Chapter 4
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
kingdom;
I witness to you, order you, bear witness of God’s
requirement upon you and state it before God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ who when He appears will judge the living (saint and sinner alike) and
the dead (who died in faith or out of the faith). It says in Hebrews 12:1 that we are
surrounded by an enormous cloud of faithful witnesses and that we should free ourselves
from every weight and sin that so effortlessly comes against us (Romans
7:14-23). Those who stand with us in
life and those who have preceded us in death will all be judged, the unsaved
for sin and the saved for deeds done in His name or left undone (Romans 14:10,
2 Corinthians 5:10).
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Publish and proclaim the Word (logos) of God. Speak urgently when it seems to be the right
season or wrong season (for all seasons are of God); point out the sins which
drag others down, chasten those who live in wantonness and sin, encourage and
comfort those who are lost and without direction as well as those in the
household of faith. Notice it says to do
so with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Satan would love you to be short tempered and angry toward sinners and
irritating people. Do not fall into this
trap. If you have lost your peace, you
are not keeping God in your mind.
Scripture says to pray without ceasing.
Unceasing prayer brings perfect peace in all circumstances. It is useless to say, “But you don’t know
what they did or said.” It doesn’t
matter. Your peace will remain
undiminished and full of power if you keep God first and foremost on your mind
regardless of those around you.
Let all the old wives tales and foolishness go. Is it scriptural? “But preacher, astrology is scientific.” No, astrology is a religion based on the
alignment of planets. There is only one
reason to acknowledge the alignment of the planets. Psalm 19:1 says the heavens declare the glory
of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.
If your fascination with the sun, moon, planets and stars draws you to
worship God then they have performed their duty. If not, they have led you astray. Do not seek your day’s direction in a
horoscope but in scripture and prayer.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers,
having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and
shall be turned unto fables.
From the very beginning we have fought against God’s
Word. Israel was supposed to forgive ALL
debts every fiftieth year of Jubilee. To
my knowledge they never did it, not even one time. The 70 years in Babylon captivity was
punishment for failure to rest the land every seventh year. Even today Israelis work around this legal
restriction by leasing the land to Arabs on the seventh year. They obey the letter of the law while
destroying it’s spirit. God had reasons
for His rules. In Oklahoma, had the farmers
followed this one rule they would not have had such devastating damage caused
by the drought. ‘Dust Bowl’ Oklahoma
would have never been coined as a phrase.
The laws of God aren’t just for Israel. Most can be applied to anyone’s life with
great success. The word DOCTRINE simply
means doing it God’s way. It says sound
doctrine but the Greek word for sound is the root of our English word hygiene. God expects us to follow his doctrine without
cluttering it up with filth and pollution.
The word pollute is used eleven times in the King James Bible and refers
to allowing filth to overcome God’s doctrine, sanctuary and people.
What you have to ask is why do we struggle so hard to find
excuses to pollute our lives and God’s doctrine? We say, “I would pay my tithes but God
understands.” “God doesn’t really expect
us to marry someone before we have sex with them.” “God doesn’t care if we curse as long as we
don’t use His name.” “Sure I love them
like myself but I don’t like myself sometimes either.” It’s obvious I could continue for quite some
time but you get the point. We make
excuses for our lack of faith, love and obedience. We quote Romans 7 and say, “I try but the
flesh is weak. God understands.”
Yes, God understands.
He understands we have no intention of obeying sound doctrine or doing
everything He has ordained for our lives.
He understands that we are only half way obeying Him and have itching
ears. He understands that it will take
considerable chastening and outright punishment before we finally choose to
serve Him fully. Thankfully for us God
is longsuffering but He is not forever suffering. There is a limit to His grace and some of us
deliberately test Him to find that limit.
After a while we stop trying to justify ourselves and simply
write our own scripture. Jim Jones and
other cult leaders began as Bible believing ministers of the Gospel and one day
stopped believing. We become slaves to
our passions and whether they are physical or emotional we develop our own
doctrines to justify our beliefs. One
man murdered abortion doctors while carrying a scripture he believed gave him
permission. Another pastor taught his
congregation to curse the families of dead gay and lesbian soldiers under the
guise of serving God.
