-Psalm 45:10-11 KJV
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; 11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him."
Who is the most important to us in our lives? If we say children, husband, wife or extended family, then we have idols. We can love these people, however, when they attempt to destroy our walk with God or undermine the path God has for us personally, then we are to place Christ first. We wish they would come with us in our pursuit for holiness and God's will, but most often they will not.
Matthew 22:1-14
"1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,
2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to [b]a king who [c]gave a wedding feast for his son.
3 And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.
4 Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’
5 But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,
6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.
7 But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.
8 Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
9 Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’
10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests."
11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,
12 and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless.
13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 FOR MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN.”
Losing family is not the worst thing that can happen to us. Losing the protection of the Lord because we are choosing family over Him, is far more important. God will not listen to those who choose other gods over Him.
Proverbs 1;28 ""Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,"
Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear."
Even believers can stray from making God their first love. To place family above God is always sin! Without realizing it we can diminish our obedience to Christ in favor of the love of family. Fear of being alone drives us to capitulate to family when Christ in us can make us completely content with being alone if that is His will.
John 14:16-18
"16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18 “I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS, I will come to you."
2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline."
To follow Christ means that we will lose nearly everyone we thought were suppose to love us. They love the things of the world, their pride and their pleasure more than they love God and more than they love us. We must choose between the world and God, how we choose may be an indication of whether or not we were ever born again.
Matthew 10:32-39
"32 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I came to [d]bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 He who has found his [e]life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."
The act and attitude of declaring Christ before men, no matter how the delivery, will chase off those who are contemptuous toward Him. They may attempt to make us look like the one they hate, but in fact it is not us, it is the Holy Spirit that lives in us that makes them so very uncomfortable. They will have to concocted perceived wrongs against them to make us the fall guy, however, we know it is not about us, but God that frightens them.
Often a frightened animal will become vicious, their fear drives them to attack. This is the case with non-believers who come in contact with the Holy Spirit, they will attack anyone or anything that makes them feel convicted about their sin. We know this because of the death of Christ. He did nothing but good, harmed no one and healed many while He was walking the earth, and yet, remember their response was to revile Him.
John 15:18-25
"18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [b]sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.
25 But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’"
Never fear brothers and sisters, we can expect this to intensify, but we have the King of Kings living in us, we do not need to fear what the world will do to us. What a blessing to be a child of the King, knowing that soon it will all be over and we will get to go home. In the mean time we keep speaking truth according to the love of Christ and leave all the results to Him.
Jeremiah 7:16 ""As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you."
Jeremiah 11:14 ""Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster."
You see, God has revealed this to me through His word and the Holy Spirit that this nation is not going to turn and that we should pray for believers to become strong. When I try to pray for the country, I am stopped, as though God is saying "NO."
Those who continue to pray, are focusing on their own desire to live in a "free country", to continue to do as they please and to save them from hardship. Never in the history of the world has an entire nation turned from sin when they got to the point we are now.
Punishment is all that was in store for them. There was a "city" in the Bible that the prophet Jonah was told to go and preach, and they repented, but a city, not a nation. All the nations that got to the level of depravity we are in, were diminished and eventually destroyed never to rise again.
When our indoctrination has been all our life, "freedom, freedom, freedom", it pushed out all thought of holiness or godliness. Freedom became our god and the One True God is going to remove that god, so that we might see our need for Him.
I really don't care if they do away with all flags. I was once very patriotic, until the Lord opened my eyes and showed me that people worship their "Free America" much more than they do God. We are sojourners in a foreign land as long as we are on the earth if we have trusted Christ. I want out of this world and in the mean time I must speak about the Lord. I have left most of politics behind me, although I get bit with the bug from time to time and God brings me back to His reality....He says to me, "daughter this is not your home, don't forget that."
Most people in our country have heard enough of the gospel to develop a desire to be saved. However most people will not listen, they love their watered down social gospel of good deed doing! Many of us have tried to warn others that they may not be born again even though they claim to be "Christians." We have brought Biblical evidence continually while praying that the Lord would open the blind eyes, but the continue to resist, even executing revenge on those for whom they have contempt because of Christ.
Ezekiel 3:18 ""When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand."
If we have warned and prayed and the unbeliever still resists, then there will be no blood on our hands. I have a sense of frustration when I share truth with others only to be met with hostility. And, these days of the end, the hostility is growing exponentially with every passing day.
Noah preached 120 years only to have his message rejected continually. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. No one would listen while mocking Noah as he prepared to be protected by God, the people mocked him right up until the rain began. Notice that as Noah and his family went into the ark, God closed the door, only then would the rebellious suddenly want to be saved from the flood, they never had sorrow in their heart over their sin, the just wanted to be saved. All this reminds me of Matthew 7:21-23
Matthew 7:21-23
"21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"
God will not save anyone who will not believe in Christ.
John 3:18 ""He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
The people of Noah's times did not believe God, but Noah did and he was saved. Those who did not believe God were not saved.
The ruling by the Supreme Court, is going to further separate the goats from the sheep. We are going to be surprised who accepts it and who condemns it. Many people we thought would not be endorsing sin will be accepting it and then embracing it.
When we tolerate sin in the body long enough, we begin to become accustomed to it to the point of endorsing it. We have quoted an unbiblical mantra so long that we have become to believe it, that is "we must be tolerant", in reference to sin in the body.
Those that remain silent before when it comes to sin, will now openly speak on its' behalf. Silence is very often an indicator of one who has no scruples, one who desires to be liked by others. These people never take a stand for anything openly when the crowd is against sin, but will candidly and happily encourage it when the crowd begins to waver in holiness.
Watch the goats appear, numbers growing, as persecution increases, there is where the real test will be. Many people are not willing to lose family and friends over personal convictions of any kind, these will be those who will be relieved when all the sin restraints are removed.
2 Timothy 4:1-2 "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."
2 John 1:10-11 "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works."
1 Corinthians 5:11 "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one."
For all those "Christians" who walk around saying "we need to just love them", in reference to tolerating sin in the church on the part of the unsaved...God has this to say.
“But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the Lord (Isaiah 26:10).
Many people make judgments on things and about people that are completely erroneous based on their contemptuous attitude toward someone who will refuse to be controlled by them. Narcissists love to dominate others while maligning those they cannot control. Often these people interpret circumstances based on their own rebellious attitudes rather than what is really going on. They will even attempt to manipulate their target through mean and divisive language while influencing others against their target. If they can turn friends and family against us through their covert tactics, in their own minds they can maintain control over their victim.
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