Persecution for Christ

So often we hear people boasting of their blessing of a new house or a trip or some other material possession, even the healing from an illness. Yes, these things are blessings and we are grateful to God for them. However, if our focus about blessings in continually on what we can get from God then it is a selfish focus and fleshly.

We are blessed but if the focus is on our blessing of physical and material things more than Christ we are no better than an unbeliever.

Our focus ought to be on Jesus Christ and what He did for us, even if we don't receive any other blessing than salvation through the Son of God our Savior.

Many people have been martyred down through the centuries for their faith, would we say they are not blessed? The greatest blessing anyone has is our salvation through faith in Christ. That should be our focus all the time. And, it is an amazing blessing to be martyred for our faith because God says it comes with it a great reward.

Matthew 5:10-12

"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".

Matthew 5:11-12

11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

We are grateful to God for all His blessings, but the physical blessings should not overtake our gratefulness to the exclusion of the gratefulness for our Salvation and His companionship within us.

We can endure anything when Christ goes through with us. He is our strength and purpose, not the "things" or the "activities that we enjoy."

Acts 16:25-26

"25 Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened."

Our modern Christianity would focus entirely on the miracle of the quake and miss the joy and peace of Paul and Silus through their prison experience. They did not sit in that prison alone, Christ was with them.

We don't see Paul and Silas asking for the great earthquake but we saw them praising God in the midst of their trials ready to endure whatever Christ had for them. They were blessed by what God did in that quake, but they were ready to die for Him in prison.

When the physical and material become the focus of life then we miss the wonderful lessons and Spiritual strengthening God has for us and possible rewards that were prepared for us in heaven.

Revelation 6:11

"11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been."

When we take our eyes off of this world and place them on our mission here we can endure anything while Christ goes through with us.

Someone expressed to me they didn't know if they had the strength to be killed for Christ. I told them they did not, because God will give us what we need when we need it. Planning for persecution in our human strength is nothing but trusting in Christ to go through with us is everything.

We can even have joy in the midst of our tears as our body suffers but our Spirit soars.

Job 32:8

"But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand"

1 Peter and 2 Peter: were written to believers during persecution, they encourage us to seek the strength of the Holy Spirit as we endure until Christ comes for us.

There are Three Persons in One God, each working in perfect unity with One Another.

There are those who are lying against God with their false doctrine against the teaching of the three persons of the Godhead. Let's see what the Bible really says:

John 14:26 "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you".

1 Timothy 2:5

"5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"

Jesus Christ is the mediator between God the Father and man. If there were only one personality who pretends to be all three, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ and God the Father then 1 Timothy 2:5 would not make sense.

The Son does not dwell on earth right now because He sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven while His Holy Spirit dwells in born again believers on earth right now.

2 Corinthians 13:14

"14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

If there was only one person, God the Father, there would be no reason to mention all three in 2 Corinthians.

Isaiah 48:16

"16 Draw near to me, hear this:from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,from the time it came to be I have been there."And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit."

Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

"1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

"the Hebrew plural noun "Elohim" is used. In Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8, the plural pronoun for “us” is used. The word "Elohim" and the pronoun “us” are plural forms, definitely referring in the Hebrew language to more than two." Got Questions

2 Corinthians 13:14

"14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

Here is a prayer to the Father:

Psalms 51:10-12

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit."

There are many more scriptures that prove there are three persons in One God, each distinct with their own particular purposes. Just because we are not able to fully grasp how this works does not mean it isn't true. God said it and I believe Him.

What is a Friend

Proverbs 17:17

"17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity."

A true friend loves, shares, encourages, and is selfless. A false friend is one who takes without gratitude and does not reciprocate. The very least any friend can do is be present with words of kindness. Their presence alone, even just a phone call to encourage is enough sometimes.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. / For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! / Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? ."

We use the term "friend" so loosely these days that our culture has coined a new word recently, which is; "frenemy", meaning someone who is a part of our inner circle but is a troublemaker without empathy toward others, these people act more like enemies.

1 John 3:16-18

By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. / If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? / Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.

Let's remember that this passage about love and service to others is for everyone. If we encounter someone who says they are a Christian but treats others with indifference and feels free to ask for things regularly without gratitude and who seems to disappear when others are in need of support, we cannot count that person as a friend.

In relationships like this, it is best to ask God if we are enabling someone to be lazy in their relationships while sucking the life out of others, by continuing ask for help but never give it.

Love demands that we are emotionally and Spiritually present for others even if we cannot afford financial support.

Friendship is by its very nature reciprocal, unless there is a good reason it cannot be so because of illness or poverty. We are to give without expecting anything in return, while this is true it does not mean that we are to allow those to expect resources when they don't need it.

We see God's kind of love and friendship in the story of Ruth. She wanted to follow Naomi because of her love for her.

Ruth 1:16-17

"But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. / Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

David and Jonathan were another good example of a deep friendship!

1 Samuel 18:3 " 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul."

One of the demonstrations of love is a deep and abiding concern for whatever was going on in the life of our friend. Our door is always open to a friend, our heart feels what they feel and care about what they care about. This kind of love among friends should be stronger in those who love Christ. Christ is the bond between these kinds of friends, He is the link between the two, an eternal link.

Friendship is taken far too lightly in our day, we call everyone a friend just by knowing them. Friendship God's way is a deeper walk, a deeper encounter and a blessing to both.

This is not to say that we always give when asked or that we only give to friends, it just means that we need the discernment of the Holy Spirit to sort out when we should give and when we should withhold.

Proverbs 27:10: "Do not forsake your friend".

A friend who disappears when we are in need of encouragement is one who disobeys God command to be loyal to our friends.

Proverbs 19:4: "Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend".

Often we see friends vanish when we are in hardship or physical ill-health. They only want to be around when there are good times. These are not true friends, we know we can't count on them in time of need. True friends will be there for us and we will be there for them.

John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends"

God has not called very many of us to die physically for our friends, but we can die daily to self as we live out our loyalty.

Amos 3:3: "Can two walk together, except they are agreed?"

The answer to this question is, "no", two cannot walk together unless both are agreed and loyal.

Here is what love looks like between true friends:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,

6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

2 Corinthians 9:7 "Each one must do just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Character Assassination by Fools

When we are in a reasonable discussion and someone comes along calling us mean-spirited for disagreeing with them it is time to remove those people.

There can be no loving rational discussion when the accusations against someone's character begin to fly. As soon as our character is maligned over a disagreement, calling someone mean-spirited for not agreeing with them, then we know the accuser has nothing to refute what we have said and will resort to mocking and intimidation to appear superior.

This is a tactic to cause the accused to display ungodly attitudes so the accuser can feel justified in their gaslighting. This is the reason God said not to answer a fool according to their folly, it only encourages rude people to continue. When we encounter this we know it won't be possible to reconcile with someone who is bent on demeaning others.

Proverbs 26:4 "…4Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him."

Proverbs 29: 9-10 "9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution. 10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life.…"

Matthew 7:6

"Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces."

The most important thing we can do is maintain our fruit of the Spirit, not allowing foolish arguers to cause us to become like them.

Colossians 4:6

"Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Speaking the truth calmly and once we can move on refusing to engage further when we discover we have been in the company of a foolish argumentative person.

Proverbs 9:7-8

"He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself. / Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you."

Proverbs 14:7

"Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech."

Proverbs 18:2

"A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in airing his opinions."

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When we are in Christ we have Him with us all the time and He is all we need. When we enjoy other born-again believers our joy is doubled. Even when they are not with us we still are full of joy with Christ.