Hebrews 12:1-2
If you feel as if you are under
attack trying to stand for the things of God, there is a good reason for you
feeling that way, you are! As a
Christian you are on center stage, and your audience is unseen but very
real. Please understand, I’m not
saying that your audience is only the unseen, it also consists of family,
friends, neighbors, business relationships, and people you come in contact with
everyday of your life. And in the
group of the seen you will experience some encouragement, some
misunderstanding, some outright hostility; yes often, very often, acting out
your faith brings about conflict.
But the Bible is very clear, it is
not the seen audience that we have conflict with, but it sure seems like
it. I was told by an old
acquaintance that my stance for the family against Home Depot was hateful, and
yet that person does not really know me, and does not know my heart, so where
is that message coming from? Ephesians
6:12, gives this insight; “For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers aver this present darkness, against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Yesterday’s sermon from my pastor
was titled “Shadow Mission” and its theme was how these unseen spiritual forces
work in our lives to deter us from following Christ’s plan for our life. It is also my observation that the
unseen often uses the seen to do their dirty work. And as a Christian, a follower of Christ, you and I must
stop and reflect on the source of the attack and the commands of our Lord, who
said love those who do you harm.
Is that impossible? Yes, if
our eyes are fixed on Jesus!
Let me introduce you to some more
of the unseen who are watching your every move and have full understanding of the battle, they know about
disappointments, about moral failures, about faith, and when it seemed they
were unable to stand against the odds, many of them were killed for being true
to what God had called them to do.
Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race
that is before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
On a personal note, I experience
this often and this morning, once again, the attack that comes from the enemies
“Shadow Mission”. It goes
like this, “Who do you think you are writing about the Scriptures? You don’t have a degree, you are not a
pastor, and you have never been to Seminary, why are you doing this? No one cares what you are writing, and
even your best friends and family, they do not read what you write, much less
the pastors you send them to.”
I must tell you that the enemy of my soul and yours sends me that
message most days, and the enemy knows that I’m uneducated, that often someone
tells me I write like I talk, and Jan is quick to tell me that is not a
complement. It comes down to this;
in my early life I was anyones fool to gain the attention of men, and I’ve
chosen to be seen now and as long as I have breath, as a fool for God. You see I believe Jesus tells the
truth! In Luke 12:8, “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges Me before men,
the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God.” And I must say that I’ve
been a student of the greatest teacher this world has ever known, Jesus had
this to say about Him; it is found in Luke 12:12, “for
the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
From the Back Porch,
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