Read Matthew
10
Here is the
thing. You don’t need to go head to head
with the devil right now, but you don’t need to fear him either. He can only do so much.
Everything
will come into the light. Everything
will be revealed in God’s time. Don’t
worry if it looks like evil men have bested you. God, goodness, and righteousness
prevail. God wins and that means you
win.
What the
Lord has told you and taught you and invested in you is what you are to present
to the world. It doesn’t matter if you
heard the Lord in a still, small voice or in class on a mountainside, or in a
quiet moment with just the two of you enjoying the creation under the stars.
What you
have received from the Lord you are to proclaim to the world. Satan may afflict your flesh but he has no
authority to drag you to the pits of hell.
God alone decides life and death, heaven and hell, blessings or torment.
Sin may
degrade your life, but confessing your sin liberates you from bondage. God is faithful and just to forgive. If you don’t confess, the powers of darkness
will try to leverage your guilt against you.
And don’t
think that God thinks you insignificant.
He keeps up with the sparrows—common birds that are everywhere. The birds were not after thoughts. They were created before you were. They are a vital part of creation and you are
much more important to God than the birds.
If you must
fear, then fear the Lord. He numbers the
hairs on your head. Some of us have made
his job much easier as of late, but this is not about hair. It’s about how important you are to God.
You matter
to God. Proclaiming his word matters to
the world.
Realize that
he trusted you to take his message into the world. The 12 went first before Jesus was crucified,
buried, and resurrected. We go now, but
the instructions not to fear the enemy still hold.
The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Fools despise wisdom, and instruction, and disciple. If we have any fear at all, let it be the
fear of the Lord for such fear sets us on God’s path.
Sometimes we
think, if people only knew…
Understand
that God knows. Nothing is hidden from
God. God sees the heart. One day, everything hidden will be revealed. While we look at the world and so desire that
so many
injustices would be exposed, we are cautioned to confess what we have
hidden now.
If we have
something against our brother, reconcile
before making your offering to God.
If we hate
another person, make
peace before seeking God’s justice.
If we are
seeking justice from others in this world, make sure that we don’t have a lumberyard
in our own eyes.
Live as if
everything you did was done in broad daylight.
Speak the
words given you by God boldly for all to hear.
Trust that
God will deal with the wicked in his time and their deeds will be exposed. Live to bring glory to God not to be excited
in the day of reckoning for the wicked.
Their day will come. Trust God. Bring glory to God.
The fact that
others may be getting away with sinful things is no excuse for us to not do
what we know to do.
Do as the
psalmists did. Cry out to God over
injustice while affirming that the Lord of the earth will do right. Affirm your trust in him.
Be faithful
to God in everything. Never deny
him. He intercedes for you with the
Father. Never give him a reason not
to.
Profess
Jesus is Lord to all.
Never miss an occasion. Never
deny him, even by omission.
You may sin
and sin some more and some more, but never forsake your Savior. Never deny him. Confess
your human weakness, but never discount the power of the blood of Jesus or the intensity
of God’s love that we know in our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Live as if
everything you do and have done will be exposed. You don’t need to boast
in your good
deeds. You must not think your sin
is hidden. God sees what you do. He sees what others do. He sees
the heart.
Trust that
everything evil done in secret is not
hidden from God. Those who are
against him and who may oppress us or persecute us will be dealt
with by God. That’s not our burden.
Confess your
sin.
Trust
that the Lord will do right and don’t retreat to our own understanding. Trust in the Lord.
Amen.
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