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Womens Ministry Workshop 2007 We Walk with God: Sharing with others through difficult times as a Christian woman Workshop addressing key life issues What we have been on about today, and what might have come up (These are the things that have occurred to me as I have thought about, and sought to prepare for todays workshop, what we have hoped to do and what its likely outcomes would be) Overall Objectives: Tools to help women deal with How to get alongside How to manage self if in this situation How to share the gospel/belief in God and His goodness with others in the same situation eg being a Christian in a peer support network Being alongside will involve Humility (you may not be able to help; you may not really know; it is God who does know and who does save; He only asks us to be faithful in loving, in giving the witness we can give; being prepared to suffer ourselves as an aspect of being alongside, eg experiencing helplessness, uncertainty, having our faith challenged) Empathy (know yourself and what has worked/not worked for you; know that others are different, what might help them might not help you, and what didnt help you might help them) Love (to love others as we have been loved by God; knowing God sustains us in this love) Preparedness to serve (to serve others as we have been served by God; knowing God sustains us in this service) Listening actively, wholeheartedly, honours their experience and story being heard is part of being supported How to manage self We walk with God|| God walks with us Gods comfort recognising it (it may well be different for different personalities Matthew 12:15-21, Isaiah 42:1-4) Biblical knowledge/ discipline of submission/ exercise of faith (in the end trusting that God is good, and knows and works in us, if we let Him, what is best for us) Prayer; own, others Jobs comforters knowing what challenges to faith may come How to share the gospel / being prepared to give an account of the hope that is within us Witness truthfully what you know from your lived experience that is all that the Lord asks, what happens after that is His business Know how to teach how scriptures would help us know and understand our experience Matthew 13, and especially v.52; Acts 1-28 Dont be afraid to admit what you dont know, and then follow up and follow through when you can Dont feel obliged to dress it up into more spiritual language than you can happily live with: the Lord is committed to the whole life of His people, from daily bread to deliverance from evil, and making that life whole in a complete sense (that is another term for salvation); speaking about it in ordinary terms is much more real, as well as more comfortable

Biblical Resources to Consider when seeking to deal with Suffering Suffering is not part of Gods original creation plan (Genesis 1-3); is not part of the new creation (Isaiah 11, Isaiah 65:17-25; Revelation 21:1-22:17); is part of judgement for sin (Genesis 2:15-17, 18 and Genesis 3:16-24; Romans 8:18-27); but we cannot always/ever match cause-and-effect (Luke 13:1-5; John 9:1-5-41) but we cannot always/ever know the reasons for it: The Lord answers Jobs questions about cause and justice with something that did not address cause or justice (Job 38-41; and Isaiah 55:8-9) is part of Gods experience of the consequences of our sin (Jesus suffering on the cross, and Jesus oneness with the Father) and God is great, and good, and powerful, and creative, abounding in steadfast love, and merciful, and can work the greatest evil (Jesus unjust suffering) to the greatest good (the potential salvation of all) (Romans 8:28-39) and dealing with suffering, to banish it, is part of the promise of the new covenant, and is demonstrated by Jesus willingness to heal, as a sign of the coming kingdom (Matthew 4:2325, Matthew 8:1-17); but this wasnt the only aspect of Jesus ministry he thought calling to repentance, the forgiveness of sins and making disciples was more important (Matthew 4:17, Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 1:15, 21-2:12 and notice Mark 1:35-39 and Mark 2:13-, Luke 4:42-44, Luke 7:18-23; Luke 24:44-49) may well be part of saving grace (2 Corinthians 7:8-11) may well be part of spiritual development (Hebrews 12:1-13; James 1:2-4; James 5:10-11; 1 Peter 4:12-13; 1 Peter 1:6,7; Romans 8: 28-29; Romans 5: 3-5) certainly, whether we know the reasons for it or not, our response to it determines the impact it will have on us eternally (Luke 13:4-5; John 9:39-41) There will be Suffering for righteousness sake: Joseph Genesis 45:4-8; Daniel and his friends Daniel 3, Daniel 6; Jeremiah (and all the prophets from Moses to Jesus); and the promises to Jesus disciples Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10, esp v.37-38 There can be Suffering for an unknown purpose of God the challenge is: do we keep faith? Job 1 & 2, 42; Matthew 24:15-25 When trying to address, or consider, the issue of suffering and justice, a Christian needs to remember the paradox of the apparent and the reality, the now-and-not-yet-living that we are involved in see Habbakuk and Psalm 73 for the issue of why the wicked prosper Suffering and pain, and pain and death raise some of the following issues: process of dying; fear of loss of courage; fear of loss of dignity/face another manifestation of pride; fear of loss of independence (independence and self-reliance is a myth every thing that we are, and have, comes from the Lord, we need to learn to praise and thank him for it, and pray, in our dependence, for our needs, recognising God as the source). Fear is an appropriate response at times, especially when it directs us to God (Psalm 90:12, Proverbs 1:7). Grief is an appropriate response to loss (John 11:144). It is the witness, and down through the ages, that God comforts His people in the midst of suffering,