Even the true saints of God struggle with the concept that
we ought to love those we disagree with and allow God to be the judgment
bringer. We listen to Satan rather than
Jesus and become what we have always hated in others. Satan’s title is “accuser” and we have become
like him. One of God’s most misused
scriptures says, Ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of
meekness (Galatians 6:1). “See preacher,
we can get in their face for their own good.”
A spirit of meekness is not, “Getting in their face.” I have prayed for God to make changes in
people’s lives knowing full well that their life would become much more
difficult before they finally listened to Him.
Even though someone might say I messed their life up, in truth, God made
the changes and I trusted Him to do it.
God’s word is not a joke or flawed or weak. His Word is life and light. His Word will come to pass no matter what the
rest of the world might believe. “Thy word
have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against thee (Psalm
119:11).” “Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart and lean not into thine own understanding, in all thy ways
acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). Like the rich man and Lazarus, we will reap
our rewards in due season if we faint not.
Those who mock us now and seek to lord it over us will one day fully
know the depth of their mistake and wish WE had been more successful in our
witness. For this reason…
5 But watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
The military and police call it situational awareness. Be aware of those around you. Be on the lookout for sad, pensive, angry or
hurt looking people. Remember that hurt
people hurt people. If you are the one
in their face then you may well be the one they snap at. This is nothing personal; it is part of the
price of serving the Lord and helping wounded souls. Because you are aware of the situation and
how the people around you feel, you are better able to endure those hardships
and be gracious. While you are aware of
the feelings and needs of those around you, be equally aware of where your
strength lies.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
(Philippians 4:13),” should be a constant reminder of where your abilities and
gifts flow from. John 15:5 states we can
do nothing without or apart from Christ.
We need to keep our dependency foremost and at the forefront of our
minds. If we feel that WE are not being
properly used or honored for OUR gifts then perhaps God is trying to get
through to us that these gifts are only ours by virtue of HIS grace and
love. It may be your Father’s good
pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32) and Jesus may give you the keys
(Matthew 16:19), but these are not your skills but theirs and we must always
understand this truth.
Our goals are not building OUR local church, but building
the Kingdom of God and Heaven. There is
no place in Christ for arrogant and self actualized saints. We are what we are through the grace of God
and our faith is only as strong as our God given Love. Scripture says that in the end times men’s
hearts will fail them for fear. In
Deuteronomy 31 Joshua was admonished to trust God and fear not. In 1 Chronicles 28:20 David admonished
Solomon to “fear not.” In Joshua 1,
Joshua was told three times to be strong and of a good courage. To be courageous you need faith in God and
for great faith you must be perfected in love.
Love motivates the move of God and overcomes your doubts and fears. You become one with the will of God and your
witness carries His will through love’s power.
You cannot be fearful if you love everyone because that love will cast
away fear.
When you add to this love action, you begin to see miracles
manifest. Smith Wigglesworth said,
“Faith is an act.” It requires action on
our part and empowerment on God’s part.
He will not allow His word to fail in the lives of those saints who move
and function through faith and love. The
more you move, the more He moves. The
more in line with His Word you behave and live, the greater the power of God in
your life. The reason is that God will
not have His authority and power misused, so the closer you walk in His Word,
the more He can trust you with true power.
Apostle Joseph Sims used to say that you can judge the anointing of a
biblically based pastor on the size of the congregation. The greater your anointing the greater number
of souls you can watch over.
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my
departure is at hand.
Your years of ministry are not determined by your age, but
by your faithful obedience to God and His choosing. You might be in your fifties or sixties and
just entering ministry while others can be in their twenties and have ministered
for years. God knows when it is time to
bring you home and while we might see the signs that our time is nigh, continue
to press toward the mark of the high calling for as long as you are able. I remember Apostle Sims calling his pastors
and fellow apostles to encourage them and see if they had any needs while we
were on our way for his cancer treatment.
He was still planning new projects even as his health failed. This verse was quite important to him and
while he never really said so we knew he always had his eyes set on
Heaven. I know other men who accomplish
nothing and pray for death while it eludes them. How much better is it to live your life for
God’s glory and go to be with Him with clear conscience and a heavenly “well
done.”
