Apostolic Ministries, Inc.
The END Result
- Details
- Category: NEW AND LIVING WAY APOSTOLIC CHURCH
- Published: Saturday, 01 May 2010 12:51
- Written by Mark Neddeau
- Hits: 1117
I was just thinking about life and the ups and downs. There is a type of Christian that never has any down time, nor ever stops smiling, and I for one fear that type. The bible tells us that there is a time for everything under the sun, and believe me when I tell you there are times that we just lean on God and wait for the sun to shine again. It doesn't mean that we have lost our joy or our salvation when we admit that we simply don't see ways around a subject or problem, but it must be that we become more aware of ourselves and our weaknesses in order to reach the end result.
Things are going to bother you. If they don't then you are better than Jesus, who got so mad at the money changers in the temple, that he made a rope whip and sent them scurrying out of the temple in a fury. God rebukes....do you think that means that at times even God himself stops smiling? We must quit trying to put on a show, and simply begin to understand what scripture and a life of Christ means.
We are humans in a spiritual realm. We are spirits in a material world. We are the combination of both, which makes us unique among God's creation and thus we see and have access to BOTH worlds, which is amazing! The fact is that while our flesh and while our minds struggle through the downs of life, our spirits can connect with a God who created us, and our spirits can rise above the fray so that, while our flesh is suffering and our smile is gone, our souls can feel the peace that passes the understanding of our minds. It is wrong to assume that just because you are down and out in the natural, you have lost your salvation. David himself had to be encouraged, Moses himself lost his control and smote the rock in anger...these are all known to us, but we sometimes think we have to act so piously, and give no indication of our problems to others.
Now, I don't advocate and do not practice walking around telling of my troubles. Rarely, if ever, do my tenants hear of my struggles. It is my job to be in control of the building and help them with THEIR issues. But rest assured there are men of God and my wife especially to whom I DO confide my troubles! I don't keep a smile every day, nor should you. I resist people who throw scripture around like a club, trying to prove that you should never admit that you are broke. If you have no money you are broke! However you are NOT brokEN!
2 Cr 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 2Cr 4:8 [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; 2Cr 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 2Cr 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 2Cr 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 2Cr 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
Tell me what part of that sounds fun? However, during all of it we are MORE THAN CONQUERERS. But know this, a conquering hero on the battlefield is not smiling in the midst of the battle. But here's where a life in Christ is different. The joy of the Lord is not some emotional roller coaster. It is a deep and continuous way of LIFE and holding to that joy means that while you may be crying tears of struggle, you are speaking words of life, and seeing the END RESULT before it manifests itself. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen! You can have the same vision God does for your life, and separate your current struggles from the END RESULT.
Victory does not only come in the morning, it is with you always. It just may take a bit of time and effort and struggle to reveal itself, but it is clearly a PRESENT HELP to carry you through. What I am saying in all of this is that you must begin to see your struggles as irrelevant to the end result of your life. Not irrelevant to the strengthening of your faith, or the development of your character which will bring you to the end result no, but irrelevant to the END RESULT ITSELF, which is the deliverance of your soul FROM your body and INTO the presence of the Lord. Nothing you go through will matter in the END. Nothing you face now will mean anything in the next life when you stand in the presence of the Lamb! And if you can LOOK UP and keep your spiritual eyes fixed on Jesus, the natural problems and mental stresses will only work together for your good, because you will know that they are but a vapor in the overall picture, and meant to keep you humble and fixed on the END RESULT.
God Bless you,,
Elder Mark