That Their Hearts May be Encouraged

“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:1-7 ESV).

If we are true ministers of the truth of the gospel of Christ to the people of God who believe in Jesus Christ, and to the people of this world, especially in the day and time in which we live, we should be experiencing persecutions and opposition, and we should have our eyes and ears open to what is going on in the world and in the Christian community, and coming from the opposing forces against us and against the Christian faith and against all those who would step out in genuine walks of faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And we should be those who genuinely struggle for the truth of the gospel to get out to the people, for so many people now are teaching lies and/or are believing the lies of the enemy rather than the truth of God’s word. Lies and deception and distortions of truth and mind manipulation abound everywhere you look. And so many people are putting blind trust in those not of God and in those who teach lies, and they are being led astray from purity of devotion to Christ to follow after the gods of this world.

And all of this should grieve us. And we should have great concern for the body of Christ and for the people of this world that they would hear the truth and that they would believe the truth, and that they would walk in the truth and in righteousness and in obedience to the Lord, and that they would not fall prey to the lies of the enemy. And we should be diligent about getting the truth out to as many as who will listen, for the lies are drowning out the truth, for the lies tickle itching ears and they pacify the sinful flesh.

And so it should be our earnest desire to reach as many as possible with the truth, for it is the truth which saves, not the lies. And it is the truth which gives life, not the feel-good messages so many people are preaching today in order to appease human flesh and to not offend the ungodly of this world. For “encouragement” is not just all feel-good stuff, but it is exhortation, and it is holy urging, and it is speaking the truth in love to people and not the lies that soothe their consciences and which give them permission to sin.

It should burden our hearts that so many are being deluded (tricked, deceived, duped) and led astray by plausible arguments which are in opposition to the truth of the gospel and in opposition to the truth of God’s word. And our hearts’ desire should be to get the truth out to as many as possible so that they will reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ and the truth that Jesus taught to the people when he lived on this earth.

For, it is not enough to just profess Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of our lives, but we are to walk in him and in the truth of his word and in the truth of the gospel which he taught, and which his NT apostles taught, which is not the gospel that is so popularized today, at least here in America. And to walk in Christ is to conduct our lives in practice in honesty, integrity, moral purity, uprightness, faithfulness, and in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments under the New Covenant.

Obedience to our Lord and holy living and moral purity are to be how we live, in practice, and not in sin. And we should be seekers of truth and of righteousness who love the word of God and who are following the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles which are directed to followers of Christ, i.e. to the church, the body of Christ. And then we should be those who are sharing the truth of God’s word with others so that they can also come to know Jesus Christ personally and then walk in his ways and in his truth.

And we should do this even if we are hated and persecuted and rejected and falsely accused and mistreated and lied about, in return, for that is what Paul experienced, and that is what Jesus experienced. For Jesus said that if we follow him with our lives that we are going to be treated in much the same way as what he was treated. But we are to rejoice that we are counted worthy to share in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, our Lord, becoming like him in his death, and for the sake of the gospel.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Hear my Voice 

An Original Work / July 9, 2012

Based off Psalm 27

The Lord is my great salvation.

He’s the stronghold of my life.

When my enemies attack me,

My heart will not fear at all.

Though a war break out against me,

Confident in Christ I’ll be.

Of the Lord, I ask that I may

Live with Him eternally. 

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call you.

Merciful to me You’ll be.

Though my relatives forsake me,

My Lord God will receive me.

Teach me Your way, O my Jesus.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

I will sacrifice to my Lord.

I will sing with joyfulness.

I am confident that I will

See the goodness of the Lord.

All the richness of His blessings,

My Lord has for me in store.

He asks me to be of courage;

To be strong and to take heart,

Patiently as I wait for Him,

And from Him to ne’er depart.

https://vimeo.com/119813963