GOD’S RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT

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How do you line up with Paul’s assessment of people living in his day? Has God given you up “in the lusts of your heart to impurity” If you continue to deny Him and His goodness He will. Look around you at the beauty of the world He created. You do not take your next breath without Him making it possible. How can you deny His existence? Moreover, your Creator God sent His son, Jesus to become a man to not only reveal the truth about God but also pay the price for the original man and woman’s rebellion (SIN) against God. If this does not reveal His goodness to you nothing will.

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:21-32

IS OUR SUFFERING POINTLESS?

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Perhaps the greatest test of whether we believe the following Scripture is to identify the very worst things that have happened to us and reflect on whether we believe that God has or will use them for our good.

“In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”. Romans 8:28

Invariably, if you have lived long enough so that enough time has passed since some of those “worst things” happened to you, then you’ll almost certainly find that God has used those circumstances to stop you from relying on your own efforts, grieving the Holy Spirit in the process and quenching His work in your life.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30

“Do not quench the Spirit.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19

Jesus made it possible for God. our Father to send the third person of the Trinity to indwell our Spirit. As Jesus Himself said to His disciples, it is far better I go so the Father can send the Holy Spirit to be your counsellor, comforter, and teacher. If you let Him, He will direct your every step. Until you truly die to self and say to the Holy Spirit, not my will but your will be done this day and every day you truly cannot live the Christian life. The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control will not be evident in your life nor the gifts of the Spirit available for ministry, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, gift of prophecy, gift of faith, healings, miracles, discerning of spirits, gift of tongues, interpretation of tongues. I would venture to say that until you realise the Holy Spirit’s presence and submit to Him, God will continue to bring painful experiences into your life. When you finally realise the immensity of the gift God has provided you will rejoice that God has brought those painful experiences into your life so that you eventually came to experience His wonderful truth. Experiences labeled as the worst things that ever happened to you become some of the best from an eternal perspective. That’s because God uses the painful, difficult experiences of life for our ultimate eternal good.

How is this possible? Because God is both loving and sovereign. Our experiences provide persuasive proof that while evil and suffering are not good, God can use them to accomplish immeasurable good. This knowledge should give us great confidence that even when we don’t immediately see any redemptive meaning in our suffering, God can see it—and one day we will too. Therefore, we need not run from suffering or lose hope if God doesn’t remove it. We can trust that God has a purpose for whatever He permits.

IF WE DON’T JUDGE OURSELVES WE WILL BE JUDGED BY THE LORD

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“For the time has come for judgement to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” 1 Pet. 4:17

The context of this verse is the glory of God. God wants to reveal His glory to us and through us, for His purpose has always been for the church to reflect His glory. He will do what He can to prepare us for His glory and to spare us from being judged. We must understand that His judgement is always in proportion to the manifestation of His glory. Always.

Image result for picture of Ananias and Sapphira

The judgement that fell on Ananias and Sapphira was equal to the pure glory of God that was manifesting in the early church (Acts 5). The judgement was severe because the glory was heavy. The Lord is zealous to restore His glory again among His people.

Goodness and severity is the two-edged sword of the Lord. If we don’t judge ourselves, we will be judged by the Lord.

“For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” 1 Cor. 11:31-32

The Lord will awaken us and get our attention through His goodness or through His severity. The sleeper can be awakened with a kiss of kindness or a severe shaking. We choose.

“Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God—severity toward those who fell, but goodness toward you, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off” Romans 11:22

At some point we need to be honest with ourselves and ask the tough questions.

Why are we being defeated? Why doesn’t the world respect us?  Why aren’t we impacting our culture and our spheres of influence? Where is the power of God? Why aren’t we seeing the glory of God that we see in the early church?

Extracted from article by Bert M. Farias, revivalist and founder of Holy Fire Ministries,