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Keep Yourself in the Love of God
In the second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul warned that
perilous times would come in the last days. Those times that some of us
never anticipated seeing are here now. We are without a doubt living in
the dangerous times the prophets prophesied about long, long time ago.
Fear and uncertainty are all around us. Violence is escalating and
lawlessness has removed boundaries of safety from many. For the
Christians these are times when we are to contend earnestly for the
faith that was delivered to us. We are to keep ourselves in the love of
God, even as Jude, the brother of Jesus, warns us in his epistle. (Jude
3,21).
What does it mean to “contend for the faith and to keep ourselves in
the love of God?”
CONTEND FOR THE FAITH.
The word “contend” in the original language of the New Testament is
epagonizomai and it is translated: to strive against, to
struggle in opposition, to labor. One of the definitions in the
English Dictionary is: to dispute earnestly and to strive in a debate.
With whom do we need to dispute and debate for our faith? With the devil
himself, whose purpose is to steal from us the confidence we have in God
by using adverse circumstances, delayed answers to prayer, hardships,
disappointments and all the perplexing situations in life. He wants us
to doubt God’s love, faithfulness and justice, until our faith in Him is
weakened and we fall into hopelessness and unbelief.
We know that the believer’s faith is being tried; just ponder the
seriousness of the prayer requests we receive daily by e-mail. The enemy
is sifting some of us, just like Satan sifted Peter. But the Lord is
praying for us just like He prayed for Peter. He didn’t pray that he
would be spared the testing and trials, but He prayed that his faith
would not fail.
God will permit many of His children to go through emotional and
spiritual valleys to test their faith because faith, along with hope and
love, is one of three virtues that will last forever. (I Corinthians
13:13).
Faith is on God’s priority list. He said that without faith it is
impossible to please Him (Hebrew 11:6). Again He said, “ …when
the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.
James Dobson, in his book “When God doesn’t make sense” says: “The
determination to believe when the proof is not provided and when the
questions are not answered, is central to our relationship with the
Lord”. Someone else went a step further in stating: “the faith that
believes in the unshakable God, when everything in us trembles and
quake, is central to our being secure in God’s love for us”.
(Unknown).
KEEP YOURSELF IN THE LOVE OF GOD
Being secure in God’s love for us is the only thing that holds us in
times of trials; it’s the only thing that can chase away fear,
depression, hopelessness and doubt. Karl Menninger said, "Love
is the basic need of human nature, for without it, life is disrupted
emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically."
We know in our understanding that God’s love is unconditional,
everlasting, and faithful. We know that every promise He gives will come
to pass…so why it is difficult for some of us to receive God’s
unconditional love, and why do we have a hard time believing that every
promise he has made to us personally He can and will fulfill? Perhaps
the prophet Hosea had the answer to this question when, speaking for
God, he penned, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”
(Hosea 4:6).
Some of the meaning of the word “destroyed” is: injured,
tormented, in misery (dying inside: dreams dye, expectations dye, hope
dies…). Hosea stated that the people of God were in misery because
they had forgotten the law of God. However, ignorance or neglect of the
Word is not the only destruction that comes from lack of knowledge.
WE PERISH FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF WHO GOD IS AND WHO WE ARE IN HIS
SIGHT.
As humans, we tend to perceive what God is like in conformity to the
authority figures we have had in our lives. If we were oppressed,
misunderstood, neglected, put down, abused, lied to, etc., we have a
propensity to think that God is not the loving Father He says He is. We
see Him and ourselves through the ruthlessness of those authoritative
people and our problems become giants bigger than God. Therefore the
Lord will allow hardships and adversities. Through them, He will reveal
His ways, His love and His power. When we look back at all the valleys
He has brought us through, we can remain firmly planted in His love and
faithfulness even when everything around us totters and quakes.
WE PERISH BECAUSE WE JUDGE BY WHAT WE SEE, HANDLE, FEAR, AND IMAGINE
IN OUR HEAD.
This is living by the senses. This is what happened to Eve in
the garden. She judged by what she could see. She …”saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise “ Genesis 3:6 So she took a
bite and swallowed it (believed it). She believed what she saw
and doubted God’s Word. We believe our circumstances instead of
believing God’s promises, God’s love and God’s character. The Bible
tells us “trust in the Lord and lean not in our own understanding”
Prov.3: 5. These are times when God requires a faith that will stand on
the Word received even in the face of hopelessness, a faith that
believes against all odds. This kind of faith never gives up, even when
the rational world we live in considers it irrational.
Mary and Martha faced a hopeless situation when their brother Lazarus
died. He had been dead 4 days when they received the promise.
Jesus told Martha: “your brother shall rise again… if you believe
you shall see the glory of God” (John 11:23,40. Emphasis added). The
impossible requires a faith that does not look at what we see, feel and
touch but stands on the Word alone.
WE PERISH BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF CONCERNING THE PROMISES.
The gospel Luke recounts a parable that Jesus spoke:
"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by
the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured
it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away
because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns
sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang
up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He
cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Then His disciples asked
Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?" And He said, "To you it has
been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest
it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they
may not understand.'
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the
wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the
word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the
ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with
joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of
temptation fall away. And the ones that fell among thorns are those who,
when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and
pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that
fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with
a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."
Luke 8:5-15. Emphasis added.
The seed in this parable refers to a Rhema or a specific promise
given at a specific time for a specific need to a specific person. As a
seed, that promise has the capacity to bring forth fruit, but the
sprouting of the seed depends greatly on the quality of soil where the
seed is planted. The only good “ground” in this parable is described in
verse 15. It is the heart that is good and noble, a heart that hears the
Word, keeps it, and bears fruit with patience.
In Hebrew 6:15 we read that Abraham “… after he had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise”. He brought the fruit, or the
fulfillment of God’s promise.
Abraham then had a noble and good heart. What made his heart noble
and good? It had to be his faith for the Bible tells about him whose
faith believed in hope even against hope (Romans 4:18).
The opposite of good is evil. Now, if the good heart is the one that
receives the word and brings forth fruit, what kind of evil heart is the
one that doesn’t receive the word and doesn’t bring fruit? We find it in
Heb. 3:12: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an
evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
Emphasis added.
Let us therefore not stagger at the promises of God through unbelief;
but let us be strong in faith, firmly planted in the Word of God by
which faith comes. (Rom. 10:17).
Let us read, study, meditate, memorize, quote, pray, declare the
Word. When perilous times come upon us, when we are tempted to doubt
God’s perfect love and don’t know who we are in His sight, let us
contend for the faith by believing Romans 8:35:35-39:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword?
Just as it is written, "For Thy sake we are being put to death
all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in
all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(NAS).
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