Christian Living
Thank you all for coming to Day. God is good.
There are 9 point s God has been bringing to my attention.
• That the world and people will attack us.
• We need to make certain we are not like them.
• When they asked for judgement it was for the Lord to judge.
• We need to be on the watch for them.
• God has given us strength to stand firm.
• God gives us mercy.
• We need to give mercy to others.
• We need to do things in God’s name.
• If God would not do it we should not do it.
I would like to read for you psalm 59 the whole chapter
Let me start with the first thing that the bible said to me.
1. That the world and people will attack us.
This was brought to mind in reading
a. Nehemiah 6:1-4.
B). Psalm 59v
c)Romans1 v 9
2. When they asked for judgement it was for the Lord to judge.
You can see here that ……………
b. Psalm 59:11
Slay them not, lest my people forget—
You can see here that here they are asking God not to kill their enemies but to make their punishment long and hard and scatter them that they will be humbled and made an example of to the people around them but we must allow God to judge our enemies as he sees fit.it is not down to us choose how God disciplines or punishes his people we might want them to have a slow painful death but we |God actually knows more about that person than we do and knows the best way to deal with them he may even be about to use your exact same situation to bring him into a relationship[ with him
c. Psalm 59:14
At evening let them return
You can see here that Now, being fully assured of God’s protection Nehemiah had made up all the breaches; and had the city guarded so well day and night, by watches who continually relieved each other, that there was no longer any fear of being taken by surprise: and now they must feel like the hungry beasts who were disappointed of their prey. As Gods enemies like these people they go around searching for fulfilment or trouble but they will never be satisfied because the only way you can be satisfied in this world is by having Jesus and his love grace and mercy.we must not condemn these people but pray for them that they find Jesus and all fulfilment in life
I am reminded here of the story that Andrew told a couple of weeks ago about using the missionarys money to put sandbags by the moss and save not only the lives of the people but their spiritual lives.
3. We need to make certain we are not like them.
A) Verse matthew 7 v14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
You can see here that we have a choice we can either go with the crowd and go on the road most travelled downor we can choose to follow the narrow way which brings more trials and tribulation but that brings an ever lasting peace and life after we have edured all these things and obtained the gift of eternal life
B) Romans 12 v2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
You can see here that God asks us to be different from the world and not have its selfish and stubborn attitudes we are called to be different to have a different attitude towards people and situations. Instead of agreeing with things we know would not bring God pleasure we must go against the flow and stand up for what we know is good and true which reminds me of the verse whatever is good whatever is pure and good repute think on these things which is found in Philippians 4 v 8-9
C)Luke 18 v10-14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—extortions, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.â€
We can see that’s it is important to be humble and not rise up in pride and again it comes down to not judging others to be worse than us and a second point is that when we go to God in prayer we shouldn’t be like the first man pride in his heart and probably unrepentant but we ought to be like the second man who shows true repentance and need for God. The kingdom of God is not all about all the wonderful deeds we have done in our lives, it’s about our heart attitude and our faith but more importantly our obedience to God. Its about coming to Jesus just as we are and laying all before him both good and bad. Its letting Jesus take all that we are and being prepared to let him change and guide us and when he shines a light in an area of our lives being brave enough to face that reality.God wont reveal anything that we cannot cope with and does not expect us to change over night but will slowly chip away at the many walls we put up in our hearts.Another thing that comes to me is we can to God with all our sins knowing that he loves us as an individual, he knows our weaknesses and our strengths and he is prepared to forgive us even when our sin seems to be unforgivable
Genesis 4
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.â€
Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.â€
We need to have the right heart attitude to God and other people we mustn’t be angry and envious about other people. We are all different and God sees our hearts and the attitudes behind the action. Each one of us are special and precious to God we all have talents that God has given us and we need to use them with a loving and generous heart we should use them willingly and not grudgingly
4. We need to be on the watch for them.
a. Nehemiah 4 v 7-14
Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry,
and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.
Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night.
Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.â€
And our adversaries said, “They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.â€
So it was, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, that they told us ten times, “From whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.â€
Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.â€
As I was reading this through and discussing it with Keith he bought up the interesting thought that we all have a protective wall of God’s love around us and sometimes through life those walls get battered and torn down by things in the world like rejection failing bad habits in eating and drinking slander and horrid comments bad experiences in growing up and just like Nehemiah we need to rebuild the walls of our lives. This doesn’t happen overnight but slowly it does get rebuilt and when it gets rebuilt or during this time we need to set watches over our hearts and make sure we see these things coming either for the first time or ones that attack the walls and break them down once the walls have been rebuilt. The good thing is that Jesus is the great wall builder and he is able to fight and protect us if we are willing to watch over our hearts and also our minds
you can see here
Psalm 119 v147 – 152 Mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word.
Hear my voice according unto thy loving-kindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.
They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.
Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
We see here that the things that were attacking our walls are often built on mischief and not truth. If your rejected by a friend or a parent or someone you trusted you may grow up with a hole in your wall saying that you are unlovable, but this is a lie and when God starts rebuilding your walls he will slowly teach you how much he loves you and you can be able to trust people or God again
If you are told again and again that you are useless and you won’t amount to anything this too is a lie from Satan to destroy your confidence and to stop you knowing your true worth in Jesus I could go on but we can all fill in the gaps that we now are hole that need to be filled with Gods love and then we need to come to Jesus with that need and ask him tio fill that Gap with his love
5. God has given us strength to stand firm.
Ephesians 6.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
You can see here that going back to our defensive wall that we need to have a defense around our heart and God has provided that with spiritual armour although the things that are coming against you are in the natural its all the unseen things that come against us that do the damage as well. We must put this armour on daily so we can stand against all the lies and the fiery darts of the evil one
Psalm 23 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;For You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You can see here that even through the darkest most painful times God is there standing protecting us and bringing us his comfort
Acts 7 v54 Steven the first martyr was given the strength to stand and talk in frount of an unbelieving crowd and even when they stoned him had the strength and courage to kneel and ask God to forgive them that could not have been easy and also Jesus when he was dying on the cross he cried father forgive them for they know not what they do
Surly this must give us the courage and the strength to forgive others that have hurt us if Steven could forgive those who actually took his life shouldn’t we be receptive to the Holy Spirit to forgive others that have hurt us
Singing in jail. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Imagine yourself in prison in chains after doing Gods work and maybe being very successful its late at night and your spirit is beaten down and its dark The last thing a natural reaction would be to do is to sing and praise the Lord but this is what paul and silas was doing they were making the conscious discision to praise God through it and the Lord gave them the strength to do it and then at the end he broke the chains from them and but thry didn’t run their thoughts were for the guard as he had thoughts of taking his own life and that day he and his family were saved. We to can choose to sing and praise when things come against us if we do God will release the chains of sorrow and self-pity and lift our souls and then in turn will sometimes even turn that experience into a living witness or testimony to draw someone to God
6. God gives us mercy.
For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7
Psalm 145v 8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
Psalm 86 v 13
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
7. We need to give mercy to others.
a. Matthew 5 v 7 blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
You can see here that ……………
b. Matthew 23 v23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
You can see here that , judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
The scribes and Pharisees where devout studiers and keepers of the law and Jesus often came to them to challenge their high and mighty attitudes They kept the law to the tee and enforced it with vigour but in this verse Jesus shines a tourch in their lives because they did not actively bring forth loving mercy to people caught in sin The one story that comes to mind here is the women who was caught in adultery and she was about to be stoned according to the law but Jesus had mercy on her and saved her by saying he thatsis without sin throw the first stone and they all left
c. person who want lent money and then chased other to repay. He was forgiven a bigger debt and was allowed to go free but then he went to someone who owed him money and threw him in jail and the other one who had forgiven him into prison for not having mercy on the other
Micah 6 v8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
We are to love mercy which means you should walk in it daily and be prepared to give mercy at any time you are called to do so If you love someone they become a part of you and so it is with mercy it must be our constant guide in this life as well as the holy spirit of course
8. We need to do things in God’s name.
Peter and John going to pray and healing the lame man in the name of Jesu
John the Baptist baptizing in the name of Jesus
And the final commission to the disciples go and make disciples of all the nation and baptize them
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.
Philippians 2:12-14
You can see that
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:9-11 (in Context)
You can see here that what ever we do we are doing in the name of Jesus because he has willed us and planned our lives to do his will we are his workers doing his will
We must be willing to do his work to the best of our ability as this is what we have been created for
9. If God would not do it we should not do it.
a. James 2 v 8 – 13 If you really fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,†you do well;
but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,†also said, “Do not murder.†Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment
The very last but most challenging thought to finish with and go into our spirit is
These wrist bands that have the letters w w j d if we are meant to follow Jesus example think of all the things you do daily and think would Jesus do that or will God get the glory for that
To recap.
There are xx point s go has been bringing to my attention.
• That the world and people will attack us.
• The judgement shall be God’s.
• We need to make certain we are not like them.
• When they asked for judgement it was for the Lord to judge.
• We need to be on the watch for them.
• God has given us strength to stand firm.
• God gives us mercy.
• We need to give mercy to others.
• We need to do things in God’s name.
• If God would not do it we should not do it.
PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
Reader Count & Comments
Date
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com. This is especially true with articles that
deal with personal healthcare and prophecy. We encourage the reader to make their own decision in consultation with God, His Word, and others as needed.
This article has been read 1015 times < Previous | Next >
Read more articles by julie clark or search for other articles by topic below.
This article has been read 1015 times < Previous | Next >
Search for articles on: (e.g. creation; holiness etc.)
Read more by clicking on a link:Free Reprints
Main Site Articles
Most Read Articles
Highly Acclaimed Challenge Articles.
New Release Christian Books for Free for a Simple Review.
NEW - Surprise Me With an Article - Click here for a random URL
God is Not Against You - He Came on an All Out Rescue Mission to Save You
...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them... 2 Cor 5:19
Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Acts 13:38
LEARN & TRUST JESUS HERE
FaithWriters offers Christian reading material for Christian readers. We offer Christian articles, Christian fiction, Christian non-fiction, Christian Bible studies, Christian poems, Christian articles for sale, free use Christian articles, Christian living articles, New Covenant Christian Bible Studies, Christian magazine articles and new Christian articles. We write for Jesus about God, the Bible, salvation, prayer and the word of God.