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      • 18. The Motivation of a Sucide Terrorest
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      • 38. Reckoned Righteous by Works
      • 39. Are New Year's Resolutions Biblical?
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      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
      • 41. Your Memorial Table
      • 42. George W. Bush Verses Saddam Hussein
      • 43. Learning to Listen
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      • 45. Memorial Day
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      • 48. What My Auto Accident Taught Me
      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
      • 50. Give Me a Problem
      • 51. Decoding the Da Vinci Code
      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
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      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
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      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
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      • 80. Is Religion a Problem?
      • 81. The Rights of the Born
      • 82. Did You Hear What She Said about Muslims?
      • 83. Judas: Betrayer or Best Friend?
      • 84. Weekend or Week--Beginning?
      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
      • 88. America's Four Gods
      • 89. How to Deal with Your Enemies
      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
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      • 92. I can Afford it!
      • 93. The Gospel according to Patricia
      • 94. The Functional Church
      • 95. Who wants to Deal with a Taxman?
      • 96. Vital Virtures
      • 97. Have You Grown up Yet?
      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
      • 100. Biblical Illiteracy
      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
      • 102. How to Handle Credit Cards
      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
      • 111. Be Sensible
      • 112. To Be Like Christ
      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
      • 119. 24-7-365
      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
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      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
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      • 134. Gossip
      • 135. My Favorite Poem
      • 136. Let's Put the Cross in its Place
      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
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      • 146. Get in the Way
      • 147. "Let George do it."
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      • 148. Truth or Consequences
      • 149. Don't Leave Home without it
      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
      • 154. Thomas Jefferson
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      • 156. You Must be Present to Win
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      • 159. Is There a Santa Claus?
      • 160. A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
    • 2013 Articles 161-172 >
      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
      • 169. Obedience
      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
      • 171. Character Development
      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
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      • 173. Lies
      • 174. Endure to the End
      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
      • More articles will be added as they are written
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  • 1185. What is Your "Attitude" tiward Scripture?
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"Don't Spare Me"

God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. When trouble comes, we immediately begin to think about how we can get out of it as quickly as possible. God wants us to learn from it, to depend on Him for strength, and, in some cases, to depend on Him for the strength to endure it with joy.

Paul writes, “Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Notice that God tells Paul His grace is sufficient and explains that grace (cf. “for”) is His strength and power. Paul’s responds that if that is the case, he will most gladly take pleasure in any trouble that comes into his life so that he can experience the power of Christ.

Paul describes God’s power in our lives when he says, “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy” (Col. 1:11). God’s power is enabling us to be patient with people (the meaning of the Greek word translated “longsuffering”) and to endure difficult situations (the meaning of the Greek word translated “patience”) with joy.

When trouble comes, our attitude is, “Get me out of this.” God wants to use the trouble to teach us spiritual truth and give us the grace, strength, and power to endure it with joy.

When I was a young Christian, I heard a song that expresses this concept. It touched me deeply.

                                        Don’t Spare Me
                                          Audrey Mieir

      Don’t spare me trouble, if it will bring me close to Thee
      Don’t spare me heartaches, You bore a broken heart for me.
      Don’t spare me loneliness, for I recall Gethsemane.
      Don’t spare me anything that you endured for me.

      Don’t spare me failure, if this is best for me.
      Don’t spare me sickness, if this will make me call to Thee.
      Don’t spare me suffering, for I recall your agony.
      Don’t spare me anything that you endured for me.

      But give me strength to follow thee.

                              G. Michael Cocoris, 11/30/2010
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