2009-10-28T11:00:20-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com http://www.gospel.com/feeds/topics/trials http://gospel.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/20/is-suffering-important-to-faith/ 2009-10-28T11:00:20-05:00 Often in times of trouble we run to God for answers and comfort, and we often emerge from the experience more faithful then we were before; however, I don’t think I’m alone in wondering if pain and suffering are absolutely necessary to our faith in Christ. http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201:2-3&version=NIV 2009-09-25T10:26:51-05:00 Why would anyone ever think to be grateful for trials and suffering? Because God can use the hard times in our lives as tests which cultivate spiritual characteristics like perseverance. When you're going through a personal trial, don't just pray for God to remove the suffering--pray also that he'll use it to make you into a more Christlike person. http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%204:12-13&version=NIV 2009-09-25T09:46:03-05:00 In this passage, Christians are told not to be surprised by the suffering they sometimes experience. Following Christ is not a guarantee of freedom from persecution--on the contrary. But Christians can take heart that when we experience trials, we are suffering alongside Christ himself. http://hutchcraft.com/a-word-with-you/your-hard-times/takes-a-lickin-keeps-on-tickin-2786 2009-09-18T14:15:05-05:00 If you can hang onto Jesus, if you could be like Jesus in this pain, you'll prove your faith is genuine first to yourself. You will have the deepest confidence in Jesus you've ever had because you've experienced what He can do when no one else can help. You'll also prove your faith is genuine to the people who are watching you, whose own relationship with Jesus may depend on how you weather this beating. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/dangling-in-the-dark-8294 2009-09-18T14:11:30-05:00 It started out as one of the scarier experiences of my wife’s childhood. Her grandfather had dropped his valuable pen into the well in their yard, and there was only one way it could be retrieved: if someone was lowered down there on a rope…someone small…like a little four-year old girl. Soon my wife found herself with a rope tied securely around her, being lowered into the darkness of that well, sort of dangling in the dark. She got the pen and she shed a lot of the fear as she did it. She told me, “I knew I’d be OK because my father was holding the rope.” If you belong to Jesus Christ, so is yours. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/unexplainable-peace-8284 2009-09-18T13:57:44-05:00 It was a competition for young painters, and the theme was “Peace.” First prize was for the painting that best portrayed peace. The favorite: well that was a painting that showed a peaceful pasture under a rich blue sky, sheep grazing by the pond and a farm boy fishing. Well, that painting came in second. At first glance, the winning painting seemed to be like a strange choice: rugged cliffs, a foreboding dark sky, a violent storm and a turbulent ocean. But you needed to look again, because halfway up, a mother bird in her nest was there with her little baby birds nestled under her wings, sleeping peacefully. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/vulnerable-times-8267 2009-09-16T12:00:57-05:00 I’ve been in a lot of airports, but only once was I stopped by a TV reporter to comment on something in the news. I was arriving in Cleveland on a flight from New York the morning after the first World Trade Center bombing. The reporter said, “How are people reacting there?” And all I could say was, “We suddenly feel vulnerable.” http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/even-better-than-gold-8252 2009-09-14T14:35:20-05:00 I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and the same day I was reading about the skyrocketing value of gold, I read in the Bible about something God says is even better than gold. You might be surprised what it is. It says, “For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold—may be proved genuine” (1 Peter 1:6-7 ). http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/a-light-for-all-the-dark-places-8237 2009-09-11T13:33:49-05:00 I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and it was really good to carry a light that could go in all the dark places with me. Of course, not all the dark places in our life are because we don’t have electricity. We walk through dark stretches because of what’s happening in our family, in our job, with our health; important decisions, unexpected bad news, situations that seem like hopeless. http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205:1-4&version=NIV 2009-09-11T11:21:48-05:00 The apostle Paul writes that we aren't just to endure suffering and persecution--we're to patiently persevere in the knowledge that God uses trials to shape us into better and more Christlike people.