When the storms of life increase – will you be joyful? In the coming days life for a godly man will be difficult, and when you live out the words of God you will be known as a man of integrity. Others will be encouraged and have hope when they see you at peace because the Lord is your stronghold. In these storms your stronghold must be in God’s promises and instructions to you. His Word must be your daily life-giving fountain, that will convince you that God is the only One who can comfort you in a time like this. Hiding His words in your heart will result in good judgment and wisdom. Even when there is no longer any reason in men to hope, you will have hope and not waver in believing God’s promises. In fact, your faith will grow stronger as you endure all that is to come. Therefore, you will be fully convinced that God is able to do all that He promised.
When men finally grasp how much God loves them, the world around them will change. Men around you will watch as you rest during these storms of life come. They will see that you have a knowledge and security from God that they don’t have. They will see how confident you are, because you know that God hears all of your prayers and that He will never turn away from you.
God holds each of His men securely, and the evil one cannot touch them even though the world around them is under the control of the evil one. God will give His men understanding because they live in His truth. They will have confidence to speak truth, even in tribulation because God’s love for them expels all fears.
These men will understand that the word of God will give them knowledge of who God is; how I think and act; to teach them wisdom and give them insight. The Word will show you how to become disciplined, and to make right choices so that your life will be successful; it will keep you honest and give you common sense, and you will know the right way to go.
In the coming days God’s grace is all you need. Understand that God’s power works best in weakness; for when you are weak, then He can show Himself strong for you.
God’s men must always stand for the truth. Remember that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and his servants also disguise themselves to deceive people. When God’s men allow these false leaders to lead them – they will be enslaved by them; they will gradually take everything from them.
People today have forgotten the One who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth. They have no fear of God; for they blaspheme His Name all day long, Day by day, and all through the night – they are under the power and control of sin. Soon these so-called great men of the earth will stand speechless in God’s presence. They will finally see what they have been told about Him; they will understand what they heard, but it will be too late for them to repent.
The road for God’s men will lead through the dungeons of man, and the key to understanding is that you listen to God’s voice. So, pay close attention to what you hear God say, and do not assume anything else. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given about the drudgeries and pits in life.
When Jesus walked this earth, He told His disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with His head on a cushion when the disciples woke Him shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped and there was calm. Jesus then asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
These men acted upon what Jesus said; they got in the boat and headed out towards the other side, but when a wall of opposition came, and made them think that what Jesus had said – might not happen. These disciples asked Jesus, “Don’t You care?” They accused Him of not caring about what they we’re going through. Of course, Jesus cared! But He wanted them to understand what faith is, and this is to keep acting upon what Jesus says even if it looks or feels like it is not going to happen.
Men with great faith believed what they were told by God and kept going – no matter what. They lived out their lives as though it already happened. Even though they were humiliated by the world and mocked by their own family and friends – they kept the vision of God’s promise before them and didn’t stop moving with it.
When the waves of opposition come – do you think God has forgotten about His promises? Do you think that you can run away, fearful of where it could take you? You cannot run away from God, you will gain the strength you need if you keep going in what Jesus has said to you.
Today God’s men are mocked and attacked. Our enemies laugh at us and say that our hope is a joke, and maybe because they see Christian men giving up on their faith in God. Stay the ancient path!
Remember this, worship is not what we “do” Sunday morning. Worship is what I was made to do with all my life, each and every day.
Mary worshiped the Lord when she poured an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus. This expense cost her a whole year of wages. Her extravagant worship filled the room and made others feel ashamed of the little they had done for him. The passion of Mary ran down his entire body soaking him and his clothes with its fragrance and it went with him all the way to his death on the cross.
While the Lord was in the garden praying this aroma was still with him. He knew what laid ahead for him, but he also knew what laid ahead for those who loved him. This smell of her sacrifice must have been an encouragement to him as he was going to be her sacrifice for sins, once and for all. The fragrance of passionate worship followed him into the house of Annas where he was accused of many lies. It stayed with him to the court of Pilot where he received his guilty verdict although completely innocent. The sweet perfume was with him in the dungeon where he was mocked, beaten and shackled. Mary’s passionate worship filled his nostrils while they hatefully shoved a crown of sharp thorns into his brow. The smell was still in his skin when they stripped him and laughed at him, and as he walked the road carrying his own cross. He must have depended on this fragrance to remind him of what would come from his death as they were nailing his feet and hands to the cross, and as they stood the cross up and into its hold dislodging all his joints with the jolt. The lovely smell was still rising to bless him when his heart was pierced by their swords. Is it still with him today?
To be a man of passion for the Lord throughout your whole life means I am hungering and thirsting, striving with all my being, for the daily fellowship of Jesus. The moment I rest, the moment I take a break – I lose this needed passion. If I allow too long a rest or break from fellowship with Him I begin to misplace my worship and passion to something else or someone else.
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, LIKE MEN SENT FROM GOD.” II Corinthians 2:14-17
To worship in a way that creates passion will cost me everything. Passionate people are the ones who are contagious. Peter must have been setting close to our Lord the night the perfume was poured on him. Why else would he have been accused of having been with Jesus. When we are close to the Lord we begin to smell like Him and people will notice it.