Luke 21:13-19 (AMP)
This will be a time and an opportunity for you to testify [about Me]. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you [skillful] words and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed and handed over even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be continually hated by everyone because of [your association with] My name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your [patient] endurance [empowered by the Holy Spirit] you will gain your souls.
How often do you pause in the middle of a hard season in life and thank God? Do you ask, “Why, God?” or do you say, “Thank you, God. I’m honored to endure this and carry this burden for You.” When you’re under unrelenting attack—unbelievable pressure—in unalterable conditions, what do you do when you want to quit? Before we received this guidance from Luke, thousands of Christians under persecution were wondering this very thing. They’re trying to be faithful to Jesus, knowing that in doing so, they will be tried and possibly put to death.
Don’t we face this same dilemma today? We whine and complain and think that God has lost track of us despite knowing that God always rewards His children with an unfailing promise. He will gift each of us with survival. Every detail of our body and souls—right down to the hairs on our heads—are in His care. It’s just as Isaiah 40:31 says: “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength” (NIV).
I’m excited about His promise. The hard part for me is the offering He wants in return. His gift is survival. Our offering is to endure. I like the fact that I’m going to survive, but I struggle with the fact that I have to endure; I’m not so sure that I won’t get shaky on my side of this covenant. Before we pass on to Heaven, we have to go through some things that won’t be easy. We have to sit right in the middle of the tough season we’re going through and be steadfast with our faith.
It’s one of the hardest disciplines to develop—to look into the arrogant eyes of our current realities and be hit with problems that bring us to our knees and yet still smile knowing that every detail of our body and souls are in His care. It requires patience and hope. We often associate patience with lying down—nonactivity. People can view that as weak and docile and to be frank, a cop-out. But British hymn writer George Mathison writes that patience shouldn’t consist of lying down. Rather, it should be an active response: “To lie down in a time of grief or to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, that implies some strength, but I know something that implies a strength greater still,” he says. “Patience is the power to work under stress. Patience is to have a great weight on your heart and still run. Patience is to have deep anguish in your heart, and still perform your daily task. It is a Christ-like thing.”
Patience means struggling and still doing the best job we can do with the best attitude we can manage. Patience means when we want to cry and quit, we still show up and shout, “I am HONORED to endure this!” rather than, “Oh God, when will it end?” Patience means having enough faith maturation that we understand that there is no sense in battling stress when God has already ordered our steps and planned our destinies.
Let me leave you with this golf analogy, because you all know how much I love golf. Have you ever looked at a golf ball and noticed all the indentations? At some point, the manufacturers of the first golf balls realized that a smooth golf ball would not fly far. A golf ball with indentations, however, has a much better trajectory. Now imagine yourself as a golf ball. God, our manufacturer, knows just how many indentations we need to have a high trajectory. We may be hit, but that indentation is a reminder that His grace is sufficient.
Don’t be discouraged. Each indentation is shaping you and making you better.
Matthew 18:23-35 (AMP)
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the accounting, one who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him. But because he could not repay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and his children and everything that he possessed, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees and begged him, saying, “Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.” And his master’s heart was moved with compassion and he released him and forgave him [canceling] the debt. But that same slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began choking him, saying, “Pay what you owe!” So his fellow slave fell on his knees and begged him earnestly, “Have patience with me and I will repay you.” But he was unwilling and he went and had him thrown in prison until he paid back the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and they went and reported to their master [with clarity and in detail] everything that had taken place. Then his master called him and said to him, “You wicked and contemptible slave, I forgave all that [great] debt of yours because you begged me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave [who owed you little by comparison], as I had mercy on you?” And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (jailers) until he paid all that he owed. My heavenly Father will also do the same to [every one of] you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.
Understanding forgiveness is difficult. It is so difficult to grasp, in fact, that Jesus puts it in a parable because the straight dosage of its truth is too much to swallow. In today’s text, we see a servant indebted to a king for an amount that would be about $10,000 in today’s standards. We don’t know any details of the debt—there is no mention of when the original debt was due or how far past the deadline the servant was. We have no details other than the debt itself.
The pain of potentially losing his family made the servant fall to his knees to beg. The king is moved with compassion and cancels the entire debt. Perhaps that is why we don’t know the details of the debt. The power is not in the size of the debt, but the size of the forgiveness. That is what makes this next move for the servant shocking, offensive, and spiritually twisted. The same servant who was just forgiven this huge debt walks away with the gift of grace, compassion, restoration, and life. He seeks out his fellow servant who owes him money—in today’s standards, about $20—and he demands repayment. He has his fellow servant thrown in prison until he can pay back what he owes.
All of us are living with the spiritual forgiveness that freed our lives and restored our chance to live life to the fullest. With that forgiveness from God, we are also expected to honor forgiveness by indiscriminately giving forgiveness to someone who needs to be forgiven. Gift to others what God has gifted to you. Give grace, give mercy, give generosity—as God does. Since God has given love to us, we in turn ought to give love to one another. God never wants you to withhold from extending the grace He has given you to another’s life.
