The Bigger Picture

(Revelation 21:7) “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

 

Counting the cost to the Christian calling is something we all need to consider if we are to become effective for Christ. For us to become operational in the building of God’s Kingdom we must envision our eternal reward. We must learn to appropriate this verse to our daily gaits; “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8)

 

What we are witnessing must motivate us more than it did yesterday or the day before, Covit 19, looting, vandalism and even deaths are rife and escalating, the sign off the times is beginning to heighten, nevertheless it’s the goodness of God that shackles the outpouring of such calamities. But why would He allow such behaviour? Simply put, so that we may come to our senses and cry out to Him for help. Some may cry “foul”, whilst others will look a little deeper and in turn be brought to their knees. If we begin to study the book of Revelation and begin to understand the looming Judgements, did you know, a third of the earth will be destroyed and Billions of people will die and there is nothing we can do about it. However, through it all some will see the bigger picture and realise it’s the goodness of God giving mankind one last chance to be saved. Any difficulty should result in us falling to our knees acknowledging our sin before a Holy God and then crying out to Jesus for rescue. God giving mankind their last chance to repent with the offer of salvation in and through the finished work of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Simply put we need to honour Him as God and pledge our allegiance to Him and not another. If not we will suffer the full burden of His wrath, which will happen, no ifs and buts in play. Regardless of how you feel about that, the creator of the universe has declare His intent in and through the penned word, THE BIBLE! It’s up to the individual to decide where they will land.  

 

The summons from the only true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must dictate the way we live from here on in. I realise that this will only ever become apparent when we understand that call; when we are persuaded that it is God who has called; regardless of our blunders throughout our lives, if and when God calls will we obediently respond to His voice. For when we understand that this is the reason we were born, to honour and worship Him, He is the creator and we are the created. Society teaches us to believe in ourselves but God commissions all to believe in Him…

“For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." (Romans 10:11)  

 

When an athlete trains it is a painful process but they endure their training so that they may be crowned champion. Their goal is very specific and it is no different for the Christian, we must learn to lay our lives down so that we too may one day reap our reward, which is to hear Gods approval when we enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. There is a grand event coming known to us in scripture as the “marriage feast of the Lamb”, a wedding ceremony. It is very dress specific and only those adorned with the correct garments will be allowed to partake. It is a celebration reserved for the bride of Christ and only those who have their names written in the Book of Life will be allowed to attend. So how do I receive an Invitation? I acknowledge my sin, then repent by asking the Lord Jesus to forgive me, when that happens, I am born again and I am immediately invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb, included on that guest list, it’s as simple as that. These invitations have been carefully selected and have not been penned with ink but with a quill dipped in blood of the Lord Jesus. Those selected for this great event must make Him their prized possession. In order for this to happen we must learn to walk by faith and place all our dependency upon the Words of God, THE BIBLE! As it is the treasure map to that beautiful occasion in a glorious land. Study and then study some more. Be sure of that which has been charted out and leave nothing to chance. If you have doubts to whether you will eventually make it into that magnificent land do not rest until you hear the voice of God speaking clearly to you! It is one thing to know that God exists but quite another to be personally known by Him. Are you convinced that you are on that guest register? Are you at liberty to converse with Him? Are you sure that you have been invited? These are questions that you need to answer with total assurance. Only you can have that eternal conversation with yourselves. 

 

Examine your own hearts…   

 

