 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
Even after Peter knew the Lord and walked with Him, and was taught of Him, he was still impulsive. He still had a tendency to act first and think later. That was his nature, something he had to constantly work at until he grew restraint and strength of character. We learn from Peter’s character challenges that what we say and what we do, matters. We can’t take the words back once they are spoken or undo the act once it is done. When Peter acted before thinking, it resulted in him cutting off a soldier’s ear. It took a miracle to correct his error. “Perhaps you think that, when you were converted you lost your old selves altogether. I can assure you that you did not: the hasty temper, the sluggish constitution, the gloomy tendency, or the fickle humour, will be there as long as you are here. You received a new self, and a better self, but the old self is there still. Your mother will be able to recognize you, she will know that it is the same John, or the same Mary, for your foibles and weaknesses will crop up. You must keep watch.” Charles Spurgeon Yes, we must keep watch, and be diligent because “character is not forged with a single event.” Character is developed over time. Peter had to go through as he suffered beatings and infractions before he developed the character that would never deny Jesus again as he had, 3 times, in the courtyard. (Matthew 26:75) GiGi❤️
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 Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon you! What would you see in the Shulamite— As it were, the dance of the two camps? (Song of Solomon 6:13)
In Song of Solomon 6, the Shulamite woman’s inner struggle is on display and is described as a battle between two armies. Inner conflict manifests when the Word of God informs us of who we are, and our flesh speaks to us in opposition. The flesh contends that we are less than and should be, feel, or look like someone other than who we are. There’s the tendency to use demand-based thinking with the use of words such as, "should," "must," "ought to," "have to," and "need to." This type of thinking can induce a mental state, such as depression that can cause us to withdraw, change our countenance, level of energy and motivation. The new nature which God implants in his people is directly the opposite of the old one. As the old nature comes of Satan, being defiled and depraved by the fall, so the new nature comes direct from heaven, pure and without spot…When these two come into conflict, it is as fire and water meet—either the one or the other must die. Now the old nature was here before the new nature; it is like a tree well rooted—it has been there twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty years, according to the date of conversion, and it is not easily torn up by its roots. Even when grace comes into the heart and makes sin to fall, the stump is left, and there is enough vitality in that old stump still to breed the pain” of old experiences and negative messaging that we have endured. Charles Spurgeon The Word of God is our invitation to “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies,” If we find ourselves struggling inwardly today, let us, “recover the peace lost and come back to our former composedness and cheerfulness of spirit." GiGi❤️  There are seasons for all things. Seasons of preparation, seasons of test, seasons of stress, seasons of joy, seasons of challenge, seasons of rest. Seasons of demotion, seasons of promotion! A season when the devil is allowed to attack, and seasons of victory, seasons of celebration. Through all seasons- give thanks!
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV “I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.” Psalms 7:17 NIV “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:4-6 NIV No matter what your season is today - give thanks in it all! May the joy of the Lord be with you in every season today and always! Give Him ALL the praise! Nikkie 💞  For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. (Philippians 4:11)
Without bad or difficult days we would not appreciate the peaceful ones. Our lives must be blended with both. What one of us considers a hardship might be considered ease for another. We all have our own cross to bear and rest assured the Lord knows exactly how much we can bear. Can’t nobody do it like Jesus. There’s an old Aesop’s fable of the men that complained to Jupiter of their burdens. Jupiter became angry and suggested everyone get rid of their burden, and choose the one they would rather have. They all came together and took him up on it. There was a man who had a crippled leg, and he thought he could do better if he had a blind eye; the man who had a blind eye thought he could do better if he had to be poor and not blind, while the man who was poor thought being poor was the worst; so he thought he would rather be rich despite the fact that he would have to take on the rich man’s sickness as well. So they all made a change. But the fable said that within an hour they were all back again, asking if they could have their own burdens back. They found the original burdens to be so much lighter than the one they had chosen. One preacher proposed that without that thorn in the flesh, without those rough days, those tests, those trials, “our Lord would never get us to heaven.” Whether you have, or don’t have; whether you are at the top of your game, or struggling; whether you are considered in high esteem, or overlooked, you should be content with your position. Rest assured, whatever it is, it fits you…Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you find yourself, God would have put you there. You are put by him in the most suitable place, and if you could have had a choice, just for one-half hour, you would have come back and said, "’Lord, choose for me, because I was unable to choose what was best for me after all.’" Charles Spurgeon Dear Lord, bless us to pick our cross back up and follow you. You said that “your yoke is easy and your burden light.” Strengthen us, we pray, to be content in whatever state we find ourselves in, in Jesus’ name. GiGi❤️  Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary [a]edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)
