Walking with Christ Brings Steadfastness Without Fear

As we walk through this world full of 2 Timothy 3 types, we must remain calm, unaffected by attacks, and unresponsive to their rudeness.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "Difficult Times Will Come
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

When the devil sends someone to assault us verbally or emotionally, it is our job as born-again believers to allow them to be them and not allow them to cause a reaction from us that matches their rudeness.

There is nothing more satisfying to the devil than to cause a believer to look just like the rager. When we remain calm, without anger and state the truth plainly, avoiding discussion after the first angry response, we have remained faithful to God without becoming like the angry individual.

The only way to achieve calmness and righteousness is to not care if we convince the angry one of anything. The desire to convince someone who is resistant comes from the neediness of being validated and accepted by them. When we don't care if they like us or believe us, we can remain calm.

Calmness and silence are great powers; they are dependence on God rather than our emotions or neediness to be validated.

Proverbs 26:4 "4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he become wise in his own eyes."

Telling the truth once and removing ourselves is the only way to handle a fool. They are wise in their own eyes and have no tolerance for an opinion other than their own.

In other words, it is silly to continue to try to convince anyone who loves to fight and argue to win. We don't have to win anything, we can speak the truth openly, and honestly with calmness and disengage when the hearer begins the raging.

I cannot count the many times ungodly family members attempted to start a fight through their contentiousness without rational reasoning. As soon as the short discussion begins to give us credibility, they shut it all down with personal attacks or raging that frightens people into silence.

1 Corinthians 2:12-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment."

They do not like "fanatical Christians" because we believe in actually following the Bible in our allegiance to and love for Christ.

We find the same dynamic in the churches of today, as well as the gatherings of unsaved people who love themselves above all else.

Our greatest defense against the attacks of the devil is to completely rely on Christ without concern about how others perceive us. People pleasing ruins lots of Christians, causing fear in their hearts that someone will not like them.

1 John 4:6 "We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception."

I understand now more than ever why God said to "come out from among them and be separated." When we are the only authenticly born again believer in a room full of ungodly people who are hostile to Christianity, no one in the room will hear the truth. They will gang up on the one who speaks the truth and validate one another in the lie.

This is why I prefer to visit with only one couple or an individual, so there are no flying monkeys to support the lie. People tend to "pack-up" when they are in groups.

I have been in women's Bible study groups where the leader said something patently wrong. I addressed it, the room heard it, and they all ignored what I said, isolating me for being the "trouble maker," even though I was calm and asked that we look at the context.

The silliest comment I have heard more than once from women leaders has been, "What does this verse mean to you?" I attempted to explain that we should examine every verse in context and according to what God intended, rather than being subject to our own interpretations.

Anyone who challenges with the Word any leader is seen as rebellious. In the minds of those who follow those leaders, the leaders are the experts; they hear from the Holy Spirit, but no one else in the room has this special blessing. Again, totally against the Word.

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you."

When the Holy Spirit speaks through each of us, God gets the glory, but when teachers do not allow others to challenge them, remaining, in the minds of the students, superior to the others, then no one is allowed to correct or interject except to praise the leader. The leaders are the ones glorified, not God.

It is possible, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to remain calm always so that any accusation about us is a total lie. It is better for the wicked to tell a total lie about us than to have a half-truth because we allowed our emotions to vent.

We can love God so much that He responds for us so that we remain guilt-free from the assertions of the ungodly.

The less I am around the ungodly except to witness Christ, the stronger I become in the ways of God.

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

Deuteronomy 31:6 "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Never allow an unbeliever to trigger you; if you are controlled by the Holy Spirit nothing will trigger you.

Born-Again Believers Hate Sin and Love Righteousness

I find it hard to believe that a born-again believer "struggles" for a long time with sin. When God transforms us into a new creation, we hate what He hates and love what He loves. God said, "No child of God keeps on sinning," because we are convicted by the Holy Spirit, and sin is ugly and distasteful to those who have the Spirit of God in them. Perhaps those who struggle with sin, especially the same sin,n have never trusted in Christ because they do not hate sin enough to run from it.

1 John 3:9 "No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God."

2 Thessalonians 3:3 "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one."

Ephesians 6:16 "In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

1 Peter 1:5 "who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

Psalm 121:7-8 "The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul. The LORD will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore."

Believers do slip and fall at times but they do not remain in sin, enjoying it; they want to escape it and ask God for strength to run from it.

 
When we have trusted in Christ, those unsaved people who used to like us no longer do. They are repulsed by the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. Even when we say nothing, the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin making them uncomfortable with us, even if they don't understand why.

Psalm 37:28 "For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off."

Are You Maligned Because You Love Jesus Christ?

1 Kings 18:16-18 "16So Obadiah went to inform Ahab, who went to meet Elijah. 17 When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?” 18“I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.…"

Amos 7:10 "Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words,"

Luke 11:47-51 "Woe to you! For you build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them. / So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. / Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ..."

How many of you can relate to being called a troublemaker, gossiped against, without being allowed to speak your defense? They are always secretive and covertly accusatory, but what they don't realize is that God is watching them and He will avenge His children, if not now, at the judgment.

I submit to you that if you have sold out to Jesus Christ, then you either have experienced this or will at some point.

There is no greater blessing than walking according to the truth without fear of being accepted by others. People pleasing ruins many people but Christ strengthens us to remain steady no matter what!!!

Finding the Real Christ

My greatest desire is for family members to find Jesus Christ according to the Bible and not the culture.

God Wants to Own Our Lives

Narcissists Build Their Armies

Why Do People Gossip?