Harmony and Friendship

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ESV

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

A Spiritual Perspective

Once we have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, it changes our perspective about all people, and about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness, etc. We no longer should view human beings from a human perspective, but from a heavenly perspective. We ought no longer to concern ourselves about outward appearance, but about what is in the heart.

This doesn’t mean that we no longer care about people’s physical needs, but it means that we see beyond just the physical to the spiritual, to the heart of humans, too. We are in tune to the Spirit of God, and we are sensitive to people’s spiritual needs, too.

We are no longer all caught up in the ways of the world, and with prestige, wealth, and what is purely physical and outward. But, we see people as spiritual beings with hearts and souls who need God, who need to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And, we are burdened at heart to see all people come to faith in Jesus Christ, because we know that without God they don’t have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

A New Creation

And, as those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, our view of our own lives, and how they should be lived, and what we want to do, and how we think and behave, should also not be what it was before. We should view our own lives from a heavenly perspective rather than from a worldly point of view.

Therefore, if we are truly born again believers in Jesus Christ, our new lives shouldn’t look just like our old lives. This doesn’t mean we will be perfect from this point forward, or that we will never sin again, but that we should have had a radical transformation of our hearts away from living to sin to living to God and to his righteousness.

We are completely new creations in Christ Jesus, not just slightly cleaned up old creations, and not just with an outward profession of faith in Jesus Christ while nothing truly changes in our hearts or in our lifestyles. For, our old way of living according to our flesh, and in sin, should be done away with. And, now we should be walking in the ways of the Lord in purity, righteousness and holiness, all in the power of God’s Spirit within us.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 ESV

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Yes, all this is from God. Not any of this is from ourselves, from our own flesh. We can do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation. We can never be good enough. Our good deeds will never outweigh our bad deeds. But, we are saved from our sins to do good deeds that God prepared in advance for us to do, but they are his deeds, and he is the one who empowers us to do them (See Eph. 2:8-10).

Yes, it is only because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice of himself on a cross for our sins that any of us can be saved from our sins and be reconciled to God. And, it is only through God-given faith in Jesus Christ that any of us can be delivered out of our slavery to sin and have that promise of heaven when we die.

But, this reconciliation with God that was accomplished for us on that cross is not a mere forgiveness of our sins so that we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. For, this reconciliation Jesus provided for us means we are reunited with God in fellowship with him, a fellowship that had been broken between humans and God because of Adam’s sin.

By faith in Jesus Christ we are restored to harmony with God. The conflict between humans and God that resulted because of Adam’s sin was now settled on that cross. Yet, scripture teaches that if we claim we now have this fellowship with God, but we still walk (in practice) in the darkness (in sin), then we are liars who do not live by the truth (1 Jn. 1:5-9).

So, again, as a result of this reconciliation made available to us because of Jesus’ sacrifice on that cross for our sins, and by faith in him, now our old lives of living for the flesh should be gone, and the new way of living to the Spirit should now be what rules in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 ESV

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Have you ever had a disagreement with someone else? Or have you ever done something to wrong another person? And, now there is this invisible wall that is between you? Where there was once harmony and friendship and fellowship, now there is distance, and perhaps bitterness and resentment?

If we are to be reconciled to this person we have offended, then what needs to take place? If we have wronged the other person, then we need to confess our wrong, and we need to repent of it (turn away from it) and change, and now treat this other person with love and kindness.

If they have wronged us, then we need to make attempts to get them to be reconciled with us. And, we need to forgive them and not hold it against them, i.e. we should not get even with the other person for what they did to us. But, it doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye to further sin, for the whole goal of reconciliation should be to help one another to no longer offend. It is to restore a union that was broken by sin.

So, if we are to be reconciled to God, then we need to accept what he did for us in providing the way for us to be delivered from our sin so that we can now be restored to fellowship with God. And, we need to confess our sins, and turn away from them, and turn to our Lord to now do what is holy and righteous in his sight, by faith in him, in his power and strength.

For, Jesus became sin for us on that cross, and in his death he thus put our sin to death, so that we could be reconciled to God and become the righteousness of God, i.e. to become like him in all his holiness and righteousness in all that we are, and do, and think, and say.

So, the appeal here is for all of us to believe in Jesus Christ, to forsake our former way of living to the flesh and to self and to sin, and to now surrender our lives into God’s hands, and to follow him in his ways and in his truth.

Again, this is all from God, i.e. the way to reconciliation with God, and the ability for us to be restored to fellowship with God is from God. But, we must let go and let God. We must let go of all bitterness, and all that separates us from God, and allow him to now be the Lord and master of our lives if we are to be restored to fellowship with him and have eternal life with God.

Gift of God  

An Original Work / October 25, 2016

Based off Various Scriptures

Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Died for us on a cross;

Conquered death, sin, and hell,

So, with Him, we would dwell.

For, by His grace, we are saved.

He set us free from all sin.

Thanks be to God for His Gift.

Through faith in Him, we’re forgiven.

Holy Spirit of God,

Given to us who believe,

Gives us new life in Christ;

Made to be just like Him.

We died with Christ to our sin.

New lives in Him we begin,

Walking with Christ day by day.

We read His Word, and we pray.

Jesus, He is our Lord.

Follow Him where He leads.

Tell the world of His grace.

We’ll see Christ face to face.

Soon He is coming again.

We’ll be forever with Him.

He’ll wipe our tears all away.

Oh, what a wonderful day!

https://vimeo.com/188931779

Friday, April 5, 2019

Of Good Courage

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

The tent that is our earthly home is our physical bodies. So, if our earthly bodies are destroyed, through physical death, we who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives have an eternal home in heaven with God. And, that is our hope, that one day we will be with our Lord face-to-face for eternity.

