Worthy of the kingdom of God for which we suffer

2Th 1:3  We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure

You faith groweth exceedingly.
The charity of everyone of you all toward each other aboundeth.
For your patience and faith in ALL your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.
The righteous judgment of God.
That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God FOR WHICH YE ALSO SUFFER.

Yes, there are REAL physical persecutions of Christ's followers all over the world. There are also REAL spiritual persecutions of Christ's followers all over the world. In fact, not a single Christ follower can escape the spiritual persecution. The same goes for tribulations, every Christ follower will suffer them, if NOT physically then spiritually and all too often both.

We truly do need PATIENCE in our persecutions and tribulations. They are NOT going to stop coming not as long as Satan walks this earth, right up until the last possible moment he will be fighting with everything he's got to keep us from our Savior.

Imagine the worst possible human being you can, take history as an example, take the fictional movie bad guys-the worst of them. I say the fictional because there is a lot of reality mixed with that fiction. I'm talking the worst of the worst, the most heartless psychopath torturer and KNOW that Satan is a million, trillion times worst than that person in His unquenchable thirst to keep us from God, no matter what it takes.  Does it take a tragedy in our lives- so we blame God? Does it take a natural disaster we accuse God of allowing wrongly? Does it take giving us our selfish, perverted desires so that the last thing we want is the selflessness of God in our lives? Does it take the self-righteous concept that we know better than any God? Tragedy isn't the ONLY source for Satan to get us from God.  Once we are God's though and firmly established in our faith, Satan LOVES to throw trials and tribulations, persecutions at us and they come in many, many forms. We cannot shrug off a SINGLE simple upset as being merely bothersome. We have to recognize the attacks coming at us. If we don't recognize the attacks then we are in danger of succumbing to worse attacks.  Satan likes nothing better than hearing us blame God for even the smallest thing. He knows if He can get us believing the God abandons us, that God is unjust, that God is wrong, that God is hateful, spiteful, malicious, overbearing, etc, then he's won us. He got Eve to believe that God was unfairly keeping something wonderful from her.

2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer

Our patience when we endure LIFE and ALL it's horrors and they are horrors, true horrors, true upsets that rock our very core, our patience in all this can only exist because we have faith in GOD'S TRUTH, in GOD'S LOVE, in GOD! We can be counted worthy but NOT if we waver to and fro, not if we doubt every single time we are faced with trials and tribulations, persecutions and awful spiritual attacks. We must believe! And our belief must be manifested in our LIVES. ALL BY THE GRACE OF GOD!

We are so weak, God, so incredibly weak!  Please LORD strengthen us! Help us endure, help us, LORD WE BELIEVE, HELP OUR UNBELIEF!!!!!!! 

Help us be counted worthy of the kingdom of God which we do suffer for as we are put through life's spiritual warfare, and its physical warfare.  Please Lord in YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, not ours, YOURS!


All IN YOU! Always in YOU!

Abstain from all appearance of evil.

1Th 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil.

This should be easy to do, right?  Wrong. Not in our day and age. Why isn't it easy? Because so much evil is ACCEPTED as being good. It is! It's a fact. Right now our country is waging a war on homosexual marriage and all those who are against it have been deemed evil, while all those who are for it are deemed good. Having morals, having principles, having beliefs is frowned up. We are told if we aren't for this then we are evil through and through and filled with hate, we are called haters. It is FAR from the truth.  As a Christ follower I do not HATE a single person, that doesn't mean I can't hate any and every sin no matter who commits it whether they are homosexual or heterosexual, and all that is in between the two and you can't tell me there isn't a lot in between.  I can hate sin. Just as I hate murder, lying, cheating, stealing, fornication, etc.  I'm allowed to hate the sin, I am NOT allowed by any stretch of the imagination to hate the sinner and I don't! People get outraged by the mere suggestion of non-acceptance and yet their outrage is only proof of their OWN non-acceptance. Their own prejudices against those who have different beliefs rears up but they refuse to see it as such because their beliefs are somehow more acceptable,  they are more humane, more loving, just because they say they are.  I don't have to accept anyone's sexual life, it's not for me to accept it, no ONE answers to me, not one person. No one has to accept my beliefs, not one person. I only answer to GOD. Everyone will have to answer to Him and if those who are caught up in unrepentant sin -whatever that sin might be big or small- that's between them and God as well, not me and them. I won't condemn anyone, I can't because I will be judged by the same standard I judge by.

