NOVEMBER 3

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

Matthew 5:10-12

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

2Timothy 3:12

“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Matthew 5:44

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”

2 Corinthians 12:10

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Romans 8:35

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Psalm 18:32

“It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect.”

This month we will read choices from Charles Spurgeon’s (known affectionately as the “prince of preachers”)  devotional, “Beside Still Waters.”   It’s no secret that this world system is getting more evil by the day.  We have to stand strong in the Lord and look to Him more than ever to get through, and to be guided through, what is in the future……..known and allowed  by Him alone…..as well as whatever personal things we are experiencing in our lives.

PASTOR SPURGEON:

When you serve God, (speak well of Him) in this world, do not expect a reward.  Be prepared instead to be misunderstood, suspected, and abused.  An evil world cannot speak well of holy lives.  The sweetest fruit is most pecked at by the birds.  The tallest mountains are most battered by the storms.  The loveliest character is the most assailed.    You will be misrepresented, belied, caricatured, and counted as a fool by the ungodly world.

If you serve God, the probabilities are that the crown you win in this world will contain more spikes than sapphires, more priers than emeralds.  When it is put on your head, pray for grace to wear it, and count it all joy to be like your Lord.  Say in your heart, “I feel no dishonor in this dishonor.  The world may attribute shameful things to me, but I am not ashamed.  People may degrade me, but I am not degraded.  They may look on me with contempt, but I am not contemptible.”

Yet, I have seen some who take much trouble to trouble themselves, such as those who work to increase their work.  They hurry to be rich.  They fret, toil, worry, and torment themselves to be loaded with the burdens that wealth brings.  They wound themselves in order to wear the thorny crown of worldly greatness.  There are many ways we can make rods of our own backs.

Believer, say this, “If I my Lord wore my crown of thorns for me, then why should I wear it?” Jesus has born your griefs and carried your sorrows (Isaiah 53:4), that you might be happy and able to obey His command:  “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.”  (Matthew 6:34)

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