But, in the meanwhile, we groan, i.e. we have pain, suffering, difficulties, and heartaches, and we battle the flesh, sin, fear and Satan on a regular basis. Every day, by the Spirit, we have to put our flesh and our propensity to sin against God to death. We have to die daily to the desires of our sinful flesh and daily yield our spirits over to our Lord to do his will (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8).

We, in these flesh bodies, therefore long for that day when we will be with our Lord face-to-face for eternity, when our sorrows will be over. Then we will no longer be tempted to sin and to stray from our God. Then, we won’t have Satan breathing down our necks, tempting us to sin against God and to give way to fear. We won’t be facing rejection, cruelty and persecution from other people, either, and we won’t have sickness and pain any longer.

And, we don’t have to just hope that one day we will go to heaven to be with God, in the sense of wishful thinking, either. We can have that assurance that our sins are forgiven, and that heaven is our eternal destiny. But, we have to understand what scripture teaches on that subject, for it states clearly that our faith must be current (present tense), and it must continue to the very end, i.e. it must persist until Jesus returns to take us home.

And, it states that genuine faith in Jesus Christ means we no longer walk (in lifestyle) according to the flesh, but we now walk (conduct our lives daily) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God. Thus, it is we, by the Spirit, who are living to the Spirit and not to the flesh who have this guarantee of eternal life with God (See same scriptures as listed above).

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 ESV

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Yet, we are always of good courage, whether we are still living in these earthly bodies or whether we are at home with our Lord in heaven, because our lives are in the palm of God’s hands, and he is watching over us. And, he will strengthen and empower us daily to survive these days we live on this earth, and to be victorious over the enemy, and to walk in freedom from sin.

So, we walk by faith and not by sight, because not one of us knows what is going to happen to us today, truly. We do have control over our own decisions, and the choices we make in this life, but we can’t control other people, or nature, or God, or our circumstances which are out of our control. So, each day we step out into this world, and we place our lives in God’s hands, and we trust him with our lives, and then we let him lead the way.

But, while we still live in these earthly bodies, as well as what will take place when we are with him for eternity, we make it our aim to please God (Jesus Christ) in all that we do and say and are. We won’t be perfect, because we still live in these flesh bodies, but lack of perfection should never be used as an excuse for continuous willful sinful rebellion against our Lord. For, we will all reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7-8), no matter what our lips profess.

2 Corinthians 5:11-15 ESV

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Knowing the fear of the Lord means we understand that we can’t play religion with God. We take God and his Word seriously, to heart. We believe God’s Word when it says that those who walk according to the flesh will die in their sins and that we will all reap what we sow. We believe that we are not saved from our sins by a mere profession of faith or by some one-time decision we made to receive Christ while we then continued in sinful and willful rebellion against God. And, we don’t take God’s grace for granted.

And, since we know this fear of the Lord, i.e. this awe, respect, honor and value of our God, and our belief that his words are true, and that he will do what he said he would do, we try to persuade others. We share the truth with others so that they are not led astray by clever enchanters who tell them that they can merely acknowledge Christ as Savior but that it doesn’t have to impact their lifestyles. And, we share with them that Jesus died, not just to forgive us our sins, but to deliver us out of our sinful lifestyles.

For, because Jesus Christ died for all sins, once for all, and he put all sin to death on that cross, we who believe on him to be our Lord and Savior also die with him to sin that we might live with him to righteousness. For, he didn’t die to forgive us our sins so that we could go on in our sins guilt free. He gave his life up for us on that cross, instead, so that we might no longer live for ourselves and in sin, but so we would live for him who died for us.

He Reached Down  

An Original Work / February 3, 2014

Based off Psalm 18

How I love You, Lord, my Rock and my strength.

My God is my fortress; I hide in Him.

He is my shield and the horn of

My salvation, whom I praise.

I have found my refuge in Him.

He reached down from heaven and rescued me;

Drew me out of waters so deep, I’d sink.

He delivered me from Satan

And my slavery to sin;

Gave me hope of heaven with Him.

My God turned my darkness into His light;

Opened up my blinded eyes; gave me sight.

As for God, his way is perfect.

He gives strength to stand secure.

I have found my vict’ry in Him.

My Lord lives! Praise be to my Savior God,

Jesus Christ, who died on a cruel cross.

He is my Rock and the source

Of my salvation, whom I trust.

I will give praise always to Him.

https://vimeo.com/86346545

Friday, April 5, 2019, 4:00 a.m.

Chosen for What?

Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Chosen by God

I remember the first time that I understood what this is saying about God choosing those of us who are his, by faith in him, before the foundation of the world. This means that he chose us before creation. He chose us to be who he wants us to be, and to do what he has called us to do, before he even created the world and all that is in it. That just blows me away!

This means, for example, that before the Lord even made the world and all that is in it, he chose me to be who I am and to be writing this very writing at this very moment in time. So, not only did he form me in my mother’s womb, but all the days ordained for me were written in his book before one of them came into being. So, everything I experienced in this life was part of his design for my life so that I, today, would be writing this devotion.

Now, he did not lead me into sin, and it was not his will that I would sin, but he used even the sins I committed in my life to train me for his calling on my life. What I mean is that I learned a lot from those failures, not that we should fail just so we can learn, but that he teaches us stuff through the good times and the bad times. And, he can turn even what was bad into something good, not in the sense of calling what is bad something good, but that when we repent of our sins, he can turn our lives around for good.

