Saturday, February 4, 2017, 2:49 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Your Lord is With You.” Speak, Lord,
your words to my heart. I read 2
Thessalonians 2:13-3:5 (NASB).
He Called Us
(2:13-15)
But we should always give thanks to God for you,
brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for
salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was
for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions
which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
Before God/Jesus Christ even
created the world, he knew who we would be, because he had a plan to bring us
into the world for a purpose. He chose us, who are his followers, for salvation
through cleansing (purification) of sin by the Spirit of God, and by faith in
the truth. So, how did he accomplish this?
God the Father sent his Son,
Jesus Christ (God the Son) into the world to take on human form and to die on a
cross for our sins. When he died, our sins died with him and were buried with
him. When he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over sin, death,
hell and Satan, on our behalf. Through faith in him we are crucified with
Christ in death to sin, and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life, “created
to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). We are “born
again” of the Spirit of God (See: Jn. 3), turned from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan to God, so that we receive forgiveness of sins and a
place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (See: Acts
26:16-18).
So, what does this faith look
like? Well, for one, this faith is a gift from God, and not of ourselves (See:
Eph. 2:8-10). Faith means literally to be persuaded by God, i.e. it is God’s
divine persuasion, i.e. the persuasion of his will - http://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm).
It is also faith in (divine persuasion of) the truth of the gospel of Christ. This
means that faith is not an intellectual assent or an emotional decision to accept
Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins and his forgiveness of sin, but it is a divine
persuasion to accept, not only what Jesus did on the cross for our sins, but to
adopt the purpose for which he died, into our own lives, i.e. to allow
ourselves to die with Christ to sin so that we could be resurrected to new
lives in Christ Jesus, i.e. born anew of the Spirit of God, delivered from
slavery to sin, and set free to live to Christ as bond-servants of his
righteousness (See: Ro. 6:1-23).
To this we were called of God,
to be delivered from slavery to sin that we might be slaves of Christ’s
righteousness. Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;
that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up
for us; and to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people
for his own possession who are zealous for good works (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15;
Tit. 2:14; cf. Eph. 2:10).
He also called us to
holiness, which means to be set apart (unlike, different) from the world,
because we are being conformed into the image of Christ. In other words, faith
in Jesus Christ is supernatural, it is of the Spirit, and it prefers what God
prefers, i.e. if we believe in Jesus Christ it means we have been divinely
persuaded to leave our lives of sin behind us and to follow our Lord in
obedience to his will. So, if we claim to have faith in Christ, but we are not
persuaded of God away from sin and to walks of obedience, then scripture
teaches we don’t really believe in Jesus Christ.
Yet, if most of what we have
talked about here does describe your faith in Jesus Christ, then this is an
encouragement to stand strong (firm) on that faith, which includes a stand for
righteousness, godliness, holiness, purity, obedience to Christ, and love, and a
stand against wickedness and all that is falsely called knowledge, i.e. lies.
It is not popular in many Christian circles here in America to take such a
stance, because it is an offense to many who listen, yet the gospel of Christ
is an offense to all who are perishing.
He Loves Us (2:16-17)
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our
Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
When we believe the truth
about God’s Word, and about the gospel of our salvation, i.e. that Jesus didn’t
die just so we could escape hell and so we could go to heaven when we die, but that
he died to radically transform our lives while we still live on the face of
this earth, i.e. to make us holy, we may find ourselves in the minority, and
with people forsaking us or avoiding us because all this talk about holiness
just makes them uncomfortable. As well, if we are verbal about our faith, and
we talk or write about what the Bible teaches on holiness and godliness, and
what it truly means to believe in Jesus, as was discussed in the first section
of this writing, we may be accused falsely of teaching works-based salvation,
or we may be accused of being hatemongers, bigots, intolerant, and the like. And,
if we are feeling people, with hearts of love and compassion, we may get
emotionally hurt by it all, and need the comfort and strength of the Lord in
order to persevere.
He Rescues Us
(3:1-5)
Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the
Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and
that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. But
the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will
continue to do what we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into the love
of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.
As well, we will need prayer
to have courage to keep speaking in Jesus’ name, and to keep telling people the
truth, even if they fight against us. For, many people here in America have
bought into a diluted half-truth false grace gospel which does not teach death
to sin and living to righteousness, but which gives people free license to
continue living in sin without guilt and without remorse. They don’t understand
that faith in Jesus Christ means we are divinely persuaded as to the will of
God for our lives, i.e. that faith is given to us by God, and as so, it is
spiritual, and it believes the message of the gospel, and it applies it to our
lives. It does not make excuses or allowance for sin, but it eradicates sin
from our lives and it chooses to walk in holiness in the power and working of
the Spirit of God within us.
Yet, we are promised in
scripture that if we follow Christ that we will be hated and persecuted as he
was hated and persecuted, so we are not promised that we will ever be
completely free from mistreatment by evil and obstinate people, until Jesus
comes to get us or until we reach heaven. So, being rescued from these types of
people must take on various forms. In other words, the Lord may physically
deliver us by moving us to another location, or by removing these people in
some way or another, or he may put a roadblock to their evil paths and open
doors for us and the gospel which no man can close. He may, as well, deliver us
emotionally or spiritually from their persecution, i.e. to where we are not
weighed down by it, but we can still rejoice in the Lord, and have courage to
persevere, despite the evil treatment, and even love our persecutors in return.
I just know that my God is
completely sovereign over all that he has made, and he has all things under his
control, and that he will keep the door open for me, and for others who are
also sharing his gospel, to keep sharing his gospel until he is finished with
me (them), and then I believe he will take me home, when my job on earth is
done; when my assignment is finished. Until then, I live each day to serve my
Lord, and to share his Word, and to love others with his love, and to follow
him wherever he leads me, even if it gets me hated in return, because I know I
am here to serve God/Jesus.
Your Lord is With You
An Original Work / August 14, 2016
Based off Various Scriptures
Fear not for your Lord is with you.
He will not leave you, nor will He
abandon you.
When you walk through valleys of life’s
rough ways,
You must fear no evil, for God is near.
Be of courage, then, and be not
dismayed,
For your Lord is with you throughout
your days.
Fear not for your Lord is with you.
He will not leave you, nor will He
abandon you.
Trust Him with your life and witness.
He’ll go before you, and He will
prepare the way.
The Lord is our helper, so we’ll not
fear.
He will strengthen us. He sees all our
tears.
Do not be afraid, but to God do pray,
And the peace of God will be yours
today.
Trust Him with your life and witness.
He’ll go before you, and He will
prepare the way.
My God, He is my Rock and my Shield
And the Horn of my salvation, whom I
praise.
He reached down from heaven and rescued
me;
Drew me out of waters so deep I’d sink.
My God turned my darkness into His
light;
Opened up my blinded eyes, gave me
sight.
My God, He is my Rock and my Shield
And the Horn of my salvation, whom I
praise.
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