I'm not going to go on and on about this, I will NOT debate a single person on this subject not online, I don't debate any of my blogs- they are just that- my blogs and no one has to read or accept anything I say in them.

What I'm discussing here is ABSTAINING from ALL APPEARANCE of EVIL and how today it seems all but impossible to do so because we love so much to fit into the current trends of society. We've called so much evil good- a lot more than just homosexuality, that ISN'T even the tip of the iceberg of evil we call good now. Some of the people most lauded as being good are evil inwardly and their hypocrisy is worn blatantly all the while they are under the delusion they are caught up in good.  There are millions upon millions of liars, coveters, prideful, etc. people and all of that is SIN every bit as much as murder, etc. We would have to condemn everyone, hate everyone if we are to HATE sinners, but we are NOT to hate sinners, we are to LOVE THEM as JESUS LOVED THEM! If we want to be loved, we must love and we often are the worst of all sinners aren't we? Those who claim to 'good', are often the biggest hypocrites in existence.

Who am I to say all this? I'm a sinner, I'm a horrific sinner, and I need to be forgiven my own appearance of evil. It's not easy, not at all in any way shape or form.  Yet we are told to abstain from all appearance of evil.  So if I can, by the grace of God and only by the grace of God abstain from all appearance of evil, I should!  If that means NOT fitting in with society, then so be it, right? Who do I answer to? God or mankind? God.

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please God of PEACE, please preserve all who love you and long for your return. Please preserve us- our whole spirit and soul and body, preserve us blameless in YOU.

1Th 5:24  Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

PRAISE GOD!

PRAISE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST NOW AND FOREVER WHO IS TRULY FAITHFUL!

ALL in HIM!

Rejoice Evermore

1Th 5:16  Rejoice evermore.

When you are given a gift you rejoice, yes? But if that gift isn't realized but promised, you might not rejoice completely.  You know the gift is there, it's yours beyond a doubt, it's promised to you, but when something is promised to us and it seems as if it'll never truly be ours we don't seem to rejoice quite so much.

The ultimate gift- Salvation.
A gift beyond compare- our Savior's Sacrifice.
The truth is salvation is OURS, and we can know it.  This is a reason to rejoice evermore, but we get all caught up in life. We get caught up in life outside of our relationship with Christ. We get caught up in all the problems, the trials, the tribulations that life throws at us and we DON'T give all that to Christ. We don't TRUST. We don't BELIEVE. We don't rejoice in that most amazing of gifts, the ultimate gift, because we let other things interfere.

Just imagine how incredibly happy you'd be if you were given special gifts every day. Imagine it. Every day on your pillow before you go to bed there is a gift.  Throughout your day even the worst of days you'd know that gift would be forthcoming. Yet even so you might get so caught up in the cares of this life and you won't even care about that gift waiting. You go in your room walk over to your pillow and just swat that gift to the side, angry, not rejoicing.  Yet inside that little gift box is something you will rejoice about and you know it, but those darn CARES OF THIS LIFE get in the way.

Luk 21:33  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Luk 21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

We need to rejoice evermore even in our DARKEST of hours, because the DARKEST hour here upon earth cannot compare to the joy in the promise of salvation in the LOVE of our Savior.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

Yes, a constant state of prayer. A constant state of connection to our SAVIOR, to our GOD. We need this, we need to be ready always in prayer, because if we are ready then we have that communication that we need. God, our Father is with us in SPIRIT always! We never need to be without that spiritual connection, we break it off ourselves all too often when we should be strengthening it through the grace of our LORD.

