Heart & Soul - - Hard Pressed

 

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 2346

Hard Pressed: afflicted, compressed, rub together

From the Greek word 'thlibó' (pronounced thlee'-bo): distressed, oppressively afflicted, made to feel confined (hemmed in) {between a rock and a hard place}. 

WE DO NOT LOSE HEART

    Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

    Luke 18:1-7 tells us the parable of the persistent widow who kept pestering a judge to act on her behalf, which he finally did. It is a strong reminder of our need to pray to our God, our Father in heaven, who hears our prayers and acts on our behalf, as well. We do not stop praying: we do not stop interceding for others, nor do we stop praying for ourselves. Like the song goes, It's Me, It's Me, O Lord, standin' in the need of prayer. 

PLANTING FOR A HARVEST

    Galatians 6:9

Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 

    1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

    That harvest the believer reaps is their reward for all their hard work in the kingdom of God. The harvest of souls saved, delivered, filled and working side by side with all of us: the here and now believer, the righteous believers in the Old Testament and in the early church in the New Testament Scriptures, the believer who is believing even now while we are in this moment, and the believers who will believe.

    That harvest is the building up of the saints of God, His holy people, His church. I am in the harvest. Someone prayed for me. I should've died when I was living in sin. Had I died then, my soul would have gone to hell. I am so thankful that someone loved me enough to pray me into the kingdom of God.     

    Never give up. Never stop praying. Never stop interceding. Hold your ground and don't back down. Regardless of who comes against us, even the ones we are praying for, we will remain rooted and grounded in the Word and hold onto the promise of God that our households would be saved as long as we believe. 

    Some Christians here in America are being persecuted, but not all; not yet, anyway. Some Christians here are mocked for their faith. Some are physically attacked, but all of us are under a spiritual attack. 

    It is that attack that we come against. We fight/pray for our families: we want them with us in heaven. We pray for our friends: heaven wouldn't be the same without oru friends there rejoicing with us. We pray for the strangers, the foreigners in our land, that they, too, would know the salvation of the Lord and shout for joy. 

    We pray for our enemies: we pray the blessings of God upon all of them. We do not seek their demise, nor do we pray against them: we pray for their deliverance, that their hearts would turn to God and that God would turn their lives upside down. 

    We pray for the persecuted saints all over the world. As it was in the early days of the growth of the young church, so it is even now. They who come against the saints of God are the enemies we are praying for. For it is not people we war against with our prayers; it is darkness in high places, invisible to the naked eye but seen by the eyes of God (Ephesians 6:12).

    We pray for our missionaries, the people we have sent to other countries around the world to share the gospel of salvation. We pray that their needs would be met  and their desires accomplished in their ministries.

HARDPRESSED

    You ever make your own juice in a juicer? The machine squeezes the best parts of the fruits and vegetables into a pitcher at one end, while, at the same time, removing the seeds and pulp at the other end. Without the squeezing there would be no wonderful juice to drink. 

    It is the same for us. The mature believer knows that it is in the crushing, in the pressing, that we are made new again and again. The hard times, the difficult days, bring us closer to God. We are His New Wine and we are poured out before Him. 

    We accept it for we have surrendered our to His will. We have submitted to His calling for us, preferring to be the clay that gets molded and not the clay that gets tossed out into the rubbish heap. He Didn't Throw The Clay Away. We are His vessels of honor, His new wine, His moldings and fashionings. From glory to glory we advance against the kingdom of darkness, pressing on to reach the kingdom of glory where our King reigns on high. 

THE LORD IS WITH YOU

    Psalm 37:24

Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.

    1 John 4:4

You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

    Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

STEADFAST

SCRIPTURE WARFARE SONGS

   

    

Overcomers & Conquerors

{Berean Study Bible}

Romans 8:35 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"

Romans 8:37 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

Great Is Your Reward

     Only the Overcomer will be rewarded like this. It is more than unfortunate, it is regretfully grievous that a percentage of humanity will not receive this reward. Their reward for their unbelief is hell and the second death: thrown into the lake of fire. I do not want to see anyone there, whether I know them or not. I have a great love for my family and friends and wish only the best for them

     But I cannot make you a Christian. I cannot make you love Jesus. I cannot make you a believer. I have seen 'inspirational' posters which claim that "God believes in you". Pits of hell lie. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God believes in you and that everything is going to be okay. Everything is not going to be okay. God knows our heart, that doesn't mean He believes in you. Why did the prophet Samuel bypass all of David's elder brothers? They were intelligent, handsome, strong men. Their heart was in the wrong place: their hearts were not right with God.

