TrueLifeChristianity.com

What happens when you don’t accept God’s personal call on your life? I have known personal friends, you have too), who get excited in their younger years to dedicate themselves to share the testimony of Jesus whatever the cost, but they don’t. There are exhaustible excuses why, like “I was pretty young then. God will understand.” Oh, really?! Or “The government says not to share my testimony of Jesus, so I won’t keeping with what Romans 13 says.” Or, church obedience, in which the main stream partially or fully funded church tells you to obey the government since God has put them in the place of authority. Etc, etc, etc.

Have you ever encountered people who seem like they want God to bless them in whatever they do? Sure, you have. Maybe you’re one of them. Maybe not. Whatever the case, you’re only six degrees of separation from the one who is.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD:
and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. (Psalm 37:23-24)

Ok, what is ‘good” then? According to the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, the word “good” has its definition too numerous for me to name, yet somewhere in the myriad of definitions there is one which fits — “virtuous, right, commendable.” So, let’s go back and read those verses again:

The steps of a virtuous man are ordered by the LORD:
and he delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. (Psalm 37:23-24)

Ah, that makes sense. Now, raise your hand if you think you are virtuous. Ok, suppose you are virtuous in the world’s eyes. Good. How ‘bout God’s eyes? Remember, God’s standard is higher than ours. Just take a look at Samuel in selecting one of Jesse’s sons to be anointed king over Judah then Israel (1 Samuel 16:7). We see that this one aspect of the Lord we don’t have since we are corruptible flesh.

As soon as sin entered into our world, sin had already had its grip on us. This is a grim reality — as soon as conception happens, the baby begins, what will hopefully be, the long process of death. Romans 3:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” Even Jesus Christ didn’t escape the punishment of sin when He took on the whole world’s sin (past, present, and future) when He was here on this earth. Yet, there is a little known fact that most people have forgotten about, your soul is eternal. We have been tricked into thinking that our physical world is “all that and a bag of chips” as Pastor Norm of Bethel Baptist Church in Kingston, NH would say.

How do we overcome this tragic death sentence? Well, sadly, we don’t escape physical death. Again, even Jesus Christ had to die on an excruciatingly painful death on the cross which lasted six hours until His death. But, as John 3:16-21 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world, through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not on Him is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
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Then further along in the Gospel of John, John 17:15-21 (where it is the most intimate of prayers ever recorded, Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, to God the Father), says:

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

We, as True Life Christians, have an advantage here simply because we have Jesus Christ on our side. We have the Almighty on our side, but what if He calls you to do something that will affect the rest of your life? When I was an adolescent is when I detected (through the Holy Spirit) that God had called me into the ministry. I spent much of my time pursuing that calling, Yet, something happened when I graduated high school, and my 18th birthday was a week later. I remember trading in my Nissan hatchback for a used sporty 1986 Dodge Challenger Turbo. This in June of 1989. I considered it as a happy 18th birthday present to myself. Yet, I only drove it for three weeks since I fell asleep coming home from my newly acquired full-time job as an unarmed security officer. See, I waisted no time in linking myself up with jobs as I was working over 80 hours per week.

And apparently, I was up over 24 hours beforehand which, again, isn’t to smart. I finished my nighttime security job, then I got into my car to head home where I needed to fall asleep. Yet, my eyes were to heavy on my way home, and that is what led me into crashing my car into a granite ledge. If you want to finish my true life story, it can be found at: Running With Christ . . .

After I woke up from a month-long coma, it took me about 3 weeks to clear the cobwebs. But the Holy Spirit reminded me that I was called into the ministry. I thought what a testimony I would have, but it took about 10 years for me to stop actively pursuing ministering in front of the youth. that my dream of being a youth pastor was over, I still held on to it, but that’s not where God wanted me to be. God didn’t tell me that I was to become a youth pastor. With lack of direction, I determined that being a youth pastor is what I would like to be because I just finished reading The Cross and The Switchblade by David Wilkerson. That, by and large, shaped my adolescent life alongside with the Bible. In fact, that book encourages me to see what personally I could gain from the Bible.

My life, ever since when I turned 18 years old, is filled with frustration — frustration that never seems to go away. I can empathize with Job, Moses, Jacob, Joseph, the major and minor prophets, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, etc. Because what I been through, the struggle is real; Jesus said so. However, He also promised that He would be with us (2 Corinthians‬ ‭1:20-22‬ ‭KJV)‬‬.

God has blessed me with the ability to write, especially after the horrific car accident suffered at the age of 18. Since I started this website back in Labor Day in 2017 under the direction of the Holy Spirit, He has continually blessed me in ways that are outstanding. However, my wife and I left our church for 18 years because they wanted to follow government suggestions concerning the mask, COVID-19, and the COVID-19 shot which the U.S. Government Department of Health falsely labeled it a “vaccine.” Now, I am preaching when the pastor is sick or on vacation. Talk about God fulfilling His promises. I can’t say enough about what God has done. However, you have to be willing to go through persecution for His name sake.

Well, persecution has the tendency to make Christianity grow if your attitude is right. However, persecution has the potential of making it falter. Thus persecution can have two effects — either you can draw close to God or you can blame God or variations of that. That’s where you, yourself, comes in. Make sure that your attitude is on Christ and not yourself. As you begin to look over your life, I’m sure there are times in your life which you can say, “Oh, I’d wish I would’ve done better. I know I have those moments, too. Yet, this is no time to give up because a special blessing is awaiting you around the corner.

Here are some helpful links regarding Christ-honoring persecution:

www.nikripken.com

“The Insanity of God” Movie Trailer

Book – “I am N -Inspiring Stories from Christians Facing Islamic Extremists

~ Darren L Beattie, The Soul Blogger of TrueLifeChristianity.com ~