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:
and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Nature on Earth is against our walk with God. It struggles against us ever since the fall
of Adam and Eve. The root word for
‘fought’ is the root of agonize. We are
to agonize over and strive with total dedication and consecration in the battle
of our souls. I have observed over the
years that Christians are at least as quick to blame others for their bad
choices as sinners. We are perhaps even
more likely to pass blame than sinners because we are under more vicious attack
by spiritual forces. Paul states that he
has agonized over his walk with God and has brought his GOD GIVEN
responsibility to a proper close.
We often hear someone say that they needed ‘closure.’ In our Christian sense, this holds more than
a little truth. God gives us precious
gifts and assigns each of us a talent which should lead us to a specific set of
goals. Until we have accomplished those goals
(many of which are hidden from us until we arrive at a specific place in our
spiritual journey) we have not finished the assigned course and are like the
unfortunate soul I mentioned earlier, wishing to die and unable to find that
peace. There are times when I feel I
have given God the short end of the stick in my life choices and goals but I
have to admit I am not ready to give up and quit. As long as life remains in me, I choose to
serve God and my heart desire is to FULLY accomplish all He has assigned
me. If it takes me until I am old,
arthritic and blind then it is still worth the journey to hear, “Well
done.”
I refuse to appear ungrateful to God for this opportunity. Humans by and large are whiny complainers who
grumble incessantly with their lot in life.
Jonah did, as did Paul and Moses.
The Bible is full of saints who brought their complaints to God. For His part, God merely reminded them that
His grace is sufficient to carry them through any struggles they may be
enduring and admonished them to grow up and trust a bit more. If we remember that faith is the substance of
things HOPED FOR and the evidence of things NOT SEEN then it should not come as
a surprise when we do not see God’s deliverance at first glance. God wants to be pleased with us and without
faith it is impossible to please Him.
Only those who ‘finish the course’ will receive this crown
of righteousness. The crown referred to
here is more than merely a garland of flowers usually given to the winner of a
race – though that is implied – but is also a crown of royalty which marks one
as a prince or king. You receive it for
completing the journey faithfully but it is more than a symbol of your
completion, but a symbol of your promotion to a royal position. It is a crown of righteousness only in that
you have been found worthy of your promotion to heavenly leadership and God
Himself has pronounced you ready.
As I have tried to stress adequately earlier in this lesson,
this gift is given to all who LOVE His appearing. Faith, as I have stated often, is empowered
by LOVE (Galatians 5:6). Without faith
it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and without love it is impossible
to have faith. The opposite of love as I
have said before is not hate but fear.
Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). You can love someone who is trying to kill
you. In your love, you are greater than
they are even if they succeed in ending your life. God will honor that love and sacrifice in
powerful ways. There are hundreds of
stories of killers saved after the death of the soul winner by the hand of the
one newly saved. They may end your life
but cannot end the move of God in theirs afterwards. This is part of our blessing by Jesus,
“Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do.”
9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: 10 For Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto
Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Have you joined your life to someone who is doing a good
work for the Lord and it has become difficult?
This often happens because if they are truly serving God with their
whole heart then Satan is fighting against them with his. I have seen marriages end, ministries fail,
children’s futures destroyed and homes upended because someone forsook a
position of trust. They were depended
upon and like a bruised reed (2 Kings 18:21) snapped and pierced someone who
leaned on them. When my late Apostle
left Church of God in Christ and became independent, he didn’t change as a man
of faith or integrity and yet almost half of his congregation left him. Apparently they chose denomination over
doctrine as he never changed what he taught or believed.
I am not saying that it is always a sin to walk away from a
ministry or specific church, but make sure God is sending you away and not your
own pride, fear or wounded spirit. There
are young men in prison even now who would not be had their parents worked things
out or not used the child as a bargaining chip to get what they wanted. There are many ministries that died stillborn
because they could not endure the growth process or they did not believe in God
given leadership. I am not suggesting we
follow blindly until someone offers us poisoned drink, but I do believe we
ought to bloom where God has planted us and wait for Him to make changes in our
life.
11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him
with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
Luke traveled with Paul, a physician who wrote the book
containing his name as well as Acts.
