Are You Still On Your Assignment by God or Have you Stopped to Tickle Any Ears?

Are You Still On Your Assignment by God or Have you Stopped to Tickle Any Ears?
Today's Scripture Reading: Joshua Chapter 1 = Key Verse: Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua heard it all during the forty years he served Moses. The protests, excuses, justifications, and groaning seemed endless at times. You have heard them, too, if you have ever stretched beyond your comfort one to speak the truth about God's will before a group of people:

* "Why must I know this gospel?"
* "Why do I have to be radical?"
* "Why do I have to come against the paradigms of traditional religion?"
* "Why do I have to endure criticism?"

Finally the day came when God gave Moses' assignment to Joshua, and he knew was about the face the challenge of his life. On that day, God bluntly reminded Joshua that he was a man with a mission from God, and He warned him in advance not to be afraid or dismayed.

The same thing will happen to you if you are serious about following Jesus. You may face these challenges on a drastically smaller scale, but they are still challenges. Remember that what other people say or do not say does not matter; you are filled with the Holy Ghost and dispatched on kingdom business. Whether people approve or not, you are ushering in the Spirit of God wherever you go.

People like to have their ears "tickled" with flattering words and flesh-pleasing messages that soothe the ego. The Word of God does not tickle people's ears; it simply declares divine realities that minister to the heart. Forget flattery-God's love is far better.

Just walk through your difficult times and keep your eyes on the Author of the covenant promises. Receive understanding and wisdom through this testing time and trust the King to bring you through it with more strength than when you began. Take comfort in this fact: the next time you speak about this subject, you will have an inner witness and a visible authority that others cannot deny or easily set aside.

Daily Prayer:
Father, please forgive me for asking, "Why?" more than I have said, "Yes, Lord." I know that You know what is best for me and for the kingdom-where You lead I will follow. By Your grace, neither the opinions of men nor the difficulty of my circumstances will turn me aside. In the end, I will testify of Your faithfulness with authority and power in Jesus' name, amen.

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Coach Elizabeth Felder
Author & Life Coach to Women

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Yup still on the assignment set before me and I will not be deterred, despite the many attacks..

1Pe 4:12 "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you":

We must remember that if one lives Godly you will....SUFFER. One of the gifts of the spirit (that is rarely preached about these days in the 'health, wealth and happiness' dogma) is .LONGSUFFERING... The Gospel is not glamorous, its GLORIOUS. To follow Christ one must deny self, pick up His cross (sign of suffering) and follow Him to do the continual works of Christ. So rejoice in the afflictions of the righteous. Are we prepared to do so? Have we counted the cost? There is a cost in following the crucified and suffering Christ. Are we able to drink from that cup?
Amen, Brother Scott. There is a cost and Paul tells us to what to exactly what to expect as the Marks of the Ministry.

But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 1Cor 6: 3-1

But if we have fellowship with the sufferings of Christ we will rejoice when His GLory is revealed. Amen.
Sister Caral, I wrote this out awhile ago on another post. The Gospel of Christ is not glamorous but...GLORIOUS. This earth is not heaven nor hell, but the battlefield of souls. As a missionary about to take my family to Papua New Guinea for the next 5-7 years I had to sign a waiver stating that if my children are abducted by terrorists, this organization will not barter or negotiate with terrorists, and please sign here. As I had to give it to my wife, the mother of our children to sign also. Yes, we have counted the cost to follow Christ and to pick up His cross and "Go Ye Therefore........"

In the 5th century in Old England this particular seminary was called the "school of death". Why? Because when you graduated from this school, you were sent to the dangerous parts of the world to preach the Good News of the crucified Christ and you had to be prepared to be beheaded. All were. That's how the Good News was spread in the world back then, by being martyred. Its how we have the Bible in english through many who were beheaded and burned at the stake so that the common english speakers could have the Gospel in their own language of understanding and not just those who only spoke Latin. That was the cost and now we are reaping the benefits of now having over 500 english translated bibles today.

