In the verse prior, Paul admonishes us to not be anxious about anything…but many times, especially in the volatile atmosphere of the world today, this is easier said than done. We know that anxiety is faltering faith and that peace is the supreme remedy for all our fears…but as we’ve been hit with a barrage of overwhelming pictures and words on Social Media lately…we can’t help but feel upset. Malachi 2:15 reminds us of our responsible to “Guard yourself”….in other words, to protect our hearts and minds by recognizing triggers that cause fear & anxiety and turning away from them. One of Paul’s wonderful prayers for us is found in Ephesians 3:14-20, where he asks for God’s love to transform our hearts and minds with stability and depth of knowledge. For anxiety can’t abide within when we are truly able to grasp His great love for us.
Author: kezha1
A Christian mother, grandmother, and retired nurse living in Illinois. Called into a ministry of encouraging others to find their ultimate plan and purpose in life through Christ.
Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…”
The 11th Chapter in Hebrews prior to this one has been called “The Great Faith Chapter” – a famous discourse on the faithful men and women of the Old Testament…their example encouraging and admonishing us to remain faithful to the certainty of receiving what God has promised, but yet not given. While their hope was based on experiential knowledge of what they had personally observed and encountered, we can still glean much from their single-mindedness and determination to not surrender or succumb to trials and struggles. Psalm 25:15 tells us that, “My eyes are ever towards the Lord…” For when we fix our eyes on Jesus, and not our circumstances, we too can have that type of hopeful trust in our future reward.
Revelation 11:10 ” The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.”
This unsettling passage describes the rejoicing of the residents of the earth over the death of two prophets, symbolizing the world’s rejection of God’s Message and the celebration (however temporary) of evil triumphing over good. These two witnesses had been sent by God to prophesy and perform miracles during a time of great tribulation. They are described as tormenting the inhabitants of the earth with their messages, and the plagues they brought upon the people. When they are murdered by a beast that rises from the abyss, the people of the earth rejoice and celebrate…for they’ve finally been silenced. The Book of Revelation shows us very plainly that humanity consists of two groups: the people of God, whose citizenship is in heaven, (Philippians 3:20) and in stark opposition, the rebellious and idolatrous earth-dwellers. Thus, what Revelation 11 reveals to us is the intense discomfort that God’s Truth & Light brings to those entrenched in sin, the ongoing conflict between good & evil, and the total rejection of Divine Authority by the world.
Acts 1:8 ” You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
For forty days following His Resurrection, Jesus spent time with His disciples preparing them, (and those who would become the early Church) for what was next. It was during this time that He gave them “The Great Commission”…that the Gospel Message must go into the whole world. (Matthew 28:19) And then the day of Pentecost happened, and the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them. (Acts 2:1-4) But the fledgling Church was very comfortable as a group together, and it took the murder of Stephen to scatter them to the most remote areas (as they were told by Jesus to do in the first place.) Therefore, the Church today can’t stay hidden within the walls of the building and still obey Jesus by spreading the Gospel widely. We must go outside the confines and safety of the building…clothed with the power from on high…and speak the Gospel boldly to everyone.
Acts 7: 54-60 “The Stoning of Stephen”
The first martyr to die for his Christian beliefs was Stephen…a very persuasive public speaker who gave a very masterful, clear and concise presentation of the Gospel Message. And it was for this that he was stoned to death by a furious mob who refused to listen. The Greek word for martyr means witness…a steadfast refusal to compromise in the face of suffering…with their witnessing of Jesus Christ becoming the actual cause of their death. Stephen was the first, but many followed in their unwavering faith to bring light and truth to a very dark world regardless of the persecution…the Apostle James, Apostle Simon Peter, and the Apostle Paul all were martyred for their faith. So I wonder if it was just a coincidence that Peter wrote in I Peter 4:12-19, exhorting fellow Christians that suffering and persecution was part of God’s Will, and that they needed to stand firm in their faith, refuse to back down, remain unafraid of what may happen, and entrust their souls to God.
Proverbs 9:13-18 ” The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. ‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgment. ‘Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!’ But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.”
Folly, the opposite of wisdom, is personified in this passage. While wisdom offers rewards that are more valuable than riches, (Proverbs 8:10-11) foolishness recommends the excitement of forbidden activities…a “getting away with” something prohibited…all the while offering immediate gratification and appealing to our very base human appetites. Very often, folly masquerades as “wisdom-like”, but where wisdom is disciplined, humble, and trustworthy…folly is full of seduction, swagger, and deception…and in the end, the result is never good.
“Those things which we allow to take the chief place in our hearts have the most power to give us grief.”
Both in Matthew and Luke Jesus warns us that we can not serve two masters…we either serve the living God or in these verses, the love of money. While again, in Matthew 23:8, Jesus exhorts us to not fall into the temptation of exalting ourselves with titles, and the self-seeking of authority and honor…thus, serving ourselves not God. So as Believers, we must constantly remember that, ” Sin shall not be your master…” (Romans 6:14) or as Paul continues in verse 16, we are slaves only to the one we obey…that being either death or obedience to God. But besides these examples, we also can’t allow the masterful dominion of our heart with greed, resentment, lust, pride, or hatred….all which can and will only cause us unending grief and suffering.
Daniel 2:19 ” During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven.”
In the second chapter of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had troubling dreams, so he summoned all his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to not only interpret these dreams, but tell him what he had witnessed in the first place. As might be expected, none of these wise men could explain the dreams, so in a fit of rage, the king ordered the execution of all the wise men of Babylon…including Daniel and his friends. When the commander of the king’s guard arrived at Daniel’s home, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom, tact, and good sense rather than reacting out of fear or anger. He then sought time from the king, and as all of Daniel’s friends prayed and pleaded with God for mercy, the mystery of the king’s dreams were revealed to Daniel in a vision. This stands as an excellent example of how Believers should relate to those in authority. There must be respect, going through proper channels, and not challenging anyone’s authoritative position…for we are to obey our leaders and submit to their authority, (Hebrews 13:17) and in addition, we are to pray for those in authority over us. (I Timothy 2:2).
God promises – You can know how great His love is for you.
God loves you despite yourself. (Ephesians 2:4) For God loves all of humanity without distinction. (John 3:16) How do we know? If I asked you to sacrifice your child for a stranger, would you be able to do it? Yet, God willingly gave up His precious and beloved Son, demonstrating His infinitely more costly love…by not withholding His only Son to die in our place. (Romans 8:32) Why did He do it? So that God could show us His everlasting love… in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us so we might be reconciled to God the Father. (Romans 5:8) More than 700 years prior, Isaiah heralded this great love to us, the unworthy, when he wrote, “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given….”
God’s promise – You can know His power.
John 1:3 says, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” So in other words, as Colossians 1:16 tells us, when God created all things, there was nothing that preexisted, and He created everything out of nothing. (Hebrews 11:3) Thus, if we can somehow wrap our heads around this kind of power…our heads will surely explode with the concept that the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave will also raise us up. (I Corinthians 6:14) For when we are “buried” in baptism, we are then “raised up” with Him through faith in the powerful work of God in our lives… Who by His power, raised Jesus (and us) up from the dead. (Colossians 2:12) So in the end, God promises that we can truly know and have confidence in this kind of power… as we grow deeper and deeper in wisdom and fellowship with Him.
Safetypinlove 