ENDURING
HARDSHIP
Memorise:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Matthew 5:11
Read:
Matthew 5:10-12, 10 Blessed are theywhich are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Bible in one year: Leviticus 6:8-7:38, 1st
Corinthians 5:1-6:11
MESSAGE
The devil knows the glorious tomorrow that
awaits every believer in Christ when they cross the finish line of the
Christian race. This is why he fights tooth and nail to derail us from reaching
our goal. He was a part of the heavenly bliss that will be our reward, but he lost
his place due to evil thoughts (Isaiah 14:12-15).
He does not want us to taste what he lost; hence he works through wiles to
bring us down (Ephesians 6:11). One of the wiles
that Satan uses in making believers in Christ abandon the Christian race is
hardship. Some people have pulled out of heaven’s marathon before getting to
the finish line, due to their inability to endure hardship. Our Lord Jesus
Christ described such people in Mark 4:17
“And
have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when
affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are
offended.”
The expectations you had when you entered the
Christian faith matter a lot. The Christian faith is not a bed of roses. The
way of the cross that leads to Heaven is not a path laden with gold and easy to
take. If anyone tells you that once you believe in Jesus, all your problems
will disappear and everything will always go well, you are being deceived. The
day you signed up as a believer in Christ, the die was cast and the battle line
was drawn between you and the kingdom of darkness. From that day, you become a
sworn enemy of the forces of darkness. They will surely attack you and try to
make you feel miserable.
You are expected to endure hardness as a good
soldier of Christ (2nd Timothy 2:3).
The inability to endure difficult and trying times makes one a bad soldier of
the cross. Even when God blesses you, He still leaves room for you to be
persecuted, tried and ridiculed. Your faith in Christ may be tested through
lack, hunger, unanswered prayers, false accusations, ill health, and so on.
Jesus in our Bible reading taught that if you can take persecution, being
reviled by men and false accusation in good faith, you are blessed and on the
path to Heaven. On the other hand, if you easily get offended by these, if
nothing is done to correct your attitude, you may become derailed from the
faith. Are you offended in Christ? Towards the end of his stay on earth, John
the Baptist began to doubt if the same Person he had declared to be the Son of
God was the true Messiah (Matthew 11:2-6). In
His reply to John’s questions, the Lord told him not to be offended in Him. It
is a good thing to suffer persecution for your faith in Christ. Never get to
the point of being offended in Him.
Prayer
Point
Father,
let patience have its perfect work in my life, so that I will be wanting in
nothing.
Reference:
from open Heavens daily with Pastor E.A. Adeboye
1 Comments
God bless u for this every morning,a day never goes by without daddy's message from your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Miss EyOsa.
Please drop a comment. God bless you!