Many believe the purpose of these two books was to serve as the court
documents for Paul’s trial before Caesar.
Mark was originally considered to be too immature and filled with fear
to travel with Paul. It was the primary
reason for the split between Paul and Barnabas who took Mark with him. It appears that after some seasoning and
growth Paul believed him to be a valuable addition to the ministry.
This is a valuable lesson for all of us to learn. God, unlike many of us, does not cease His
work in our lives and continues to work with us, preparing us for
ministry. Some of the greatest workers
in the gospel were late bloomers and became faithful only later in life. The person who drives you crazy today may be
your most faithful supporter tomorrow.
12 And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. 13 The
cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and
the books, but especially the parchments.
Tychicus’ name means ‘fortuitous or fortunate.’ Paul was forced to send him to Ephesus to
minister and wanted his cloak. He may
have wanted it for the cooler weather in Rome compared to where he was
previously. There is a greater
possibility that he needed it for spiritual reasons. When Elijah was caught up to heaven by the
horses and chariot of God his cloak or mantle fell back to earth and Elijah
took it for his own (2 Kings 2:8-14).
Even before that, Elijah took his cloak and threw it over Elisha’s
shoulders when he called him to ministry (1 Kings 19:19). I can’t help but wonder if Paul, knowing his
death was approaching, wished to give his mantle to someone and if so…to whom?
The scrolls would likely have been the complete Hebrew
scriptures, possibly in Hebrew but more likely in Greek. The Parchment was probably a copy of all the
writings he had completed thus far. One
writer mentioned that the parchment skins symbolically refer to Jesus the Lamb
of God who was killed for our sakes. Jesus
is the living Word of God and this symbolically ties the Hebrew scriptures with
the Greek. It is exciting to note that
there are several Hebrew scriptures that are numerically peculiar when taken
alone.
What I mean by this is that God often does things in
specific numbers so that His signature is seen throughout His Word. In a few areas these numbers do not make
sense because they do not fit God’s pattern, however, when you add the New
Testament scriptures to the Hebrew Scriptures the numbers line up. There are several books available if you are
interested in this subject. I mention it
only to show that the Christian scriptures do not go from Matthew to Revelation
but from Genesis to Revelation. Our
knowledge of scripture should encompass it all.
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord
reward him according to his works: 15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath
greatly withstood our words.
We will often come across those who hate us because they
cannot accept our standards or in this case someone who served God briefly and
then fell away. Anyone who pays
attention to the news knows that people are rarely willing to agree to disagree
with your beliefs. Many would rather
fight you to the death and deny you the right to believe. The Spanish Inquisition was just such a
period in church history where a flawed doctrine held by those in power chose
to torture and kill those who followed God’s Word. It was a time when a ‘Christian’ priest would
torture you while demanding you deny Christ and proclaim allegiance to the Pope.
Throughout history the church has endured such persecution
and it is once again on the upswing.
Many churches are practically scriptureless and powerless because of
it. They do not believe in the sanctity
and power of God’s Word and it often appears the only identification they have
with Christ is that they call themselves Christian. These are comfortable, itching ear churches,
that tailor their message to fit the free love attitudes of their congregation
rather than the specific laws of God.
In such a community, truly Bible believing men and women are
seen as angry, love starved ascetics who call everything a sin and are filled
with hatred to the free spirits of the world.
Their views are comfortable to the sinner who does not want to be called
to task before God for his or her sin.
In every country on Earth Christians are persecuted for the good of the
nation because we force people to really look at themselves in the absolute
light of God’s perfect word. We have
become the enemy in a world where the principalities and powers owe their
allegiance to Satan and his fallen angels.
16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men
forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
I remember reading a book called “Foxe’s Book of
Martyrs.” It describes hundreds of
people martyred for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is one of those books
that should be read by anyone who says, “It doesn’t take all that to serve God.” It absolutely does. I remember being a Junior in High School in
1974 and concerned that I might be drafted to fight in Vietnam. I wasn’t saved yet and the idea of dying
thousands of miles from home for something I didn’t understand terrified
me. By the next year I had enlisted in
the Air Force and we were pulling almost completely out of Vietnam.
