A THANKSGIVING MESSAGE FROM MIKE NORMAN

 

Dear Friends and Family

 

Greetings to you all, the rest of the Norman family and I wish you a happy holiday season. This year has had many blessings and difficulties for all of us. When experiencing turbulent times, we often find ourselves in places of doubt, confusion and fear of what is yet to come. I have been thinking a lot lately about the rift between the world and believers, as well as where God is to fit into this context. I am composing this letter to all the saints and relatives in Christ as to not only unite in our bond through our connection to Larry, but in our connection to each other in God.

 

As many of us know, we are in a time of economic depression, not just here in America, but all over the world. Whether we have contact with our brothers and sisters in other countries or not, we can understand that many are in a time of need and that many are looking for answers. There are strategies in place, like the economic bailout’s and similar ideas, but I propose that since these large scale plans are outside the manipulation of the common man’s hand that we can look to a plan that is even greater than these, God’s plan, yet it happens through the smallest person.

 

We need to look at our relationship with God to find out what is preventing our relationship with him from becoming fuller. The key word is fear. We are afraid of our struggles defeating us. Did Christ not rise above every temptation and struggle and defeat it? Even though Christ was murdered, the ultimate victory was won because he followed God’s will and he embraced the torture through His love for us.

 

It says in James Chapter 1:2-5 (NASB),

 

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.



Trials will test our endurance. When life is hard and it feels like the world is pushing against you, do we not need as much strength and endurance as possible to meet this trial? Absolutely. When trials are in sight, do not run from the trial, the trial has already won with retreat. Instead, run towards the trial with Joy, for the Lord is our strength and he is blessing us during this time with a unique opportunity to build our endurance in a way that may not be presented to us again. As Christ embraced the ultimate trial through his love for us, and through his faith that God’s way was the only way, so shall we as followers.

 

Another fear is that we are not allowed to speak our mind to God. Whether we feel guilty for our anger or doubt in God or we think he does not care to hear what we have to say; both beliefs are rooted in fear of honest communication with Him. The Lord wants relationship with us.

 

Psalm 55:22 (NASB)

 

22 Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

 

Your burden does not just refer to your trouble, but to your feelings. If you are angry, you are burdened with the weight of anger and God wants you to cast it upon him instead of falling into the temptation of losing control of the anger. Because anger and other negative feelings can be heavy, God wants to help carry us through it, even if it is towards him.

 

The final fear is that God won’t answer us. He already knows what we need and cares for us. We know this from Matthew 6:25-26(NASB), which states:

 

25 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?


26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

 

We don’t need to ask him for food or water. He knows we need these things. The birds don’t ask him for shelter, he knows they need it. He provides for all creatures and especially you.

 

Is he listening? Yes.

 

Matthew 7:7-11 (NASB) states,

 

7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

 

Though you have heard these verses before many times, I want to share a powerful statement a friend of ours shared with us the other day about God listening to our prayers.

 

Our friend Bruce said, “Do you know how when you have a really good relationship with a friend or your spouse, how you don’t need to talk? You know, you can go on a long car ride and feel at peace, because you know that the silence is not bad.” What Bruce was getting at, is that we can trust God when he is silent because He is with us and He knows that we can do what is right based on our understanding of who he is through his word and our relationship with him.

 

All of these verses are helpful in the examination of ourselves, but the last thing we need to remember is to unite with others in our faith. During hard times it is easy to withdraw from the outside world and isolate ourselves, because we feel safety in our own space. But just as God pushes us to embrace challenges in our own life, we need to come together to face the hardships that challenge the body of Christ.

 

This letter again is to encourage all of us to refine ourselves to the image of Jesus and to be whom God has called us to be and known we could be since our conception. Take heart everyone and give each other the gift of fellowship and memories, without worry of material gifts. The last thing we want to leave you with is a powerful passage from John Wesley’s – Christian Perfection.

 

In Chapter 10, he writes:

 

'A. Beware of schism, of making a rent in the Church of Christ. That inward disunion, the members ceasing to have a reciprocal love "one for another" (1 Cor. 12:25), is the very root of all contention, and every outward separation. Beware of everything tending thereto. Beware of a dividing spirit: shun whatever has the least aspect that way. Therefore, say not, "I am of Paul, or of Apollos"; the very thing which occasioned the schism at Corinth. Say not, "This is my preacher; the best preacher in England. Give me him, and take all the rest." All this tends to breed or foment division, to disunite those whom God hath joined. Do not despise or run down any preacher; do not exalt any one above the rest, lest you hurt both him and the cause of God. On the other hand, do not bear hard upon any by reason of some incoherency or inaccuracy of expression; no, nor for some mistakes, were they really such.


'Likewise, if you would avoid schism, observe every rule of the Society and of the bands for conscience' sake. Never omit meeting your class or band; never absent yourself from any public meeting. These are the very sinews of our Society; and whatever weakens, or tends to weaken, our regard for these, or our exactness in attending them, strikes at the very root of our community. As one saith, "That part of our economy, the private weekly meetings for prayer, examination, and particular exhortation, has been the greatest means of deepening and confirming every blessing that was received by the word preached, and of diffusing it to others who could not attend the public ministry; whereas, without this religious connection and intercourse, the most ardent attempts by mere preaching have proved of no lasting use."
- John Wesley

 


Happy holiday’s from Michael and the Norman family. We love you all.

 

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WORK IN PROGRESS
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