Evening Shadows Fall

 

The world is increasingly hostile toward Christians, denying us freedoms and ridiculing our beliefs. We will experience many more temptations in the days and years to come to compromise our convictions and to make peace with the world. Few will stand up to the authorities like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did, even though they were threatened with death by fire (Daniel 3:17-18). Sinful pleasures, economic dependence, human praise and recognition, and reluctance to participate in conflict will influence many people to walk away from faithfulness to Christ.

The evening shadows are falling at the end of this Laodicean age (Jeremiah 6:4; Matthew 13:39-40). The rapture will soon usher in the Great Tribulation. Until then, following the leading of God’s Spirit may end us up in jail, threaten our very life and rip us away from our beloved family. Our family may even endure financial and physical burdens because of our decisions. How can we ever live with the guilt of causing their suffering? I am not referring here to being forced to end our religious rituals. In reality, many religious practices are superfluous and appeal more to the flesh than to the Spirit.

To give up religious practices is no hardship. However, there may come a moment in our lifetime where the authorities will demand that we deny our faith in Christ or die. There is no shame in standing up for our convictions. God will protect and provide for our family, just as He will care for us if we are imprisoned. He will send His ministering angels to take charge over us and to provide for us (Psalm 91:11; Hebrews 1:14). Many martyrs for Christ declared that He even protected them from feeling the physical pain of torture.

I can attest to this, because after a car accident that broke 11 of my ribs, my little finger, gave me half a face full of glass and punctured my lung, I was pain free and back to work in a week. It took three months for the bones to completely heal, but I never took one pain pill. God’s people never need to cower in shame or fear (Acts 5:19). We can stand boldly like Daniel in the lion’s den and the three young Hebrew men in the fiery furnace. God sent angels to close the mouths of Daniel’s lions; and Jesus was in the furnace with the bold, Hebrew youth. He is with us as well.

Even if we give our life for our faith, we will take our last breath on earth and our very next breath in heaven. However, now while America still gives us religious liberty, let us take advantage of these freedoms and proclaim our faith at every opportunity. It does not matter who hears us or what they think about us. Let us spur one another on to witness, by the thought that the day will come, and it may not be very far off, when sharing our faith will be prohibited in every country in the world, including America.

Prayer:

Father God, help us to live a life of consistent holiness as we trust You for our daily needs. You have a perfect plan for the end of this age, and we are blessed to live in such a time as this (Esther 4:14). Living a life that honors You will insure that Your faithfulness will see us through any turmoil in this world (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Fulfill Your desire for our life in us and through us, as we rest in Your love and follow Your Spirit’s guidance every moment of the day and night.

Thought for the Day:

Take a stand for Christ in each new day and allow your life to reflect His glory from within you.

Are We Gods?

The key element of living in union with Christ is to submit the absolute control of our life to God. Unconditional surrender to Christ offers us eternal life now in this life, which brings us total peace and fulfillment. Jesus lives in us and He loves humanity through us. At the moment of salvation, we become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus takes our sins and gives us His righteousness in exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21). He gives us His knowledge of eternity. We believe God, not with our human faith, but with the divine faith of Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20).

The only way for every child of God to fully live is to completely die to our own desires, ambitions and goals, and to hide our life with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). Once we are dead, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us, through us and instead of us (Colossians 1:27; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20). Jesus uses our hands, our feet, our words and our action to further His Kingdom in the earth. Through the Spirit of God, we are transformed into the fullness of Christ from one degree of glory to another through the process of sanctification (2 Corinthians 3:18).

In three places, the Bible states, “Ye are gods” (Psalm 82:6; John 10:34; Isaiah 41:23). Some people take this to an extreme and declare that they are a god and equal to God. Some declare that God dwells universally in everything; therefore, we are God. The union between God and mankind is relational, we do not become a god or equal with God (Genesis 3:5). The verses following those statements prove that God is not referring to people as equal to Himself (Psalm 82:7; John 10:35-36). These verses actually refer to people being God’s representatives as His children; or to us as children of God and co-heirs with Christ, living worthy of our calling in Christ (Romans 8:16-17).

We are not God or a god, but we achieve an intimate union with God within us through Jesus Christ. We totally depend upon His divine power within us (1 Corinthians 6:17). We find our true identity and self-worth in Jesus Christ. We are a stem on the Vine of Christ (John 15:5), a slave to Jesus, our Master (Romans 6:16-18), the holy place for the Holy Spirit to dwell (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:1) and a container to show that the all-surpassing power in us is from God and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7). We are dead to self-effort through Christ (Romans 6:4; Romans Ephesians 2:8-9).

Jesus perfects us, and He is the author and finisher of our faith as we focus on Him and His will for our life (Hebrews 12:2). God sent His Son in the form of human flesh, in order that the law may be fulfilled in Him (Romans 8:3). As we obey God, we will not walk according to the law or in the sinful passions of our flesh. We will walk according to the leading of God’s Spirit moment by moment throughout the day (Romans 8:4). We have no righteousness of our own merit, but we walk in the victory of the cross and in dependence upon our union with Christ.

A committed Believer wants to do God’s will above all else. That is our goal in life. Our every waking breath and the desire of our heart is to further the Kingdom of God in the earth. Our thoughts, words and behavior match our desires. We put away sinful pursuits and seek holiness. Though we may fall short of God’s glory now and then, we surrender our life to Christ in order for Him to perfect us through sanctification (Philippians 3:12-14). We live life surrendered to God’s unconditional love, unqualified forgiveness and perfect will for our lives.

Prayer:

Father God, we are often so busy with our own little world, that we fail You time and again. Moses requested Your presence as Israel obeyed Your directive to conquer the Promised Land. He knew that Your presence would distinguish Israel from all the other nations of the world (Exodus 33:15-17). We have You within us by Your Spirit. Use our distinction in You to help us to win the unsaved for You. You desire a people filled with Your presence and reflecting Your glory, a living testimony of Your love and power in the earth. Teach us to be a city on a hill and to shine Your light in us for all the world to see (Matthew 5:14).

Thought for the Day:

May we be a people who demonstrate the ‘shekinah’ glory of God – the manifest radiance of His glory - to a lost and dying world.