts that are surrendered to Him, hearts that are passionate for Him, and hearts that relentlessly pursue God’s glory even in the most practical areas of life.

So here’s the big picture. This website exists for just 3 simple, but hopefully significant purposes:

1. To serve you and other bravehearts (or braveheart want-to-be’s) through practical, proven, and powerful lessons from God’s Word. I should also mention “short”… 250-500 words.

2. To provide relevant resources and real encouragement for bravehearts who want to connect or reconnect with God, others, and the world to make a Kingdom impact.

3. To inspire bravery that is required to lead our own hearts, families, churches, and communities for the glory of God.

That’s pretty exciting, but I’m going to need your help. Blogs are meant to be interactive. I’d love for you to subscribe to the blog, but all this would be a lot more fun and helpful if you would enter the conversation by commenting on my posts.

I’ll post 2-3 times each week, and you will see new resources from time to time. So please stay connected. Follow me on Twitter or Facebook, and then if I’m helping you, share crosstied.org with your friends. The more the merrier!

Thanks for reading this article. If it was helpful, please pass it along to your friends and then subscribe to this blog to read future post.

Meribah was the place that the children of Israel got thirsty and began to complain to Moses.  In Exodus 17 we see the people “quarreled with Moses” demanding water.  They “grumbled against Moses” and challenged his motives in leading them out of Egypt only to die of thirst.  So Moses cried out to God and God provided water for the people and their livestock.  Moses named the place Massah, which means “test” because that’s where they tested God, and he named it Meribah, which means “to quarrel.”

Although that wasn’t the last time the people of Israel complained, that particular episode is important as we read Psalm 94.  In this psalm the writer reveals a sobering reality of how God felt about His people.  In the middle of this challenge not to harden our hearts, we see that God “loathed that generation” of Israelites who complained about their thirst.  He said they “err in their heart.”   He said, “they do not know My ways.” We read that God “swore in [His] anger” because of the attitude of their hearts.

Here are a few quick observations:

(1)    Complaining Christians receive the contempt of God.  God despised that generation.

(2)    Complaining Christians do not go away quickly.  We read that God loathed them for “forty years.”

(3)    Complaining Christians infect others.  In Psalm 94 we see that an entire generation adopted this “Meribah condition.”

(4)    Complaining Christians have a heart problem.  They “err in their heart.”  The problem was not the circumstances around them, but the attitude within them.

(5)    Complaining Christians miss God’s ways.  Although they were God’s people, they never knew His ways.

Through His grace and in His patience, God provided a fountain of cool, clear water to quench the people’s thirst.  But while God opened the waters of Meribah, He closed the way to the Promised Land.  God decided to quench their thirst and yet let them die in the wilderness…with the dream of the land of milk and honey in their hearts.

Sometimes God answers our prayers without ever giving us His best.  Our complaints can be heard in the heavens, yet despised in the heart of God.  Our thirst can be quenched without the blessings of God upon our lives.

“Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker…Today, if you would hear His voice…”—Psalm 94: 6-7.

Question: Has God ever answered a prayer that you later wished He would have ignored?

Thanks for reading this article. If it was helpful, please pass it along to your friends and then subscribe to this blog to read future post.

Sports Illustrated, Victoria Secrets and other leaders in pop culture have established new standards in ladies’ swimwear over the last several years.  Parents of girls are often confronted with the big question of summer, “Can I get a bikini this year?”  Preteen and teenage girls want to know when they can sport a two-piece for summer fun.  This may not be the most important question in life, but for parents who are discipling their kids to live for the global glory of God, this question is no teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy issue.

Here are a few principles that may help navigate the Bikini Question (BQ):

• The BQ is more than a parenting issue.  It is a Christian living issue.  We should be careful not to assume that the values of a follower of Christ are unrelated to our decisions in childrearing.  Any double standard becomes glaringly obvious to everyone involved.

• The BQ highlights our need for the Bible to inform our daily decisions.  In an effort to avoid legalism in every form (which I strongly encourage) we sometimes neglect our duty to allow the Bible to shape our practical choices.  “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness”—2 Timothy 3:16.

• The BQ provides the opportunity to apply biblical instruction under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  While many Christians condemn legalism we often just want a list of dos and don’ts that will order and arrange our lives.  Yet God has called us to love Him and our neighbors…that calling is about relationship not rules.

• The BQ illustrates that all things that are lawful may not be profitable (see 1 Corinthians 6:12).  There are many decisions that are permissible.  What food we eat, how we use time, the way we spend money, and the BQ clearly fall into that category.  There is certainly freedom in the area of personal swimwear.  So the question is not primarily what is allowed, but what is most helpful.

• The BQ reminds us that personal choices flow from the heart.  Solomon wrote, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life”—Proverbs 4:23.  So the BQ begs other questions, “Why do I want to wear that?” “What is the motive of my heart in this practical decision?”

• The BQ affects our relationship with others.  How we answer the BQ has the potential to build up or tear down others.  “Therefore if food cause my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble”—1 Corinthians 8:13.  In loving relationships, our rights are often forfeited—1 Corinthians 9:12.

• The BQ addresses important moral issues.  While food sacrificed to idols was a moral dilemma in the early church, public attire for women is such a question in our day.  Because of the radical sexualization in our culture, we cannot be naïve about the BQ.  Our decision to buy hamburger or steak, for example, simply does not have the same ramifications.

• The BQ considers personal modesty.  Ladies of all ages have responsibilities in the community of faith and in the community at large to be “reverent in their behavior…teaching what is good…to be sensible, pure…that the word of God may not be dishonored”—Titus 2:3-4.  While immoral ladies of Corinth dressed in a very provocative manner, the apostle Paul encouraged Christ-followers to live with Christian distinction.  See 1 Corinthians 11.

• The BQ challenges a higher standard.  Ultimately, the Bible tells us that we are not our own…that we have been bought with a price, therefore, we are to “glorify God” in our bodies—1 Corinthians 6:19-20.  The idea that we get to do what we want with our own body is inconsistent with our life in Christ.

• The BQ should not divide believers.  While we make different decisions in how we live out our faith, the BQ is not an issue of Christian fellowship.  As a dear friend of mine used to say, “We love ‘em and leave ‘em with the Lord.”  Uniformity is never our mandate, but unity is (see John 17).

Get ready for summer!

Question:  What factors help you answer “The Bikini Question”?

Thanks for reading this article. If it was helpful, please pass it along to your friends and then subscribe to this blog to read future post.