Holy and Blameless

So, what were we chosen for? That we should be holy and blameless before him. And, to be holy means to separate from (different, unlike) the world because God is conforming us to his likeness. This means that we don’t watch TV shows, movies, videos, etc. containing foul language, sensuality, sexual immorality, or which glorifies adultery, perversion, hatred, theft, cheating, lying, gossip, or making fun of people, etc. We don’t entertain ourselves with what is of our sin nature and then laugh at it and applaud it.

We don’t participate in activities which are opposing to godliness, holiness, righteousness, purity, and integrity, either. For, it is not just a cliché to say, “What would Jesus do?” He is our example. He is our standard for how we should live our lives. If he wouldn’t watch it, we shouldn’t either. If he wouldn’t laugh at it, we shouldn’t either. And, if he would not applaud it, we shouldn’t either. We should follow him in his footsteps and do what he would do, say what he would say, and have the same attitude as him, too.

And, as far as the word “blameless” goes, yes, by faith in Jesus Christ we are forgiven our sins so that our sins are not held against us. But, we have to be blameless (not perfect) in what we do, too. The psalmist said this:

“Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression” (Ps. 19:13 ESV).

Again, it comes down to lifestyle, which the New Testament speaks of all the time. We are not just righteous positionally, but we have to walk in righteousness. We are not just holy positionally, but we must be holy in all our conduct. We must walk by the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God. And, we must forsake our former lives of sin and turn to God to walk in obedience to him and to his ways.

According to His Will

Also, we were not just predestined to be adopted as God’s children positionally, but according to the purpose of God’s will, and to the praise of his glorious grace.

And, the purpose of his will is that we might be holy and blameless before him, and that we might walk (in lifestyle) in holiness and in purity of devotion to him, free from our bondage to sin. For, this is why he died, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).

And, this would be for the praise of his grace, too, for the purpose of his grace is to deliver us out of our slavery to sin, and to instruct us to say “No” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (Tit. 2:11-14).

Ephesians 1:7-10 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

When Jesus Christ died on a cross, and shed his blood for our sins, he became sin for us so that he put our sins to death with him on that cross. He exchanged his life for our freedom from slavery to sin. And, he purchased us with his blood in buying us back for God so that we are now God’s possession, and he is our Lord and master. Therefore, we are to honor him with our lives in all that we do because our lives now belong to Him.

He, in essence, reclaimed us for God. For, Adam and Eve sinned against God in that garden, and because of their sin man was separated from God, and all humans were born with sin natures. Not one of us could be acceptable to God in our own flesh. The only way we can be acceptable to God is through Jesus’ blood sacrifice for our sins, and via our God-given faith in him, which means dying with him to sin and living with him to righteousness (See: Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

The plan for the fullness of time is the plan of our salvation. And, the plan is not to merely forgive us our sins, but it is to deliver us out of our addictions to sin. Praise God! It is to turn us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that we might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified (made holy) by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Ephesians 1:11-14 ESV

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

By faith in Jesus Christ, which is God-given faith, and thus it submits to God – to Jesus Christ – we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).

Because we died to sin, and we were born again of the Spirit of God, so that we can live to God and walk in his holiness, all in his power and strength, we have an inheritance with God guaranteed to those who are believing in him, who are walking, by faith, according to the Spirit, and no longer according to the flesh (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21).

For, if we walk (in lifestyle) by the flesh, we will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God. For, we will reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8).

For, we are predestined according to his purpose for our lives, according to his will, that we might be to the praise of his glory. And, God’s will for us is that we forsake our lives of sin to follow him in obedience to his will and to his ways. For, this is for his praise, his glory, that his followers might live holy and godly lives, and that we might no longer be conformed to the ways of this sinful world (Rom. 12:1-2).

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Believe God

Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Heroes of Old

In Hebrews 11, which is called “the faith chapter” of the Bible, we have recorded for us a historical record of many of the saints of old and their walks of faith with the Lord.

We have Noah, during a time when all but him and his family were living it up and ignoring God, called of God to build a humongous boat for him and his family and for two of every kind of living creature (male and female). He obeyed God, and did what he said, although I am certain the rest of the world probably mocked him and criticized him for it, and they probably called him crazy, too.

But, he persevered, and he believed God, and he did what he said, and the rains did come, and the earth and all that lived in it were destroyed, who were not in the boat, just as God had said would happen. But, he and his family were saved, as were a small representation of all living creatures. And, life on this earth was preserved for future generations.

And, we have Abraham, who in his old age was promised an heir, the seed through whom all the nations would be blessed, the seed who ultimately was realized in Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we are all blessed who trust in him to be Lord and Savior of our lives. He trusted God that what God had said would come about, and he did become the father of many nations.

And, he did what God told him to do, not perfectly, but even when he didn’t know where he was going, and even when what God had asked him to do didn’t make sense. And, through his family line our Savior, Jesus Christ, came into the world to save mankind from his sins, just as God had promised. And, the nations of the world have been blessed by the salvation from sin that God had said would take place.

And, then there was Moses, reluctant as he was to obey God initially, and to do what he said, who finally surrendered to the Lord, and who did what he commanded. And, because of his obedience to the Lord, even in the face of great opposition, the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, were preserved, and they were saved from their slavery to sin, i.e. we who are now God’s chosen people, by faith in him, have been saved out of our slavery to sin.

All of these saints of God obeyed God, did what he said, and because of their obedience, it meant the salvation of human lives, and the preservation of a people committed to God and to his service, i.e. it meant future generations of people who would walk with God, who would follow him in obedience, and who would believe in the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

These were not perfect people, though. But, when they followed the Lord in surrender to his will, and they were walking in obedience to the Lord, and they were not walking according to their flesh, still living in sin, God did wonderful things through their faith in him. And, he will do wonderful things through us, too, who are committed to walking in faithful obedience to him. And, our obedience will also mean the salvation of human lives.

