We are still on this text and yes, we're still dealing with the frustrations and disillusionment of many a Christian brother or sister who feel that God is not hearing them and is leaving them to rot in their afflictions.
So far, we have seen that this feeling is the direct result of faulty foundations in the Christian community borne out of faulty teaching. Jesus Christ was very clear in telling us that in this world we will have tribulation. In John 16:33, He said "These things have I spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
I wonder if we understand what that means, you know, to have tribulation. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary meaning of tribulation is "distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution; also, a trying experience. This is a middle English word with its Latin origin in the word 'tribulare' which is to press, oppress, 'tribulum' which is threshing and, 'terere' which is to rub. The word tribulation is synonymous with the following: affliction, agony, anguish, excruciation, hurt, misery, torment, pain, straits, torture, travail, distress, woe. Nowhere in there do I find any pleasantness.
Not to belabor the point, but we really need to press into our psyche that Christianity is no walk in the park! But as Charles H Spurgeon said in his daily devotional "Morning and Evening," "But this affliction works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus." (Emphasis is mine).
Christianity is no "feel good religion" as many have been made to believe. Were it so, why would we need to totally lean and depend on Jesus? Why would we need the sufficiency of His grace and the cover of His Almighty power? Is it to feel good? I think not!
We need His constant cover and provision because ours is a walk fraught with life threatening danger. You see, the moment you make a profession of faith in Jesus, you declare war on that unrelenting enemy of our Heavenly Father, who has a perfect hatred for our Lord Jesus. That's what you did, and most times, I believe, unwittingly.
Remember though, that you have taken sides with the One to whom all power belongs, the Controller of the Universe, the Creator of all things created. He is the Lord of Hosts, the great I Am. He is the Beginning, (the middle) and the End. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (He gives you faith to accept Him and He it is who keeps you in the faith). He is the Uncreated One who has no beginning and no end and there is no searching of His understanding. His Spirit hovered over the chaos that was earth and by the spoken Word of His mouth, He created order and every living creature. Out of the dust of the earth, which dust He created, He formed man, and breathing the breath of lives into him, man became a living soul!
Remember also, that you cannot straddle the fence or take no sides. By default, through the fall of Adam, you took sides with the enemy of God and therefore, with your enemy. Even before you decided to take sides with Jesus, when you were yet an enemy of God, you were friends with your own enemy! How utterly pathetic and hopeless is such a state of being, to be an enemy to oneself.
What then does it mean to take sides with the Almighty God? Simply put, it is to seek His kingdom. How do we seek His Kingdom? We start by taking sides with Jesus, by turning our hearts to Him, accepting the work of substitution He did for us and by faith, to lay our hands on the "Lord's completed sacrifice, that by accepting it, we may obtain the benefit of it." C H Spurgeon, Faith's Checkbook.
This is the first covenant we get to cut with a covenant keeping God. Tomorrow, we will talk about the second covenant, and hopefully by then, begin a new and real walk with the Anchor, Lover, and Shepherd of our souls.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I come before you with the complete sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary. I lay hold by faith upon this substitution for me and accept Him as my Savior and my Salvation. I come to you by way of the blood of Jesus and receive your acceptance of this penitent sinner into the Beloved. I understand that you are a covenant keeping God and so I cut this covenant with you.
Thank you Lord Jesus for saving me, and for keeping me saved, in Jesus' name, Amen.
#momomily2013
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