God Will Make Things Better

The Restoration of Peter

The other day I remembered Peter Gregory preached a sermon at a church I was attending in Queens, NY over 11 years ago (don't remember the exact year). In the sermon, he mentioned that Peter had a sad memory associated with a "fire of coals" because it was while he was warming himself in front of one that he had denied Jesus three times (see John 18:15-18, 25-26). In John 21, Jesus did something to help Peter get over his sad memory.

The 21st chapter of John begins with Peter going back to his old fishing job with his friends and when they had failed at catching any fish, Jesus appeared to them from the shore, and repeated the fishing miracle that He had done in the past. After realizing that this was Jesus, Peter swims back to shore while the other disciples bring over the boat of fish.

When they all arrived back to shore, they saw a "fire of coals" and fish already cooking on it. They bring over their 153 fish at Jesus' request and they're invited them to eat with him. Jesus asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?". Peter replied "yes" each time and Jesus replied back each time, reminding Peter of his mission: "Feed My sheep". After the third time, Jesus predicted how Peter would die and said "Follow Me". Peter asked about the other disciple with him and Jesus basically said to mind his own business and again reminded him "Follow Me".

God Can Heal and Restore You Too
Perhaps you're new in your walk with God and you can't think of any good past experiences with God in the past to help encourage you during a negative experience in the present. Like Peter's "fire of coals," certain things may trigger negative memories. Perhaps your "fire of coals" is your church and someone did something there to hurt you.

The good news is, Jesus can give you new positive memories to help heal you from your painful memories of the past. Just like Jesus told Peter, "Feed My Sheep", He's calling you to help others in need and point them to Jesus. As you do, you will soon find that God will begin to heal you from your painful past experiences in the process.

God Invites You To Go Forward 
Just like how God told ancient Israel to "go forward" in spite of obstacles, He's telling you to move on. Don't fear the storm, God promised "I will be with you". Though you may feel paralyzed with anxiety, Christ's command "Rise up and walk" is sufficient to enable you. If you wait until the circumstances are more convenient to follow Jesus, you'll never do it. Today is the day of your salvation, trust Jesus a hundred percent with your life today.

Relevant quote:
Do not bring the disagreeable things of the past into your present life. Testify that life with Christ is no failure.... Dismiss Satan, walk with Jesus, and be complete in Him. Never, never give Satan the satisfaction of taunting you or others that our faith is a deception, a delusion. Upward Look, p. 314

Faith, More Precious Than Gold

This past Friday I was looking at a Christian Facebook page and noticed a comment by an atheist who said he wanted evidence of God’s existence. I tried to explain to this guy how God is always revealing Himself to us, even in the most subtle ways. He asked how I came to that conclusion and I told him that knowing God involves a relationship and me trying to explain it would be like trying to explain how a mango tastes to someone who never had a mango. 

That Friday night I went to bed, then I woke up at around 2 in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep until about two hours later. As I was meditating on scripture, I imagined someone in church glowing and holding a bar of gold, then the phrase “look heavenward” came to mind. Then the words of Christ in Revelation 3:18 flashed to memory: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire”. Then I imagined the guy glowing in the church was a knight wearing God's armor. Then two songs came to mind: "He Has Made Me Glad" and “All hail the power of Jesus’ name”. Then I got up to get some water, went back to bed, and eventually fell asleep.

As I was getting ready to go to church, I heard, on the radio, the same two songs that had come to my mind while I was having trouble sleeping and they were back-to-back, one right after the other. I thought to myself “wow, you can’t make this up”. Little did I know, this was only the beginning.

At church, the welcome included a prayer and I noticed the phrase "look heavenward" was used. Then, I kid you not, the children’s story was about wearing the armor of God. An illustration was used, showing how an unpeeled orange can float above water, but a peeled orange will sink. The peel was compared to armor and the phrase “a knight in shining armor” was even mentioned. While the orange was peeled, a story was told of someone who was losing their hold on God and it sounded like it was talking about me.

During the song service, the first song was “Tell me the story of Jesus”, the same song I sang with my dad for morning worship at home before coming to church. That's not all! The closing prayer after the sermon made reference to the "gold" of faith in Revelation 3:18. During potluck, Isaiah 41:10 flashed to my memory and it reminded me that God would me with me, even during trials. It also reminds me of this verse: "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 1:6-7