What is it that drives you? Money, lust, the pride of life, power; the list is endless or is it the hope that one day you will hear God speak these words directly to you? “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” If this is not your motivation to life then I would suggest that you rally around those who have that as their ultimate goal and spend as much time with them as humanly possible. This is where we will be able to buy the oil for our lanterns that will be needed up until our bridegroom returns to take us home. Without oil in our lamps we will miss out and that is something we can all ill afford, for it will have eternal consequences. It Crucial that we understand the consequences, what must now ring the loudest in our doctored ears, is that we’ve been saved from a place of total devastation, we were doomed for destruction from the time we took our first breath. “BUT GOD”! He has so loved us that HE has intervened, by sending the darling of heaven, His beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ to sand in the gap of our rebellion, Emmanuel has paid the price of our sin, and HE was judge for sin in our place. Its seems unthinkable to think that God would judge Him, who knew no sin as a sinner to make a way for us to escape His judgement, and make no mistake, the out pouring of God's wrath is just over the horizon and it is coming on all who reject His love. The only question you need to ask yourselves is do you believe in the finished work of the cross or not. To my Jewish friends, examine your wittings, read Isaiah chapter 53 and then see if you are able to conclude that who is spoken of there was not the Lord Jesus, the true Messiah. It’s where you land on this question that will determine your eternal existence. I have done what I can to point you in the right direction, the rest is up to you.

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

Gloves off...

 

But by the grace of God here we stand, and I thank God for His written Word, no doubt the Holy Spirit has His influence over our lives and without HIM we would be at a loss when it comes to unpacking scripture. However just as the Holy Spirit leads me into all truth, He does the same for all other Christians. We must not forget that we are not the only ones that receive revelation. Beware of the pride of life, we may just be playing into the hands of the enemy. He (God the Holy Spirit) works in all of Gods people, those called and sealed by His Spirit. "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come." (John 16:13) - Nevertheless, there is nothing new we need to grapple with, save possible our understanding of the end times, as we are taught that “knowledge will increase” the closer we get to our Lord’s return, the wiser we will become concerning certain truths behind God’s upcoming judgements. It will be a procession of events with Gods implicit voice crying repent in the disaster, who will hear His voice? Covit19 but a mosquito bite in comparison of what is to come. Knowledge is a wonderful thing, to understand what is about to happen allows us to prepare. It’s the unpacking of Scripture that allows us to understand. All of you who have held to a certain mind-set about the Lords return I need you to pay careful attention; “But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (Daniel 12:4) - The book has been sealed, for a time and that time is the time of the end. The time leading up to the rule of Satan and the Lords return and everything in-between. The trumpets, seals, woes and a judgment upon the earth and its inhabitants. A time where potentially 5 billion people will die. God’s last act of mercy as HE allows his creation to turn from their wicked ways and repent as they look to His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ for rescue. As I have said in times past and I will say it again that without the Lord Jesus’ sanctification in your life it will be impossible for you to avoid the judgment of God and the Lake of Fire will be your final destination. But while you have breath there is hope, cry out to Jesus, seek out His forgiveness for you sin and you shall be saved. Bend the knee to him now, as there is a day coming when your knees will be force to bend, the day of judgement; “for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:11-12)              

 

Another reflection that would be good for us to digest, is to be pliable in our makers hands, be humble when taught that what we once held firm has not stood up to scripture. If our understanding has been found wanting then we need to be pliable in the Lords hands and seek out his forgiveness as we right our wrongs. It not about our voices in as much as the Lords voice. Every word must echo his sentiment, period! If not, we are becoming as obstacle hindering His glory. And God forbid we would dare to run with that type of mind-set for any length of time. Personal prophecy, carries the exact same weight, people wanting to be the person of the hour, be warned, danger lurks! Any value added to our personal worth is a warning that endangerment prowls. “The pride of life” is wanting to pounce. Lord help me to always steer my message towards the foot of the cross, so that those who arrive may look up and see the accomplishments of Christ. How they arrive will soon be forgotten as they stand in awe of HIS accomplishments.      

 

There are two camps at war with one another, those for Christ and those against him. Those who reject the message of the gospel, those who refuse to bow the knee to Jesus. They have been blinded by the cunning deception of Satan and His followers, The Bible refers to them as the sons of disobedience, who for most, unknowingly follow Satan; “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--“. (Ephesians 2:2) - What amazes me, is that even though it has been penned for all to read, many remain oblivious to the fact. Why? They have been blinded by Satan cunning schemes. How do I know this to be true? “And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” (Revelation 19:20) -“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)

 

Everything I have given you has already been penned, God has spoken and He still speaks in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection. The only way to avoid the wrath of God, which is coming, is to be clothed in Christ righteousness. In other words be seal with His mark.

