Courage in the face of the enemy

Friends,

As believers, we are under constant attack from the enemies of God. Satan and his host of fallen angels seeks to destroy His followers at every turn. The flesh is ever-ready to succumb to temptation. And the world daily expresses its hatred of Christ and His people.

We are truly faced with a ruthless and persistent enemy. And yet we can be brave.

Psalm 3:5-6
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.
NKJV

We can sleep peacefully, knowing that the LORD sustains us with the same vigor and endurance that He sustained David, the writer of these verses. No matter who was aligned themselves against God's Kingdom, we can face them. The Lord shall be victorious. And so shall we!

Be encouraged, Jose

Having a good night's sleep

Friends,

I know of no one whose life is completely stress-free. The enemy is hell-bent on denying us the peace that Christ has given us. Every possible means is employed ... work, family, finances, government. There is a purpose and a plan behind these attacks, and it is to cause you and me to focus on the problems of this life instead of on the LORD.

The solution and unassailable defense is to remember - at all times - the promises of God:

Psalm 3:5-6 [NKJV]
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me all around.

If we believe that our sustenance is derived from our own efforts, strength, cunning, wisdom and capabilities, then when those things inevitably falter, we will fear the defeat that seems so imminent. But when we finally realize that it is God - who is Almighty and All-powerful - that sustains us, we can lay down and sleep without fear of any weapon formed against us.

Be encouraged, Jose

Verfiying the heart

Friends,

Almighty God wants us to know that we belong to Him. He wants us to be confident in His love for us.

Psalm 11:5 (NKJV)
The LORD tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. (emphasis added)

The word "tests" is translated from the Hebrew word bachan and means to examine, try, or to prove. By putting His sons and daughters through this process, The LORD brings us to a place of peace and comfort. The process reveals our heart to ourselves. We will be forced to end any self-deception. And then we will know what He already knows. Then, we can rest in knowledge and security of His gift of salvation.

Be encouraged, Jose

At His appointed time

Friends,

It seems we are all in a rush to reach the next point in our lives. A teenager wants to be an adult ... now. An expectant mother wants to give birth, and her excitement turns the waiting into torment. Dad grows impatient with the traffic that delays his homecoming. A suffering old timer just wants the pain to yield to the peaceful return to his Lord.

Luke 4:29b-30 [NKJV]
...and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

The crowd had had enough of this Jesus of Nazareth. But had they gotten their way, it would have shattered the legitimacy of Christ's claim that He is the Lamb of God. It was not Passover. The Sacrifice had not yet been made ready.

And Christ could have chosen any time to remove the limitations and frailties of His humanly form. But to do so would have doomed us all. For Jesus to have stopped short of the Cross would have been an act of disobedience to the Father's will. And He would have been therefore been unable to pay the price for your sin and mine.

Brothers and sisters, nothing can happen outside of Almighty God's good time. He has made an appointment for every event in your life and mine. There is nothing that can delay that appointment, or make it happen sooner. He is sovereign.

Therefore, there is no need for you and I to rush through life. Relax. Rest in His perfect and total control. Recognize the Lord's dominion over even time. And celebrate the fact that His perfect timing will glorify Him even when time is no more.

Be encouraged, Jose

A shout of praise

Friends,

The week is behind us. It was likely filled with a variety of emotions, and its fair share of setbacks and successes. As we enter into Sabbath rest this evening, let us lift up our voice to the great and mighty King of kings ...

O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
Psalm 8:1 [NKJV]

Yes, His name is excellent and His glory fills the heavens.

Be encouraged, Jose

The Garden's victory

Friends,

Where are you living today?

Genesis 2:8
The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. [NKJV]

Man was created outside of the garden ... in the wilderness. But he was not meant to stay there. The wilderness is a place of danger, of sin, and of death. The Garden is a place of rest and provision and life. The Garden is where we are headed when Christ makes His return.

Now, we live in a fallen world. And indeed, it often feels like a "jungle out there." But ask yourself ...
Is day-to-day life characterized by fear, anxiety and uncertainty? Or is it marked by peace and assurance and confidence.
Are you buffeted by shame and condemnation? Or do you repent and walk in the freedom of grace and forgiveness?

