INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEK: Lay aside every weight

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us..." (Hebrews 12:1)

Dear Friend,

I don't know what you have been going through lately. I don't know what has been troubling your mind. I don't know how big is your problem. I don't know what is holding you back, stopping you from achieving your goals. I don't know who is standing on your way, trying to pull you down, making your life miserable. All I know is that God loves you, He cares for you and He is a faithful God.

My friend, I think now is the time you need to take a moment and fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. In the midst of your stressful issues just remember that Jesus is waiting for you to turn your eyes to Him. He has heard your cries. He has heard your prayers. He knows what you need right now and He shall supply for all your needs. He will take you out of your misery. But He needs you to turn your eyes to Him. David understood this very well when He said, "My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net," (Psalm 25:15).

God is pleased when we keep our eyes on Him and we cannot please God without faith. The writer of the book of Hebrews illustrated how several men of God - the cloud of witnesses - pleased God with their faith. The key to this is to know that God exists and He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

There it is my friend; in the midst of your distress, just seek the Lord diligently. It's time to lay aside every weight that you are carrying and lay aside the sin that easily ensnares us - that is the sin of unbelief or lack of faith. If you know that God has heard your prayers, believe that He will respond in due time and lay aside all your worries.

The Macmillan dictionary defines lay aside as not to let yourself think or be influenced by something so that you can achieve an aim. Our aim is to run with endurance the race that is set before us. My friend, do you remember the Apostle Paul telling his spiritual son Timothy that he had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith? That is exactly what God expects from you. He is the one to fulfill His purpose for you, all you have to do is to lay aside every weight and focus on Him.

It does not matter what tomorrow brings, but all you have to do is to lay aside every weight you are carrying. Actually just throw it to God and and do what He wants you to do. Stop worrying about it. Listen to Paul when he was talking to the Ephesian elders;

"And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God," (Acts 20:22-23).

My dear friend, I write this letter because I love you. This comes from the depths of my heart. I have been there myself but God has taught me to lay aside every weight and do what He wants me to do. "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you," (1 Peter 5:7 NLT). The more I focus on doing His work, the more He is sorting out my problems. 

It's time you lay aside every weight and fix your eyes on Him!

With love from above,

Stanley

The Lord Has Chosen You To Be His Special Treasure

(Originally published in the Swazi Gospel Sun)

As long as we are still in this world we will face adversities. As long as we are here on earth we will encounter challenges that will try to shake us. Being a child of God does not give you an exemption from hardship. I have heard it, read it and experienced it – it seems like the more you grow in the grace of the Lord the more challenges come your way.

There are cases when hardship will be a result of your disobedience to God’s commands. But I do not believe that is always the case. The fact that you are special to God, the enemy will always fight tooth and nail to see you suffer. It is because you are special to the Almighty God.

Sometimes you do not have to do anything but you will be hated for being special. The people around you may not be pleased that you are getting preferential treatment and they will make life difficult for you. No matter how innocent, sincere and kind you are to them, you will be loathed for being a special person.

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him,” (Genesis 37:3-4).

Joseph had done nothing to his brothers, but they hated him because he was special to his father. They hated him even more when he told them his prophetic dreams. We read that they mulled over killing him but eventually sold him as a slave. He had done nothing wrong that warranted such a reaction from his brothers, he as only a special child to his father.

My dear friend, you are special to God. However that does not mean you will not face challenges. Again, facing challenges does not necessarily mean there is sin in your life. It is because you are a child of God and you are special to your father. The enemy is not pleased with that fact. He will try by all means to destroy the relationship you have with your father.

It does not matter what and how many challenges you are facing, God will always love you in a special way. When the Israelites were in the wilderness they faced many challenges and the Lord delivered them. God spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai and gave him a message to proclaim to the people of Israel. The Lord said, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all earth is Mine,” (Exodus 19:5).

