Rev. Dan Polecheck - Universal Life Church Ministries - Older Blog Posts - God Wants You To Rest More

Before I started this blog I was writing for a blog on the Family Worship Center - Algoma Campus website. This is a copy of one of those posts with links to the original blog.

God Wants You To Rest More
Originally Posted May 11, 2020
Original Blog Post

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28

I love the part that says “God causes everything to work together for the good.” I would like to explain what this verse means to me and how we can make use of it to bring us closer to God.

Let's begin with the term “everything” in the above verse. It covers all the events and situations that are in our lives, both good and bad. If you look back in your life, I am sure you will find good and bad things happened in the past. God has promised us that He will cause all of them, both good and bad to work together our good.

This is a great encouragement for those of us who are troubled by mistakes we made in the past. You could be troubled today because of something you did years ago. You made wrong choices that led to terrible consequences. The damage was done. Right now, you wished you could go back to the past and unmake those decisions but you know you can never do that. God is telling you to let go of that guilt and trust in Him. He is giving you a promise that He will turn this bad experience of yours into something good. This is the nature of our God.

Notice that the above verse does not name God as the one who caused the bad experiences to happen. God is the person who made bad things into good. He did not cause the bad things to happen in the first place. He will not push you into the water and then throw you a float to save you in order to show you how much He loves you. That may some people’s version of God, not the Bible’s.

I remember some time ago I was hospitalized because of congestive heart failure. After several rough days in the hospital, a couple of people said, “Maybe God wants you to rest more.”

What do you think they meant by that? It seemed to them that God could be the one who gave me the disease because He wanted me to rest more. What do you think of this? Do you think God loves you so much that He wants you to have good rest and He will do everything it takes to make you rest even to the extent of giving you some disease? In my view, I don't think so. God is not the kind of a god who causes bad things to happen to us in order to give Himself the opportunity to play hero. God was not the one who caused the troubles I faced. He is my savior. He cannot be my deliverer and oppressor at the same time. You have to make up your mind on whether God is your deliverer or your oppressor. As for me, I choose to believe in what the Bible says. God causes everything to work together for my good. I caused the problem myself by not taking better care of the temple that He gave me.

The last part of the verse tells us the conditions to have God cause everything to work together for our good. This privilege is for those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. The first condition is we must love God. The question is how to love God?

The only way we can love God is for us to find out how much He loves us. Read the Bible. Read how Jesus treated his people. See for yourself how kind and loving He is. There is nothing He wished more than for you to prosper and be in good physical and spiritual health as your soul prospers. Not only that, Jesus was willing to die for our sins. At the Cross, He took on all our sins for us to live in righteousness. He took all our diseases for us to live in health. He died poor for us to live rich. The more you are aware on how much He loves you, you can’t help loving him.

The second condition is we are called according to His purpose. This is not our call but His. So, God has fulfilled this condition for us and for us to fulfill our part we must totally surrender ourselves to Him and be obedient to His Word.

Father God, I thank You for loving me as only You can,. I ask for the strength, the courage, and the discernment to understand the Scriptures. I want to turn my life over to You completely. I want to be obedient. I want to love You with all my heart and soul. I ask you to help me become the person that You created me to be. I ask for all these things in the precious name of Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen

Rev. Dan Polecheck - Universal Life Church Ministries - Older Blog Posts - Why Me?

Before I started this blog I was writing for a blog on the Family Worship Center - Algoma Campus website. This is a copy of one of those posts with links to the original blog.

Why Me?
Originally Posted May 10, 2020
Original Blog Post

God grows us up spiritually in hundreds of different ways, but the most effective method may be allowing us to endure situations that demand the character we need to cultivate. Could He deliver us from those difficult situations? Of course He could, but He loves us too much to short-circuit our sanctification. God doesn’t always deliver us from our difficulties, but He does deliver us through them.

The best way to cultivate patience is to be put in a situation that demands it, lots of it. How about courage? Well, it’s not the absence of fear—that’s for sure! What about love? There is no greater opportunity to exercise the love of God than to be surrounded by enemies.

