SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/12/2024 8:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Accept Your Suffering”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Timothy 1:8a
Message of the verses: “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”
Just a note to help us move on I want to say that even
though Paul was in a Roman prison he knew that he was not a prisoner of Rome,
but a prisoner of the Lord, and so we move on with this SD.
What John MacArthur writes in the following paragraph may sound very strange to many people, but his message comes from the Word of God. “But suffering for Christ is more a privilege than a sacrifice, more a blessing than an ordeal. ‘Even if I being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,’ he told Philippian believers, ‘I rejoice and share my joy with you all’ (Phil. 2:17). He could say with humble honesty, ‘In everything [we are] commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left’ (2 Cor. 6:4-7).”
MacArthur then adds that “We should share that selfless attitude with Paul and with the apostles in Jerusalem, who went on their way from the presence of the[Jewish] Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name’ (Acts 5:41).”
Looking back at yesterday’s SD I should have finished
this section then, but I did not so it makes this SD very short.
I can say that Lord willing, I will begin the next
section in tomorrow’s SD “Remember
Your Calling” which covers 2 Timothy 1:8b-10).
Spiritual Meaning
for My Life Today: Suffering for
the Lord certainly does not seem like a pleasant thing to do, and I suppose
that sections like this one I just finished has caused me to better understand
more of what it means to suffer for the Lord.
I have read that there may be as many as 1000 people today who are
murdered for the cause of Christ, and living in the United States this is not
the case. Yes there are liberal groups
in our government who in my estimation are somewhat controlled by Satan who
would like to kill all believers if they got the chance, but God is merciful and
has not allowed that to happen yet, but in the last four years it drew much
closer to reality.
My Steps of Faith
for Today: In an earlier post onto
my other blog I was looking at the 9th chapter of Nehemiah, an Old
Testament Book that I really enjoy reading and studying. In my steps of faith in that SD I spoke about
being content, and contentment is really what I need to have. Contentment is what believers who die for the
cause of Christ have, being content that going to be with the Lord is far better
as Paul writes. Yes it takes courage,
but God through His Spirit will gladly give courage to those who face
persecution or even death for the cause of Christ.
12/12/2024 8:26 AM
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