The very same God, who never changes, regards you as His special treasure. Our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people (Titus 2:14).

We tend to forget or not realize that we are special in the eyes of the Lord. He chose us. What a privilege to be amongst the chosen few! Jesus said many are called but few are chosen. God chose us for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Jesus Christ said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you,” (John 15:16)

In our last article we discussed that challenges, like pruning to a tree, enables us to bear quality fruits. The purpose God chose us is that we may be fruitful in doing his work. Remember that by grace he saved us to do the works that He prepared for us before hand. God knows that we are capable of being fruitful in the varying works he assigned each one of us, whatever the circumstances. That is why in our previous discussion we said ‘The Lord has chosen you, be strong and do it!’

Sometimes you only discover how special you are when you go through difficult times. God tests (NOT tempts) us through trials and tribulations and that is when we should apply longsuffering and hold strong to our belief in truth. He may allow us to be tempted but He always provides a way to get out of that temptation. We just need to trust in Him at all times.

Recently I read a story by one pastor who has had many spinal surgeries after he was assaulted as a teenager in high school and the pain never went away. He says, “… [I] have learned to embrace my pain as being a part of God’s plan for my life. It keeps me humble. It keeps me reliant on Him. It has caused me to have a real heart for hurting, broken people. As a person prone to being a lone ranger, my pain forces me to call on and rely on others. Most of all, because I am in pain daily – hourly even, I am aware of His grace in ways that I can imagine a much healthier version of me would have ignored.”

This may sound like someone resigned from life but his point is that he has learned to see it as a blessing that was meant to be a curse. He has realized how special he is in God’s eyes and he is unwavering, immovable and abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that he is not doing it in vain. He has chosen not to be hindered by circumstances from doing what God has called him to do.

My dear friend, know that God knows what you are going through. Know that God cares for you. Know that he wants you to bear fruits. David says many are the afflictions of the righteous but God delivers them from all. The Lord says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me,” (Psalm 50:15).

When we ask for God to come to our rescue we should not lose sight of his main purpose – that His name is glorified. We should not expect Him to deliver us from troubles for our own selfish gains, but for His glorification. The Lord is not willing to share his glory with anyone else. That is why He has chosen us in the furnace of affliction - that He is glorified.

“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it. For how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another,” (Isaiah 48:10-11 KJV).

Just because you find yourself in the furnace of suffering it does not mean you are no longer special to Him. God has chosen you in whilst you are going through that hardship. And he has chosen you to bear the fruits of the Spirit (which patience is one of them).

Our Savior Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, was chosen in the furnace of affliction and therefore He knows how to rescue us. That is why the Apostle Peter writes, “Come to  Him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious,” (1 Peter 2:4 RSV).

My dear friend, God has chosen you because He has a plan for you. His plan is not to harm you but to give you a future and hope. He has promised that when we call Him He will listen and we will always find Him when we seek Him with a true heart. The Lord loves us so much that he laid down His life for us. He cares for us that He sympathizes with us in our weaknesses. He remains faithful to us even when we are faithless.

“Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:14-16). 

In The Midst of Our Disgrace God Reveals His Amazing Grace

(Originally published in the Swazi Gospel Sun)

Sometimes you spend time and money planning to achieve a goal you set for yourself. You go out of your way to make sure that it happens. You sacrifice a lot to ensure that what you are planning turns out to be a success. You pray for God’s guidance and provision and you see things coming together.

You even celebrate, “All things work together for good to those who love God!”  Just a couple of days before you realize what you have been striving to achieve something happens that disrupts all the plans and you lose all everything and everything comes to nothing. Well, that is the experience I am recovering from.

It is amazing that before all this happened God had put in my heart the urge to pursue His knowledge. I even wrote on this subject in my previous article. The day before discovering the trouble I got myself into, the Holy Spirit led me to put together this piece with words from the Scripture.

