Thursday, June 23,
2016, 6:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Be Strong and Take Courage.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart.
I read Philippians 1:12-30 (ESV).
Without Fear (vv.
12-14)
I
want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to
advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial
guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the
brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more
bold to speak the word without fear.
We have an enemy. His name is Satan. His goal is to destroy
us one way or another. One of the biggest weapons he uses against us is to try
to get us to doubt God and to give way to fear. So, he will go to great lengths
to lie to us and to attempt to deceive us into thinking that we need to be
afraid, and/or that we need to give up and run, because of whatever potential
consequences he may threaten us with if we keep on keeping on in our walks with
the Lord and in sharing the message of the gospel with a world in need of the
Savior.
Yet, when we respond with faith, and with prayer, and with
putting on the armor of God, instead of retreating, his tactics against us only
serve to advance the gospel, so he is really just shooting himself in the foot.
Even if we are put in prison for our faith in Jesus Christ, and for the sake of
the gospel of our salvation, our Lord can use that to get the word out to
people, letting them know that we are suffering for the sake of Christ. And,
the gospel message will spread even more, rather than dwindling away to
nothing, which is Satan’s goal. And, our brothers and sisters in Christ who are
also sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings can be encouraged by our
faith to speak the word of God without fear.
Selfish Ambition
(vv. 15-18a)
Some
indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The
latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the
gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but
thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way,
whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Another of Satan’s evil schemes against us is to use other
humans to oppose us and to cause us trouble, hardship and persecution.
Sometimes our opponents are others who call themselves ministers of the gospel,
who will see us as their competition, and thus they will make a concerted
effort to try to discredit us in any way they can, in hopes that they can draw
people away from us and to them. They will also dilute the gospel message to
make it more appealing to human flesh in order to draw in large crowds of
people. They focus much on entertainment because they want to attract the world
to their meetings, rather than focusing on the cross of Christ and leading
people to genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
Still there are others who are preaching the true message of
the gospel, but not out of a sincere desire to see people come to genuine faith
in Jesus Christ, but out of jealousy and a desire to gain attention to
themselves rather than to Christ. Yet, I have found that many of these only
appear to be preaching the true message of the gospel, because they use the
true gospel as a means to gain the trust of those who long to hear truth
spoken, and then they very stealthily introduce heresies disguised as truth,
and they do this so subtly that these heresies are barely noticeable to the
unsuspecting ear. These people are usually smooth talkers and charmers, so
people readily like them and want to listen to what they have to say, but in
doing so they open themselves wide to deception and trickery.
If someone is preaching the truth, then we are to rejoice
that the truth is going out, even if the messengers are driven by the wrong
motives. Yet, we should remain discerning, and we should listen for those
subtle lies which are so carefully placed within what appears to be truth so
that we can counteract the lies with truth, and so we can warn others.
Full Courage (vv.
18b-26)
Yes,
and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager
expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage
now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh,
that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am
hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for
that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your
account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you
all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample
cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
God is not unaware of the devil’s schemes, though. In fact,
Satan has no power but what God permits. One day God will take away that power,
though, and he will send him into the lake of fire for eternity, and he will
never be able to trouble us again. Until then, God has allowed Satan to roam
this earth as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. In fact, in the book
of Revelation it says that the dragon (Satan) will give its power to the beast,
and the beast will be allowed to exercise authority over the people of the
earth, and to make war against the saints of God and to conquer them
(militarily, not spiritually).
Yet, God allows us to go through suffering, hardship, pain,
sorrow and persecution, for our trials produce in us patient endurance, and
they strengthen us in our walks of faith, and they draw us closer to God in
full assurance of faith if we choose to allow God to do his work in our hearts
through these times of testing rather than retreat and give up because things
got too hard. Through these times of testing we learn to rely on God and not on
ourselves for our strength. Also, these trials mature and humble us, and they
teach us to be more compassionate towards others who are suffering. Then, we
can comfort others in their trials with the comfort we received from God when
we went through difficult times.
Another quality these times of testing produce in us, who
put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, is courage. We learn to be courageous
the more we choose to trust God with our circumstances rather than retreat out
of fear. We learn that courage doesn’t mean we don’t ever feel fear, but we
feel the fear and we do it anyway, i.e. we go against our fears through putting
our hope, trust and faith in Jesus Christ. We also learn that we don’t have to
face these difficulties in our own strength and resolve, but we can rely on the
strength of the Lord to get us through each and every day. As well, we learn
that God is absolutely sovereign and in control over every circumstance in our
lives, so we never have cause to fear, because he is with us, and he will
accomplish his purposes in and through our lives even if all looks hopeless in
the natural realm. Our God is a God of miracles! Amen!
Our Manner of Life
(vv. 27-30)
Only
let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I
come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in
one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them
of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been
granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him
but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had
and now hear that I still have.
If we want to be strong in the Lord, and in his mighty
strength, and if we want to know the power of God in our lives in conquering
and/or overcoming all opposition against us, so that we do stand firm in one
spirit, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, then we need to live
our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to daily be
putting sin and self to death in our lives, by the Spirit, and be daily putting
on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil schemes against us. And,
we need to walk according to the Spirit and not according to our sinful flesh.
If we give way to sin in our lives on a regular basis, we
open ourselves wide to give the devil a foothold in our lives so that we end up
living spiritually defeated, not spiritually victorious lives, in the Spirit,
giving glory to God in all things. So, know that we are called not only to
believe in Jesus, but to suffer for him, so be strong and take courage, for the
Lord will go before you, and His light will show the way. God will take care of
you!
Be Strong and Take
Courage / Don Moen
Be strong and take courage
Do not fear or be dismayed
For the Lord will go before you
And His light will show the way…
Why don' you give him all of your fears
Why don't you let him wipe all of your tears
He knows, He's been through pain before
And He knows all that you've been looking for…
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