Many people have the idea that if you are a Christian your
life should be like a bed of roses or a bowl of cherries, when sometimes it
seems like a bowl of pits. What did
Jesus say in John 16:33, “These things I
have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” There will be trials, there will be problems
and we need to prepare ourselves for these unexpected things to take place in
our lives, they are going to happen.
What about different forms of persecution, verbal or
physical, let’s face it not everybody is going to love us even if they say they
do, so we shouldn’t be shocked when we find out otherwise, it is
inevitable. People in the church and out
of the church say they love ice cream, candy, pie, cookies, pizza I mean you
name it and somebody will say they love whatever it is. What we need to do is accept the rejection
and go on with our lives and pray for the people that reject us and truly
forgive them from the heart.
Didn’t Paul say if you live a godly life you will be
persecuted, didn’t Jesus say if they hated me they will hate you and if they
are not for me they are against me. I
have heard it said sort of like this; we Christians in the west think, this is
me, this is who I am and God is here to please me. No, it is like this, He is God and that is
who He is and we are here to please Him.
We all would like to be on the mountaintop, so to speak, but
where do we grow the most, I would say in the valley or the desert. So many Christians say where is God, He
doesn’t seem to be around when I need Him, He is not answering my prayers. The Word of God says this, I will never leave
you or forsake you. He said to His
disciples, and remember I am with you always even to the end of the age,
Matthew 28:20, “teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the age. Amen.”
Many times it’s just plain ‘stinkin thinkin’ that hinders
us. When something negative happens;
let’s say you are planning to do something you really like to do and that day a
storm takes place and you can’t do the very thing you had been planning to do
for a while, what is one of the first things that comes to mind many times, why
did God allow this to happen? vvvSometimes
we jump on the negative band wagon so fast and we ride it into the ground. Think of this, did God single you out of a
billion plus people and cause rain to pour on your parade, come on, now the
Lord is speaking to me, ouch!!
Now think about troubles, just think of how many problems we
bring on ourselves because of our words or the actions we take, even sickness,
we eat things that are basically going to kill us and many of us know it but we
just keep denying it and go right on shoveling it in and then we get sick or we
discover that we have a disease and right away we say, why me Lord what have I
done to deserve this? Think of how many
things we blame God for that we bring on ourselves. I think most of us have been there, me
included.
The key to deliverance is to start putting the blame where
the blame belongs and that many times is at our own feet and stop thinking
negatively and think positively. Now
think about obedience, how do we learn that?
Through suffering. If Jesus
learned obedience though suffering why shouldn’t we.
Read Hebrews 5:5-8, “So
also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who
said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’ As He also says in
another place: ‘You are a priest forever according to the order
of Melchizedek; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers
and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save
Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son,
yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”
If we are truly born-again we will suffer also, unless we
fall in love with the world and deny the Lord, walking in unbelief, and even
then we will suffer in the end when we stand before the judgement seat of
God!! I think many people that claim to
be born again may not agree with me because we hear so much about God’s love
and mercy and grace. We kind of cringe
at the word suffering. If you think
about taking up your cross and following Jesus, you must understand that
crosses involve suffering. When Jesus
took up His cross it involved suffering, but even before He took up His cross
He suffered beating and humiliation, people spat on Him, and whipped Him,
disrobed Him and smashed a crown of thorns on His head and mocked Him. Then they pounded nails in His hands and feet
and drove a spear in His side after He had died. But Praise the Lord He rose again.
This reminds me of the song (I’ll rise again) by Dallas
Holm, and Jesus did rise again, Praise the Lord and someday everyone will rise
again; some for punishment and some to meet Jesus in the air and they will
forever be with Him, praise His name!!
If you would like to meet Him in the air someday and go to be with Him
and rejoice with the rest of the saints, the grace of the Lord can be
experienced by you also. You will have
to repent of your sins which means that you will have to acknowledge your sins
and chose to turn away from your sins, in other words you will have to make a
conscious decision to leave the lifestyle you were in and imitate the Lord in
words and actions which will take place as you grow in the Lord. Repentance is not something we just say but
it is an action word, it compels us to make right choices because of our desire
to please the Lord!! The Word of God
makes it very clear that we have all sinned and fell short of the glory of God
which includes you and me!! It also says there is none righteous no not
one. We are dead in sins and trespasses
but that is not the end of the story.
Jesus came for the very purpose of raising the dead. He came that we might have life and have it
more abundantly.
Read Ephesians 2:8-9, “For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
When you read these verses, you realize that you can do
nothing to receive your salvation. There
is only one thing that you need to do and that is to make the choice to receive
it or reject it because we all have a free will to choose. If you are ready to do these things, then ask
the Lord to forgive you and to be your Lord and Savior and to forgive you of
your sins and I believe that He will!! I
think I have said enough, may the good Lord bless you and yours and may you
have a super day!! PS don’t forget to
thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!
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