VIDEO When Opposition Comes – Hidden Opposition at the Workplace, Home, Church

When Opposition Comes

Contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Acts 13:45

Corrie ten Boom came up with a powerful definition of anxiety. “Worry,” she said, “is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.” The old hymnist, John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace,” suggested an alternative to anxiety—faith. He wrote, “If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer—His grace is sufficient, His promise unchangeable.”

Many Christians around the world are under the pressure of persecution, and even in the Western world, there is growing anti-Christian sentiment. We live in a world trying to intimidate us. Our blasphemous culture contradicts and opposes our message of Christian hope and love. When we suffer as a follower of Christ, it is not insignificant to us nor to God. He sees and understands and cares. He is with us, and we must always remember that His eye is on us, His arm over us, His ear is open to our prayer, His grace sufficient, and His promises unshakable and unchangeable.

Our hope is in Him!

He who has helped me hitherto, / Will help me all my journey through. John Newton

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Christian Workers: The Hidden Opposition at the Workplace, Home, Church

 

Nicholl McGuire – NM Enterprise 7
Oct 30, 2012

Sometimes we assume that things are of God when they are not. The hidden opposition is nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. From games to people we know, some pretend to be “okay, harmless, Christian, fun, alright” etc. but God says, “There is a hidden opposition behind the game.” Do your research! Follow the money trail! Look up the creators and find out what their social organization’s purpose, intended goals. Check out subliminal messaging.

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The Release of Fear

Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid. Mark 6:50

Our bodies react to our feelings of dread and fear. A weight in the pit of our stomachs, along with our hearts pounding as we gulp for breath, signal our sense of anxiety. Our physical nature keeps us from ignoring these feelings of unease.

The disciples felt shockwaves of fear one night after Jesus had performed the miracle of feeding more than five thousand people. The Lord had sent them ahead to Bethsaida so He could be alone to pray. During the night, they were rowing against the wind when suddenly they saw Him walking on the water. Thinking He was a ghost, they were terrified (Mark 6:49–50).

Lord release me from my fears and give me Your peace.

But Jesus reassured them, telling them not to be afraid and to take courage. As He entered their vessel, the wind died down and they made it to the shore. I imagine that their feelings of dread calmed as they embraced the peace He bestowed.

When we’re feeling breathless with anxiety, we can rest assured in Jesus’s power. Whether He calms our waves or strengthens us to face them, He will give us the gift of His peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). And as He releases us from our fears, our spirits and our bodies can return to a state of rest.

Lord Jesus Christ, help me when the dread seems to cling to me. Release me from my fears and give me Your peace.

The Lord releases us from fear.

By Amy Boucher Pye 

INSIGHT

When we read today’s story, we may wonder why these sturdy fishermen would be afraid of a “ghost” (Mark 6:49). But put yourself in their shoes. The disciples did see someone walking on the water—and they knew that was not possible. We may not fear the same things they feared, but we all have fears. Just like the disciples, we need the assurance of Jesus’s words: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (v. 50). The Lord who fed the multitude with a few loaves and fishes is the same one who walked on water. The disciples did not need to fear because they knew who Jesus was and what He could do. Jesus was essentially saying, “Don’t be afraid! You know me.”

What are you afraid of today? What do you need to remember about Jesus that can help you trust Him?

J.R. Hudberg

Finding Favor With God and Man

Proverbs 3:1-4

One of our basic human needs is acceptance. Without it, we feel alienated or maybe even rejected. In the Bible, acceptance is often referred to as “favor.” For example, when Joseph was sold into slavery, Genesis 39:4 says he “found favor” in the sight of his master Potiphar and was put in charge of the official’s entire household. Joseph found acceptance and approval because of his exemplary behavior.

Whose favor are you longing to receive? Do you desire God’s approval? Today’s text shows us how we can find favor with both God and man.

First, we should value the Lord’s teaching. God blessed us by giving us His Word, but not everyone makes it a priority. We should recognize Scripture as our most valuable earthly possession because it is God’s revelation of Himself and His instructions for us.

Second, we should make obedience to God a matter of the heart. Following His commands is about far more than just external rule keeping; it involves not only our actions but our attitudes and thoughts as well.

Third, we are to let kindness and truth characterize our life. When we are wholeheartedly living in obedience to God’s commands, the effect will spill over into our relationships, as kindness and truth become the guardians of our words and actions.

Although the Christian faith may evoke a negative response from some, believers shouldn’t be discouraged. A life that reflects Christ pleases God. And in bringing light to a dark world, an obedient life will also bring the favor of many in its circle of influence.

Are You In the Spirit?

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

When a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, believing on Him as the Son of God and personal Redeemer, the One who saves him from his sins, a wonderful event takes place. The Spirit of God enters his very body, there to reside and to guide his new life in Christ. Henceforth he is, whether he senses it or not, “in the Spirit.” “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

The believer’s body even becomes a temple in which the Spirit can reign over his life. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

In addition to leading us (through the Scriptures which He inspired and through the circumstances which He ordains), “The Spirit [Himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

The indwelling, comforting, leading, witnessing Spirit is not alone, for Jesus promised that, when the Comforter comes to “be in you,” then through the Spirit, “I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:17, 20). Thus, we can “be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).

