|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Arianism was the belief that Jesus was not equal to God and was a created being, just like everyone else. This belief was extremely violent towards any christian who thought that it was blasphemy! King Huneric was a very violent king with persecuting not Arian believers. He would hang woman from their heels and brand them for believing that Jesus was equal with God.
A woman known for her beauty and piety named Dionysia and her son Majoricus were murdered for their faith by these Arians. Dionysia learned that her persecutors were going to strip her and beat her in public, she responded, "Torture me as much as you like, but do not shame me by exposing my body naked." These wicked men did not hear her pleas and stripped her at a height were everyone in the village could see her. As they beat her, she called out, "You servants of Satan, you think to put me to shame; but my shame is my glory!" Marjoricus saw his mother beaten and bloodied and was frightened. Dionysia called out to him, "My son, do not forget that we have been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. We must not lose the garment of our salvation, lest the Master of the feast find us without wedding clothes and cast us into outer darkness. That is the pain that really hurts. We have to keep our eyes on everlasting happiness." Marjoricus died bravely alongside his mother. The things she said and her simple faith while being scourged to death caused many men and woman to turn from false doctrines and worship their Lord.
| | |
| As I said the other day many followers of God have and still deal with a broken heart, sadness, or spiritual depression! There are many different reason why a christian suffers from such things as well. Illness or disability(Joni Erickson Tada), Failure(King David), Persecution from the church(Martin Luther and Elijah), Persecution from the world(hopefully anyone that claims to be a follower of Christ), Feeling that Christ can not love a sinner such as you (William Cowper), and Unconfessed sin(King David) to name a few.
One of the hardest things to do in this world is fight for the joy that the Holy Spirit has instilled inside your beautiful heart! Satan continually will try to destroy it (1 Peter 5:8). The best part about our fight for joy is it glorifies God! The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), the son goes out into the world and sins and when he comes home his father shows love towards him because of his return. God loves to show His love and His grace to those who return to that abundance of joy!
The fight for joy comes, when the person with disability or illness wakes up in the morning and thanks the Lord for the pain or weakness in their body (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). I heard Joni Erickson Tada speak about her fight for joy in the mornings and how everyday that she praises God for her weakness, this woman who cant eat, dress herself, move on her own, glorifies God every day! Elijah was jealous for the LORD of hosts (1 Kings 19:1-18) and in great sadness because God's people wanted to kill him, tore down God's alters, and killed all of the LORD's prophets except Elijah. In his sadness the LORD ministered to Elijah's spirit with a still small voice letting him know that the plan the LORD had would protect Elijah and that there were still men who have not bowed to false gods in Israel. In your fight for joy to realize that there will always be persecution from the world if you love Christ (John 15:18-21), that may be someone spitting in your face and mocking you or putting you to death. The fight for that abundant joy comes when a christian feels that God can't love them because of their sins as William Cowper did. If you are a christian and feel that way, God says he has forgiven all of that if you ask for it (1 John 1:9). Anyone who stands by your side through your time of a broken heart can't relay this to you, only you can fight Satan off your back and realize that God has purified you and made you a holy person in His sight! If you don't do this you are making light of what He did on that cross at Calvary, your thoughts say "Even His death can't forgive my sins and purify me". Or maybe your fight for joy comes from unconfessed sin, like King David (2 Samuel 11) when he sends Uriah to his death so he can marry Bathsheba.
Thank God every day for those that stand by your side while your heart is broken. Don't give the devil a foothold in your sadness! Remember that Christ has put away your sins when He died on that cross, if you repent of them. That if the world persecutes you it is a blessing! To confess those sins to the LORD and he will be faithful and cleanse you from all unrighteousness! If the church persecutes you forgive them. May the Lord Bless everyone who fights for abundant joy!!!
| | |
| Mary Knox reminded me of the life of William Cowper (1731-1800), when she wrote one of his most beautiful hymns "God Moves In Mysterious Ways".
Unfortunately the life of Cowper was a very sad filled one, with so much sadness. In 1767 William Cowper met John Newton, at the time they met Cowper had attempted suicide three times! Over the next 13 years John Newton spent time with William many days ministering to his soul! For the rest of his life he felt unworthy of shining in the grace of God. For the next 20 years John Newton never gave up on him, and used his vacations to help his friend William Cowper. John Newton did nothing but pray for Cowper and let him pour out his soul of despair to him. Unfortunately Cowper never was able to show joy again, in the month before he passed away he said to a doctor, "I feel unutterable despair" For 33 years John Newton showed love to a man who couldn't rise up from the mire of despair, even for just one breathe. John Newton said that he didn't understand why God let a saint deal with such sadness, but his hymns would help so many people realize the awesome Love Christ had for them.
Even the strongest saints deal with extreme sadness, Elijah heart was ground into dust and could not understand why the whole people of Israel would worship false gods, persecuted him, and kill all God's other prophets. Martin Luther suffered from times of extreme sadness with his persecution from the catholic church. C.H. Spurgeon, was one of the greatest baptist preachers in the 19th century and he suffered from great spiritual sadness, resigning 53 times in his years of ministry. A.B. Simpson who started the "Christian and Missionary Alliance" (which is the church my father grew up in and we go to now) suffered periods of great despair, yet whenever the Lord took him out of the despair, he did amazing things that to this date Christian Missionary Alliance churches send more missionaries out than any other church per capita.