The discipline to stop and think before we speak or act is a reflection of who we are. Proverbs 18:21 reads, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Today, the tongue is not just spoken words but can be posted on many online forums. Once words have been spoken we cannot take them back. Our words say so much about our character. Scientists, psychologists and linguists study the use of words and are able to determine issues of self-esteem, depression, lying, perspective, positivity, etc. If an individual does not know us, they will after we speak. They will also know who we are after we send that text or tweet. Alas, if nothing else, we have to remember who we are. If we say we love the Lord, let that love be reflected in our choice of words. Let us also be mindful that our choice of words are a reflection of what we treasure in our hearts (Luke 6:45). James offers us a recipe for success: Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]. (James 1:9 AMPH) This is HEART work and this is us giving life rather than taking it. GiGi❤️  Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the Fowler and from the perilous pestilence. - Psalm 91:3
In Psalm 91: 5, you are told that you shall not fear the terror by night nor the arrow that flies by day. Psalm 91: 1 teaches you that you shall not fear because God will shelter you beneath the shadow of His wings. Psalm 91: 2 adds that you shall not fear the terror by night because God will surround you with a wall of protection. Now, verse three of Psalm 91 contributes a third cause for comfort. That is to say, you shall not fear the terror by night nor the arrow that flies by day because God will deliver you. In the case of verses one and two, hurt, harm and danger is prevented by your being beneath the shadow of His wings and behind His wall of protection. Yet, there are times, when the enemy slips in, when trouble gets pass the gates, when the attack of the adversary comes from within the walls. In such times, God shows up as a deliverer who will rush in and bring you out. He serves like a fireman who rescues residents from a burning building. He acts like a swat team which storms barricaded banks and retrieves innocent hostages. He dives into the deep like a life guard and saves drowning souls. Sometimes, many times, most times by the time you realize you are in trouble, you have already passed the point of prevention. What you need is deliverance. Not to worry because surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. Hallelujah! Pastor Ben  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Everything we go through has meaning. There are no coincidences with the child of God. Nothing is by happenstance. Everything matters, down to the smallest detail because we serve a God of order. He orchestrates circumstances in our lives that serve to either make us humbler and draw us closer to him, or we can become more cynical and hard hearted and choose, only to do what we think is best for us. Oswald Chambers wrote, “We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be.” Furthermore, “God is not concerned about our plans; He doesn’t ask, “Do you want to go through this loss of a loved one, this difficulty, or this defeat?” No, He allows these things for His own purpose. The things we are going through are either making us sweeter, better, and nobler men and women, or they are making us more critical and fault-finding, and more insistent on our own way. The things that happen either make us evil, or they make us more saintly, depending entirely on our relationship with God and its level of intimacy.” I assure you that the thing we face today has manifest in order to draw us closer to our Lord. Let’s keep our eyes on God, talk less, and pray more. Remember, this trial that we face, is “so that the proof of our faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1  Give yourself to the Lord; trust in him, and he will help you…(Psalm 37:5)
You remember the story that Christ tells of the man that was ploughing the field; he was only thinking of the field, and how much corn it would take to sow it; and he was ploughing up and down, when suddenly, his plowshare hit upon something hard. He stopped the oxen, and took his spade, and dug, and there was an old crock, and it was full of gold. Somebody had hidden it away, and left it. This man had never looked for it. He did not even know it was there, but he had stumbled on it, as men say, by accident. What did he do? He did not tell anybody, but he went off to the man who was the owner of the field, and he said, "What will you take for that field?" "Can you buy it?" "Yes, I want it, what will you take for it?" The price was so high that he had to sell the house he lived in, and his oxen, and his very clothes off his back; but he did not care about that, he bought the field, and he bought the treasure, and then he was able to buy back his clothes, his house, and his oxen, and everything else. “If you find Christ, and if you have to sell the coat off your back in order to get him, if you have to give up everything you have that you may find him, you will have such a treasure in him that, for the joy of finding him, you would count all the riches of Egypt to be less than nothing and vanity; but you need not sell the coat off your back, Christ is to be had for nothing, only you must give him yourself. If he gives himself to you, and he becomes your Savior, you must give yourself to him, and become his servant. Trust him, I beseech you, the Lord help you so to do, for Jesus' sake!” Charles Spurgeon. GiGi❤️  “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9)
There days you may feel like giving up and lament, “What’s the use?” Yet, the Christ in us will not allow us to stay there long. Spurgeon wrote, “Some believers bear their trial for a good while. They are not to be laughed out of their religion; they can take the criticism and persecution. But by and by the persecution has done its work, and it comes to a hand-to-hand fight; the struggle begins to be somewhat more difficult, and now we will see what they are made of. The enemy gets hold of them, and then they find that they are being touched in a tender part…Ah! brethren, these are often the trials that God sends, and it is by these that he separates the chaff from the wheat, and lets us see who are true soldiers.” They must go through. “God grant us grace to be found at last children of God that did not turn back in the day of battle.” We shall reap if we stay in the battle. GiGi❤️ |
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