Such a marvelous relationship will surely transform our lives. As today’s verse exhorts us: “If we live in the Spirit” we should certainly “walk in the Spirit.” The practical result is then obvious. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). HMM

Thou shalt tread upon the lion

Daniel 6:4-24

Darius made Daniel the prime minister of his empire, and this excited the envy of those beneath him.

Daniel 6:6, 7

This would be highly flattering to the king, and it was cunningly framed to entrap him. It would sound so grandly that no prayer was made on earth by the space of one month, save that which was addressed to the great Darius. How often are men snared by their own pride!

Daniel 6:8, 9

Little dreaming what he had thereby done. It is wise to consider a long time before we set our hands to any writing, otherwise we may soon sign away the inheritance of our children.

Daniel 6:10

He made no alteration, not even in the mode of his worship, lest there should be thought to be any wavering in him. To him life or death was not the question, but loyalty to his Lord was all in all. He would not bate one jot in his adherence to his God, and he took care that his enemies should know this at the very outset.

Daniel 6:15

This rule was an affectation of grandeur, and a very foolish one. Immutability is for God, and not for men.

Daniel 6:18

He was far more wretched in his palace than Daniel in the den. What a grand night the prophet must have spent: no wonder that he afterwards saw visions of terrible beasts, and yet felt no fear.

Daniel 6:21, 22

Well, kindly and courteously spoken. He did not blame the king, but saluted him right loyally.

Daniel 6:23

God can still shut lions’ mouths. Let us do the right at all hazards, and the Lord will deliver us. Daniel’s God still lives: are we prepared to be Daniels?

 

The Christian, like his Lord of old,

Must look for foes and trials here;

Yet may the weakest saint be bold,

With such a friend as Jesus near.

 

The lion’s roar need not alarm,

O Lord, the feeblest of thy sheep;

Nor can the fiercest monster harm,

While thou art nigh to watch and keep.

 

Therefore I will thy foes defy,

And own thee as my God, my friend;

No fear shall make me e’er deny

The God on whom my hopes depend.

 

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Thus saith God of his Anointed;

He shall let my people go;

‘Tis the work for him appointed,

‘Tis the work that he shall do;

And my city

He shall found, and build it too.

 

He shall humble all the scorners,

He shall fill his foes with shame;

He shall raise and comfort mourners

By the sweetness of his name;

To the captives

He shall liberty proclaim.

 

He shall gather those that wander’d;

When they hear the trumpet’s sound,

They shall join his sacred standard,

They shall come and flock around:

He shall save them;

They shall be with glory crown’d.

 

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Praise ye the Lord; ’tis good to raise

Our hearts and voices in his praise:

His nature and his works invite

To make this duty our delight.

 

The Lord builds up Jerusalem,

And gathers nations to his name:

His mercy melts the stubborn soul,

And makes the broken spirit whole.

 

His church is precious in his sight;

He makes her glory his delight,

His treasures on her head are pour’d;

O Zion’s children, praise the Lord.

 

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There is a fountain fill’d with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins:

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

 

Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransom’d church of God

Be saved to sin no more.

 

E’er since by faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die.

 

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Many times since days of youth,

May Israel truly say,

Foes devoid of love and truth

Afflict me day by day;

Yet they never can prevail,

God defends his people still;

Jesus’ power can never fail

To save from all that’s ill.

 

God hath Zion set apart

For his abiding place;

Sons of wrath and guileful art

He’ll banish from his face:

God for Israel doth fight;

Israel, on thy God depend;

Christ shall keep thee day and night,

Till all thy troubles end.

 

Yes, End of the Age

All of these things shall be dissolved… what manner of persons ought ye to be? (2 Peter 3:11)

Everywhere around us we are experiencing a great new wave of humanity’s interest in spiritism and devil worship. I must take this as one of the signs that God’s age of grace and mercy is approaching the end point. It tells us that the time may be near when God proclaims: “I have seen enough of mankind’s sin and rebellion. It is time for the trumpets of judgment to sound!”

If we are willing to add the appeals from the book of Revelation to the weight of the other Scriptures, we discover God saying to us that the earth on which we live is not self-explanatory and certainly not self-sufficient.

Although the earth on which we spin is largely populated by a rebel race, it had a divine origin. Now God is about to enforce His claim upon it and judge those who are usurpers. He is saying that there is another and better world, another kingdom, that is always keeping an eye on the world we inhabit!

 

Unstaggering Trustfulness

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” Ps. 112:7

Suspense is dreadful. When we have no news from home, we are apt to grow anxious, and we cannot be persuaded that “no news is good news.” Faith is the cure for this condition of sadness: the Lord by His Spirit settles the mind in holy serenity, and all fear is gone as to the future as well as the present.