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone   

Objectives Re-visited

Objectives! We all have them, but the key is to attain, to conquer, to win. To overcome is the ultimate goal, wouldn’t you agree? Take the simplest of examples in our everyday lives, pick an experience that belongs to you, a memory we call upon to find motivation, hope, joy and the will to push on. There could be numerous recollections to draw from…

 

On occasion I am taken to my military training and the lessons I learnt there, not about becoming a soldier per say but the heights I reach on a mental and physical level that I once believed to be impossible, I was wrong. Although we are fallen creatures and tainted by sin God has designed the human body with phenomenal ability. We are capable of so much more than we could ever imagine, it's only when we are put to the test that we really understand this valuable lesson. When the pressure is on we always look for the easy way out. Our default is to tap out far too soon. The Lord Jesus stayed the course, he drank a full cup of every permutation possible to man and even though the anguish at times was so severe that his sweat glands bled blood, he never tapped out. His objective to overcome sin in a human body, he was victorious. His aim, to please his heavenly Father, which he achieved in spades. As Christians surely this then needs to become our overarching objective in life, to please our heavenly Father and the only way to actually achieve this is too, as Paul puts it; “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son.” But why the emphasis on “my spirit”? This is the nitty-gritty of it all, we have to learn the difference between walking in the flesh (our natural ability) as opposed to the spirit. Faith is needed to accomplish this. This is my observation, if we serve in the spirit, if we truly have consciously “put on the mind of Christ” we are in a different zone and we begin to process information differently. The cares of this world are not so monstrous and we find a strength (grace) to endure, come what may. We believe that we are exactly where God wants us to be. We must fly this flag with confidence; our God is in control of all things. However when the flesh dominates, and when the pressure is on our mind-set is one of panic.

 

I do not professed to have mastered it, far from it, but I am able to call on memories when I was happiest and a peace surpassed all rational understanding. Why?  My conclusion, I was walking in the spirit. The man Jesus always walked in the spirit although he was a man, his body like every other, flesh and blood. Why? He saw way beyond the grave. His focus was on eternity and the will of God, that’s what drove him and others have followed, will we? It would be almost impossible to forgive a perpetrator in the throes of their actions, whilst their intent is to kill. Stephen did it! A man filled with the Spirit of God and dressed with the whole armour of God.

 

I am convinced this is the lesson. Our flesh will suffer when we are walking in the spirit, it has to give way for a better approach and it’s the only way we will ever truly please our heavenly Father. The difficultly we face is acceptance of our new found reality; Peter understood this well and this is his instruction; “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” (1Peter 4:1-2) – All three points tied up in the same verse, arming our mind with Christ’s mind, the flesh suffering to stop its wicked behaviour and finally to be about the will of God.

 

The clear water behind this instruction can become muddy if stirred incorrectly. There are two sets of rules, or at least that is what I wish to explore when it comes to application from the instinct of an individual prior to salvation and after the switch is flip. I do not wish to spend time debating the actualities of this truth, salvation, when does it happen? But the realisation of our own understanding when our lives are turned on their heads for the first time, when people look at you as if you are mad, etc. That beautiful day when tears of joy flooded your soul and you cried out “I can see, I can see.” And then we begin to grow, time ticks by and we become weary, there are many questions that need answering, not that salvation and the truth behind it is every question, NEVER! But in hindsight, muddling the flesh and the spirit into one pot becomes a world of pain. I know and yet I really knew very little, if I was wiser, folly would not have encapsulated so much of my life. However, He who is in us is greater that he who is in the world (Satan and every affiliated plot) and thankfully we are brought to our senses. God continue to have mercy on the struggling pilgrim’s souls, not because we deserve it but because you have it in your power to be merciful. And all because of what your amazing Son our beloved Saviour achieved on our behalf.