Our walk with God is not for the faint of heart. God expects us to have mountain moving
faith. If you do not trust God to keep
you through all the things listed in Romans 8:38-39 then how can you stand
against the hatred and intolerance waged against us by the world. Learn to trust the God you love and
serve. Understand that you might be
required to pay the ultimate sacrifice one day for God. Trust your eternity and develop great faith through
love to help in times of hardship. When
others around you fall short in their faith, love them enough to follow Paul’s
example and pray for them. Mark was
frightened and at first failed to stand with Paul but eventually grew and
matured in faith. We can too.
17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and
strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all
the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
No matter who we are or what level of life or ministry we
live it behooves us to remember who we serve and who ultimately watches our
backs. Paul drew his strength from the
Lord and God met his needs at every turn.
The depths of Paul’s teaching was astounding and he often taught
doctrine we consider highly advanced to literal babes in Christ. Paul didn’t win souls who could soak up a
Sunday service (or Saturday in his case) from time to time. He taught men and women who would often be
required to defend their faith with blood.
In the United States we are not used to defending our literal lives for
our faith but we may need to in the not too distant future.
Paul was an irascible hard hitting preacher who made no
apologies for his faith. He didn’t
suffer fools lightly and while he took time to reach out to the simple minded
he expected everyone to put their whole heart into their walk with God. There can be no ‘rice’ Christians who only
show up for weddings and major holidays.
Satan is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. He will not back off because you have not
taken the time to develop strong faith.
You will be his midnight snack as he prepares to fight the real saints
the next day.
I do appreciate the concept of being delivered from the
mouth of the lion. Unless you are
Superman, you have no chance against a real lion. They are big and powerful with razor sharp
teeth and deadly claws. If several men
gather weaponless to kill a lion it is likely that the lion will simply have
more to eat. In a battle between you and
a real lion with just the natural gifts God has given you, you will be lunch,
unless…you know your true weapons. Even
if everyone forsakes you and leaves you to fight the good fight of faith alone,
you can still win the day and succeed in the face of terrible odds simply
because greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world (John 4:4).
You cannot defeat Satan.
He is much too powerful for you.
There are certain demons that God has chained for our safety. Satan himself is quite capable of rending you
limb from limb without breaking a sweat and it doesn’t matter how many friends
you might have. The only thing you have
going for you is that God is greater than any principality and power and will
deliver you. It is especially bad to
have begun to serve God and then stop.
Satan will not take any chances that you might have a change of heart
and will pour all his ability into your destruction. Keep your faith hot and powerful and make
sure you stay strong.
18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever
and ever. Amen.
The death of Paul was not a failure on God’s part. Very few Biblical servants of God died in
their sleep of old age. The chapter of
faith (Hebrews 11) lists any number of gruesome ways to die and yet every one
of them died victorious because their salvation was secured. God has a concern for your flesh but nothing
like His concern for your spirit. He has
prepared a body for you and can only present it to you if your spirit makes it
to Heaven. How you get there is
unimportant to God’s goal of eternal life in Christ. God will not allow Satan to crow over anything. As I stated in an earlier lesson, God is
honored by the complete and total success of His Word.
19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of
Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum
sick.
Prisca (Priscilla) and Aquila were tent makers like Paul and
met the first time he went to Rome. When
all Jews were ordered out of Rome, they traveled with Paul. They were diligent and highly educated Jewish
Christians and taught God’s Word wherever they went. Onesiphorus is not Onesimus the slave from
Philemon. Onesiphorus was an Ephesian believer
who diligently sought Paul out and ministered to his needs even when others
abandoned him. Consider that he was not
ashamed of Paul’s chains (1 Timothy 1:16).
It took great courage to visit someone who was on Caesar’s bad
side. Erastus was a highly placed
administrator in Corinth and was a deacon in the church. Trophimus was another disciple who traveled
with Paul. According to Hippolytus
a Theologian who lived after Paul, Trophimus eventually made it back to Rome to
be with Paul and was martyred with him.
The more you read in scripture and history, the more you realize that
the only difference between how things were then and now is technology. People’s beliefs and disbeliefs of God and
cyclical seasons of great spiritual revival and apostasy continue to this
day. Our responsibility to God is to
pray, fast and witness until we turn our season into one of great revival.