Lay It Aside

But, for us to be used of God in the lives of others, for their salvation from sin, we need to cast aside sin which so easily entangles us, i.e. we need to forsake our sinful lifestyles (practices) to follow Jesus Christ in surrender to his will for our lives. We need to flee temptation and resist the devil, and we need to draw near to God in full assurance of faith.

Daily we must be putting sin to death in our lives, by the Spirit. And, daily we must be putting on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks, his temptations, and his evil schemes against us. For, Jesus didn’t save us from our sins merely so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die. He saved us so that we would die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness, and so that we would live godly and holy lives, pleasing unto him day by day by day.

But, it isn’t just the sin which we must forsake. We must cast off every weight, every hindrance to our walks of faith, and every barrier to us living victorious Christian lives committed to our Lord and to his service.

For, many people struggle through life with sinful addictions because they are not willing to remove from their lives those things which they know consistently lead them into sin, or which hinder them from moving forward in their walks of faith with the Lord.

For example, if the sin which so easily entangles you is lust, you have to cut it off at its source, which is in the heart. For, every day that we still live in these flesh bodies is a battle. It is to choose, either to give in to the flesh, or to give in to the Spirit. And, the more we have surrendered to the flesh in our lives, the more our hearts and minds are prone to wander that direction. And, this is why the scriptures speak often of the renewal of the mind.

So, we have to stop taking into our minds what is selfish, lewd, immoral, wicked, and fleshly, etc., and we have to be filling our minds, instead, with what is pure, righteous, holy and good. We have to stop feeding the flesh, and we have to feed on the word of God, instead. We have to stop playing with fire, and going places we know we ought not to go, and then act surprised when we end up in a compromising situation.

If anger and bitterness are leading us to be abusive to others, then we need to let go of that anger and bitterness and starve them, not feed them. For, the more we feed the flesh, the more our minds, hearts and behaviors will follow course.

If fear is what controls us, or what hinders us from obeying the Lord, then we need to tell fear “No!” and we need to go against that fear by doing what we are afraid to do, even if our emotions are not there yet. For, one of Satan’s biggest tactics against us is to lie to us and to get us to be afraid, and then we will recoil rather than move forward in faith.

Run with Endurance

God has called each and every one of us, who are his children, to something very special, uniquely designed for us, like he did with Noah and Abraham and Moses. God has a will and a purpose for our lives which is all the same, but then he has a unique design for us as individuals, too. He has something he wants us to do in a way that is expressly designed for us to follow.

But, Satan is going to fight us, I guarantee it! He doesn’t want us obeying the Lord, doing what he says. And, so he will pull out all the stops to try to get us to retreat. He knows a lot of our weaknesses, too, and he will play on each and every one of them until he can get us to give up and to go right back to following the flesh instead of the Spirit.

And, one of Satan’s biggest lies against us is to convince us that we can’t live in victory over sin, that we will always struggle and live half-hearted Christian lives. But, that is a big fat lie! For, Jesus died on that cross to deliver us out of our bondage (addiction) to sin. So, we can live in victory, and we don’t have to “struggle,” i.e. regularly and consistently yield to the flesh in defeat. We can live holy lives pleasing to God when we choose to say “No” to the flesh, and when we choose to say “Yes” to the Spirit.

But, we don’t have to do this in our own strength. In fact, we can’t. Jesus has given us the victory! And, he will give us all we need to resist Satan, to flee temptation, and to walk faithfully before our Lord. It doesn’t mean we will be perfect, but that we won’t be using lack of perfection as an excuse for willful defiance against our Lord.

So, if we are going to run with endurance, we have to stop believing the lies Satan whispers in our ears, and which his followers reinforce, but we have to keep believing the truth of what God’s word teaches us, and let that be reinforced in our lives daily through spending much time with our Lord in his word and in following him in obedience.

Eyes on Jesus

One of the biggest reasons we retreat in fear, and we lack faith, and we surrender to our flesh is that we get our eyes off of Jesus and we get them on to our circumstances, and thus we begin to sink. We get our focus on the waves crashing all around us, and thus we surrender to the waves instead of to the one reaching out his hand to us to rescue us from drowning.

And, so, despite what is tempting us, despite our fears, despite people mocking us, chiding us, rejecting us and persecuting us, we must persevere. We must keep saying “No!” to Satan and to the flesh and to the waves crashing around us trying to intimidate us to give up and to give in. Even if all forsake us, and if all cry out against us, we must keep moving forward in doing what God has called us to do – all in his power and strength.

For, all things are possible with God, i.e. all things according to his will and purposes for our lives. So, don’t buy into the lie that says you can’t move past mediocrity, or that you can’t move past your sinful addictions to freedom in Christ, or that God can’t use you because of past failures, or that man is stronger than God or that Satan can defeat us. Believe God!

Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It All

Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson

You paid much too high a price for me, Your tears, Your blood, the pain –

To have my soul just stirred at times yet never truly changed.

You deserve a fiery love that won’t ignore your sacrifice

Because You paid much too high a price.

https://youtu.be/FeNA1NoJJH4

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Flogged and Crucified

Matthew 20:17-19 ESV

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

An Allegory

Your daughter was being molested by your husband, whose name means “lust, lewdness.” But, he had groomed her, i.e. he had manipulated her via psychological manipulation into believing that she should never tell. He told her that if she did, that would make her a bad girl, and she would be in trouble for it. He also preconditioned her to believe that, if she did tell, that no one would believe her, and that they would believe him, instead.