I can’t find it in me to be critical and cruel to others because every day I must live with the reminder of how much debt God swallowed to keep me alive. I can’t understand how some can be mean and judgmental when God wiped out our debt with the blood of His only son. However, I do suspect that some of us have misinterpreted, misapplied, mismanaged, or misappropriated the power of God’s forgiveness until some of us are meaner Christians than we were sinners. The irony is astounding.
Perhaps the servant was so confused, so traumatized, so twisted with emotion that his regret for needing forgiveness in the first place overcame him. His resentment at having to be helped caused him to act with wickedness. He resented that he had to beg for forgiveness, so he shifted the resentment onto someone else.
We struggle with being able to absorb God’s grace. We are good at celebrating His grace, but we are not always great at stewarding His grace. We want to get where we are going in life with our beauty, brains, and brawn. We don’t want to recognize that we are where we are because of God’s grace and mercy. Do not practice resentment and act out because you are embarrassed to be living under the canopy of grace. Don’t apologize for grace; let it shape you. Let it change you. You wouldn’t be here without it.
Thoughts to remember this week:
• It’s all grace.
• Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by change.
• Every day that God wakes you up, be thankful for the different stops He provides for you along the way.
• Forgive others, for you have been shown mercy and God has wiped your debt clean.
1 Samuel 30:1-6 (NKJV)
Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
This passage finds David and his men standing in a city of ruins. Not only is David an outcast of King Saul, he has just been rejected by the Philistine King, Achish. The fear and trauma David and his men are experiencing as they enter Ziklag is astounding. There is no sound of adult voices speaking. No children’s laughter. No sound of pots clanking as the evening meal is being prepared. Instead, they hear only the sound of wood cracking as the city burns. There is no human presence left in the city. David’s men speak of stoning him. Two of his wives have been taken. He’s stuck between kings, between armies—between pain and loyalty, hatred and distrust, love and hurt. David is enduring more than any man should.
Yet, verse 6 reads, “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” He finds enough internal spiritual strength to encourage himself. He knows that in order to speak to his men who are also enduring great pain, he must first speak to his own hurting condition. So, as he sees the smoke rising—his eyes clouded from standing in burning rubble—he hears God telling him that he is not alone, that God is still watching over him. This empowering exchange David has with God makes David reassess his spiritual convictions. He remembers that God is his light, defense, shepherd, provider, and sustainer. David realizes he is hurt, but not forsaken. In this moment, time stands still for David. Instead of hearing the men around him plotting to kill him, he hones in on the internal voice of God. Instead of sinking, David gets stronger and his soul is refreshed.
I feel David’s pain in this passage. I’m sure you do, too. Most of you probably have felt stuck like David felt stuck. Maybe you’re living in the consequences of a decision you thought was best. Now the spiritual, emotional, and physical comfort you felt is gone and you feel stuck. Stuck is a lonely place. But David’s story teaches us that God never intends for a stuck place to be a permanent place. You might have to endure a stuck season, but that doesn’t mean you need to endure a stuck destiny. It might be a day, a week, a year, a circumstance—but it will not last because God walks with you. We just have to find the strength to keep on walking with Him.
Philippians 2:13 states: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (NKJV). God may be working for you, but you have to find the strength to work too. Even if you can’t find strength in your relationships with anyone else, find strength in your relationship with God. Preach this to yourself when you are feeling stuck: I believe God is still at work. That is how you get unstuck. Believe that no matter what, God is still working and that nothing can stop His work in your life. You haven’t gone through anything that God hasn’t planned and put a blessing over.
The best answer to getting unstuck is movement. Affirm your relationship with God. Practice prayer. Read scripture. Fellowship with other Christians. Be committed to your church attendance. Move closer to God in times of trouble. When David is stuck, he begins to make a plan. He recognizes that the people of the city were taken, not killed. He recognizes that his men were severed from the army, not slaughtered. He recognizes that his men are talking of stoning him but have not acted yet. When you are hopeful and faithful, you will see that God is not absent.
Lessons to remember when you’re feeling stuck:
• No matter what, God is still working.
• Even though God is working, you should work too.
• The best answer to getting unstuck is movement.
Matthew 9:1-8 (NIV)
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
Have you ever crossed paths with a person who just seems close to Jesus and said, “I want to be like that person?”
They carry others to Jesus. They get what it means to be the Gospel to other people. They are close to Jesus and want others to know this relationship.
That’s what we’re going to discuss today—the character of those close to Jesus and how they carry others to Him.
In the passage above, we’re witnessing a group of people who get it. They had faith enough in Jesus, the Son of God, to help their paralyzed friend. These people knew of Jesus and had faith in His mission. They were the outsiders in Nazareth.
