Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,067
“Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.” (Galatians 2:4-6 ESV)
When our lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, to do his will, to go where he sends us, and to say whatever he gives us to say, according to the truth of God’s holy word, we are going to be faced with opposition as Jesus and his NT apostles were, and as were the prophets of God before them. And much of this opposition is going to come from others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who are false to the faith, or who are immature in their walks of faith and in obedience to the Lord, many of whom are deceived by the lies.
And some of this opposition is going to come from those who are deliberately pretending to be followers of Jesus Christ, and/or ministers of the gospel, who have the expressed intent to deceive and to oppose the truth of God’s holy word. So we need to be armored up with our spiritual armor given us by God to protect our minds and hearts against the wiles of the devil who wants nothing more than to trick and deceive us and/or to oppose us with such fierce opposition that we will want to give up the fight.
But to them we must not yield, not even for a moment. We must not submit to their trickery nor be frightened by their criticisms and their hateful remarks. We must not let the opinions of others deter us from following the Lord in obedience and from doing his will. We should pray, and we should seek God’s face, and it is good if we inquire of the Lord as to if we are getting anything wrong that needs to be corrected. But once we are assured that we are in the center of God’s will, we must continue in God’s strength.
For the truth of the gospel of Christ, of our salvation, needs to go out to the people of the world, no matter what roadblocks we may face along the way. The salvation of human lives from sin, and their walks of faith in obedience to the Lord has to be more important to us than whether or not other people will like us and receive us or if they will falsely accuse us of wrongdoing and reject us and cast us aside as unwanted and as unnecessary. If we want to obey the Lord, we must be willing to accept a life of persecution.
But accepting persecution as par for the course of following our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands is not without pain and suffering. If we are loving caring people who love God and our fellow humans, we will feel the pain of rejection and of being misunderstood and of being ostracized and criticized and mocked and laughed at and gossiped about. And it will be a lonely life. And sometimes we will cry out our suffering to the Lord. For we are not unaffected by such treatment. But obedience to God must trump all.
We must put God first and above all else. Doing his will has to be more important to us than our own comfort. Sharing the truth of the gospel with the people of the world, and their salvation and eternal life, has to be more important to us than how other people perceive us. For if we are committed to the Lord, to doing his will, in a day and age when the church has become like the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings, then we are going to “stand out like a sore thumb” and we’ll appear as oddballs, for sure.
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; 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; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Oceans
Songwriters: Joel Houston / Matt Crocker / Salomon Lighthelm
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
And I will call upon Your Name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Caution: This link may contain ads
When our lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, to do his will, to go where he sends us, and to say whatever he gives us to say, according to the truth of God’s holy word, we are going to be faced with opposition as Jesus and his NT apostles were, and as were the prophets of God before them. And much of this opposition is going to come from others who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who are false to the faith, or who are immature in their walks of faith and in obedience to the Lord, many of whom are deceived by the lies.
And some of this opposition is going to come from those who are deliberately pretending to be followers of Jesus Christ, and/or ministers of the gospel, who have the expressed intent to deceive and to oppose the truth of God’s holy word. So we need to be armored up with our spiritual armor given us by God to protect our minds and hearts against the wiles of the devil who wants nothing more than to trick and deceive us and/or to oppose us with such fierce opposition that we will want to give up the fight.
But to them we must not yield, not even for a moment. We must not submit to their trickery nor be frightened by their criticisms and their hateful remarks. We must not let the opinions of others deter us from following the Lord in obedience and from doing his will. We should pray, and we should seek God’s face, and it is good if we inquire of the Lord as to if we are getting anything wrong that needs to be corrected. But once we are assured that we are in the center of God’s will, we must continue in God’s strength.
For the truth of the gospel of Christ, of our salvation, needs to go out to the people of the world, no matter what roadblocks we may face along the way. The salvation of human lives from sin, and their walks of faith in obedience to the Lord has to be more important to us than whether or not other people will like us and receive us or if they will falsely accuse us of wrongdoing and reject us and cast us aside as unwanted and as unnecessary. If we want to obey the Lord, we must be willing to accept a life of persecution.
But accepting persecution as par for the course of following our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands is not without pain and suffering. If we are loving caring people who love God and our fellow humans, we will feel the pain of rejection and of being misunderstood and of being ostracized and criticized and mocked and laughed at and gossiped about. And it will be a lonely life. And sometimes we will cry out our suffering to the Lord. For we are not unaffected by such treatment. But obedience to God must trump all.
We must put God first and above all else. Doing his will has to be more important to us than our own comfort. Sharing the truth of the gospel with the people of the world, and their salvation and eternal life, has to be more important to us than how other people perceive us. For if we are committed to the Lord, to doing his will, in a day and age when the church has become like the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings, then we are going to “stand out like a sore thumb” and we’ll appear as oddballs, for sure.
[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; 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; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]
Oceans
Songwriters: Joel Houston / Matt Crocker / Salomon Lighthelm
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
And I will call upon Your Name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Caution: This link may contain ads