But finally, one day it became overwhelming for her. The abuse had escalated beyond what her mind and heart could handle. So, she told you that your husband had been abusing her, and that this had been going on for quite some time, in fact.

But, in the meanwhile, your husband had been working you over, too, and he had preconditioned you into not believing her, also via psychological manipulation. He had convinced you that she had these emotional outbursts that could not be trusted, and that she was just trying to manipulate you, or that she was just imagining these things, i.e. that she was just misperceiving the situation wrongly. And, so you bought into his lies.

So you told her, although you knew that your husband was not perfect, and that he did some bad things, that she was just being oversensitive and that she was just misperceiving what was truly going on. You suggested to her that she was accusing your husband far beyond what he was actually doing to her, and that she needed to compromise with him, and come his way on this to some degree, and to not be so “high and mighty” about it.

And, so you listened to the lies of a known liar and abuser over the words of your innocent (not sinless) daughter who was telling you the truth. The abuse was real. He was, indeed, molesting her on a regular and consistent basis. And, her safety (emotionally and physically) was definitely at stake. But you believed him and not her, and so the abuse continued.

The Deception

Oh, by the way, your daughter’s name means “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1). And, her father, your husband (lust, lewdness), is the United Nations (alias the New World Order), and you are its citizens. And, he is indeed molesting human rights, via Agenda 21, and he is indeed engaged in all kinds of horrendous atrocities against the citizens (the people) of this world, and in direct opposition to that declaration of human rights, too.

Yet, from early childhood you were taught, if you live in the USA, to worship your government and to vow fidelity to your government with hand over heart. You were taught to sing patriotic songs of absolute loyalty and devotion to your government, and to see your government as knights in shining armor going throughout the world saving the damsels in distress.

You were taught from early on to see your government’s military forces as your heroes who were protecting your human rights, i.e. your freedoms, who were out there fighting off the “bad guys” on your behalf so that you could feel safe and secure that no danger could befall you.

Not only that, but then your husband began a campaign to accuse anyone who might be opposing him, and that accusation was that they were touting “conspiracy theories” or “fake news.” And, since you were an avid TV watcher, and a loyal follower of TV news, you believed their hypothesis that anyone opposing the “official news” must be a conspiracy theorist, i.e. a crazy person who doesn’t know what he is talking about. And, it worked!

So, you were brainwashed by your husband to believe his lies and to reject the truth. And, he repeated this within the church, too. A little bit at a time, to where it was barely noticeable, he altered the gospel message to make it more appealing to human flesh and less offensive to the people of this world. He did this so subtly and so slyly, in fact, that most people totally missed the transition from truth to lies, which is a mixture of truth and lies.

And, at the same time, he introduced into people’s minds that anyone teaching repentance (forsaking sin) and obedience to Christ – as necessary components of genuine faith, which secures for them eternal life with God – must be regarded as a legalist, judgmental, hateful and a Pharisee who teaches works-based salvation, and who is trying to bring people back under bondage to the law.

And so he demonized anyone teaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ, so that people were preconditioned to reject the truth and to believe the lies, instead. And, it worked!

It would appear that the majority of those who call themselves Christians in America have swung over to the cheap grace gospel, and they have rejected the true gospel as something evil that they are to discard.

And so many have rejected (stopped listening to) those who are proclaiming the gospel of repentance, and they are telling them that they are too “high and mighty,” and that they need to come down from their high positions, and that they need to compromise with the rest of folk for the sake of unity.

The Persecuted

Thus, those who are truth tellers (who are actually telling the truth) are not being believed, and the liars, deceivers and manipulators are being believed, instead. And, because so many are believing the liars, and they are not believing the abused, the abuse has, thus, escalated even more.

And, this is the condition of our world, at present, when so many people throughout the world are being abused, taken advantage of, raped, and slaughtered, and where followers of Jesus Christ are being severely persecuted and murdered for their faith in Jesus Christ, and all in the name of God and of Christianity, and of morality and good-will, and of protecting human rights and freedoms, and in the name of conquering evil, too.

And, this is being perpetrated largely by the US government and their military forces, including their guns for hire, i.e. the terrorists of the world.

For, the US government serves this beast New World Order of the Elite (wealthy and powerful rulers of the world). The US is, thus, this prostitute who rides the beast, i.e. the whore of Babylon, who will be judged by God for what she did to his servants, his messengers, who are bringing the truth of the gospel to the people so that many will be saved.

The Call

And, so God is calling out to his people to come out from among her, i.e. to come out from this church which has united itself with this evil government, and to be separate, holy unto the Lord, with him as our only God and Lord.

And, he is calling his people, and the people of this world, and those who profess his name, but by their lifestyles deny him, to forsake their sins, their idols, and the gods of men, and to make Jesus Christ their only Lord and master. He is calling out to all people to believe him, and to follow him in obedience and in surrender to his will for their lives.

If they will believe in Jesus, will surrender their lives to him, forsake their lives of sin, and follow him wherever he leads them, then he promises them eternal life with him, deliverance from their bondage to sin, and freedom to walk in his righteousness, all in his power and strength within them.

But, he doesn’t promise that life will be easy for us, and that nothing bad will happen to us, or that we will be well-liked, or that we won’t be hated, rejected and persecuted for our faith in him.

In fact, he tells us that faith in him is death to self and sin, and it is living to him and to his righteousness. And, thus, it will mean the world and the worldly (fleshly) church will hate us, persecute us, and put us to death for our testimonies for Jesus and for his gospel message.

