Dear ladies,
Though I know that we are in the middle of a study on the Fruit of the Spirit, I thought you may benefit from reading a devotional I wrote to present to a local women's shelter tomorrow morning. I find the passages of Scripture helpful and pray that you will, too. Though it is titled the same as one of our own Priceless Pearls devotionals, the Scripture references and devotional differ. At any rate, it is on my heart to share it so I am doing so now. I do plan to finish the Fruit of the Spirit study soon. May the Lord bless you all! Amy
Monthly Matt's House Women's Shelter Devotional
He Who is in You…
Verse for this Month: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” I John 4:4
This passage gives me much hope. It tells us that no matter how rough things get, God is stronger than our burdens. No matter how sad we are, God’s love is great enough to give us hope. And no matter how much people ridicule us, Jesus was treated even worse and He has compassion and love for us. We read in Hebrews 4:14-16: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” This passage teaches us that Jesus experienced many hardships while on the earth. Because of this, He has great empathy for us. If we will trust and obey our Lord, He will take care of us and help us through our troubles.
God never promised us that we would not have troubles here on earth. In fact, Jesus warned that people had persecuted the prophets before Him, they would crucify Him, and they would surely persecute those who follow Him. If we take up our cross and follow Jesus, as we are told to do in Matthew 16:24, then we can expect to be persecuted by those who rebel against God. This may sound depressing and hopeless. Why fight for the Lord if we know that we will be persecuted?
Let us read Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:10-12: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
The reason that we face adversity and trials in life for Jesus’ sake is because He died to save us from our sins. If we obey Him, and are willing to stand up for Him, then we know that we will be rewarded by living together in peace and happiness with our Lord in heaven!
Sometimes we may start to lose faith and our present troubles weigh us down. We begin to lose sight of God’s precious promises. Paul faced many great trials during His ministry for Christ. He lists some of the things that he faced in 2 Corinthians 11:25: He labored abundantly; he received stripes above measure, was in prison frequently and faced death often. He writes, “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” Surely Paul faced great troubles and distress! Why would he do these things knowing that his life on earth would be full of troubles? Paul had already written the answer to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 4:14-18: “knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
So we see that the things we do for God are remembered by Him and will be rewarded in heaven. The glory of heaven is worth anything we can face on the earth. Paul also wrote another reason for us to face the struggles of this world for the sake of the Lord in Romans 8:16-18: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” We are told here that even the biggest problems we face on earth are nothing compared to the wonderful beauty and glory of heaven! Everything will pale in comparison once we see God in His full glory, and we will be in our own glorious body so that we can live forever there with our God.
People of God have always faced trials and distress. Hebrews 11 is considered to be the Faith chapter of the Bible. In it are listed various men and women of God who were faithful. In Hebrews 11:35-40 we read of the terrible things that some of the Old Testament people faced: some “were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.” These people were persecuted in horrible ways, even though they had not received the promise yet. Christ was the promised Savior, and He had not come to earth yet. But the people clung to the hope and faith in God that He would save them. Now, we live on the other side of Christ’s earthly ministry and His death, burial and resurrection. We can read in the Bible how everything that was prophesied about Him in the Old Testament was fulfilled by Him in the New Testament. Surely, we should have much faith since we know that Christ has come to save us of our sins and that He will indeed come again.
Yet not everyone will enjoy the great promises of God. Some will not obey God’s Word while others will fall away, unwilling to endure the trials that come with serving God. Jesus said in John 8:31-32: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” God promises a rest for the weary, but only if we obey Him and remain faithful. Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7:21 that “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven”. And Hebrews 5:9 teaches us that Jesus learned obedience to God by the things He suffered, and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
How do we know what things we must obey? God revealed His Word by inspiration of the Holy Spirit to several men who wrote the various books of the Bible. These words are the living Word of God – they are not man’s thoughts but God’s thoughts. We can only know what we must do in order to please God by reading His Word and obeying it. Just as we would need to read an instruction manual to know how to put together a cabinet that we receive in pieces, we must read the Instruction Manual of Life, which is the Holy Bible, to know how to live and how to die in the Lord.
We read in the Bible that in order to become a Christian, we must obey the following commands.
* Acts 3:19-20 tells us to confess our sins in repentance: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you – even Jesus.” Here we see that our sins are forgiven if we first repent.
* Next, we must confess our faith in Jesus verbally. Matthew 10:32 says “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge Him before my Father in heaven.” We cannot expect Christ to mediate between God and us if we won’t tell others about Him (“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” - I Timothy 4:5).
* In addition, we must confess our belief in His death, burial & resurrection through baptism for salvation. Rom 6:3-4 states, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” We learn in I Peter 3:21 that “…this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”
* Furthermore, we must confess Him in daily discipleship. Luke 14:27 states “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Carrying our cross means to bear the hardship of being Christ’s follower, accept the persecution that we will surely endure and follow Him no matter what the cost. Jesus Himself said he had no where to lay his head – His pillow was a stone. But look at the glory He enjoys now, with God in Heaven. And we can have this joy, too!
* We must also confess Him in fellowship with other believers. Acts 2:42 says “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The Christians enjoyed fellowship with each other – and we can too. By worshipping with other Christians, we can share in the joy of salvation with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 commands us to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some…” We can see how important it is for Christians to meet together to worship God, partake of the Lord’s Supper and encourage one another.
* We must live faithful lives, serving God and our fellow man. 2 Corinthians 13:5 states, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” We must continually examine our lives and our actions to ensure that we are living as God wants us to live. And in I Timothy 2:1-3, we learn that we should offer “requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving… for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior…” God wants us to love Him and to love one another, but we cannot do that if we don’t obey Him. Furthermore, God wants us to share His Word with others around us. In I Thessalonians 5:14, we read “and we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” We must help each other to be strong and live faithful lives.”
If we become Christians and live faithfully, there are many promises God has made to us. In I Corinthians 10:13, we are told that God helps us to overcome temptations: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
We are not left alone to fight. In fact, Christ has already won the battle over sin and death. We just have to remain on His side. One of the most inspirational passages in the Bible teaches us that heaven will be worth it all. "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” - Revelation 21:3-4. Heaven will surely be worth all of our trials and sorrows.
Written: January 15, 2011
For Matt’s House Shelter devotional – January 16, 2011
Contact information:
North Brandon church of Christ
1029 Hwy 471
Brandon, MS 39042
(601) 825-6497
http://www.northbrandonchurchofchrist.org/
