God Running is a place for anyone who wants to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.
In our last post from Romans, we looked at what Paul wrote about how the world we live in is just not right, how all of creation suffers, and how we suffer too. And we saw how one man, a man who suffered a seriously difficult childhood, looks at the suffering we experience in this life. If you’re interested, you can read more here: The Awful Massive Void We Live With–Romans 8:19-25.
In today’s post I’ll share about a recent time when I was ruminating about my problems and unable to sleep, and the peace the Lord brought to me.
Romans 8:26-28
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Groaning in Prayer
A few nights ago, I was experiencing some deep, seriously intense emotional pain, the kind you can physically feel in your heart and your gut. I was unable to sleep because of it. I was ruminating about my problems for hours until it was getting on toward 2 am. Around that time, instead of ruminating, I started praying. My prayers were akin to what Paul describes here in Romans 8. I was just sharing the pain with my Lord, asking Him to look and see how awful it was. I was groaning. And at first it almost seemed as though the groaning was making it hurt worse. But after fifteen or so minutes of groaning, I started to think about how big God is, and how small I am.
God’s Immeasurable Wisdom
My Eternal Lord God the Father is the Creator of the universe and all that is in it. And I’m just a little baby human being. Just the tiniest speck on the time-space continuum. He who searches hearts – including my heart – knows what’s in the mind of the Spirit, and He knows what’s in my mind and heart and soul. He knows exactly what’s going on inside of me. And He knows, so much better than I do, what’s best for me. In short, He is God; I am not.
As I groaned in prayer, I remembered: God has allowed this. God has allowed these problems that are causing me this pain. And because He loves me, and because he always desires what’s best for me, He’s allowing these problems for a purpose. He will use these problems and this pain for my ultimate good.
If I love God, and surrender my life to Him, and allow myself to be called according to His purpose, then all things He allows in my life will work together for good. I may not see how right now. I may not even see how it all comes together in this life at all. But that’s what makes this all such a beautiful mystery; I know just enough to see that God is God, that He loves me, and if that’s true, then all of the things He allows will therefore be used for my ultimate good – and I get a front row seat to see Him do it in real time.
After these realizations, I was able to let go and just trust the infinitely greater wisdom and love of my Eternal Lord God, my Father and Creator.
And I found some measure of peace.
And I fell asleep.
Available on Amazon, Google Play Books, and Audible!
Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)
In this heartfelt, Scripture-rich journey, Kurt Bennett invites you to study not just the words of Jesus, but His actions—His love, His mercy, His boundaries, and even His naps.
Honest. Practical. Deeply human.
Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:
- Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
- How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
- The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
- How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
- How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
- How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
- How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
- How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
- How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.
With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.
A life of loving like Jesus.
(Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon, the ebook is now available on Google Play Books, and the audiobook is available on Audible.)
Now you can take Love Like Jesus with you wherever life happens.
We recently released the audiobook version, beautifully narrated by Jonathan St. John. And it’s available on the following platforms:
It’s also available on Amazon, Hoopla, Audiobooksnow, Chirp, Libro, Overdrive, and virtually everywhere audiobooks are offered.
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