But, there is no peace and no joy like there is in surrender to Jesus Christ. There is nowhere else you can go to be delivered from your bondage (addiction) to sin. There is no one else on this earth who will love us like he does. There is no greater joy than to know that you are in the center of God’s will, doing exactly what he has called you to do, and that you are impacting other people’s lives to also trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So, no matter what suffering we may have to endure for the sake of our faith in Jesus Christ, and for the sake of his gospel, it is worth it all just to know that we are serving our Lord, doing what he says, and that other people will also come to faith in Jesus Christ because of our faithfulness and our obedience to Christ in continuing to speak the truth in love, even when we are not believed, and even when we are abused, in return.

Gift of God 

An Original Work / October 25, 2016

Based off Various Scriptures

Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Died for us on a cross;

Conquered death, sin, and hell,

So, with Him, we would dwell.

For, by His grace, we are saved.

He set us free from all sin.

Thanks be to God for His Gift.

Through faith in Him, we’re forgiven.

Holy Spirit of God,

Given to us who believe,

Gives us new life in Christ;

Made to be just like Him.

We died with Christ to our sin.

New lives in Him we begin,

Walking with Christ day by day.

We read His Word, and we pray.

Jesus, He is our Lord.

Follow Him where He leads.

Tell the world of His grace.

We’ll see Christ face to face.

Soon He is coming again.

We’ll be forever with Him.

He’ll wipe our tears all away.

Oh, what a wonderful day!

https://vimeo.com/188931779

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

(1)       https://www.un.org/en/sections/universal-declaration/history-document/index.html

AFib

AFib (def.) – “Atrial fibrillation (also called AFib or AF) is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. At least 2.7 million Americans are living with AFib” (1).

A Fib (MW Thesaurus) – untruth, lie, falsehood, sham, pretense, deceive, misrepresentation, fake, pull the wool over somebody, fantasy.

Combining the two together, this would be a deception, an irregularity, a lie said persistently within the heart of someone, which then can lead to heart failure or heart complications. And, the heart is the core, the center of our being. It is our mind, soul, spirit and nature. So, this is about the impact that persistent lies, lies that deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ over one’s life, have on individuals’ lives, which can lead to spiritual and physical death. And, a large number of Americans, too, are living with a fib.

Psalm 14 ESV

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

    They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;

    there is none who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,

    to see if there are any who understand,

    who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;

    there is none who does good,

    not even one.

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers

    who eat up my people as they eat bread

    and do not call upon the Lord?

There they are in great terror,

    for God is with the generation of the righteous.

You would shame the plans of the poor,

    but the Lord is his refuge.

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

    When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,

    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

An Allegory

So, you and Henry got married. After a couple of days, he pulled out a chair for you at the table for you to sit on. For all appearances, he was being nice, a gentleman. But, just as you got ready to sit down, he pulled the chair out from underneath you, so you fell to the floor. But, he said he was sorry, so you forgave him.

Maybe a week later the same thing happened, but again, you forgave him. But, this kept going on for years, and quite consistently. But, every time you forgave him, and you trusted him again, but again he did the same thing.

Now this had been going on for 40 years, and for all 40 years you took his abuse, you forgave him, and you trusted him again, and you put your life in his hands, and you loved him, and nurtured him, and gave your life up for him in hopes that one day he would stop pulling that chair out from underneath you. But, he didn’t.

So, you cried out for help, only the help never came. No one would come to the rescue. No one would be willing to take your word for what was going on. No one would gather together a group of people to sit down with Henry and to speak truth to his heart and to hold him accountable for his actions. So, they either did nothing, or they took his side, and they treated you as though you were the one at fault, instead.

After all, it was your word against his. There were no witnesses, and even though you had been injured by this over and over again, it did not leave any visible marks to where you could prove that you were being abused. So, you clammed up, and you stopped trying to tell anyone you were being abused because they were not listening, and they would not reach out to help.

The Analogy

There are parallels in this allegory both to God’s relationship with man, and to the Lord’s servants’ relationship with humankind, as well. So, this is not going to be a literal word-for-word translation of this allegory, but rather it will be more of a paraphrase of the general thought, the general principle at work here, both in God’s relationship to humans, and to the saints of God’s relationship to their fellow humans, too.

**

God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. But, man sinned against God, and in doing so he circumvented the authority of God over his life, and he took advantage of God’s love relationship with him, i.e. he abused God’s grace. But, God forgave him. But, he disciplined him, too.

Then, Adam had two sons, Cain and Abel, and Cain became jealous of Abel, his brother, because God approved of Abel’s sacrifice to him, but he did not approve of Cain’s. So, Cain was very angry with God. But…

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen. 4:6-7)

But, Cain disregarded God’s counsel to him, and he allowed his anger to turn to bitterness, and that bitterness turned to hatred, and then Cain killed his brother because his hatred for his brother consumed him.

And, mankind continued to sin against God, symbolized here by the 40 years that God’s people wandered in the wilderness, most of whom died in the wilderness and did not get to go into the Promised Land, because of their disbelief in God and their refusal to obey him, and their continual pursuit of foreign gods and what was immoral, wicked and vile.

But, in all of this, God continued to reach out to humankind, to forgive them of their sins if they would only repent, and to love them, nurture them, and then eventually to give his life up for them on a cross so that they would go free from their slavery to sin, and so they would stop circumventing God’s authority over their lives. But, even with that, humans still denied the authority of God over their lives by refusing to believe in Jesus Christ.

