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A nameless longing slumbers in every human heart. It waits for the gentle awakening of God’s Holy Spirit, the still small voice that is heard so clearly in times of crisis. And, what are these crises that awaken people to see their need for God?

First, we may lose the things that are most important to us. We might lose a dream, someone we love, a job, a home, a car, our health, our reputation, a pet, a friendship, our marriage, or something we had faith in. The experience shakes us. We ask questions and our thoughts turn to God. Where is God anyway? And, Why is this happening to me? Suddenly we see our need for God.

The second crisis that can wake us up is that of “getting everything”. How could that be a crisis? you ask. Well, there are times when we won’t see our need for God as long as we believe there is something else out there that could make us happy. So we spend our energies seeking for the things and human relationships that we believe will satisfy us. Often, it’s not until we get all we’ve ever wanted that we realize it’s actually empty. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, learned this the hard way. After he got everything he wanted, he said it was like chasing the wind. He kept reaching for more.  And the more he got, the less he had. So, for many of us, we don’t wake up to see our need for God until we get everything else and then ask the all important question, “Is there more to life than this?” YES, there is more – there is GOD!

The third crisis is that of seeing someone who has what we want. There are very few true Christians in the world to day. And, unfortunately, we often look at religion and religious people and quickly come to the conclusion that “we’re not interested.” We may even go in the front door of a church only to leave through the back door just as empty as when we came in. Yet, to meet a true Christian - a man, woman, or child who walks with God, - is to awaken to a great need and desire for what they have. It is one of those life changing events. It stirs the nameless longing and tell us, “That’s it! That’s it! That’s what I’m looking for!” Suddenly we realize, I want God! I need God!

The fourth crisis is to hear God’s voice through His word. There’s something unsettling about the voice of God. It cuts through all the excuses. It stops us in our tracks. It brings us to our knees, and if we look up, we will see the eyes of One who has all the answers and all the love we’ve ever wanted. Yes, the voice of God – whether heard on the radio, in the whisper of the wind through the trees, in the rolling waves of the sea, in a simple song, in the pages of the Bible, or through the testimony of a true Christian – can give us a new life. It can open our eyes to see our great need.

No matter what crisis it is that brings you to the truth of your need for God, it is normal to be afraid. Let’s face it, no one likes to come to the end of their rope and admit that they don’t have what it takes. At such moments, we can feel very helpless and alone, but if we’ll stop searching in all the wrong places, we’ll hear the whisper of our name and feel Someone tap us on the shoulder and whisper, “Slow down. Pray. Open your Bible. Stop blaming others. God is here. You can have a better life.”

This whisper is the voice of God. He’s been quite close to us through all our wanderings, but not until we see our need for Him, do we recognize His presence. He’s been knocking all along, but not until we listen can we hear Him speaking as if for the first time.

We can resist God, but eventually we’ll grow tired -  too tired to fight anymore. And Jesus invites us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” If you’ve ever surrendered to God, you know what this is like. It’s the most peaceful experience ever known to man. It is a place of rest. It’s a place where you don’t need to be strong anymore. A place where keeping up appearances doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a place of belonging, in the arms of God.

After surrender, one great longing takes over all others – to abide in the heart of God, to find ourselves in His love, to fight for His honor, to die for His cause, and finally to live for eternity in His presence.

Instead of running from Him, we can run to Him. He is the One we’ve searched for all these lonely years. He is the Name to the nameless longing.

 

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Awakening Spiritual Interest will explore the very important topic of how to awaken an interest in the gospel. While people are engrossed in the pressures of busy lives or trapped by the distractions of Satan, God mercifully works to draw their attention to spiritual things. Some respond with hostility. Others become apathetic or indifferent. Awakening Spiritual Interest will unlock the mystery of why people react in the ways they do. More than this, the seminar will introduce three “equations” for evangelistic success, equations that can revolutionize the success of your ministry. As you gain knowledge in the work that God is doing, you will be prepared to join God in the most thrilling work of your life.