     God rewards the faithful, the souls who overcome the temptation to be like everybody else. They who overcome great trials and tribulations to remain faithful to God in every aspect of their lives. It is not easy to be a Christian. We sacrifice our pleasures for what is pleasing to God. This is not to say that we don't have fun. We just don't disobey God to do it.

     The wages of sin is death. The wages of righteousness is  eternal life. The only righteousness that God cares about is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. When that righteousness is on us, covering us completely, God sees His Son on us. His righteousness far outshines ours. You may think you are 'good enough' to enter heaven; that perhaps God will pat you on the back and say, "You tried your best, come on in." You are wrong. You will never be good enough to enter heaven on your righteousness:

Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

     Without Jesus in your life now, the lake of fires is your destination later. There are no second chances after death. Noone can pray your soul out of hell after you die (Luke 16:26). There is no waiting place, no purgatory, no limbo. Your body will die once; your soul will die twice. You will know and be aware at all times of the qualities of the fire. We read in Luke 16:19-31 that the dead man in hell had all his senses and awareness: vs 23, he could see. vs 24, he can talk, he knows thirst, his soul is tormented in the flame and therefore his touch sensors are in overdrive, he begs for mercy. vs 25, he can hear. vs 26, he is made aware that it is impossible for any person to enter hell from heaven and vice versa. vs 27-31, nor will a person leave the comforts of heaven to warn others of  the coming disaster on unrighteous living. And there will be no relief. Ever.

     I hear your disbelief that I would say such things. I feel your anger and your fear. But you know in your heart, that what I say is true, because the Word of God is Truth and Faithful. God keeps His promises. Every blessing, every reward, for faithfulness God gives to His children. Every curse, every punishment, for unfaithfulness God gives to those who refuse to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord of All, who refuse to believe on the Name of Jesus.

     Only One Person would leave heaven willingly, and that Person is Jesus. He is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). He is God (John 1:1). He took on the form of a person, and lived among us (John 1:14). This Person, Jesus Christ, came first to the Jews, to deliver the message of repentance and belief on His Name, but was rejected by many of them (Matthew 8:34; 11:20; 12:14; 13:54-58; 22:15-16, 23; 26:3,4, 14-16, 59, 67-68; 27; 28:11-15) There are many more references throughout the other three gospels of Christ being rejected by God's chosen people. Feel free to search the Bible for yourselves.

     Acts 3:12-19 relates Peter's description of how the man he had just healed was healed. (vs12)"And when Peter saw it (how the crowds marvelled), he answered them, 'You men of Israel, why do you wonder at this (healing)? or why do you stare so intensely at us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? (vs13)The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. (vs14) But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; (vs15) And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

      (vs16) And His Name through faith in His Name has made this man strong, whom you see and know: yes, the faith which is by Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. (vs17) And now, brethren, I know that through ignorance you did it (denied the Christ), as did also your rulers. (vs18) But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He has so fulfilled. (vs19) Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."

     Isn't this awesome stuff! we are reading? But see verse 23? Great is your reward if you do not believe on the Name of Jesus Christ. "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."

     You see how the few have rule over the many in life. The leaders of that time wanted nothing to do with Jesus and they enforced their decision to deny Him by having Him beaten and viciously crucified.  The people's response then? Matthew 25:27 "His blood be on us, and on our children."

     This blood, the blood which flowed from the beaten, broken, mutilated body of Christ was purchased for thirty pieces of silver. The blood of the Lamb of God, which God provided as an eternal atonement for the sins of the world (John 1:29). Though Satan thought to destroy Jesus through death, it is through life that the works of the devil are destroyed.

     By overcoming temptation in the wilderness through the spoken Word of God, Jesus Christ showed us how to overcome temptation. By overcoming death and the grave, Jesus Christ became The Way for us to have eternal life through Him; thereby enabling the believers to overcome death and the grave. The overcomers will share in the rewards that Jesus Christ will render unto them. Why? Because the blood of Jesus Christ not only covers us so God can see us, but it washes away our sins and makes us clean and whole. We are a new person in Christ.

     Which are you? Overcomer? Or unbeliever? On what do you base your stance for what you believe to be true? Are you willing to bet your life on it? Remember, the unbeliever will always ridicule, torture, imprison and/or kill the believer. I would rather go to jail for my faith in the Name of Jesus Christ, than have no faith and go to hell.

     I am an overcomer. I am a believer. And, though I am anticipating the rewards I will be given, I am greatly anticipating seeing the Reward-Giver even more! I can't hardly wait to see Jesus face to face.

Great is my Reward