1Th 5:18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

In EVERYTHING give thanks. We do NOT know why we are tried the way we are. We can't comprehend the path we are to walk. We just can't fathom WHY we are called to go through the things we are called to go through and YET, we MUST give thanks because we believe God is in control! God is our creator, our Redeemer, and the ONE we worship and live for! If He's not all that, we have no reason to give thanks in everything.

1Th 5:19  Quench not the Spirit.

We can quench the Spirit.  We are NOT forced to listen to the Holy Spirit. We aren't. The Holy Spirit will not slap us upside the head to get our attention.  There is NO forcing even if we want to be forced. We must listen as the Spirit speaks to us in so very many ways.

1Th 5:20  Despise not prophesyings.

We cannot despise prophesying,  in prophecy we are given proof if ONLY we believe.

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

All through the glory of God!  Too often we hold fast to stuff that isn't any good at all! We cling to the bad stuff. We wrap the dirty cares of this life all around us and wallow in them rather than giving them to God and clinging to 'that which is GOOD'.

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD, our SAVIOR!

In HIS LOVE!

Follow that which is good

1Th 5:12  And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
1Th 5:13  And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
1Th 5:14  Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
1Th 5:15  See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

The quest for power is not of God, ever. We are to esteem those who are over us, who are in a position to admonish us because they have the authority given to them by the wisdom of God. Are we to follow anyone blindly? NO! We are to follow truth and if those who are in a position of authority do not speak according to the truth we aren't to have anything to do with them.

 Isa 8:20  To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

So, yes, we are to esteem very highly those who are above us, but only in truth. If we do this we will be at peace among ourselves because we know this is the will of God.  There is an order to things and to vie for superiority, to seek to be the greatest is NOT in God's plan, not the order He wants for us. 

We are exhorted to warn those who are unruly. Warn them, why? Because the unruly cause strife, it's a given. Being unruly is never a good thing.  The unruly are not prone to patience, they are not prone to listening, to learning because their unruliness gets in the way. If we warn the unruly we are letting them know the danger they are in by their unruliness. 

We are exhorted to comfort the feebleminded.  Again this is common sense isn't it? To do anything other than comfort the feebleminded is simply cruel.

We are exhorted to support the weak. To not support the weak is criminal isn't it? Yet we live in a world where bullying is all but epidemic. Attacking the weak is awful! We are to support the weak, always!

We are exhorted to be patient towards…  ALL MEN.  Again, this world we live in is filled with the impatient. Do people show patience towards ALL men? Hardly.  Yet as followers of Christ we must, we have to, we need to beg for the forgiveness of our Savior as we follow in the worldly way of impatience towards others.  I can ONLY speak for myself, but my own impatience is awful and something I struggle with. To read these words-  'Be patient toward all men.' - is to read truth.  We can't pick and choose who we are to be patient towards, but we are to be patient towards all men.

1Th 5:15  See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Amazing words and yet our thirst for vengeance only grows. Does evil need to be punished? Yes. But are we to render evil for evil? No. Because ultimately when we render evil for evil, we are committing the very act of evil only justifying it by saying the other person deserves is for their evil. So, who punishes the evil of the act given in return? I know this is a very touchy subject and people love to bring up this famous verse-  Exo 21:24  'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand…'  Yet, this wasn't about people giving evil for the evil given, but finding a way to make reparation for a wrong. It wasn't mandatory an eye be put out for another eye taken, but restitution had to be offered equal to that eye whatever it was determined.  Yet, our SAVIOR came and said this…

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

So what does this do to the old way of an eye for an eye? Was it unjust?  Man is corrupt and perverts even what is supposed to be justice. Christ knew this and knows this. It is BETTER for man to turn the other cheek than to seek revenge, because that revenge can corrupt that man who otherwise has the opportunity to reveal a SELFLESS love.  Our Savior's love, His sacrifice is the ultimate selfless act. He suffered unbelievably, and completely unjustly.  How do we as sinners think we can to otherwise? We who deserve to suffer for our sins, how do we NOT forgive others theirs?  God forgives us and we do NOT and CANNOT ever deserve that forgiveness, not ever!

