“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that.”
There are times when we go through trouble just for testimony sake. Yes, sometimes the things you go through are not always about you, it is for the good of someone else.
This can be viewed as a compliment. For God trusts you enough to be victorious on this battlefield. Look at Job, God recommended him to Satan for testing. And be honest – how many of us taken comfort from Job’s testimony? Or have gained strength because of it?
So go through your trouble with grace, trusting God. Because everything is not always about you. But someone does need to hear from you.
Share your testimony, give glory to God for causing you to triumph.
The end of your trouble is the beginning of someone else’s victory!
As the song says, “open your mouth and say something!”
“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
Matthew 24:22
“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
Psalms 127:1
“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
The mercies of God is unfathomable.
The book Lamentations 3:22-23, tells us that his mercies are renewed every morning. Isaiah 1:11-13 tells us that God is feed up with our vain attempts to placate him by a performance that is played out before men. However, in our heart we are far from him.
For this reason God has in place “exceptions” that are important for our survival. God understands our human limitations, our propensity to fall into temptations, and sin. Even though he understands these things, he does not excuse them. In fact, God expects his people to over come by faith and to excel. To this end he has given us tools to help. In addition to these new daily mercies.
God understands our challenges:
⁃ He has left us a remnant. To be witnesses, to pray, and to serve.
⁃ He has shortened the days – because given to much time, even the very elect would be lost.
⁃ He builds and he keeps watch. He requires us to be lead by him in whatever he has given us to accomplish for him. Doing things on our own leads to destruction.
The times we live in are very distracting from every angle. Life as we once new it is over. The only way forward is to walk by faith, live by faith, and to trust God. We are told to study the word of God. To hide it in our hearts. We are told that the Spirit of God will bring it back to your remembrance at the appropriate time.
There are so many people going through the motions, but their hearts are not involved. Because of the state of the world many have lost faith in God. Mostly because they did not have a personal relationship with God in the first place. But also because many people have so poorly portrayed the life of a Christian (a follower of Christ) that they want to label us all as hypocrites.
However, this is an excuse. Yes, our lives are lived in front of the world, but when our time is over, we must stand before God alone to give an account of this life. At this point we cannot blame the actions of others. We can only speak for our own. No excuses.
This brings us back to God’s exceptions and his mercies.
God is all knowing. But he asks (Isaiah 1:11-13), what is the purpose of your multiple sacrifices? Why are you before me? He asks because he wants you to consider and search yourself for the answer. He does not want any more of our vain offerings. If you are not sincere in your heart to him, than stop. He knows the truth, we are only fooling ourselves.
We are living in the last days. It is time to get it together before it is everlasting too late. To this end, take the time and consider the questions that God posed in Isaiah. Why are you doing what you are doing? Is God pleased with your offering?
It is a new day with new mercies. Repent, and do better, be better. In the end, we all want to be accepted of God.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
Sometimes we need examples of faith, testimonies of victory, that are an inspiration for us to push on further. The 11 Chapter of Hebrews provides this information.
The 12th chapter opens by talking about this same cloud of witnesses. People of faith who have used their faith in God to accomplish great things. We are to take these great examples of faith a step further. We are to take corrective action.
Know Yourself
With the exception of God, no one knows you better than you know yourself. You know the things you struggle with, you know the things that you fall prey to over and over again. You know those things that adversity impact your ability to please God, or to be used by him.
To this end, God speaks directly to us. I am paraphrasing here – “look at the great heroes of faith. See how they conquered and/or what they accomplished through faith? Learn from them, and look at yourself. Lay aside those things that may not be sin, but are certainly designed to weigh you down, preventing you from pleasing me. Remove those sins that persistently trouble or threaten you. After this is done, then run your race.”
Running Your Race
What is your race? Our individual race is the life that God has given us. Our race is unique to us. What makes ours different from another? The choices we make. and how we deal with the consequences of our choices. Whether they be good or bad.
With every choice we make we shape our lives. Deuteronomy 30:15-16. We are told to chose between life and good, death and evil. In Joshua 24:15, he reiterated the choice, and advised of his own. We all need to make a choice. The hope is that we will choose life and good, that we will choose to serve God.
Choices Have Consequences
With every action we take, we are to underscore our initial choice. We do this by seeking guidance from God as we go through our daily lives. We ask for his help, we ask God to order our foot steps, to place us in the position we need to be in. The little choices we make shape our lives. We need to be lead by God for every decision we make. By doing so we are in line with Proverbs 3:5-6, we don’t lean on ourselves, but we are trusting God.
Poor choices reap less than favorable results. For example, If you choose to spend your money on excessive or needless shopping rather than paying your bills. Your decision can lead to loss (such as losing the use of utilities, car, home, poor credit). Your choice has shaped your life. Now you must deal with these consequences.
When you make wise or godly choices the blessings of God are evident in your life.
Understand we are not perfect. At some point we all make bad choices. But God remains faithful. He will give us grace even in this. We should not make a practice out of poor choices. We still walk by faith, even in the face of poor choices we made.
God is Faithful
If we go back to Hebrews 12:1. If we lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily trouble and threaten us, we are able to succeed. By getting rid of these things we become lighter. We are now able to run this race with patience. We can live a victorious life through faith. We will have a testimony that we can share with others. A testimony that will strengthen others, and inspire them to greatness.
Yes, our struggle is real, but the God we serve is faithful.
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