07-04-2013 Daily Devotional - By Brother Sam Matthew 10:34 (KJV) 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. If you’re a Christian and don’t ever feel the sting of persecution, then I must just ask you one question. Are you walking with the Lord? Jesus warned his disciples and his followers from the start that they would suffer persecution for Him. That doesn’t mean that your going to be throne to the Lions or burned alive as a torch on the Appian Way to Rome as some were; nor is it likely that you’ll be sewn into a bag with starving wild animals or hung on a Cross to die as others; you see for every one of those martyrs of the faith there were Thousands who suffer through cruel words or physical if not abusive language or anger from their own family members. That is right, mothers, brothers, sisters, and fathers who are the very people we should be in fellowship with wish instead to stifle and kill the Lords influence over us. If they are not then one of two reasons are likely the case, Either they too are Christians or if not they are not seeing Christ in you, because if they were not Christians and see the change made in you by Christ then Satan is going to work overtime at getting them to keep you at arms length and to look for any hypocrisy in you that will spoil your witness. You see you’re not really at odds with your family members though it may seem that way. Think about it, when your saved and come under the Blood of Jesus, and by his Grace receive the mercy of God in the redemption from sin, one of the first things you think about is to transfer this understanding of the Love of God to all that surround you in your immediate family whom you Love and Care for. So you rush home to share the most precious of gifts with the people you love the most first and get the most of un-welcomed responses. Here again Satan knows that he just lost you to the Lord and he goes into overtime to not only marginalize and isolate you, but also he will try to drive a wedge between the people who you love the most and you, your family. The harder we try at times to “witness” to our family the more we set the wedge. First off we cannot save, only God can draw them through the Holy Spirit, Our witness to them must be less verbal and more actions. We can only hope to help win them to Christ by what they see in us in the way we deal with life especially compared to how we used to deal and not what they hear so much from our mouths, that is our true witness to them, though there is a good chance your speech will be a little different now as well. The more you try under your own power to reach them the farther Satan will drive them away, he has had thousands of years to develop his strategies and you alone are quite frankly no match for him, and none of us alone or apart from the Lord have a chance. But take heart because the Good News Is that Jesus Christ is Lord and He is Able and will not leave nor forsake you. Be blessed and be a blessing to others! Amen By Permission Shlumiyel Ministries - Outreach for Jesus Christ! shlumiyelministries@gmail
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 15:12:06 +0000
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