whether self-inflicted or not. He does this by His word; He does it in and through prayer; He does it by the ministrations of His servants. We may not always have a clear experience of His presence, and there is one striking example, of Jesus, on the cross, of being /feeling forsaken. Other Christians often report a similar season of forsakenness, as part of their experience, and when looking back can see it as being a time of significant spiritual learning. The current experience is almost unbearable. Some of the Lords comfort comes from what Paul shared of his experience: In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul speaks of a particular time the Lords presence and of testing for his ancestors, and applies it to the expected experience of Christians, and says
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These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

In 2 Corinthians in Chapters 4-7 and 12 there is more about the power of the gospel in our weak flesh
4:16

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5:16

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
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For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turnconflicts on the outside, fears within. 6But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

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7:8

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret itI see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while 9yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. 13By all this we are encouraged.
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But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Other Words of Comfort, Encouragement, Strengthening If you would learn about prayer, about how others have gone about it, what has been important to them in it, there is nothing like looking at what others have done, and using their model to instruct your learning: ABRAHAM praying for God to be just - Genesis 18:16-33 MOSES praying for his people - Exodus 32 MOSES asking to know God more fully - Exodus 33 DAVID praising God for being able to approach Him - Psalm 24 HANNAH thanking God for His response to her prayer - 1 Samuel 2 DANIEL praying for his people - Daniel 9 MARY praising God for His salvation - Luke 1:48-54 JESUS praying, in success, for right priorities - Mark 1:32-39 JESUS praying about wise decisions - Luke 6:12-16 JESUS praising God for His sovereignty in revelation - Matthew 11:25-26 JESUS praying for God to gather His people - Matthew 9:35-10:42 JESUS praying for us - John 17: 20-26 JESUS praying for himself in temptation - Matthew 26:36-46 JESUS interceding for us - Luke 23:34, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25 The following scriptures encourage us in our prayers in particular personal needs: WHEN: Everything is going well : Psalm 33:12-22; Psalm 100, 1 Timothy 6, James 2:1-17 Satisfied with yourself : Proverbs 11, Luke 16 Discouraged : Psalm 23, 42, 43 Tempted to do wrong : Psalms 15, 19, 139, Matthew 4, James 1 Lonely or fearful : Psalms 27, 91, Luke 8, 1 Peter 4 Seem too busy : Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 You have quarrelled : Matthew 18, Ephesians 4, James 4 Weary : Psalm 95:1-7, Matthew 11 Worries oppress you : Psalm 46, Matthew 6 You bear a grudge : Luke 6, 2Corinthians 4, Ephesians 4 Have been disobedient : Isaiah 6, Mark 12, Luke 5 Need forgiveness : 1 John 1:9, Luke 15, Philemon Are sick or in pain : Psalms 6, 39, 41, 67, Isaiah 26 Are jealous : Psalm 49, James 3 Are impatient : Psalm 40, 90, Hebrews 12 Dianne Allen, June 2007