So many entered this year with so much hope that their
fortunes will turn for the good this year; optimistic that the year will bring
great and pleasant surprises their way. However, some saints entered with so
much pain, as whole families were wiped out by brigands and the enemies of the
Cross. One wonders how one can minister to such hearts carrying such awful and terrible
pain. But our Father in Heaven, that sits above all the affairs of people is
aware of all that has happened, happening and will happen. From Him we draw
sustenance and hope that even in these times, He will see us through and we
will win because He had already won the battle. It is unfortunate, that these
happenings are causing the strong to stammer and stumble on their faith.
Horation Spafford penned a hymn that went on to be one of the greatest hymns of
our time: ‘It is well with my soul’. Singing the song, one would wonder the
pain that he must have gone through, the ability he had to overcome such pain and to
pen down such a great and encouraging poem. The song is a testament of a heart
that had been beaten and struck down but not crushed or destroyed. It was not
penned from the flesh but from a spirit that has become intertwined with the
Holy Spirit. Such experience cannot be gotten except one truly serves God with
his spirit and not his flesh, as so many are doing: “For God, whom I serve with my spirit…” (Romans 1:9a). Beloved, in
as much as the year promises to be great, but know that because the Lord’s
return is at hand, the enemy had equally stepped up his level of wickedness.
Our shelter and refuge is and will always be: “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the
shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my
God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:1-2). As wicked (increasingly so) as these
times are, our defense is to cling to the Lord as our vital necessity. The days
of mouthing the right words about God are gone. We must live each day in
experiential knowledge of God as we daily carry out His will!
The Lord Jesus
declared to the woman by the well: “But
an hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such to worship Him. God is
Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John
4:23-24). Coming to Christ is not so that we can live as we please or in some
rules that gratify our fleshly desires or our ideas of piousness. Coming to Christ is a
surrender of all and allowing Him to use us at all levels we are (disciplines
and all) to bring about His glory. Your discipline is actually designed to
showcase the power of God, if you indeed look at it from the eyes of God. Every
experience is to bring to fore the glory and power of His Word: “From the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been
clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people
are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
If we believe that we are indeed His
sons living in His will, the Bible tells us we have peace with Him through our
Lord Jesus Christ, because we have been declared righteous by faith (Romans
5:1). However this position does not preclude or insulate us from grief,
disappointments, persecutions and the likes as we saw with Horatio Spafford,
rather such happenstances should not make us turn our backs at Him, but make
our faith stronger in Him because our spirit is one with His: “…But we also
rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,
endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This
hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts
through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
Beloved, no matter what the enemy had thrown,
or is planning to throw (after all, that is his ministry), understand this, the
Lord Jesus Christ is near to save you and deliver you from the nets of darkness
because you are one with Him (Psalm 90:3-16). Therefore, don’t be discouraged,
or live a careless life because of the things you are faced with daily, rather,
turn to Him and release your spirit to Him in obedience because He is able to
keep you in all ramifications to the end: “Now to Him Who is able to protect
you from stumbling and to make you stand in the Presence of His glory,
blameless and with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ
our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now, and
forever, Amen” (Jude 1:24-25). God bless you.
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