 

What is my conclusion? Our objective; we must learn to walk in the spirit, put on the mind of Christ, dress for battle, putting on the whole armour of God (see Ephesians 6). When these application are in place, we will be walking in the spirit and therefore never be tripped up by the lusts of our flesh. So it’s easy to gauge; lustful behaviour of any sort and acting upon it proves but one thing that we have the flesh dominating, we are walking in the natural, our behaviour is that of the individual prior to salvation. The old man/woman dictating. When we walk in the spirit, with God’s Spirit directing our paths we radiate HIS glory and through the trial of life the light of Christ shines in us, which will obviously affect the onlookers for the sake of the gospel. Either way people will be affected. I suppose the actual proof for me would be a tranquility, the peace of God. It’s when baffled onlookers see the apparent hardships that accompany that peace. This is where God is glorified, the peace of God in a believer’s life is impossible to fabricate, because it comes from the Spirit and not the natural.

 

Understanding the theory is one thing, but application to it is the actual test. God give us the strength to put off childish things and to dress for battle. How can we be of any use to others if we cannot find grace to master our own lives?

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

Pleasure Receptors

Pleasure receptors once activated needs quenching. Satisfaction of these receptors is immediate and can never totally be quenched, we have been created with an appetite that needs quelling. The longer we are kept from water the sweeter it becomes. Most of us will know what it is like to be thirsty, at least to some degree. God given pleasure receptors are there to be enjoyed. Quench a thirst and there is an explosion of satisfaction. Some signal sent to the brain that brings with it immense pleasure. We need to go back to the beginning to deepen our understanding on the subject. Way back when God created the universe the time came when he purposed to create man; Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)

There has been much debate on what that actually means but let me conclude with this, we were created with the capacity to engage with God and to understand certain attributes that He holds dear unto himself, such as, “pleasure receptors.” We have our senses that feed those receptors. The problem we had at conception or rather Adam had, was he was not ready to awaken his understanding of differentiating between “good and evil” under the banner of righteousness. That domain belongs to God and him alone. Hence the reason Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from a certain tree; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  (Genesis 2:17)

We know they ate, sin entered in and death became our reality.  With sin now thrown into the mix we have new receptors that are in play, which opposes the will of God and His character. As Christians we have our spiritual body housed in our earthly bodies. With a constant conflict raging in our minds determining good from evil. However, the problem we have, once a sin receptor has been awakened it is impossible to naturally suppress. And the world is filled with avenues where these cravings can be met. As Christians I am realising how easily we are trapped by so many of them. Our gaze must be fixed upon the Lord Jesus and not the "free", we must align ourselves with His will and not our selfish wants, if not, there is no chance of escape and there is no exception to the rule. Forget what the liars want you to believe, the liberals and the like, it’s the blind leading the blind and they will all fall into the ditch.

How much time in the day do you allocated to our Saviour? Let me leave you with this thought; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

 

It amazes me that God has allowed such a detailed life, full of indulgence, riddled with sinful behaviour in the book of Ecclesiastes to teach us so many valuable lessons about ourselves. It’s the preacher who exposes every intent under the sun and then he comes to an awesome conclusion, are you ready for it? “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 12:8) – So much time and effort spent on this life, which is temporal and so little of our day is burnt storing up treasures in heaven, which is eternal. So then what is the soul duty of mankind according to the preacher? “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) 

 

Here is my conclusion, God in His BRILLIANCE has made a way for us to live in a body tainted with patterns of sinful behaviour to then wilfully choose His will for our lives at any given time, and sure we fail at times. But that was never the intent, we must learn to “let go and let God”. The Christian has a storeroom full of grace to draw from. But acknowledging  our own sin is imperative, we must own it and look for grace to eradicate it from our lives. Let’s not be fooled into believing that we can live like we once did and then expect a warm welcome into the portals of heaven when our time eventually arrives. Paul gives many warnings to those who habitually continue in sin so that grace may abound as if it’s not that serious, because it is!