• Instruction includes:
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  • How to recognize a spiritual longing in everyone you meet
  • How people search for God in all the wrong places
  • Recognizing how God awakens a spiritual interest in the lost
  • Learning to be a partner with the Holy Spirit
  • Understanding and reaching the hostile
  • Understanding and reaching the apathetic
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There comes a breaking point in every person’s life. When we awaken to see our need for God, there are times when we’d rather run from God than run to Him. Why is this?

Satan has misrepresented God’s character, causing people to believe that God is distant, unfair, and cruel. Satan has made it appear that God is actually the cause of our suffering, or that He stands by and lets it all happen without ever coming to our rescue. Like the disciples out on their fishing boat in the middle of a fierce storm, a person may be drowning and still running from God because He is seen as they enemy. “God, don’t you care? Where are you?” we ask.

Questions about God’s love, if left unanswered, have led many to choose atheism or agnosticism over Christianity. Others go to church, but never really trust God. Others chose Eastern religion, where all the answers are said to be within us. Still others follow after materialism and secularism where self-sufficiency is on the throne. In all these ways, we run from God.

So, where is God in the midst of human tragedy? Where is He when we break under the load?

Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel tells of an experience during the Holocaust:

“One day when we came back from work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly place. Three victims in chains – and one of them the little servant, the sad-eyed angel. Three victims were mounted together onto chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within nooses. At the sign, the three chairs tipped over. Total silence throughout the camp. Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive. For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and dearth, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. Behind me I heard a man saying: ‘Where is God now?’ and I heard a voice within me answer him: ‘Where is God?”

Powerful words – “Where is God.”

Yet the answer is even more powerful: “Here – God is hanging here on this gallows.” He is dying on a cross, too!

As touching as this may be, few of us have hung on a gallows or on a cross for that matter. Instead, we suffer the sting of betrayal, divorce, rejection, criticism, loneliness, shame, failure, guilt, rape, abandonment, and many other kinds of abuse, neglect, and loneliness.

So where is God in all these experiences?

Good question. And the answer is even better!

You see God IS love, and love does NOT stand by and just watch another person suffer. Yes, sin was our choice and God will not take away this free choice. BUT, knowing that our choice to sin would bring terrible suffering to our life, God chose to come to this earth and go through our suffering so we would not have to carry it.

The Bible describes Jesus Christ as “Emanuel, God with us.” By His very nature, God is One who comes to be with us in our suffering.

But we may still wonder, Has Jesus Christ, the revelation of God on earth, experienced ALL human suffering? Does He suffer with us? 

Yes!

Jesus Christ not only died for our sins. He also suffered for our pain. He suffered every indignity that men could devise and Satan could invent, in order to carry out the plan of salvation. Jesus suffered verbal, physical, mental, and religious abuse. He was rejected, abandoned, betrayed, and alone. Isaiah 53 says that “Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.”

I challenge you to put your experience into words. Write it down if you can. Then study the life of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. Search until you find where God is. Search until you find Him so close that He actually splices the nerves of your body and so deeply enters into your experiences that you no longer suffer alone. Search until you discover what it means for God to live inside of you.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

The Gospel Net would like to help you experience the healing that comes through the suffering of Jesus Christ. We invite you to order our powerful DVD presentation: The Breaking Point. It will change your life!

 

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THE WOUNDED HEALER
12 presentations on CD (average length: 50 minutes)

Nature hates a vacuum. It's hard to be alone. When the eyes are filled with tears, when the heart is seething with anger, it's hard to see anything clearly. Great barriers often separate us from God. The Wounded Healer is an absolutely life-changing message of God's incredible love that reaches to every point of human temptation and suffering and melts away the barriers of fear. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18). Dive into the lengths, depths, and heights of the perfect love of a Savior who not only dies for our sins, but also suffers in our pain. Throw away the crutches of false comfort and surrender to the power of God's love.

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