Run With It: As Servants of God

“And working together with Him… giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.” (focus on 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 NASB’95)

When we are genuine servants of the Lord Jesus, called of God to do his will in specific areas of ministry, and if those areas of ministry are not what are vogue (the prevailing fashion or style at a particular time), then we are likely to face some or much of what the apostle Paul described of his experiences.

Like take me for instance. I was called of God in 2004 to write down what he teaches me each day from his word and to put these writings on the internet, so that “a herald could run with it” (based off Habakkuk 2:2-3). So that is what I have been doing since then. And not all these writings were daily devotionals at first, but early on the Lord was teaching me much about what is going on in my nation, and in the world, and he was helping me to unlearn the lies I had been told and to see the truth through his eyes.

And that was just a little too weird for a lot of people I knew to accept. But as time has progressed, these things he was teaching me then have been coming to the forefront, and other people are beginning to see the same reality which is all related to these last days before the return of Christ and the things the Bible tells us are going to happen, but with the Lord guiding me through them in relation to what is going on specifically in my nation and with our leaders and things I previously had no clue of, but I do now.

But even through that learning and unlearning time earlier on in this ministry, the Lord was having me share the truth of the gospel of our salvation, but he was also growing me in my walk of faith and in my knowledge of the Scriptures, and I was unlearning some things that I had been taught wrong, and I was learning things that I just had not noticed before in the Scriptures, because I was now reading book by book, and chapter by chapter, and so I was now seeing the truth in the right context.

Eventually the writings became less like daily journals of my times with the Lord in his word and they became more like daily devotionals, but not the light and fluffy stuff that so many are passing off as truth these days, but going into the depths of the teachings of the Scriptures to learn what they are really teaching, so more like Bible studies. And then he added on songs, poems, video talk devotions, and memes (short devotions in one picture), and this became my full-time job (my assignment from the Lord).

But I was and am what is considered a “laywoman,” i.e. a Christian woman with no official credentials from any Bible college or seminary or church denomination. So, in many religious circles, what I do each day as my full-time job (assignment) from God is just considered my hobby, just something I am doing to take up time during my years of retirement. So I don’t get much respect from most people I know, and I am largely ignored, and sometimes I am criticized and fought against for teaching the truth.

I have not yet faced any physical beatings for what I do each day, but I have had plenty of verbal beatings over the past 21 years. And really, anytime in my life where I took God and his calling on my life fully seriously, and I was committed to following his leading in my life, I have been verbally abused and cast aside as unwanted and as unnecessary, and I have been treated as though I am a nothing and that what I do each day is not critical because it doesn’t fit in with the modern day approach to Christianity and its gospel.

So, I do identify with Paul a lot in what he went through. As the Lord’s servant I have also had to endure much, and face multiple afflictions, rejections, persecutions, hardships, distresses, banishments, sleeplessness, loneliness, false accusations, and the like, because I am following the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life in doing the will of God for my life, which is definitely not “vogue” in the times in which we now live. I speak the truth of God’s word at a time when so many are distorting the truth, instead.

But I do what I do each day, in love response to my Lord, and to his calling upon my life, because this is what God had planned for my life even before he formed me in the womb of my mother. This is why I am here, not to please myself, and not to entertain and to be entertained, and not to gain a huge following and to have everyone like me and accept me. I am here to speak the truth of God’s word at a time when truth is difficult to find, and when the lies are what are largely being adopted and accepted, instead.

So, I do not do what I do each day, in writing and posting on the internet what God gives me to write and to post, for my own glory, but for the glory of God, and for the salvation of human souls, and to help others to have their eyes opened to the truth and to reject the lies of Satan. I do what I do each day because I love you, the people of the world, and I love God, and I want to obey him and to do what pleases him. And I will keep doing this as long as God keeps that door open for me, in his power, and as long as I live.

And I will keep speaking the truth, and refuting the lies of the enemy, by the grace of God, in his power, even if all reject me and turn away from me and want nothing to do with me. I must! And I am well aware of what that has already cost me, and what it may well cost me even more as time progresses. But I am convinced that my Lord will give me the strength to endure whatever I must endure to keep speaking the truth and to keep calling out the lies, so that many will be delivered from bondage to sin.

For the lies tell you that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ gets you “saved” and guaranteed heaven as your eternal destiny. But the truth teaches that faith in Jesus, which comes from God, and is genuine, will result in us denying self, dying daily to sin, by the Spirit, and us walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments, in the power of God. And if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

So my soul longeth after You

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

To You alone may my spirit yield

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70