We are fearfully and wonderfully equipped to subdue the earth, to survive and thrive in the wild reality of daily living. Our equipment is the grace of Christ Jesus. And when we rely on that, we can walk through this fallen world unfazed by its attacks, knowing that a victorious peace is assured.

Be encouraged, Jose

The quest for peace

Friends,

It is an age-old quest.

Men and women, once they have satisfied their most basic needs, seek something that will bring a sense of fulfillment and completion in their lives. Essentially, they are chasing after one thing: Peace.

Don't believe me? Then why do people say, after some great event or accomplishment, "Now, I can die in peace"? Why does society say to the dead, "Rest in peace"? And why, when some conflict is finally resolved, do we decide that we "are at peace with it"?

Peace is a universal desire. We may disagree on how to achieve peace. We may disagree with what peace looks like. But make no mistake, every single one of us is chasing it.

Psalm 132:3-5
“Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,
Or go up to the comfort of my bed;
I will not give sleep to my eyes
Or slumber to my eyelids,
Until I find a place for the LORD,
A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
[NKJV]

The LORD reveals to us, in these short verses, something truly remarkable. First, He understands our passionate desire for peace. He has put this desire into each one of us.

Second, He shows us that there is a way to this peace we so desperately want. Once we have given place to the LORD in our hearts, we will be able to rest comfortably and sleep soundly.

What happens when something else has possession of our heart? There is no rest. There is no comfort. There is no peace. We will keep searching and searching, driving harder, working more feverishly. No effort will be spared. But peace will not be found.

Give the Lord your heart. He will possess it. He will live there. And you will have peace.

Be encouraged, Jose

The word, faith & works

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Hebrew 4:1-3 (NKJV)

Not all the Israelites that made it out of the land of Egypt made it to the promise land. They heard and received the same word as others did, but they chose disobedience and slacked in mixing faith with God’s spoken promises. As a result, they knew no peace; neither could they enter their rest. Life simply overwhelmed them until they were completely wasted.

For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,”…
Hebrew 4:3 (NKJV)

Do you still nurse any doubt over His ‘yet to be fulfilled’ promise? Does the presence of a ‘prolonged waiting’ period cause you to wonder if it will ever come to pass? As He the Lord has spoken, to disbelieve His word is to doubt and disobey Him. His word in our lives must be thoroughly mixed with our faith and works to be most effective. When you have a good mix of the word, faith and works, you can see beyond your present and what you see (the possibilities that are invisible to the human eye) is what will enable you to enter and experience His peace, because faithful is He who will also do it. Got the right mix?

Be Encouraged,

Afolabi

Up all night

Friends,

There are many occasions when I find myself wide awake in the middle of the night. It is frustrating and, of course, the more I want to fall back to sleep, the harder it is to find that peaceful place that will lead to rest and slumber. Of course, instead of fighting so hard to get some rest, I believe that I should be in prayer, interceding for the Body and lifting up the Name of the LORD.

By doing so, I would putting these words of Psalm 134 into action.

Behold, bless the LORD,
All you servants of the LORD,
Who by night stand in the house of the LORD!
Psalm 134:1 [NKJV]

Sisters and brothers, when we are awakened in the dead of night, let us take that special opportunity to go before the Lord. It is the Kingdom way to be at rest.

Be encouraged, Jose

Finding rest

Friends,

We come to the end of another week. It is a normal human condition for us to be tired, and to look forward to the Sabbath. Christ told us that the day of rest was created for man ... as our Father's gift to His children.

Hebrews 12:12-13 [NKJV]
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Sisters and brothers, use tomorrow to heal, to rest and to be renewed. Seek these things not only in a physical and emotional sense, but in a spiritual sense. For our spirit needs to be filled anew with the presence and words of God. Doing so will inevitably bring physical rest -- for we must quiet our bodies in order to hear from the Lord. It will bring emotional rest -- for the voice of the Shepherd is a healing balm for the wounded heart. And it will transform you and me into the image of Christ.

Be encouraged, Jose