The fixedness of heart spoken of by the Psalmist is to be diligently sought after. It is not believing this or that promise of the Lord, but the general condition of unstaggering trustfulness in our God, the confidence which we have in Him that He will neither do us ill Himself, nor suffer anyone else to harm us. This constant confidence meets the unknown as well as the known of life. Let the morrow be what it may, our God is the God of tomorrow. Whatever events may have happened, which to us are unknown, our Jehovah is God of the unknown as well as of the known. We are determined to trust the Lord, come what may. If the very worst should happen, our God is still the greatest and best. Therefore will we not fear though the postman’s knock should startle us, or a telegram wake us at midnight. The Lord liveth, and what can His children fear?

 

VIDEO A Few Names – A First Century Message to Twentieth Century Christians: Sardis Letter

A Few Names

 

You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. Revelation 3:4

In speaking to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3, Jesus said bluntly, “You are dead.” Visitors to the church noticed a lot of activity, but in terms of spiritual life and doctrinal truth the congregation was dead in God’s sight. Yet not everyone. There were a few true Spirit-filled believers in the city of Sardis who were commended by Jesus.

It’s discouraging to see churches die, church buildings abandoned, and ministries struggling to keep their doors open. It’s even worse to see apparently thriving churches that have abandoned the truth of the Gospel. Yet every generation has “a few names”—a handful of faithful servants of God who are committed to following Christ without turning back.

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah complained he was the only prophet left in Israel, “and they seek to take my life” (verse 14). But the Lord told him, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal” (verse 18).

Let’s be among the few who say, “Though none go with me, still I will follow.”

I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. Sadhu Sundar Singh

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A First Century Message to Twentieth Century Christians: Sardis Letter – G. Campbell Morgan

Fearless Giving

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Malachi 3:10

When my son Xavier was six years old, a friend brought her toddler to visit and Xavier wanted to give him a few toys. I delighted in our little giver’s generosity, until he offered a stuffed animal my husband had searched several stores in different cities to find. Recognizing the high-demand toy, my friend tried to politely decline. Still, Xavier placed his gift into her son’s hands and said, “My daddy gives me lots of toys to share.”

Though I’d like to say Xavier learned his confident giving from me, I’ve often withheld my resources from God and others. But when I remember that my heavenly Father gives me everything I have and need, it’s easier to share.

Fearless giving to God and others reveals our trust in the Lord’s promises and provision.

In the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to trust Him by giving a portion of all He had supplied to the Levite priests, who would in turn help others in need. When the people refused, the prophet Malachi said they were robbing the Lord (Malachi 3:8–9). But if they gave willingly, showing they trusted the Lord’s promised provision and protection (vv. 10–11), others would recognize them as God’s blessed people (v. 12).

Whether we’re managing our finances, our schedules, or the gifts God entrusted to us, giving can be an act of worship. Giving freely and fearlessly can show our confidence in the care of our loving Father—the ultimate generous Giver.

Lord, please help us live with full confidence in Your faithful provision, so we can give freely and fearlessly to You and others.

Fearless giving to God and others reveals our trust in the Lord’s promises and provision.

By Xochitl Dixon 

INSIGHT

The command to give a tithe (one-tenth) of one’s income to God was central in ancient Israel (Leviticus 27:30; Deuteronomy 12:5–6; 2 Chronicles 31:4–5). In Israel’s God-ruled government, the tithe helped to provide for the Levitical tribe, which offered sacrifices to the Lord and assisted in temple work (Numbers 18:21, 26), as well as provide for the poor. Today’s passage gives us a stirring warning about the neglect of giving to God, calling it robbery (Malachi 3:8–9).

When Christ came, He fulfilled the demands of the Mosaic law (see Galatians 3:10–13), and there is no longer a required tithe. Instead, believers are encouraged to regularly give to the Lord in proportion to their income and with an attitude of generosity (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6–7). Giving is an act of worship and generous giving can show our confidence in the God of grace.

In what ways can you worship God this week through your generosity?

For further study see odb.org/2013/11/08/the-blessing-of-giving.

The Power of Christ Over the Flesh

Romans 6:14-18

Bookstores devote entire sections to self-help titles. However, the self-help concept is flawed, since people cannot get rid of their fleshly nature. We can clean up our attitudes and actions temporarily, but lasting change is possible only through the Lord Jesus Christ. When His Spirit is living within us, we can be shaped into successful followers of God.

It’s critical to realize that the Law wasn’t intended for salvation. The commands given through Moses were designed to teach us what sin is and how mankind violates holiness. To lead a God-pleasing life, we must follow biblical principles, but doing so isn’t enough to get us into heaven. The Law was created to drive us to the Savior for salvation; through it, we understand our inability to adhere to the Lord’s rules without His help (Gal. 3:24).

The Law warns that the penalty of sin is death. (See Gen. 3:3; Rom. 6:23.) Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law since He took our sin upon Himself and died. When we accept His sacrifice on our behalf, we’re covered by divine grace, and the Holy Spirit comes to permanently indwell us.

Using Scripture, God’s Spirit challenges Christians to bring fleshly habits and thought patterns under submission. He illuminates the believer’s mind with regard to biblical meaning and application. Therefore, the Word is useful for “teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). The Lord doesn’t want us to go to the self-help section of the bookstore; He wants us to trust Him and surrender to the work of His Spirit. We are to depend on God’s strength, not our own, to conquer the flesh.