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.
