The Struggles Are REAL
“And He said,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 13: 37-43 NASB)
[Jesus, the Savior spoke this explanation to His parable to His disciples, to His followers]
“The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
and the field is the world;
and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom;
and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil,
and the harvest is the end of the age;
and the reapers are angels.
So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire,
so shall it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send forth His angels,
and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks,
and those who commit lawlessness,
and will throw them into the furnace of fire;
in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[Jesus, the Son of God & the Son of Man speaks of the place Hell]
Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father.
[Jesus, the Son of God & the Son of Man
speaks of the place God has prepared for His children, of Heaven]
He who has ears, let him hear.”
Almighty God allows evil in this world.
The Bible says so.
Jesus says so.
“And he said to them,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 13: 28-30 NASB)
‘An enemy has done this!’
The slaves said to him,
‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’
But he said,
‘No;
for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Allow both to grow together until the harvest;
and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up;
but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘ “
- We serve a God who is able to change weeds into wheat!
- We follow a Savior who is the protagonist of the story of the world!
- We serve a Master who is the main character of each person’s story—Everyone’s Story!
It is because of God’s mercy that He does not give to us what we deserve!
It is because of God’s grace that He does give to us what we could never, ever afford!
Evil exists in our world, but praise God, evil does not need to have the final say in our lives!
Everyone has their “1” thing they struggle with, attempting to avoid.
Some struggles include—
- Food & Over-Eating.
- Social Media & Over-Scrolling.
- Internet & Pornography.
- Alcohol & Over-Drinking.
- Shopping & Over-Spending.
- Television & Binge-Watching.
- Relationships & Allowing Others to Become More Important to us than God.
- Pausing from Work to Rest & Overt-Slothfulness.
- Working & Over-Working.
Look back at the left side of the list; notice that each item listed is not bad in and of itself, but the right side (after the ampersand) reveals where the devil steps into our life, tempting us.
Then, consider other struggles, those struggles and behaviors that are darker, sexual, immoral, sinful actions.
On & On & On—
We, each person alive—has his “1” thing that tempts him toward sin.
The Struggle is REAL.
But Praise God—We serve a Savior who reveals how to walk away, to even run from Satan’s temptation.
The melody “Steady Me” by Hollyn & Aaron Cole reveals this truth, how we overcome, how we persevere & how we defeat the evil one who places these temptations in our path.
The melody “Hope in Front of Me” by Danny Gokey reveals the power, the truth of God’s presence.
Maybe you will take time to listen and be reminded WHO has defeated the devil once and for all.
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
(The Revelation to John 12: 10-12 NASB)
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down,
he who accuses them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them.
Woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath,
knowing that he has only a short time.”