SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2024 9:14 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-5 “Intro to 2 Timothy 1:6-18”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy 1:6-18
Message of
the verses: “6 For this reason I
remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying
on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power
and love and discipline. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel
according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace
which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10 but now has been
revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was
appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. 12 For this reason I also
suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and
I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that
day. 13 Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the
faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who
dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. 15 You are
aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are
Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus,
for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was
in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me — 18 the Lord grant
to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day — and you know very
well what services he rendered at Ephesus.”
I begin with an important paragraph from the
commentary of John MacArthur: “A person
who refuses to openly proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior gives evidence
that he does not belong to Christ, no matter what claim is made for being a
Christian. True discipleship is
costly. A nominal Christian who will not
even ‘confess [Jesus] before men’ surely will not pay the price that faithful,
ongoing discipleship can incur. ‘He who
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me’ Jesus said, and he who
loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow
after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has
found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall
find it’ (Matt. 10:37-39). The mark of a
true follower of Christ is willingness to put his very life on the line. From the prospect of eternity, however, that
is a small price. ‘For what does it
profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?’ Jesus asked
rhetorically, ‘For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’ (Mark
8:36-37).”
I
suppose that living all my life in the US that I don’t actually think too much
about persecution, but I do have to say that once I became a believer and was
listening to a tape from Hal Lindsey 50 years ago he said something that I will
never forget. There was a Christian slogan
“One Way” which meant that the Lord Jesus Christ was the only way and in his
sermon Lindsey said that people who saw that slogan were beginning to get hostel
and could be a sign of things to come.
In our constitution we have in it religious freedom, but when Satan is
the head of the world system that can be changed, and in the last four years it
was as if that was not even in the constitution as Satan is truly alive and
well in the United States of America. I
am thankful that God gave mercy to our nation by again electing Donald Trump as
the 47th President of our country, but that does not mean that I as
a believer can relax, as I am to pray for his safety and pray that God will use
him to cause believers in our country to continue to pray for a great spiritual
revival so that many will come to know the Lord and I pray that will set the
stage for the rapture of the church something I have been praying for since I
became a believer over 50 years ago.
This
last paragraph fits into what MacArthur writes about next: “The English word martyr translates the Greek martur,
which simply means witness. But
because so many early Christians paid for their witness with their lives, martyr eventually acquired that special
meaning.”
The
cost of being a believer did not just begin in the New Testament era but was
also in the Old Testament as countless saints under the Old Covenant, and even
before the Old Covenant, willingly and gladly suffered because of their
unswerving faith in the Lord. We read in
the book of Hebrews the following in 11:16 “But as it is, they desire a better country,
that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God;
for He has prepared a city for them.” And then the following was written in that
wonderful book of Hebrews that explains more about the suffering of the Old
Testament saints. “32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I
tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33
who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness,
obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in
war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by
resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that
they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and
scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were
sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they
went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and
mountains and caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these, having gained
approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God
had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be
made perfect.” What that was
going on with Paul was certainly not new, and what was going on with Timothy
too was not new, and so Paul desires to give encouragement to Timothy so that
he will not fail in his walk with the Lord.
MacArthur
now comments on those saints mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, which is called
by some God’s hall of fame, and when I was teaching through that book in our
Sunday school class I mentioned that it is possible for that chapter to be
added to as persecution continues to go on.
“Like those saints, the great Reformer John Hus was not ashamed of his
Lord and for it paid the ultimate physical price. In 1415, when he was a pastor in Prague, this
‘morning star of the Reformation,’ as he is often called, was arrested,
condemned, and sentenced to burn at the stake for preaching the true gospel. As the flames engulfed his body, he quoted
Psalm 25:2, praying, ‘O my God, in Thee I trust, do not let me be ashamed; do
not let my enemies exult over me.’ He
was not afraid of dying, only of being ashamed of his Master.” And with that I will end this SD, but there
is still more to the introduction of these verses in 2 Timothy.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to say that as I study more about the
life of Timothy I can see things in it that are similar problems that I
have. Being persecuted for the cause of
Christ is something not to be ashamed about, but knowing the pain that it could
bring makes me similar to Timothy as I struggle with that. However the truth is that this is not something
that I need to continually fear, for if and when that time comes I know that
the Spirit of God will be with me in a wonderful way just as He was for
Timothy.
My Steps of
Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to continue to give me a desire to
live for the cause of Christ and to give me grace everyday to overcome issues
that I fight with each day.
11/30/2024 9:55 AM
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