“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask it of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not (does not scold, berate, or belittle us); and it shall be given him. James 1:5 Persecution.

Why is it when we are battling and battling, heartache and sickness, and what seems like trials on every side that the enemy always sends someone or works through someone to add just a little extra to that load that we are already carrying on our backs? Well, a couple of reasons, just a Jesus told Peter, the devils main objective is to sift us.

He knows that even in God, we are still humans. We are still very much prey to that Adam nature and his hope is that is he rattles us, shakes us, and sifts us enough, that Adam nature is going to pour out and in the midst of persecution, he will get us to react and then us that reaction in attempt to convince us to just give up the fight and retreat forget the race and forfeit the crown.

Just as Jesus warned us Revelation 3:11: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast,that no man take thy crown.” 

And He said this concerning those that are of the devil, that accuse and lie and persecute God’s children while pretending to be good themselves, Jesus told us clearly with this verse to hold tightly to what He has already given us and do not let any man, or anything human that can be done to take away from us what God Himself had given.

The Apostles wrote much concerning this and they were more than experts on the subject because persecution was just part of their everyday  life and Paul even directly linked it to his calling as an Apostle.

They were in fact set as a “Gazingstock”.

It is the same routine the devil has always used and for many of us it takes a lifetime to learn not fall into at least one of his traps.

Sometimes we can see it coming and prepare but sometimes we are just blew away by words and false accusations that we would have never expected, especially we allow that “sifting” to shake out the flesh enough to confront others and then have them try to even lie to us about us.

This is another reason for the lesson that Micheal the Archangel did not argue back with satan, actually is says this in Jude verses 9,10: “Yet, Michael the archangel , when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not (dared not) bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee.”

Michael could have said A LOT about the devil and the actions he had committed. Considering that Micheal is the warrior archangel and satan was the praise/protector angel, Michael could have probably put a pretty heavy smack down on him (which did happen with the war in heaven-Revelation 12:7) but during this particular dispute Michael was doing his job and left the reprimand and punishment of the devil up to the only one it belongs to, the Lord.

Noticing that is said that he “dared not” bring against him a heated argument, he dared not, not because of the devil but because he is obedient to God and serves and fears the Lord also, just as the Bible tells us that the angels are “fellow-servants” with the children of God.

So, that takes care of that, now to take care of something for me, any one who follows this blog now that it has been quite awhile on new posts, but they also know about the death of my Mom in September and the we also have had two other family members that were also diagnosed with cancer and for their privacy I’ll leave it there, but to say it has been a year of heartache would be an understatement and I have just truly been stretched time wise and have felt it a season better suited for “taking notes” rather than writing “lessons from the field” but during it all, the enemy reared his ugly head and we were hit with an unbelievable barrage of accusations, and I did, I lost it, and I used the A** word.

First time since I have been saved that anything like that has come out of my mouth, but I did and I tell you that because if you feel that is unforgivable and think I have no business writing for Christ, you have the choice to make that decision for yourself and believe me, I did ask myself that also, and I am not going to get into the details because why repeat what satan wants repeated?

But the truly comical part came, when people who are not Christians and who outright lie and do everything they can do to berate and falsely accuse others (including those with cancer) can smugly tell the whole world via social media, that if “some” people go through the pearly gates, they would have no problem themselves. 

They sure didn’t bother listing the endless spew of profanity that as the saying goes “would make a sailor blush” spat at me.

I am not proud of it, I am not happy that I fell into that trap and after several weeks I have also decided that to give up my ministry for one moment of anger would completely void every single thing I have ever preached to others.

I believe in getting on the boat, staying on the boat, if you fall off the boat, ask Jesus for forgiveness and get back on the boat!

Jesus saved me, Jesus called me, and Jesus is responsible for my ordination and only Jesus has the power to revoke my calling and to revoke it myself because I in anger said a word that is not nice at all, would be doing the devils job for him.

I also remember the story of Paul and Alexander the coppersmith, and people being “delivered unto satan for the destruction of the flesh” so that their souls might be saved and you know, at the end of the day, it is God that they will have to answer to and they will not have one word to speak back in their defense.

And as hard as it is, that is why the Lord has given us so many teachings on this, because others will choose to believe what they want but God is the ultimate judge of all things.

And when a person will one day be faced with the realization of the hate and wishes of death for others and faced with the cruelty of the own words, that will produce far greater truth in their souls than anything thing any of us could ever say.

You know, kinda like Scrooge in a Christmas Carol, when he was finally moved with compassion and questioned whether or not Tiny Tim would die and the Ghost of Christmas present echoed his own words of ending the “surplus population” and thoughts of that is why when we get past the hurt and past the anger, we can truly feel sympathy for them because we know the price they will have to pay for that hatred.

And I wanted to get that out-of-the-way, especially for those I know personally, I felt that an explanation was owed.

I have read some wonderful posts on the subject by other bloggers recently, God timing is always perfect and maybe many are going through a season of persecution, because there is  a lot being said about it right now.

And we do garner so much strength from others and hope that maybe there is hope for us after-all. So we HAVE to PERSEVERE, which means that we must continue, continue on a set course for a planned destination even with little hope of reaching that destination and even in the face of heartache, snares, and the very deliberate stumbling blocks that have been placed on the path.

Taking heart and much heart in the fact that Philippians 1:6 teaches us this: “Being confident of THIS very thing, that HE which began a good work in you WILL perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” 

2 Corinthians 9:13:”There hath no temptation taken you BUT such as is COMMON to man: But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make a way of escape, that ye may be able to escape.”  

Taking that escape route is up to us, God leaves it open but we must be willing to say no to the drama, cut off communications, and recognize the reality that this life is short and every single moment is precious and time spent in anger and battling someone who would fall under the category of Jude 13: “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out of their own shame;…” those who themselves become like those waves and cause peace to turn to distress and propels those unnecessary storms in our life and they do it because they themselves are filled with such hate that they despise any remote glimmer of light that tries to shine on the life of another.

This is when we take the lesson from the angels.  2 Peter 2:11: “Whereas angels which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusations against them before the Lord.”

Again, railing accusations, angry, hostile retaliation that certainly can and most likely will, in a symbolic thought, cause a barrier between us and the Lord.

We can not hold anger, hurt, or even resentment in our heart because it turns to iniquity and we have a very powerful warning concerning that, Psalm 66:18: “If  I regard iniquity IN my heart, the Lord will NOT hear me.” 

So we must truly leave people in the hands of the Lord. 

PROMISES, 1 John 1:4-9: “And these things I write unto you that your joy may be made full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say we that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Jude verse 24,25: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen.” 

Only He has the power to make us stand, and only He has the power to wash, save, and deliver us, from the power of men, the power of the venomous tongues of others and most importantly from ourselves.

Thanks for reading! Φλογιζω 360 NBJ 2019