{"id":5046,"date":"2020-09-09T19:20:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T19:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/?p=5046"},"modified":"2021-12-08T09:18:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:18:49","slug":"what-god-wants-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/2020\/09\/09\/what-god-wants-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What God Wants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>by Joni<strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Eareckson Tada, from the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tyndale.com\/sites\/beyondsufferingbible\/\">Beyond Suffering Bible<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/04\/d5szqlkpiry-tomas-jasovsky-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4657\" width=\"243\" height=\"363\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This is what God wants\u2014hearts burning with a passion for future things, on fire for Kingdom realities that are out of this world. God wants his people to be aflame with his hope and to have an outlook of pure joy that affects the way they live their lives. God wants each of us to be \u201clike a city on a hilltop\u201d (Matt 5:14) and \u201ca lamp . . . placed on a stand\u201d (Matt 5:15) so that everyone around us will be encouraged to look heavenward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A perspective like this doesn\u2019t happen without suffering. Affliction fuels the furnace of heaven-hearted hope. People whose lives are unscathed by affliction have a less energetic hope. Oh, they are glad to know they are going to heaven; for them, accepting Jesus was a buy-and-sell agreement. Once that\u2019s taken care of, they feel they can get back to life as usual\u2014dating and marrying, working and vacationing, spending and saving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O-972x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4588\" width=\"195\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O-972x1024.jpg 972w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O-285x300.jpg 285w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O-768x809.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O-1459x1536.jpg 1459w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O-1945x2048.jpg 1945w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/StockSnap_XB78WQK09O.jpg 1996w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But suffering obliterates such preoccupation with earthly things. Suffering wakes us up from our spiritual slumber and turns our hearts toward the future, like a mother turning the face of her child, insisting, \u201cLook this way!&#8221; Once heaven has our attention, earth\u2019s pleasures begin to pale in comparison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/alex-woods-30834-unsplash-sized.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4660\" width=\"335\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/alex-woods-30834-unsplash-sized.jpg 630w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2020\/04\/alex-woods-30834-unsplash-sized-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>What has suffering taken away from you? Don\u2019t allow your heart to dwell on such earthly disappointments. God permits suffering to draw our attention to heaven where that which was lost\u2014and more\u2014shall be restored. Suffering forces us to look forward to the day when God will close the curtain on all disease, death, sorrow, and pain (Rev 21:4). Until then, we have work to do! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus says, \u201cWe must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work\u201d ( John 9:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tyndale.com\/sites\/beyondsufferingbible\/\">Learn more about the <em>Beyond Suffering Bible<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Joni\u00a0Eareckson Tada, from the Beyond Suffering Bible This is what God wants\u2014hearts burning with a passion for future things, on fire for Kingdom realities that are out of this world. God wants his people to be aflame with his hope and to have an outlook of pure joy that affects the way they live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,44,45,52],"tags":[111,118,132,138,139,212],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5608,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5046\/revisions\/5608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- LIVE: wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt//wp-json/wp/v2/posts/5046 -->