Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Archives for March 2022

Prepared for Persecution

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My heart broke when I read about a recent occurrence in North Korea. That country is second only to Afghanistan in being the most dangerous place for Christians to live (see Open Doors’ “World Watch List”). Government officials raided a secret church meeting of believers. Everyone in attendance was arrested and then summarily executed.

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Without warning and without having had the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones, these dear brothers and sisters were removed from the face of the earth. From the moment they gave their lives to Christ, they knew they were living on borrowed time. They knew the risk of meeting together. They prepared for persecution the best they could and found Jesus worth the cost. But the story gets worse.

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Time is Fleeting

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In recent days, I’ve again been struck by how fleeting time is and how incumbent upon us it is to make the most of it. I’ve written previously on this topic (see “Time Keeps on Slipping”, “Time is Running Out”, and “Time is Short”) but am compelled to do so again because when I look at my life and the lives of other believers around me, I am convinced we still don’t get it. We are here for only a little while. In consideration of eternity, our lives don’t even register as a blip on the radar.

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James tells us our life is like smoke, appearing for a moment and then quickly vanishing (James 4:14) Most of us, especially when we are younger, think little of death and feel somewhat invincible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our outlook on time matters when we are endeavoring to live as disciples of Jesus.

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Read God’s Word

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In the last post (see “Test the Spirits”), we discussed being on the lookout for false teachers and teaching, and the need to always test what we hear by holding it up to the standard of God’s Word. I wanted to say a bit more about those things today. Perhaps more than any other point in my lifetime, there is a lot of noise in the community of believers. We certainly live in fascinating times, and many are taking the opportunity to promote their ideas on why things are unfolding as they are.

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They carefully select scriptures (typically a single verse to avoid the context of the passage) to make their case. Some do this for sheer notoriety. Others base entire ministries on it and are taking full advantage of current events to fill the coffers of their ministries. Now more than ever, we must be discerning. We must cut through the noise and read God’s Word.

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Test the Spirits

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1 John 4 begins with a somewhat curious phrase. John encourages the hearers of his letter to “test the spirits”. First, this implies there are many spirits. In our churches today, it is common to hear about the Holy Spirit, but there is often little attention paid to the other spirits in our world. We ignore these other spirits at our peril. Behind every false teaching, you will find a demonic source.

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Yes, demons are real. They exist and flood the spiritual realm surrounding us. When we go along with false teaching, we are following demons. How’s that for a sobering thought? If we are not careful in examining the teaching we are listening to, there is a very good chance we aren’t being taught God’s truth at all. Instead of growing in our faith, we are opening our minds to demonic influences.

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The Long View

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The world takes the short view of things, but Christians must take the long view. It’s another way of saying followers of Christ must live with an eternal rather than temporal perspective. While we should cherish every moment entrusted to us by God, we must live in such a way as to always be living for what will matter 10,000 years from now, not what will matter tomorrow.

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Life as a Jesus follower should never be about instant gratification or momentary pleasure. We have an eternal purpose and must live accordingly. Don’t get caught up in the things of this world and seek to improve your place in it. Instead, train your desires toward things that last and will glorify God.

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