Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

As much as we love the power of God’s love, there is another message that takes a little maturity to fully receive. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5: 10)

I’m not sure that means being thrown to the lions, but it can definitely be deadly even today. Christians in many parts of the world are not only persecuted, but killed for their faith. That is the kind of faith that God is looking for, even if your life is not on the line.

In light of our brothers and sisters being martyred for what they believe, can we even handle a little harassment? For many of us, it’s not even harassment, it may be a little ridicule, or even silent judgement. We’re so sensitive to needing acceptance, that it’s too easy to hide our faith in case we’re not included in the crowd.

And what if you are harassed? What if you are openly ridiculed or judged? Would that change what you believe? Would that change who God is? Would it matter? No one is saying it’s easy being openly judged, but if you know the truth of God, then you have a very firm foundation to stand on. No matter what, the truth will set you free, and that is awesome.

It’s time to celebrate! Jesus won it for you.

There’s a great quote by Bill Johnson in his book. A Life of Miracles, “And since Jesus has all authority, that leaves none for the devil. The all that Jesus possesses has been handed over to us.” None for the devil because it’s all yours! He has nooo authority.

So when the devil walks around like a roaring lion, he’s doing everything he can to scare you because he knows, if you don’t, that you don’t have to put up with him. If he can make you doubt at all, he wins. If he can make you scared, he wins. If he can get you frustrated with God’s timing, he wins.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s very clever at using all the tools at his disposal, but it’s just smoke and mirrors. You have authority. All of it. All you have to do is say no. No to fear. No to doubt, No to frustration, anger, resentment, poverty, pain. Anything that comes from the hands of the enemy can be blessed and turned around.

Satan doesn’t have any power over you unless you give it to him. You get to win, not only for yourself, but for everyone that you pray for. It’s what Jesus died for. Receive that authority with great thanks and use it.

Get rid of doubt and trust God to be God.

Doubt is insidious. It lies and insinuates itself into your very belief system. It twists truth just enough to pull the foundation out of your faith so what you once believed seems shallow or baseless.

If you have any doubt about God at all, settle it now. The word of God is His truth. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2Tim 3;16) Either that is true or not. If you don’t believe it, then you have no basis for believing anything about God.

If you do believe it, then believe it. God is who He says He is. He is the top of the pyramid. No one is higher or more powerful. Period. So why does it seem like He’s not there or doing anything?

Free will. He lets us decide what we will believe. If we trust Him and put our lives in His hands the way He told us to, He will be everything we ask Him to be. But if we doubt, nothing will happen. In fact, very often, if we doubt, the opposite of what we want will happen.

Trust God to be God, because He is. Trust that He loves you wildly, because He does. Get rid of doubt and let your faith take hold of truth and you will see the heavens open for you.

Even when you know you are hearing from God, it can seem like the rug has been pulled out from under you for no obvious reason. We usually think that when things go bad, it’s because something we’ve done wrong, or something someone’s done to us. We don’t tend to think that it’s God.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (Mat 4:1) Jesus didn’t decide to go to the wilderness to fast, the Spirit led Him there. That cannot have been a fun time, but it was the kick-off event of Jesus’s ministry and God intended Him to go through it.

Trials will have you better than you were.

If you don’t see an obvious reason for why the trials have come, just hang in there. Be patient. There is a lesson in it for you, and if you will trust God to be with you, you’ll grow and be stronger in faith than you were before you started. He’s changing your character. He’s showing you just how big He is for your situation.

Trials don’t mean you’re in trouble. They mean that you are being polished. That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1Pet 1:7)

We are all expected to contribute in the kingdom of God. But just like in the real world, the church lives with the 80/20 rule. Twenty per cent of the people do all the work and ministry and eighty percent let them. We have made it ok to not be active in the kingdom. We’ve made it ok to let other people do what we don’t have time for.

No matter how little you have, God can use you.

To be fair, a lot of people feel that they just don’t have anything to contribute. When you are still learning, it feels like there’s nothing to give. I understand, but let’s look at what God did with a little boy’s lunch. It was not fancy. It was not professionally prepared. It was as plain and simple as you could make it. That’s the lunch that God used to feed His people.

If you feel like you have nothing to offer, you need to look again. Everything that you have learned to date is enough to offer. If you only know a little, then that’s what you share with others. And if you have learned a lot over the years, then you have even more to share. Just do it. Life is just as busy for the twenty percent as it is for the eighty. But when you give what you have to God, He does amazing things with it. Your little lunch can go a very long way.