Luk 9:22 "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up".

If you walk with Him, if you walk with Christ, the SUFFERING Christ we all will suffer. We must remember that in sharing the Gospel with the power of God we will suffer as our Lord suffered. It is through the suffering of our bodies that Christ is glorified. It is only through the suffering of God's son that those disciples who saw his suffering that the world will see the supreme glory of Christ-- is only when we break free of the Disney world of American comfort and the deception of the prosperity gospel of health, wealth and happiness will we begin to see the true Kingdom of God manifest itself in the nations of the gentiles.

Rom 8:17 "and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him"

How did over 1.4 billion people in the world become believers of Christ Jesus? I'll tell you how, through the 12 Apostles who SUFFERED. That's how. In no way EVER has the Gospel of Christ been delivered powerfully in any way that has pierced the hearts of those who wait in darkness and are found to be hopeless in receiving the Good News of the free gift of salvation through prosperity. If so, they won't worship the Christ, they will worship prosperity. Having a mansion and a bmw is not what brings sinners with a contrite and brokenheart to the throne of grace, but is only through the suffering that is found in us who are called to not only deny self, but to pick up our cross (sign of suffering) and follow Him, a SUFFERING Christ.

Isa 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed".

Notice in that powerful verse in which Jesus was wounded and bruised and the chastisement of our PEACE was upon Him to SUFFER for us, to be made into a sinner for us, to be made into a spectacle, to be shamed for all to see His nakedness on that cross and to suffer greatly, as He loved us more than we could ever know to demonstrate his loving kindness by sacrificing Himself, through His suffering so that we might know Him to spend eternity with Him. That is the price He paid for us as the suffering Christ. We serve a man who was condemned to death row, a convicted man that this world despised. How can we as the sons of God expect anything else? How can we not rejoice as Paul joyfully accepted his role to suffer and to rejoice over the afflictions of the righteous. Suffering is a gift. A reward for partaking in the sufferings of our Christ. Why do we constantly try to get out of suffering, which brings many who see and are witnesses of our suffering to be also included in eternity through our sacrificial bodies that suffer! Remember one of the gifts of the spirit is longsuffering.

Php 1:29 "because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf:"

Will you join in the Son in displaying the greatness in the glory of His grace, supremely in the suffering of His Son? Because there is no other way the world is going to see the glory of Christ until we start living the lifestyle of missionary sacrifice that looks to the world that the treasure in heaven and not of the earth, its the only way. Of course I'll have a Jesus that gives us a car, I'll have the Jesus if the "Pay off is right".. WRONG! You are not going to win the lost unless through the suffering Christ!

Isn't it the "good life", isn't Christianity the "good life"??? Even if its a delusion, so what its the "good life"...WRONG!

Oh, how wrong have we got it in America. Its really hard to be a Christian in America.

I make so many choices to magnify Jesus in hard places, it hurts me everyday, I would not choose this if it weren't true!

Christ died for millions of people all over the world, their debt has been paid, but they do not know it. They can't taste it, they can't feel it, they can't sing that song, "I thank you for the cross"!! There is something missing in the suffering, its not showing up. Its not showing up in 639 people groups in the world of the unevangelized. The presentation of the suffering is not there. There never had been a breakthrough into an unreached people and place without suffering. Mark it down, if your a missionary trust me, you will Suffer. Yes, you will suffer in your marriage, in your health, in your finances, in this world you will suffer if you follow Christ. Don't think it strange when it comes, He paid the price of our salvation, we join Him in that suffering to display the nature of it, how are they going to see how satisfying He is in us, if we look like its the benz that is really satisfying?

2Ti 3:12 "Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

Brethren, its the only way that those who are dead in their sins will see Jesus the Suffering Christ in us when we suffer with and through Him, to bring those who labor and heavy laden with sin, to bring them rest in the Living Christ.

God only had one son and He made that son a missionary, and although He was rich, He became poor so that we can become rich.

Now I ask is the slave greater than the master?

May God bless us all

In His Grip

Scott

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