Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Don't grow tired or get distracted

 

Don't Grow Tired or Get Distracted

Well, praise Jesus today everyone. I just wanted to make a short message of encouragement to anyone that is wanting to follow Jesus Christ. And that message is not to get discouraged or distracted in the times that we're living. It's easy for things to distract us like the presidential debates or what's going on with the election or just simply the heat here in California. But with all these distractions and things going on in the world, Christians tend to start to lose perspective or they think that Jesus isn't with us or that Jesus isn't still moving and they stop living full heartedly for the Lord. We need to remember that Jesus is always with us, but we also have an enemy that is always looking for the perfect opportunity to get us off the straight and narrow path. And whatever he can use to get us off the straight and narrow path, he will use.

And a lot of Christians, because they feel like Jesus is not with them, or they don't feel like loving the Lord, or they don't feel like loving their wife, they just give up. And they stop following Jesus with all of their might. We have to remember that following Jesus is about enduring with Him, and love is not just a feeling, but it is an action. A lot of us, when we first get married or when we first fall in love, it starts with those feelings of love. And as we grow in our relationship with one another, with our spouse, those feelings deepen until we start to realize how love is actions and deeds, it's not just feelings and sensations. And the same thing is when we are deepening in our faith with Jesus Christ. It's not all about feeling like Jesus is with us, just feeling that we are, how would be the right way to put it, you know, just feeling that we're good in our relationship with God. But it's about doing good for Jesus all the time, even when we don't just feel like doing it. I think a lot of Christians are very distracted by things that just feel sensational, that feel epic, that feel really big, and that's why all the young crowd gets so distracted by what seems like something big in the Christian church is happening. You know, if there's a big tent revival, or a big preacher, or a big band that's coming, they want to be involved with that. But those are things that we should not let distract us, because it's a very surface level love. Certainly some people can get inspired through a preacher, or by any of these things that can inspire us, but really we need to let love turn into an action where we are by our own choice choosing to love our family, love our wife, and love the Lord our God, that is to love Jesus, with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And instead of it just being this fleeting feeling to where a feeling can be with us, or a feeling can be gone, now it's a daily choice that we know we have to hold on to, and choose to do good, choose to overcome, choose to love, choose to be the man of our marriage, and endure with Jesus in that way. And when we do that, we can continue to overcome. Sorry guys, I always think I have my phone down, and then it ends up being a distraction. Here we go. So we have to move on from the very basic feelings of the faith, just feeling like we're Christians, feeling like we're doing good, to actually pursuing love with our actions and deeds and with righteousness every day. And that's what it's about, being able to go forward in faith, and not just getting discouraged, and not just stopping on the faith because we don't feel like serving God today, or we don't feel like there's Christians out there that are listening. At the end of the day it's not about how we feel, but what we are actually doing for Jesus with our actions.

So I want to pray for those of you that want to overcome, that want to have Jesus' love in your life and in your heart, and that love would really become more than just a feeling and a sensation, but actions and deeds that are in you, so that you can love others the way Jesus wants you to, that you can be separate from the whole ungodly church circle and Christian circle that thinks it's all about a one-time prayer, that thinks it's all about feelings and these big movements that they think are so epic, but in the end it just created a very short feeling for people. So “Lord Jesus, I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters who may be discouraged, who may be tempted to fall away or fall into sin, and I pray that we can put on righteousness and truth, and that we can have the endurance and everything it takes to continue to run the race of faith with You, that we can endure to the very end, that we can be men in our marriages and just true men of faith that can endure and really love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, to love our neighbor as ourself and to truly lead by example. We pray that Your Holy Spirit is filling us and in us and that we know that You are always with us even when we don't feel like it. I pray that we can always do the right thing even when we don't feel like it and that we can continue to push into the Kingdom of God and that Your power would be in us, filling us and that Your strength would be in us to continue to overcome. So I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters that want to push through to overcome sin and temptation and all the distractions of this world. I pray for them that You would give them true life and liberty in You and the power over Satan and the demonic kingdom, so that they would be set free from that, that they would be able to see clearly and be full of life, and as they eat Your flesh and drink Your blood that they would have new hope and new power and that they would have authority to preach You and to live in You Lord Jesus and be completely holy and pure that we could be lights for You Lord. We pray to truly be salt and light and not grow dim but have the power of the Living God in us. I pray this in Your name Lord Jesus, Amen.”

 I hope I can be an encouragement to someone out there to not grow weary. A lot of people are just distracted, they are burdened by their demons, they are just getting overcome by the devil. But if we continue to pray and lift each other up and stay firm in prayer and stay on our knees, the Lord will continue to renew our strength and that's what we need. A certain brother in the Lord asked me the other day, “how do we receive that oil if it's not going to church? How do we receive that oil?” And that oil of the Holy Spirit comes when we pray. You know Jesus says that if we knock the door will be opened. And that is knocking and asking Jesus to give us His Holy Spirit that He would come into our heart. And He says that if we knock, He's not going to give us a serpent or a snake or a scorpion or something like that, but He will give us the better gift of the Holy Spirit.

So if you're trying to overcome a temptation or if you know you have demons coming against you or people are slandering you, you know you have Jesus on your side. You know that He is there with you even when you don't feel like it. He's never going to leave you or forsake you. And if you knock, the door will be opened to you. He's going to give you the way out because He is the way. He's the way out of sin, out of darkness, out of the evil of this world. He didn't promise that it would be the easy life or that you wouldn't suffer persecution or have hard things happen in your life. He never said that you wouldn't go through sickness or you know nothing bad would happen to you, but He promised to be with you and with me even to the very end of our life.

And so we need to hold on to that hope that Jesus is going to be with us and that He as the way, if we hold on to Him that we are going the right way. So be encouraged that Jesus Christ is with us. He shares in our struggles and He's always there to help us overcome and to give us the way into life.

Well, praise Jesus everyone, I see your comments coming in. Continue to endure no matter what, even when you don't feel like Jesus is with you. Continue to be a light however you can.

And don't be distracted by anything that's going around on the internet, a conspiracy theory. You know people go down all these different rabbit holes and then they get more and more discouraged. The news is discouraging, the things people say can just be so discouraging, but if we can push all that out and allow Jesus to speak into our hearts, then we, that is when the oil goes over us and fills us and we have that oil in our lamp. And we always want the oil of the Holy Spirit in us. We want to be eating Jesus' flesh and drinking His blood. We don't want to be coming empty, we want to be filled with the glory of God. We want to be salt and light to our neighbors. We don't want to be saltless and a light that's growing dim. So keep praying, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and keep enduring with the Lord and don't let anything take away your joy.