Month: <span>November 2017</span>

Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!” Matthew 5:10 (TEV)

We are called to bear the sins of others, just as Jesus bore our sins. We bear the sins of others when we forgive them, regardless of what their sin costs us. We bear the sins of others when we’re willing to pick them up and carry them home, even if it means we will have to sacrifice for helping them.

Were the divine privileges Jesus gave up to bear the costs of your sins worth more than bringing you home to the Father? Of course not! Jesus knows you are worth every bit of his sacrifice.

We pay a cost when we help others find freedom in Christ. Bearing the sins of others, even when it means suffering and rejection, is one of the ways we become like Christ.

The truth is, as we follow Jesus down the narrow path, he will lovingly and ruthlessly place us on the anvil of his grace and then hammer us into the shape of Christ. Jesus became the Christ because he was rejected and suffered, and for us to become his disciples — to become like Christ — we must share in his suffering and rejection.

Thought – How does the fear of rejection keep us from becoming more like Jesus?
Matthew 5:10 says, “Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires” (TEV).

What is your response to persecution?

By Jon Walker
Used by Permission

We Welcome your comments.

Enter Email
reCAPTCHA

We’d love to hear from you.  If you don’t see our response form, please go to https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/jw_discipleship/

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: http://thoughts-about-god.com/four-laws/


Thoughts by All thoughts by Jon Walker Thoughts by Men

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8, 9

A recent newspaper article reported the story of a sad accident in a small town. When over 100 people gathered in a small room built over a garage, the floor gave way under the weight and the crowd fell through the splintered wood. While none was injured seriously, several received medical treatment for minor wounds. It was reported that onlookers rushed into the garage using strong beams in an attempt to brace up what was left of the floor, but their efforts proved futile.

Calvin Miller writes, “Christ is the grand overcomer. By receiving Jesus into our lives, we erect the inner bracing (emphasis mine) that enables us to withstand the pressure of all our outer circumstances…we gain the power to control life and not be crushed by it…”* The pressures of people, circumstances and perhaps even malicious evil threaten to destroy the foundations of life. Prolonged illness, extended periods of joblessness, betrayal by those we thought friends make us feel as though everything we trusted to provide stability has disappeared.

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to live with “collapsing floors.” In writing to his friends he said, “We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going…We live under constant danger to our lives because we serve the Lord, but this gives us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies 2 Corinthians 4:9-11 (The Living Bible).

And the same message Paul heard from God in the midst of his troubles is for us: “(God) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Thank you, Father, for the “collapsing floors” of my life because I am learning to know that you will never leave nor forsake me.

Take time this week to thank God for the difficulties you have faced, and for how God has provided stability in the midst of them.

*Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller

By Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission

We Welcome your comments.

Enter Email
reCAPTCHA

We’d love to hear from you.  If you don’t see our response form, please go to https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/me_collapsing/

Learn more about knowing Jesus at: http://thoughts-about-god.com/four-laws/


Thoughts by All thoughts by Marilyn Ehle Thoughts by Women