For, Jesus was delivered over to death by the betrayal of one of his own disciples, one of his companions. Yet, the other disciples did not understand, although Jesus told them, for their eyes were blinded to the truth. And, so they all deserted him, and one of them denied him three times when he was falsely arrested, and falsely accused, and given a mock trial, and put to death on a cross. All those who participated in his crucifixion were all blinded to the truth. They did not see! They did not grasp the magnitude of it all.

So, humans persecuted Jesus Christ, God the Son, and they treated him as though he was a common criminal, when he had done no wrong. At his mock trial, he said little to defend himself, though, because the people weren’t listening. But, through his death on a cross, the work of our redemption was completed so that, through faith in Jesus Christ, we might be delivered out of our bondage to sin, and so we might walk in Christ’s righteousness.

And, after he died and rose again, and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell the lives of his followers. Then humans treated God’s servants, his messengers, the same as they had treated Jesus, and they are still doing that today.

Persecution of Christ/Christians

They are still circumventing the authority of God over their lives. They are still believing the lies of Satan over the Word of God. They are still trying to win God’s approval by their fleshly sacrifices while they refuse to obey the Lord in what he wants for their lives.

And, then they are resentful of those who do have God’s approval, and so they persecute them and they injure them, intentionally, fully meaning to cause them harm, and they even put some of them to death, or they murder them in their hearts.

They are still blaming others for their sins, too, including blaming Satan for tempting them and for tricking them, even though many of them have known the Word of God for forever, and they know better, and they should have been prepared, and they should have fled the temptation rather than remained in the throes of it so that they did give in to it.

They are still ignoring God’s counsel to them that they must obey the Lord and do what he says if they are to overcome their sinful practices, and to rule over them. And, they are ignoring his counsel which tells them that if they walk in disobedience to the Lord, and they continue to go their own way, that they will not have victory over the flesh, but it will rule their hearts.

They are still choosing to follow after false gods created in the minds of humans rather than to submit to the Lordship of Christ. They are still engaging in wicked and immoral deeds, in sexual immorality, slander, lying, gossip, and evil plots against others intended to destroy them, etc. They are still wandering in the wilderness, going around and round in circles, because they refuse to obey the Lord and do what he says.

And, they are still denying Jesus Christ by their lifestyles, and are closing their eyes and their ears to the truth, because the truth interferes with their lifestyles or their comfort, and they just want life to be fun and entertaining.

They are still betraying Jesus Christ by the words they speak and by the things that they do, and they are still persecuting his servants and his messengers, too, telling them to stop confronting them with the Holy One of Israel, and to get off that straight path, and to tell them pleasant things, things which will make them feel good, even in their sins.

And, yet some or many of these, which I have described above, claim to be followers of Jesus. Yet, they want God’s approval of their lives while they still continue in their sinful addictions. They want God to believe that they love him, and that they are really trying to do what he says, and that their hearts really are surrendered to the Lord. But, by their lifestyles, they deny him.

Oh, that this generation would turn their hearts over to the Lord Jesus and make him truly Lord (owner-master) of their lives, instead of them ruling their own lives, and expecting God to approve them. Lord, send a revival!

Gift of God 

An Original Work / October 25, 2016

Based off Various Scriptures

Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Died for us on a cross;

Conquered death, sin, and hell,

So, with Him, we would dwell.

For, by His grace, we are saved.

He set us free from all sin.

Thanks be to God for His Gift.

Through faith in Him, we’re forgiven.

Holy Spirit of God,

Given to us who believe,

Gives us new life in Christ;

Made to be just like Him.

We died with Christ to our sin.

New lives in Him we begin,

Walking with Christ day by day.

We read His Word, and we pray.

Jesus, He is our Lord.

Follow Him where He leads.

Tell the world of His grace.

We’ll see Christ face to face.

Soon He is coming again.

We’ll be forever with Him.

He’ll wipe our tears all away.

Oh, what a wonderful day!

https://vimeo.com/188931779

Monday, April 1, 2019

(1)       https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/what-is-atrial-fibrillation-afib-or-af

Treated as Criminals

Isaiah 53:1-3, 9-11 ESV

Who has believed what he has heard from us?

    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant,

    and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

    and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,

    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

And they made his grave with the wicked

    and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

    he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

    make many to be accounted righteous,

    and he shall bear their iniquities.

Who Has Believed?

Do you know what it is like to not be believed? You have told the truth. There is no deceit in your mouth. But, people don’t believe you. Instead, they are listening to the liars and the deceivers, to the wolves in sheep’s clothing who are out to destroy the church. They are listening to the manipulators, the actors, and the ones who play with people’s emotions, and who play mind games with people hoping to trip them up with their words.

If you have ever read or watched the “Left Behind” Series, then you will know what I am talking about when I say the name “Carpathia.” He was a very skilled liar and deceiver who manipulated many people into believing his lies. And, he was a depiction for us of what someone projected the antichrist might appear like, and the writer did a good job at depicting what he is like, too, for he represents Satan, and we know what he is like.

But, even though the scriptures have painted a good picture for us, too, of what this antichrist, this beast is like, still so many people, including many who call themselves Christians, are being duped by these master manipulators, and they are believing their lies over the word of God.

They don’t see the reality of what is happening in our day and time with regard to prophecy of scripture being fulfilled, or they choose to close their eyes to the truth because they don’t want to accept the reality of the times in which we now live. They want to go on living in a bubble, believing life will always be as it is now, but it isn’t. It isn’t the same as it was, and it never will be again.

For, the things that they did to Jesus, they are now doing to his saints, his holy ones, his bride, his temple. And, if you live in America, and you don’t see that this is happening yet, then get ready, for it is coming to America, too. It is already here, but it just is not that visible yet. But, it soon will be, most assuredly.

World Conquerors

There is something called Agenda 21 that not many people know about, or that they don’t know the truth about. This is basically the global blueprint for the takeover of the world (see Rev. 13). It is the business plan for world domination by the beast New World Order. And, it is presently being fulfilled. And, the evidence of this is everywhere you look.

Take for instance an article I read about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. What he laid out in his article is Agenda 21, through and through (1).

What has been in the works for some time now is a drive to control freedom of speech on the internet, and everywhere, in reality. And, it looks a lot like what the apostles of the New Testament experienced in their day. They were charged to not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:19-20 ESV

In America, though, it isn’t the name of Jesus that makes them cringe. It is his true gospel message that he taught, that John the Baptist taught, and that the NT apostles taught that causes the uproar, because it confronts people in their sin, it warns of judgment, it calls for repentance and obedience to Christ and to his word, and it calls for forsaking sinful lifestyles and for a life of holiness, instead. And, that makes people uncomfortable.

Unity with Beast

So, the whole object of Agenda 21 is to bring the entire world under the subjugation of this beast New World Order and its one world religion. So, in order to do that, they have to get everyone to unify with them in their goals. And, if they can’t get people to willingly unify with them, then they will force unity, or they will take you out, plain and simple as that.

So, they have to demonize Christians and the gospel to prove their case that it is bad to separate ourselves from other people, and that it is bad to claim our belief is the only true belief, and it is bad to tell people they have to change their ways or that the eternal fires of hell is what awaits them.

And, so they introduced a lot of their goals in the church some years ago. And, they tried out this whole thing of getting people of different denominations to unify under one business plan, and one purpose, and it worked. And, I saw this in person. I saw how all these churches of different denominations were all following the same business plan for how to grow their churches, and it was a “Purpose Driven” plan which united them all.

And, I witnessed how, no matter what church you attended, they gave this “unity” speech to intimidate people into unifying with them and their man-made goals, and how they demonized anyone who didn’t, and how they made examples of them to the rest of the church, and how they accused them falsely of not obeying the word of God because they didn’t unify with the man-made goals. But, that was a twisting of the Word of God, for it is God we are to unite with, and the one mind we are to be of is His.

And, they also cheapened God’s grace, altered Jesus’ character, and they diluted the gospel message to make it more appealing to the flesh, but also more conducive to a one world religion where everyone unites together and no one gets in anyone else’s “lane,” but they keep their religion to themselves, and they, instead, all just become “good deed doers” to make everyone feel comfortable and at ease.

Unity Governments

There is a lot of terminology that is used over and over again in these news articles which points directly to Agenda 21. And, one of those phrases is “unity governments.” And, this is all about bringing all the nations of the world into unity with this beast one world totalitarian regime.

You will hear over and over again that separatism is bad and that unity is good, that independence is bad, but that collectivism is good.

And, this carries over into our Christian faith, too. For Jesus told us to come out from the world and to be separate (unlike, different) from the world. But, they say that is a bad thing, that we all need to come together as one people with one voice, which is the voice of this beast.

What they want is compromise, compromise of our faith in Jesus Christ and with the world. We can’t have an impasse between two opposites, they say. We have to find common ground, which is really not agreed upon by both parties, but which is one-sided, i.e. the side of the beast. It is everyone moving into his corner and away from national governments, and away from independence, and away from freedom of religion.

And, one of their ploys they use is what Satan used, too, and it is the twisting of scripture to their advantage, taken out of context, to try to accuse followers of Christ of being disobedient to his Word so that they can discredit them and thus discredit the gospel, too. And, the Pharisees did this to Jesus, too, on numerous occasions, because they wanted to take him out.

God’s Will

But, it was God’s will that Jesus should suffer in this way, that he would be falsely accused, treated as a common criminal, although he had done no wrong. It was God’s will that he would be considered a liar, and that people would not believe his message, and that they would hang him on a cross to die, even though he was not deserving of this death.

It was God’s will, for through Jesus’ death on that cross we can now be delivered from our bondage to sin and we can walk in Christ’s righteousness and holiness. And, it is God’s will that we suffer for the name of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel, too, and that we be falsely accused and persecuted, and that some of us be put to death because we refuse to compromise with this beast New World Order.

For, God is allowing all this for his purposes. He is allowing wicked and evil men (and women) to go their own way (see Rom. 1) and to do things that ought not to be done. And, when God gives them over to their lusts, people will get hurt, and the gospel will suffer ill repute, and liars and thieves will be honored while the faithful and trustworthy will be treated as criminals.

But, just as Jesus’ suffering and death meant the salvation of many lives, our suffering unjustly for the sake of his gospel is also intended for the furtherance of the gospel message and for the salvation of many lives who might not have otherwise heard the gospel if we were not motivated, by our suffering, to proclaim the truth in its fullness and with great conviction.

So, not all that is bad ends bad. God will use all of this suffering for his purposes in people’s lives to make them holy, to purify them, to humble them, to make them to where they will rely on him and not on themselves, and to prune them and to conform them to his likeness. And, he will use the persecution of his saints to bring many more people to faith in Jesus Christ. And, one day Jesus will return for us, and our suffering will all be over. Amen!

Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It All

Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson

You paid much too high a price for me, Your tears, Your blood, the pain –

To have my soul just stirred at times yet never truly changed.

You deserve a fiery love that won’t ignore your sacrifice

Because You paid much too high a price.

https://youtu.be/FeNA1NoJJH4

Monday, April 1, 2019

(1)       https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47762091

*Disclaimer: sometimes these articles change information.