What It Means
To
Live by Your Faith
And
WHY?
The
strong in faith are to listen to God and live in Him. God has a purpose
for each of us and is preparing each of us for eternal life with Him.
The
ever increasing afflictions and disasters are demanding more
steadfastness in our faith and the weak are falling away. Just as Paul
was accused by his fellow Christians of suffering caused by his lack of
faith many of us are similarly accused. It is sad but many of these
accusations emanate from the pulpits that are to be our guides and not
to exude a ‘holier than thou’ attitude.
The
constant harassment of Paul continued until his dying day and you too
can expect that there are some that will continue their harassment of
you until your dying day as well.
It
is very difficult to explain just why righteous people are subjected to
such difficulties. Why anyone, especially one professing to be
Christian, would even try to make others believe that they are somehow
more worthy of God’s love is beyond me. Maybe it is meant to teach us
‘patience,’ or, ‘to trust Him more.’
I,
for one, see any testing of my faith as a reason to pray and place my
trust in Him and to shrug off my burden and allow Him to carry it. That
allows me to void myself of any anger I may have felt by the slight I
was subjected to and to forgive and forget the thought of anyone even
thinking he, or she, is somehow more deserving than me.
There are some amongst you that have suffered similar ‘afflictions,’ and, ‘trials.’
These,
‘afflictions and trials,’ are only meant to strengthen each of us for
our ultimate service in glory! We are being prepared for our service on
the other side!
Think
about it! The very day you committed your life to trust God, no matter
the consequence, He knew of the trials you would face and had to
overcome. He knew that you would be one to love and trust Him no matter
what! He knew that you, in your love of Him, would be an overcomer!
I remain convinced that right now, this very day, we are facing times that will lead to the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 22: 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
5There
will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the
light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will
reign for ever and ever.
Revelation 5: 10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
These
Scriptures all speak of activity. Each suggests that God is preparing
us now for what He wants to entrust to us in the new world. Simply put,
He has plans for us that are beyond our ability to comprehend.
As we are brought to eternal life we will be in God’s service continually.
Ephesians 2: 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in
order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of
his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus
If
you really think on this you will come to realize we will hear
testimonies attesting to the Lord’s merciful kindness for ages to come.
We will hear great and powerful singing as we hear and see the
unimaginable praise lauded upon Him who created us. I, for one, cannot
totally imagine the sight and sounds of the millions of redeemed that
will come marching in!
Just
as you, I too am confronted with trials that humble me and cause me to
ask the Lord, ‘Please teach me what lesson I am to learn from this
present situation.’ The answer I am receiving is that all I go through
is to prepare me for my service of Him is His Kingdom.
Brothers,
sisters, it is my firm belief that we are being ‘weaned’ from
everything that is of this world. It is as if we were experiencing the
pains of being birthed! God is allowing us to realize that we are simply
human, weak of strength and we must cease trying to do thing our way
and to trust in Him for everything. We must allow Him to lead us and stop trying to lead Him to do things our way!
There
is an old time hymn, actually a gospel song that goes like this: “By
and by / When the morning comes / When all the saints of God are
gathered home / We will tell the story how we’ve overcome / And we’ll
understand it better / By and by.”
I
have never doubted God and His goodness. I have always been a strong
believer in the new world to come. When I arrive in heaven and get the
opportunity I will be one to attest to the fact that whenever I was in
need, Jesus, as a Person of God heard my prayers and came to my rescue.
I hope that I have adequately delivered to each of you, and to any that hear these words a sermon that will lift your hearts and you spirits to see that God is in control and we must allow Him to do His will.
(Closing prayer)
Almighty
God, our King and Father, please accept our praise and our undying
worship. You are our God and it is to You that we pray. It is to You
that we turn in times of need and we now turn to You asking for the
strength to turn our earthly fears and concerns over to You trusting
that You have the answers and wisdom to solve anything and everything.
Father,
we look forward to the day we will shed these earthly bodies as we come
into Your presence to serve Your every wish. Until that day, Lord, be
with us and continue to show us the mercies we need as we are weak and
in total reliance on You.
You
have sent Your Holy Spirit to guide us in our lives and we ask that You
enter the lives and hearts of those that oppose us and lead them to
You.
Lord,
we ask Your protection of our military, the judges, police, elected
officials and any that is charged with seeing to our safety. Touch them
with Your Mighty Hand and steer their thoughts towards You.
Lord,
we also ask that You shed Your mercies upon our Christian brothers and
sisters throughout the world and comfort them. Protect them and see to
their needs.
These
things we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who is
One with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever,
--
Pastor Lee S Gliddon Jr
God's Word Christian Ministry
Conservative Patriot http://conpats.blogspot.com
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