21 Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus
greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.
It was difficult to travel in winter, but I submit that
there are spiritual winters which can be equally deadly. Have you ever tried to start a fire without
matches or a lighter? Growing up as a
boy scout I often had opportunities to test my skills. One thing I learned is that it was far easier
to start a fire with some coals and dry wood than with friction and wet
wood. If you never allowed the fire to
die out in the first place you could always blow on it and stir the flames back
up. If you abandon someone’s heart until
they become stone cold toward God then how do you expect them to relight
themselves.
It says in Isaiah 42:3 and Matthew 12:20 that Jesus would
not break a bruised reed or quench a smoking flax. Have you ever seen a bruised reed. The stalk which is usually quite rigid has a
multitude of torn connections which no longer bind it together. A light breeze can cause it to bend over and
snap. Flax is a dry grass that smolders
like the end of a cigarette. Unlike
tobacco, it will go out if you blow on it too hard or even get it damp. Our grace and mercy toward others is to be so
great that not only to we keep checking in on them and nurture them, but we do
not behave as a blunt and rude instrument toward them. We treat them gently, with love and respect
and help hold them up until the damage to their lives and inner fire is
repaired.
Do you let others know who has been supportive to your
ministry or is it all about you? If you
are the pastor or teacher or what ever you might be, you have a responsibility
to help all those around you become all they might be. How sad to die one day and discover that your
true call was not the ministry that bore your name, but helping one or more of
the assistants God placed in your life become truly great. I can think of many young men and women who I
have ministered to that may well accomplish more than me. How sad if one failed because I was too busy
standing in the light to light their way.
22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be
with you. Amen.
Walk with Jesus. He
is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
Make sure He is in your spirit and is also the pattern for your spirit
and life. He died for you and expects
you to be willing to do the same as Paul did.
Grace ‘charis’ be with you. Walk
in the grace of almighty God who forgave you and gave to you in spite of your
failures. All is done for and through
Him.
The second [epistle unto Timotheus, ordained the first
bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, when Paul was
brought before Nero the second time.
The Catholic church says that Peter was the first Pope and
Bishop of Rome. This is unlikely since
Peter was an Apostle and an Apostle has Bishop’s under him, not the other way
around. There is no shame in your God
given position. A deacon is as important
a position as Apostle or Prophet. It’s
importance does not come through the lofty title but by the God who has chosen
the individual for the work. Men and
women in Christ ought to strive for mastery and grow into greater ministries
but wherever God has currently placed you is a better position than any higher
one where He has not. We used to say,
“stay in your lane,” on the highway of life and should God move you to a faster
lane, it is exciting because God has done it.
I encourage you beloved to accomplish all the great works
God has given you. Leave none undone and
if at all possible do not run from any.
I say with the utmost humility that any man who is able to accomplish
all of a lower level of tasks is happier and more at peace than someone who has
accomplish most of a higher level. This
is not to say you shouldn’t have high standards for yourself but ‘standards’
and ‘position’ are not the same. Job
failure, divorce, quitting for fear and anything which has placed a large
detour in your life and caused heartache and wounded feelings will leave a hole
in your life which God’s grace, mercy and time may or may not heal.
Never use grace and mercy as an excuse to sin or quit. It really means that the process of ‘making
you’ was more than you could bear and you took the easy way out. Just because God has made provisions for the
‘easy way out’ does not mean it is His chosen road for you. Ultimately, he wants you to make it into His
heavenly kingdom and receive your crown.
That is His end game or final goal.
Whenever you fail to strive lawfully toward that goal however, you leave
yourself open to the persecution of the enemy and a troubling of your own
heart.
Remain obedient beloved.
Remain tender to His voice.
Remain faithful. It’s not always
easy to be a Proverbs 3:5-6 saint but the rewards are unmatched along any other
path. We all make mistakes and fall
short. At times the actions of others
will force a direction that is not the best for us. These things happen and God’s grace is
sufficient to get us through them.
Nevertheless, as much as you are able, live peaceably with all men
(Romans 12:all). Remember the weapons of
your warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4) and who the real enemy is (Ephesians 6:12).
Bishop J
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