Sunday, May 3, 2020

Expect Trouble

“In this world you will have trouble.” John 16:33 

Believer, are you asking the reason for this? Look up to your heavenly Father, and see Him in all His purity and holiness. Do you know that you are to be like Him one day? Will you be conformed to His image easily? Won’t it require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify you? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of your corruptions and make you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48)? Next, Christian, turn your eye downward. Do you know what enemies you have beneath your feet? You were once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Do you think Satan will leave you alone? No, he will be always after you, because “he prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT). Therefore, Christian, expect trouble when you look below. Then look around yourself. Where are you? You are in an enemy’s country, as a stranger and a sojourner. The world is not your friend. If it is, you are not God’s friend—for the person who is a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4). Be assured that you will find adversaries everywhere. When you lie down to sleep, imagine that you are resting on a battlefield; when you walk, suspect an ambush behind every tree. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so will the trials of earth be sharpest to you. Finally, look into your own heart and observe what is there: sin and self are still within. Even if you had no devil to tempt you, no enemies to fight you, and no world to trap you, you would still find in yourself enough evil to cause distress, since “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). Expect trouble then, but don’t be depressed by it—God is with you to help and strengthen you. He has said He will be with us in trouble, to deliver and honor us (Psalm 91:15). - C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening 

Oh my friend cling to what Spurgeon just said at the end of his entry for this morning.   Expect trouble don't be depressed by it.

The world wants to further the kingdom of Satan.  The Church should be wanting to further the Kingdom of God. 

Regardless of apparent prosperity or persecution we are at war. 

It's in the Spiritual realm where the war exists.  It spills into the physical. 

Selfish pride wants us to fight for what we think is best for us.  Jesus said I will choose what's best for you. 

We are His workmanship. We are not ours. 

He is the one using what's going on in our lives to bring us closer to what we are to be in Christ.  That's the work HE is doing in us.  Putting off of us what doesn't belong and putting on what is needed and what is necessary to make us in the image of Christ. 

There's a really good reason why as you grow older there are things you just don't do anymore.  

It's chiefly because you learned over time that change was necessary due to various circumstances.  Be it health or life choices due to accidents etc. 

But more so than that.  As you grow IN Christ you learn to exhibit His nature and His desires in your life.  

We want to cry out against change.  We want freedom of choice.  

But my friend when you came to Christ you gave up your rights at the cross.  It is not about your rights. It's about you becoming who God intended for you to be.  It's about laying up treasures in Heaven, which is our home.  Not these physical places we live.
It's about God using our situations and circumstances to bring others to Christ. 

Even in the midst of trials and tribulations. 

Is your treasure room in Heaven full of anything?  Or are you only concerned about what is right in front of you?

I am adapting to these changes in life out of necessity.  Not because the Government said so.  Worry is a prayer that never left your mind for Heavens Throne room.  Prayer is a worry that is delivered to the hand of Christ for Him to deal with.  We are to bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. 
We are in everything to make all prayer and petitions to the Throne of God.  

We who are in Christ have the Creator of the World listening to our every thought.

Keeping our minds on things above not on things down here. 

Colossians 3:2-4

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.


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