Even If i Walk Alone

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

I John

Anxiety

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It seems anxiety is inescapable in our modern culture. Even the most stoic cannot avoid the onslaught of fear, despair, and uncertainty being directed at us from every direction. I struggle to comprehend how anyone can survive these times without having faith in Christ. I would expect those who reject Christ to struggle to deal with their anxiety. They have no anchor. They have no hope.

Anxiety,focus,fear,despair,depression

But for those of us who have accepted and choose to follow Jesus as Lord, He has not left us defenseless against this vicious attack on our mental stability. We not only have the power within us to defeat anxiety, but we also have the great hope of eternal peace and deliverance. God’s Word provides us with all we need to know, and His Holy Spirit gives us the power to put that knowledge into action.

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To Live is Christ

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In his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul wrote that for him, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). A life devoted to Christ means death is irrelevant and even better than life. If we spend our lives in devotion to Christ, we fulfill our purpose by glorifying our Lord and Creator. And if we die, we get to meet Him face to face, spending eternity in His glorious presence.

to live is Christ,commitment,discipleship,surrender,priorities,purpose

This is a no-lose proposition. We serve and glorify Him in life, and we serve and glorify Him in death. There is no better deal anyone could ever offer you. Nothing else you could spend your life on offers the same consistency and reward.

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Black and White

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God’s Word is not ambiguous. Humans add ambiguity when they don’t like what it says, so they try to twist it to mean what they want it to say. Reading the Bible should make you feel a little uncomfortable. It’s called the conviction of sin. When reading God’s Word, we instinctively know what is wrong in our life. If we keep reading, we will see God has the solution for everything wrong inside us — His Son Jesus.

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But following Jesus isn’t easy in this world. It’s not because He imposes a lot of rules and requirements on us, but because we want to hold on to what the world offers. We want to fit in, to belong. The Word of God is clear on this. You will either serve God or you will serve the things of this world (Matthew 6:24). It’s black and white, with no gray around the edges.

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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.

prepared for persecution,commitment,fear,devotion,discipline,Bible study,prayer,fellowship,freedom,liberty

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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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.

Test the spirits,discernment,false teachers,false teaching,Bible study,scripture,truth,discipleship

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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