 

“To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen” 

 

Signing out

Tyrone       

 

Understanding the Battlefield

(Ephesians 6:11-12) “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

 

“We have enemies to fight against, a captain to fight for, a banner to fight under, and certain rules of war by which we are to govern ourselves. “Finally, my brethren (Eph_6:10), it yet remains that you apply yourselves to your work and duty as Christian soldiers.”” (Matthew Henry)

 

Have you ever consider who you talk to the most on any given day? Your reflex answer may be, my spouse, children and the like, but it is obvious we speak to ourselves more than anyone else. I am constantly engaging my brain about my standing before a holy God and it is in the mind where the battle is won or lost. But what chance do we have if we do not understand the battlefield? We will always be like water tossed to and fro by every thought and vain imagination that creeps up on us. This is where Satan attacks, just source enough doubt in one’s mind and his job is done. See Eve’s encounter in Genesis. It caused so much havoc that sin found life for the very first time in our world. Far more deadly than the Corona virus. What chance do those have who do not understand the battlefield? Zero! But by the grace of God here the Christian stands. I am constantly reminded not to be conceited regarding salvation and how it happened. It’s always the goodness of God that leads an individual to repentance. Why one and not another? God knows!

 

All the same, we must be prudent concerning the battlefield. Paul makes it very clear, that there is a war in the spiritual realm, an unseen realm that is as real as the crackle coming from my fire. We must not overlook the unseen enemy, their objective is to get us to fail. They have been commissioned by their king, Satan! He has ordered them to challenge daily living with an overarching objective to target the Christian and get them to curse God, so that they may die eternally. See Job chapter 2… Some of us may have witnessed demonic possession, that’s when a spirit enters a body and takes control. It is an undeniable event that is impossible to denounce. However, all of us have be subjugated to demonic oppression. Simply put, acting out against the will of God at any given time. It is often because we have been influenced by the scheme of the devils influence. How does it all work? He entices us with our weakness, that nagging thorn in our flesh that we find takes up most of our deliberation. If we are not yielding to it we are fighting to find grace to keep it at bay.

 

At this time, let me right another wrong that so many perceive to be the truth. Can a Christian be demon possessed? NO! Can a Christian be subdued (influenced) by a demon? YES! Here are two great example to illustrate my findings. Judas Iscariot walked amongst the disciples, he acted as one of them, but a time came when he was demon possessed, up until then he was full of trickery within the circle, he controlled the money bag and only ever swayed externally by evil forces and his own carnal lusts, see James 1 and 1John 2. I wonder how much talking Judas did with himself, concerning his actions? Then it happened, “Satan entered him”, took control of his actions; “Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.” (Luke 22:3)

– Here we can clearly see that Satan entered Judas and the next verse tells us of how he then went away looking to betray Jesus. An immediate fruit of possession, by intention he look to betray Jesus. Peter also gives us some insight to being influence by the devil. This speaks of oppression and not possession and yet they both have the same intent, to thwart the plans of God.

“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.””  (Matthew 16:21-23) 

– Peter obviously believe he was acting to protect Christ from harm. Instantaneously the Lord turns to him pulling no punches as he automatically recognizes Satan’s influence over Peter. And addresses him as Satan, wow what a blow that must have been to Peter. I can only imagine what he had to deal with emotionally. But he obviously got through it, no differently to how we need to get through the challenges and influence that evil forces have over us. This is oppression and not possession. Churches that are constantly cursing out demons from believers have understood very little. A Christian’s body houses the Spirit of God, do you believe HE would allow the enemy to possess HIS abode? Does God allow Satan to sit on His throne? Although it is obvious that is what he wants, but it will never happen! So too, a demon will never possess a Christians body. Not to say their resolve may not be to try. They have and will continue to cause havoc wherever a door is left slightly ajar.