You can’t even exercise forgiveness if you’ve never been wronged. And if you need more patience, courage, love, or mercy? Don’t be surprised if you find yourself in a situation that demands even more of it.

I’m not suggesting that God proactively puts us in those situations, but He often allows them because they’re part of our maturation process. Again, the umbrella blessing is not an immunity card. It’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card either. We’re still subject to the law of sowing and reaping. And we still live in a fallen world, which means we’ll experience our fair share of pain and suffering.

Plus, God is not a helicopter parent. Just like Joseph, Esther, David, and Daniel, we will experience personal setbacks and seasons of suffering. The good news? It will be for our good and for God’s glory.

The last thing I want to do is make light of the difficulties anyone has endured. I actually want to validate them. It seems like every news cycle these days brings new allegations of sexual harassment or sexual abuse. If you’ve been the victim of that kind of abuse, it’s more than just news. Those stories trigger memories that trigger emotions that are incredibly painful. If you’ve experienced the heartache of a miscarriage, a baby’s cry can pull your heartstrings and produce profound sadness. If you’ve walked through a difficult divorce or gotten a grim diagnosis from a doctor, it feels like a thousand-pound weight sitting squarely on your shoulders.

I don’t know what challenge you may be facing, but I do know that God’s grace is sufficient. That grace can be experienced in a thousand different ways. Sometimes it’s manifested through thoughtful friends and wise counselors. Sometimes it’s a day at the beach or a mountain hike. And, of course, it’s a relationship with the God who will never leave us or forsake us.

"Be strong and courageous.Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

He’s the God who gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

"And provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." Isaiah 61:3

How do I know this? Because Scripture says it, and I’ve experienced it. I’ve walked through the valley of the shadow of death more than once, and I’ve seen God redeem unbearable pain and unimaginable suffering. I’ve also watched God turn some of the worst days of my life into some of the best.

Why me? Because He loves me!

Rev. Dan Polecheck - Universal Life Church Ministries - Older Blog Posts - Let Go, Let God

Before I started this blog I was writing for a blog on the Family Worship Center - Algoma Campus website. This is a copy of one of those posts with links to the original blog.

Let Go, Let God
Originally Posted May 6, 2020
Original Blog Post

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39

On November 12, 1859, a French acrobat named Jules Léotard performed the very first flying trapeze act at the Cirque Napoléon in Paris. As a teen, Jules tied ventilator cords over his father’s pool, where he practiced his midair maneuvers. His new art form wowed circus audiences, in part because it was done with no safety net. His close-fitting outfit caught their attention too! Jules Léotard is responsible for—you guessed it—the leotard.

The trapeze quickly became the featured act of the big-tent circus because of its inherent intrigue, the faultless timing necessary to pull it off, and the beauty of aerial ballet. In traditional trapeze, the flyer and the catcher climb tall ladders to small platforms, approximately forty feet in the air. The flyer has a fly bar. The catcher has a catch bar. And when it’s time for the flyer to let go, the catcher gives the signal.

Miguel Vargas is a fifth-generation circus performer who does training for Cirque du Soleil. According to Vargas, who’s been a trapeze artist since age seven, the greatest challenge when trying a new trick is the mental block—it’s hard to let go of the fly bar, because you’re about to do something you’ve never done before, forty feet in the air.

Letting go of the fly bar goes against every natural instinct, and the same is true of living generously. Our natural inclination is to hold on to what we have with tightly clenched fists. The mental block? Again, enough is never enough! You’ve got to overcome that mental block if you’re going to let go of the fly bar and flip the blessing.

Is there something you need to let go of? Is there something you’re holding on to out of fear, not faith? Like the Rich Young Ruler, you may think your savings account is your safety net. But it may be the very thing keeping you from flying. Or maybe you’re safeguarding your time instead of volunteering it. Perhaps it’s time to let go of your time, talent, and treasure in greater measure and see what God can do!

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all,” said Martin Luther. “But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”

Reprinted from Mark Batterson