CWW Week 14 - Day 6 - Courage
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Scripture
John 16:33 – “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Is it just me or is this world getting darker by the day?
Each day we are confronted with even newer ways to shock us to the extent that we are no longer shocked. Why aren’t more people speaking up about this madness?.
In the above scripture it is Jesus doing the talking and so we can be sure that we can hang our hat on these promises.
I think what Jesus is saying is that we can be in the world without being of the world. But many of us find it hard to hold back from all the world has to offer and before we know it, we are trapped on a merry go round of worldly temptations and attractions. It has been deliberately made way too easy to roll with the flow thus supporting what is largely un supportable.
There are many examples. We can see that finance is used to control and coerce us in so many ways. Digital currency will surely be used with digital ID to enforce the mark of the beast as prophesy has foretold in the Bible. We can all have some form of impact on this if we use cash and not cards or phones. But we have become used to the ease of spending digitally and thus we end up creating a reality that we desperately want to avoid.
When Jesus says “in me you will have peace,” what is He saying?
Well if we maintain His values and live with faith in love and compassion, we can avoid the traps of the world because to be of the world is to live for self as opposed to living in others centred love putting self last. In Christ we realise that the best things in life aren’t things they are relationships built on love and trust.
The world wants to entrap us in sin. Lets face it, most sin is actually fun isn’t it?
In the world we will have tribulation and consequently eternal damnation but in Christ Jesus we can be of good cheer because by His sacrifice on the cross we have the opportunity to chose to overcome the world as He did on our behalf.
When we accept Jesus we can go forward in courage knowing that our debt has been paid and we are His. This doesn’t mean no more stormy nights and no more cloudy days, but it does mean that in Him we are more than conquerers.
Romans 8:37 (NKJV),
“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
We are free to make our own choices in life but these choices come with major consequences. Choosing Jesus means that we have chosen to really live for permanent outcomes. Everything that the devil has to offer is only temporary.
As the world continues to get darker as God is being removed, it will take courage to stand as a follower of Jesus. We can do this only through real faith in Him.
I can think of a thousand reasons why I don’t deserve the sacrifices He made for me, but I have come to see the devils work in that train of thought. Evil wants me to feel undeserving because in that I am more likely to surrender to the world by following the eat drink and be merry philosophy. We need to remember the last part of that much used phrase; “for tomorrow we die.”
In living with Jesus we are making a choice for eternity and that holds all the promises of God. Can there be a greater reward?
Questions
- Can you see ways in which you may be of the world?
- What do you need to change to be in the world but not of the world?
- Jesus has overcome the world. Are you ready to accept that eternal gift?
Prayer.
Dear Lord, Papa God.
Thank you Papa that you paid the ultimate price by giving us your Son Jesus for our atonement with You. Please Lord help us as we forge ahead in our new found relationship with you through Jesus, that we may be more than conquerers. Give me the courage to stand for You when the time has come that I may be of good cheer knowing that my faith in You is built on the rock. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
Graham Hood
