Ears to Hear

Good Morning,

"Take with me your share of the hardships and suffering which you are called to endure as a good first class soldier of Christ Jesus.  No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of civilian life; his aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him." (II Timothy 2:3-4 The Amplified Bible) All of us have a share in the hardships and suffering that we are called to endure.  Let's not try to make this mean something other than what it means.  For to long as Christians, most of us that were brought up in the,'faith movement', went around acting as if we were never to have any hardships or suffering.  In fact we thought that if we were to confess the Word of God and believe, that nothing even similar to hardships or suffering would touch our lives.  In fact you would almost be an unbeliever to even mention that you were going through these things.  As disciples of Christ, we must stand and fight the fight of faith.  We are told to stand against the devil's strategies.  We are warring with principalities, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places not flesh and blood opponents.   God has given to us everything needed to win.  We only need to be strong in the Lord and in His power and might. (read Ephes. 6:10-18)

Notice, the underlined words like, share, which means portion, allotment, piece, slice, chunk, due; the full or proper portion or part allotted or belonging to or contributed or owed by an individual. The King James version says, hardness, instead of hardships and suffering, so let's see what hardness means it is to be afflicted; endure afflictions; suffer trouble, and to undergo hardships.  Well, there is no other definition found for hardship, which means that every Christian will have troubles and afflictions and suffer hardships in their walk with Christ.  The words tell us that we have a certain part that we will go through.  The most important thing that we must remember is that there is no way to escape this, so then we need to know how to endure. Endure means to hold out against; to sustain without impairment or yielding; to bear with patience.  Since we have enlisted in God's army, we should be engaged in His service.  Every time we endure without weakening and yielding to the hardness of trouble, we become more skilled and experienced as soldiers.  Our patience enables us to possess or control our souls; our will, emotion, and our intellect.  Which makes us a trained and victorious soldier, being cautious not to become entangled (or intertwine, to involve in order to confuse or perplex), with the affairs of this life. Remember, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things, this is what entangles us, along with afflictions and persecutions. (Mark 4:17-19)  Fight on soldiers, execute and contend with every carnal inclination.  If we don't faint, quit, or give in, we win.  The victory is guaranteed by the One who cannot lie!  "So we're not giving up.  How could we?  Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace.  These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.  There's far more here than meets the eye.  The things we see now are here today and gone tomorrow.  But the things we can't see now will last forever." (II Corin. 4:16-18)

"Endure" 

Love,

Pastor D.

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