Standing before King Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego proclaimed, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods" (Daniel 3:16-18 NIV).
Live or die, they would not deny their faith.
We may never have to face the decision of whether or not to die for our faith, but every day we face the decision of whether or not we will live for it.
Every day we must put our selfish ways to death and march to a different beat, so become different, strange, radical, weird even. Then the world will see Jesus. To be wholly devoted to Jesus means that at times we will have to walk alone. But in this society loneliness scares all of us in different ways. We hate being alone. But the truth is we are NEVER alone; Hebrew 12:1 talks about the cloud of witnesses around us, the angles and most of all our Lord, Jesus Christ.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance that race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1 NIV).
Throughout the Word it gives us great examples of how to live our faith, to stay strong in God, why are we so afraid of these things? Why are we so focused on the world? On man? We are so afraid of the trails and the pain that we could face that we try so hard to stay as far away from it as possible, and when it's brought up it scares people, offends people. Even those who believe what we believe. Do not let this fear take hold of you, God wants us to overcome all to serve Him faithfully and lovingly, He must always come first. He is the only one that will not hurt us, will not abandon us. "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
Sometimes I have to struggle to keep my eyes set on the things of God rather than the things of man. But no matter how much I stumble, God's love is constant and it's His love that gives me strength to stand up for Him, to always be faithful. In John 5:13 NIV Jesus says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." To give up everything for someone who has giving everything up for me. That is Jesus, why are we so hesitant?
Why? It's because we are worried about what people think and what they will say about is. I don't really care what they think or say, my life is God's. I've crossed the line from innocent bystander to hard-core participant in what Jesus has called me to do. And even though I do not know exactly what that might be I hope, whatever I do, it makes anyone who knows me or sees me think of Jesus.
We must decide what side we are on. There is a battle raging and we cannot be "Switzerland" we must choose. I know I will fight to keep it real fight for God's Kingdom. But here's the thing you must all swear to fight with me and not run off, because I know I don't fit this mold or that market or line up with some person's vision of what good and proper must look like. God knows I wasn't born to fit man's molds, we MUST die to self, lay everything on the altar before God, and enter the fray armed and ready to build the Kingdom of God.
"For me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better." -Paul the Apostle... beheaded in Rome, 65 AD
Continue to set your light-- Jesus Christ-- on High.
What are you living for?
the things of God, or the things of man?
Just think about it
His and yours
Cami
Wow, Cami! You nailed it! Jesus gives us courage and that is all we need! You need to publish your writing! God bless your week...it was good to see you in church!
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