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WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN ….

OLD FRIENDS TRY TO DISCOURAGE YOU?

Now that you are born again, you belong to a new family. You don’t belong to your
old family anymore. This does not mean you must completely abandon those old friends
and acquaintances or reject them. But you have to be a light to them. They are still in the
dark, because they do not have Jesus Christ in their hearts. You must remember that you
have become the light of God to them, so share with them to follow Jesus.

When these people try to discourage you, what are you supposed to do? The Bible
says that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of, and laugh at the truth (2 Peter 3:3-4).

Scoffers are those who try to discourage you and take you back to the old life, but you must refuse to be moved by them refuse to allow their attitude stand in the way of your fellowship with Christ. Refused to be “unequally yoked” with them. Don’t accept their counsel. Instead, maintain your stand for God and His word.

UNEQUAL YOKING

In the early days of mechanized farming, the farmer would yoke two animals, for
example, two donkeys or two oxen and attach them to a plough and the two animals
would plough the ground as they move together. Because they were yoked together, the
two animals had to move in the same direction, wherever the first one went, the second went too. The farmer directed them and they had to go in the same direction, as long as they were under the same yoke.

Now if both of them were donkeys, it was called on ‘equal yoke’, but if one was a donkey and the other was an ox it was called an ‘unequal yoke’ (because they wee not of the same kind). If we are to be yoked together with anyone, it must be an ‘equal yoking,’ that is, a Christian and a Christian walking together in companionship. But if a Christian and a non-Christian are in companionship together, they are unequally yoked. And god is saying: ‘Don’t be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers’ (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

So you see, if you and a non-believer are in companionship, living the same life, then you are in an unequal yoke, and this is wrong. God does not want you be in an unequal yoke, but to be equally yoked with other Christians, doing the same things. Non-believers cannot be your best friends. No matter how moral a person is, as long as he is not born again, he cannot be your best friend.

It is impossible and unacceptable before God, because it is an unequal yoking. Your assessment of an individual can never measure up with God’s assessment. Once, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as King of Israel (Samuel 16:1-13). When Samuel saw the first son of
Jesse, Eliab, Samuel said, ‘surely this must the Lord’s anointed before Him’ because he was huge, tall and handsome. But God spoke to the Prophet and said, ‘don’t anoint him, because I have rejected him’. He said, ‘for man look at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart, the inward man. So your assessment of an individual is at the most, based on the outward appearance; what he says, how he looks; you can have all of those kinds of opinions about him but you see God looks at the inward appearance.

One who is not born again does not have the right spirit with God. The only way by which one can be right with God is to be born again. This is the only time the person qualifies to be your best friend. Until he is born again, he cannot be your best friend; he does not qualify by God’s standard to be sure. Now that you are born again, you desire should be to please God, so you must not use own standards. This is very important.  Keep your heart on God’s own and He’ll see you through (I Corinthians 10:13).

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN ….

PERSECUTIONS AND AFFLICTION COME?

In Mark 4:1-9, Jesus told us about the parable of the sower. The man went to sow his seeds and some fell on stony ground, some on hard ground, some among thorns and other on good ground. In verses 16 & 17, the Bible says “and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves,
and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, they are offended.” He is talking about those people who have no root in themselves, and so endure
affliction only for a time. 

He says that although these people eagerly accept the word, when afflictions or persecutions arise for the Word’s sake they are offended; this has happened to several people. What Jesus is saying here is that there are many people who really do not have a deep love for Him. They are excited about the world of God because of the promises of eternal life, happiness and answered. But they don’t really have a deep love for God. So when persecutions come, they give up. This is said! When persecutions and afflictions come, follow the Word:

(1) YOU MUST HAVE DEEP

LOVE FOR GOD

God wants you to have deep, strong love of Him. Love can increase or decrease. The more you think about Him, listen to His words and have fellowship with Him in prayers; the greater love you will have for Him, because love increases with acquaintance. The more acquainted you are with God, the more you love Him; the more you listen to His Word, the more you love and discover Him, and t hen the more of Him you receive. 

And when you have this strong love for Him, the Word of God becomes a rooted in your heart. So that when you are faced with any situation, you know God’s position concerning it and you promptly declare God’s stand about it. The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:20-21). And also, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34-35, 37). When you fill your hear with God’s Word, no matter the situation, you will see things
God’s way and speak the same. And it will come to pass!

(2) Dont’t Give Up!

You must not give up when problems arise! Being born again does not mean that problems will not come, neither does it mean that there will be no trials. What it simply means is that in the face of all difficulties, in the presence of all problems, God would take you through. As in Psalm 23:5: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies …” You may be right in the presence of your enemies but they cannot destroy you: the persecution cannot destroy your life.

God doesn’t want you to give up. You must stand strong! No matte how hard or difficult seems, never give up! God will bring you though, don’t be discouraged; remain faithful to God and He will never disappoint you nor forsake you. You will win in every circumstance of life, because they become subject to you. Isaiah 43:2 says when you go through the waters it will not overflow you and when you go through the waters it will not overflow you and when you go through the fire it will not burn you. When you follow Jesus Christ, serve Him with all your heart, follow Him no matter the challenges.

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58). “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4).

You see, God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, so, we can’t be losers. Study carefully I John 5:4; it talks about the victory that overcomes this world, which is our faith. Live by faith; you are an overcomer; you are not a loser, you were born an overcomer; because you are born of God, the offspring of god; born of God’s Spirit.
If you have any questions, observations, prayer points or special requests please use the comment box below. Thanks and God Bless you. 

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