Cheerfully Sharing with Others the Most-Precious Gift We Freely Received
There is a song titled “Misfit,” one sung by Franni Cash, one that speaks of oddity, of the way God’s redeemed ones appear to the world. For those who believe in God, who have placed their faith in Jesus, and who have received the seal of God’s Holy Spirit, the watching, unbelieving world of individuals often look, scratch their heads, and question WHY.
Without a doubt, there are two camps where humanity resides, and there is no possible way to stand in the middle ground or to place one foot positioned in each camp. One either belongs to God, places his faith in Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, and is led by God’s Holy Spirit—OR—One is not.
Satan is a beast. In The Revelation To John, the vision given to the apostle John reveals this truth, for Satan is a beast of the sea and of the land. There is a Holy Trinity—AND—there is an unholy one: Satan, the anti-Christ, and the false prophet. Believe It. See the Truth. Satan wants humans to question God’s authority, to question God, to question God’s salvation, and to question God’s love. As believers, as Christ-followers, we must accept that there are just some mysteries surrounding God that we will not fully understand on this side of heaven, and that’s okay, for the Bible tells us so.
“When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write;
(The Revelation To John 10: 4-7 NASB)
and I heard a voice from heaven saying,
“Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.”
“Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”
Always, whenever we pick up the Scriptures to read, we are amazed at the power of God stirring within us to see His Word in a way that we did not see before that particular day. This has occurred so often within our Christian lives and will continue until God brings us home to heaven OR until the Lord Jesus returns.
The prophet Isaiah wrote (The Book of Isaiah 55: 8-9), reminding us how God’s ways are higher than our ways, how God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and how these will be revealed in God’s time, in God’s way, and for His purpose. Truly, there are just some things God does not reveal because HE IS GOD & we are not. We are mankind, created by HIM, by GOD.
- God is sovereign all the time and over all times and all people.
- God’s sovereignty says: “I’ve got you, and I will walk you through.”
God does not promise to make our lives free from pain and struggle; God promises to make our lives spiritually fruitful—IF we remain faithful to Him. There is a melody, “Glory to Glory,” one sung by Mackenzie Phillips, that speaks of the struggles we face and the mountains we must climb. We hear the lyrics and are reminded who shods our feet, providing us climbing shoes. Thus, we are to do just as the Spirit leads us to do, not giving of ourselves, our time, or of our riches, grudgingly, for the Lord desires that we give of ourselves cheerfully.
In studying God’s Word, we see how the psalmist reminded us not to rely on ourselves but on the Lord, to disciple the souls who are hungry for the TRUTH, to pray for others, even when our prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, and to encourage others, even when we feel as if our words are just mere words. We are not to place our trust in earthly experts who really know nothing of salvation, for humans do not have what it takes, and when they die, their thoughts and their projects die with them.
“Praise the LORD!
(The Psalms 146: 1-10 NASB)
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
In that very day his thoughts perish.
How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever;
Who executes justice for the oppressed;
Who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;
The LORD protects the strangers;
He supports the fatherless and the widow,
But He thwarts the way of the wicked.
The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!”
Some people we encounter will ask: “Why would God allow His Son who knew no sin to suffer for all men?” The answer is really simple, for—
- It is only through the cross that we see with clarity our pain and our suffering. &
- It is only through the cross that we testify. &
- It is only through the cross that we serve in Jesus’s name, serving the One who did whatever it took to save His church, to save you, and to save me.
In this season of life and wherever the LORD has placed us, may we Cheerfully Share with Others the Most-Precious Gift We Freely Received.
There is a melody “I Know a Name,” one sung by Elevation Worship that proclaims the TRUTH: THERE IS ONLY ONE NAME WHO SAVES—JESUS!
The power to save souls rests not in the one who carries the message to those who are lost, but the power to save souls rests in the Gospel message. Therefore, as the apostle Paul proclaimed, to the believers living and serving in Rome, his life-purpose and our life-purpose ought to be voiced.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel,
(The Letter of Paul to the Romans 1: 16-17 NASB)
for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith;
as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”