GOD’S THOUGHTS AND WAYS

God’s thoughts are HIGHER than ours

His thoughts are VERY DEEP

His understanding is UNSEARCHABLE

His understanding is INFINITE

His ways are EVERLASTING

His ways are JUST

His ways are JUST and TRUE

His paths are MERCY and TRUTH

His way is PERFECT

WHATEVER THE LORD PLEASES HE DOES

He teaches and guides the HUMBLE

He teaches those who FEAR Him

SHOW ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD;

TEACH ME YOUR PATHS

TEACH ME YOUR WAY, O LORD I WILL WALK IN YOUR TRUTH;

UNITE MY HEART TO FEAR YOUR NAME

As I reflected on all the events that took place I realized that in spite of my loss and shameful situation God love was all over me. I got to understand what James really meant when he wrote “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing,” (James 1:2-4).

Dealing with the loss of something that you are emotionally attached to is very hard. It is even worse when you realize that you could have done a lot of things to avoid the disgraceful situation from happening. Guilt takes over and you start beating yourself over it. That is the point where we lose it and we start doing things we are not supposed to be doing.

However, through it all I have learnt how much God loves us. I have realized that God allows us to go through tough and disgraceful conditions to reveal His amazing grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ went through disgraceful circumstances for God’s grace to be revealed. That is how God demonstrates His great love for us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

I have heard so many times people asking why bad things happen to good people. My answer is simple; God is demonstrating His great love. My dear friend, in my young life I have learned that we cannot understand God’s thoughts and ways and it is not our duty to try to figure it out. God cannot be scientifically proven. All we have to do is to be obedient to His instructions and let Him do His work. All we have to do is to glorify Him because His plan is to make us complete, not to harm us.

In whatever challenges we are facing in life we have to know that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. This is what separates us as children of God and those of the world. When the world questions, “Where is God?” we are rejoicing because we know that we have faith in the God who is love, the God who redeemed us with the blood of His only begotten Son whose death demonstrated the love of our Father. “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, SO THAT YOUR FAITH AND HOPE ARE IN GOD,” (1 Peter 1:20 -21).

That makes us know that God is with us all the time, we are in His presence. The greatest wonder of being in the presence of the Lord is that we gain the confidence to face anything. If we have faith in Him He hears our prayers and provides whatever we need. When you are in the presence of the Lord there is no need to be worried and afraid. Jeremiah says, “You came near when I called you, and you said “Do not fear,” (Lamentations 3:57).

If we pursue the knowledge of this God we believe in, we will not be afraid because this is the God who said to Moses, “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest,” (Exodus 33:14).

This is the God who assured Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord you God will be with you wherever you go,” (Joshua 1:9).

This is the God who declared to Jeremiah, “I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” (Jeremiah 15:20).

This is the God who encouraged Paul in Corinth, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city,” (Acts 18:9-10).

This is the God who said to Daniel, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them,” (Daniel 10:12).

God wants us to go on and do His work without fear because He is always with us. Like the true, good Shepherd, He is always taking care of us and there is no reason to be worried. Like Daniel we need to set our minds towards gaining understanding and humble ourselves before God. “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way,” (Psalm 25:9).

God loved us through Jesus Christ so that we shall have eternal life and nothing shall separate us from His love. He will never leave or forsake us. What more can we ask for other than the presence of the Lord?

The Almighty says, “I the Lord search and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve,” (Jeremiah 17:10). We need to keep our hearts pure all the time to better position ourselves for the blessings from the Lord. We need to keep our minds clear so that we are able to focus on what God wants us to do.

My dear friend, today you may be going through an embarrassing situation, the people you trust may be judgmental to your faults, you may be finding it hard to forgive yourself for a mistake that cost you a lot, you may be discouraged to even continue praying, you may find it a draining task to read your Bible – just know one thing, God is with you. Today He is saying to you, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me,” (Psalm 50:15).

I have said it before; God loves us, God cares for us, God is faithful!