We need to NOT render evil for evil, but follow the good- among each other as Christians and to ALL MEN.

When we are touched by evil, evil so vile we scarcely can comprehend it in any way, we are to still NOT render evil for evil. We MUST forgive. We MUST seek our Savior because ONLY He in us can enable us to be that selfless, that forgiving, that trusting of HIM to truly reward the evil with His wrath in a way nothing we do can accomplish. 

By His grace may we be HIS in all this, in all things! Help us LORD! Save us! Love us!

Not appointed to wrath, but to salvation

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

We are not all automatically born to death. The wrath of God leads to eternal death.

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

We are all automatically born given the chance to choose the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior so we can find salvation in Him who died for us. Not a single person is left without the chance to choose. You might want to bring up the mentally incapacitated or the young, but I'm talking about those who reach the age of maturity according to the Lord whatever that may be for each individual, and those who are not mental handicapped. We all will have the choice.  What about those who never learn of Jesus but live in such a way as they never come in contact with His word? It is God's will that all have the chance, but should there be those who by circumstances do not- just as with little children and the mentally disabled  - then God will judge them according to all the knowledge they do possess. God knows our hearts.

The truth is it doesn't matter whether we are living when our Savior comes again, or if we are dead. If we are HIS, if He is our Savior, we will ALL eventually live with Him.  We truly do need to comfort each other, helping each other to grow in grace and knowledge of God.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

We all will have the chance to be His, to choose salvation over eternal death.  By the grace of God we will do this, we will accept our LORD'S gift of salvation.  It won't be forced upon anyone at all.

We know how stupid it is to pass up great opportunities, don't we? We all have regrets for passing up chances to enhance our lives, don't we? We look back and wish we'd done things a little differently and such. If we pass up the chance to choose eternal life by living for our God, by choosing HIS plan of salvation, if we pass that up for any reason at all whatsoever it truly will be the biggest regret for those who realize too late that they passed up such an amazing and very real gift.

By the grace of God we WILL NOT pass up His Gift!
By the grace of God we WILL comfort ourselves together, helping each other grow closer and closer to Jesus, our LORD and SAVIOR.

All by HIS WILL, HIS LOVE, HIS MERCY!

Are you a child of darkness or a child of light?

1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Joh 12:36  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light

Children of light and children of darkness. It sounds like some good versus evil story doesn't it?  Perhaps it could be, or already is a title of a movie or a book somewhere. It doesn't really matter if there is a fictional movie or book about this, but it does matter that there is a non-fiction book about this very subject. Ultimately good vs. evil is the reality we live in right now.  Good vs. evil is what the Bible is all about. Good vs. evil is a choice we ALL have to make. You, right now are either a child of light or a child of darkness.

You are apart of this story.  There is no getting out of it, no rejecting the script.  No choice- but the choice to choose which side you want to be on. We do get that choice, we just don't get the choice as to whether or not we have to choose. There is no sitting this out.

You are a child of the light or you are a child of the dark.

Unfortunately we live in a day and age where being a child of the dark is something to be desired. Having a bad reputation is no bother at all, in fact it gives you more standing among your peers and such. Being a child of the dark and having a worldly successful life is something people long for. We truly live in a world where we are calling evil - good.

The night is far spent…
The day is at hand…
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness…
And let us put on the armor of light.

The works of darkness surround us on every side. There isn't a single facet of our lives that isn't affected by darkness. The darkness is trying to steal the light from all our lives and in every single way it can.

Cast OFF the works of darkness.  This is an action to be performed. A casting off.  You have to have something on in order to cast it off, right? The works of darkness in all their sneaky subtle ways will try and infiltrate our lives until they become a part of us, so much a part of us we cannot imagine ever living without them.  We will feel the weight of our works of darkness ONLY if we get closer to the light. Light exposes the things that are hidden in darkness, things  clothed by darkness. When something is made up of darkness when light touches it, it can no longer be completely dark, right? There is not a cave, not an ocean deep, not a single place in outer space that cannot be touched by light. Light can be brought to the darkest sea bottom- even remotely, mechanically.  You can sink a light in the deepest hole if you desired. And once that light is near that darkness that perhaps has NEVER been touched by light before, not ever, it will be changed, forever altered. Dispelling the darkness from our lives means being a child of the light. We HAVE to cast off the works of darkness, there is NO doubt about that. If you think for a moment you haven't any works of darkness to cast off then PRAISE GOD! You are truly living wholly, fully in the LIGHT of our Savior!  You are wearing the armor of LIGHT.

We need that armor on us but we have to be willing to cast of the works of darkness that encumber us hindering the armor from fitting to us perfectly.

You are a child of light or a child of darkness and the night is far spent… the day is at hand.

By the grace of God we will be CHILDREN of LIGHT!
Lord help us to cast off the works of darkness that would engulf us and steal all Your light from our lives. Please LORD, by YOUR mercy and grace, through YOUR love, help us, save us, because we cannot save ourselves.

All in YOU, always!

Hope of Salvation

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Thief in the night.
How does a thief come in the night?
As a surprise.
It's very rare for any thief to NOT be a surprise. The only way that happens is if people are suspecting a thief and prepare, but as a rule a thief comes in the middle of the night and it's a surprise, not announced.

Our Savior WILL return, but we don't know the day or the hour.

Those who do not believe the LORD is going to return and return with the reward having judged us all- dead and living- we'll be shocked. 

So many people do claim peace and safety all the time, you hear it everywhere. They want peace and safety in a world that is ruled by Satan. They believe there can be peace and safety in this world controlled by the Devil, and they are WRONG.  Our Savior is going to return and people everywhere will be stunned. 

1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Sudden destruction will come upon billions of people because they don't know Jesus as their Savior, they don't want Jesus to be their Savior, they aren't KNOWN by Jesus as being His.

1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

We cannot SLEEP. We cannot be caught off guard. We HAVE to be among those who watch in the night, protecting our eternal life as a guard would protect physical property in an area where they know it's likely for a thief to steal into their houses and rob them.  We are of the DAY. We are children of the LIGHT.  We are NOT children of darkness who cannot see, who cannot know, who will sleep and they will be robbed of their eternal life and it'll be their OWN fault!

1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

We have to have on the breastplate of FAITH.
We have to have on the breastplate of LOVE.
We have to wear the helmet of the HOPE of SALVATION.

The hope has to be REAL in us, REAL to us! Not some haphazard thought of a possible occurrence.  Do you wake up each day hoping today will be the day? Do you even think about Jesus coming ? Is it a thought you keep foremost in your mind?  How would life be different if we did keep that thought in our minds always? Seriously.  Our Savior is going to return! This is a reality and we must live by this reality even as we go about our day to day life. 

Every generation has to live with this as a reality, all the way back to those Apostles who lived after Jesus died, after He ascended to heaven.  They lived with the hope of His return for them and we TOO must live with that same hope.

We must be SOBER- fully aware of the facts we live with.
We must seriously put on these SPIRITUAL items- this is the recognition of our true SPIRITUAL life.
A breastplate or LOVE and FAITH.  Our lives covered with this, our hearts protected by these very spiritual things.
A helmet of that hope of Salvation. It protects our heads, our brains, our thoughts and this is a REALITY!

So many people tell others that they shouldn't live in a fantasy world, and this ISN'T a fantasy world! It's a real SPIRITUAL world that exists that we MUST be a part of if we want to have that HOPE of eternal life with our SPIRIT God.

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

This is TRUTH!

Truth we MUST live by as children of the LIGHT.

The LIGHT our Savior!

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.