The world and Satan, through God's permission (Job 1-12) brings about many sorrowful things towards a christian that can cause severe sadness and to have a heart torn in two. It may be sickness or disability, failure, the christians around them following false teaching, persecution from those within the church, persecution from the world, or a sin that has not been confessed to God. Whatever the case for sadness in a Christ follower stand by them.
I had such a friend as Cowper had in John Newton, even though I was no where near the despair level Cowper was at with his suicidal attempts and forgetting God loved him, but there was despair in my heart very recently. The despair came from my dealing with Crohn's and Colitis and Arthritis and degernerated spine and hips, from friends listening to false teachers, and from persecution from my boss. I had a wonderful friend named Eric Siewert always asking how I felt, both physically from feeling ill and how my heart was feeling that day. I think that God has a special reward in heaven for those that comfort the mourning (Matthew 5:4), just as he has a special reward for those that protect a little childs heart. Whatever you do, do not forget those whose hearts have been crushed by this world and Satan. Stand by those whose hearts are crushed and God will truly reward you, as he does with all who follow his purpose for their life! | | |
| The disciple Peter had the most zealous heart of the disciples, yet he failed Christ in his faith, in denying his LORD, and and failure to understand mercy. Yet this same man who had many a failing God designed and chose to be the foundation of His church!
Peter denies Jesus which is talked about in Matthew 26: 69-75, Mark 14: 66-72, Luke 22: 54-62, and John 18: 15-26. Peter goes as far as to make an oath before God and the people around him that he did not know Jesus. (Mathew 26:72) But after the rooster had crowed its third time all the gospels except John report that he wept, not just wept but wept "bitterly". He was so ashamed of sinning against God that it pained him. When Jesus had risen from the grave before His ascend into heaven, He asked Peter if he loved Him three times, and with Peter's answer third answer, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." There Jesus Re-commissioned Him to build His church.
Back in 9th grade I had a friend who spent time evangelizing to people on the internet, I found it somewhat silly evangelizing to someone that you didn't know was sincere or not with their questions. I was proud of him though because he had the biggest heart for Christ, he made the bad days of the christian walk a little easier. Unfortunately he was judged by many of his peers, never to his face but he could tell I think. Anyways this friend of mine has been quite the inspiration in my life, I have watched him bring people to Christ, Love those that have been deemed unlovable, and show an act of kindness whenever he can. I have watched him slip and fall too, but he has one thing I lack and that is the feeling of bitter weeping towards his sins against God. Which is when I think that God uses you!
| | |
| John 11: 17-44 "So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, "The Teacher has come and is calling for you." As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met Him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there." Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, "See how He loved him!" And some of them said, "Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always here Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
Jesus finally comes to Bethany which we see in verse 17, to find that Lazarus has been in the grave for 4 days already. Now Martha rushes to greet Jesus and inquire why it took Him so long too arrive in Bethany as we see in verse 21-22 "Now Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." She shows her faith in the fact that she believes whole heartedly that if Jesus had been there He could have healed Lazarus. Then Jesus answers her in verse 23 "Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Here He is stating that He will raise Lazarus from the dead and Martha faithfully believes that Lazarus will be raised up in the last days, but does not consider the fact that Jesus being the Son of God could raise Lazarus from the dead for them to see him again.
Martha leaves after this conversation with Jesus, and calls for Mary, saying that Jesus wants to see her. Mary rushes to meet with Jesus. In verse 32 "Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, " Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Mary submits her faith here, but she also brings something to the table that Martha did not, and that is humility with her casting herself at the Lord's feet. She is stating that she believes that if Christ were here before Lazarus died, He could have healed Him, yet I think she is submitting her trust to Christ with her humble falling down at the Lord's feet.
Jesus asks the group of mourners to bring Him to the tomb where Lazarus lay. When they arrive Jesus asks them to remove the stone. Here instead of being obedient, Martha questions Jesus, saying that Lazarus has been dead for quite some time and will stink because of his body decomposing. Jesus replies to her question in verse 40 "Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" After proclaiming that the glory of God would be shown unto her if she simply believed, Jesus called for Lazarus too rise and Lazarus breathed life once more.
I think there is quite the lesson in faith that can be learned by this section of chapter 11, Martha had strong faith in the fact that she believed Jesus was the Son of God, and that He could have saved Lazarus, yet it was limited. Instead of submitting in humility and trusting Christ fully, she lacked an infinite faith. She figured the only path for God to show His glory was the one in her mind, and when Jesus wasn't there to heal Lazarus which was her idea, then it was over and that was the last of that request. I have had points in my life to were my faith has been strong but yet not infinite, there have been boundaries set around my faith that my faith could not pass. Instead I think it would be wise if when we ask for God to solve a request of ours we do not limit that solution to only the one that is set in our minds. The Israelites did not see their messiah when he was standing right next to them, because they viewed their messiah as only the one solution. Some had faith that a messiah was coming, yet their faith was not unlimited to the fact of a man dying for the sins of the world, instead they only could see Him as a warrior. Do not miss God's glory, believe in all the infinite possibilities of God's power
| | |
|
