Greetings in the majestic name of our Lord Jesus! I pray your summer has been filled with the presence of God. Sometimes we may wonder where He is during periods of our lives, but we were never instructed by Him to wonder . . . only to believe.
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
—Hebrews 13:5
In these Last Days, we have been blessed with the prophesied technology of Daniel 12:4. However, along with these blessings, Satan and his cohorts have sown cursing. If Satan has one job that he does well, it is pulling people’s attention away from God. With so many distractions these days via cable TV, streaming, Facebook (or Defacebook), twitting and tweeting, and who can forget going to work and paying bills, spending time with God may be pushed to the second page.
“And the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
—Mark 4:19
In this Scripture, Jesus reveals three major distractions that Satan uses for the purpose of keeping you from God and rendering His Word ineffective in your life. The Word says that these distractions will cause the Word to become “choked,” much the same way ivy can choke a tree. When ivy grows up a tree, it can kill it by overcoming its source of light and ability to grow. You have seen trees like this before covered with ivy; the ivy may look pretty, but the tree is dead or dying. Many Christians are covered with ivy; they look pretty on the outside, but underneath they are struggling to live. The distractions of Mark 4:19 will keep the Word from making their life as abundantly wonderful as Jesus wants it to be.
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
—John 10:10
Specifically, the “cares of this world” seem to be a distraction particularly prevalent at this time. Even for Christians, the cares of this world can creep on you and intertwine around you, like ivy, until our heavenly Father, our Source of light, can get pushed back to only getting our attention on Sunday for an hour or two. Our enemy will do his best to highlight the many concerns we might have for our lives, our family, our country, and our world, but none of these will affect our eternal reward!
While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
—II Corinthians 4:18
Now, of course, we do have to take care of our responsibilities as citizens of this world. However, we who are born again are not of this world but have been made citizens in this world (John 15:19). Our true citizenship is in the kingdom of God, which gives us an advantage. We can know more than mere men who don’t have the Spirit of the Creator of all things living inside them. They can only rely on their experiences, but we rely on our faith–the very faith God used to create all things!
Our heavenly Father knows our needs before we have them, and sometimes they are not being met because our eyes are not fully on Him. Remember Peter, who by one simple word from Jesus walked on water until he saw with his eyes the circumstances around him? Peter started to sink, but he did not perish because Jesus was right there to help him. Jesus never left nor forsook Peter. He does the same for us and simply tells us what to do.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
—Matthew 6:33
We must put God first (always looking to Him) and cast our cares (worries) onto Jesus and trust His Word (I Pet. 5:7). By doing so, we are placed in a much better position than trying to handle circumstances ourselves. No one can do it alone, and Jesus can lead you in the way of life more abundantly. He has made provisions that we can never make.
If you have been a Christian very long, you have heard, “We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” This is a true statement, but it is not a complete statement. The following is the Scripture in its entirety:
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
—Revelation 12:11
As you can see, there is a third part to this overcoming precedence, which is “not loving your life unto death.” The biggest fear most of us have is death—we love our lives and those who are in this world with us. We have known nothing else and still base a lot of our decisions on the life we have lived—our experience. However, the Father asks more of us, which is to trust Him and have faith in His Word. We are not to love this life for the joy it has brought us, but to have faith in the new life and joy that is set before us for all eternity.
When we focus on Jesus and deny the right for the cares of this world to influence us, we can overcome every situation this old world can throw at us—rejoicing and praising God in the midst of them all! If we have faith in God, we can praise Him in our darkest hour, for even then we are the bearer of light and have joy set before us.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
—Romans 8:18
You are the one that can reveal God’s glory; you are part of the Body of Christ! The apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, described you as the Glorious Church! We are the body of believers whom Jesus is coming to catch up to heaven! So, love not your own life in the here and now, but the new life supplied by Christ Jesus. Tell everyone in your sphere of influence about the Word of God and what He can and will do because of the wonder-working power of the blood of Jesus.
We are praying for you and looking forward to great meetings in the near future. We know that signs and wonders follow those who know their God (Dan. 11:32). Thank you so much for helping Jesus through this ministry with your faithful prayers and financial support. I pray over every offering and declare unto God what you have given because of your love for Him; I bless it and call it holy. It is my sincerest desire to see you increased in every aspect and promise of God to be fully equipped for every good work.
Michelle and I love you, appreciate you, and call you blessed, healed and whole! Until next time, remember . . . Jesus is Coming Soon!
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