 

What are we to do? We need to stand believing in the finished work of our beloved Saviour and then take up the whole armour of God if we are to overcome, Dressing for battle is a fortitude of faith, which feeds our hope. One day very soon, we will see our King reigning over all, where every knee will bow to Him and confess Him as Lord. How I long for that day, even so come quickly LORD JESUS.

 

 

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

 

 

Signing off

 

 

Tyrone

The Enemies Tactics 3

 

The greatest weapon that the devil wields is the ability to get people to believe his lies as truth. And my beloved it doesn’t take much for us to chomp that baited hook, all he really needs is something that is close to home, an itch that needs to be scratched. It could be our religious upbringing, traditionally a no-go zone when it comes to our reasoning. Tell a catholic not to worship saints and see their reaction. Sainthood isn’t linked to our carnality although we must learn to walk in the Spirit and it will obviously affect the way we live our lives, however, our flesh has been tainted by sin and therefore a blemished vessel can never be used as a vessel of honour and this is why we need a new beginning, we need to be born of the Spirit, we need to be "born again". We are not reborn, or reinvented, we do not repair our chinked armour, whilst revisiting of our childhood handicapped lifestyle. Or the shrinks psychobabble that is spoken into people’s lives, if it helps, is will only ever help you manage your sin. It’s wicked because it allows you to live with sin as if there is no offence towards God, nullifying the work of the cross in your mind over a particular issue.

 

The beauty of salvation is the past is forgiven and forgotten, it’s a brand new beginning. But we must understand our sin and the part we played in it before we will ever find forgiveness. The way this happens is to be covered by the blood of the Lamb, we need the Lords sacrifice, which we receive through repentance and confession. Just like the thief on the cross we need to acknowledge our sin, whilst looking for no wiggle room because of it, accusing others while looking to excuse ourselves, “we aren’t so bad”. It’s this type of mind-set that that is prone to entrapment. In your own time have a look at the two thieves on the cross and see the different responses they had towards the Lord Jesus and then look at HIS response. See Luke 23; 39… Are you amongst the Christians that are always looking for goodies from the Lord? Or do we understand, at least in part what the Lord has saved us from, ourselves and our sinful natures. We must learn to “put on the mind of Christ” all that simply means is to we must learn to be about our Fathers will and not our carnal wants as we learn to suffer whilst bringing Him glory. It’s through suffering that we learn to walk in obedience and rely on the finished work of the cross. Satan despises this type of mind-set and looks for any opportunity to thwart your progress. The prosperity gospel, he is behind it, even though it is preached in churches. Do not be fooled, he is the master of trickery, in fact he is the “father of lies”. We must learn to walk in the Spirit. Simply put we need put on the full armour of God, see Ephesians 6, which has nothing to do with prosperity, in fact it is the complete opposite. It’s through suffering that we learn to crucify our flesh. Here is irrefutable confirmation; “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” (1Peter 4:1)

 

Let’s take this a little deeper and unpack Peters exhortation on what we are to expect as obedient Christians, as this thought continuously reverberates through my mind, “to the one that overcomes”, a constant reminded that it is the faithful that will be blessed into eternity. Sure we may have to struggle for a season, it is the call to Christianity; “to suffer for a season”, it’s part of God’s design for all who believe in the resurrection and confess Jesus as Lord of their lives. If we are not being challenged by the trial of life, whilst claiming Christianity as our own, then we need to examine where we stand. The idea of suffering enables us to look towards our hope, our eternal reward; sons of the most high, we will be numbered amongst all the faithful, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Noah, Daniel, David, all the apostles and what about; “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36-38) – Prosperity a lie and all those who preach it as our right are liars and whatever they preach can not be trusted.

 

Many of us will not receive the abundance of their rewards, those penned in scripture, but we will be home, praising our God into eternity. If  our struggle is to intensify, so be it! our God is in our corner and we can approach the storerooms of grace to overcome whatever we will soon face. Ever so come quickly Lord Jesus.

 

“Grace be with you all”

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone