Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words to eternal life!

Today as always my prayers are for the body of Christ. And in doing so I wanted to discuss in His Word where Jesus told all that were near that He was the bread of life that came down from heaven. He went on to say that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, we will have no life in us. At the hearing of this saying many including some disciples turned and no longer followed Him. His disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” Jesus asked the twelve, do you also want to go away? And Peter answered with the most poignant statement, he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words to eternal life!

Beloved, I have seen so many believers turn away from the Lord for so many reasons. Often times it is because the Words that God has spoken are hard in their hearing. In the example above, I believe, the statement was hard to them because they truly did not understand. The same is true for some believers today. Many fail to understand that what God has spoken is for the benefit of all of us in every facet of our lives. Sometimes we don’t understand, especially initially, and then as we continue on in obedience we come to appreciate the value and power of His Word. (Because we benefit) However, honestly in some things I believe we will never completely understand because it has not been given to us to know all things. What we must comprehend is that His Word blesses us spiritually, physically and mentally. Every Word that God has spoken is perfect.  Regardless of our understanding we must trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding. And remember that His Word is spirit and it is life.

In our hearing we can believe and perceive His Word as hard because of the desires and lusts of our own hearts. However, God is not hard. Our hearts can be hard and our wills unyielding. However, today I want to remind you of what is indeed hard. Life is hard. And life without hope is hard. This life without the ability to pray and have confidence that God hears us is hard. Never knowing who God is, or what His will is is difficult. Not knowing whom or what to trust and rely in is extremely hard. Having a broken heart without the expectation of comfort is hard. And death without the promise of eternal life is a hardness I pray we never experience.

Everyday we as His people must focus our hearts and minds on what is true. His Word is true. And God is not a man that He should lie. We must come to understand that we all fall short of the glory of God, we will not understand all things, and life on this earth is hard. But we must equally understand that God is for us, so much so that He gave His life that we might have life. We are not alone, He said He would not leave us as orphans and gave us His Holy Spirit. He also said, we shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him and endure. And lastly He said, Lo I am with you always, even until the end of the world.

In light of His Word, the next time you think, "that's hard" you like me, must cry out within your heart, saying Lord, to whom shall I go? You have the Words to eternal life!

We must endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ!

This blog is written to encourage the church of God who is working out their salvation with fear and trembling yet at times grows weary in well doing. Therefore I want to talk to you about enduring hardship or hardness (another translation). Let’s examine what hardship is for the believer.  Simply put hardship is troubles or evils. For the believer these troubles or evils are due to our beliefs and righteous standings for Christ sake. Let me be absolutely clear, I am not talking about the troubles as a result of sin or foolishness. I am talking about holding fast to the truth of God’s Word in the midst of incredible odds or circumstances against us.  Here are some examples of hardness that we must endure:

·       Losing friends and being misunderstood by loved ones because we are committed to living a Godly life and His righteousness has caused division.

·       Being persecuted or scorned because we believe in and walk according to His Word. We strive to live holy and keep ourselves unspotted from the world regardless of what is popular (which is ever changing).

·       Facing verbal assault, whispers and backbiting when we speak the truth of God’s Word without compromise.

·     Being ridiculed because we refuse to participate in the filth of the world through fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, thief, drunkenness, revelries, etc.

·       Being demeaned within our own faith because we are too zealous for the things of God and/or take things too extreme or literal (in their words).

The beauty and difficulty of enduring is that it is a process. We seldom if ever must endure for just a moment. The hardships we endure are real and cause true angst. They can cause sleeplessness, stress, turmoil, heartache, tears and fears. The physical and sometimes mental responses we have to hardships are part of our humanity; they are not a lack of faith. All of us no matter how mature or spiritual must refocus our hearts and minds on His Word when enduring hardship! We must always remind ourselves that Jesus endured all that we do and endured the death of the cross and yet was sinless. Also, He says if you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. Knowing also that He says if we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him.  Hallelujah! The beauty of enduring hardships is in the learning of the faithfulness of God. How will we ever truly know the promises of God if we don’t endure until we attain? How will we experience the fullness of His will without enduring through the discomfort of our flesh? There is a purpose for our enduring. Endurance produces character; it produces the character of God. Our endurance is a necessary ingredient in our maturity. For he that endures until the end shall be saved.

In speaking of hardships, my beloved I could spend days rehearsing the faithfulness of God toward me as I held unto His Word. And since we all know that God is no respecter of persons He will do the same for all that uphold His Word. I have learned He comforts the brokenhearted, He upholds the righteous, He gives mercy to the merciful and the pure in heart shall see God (He will reveal Himself) He will show us His salvation!

Be encouraged beloved for He that has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ!

  

A little leaven, leavens the whole lump!

One of the subject matters dearest to my heart regarding the Word of God and His church is that of sound doctrine.  Sound doctrine is; Christians whose teachings, instructions and precepts are free from mixture and error. I have personally been affected and afflicted because of false doctrines and am eye witness to their destruction and delusion of countless believers. False doctrines are any teachings, instructions and precepts that are mixed with philosophies and commandments of men, doctrines of demons, lies and errors.

Unfortunately most believers readily accept any teachings or preaching spoken under the category or label of “Christian” from almost any vehicle. And I would not have you ignorant my brethren. Doctrines/teachings seem to be simple and harmless to the unlearned but upon examination by the Word of God we must comprehend that the teachings we are exposed to and embrace not only have an effect on our behaviors they influence and even determine our understanding of God Himself. Therefore doctrines can enhance our walk with God by establishing our sure footing in Him or hinder us so greatly we never come to know Him.

Our Lord warned us to take heed and beware of the leaven/yeast (teachings/doctrines) of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Most of us don’t know or have never met either a Pharisee or Sadducee yet we fail to understand that the same spirit within them is within many of our leaders today. And Jesus warned us of them and said a little of their leaven will make the whole lump rise. Meaning a little of these false teachings will make us entirely affected. I remember so clearly that I was so inundated with the teachings of my pastor that when I read the Word of God I heard his preaching as I read. For a very long time I didn’t realize or even understand the danger of what I had allowed to happen to me. And it took me years to rid myself of man’s teachings and precepts to hear what the Word of God was truly saying. And I found Him in truth, purity and beauty. Beloved, it is our responsibility to know God and to search for Him as hidden treasure. The Word of God tells us “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. We test all spirits through the examination of His Word, to determine if they are of God.

I wish that all our trust could be in our leaders. And that we could rely on them to not allow any false teachings amongst us. But the Word of God tells us this is not so. His Word tells us that it is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in man. Our goal as Christians is know God through His Son whom we must believe in order to be saved. We can not allow any to pervert or divert that objective. And we must know Him for ourselves.

The Word of God speaks to our hearts about how to have life in Him and life abundantly. The Word of God is spirit and it is life. Too many teachings are about natural living. If we were to follow the Words of God the natural things of living would take care of themselves. Why do we need counseling about the issues that we do, because we fail to obey that which God has said? Yet expect our leaders to give us wisdom! There is no wisdom greater than the Word of God. His Word is pure and easy to understand with an open heart and ears earnest to hear Him. Yet He said, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Note: based upon the teachings I had accepted whenever I read verses like this, in my hearing, this was talking about ALL the other people that didn’t fellowship at “our church”. Yet in NO way is this speaking of someone else. In fact it is speaking directly to us!

God’s Word says “these people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”  Therefore I encourage you to not let this heart be in you. Give all diligence to the Word of God and His teachings. His Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you in all truth. Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts. Examine all that you hear through the light of God’s Word and never settle for any teachings that does not produce the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  

Remember Beloved, that “a little” leaven, leavens the whole lump!