The paralyzed man had become dependent on the generosity of a few to help him care for himself. However, those people knew he needed something more than the help they could provide. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NIV). They knew Jesus would be the one to give him what he needed to truly change his life; they had faith, and Jesus recognized that faith.
First, Jesus gave their friend what he needed most: forgiveness of sin. And He also rewarded their faith through the miracle of healing.
A key feature of this story of the now spiritually and physically healed man is the crowd’s reaction. The doubters couldn’t believe that Jesus, Joseph’s son, had any authority to forgive sin. They were so caught up in the rules and “way it should be” that they missed the miracle in front of them. But, those with eye-opening faith praised God for the miracle they just witnessed. When we open the eyes of our hearts to Jesus’ authority, we witness miracles, and we live in awe of what He has done.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you lead people to church or Jesus? Church is great. But Jesus is greater. Do you share how He has transformed your life with those around you? Do you show them the difference your relationship with Christ has made your life?
2. Do you keep good company? Are you good company? The company you keep says a great deal about your spiritual maturity. Do you spend time with people who already have a personal relationship with Christ? Do they share what He’s doing in their lives? Do you share what He’s doing for you with others? You need people in your life with whom to share the good, the bad, and the miraculous moments.
3. Do you have a spiritual mentor? Do you have someone in your life that’s more spiritually mature than you are? Are you sharing your life with this person? Are you seeking to learn more about how they have grown spiritually and what strengthens their faith?
4. Are you living in awe of Jesus’ authority? Where are the eyes of your heart looking? Are we looking at others’ blessings with as much awe as our own?
Acts 16:25-26 (AMP)
But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; suddenly there was a great earthquake, so [powerful] that the very foundations of the prison were shaken and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
The apostle Paul writes quite often about the mystery of the gospel. He reveals truths to us about why Christ came and what His Kingdom means. The disciples were short-sighted enough to think that He was going to overthrow the Roman government and bring the Jews back to power in Israel.
Jesus told them all along the way that they were made for more than an earthly king. He said, “The Kingdom of God is near,” repeatedly.
In Luke 21:34-36 (NIV), when Jesus speaks of the signs of the temple destruction and end times, he warns the disciples:
Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.
Paul understood why Jesus used this peculiar statement: “The Kingdom of God is near.” Jesus said it so that when trouble comes, we can access its power. It’s near because when you receive the gift of salvation, you become a member of the Kingdom. You take on the Spirit of Christ. That Kingdom lives within you.
Jesus wants you to access it when the “anxieties of life” weigh you down.
In today’s focus scripture of Acts 16:25-26, that mystery Jesus revealed to His disciples is exactly what keeps Paul and Silas going through a tragic time in their ministry.
They were en route to a time of refreshment and reflection at Lydia’s house (she was a businesswoman) and a servant woman with a demon in her followed them on their way. She’d been following them for days and kept yelling at them.
Acts 16:17 reports that she is following them, screaming and shouting: “These men are servants of the Most High God! They are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!” (Acts 16:17, AMP).
That’s actually good news, but it was becoming a major distraction to Paul’s mission—to preach the Gospel. He reacts and casts out the demon.
The townspeople turn on him and Silas because they profited from this woman’s ability to tell fortunes. So, the two disciples are arrested, beaten, and thrown in jail.
They’re in prison for preaching the gospel and freeing a woman from a spirit that twisted her spirituality. Paul and Silas are in an uncomfortable situation—beaten, under guard, and uncertain of their future because of what they preached.
However, instead of dwelling on their misfortune, they do something mysterious and remarkable. Let’s recall the second part of today’s passage, which reports that “…suddenly there was a great earthquake, so [powerful] that the very foundations of the prison were shaken and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened” (Acts 16:26, AMP).
It’s easy to get caught up in the miracles here. Chains broken. Doors opened. A prison destroyed. But the really great stuff here is the peculiar thing Paul and Silas were doing in their circumstances of misery—they were praying and singing instead of fearing, worrying, doubting, or lamenting.
Our lives all have that annoying voice—circumstances, trials, emotional turmoil, physical ailments—following us around, yelling at us. It’s enough to make you snap. But Paul and Silas do something different. Here’s a guideline for all of us for how to find God in the midst of all of the distractions around us:
1. Fight for your position as a child of God. When you are saved, you are given an inheritance as a co-heir with Christ. Own that identity. When circumstances scream at you, scream back with this truth.
2. Live in the Kingdom of God. You are full of the Spirit. That’s His job in you—to remind you whose you are and for whom you were made—eternity with God.
3. Remember the Spirit is a permanent resident in you. Surrender to the Spirit and not your problems and circumstances. That’s how Satan grabs a foothold with you.
4. Make your eternity more important than your today. Take care more of eternity than you do of time. That means it’s your job to focus on faith today instead of the minutia of this world.
When you simply keep your focus on God, He will be your protector, and the troublesome days you experience will only be temporary!
