Christian Living

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And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matt11:12

As children of God we are to be peacemakers. The servant of the Lord does not strive. Love is patient and kind, gentle, peaceful. Blessed are the peacemakers they shall be called the children of God the Lord Himself said, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you’.Matt5:10-12

However we must realise that this does not mean we sit down and takes whatever comes, even from our adversary. We must study to show ourselves approved workmen and women that are not ashamed rightly and skilfully handling the Word. Our warfare is a spiritual battle essentially. There are demonic spirits out there who want to cage us, deceive us, undermine us and prevent us from entering our promised land. We must identify them, target them, use or spiritual weapons to topple, destabilise and decapitate them as and when they raise their ugly heads. We have a mandate and authority in the Name of Jesus.

19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

In our key note text, we discover that Jesus was on the move. He had started His ministry, but was about to be ambushed by the ploy of the enemy. The enemy wants to discourage him by imprisonment of His forerunner, John the Baptist. John was himself discouraged by the message he sent Jesus, ‘Are you the one or should we wait for another?’ The enemy was showing Him and reminding Him that he could do the same to Him.
John the Baptist spoke the mind of God. He was bold and spoke out against the misdeeds of the king and was imprisoned for it. By that act Satan wanted to silence the voice of God, the move of God the ministry of Jesus. Later on we hear that John was beheaded during the birthday when Herod celebrated his birthday


Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet.
6On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much 7that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." 9The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10and had John beheaded in the prison. 11His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
13When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. John 14

Jesus saw that the enemy wanted to shift His focus from His ministry through discouragement, but He refuse and left that place for a solitary place. I believe he went to refuel, to pray, as to keep on course regardless of the wicked ploy of the enemy. John had hope He would intervene but He was not led to do so.
John was a fiery preacher, the forerunner of Christ, but was beheaded like a chicken like the actions of religious fanatics we see these days especially in the Middle East and other regions and countries were the Gospel is vehemently opposed. These are events in the natural realm but with spiritual impact and dimension. It is designed to discourage, discomfort and drive into despair the faith of those who believed.
In this case it came to discourage Jesus.

He kept on healing the sick when He came out of solitude. He would not be deterred; his focus would not be dislodged or broken; he would keep pressing on to finish the work His Father gave Him to do.
The kingdom of God suffers violence but the violent shall take it by force.

When Paul persecuted the Church, thinking he was doing God a favour. They Church was in dire straight. The Christians were afraid of him. However as he continued to persecute them they were scatter and continue to spread the Gospel even wider in that region. Even when they were imprisoned and later released we see them going back to their company and raising up their voices to pray a prayer that moved a building. That was a violent praying to take by force what belonged to them = the salvation of souls.

2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

Their preaching kept yielding great fruit as they were unrelenting in preaching the Gospel in spite of the persecution.


5The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. 7They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone 1Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Fellowship with the Lord produces uncommon boldness. In His presence you will be recharged, reignited, hear His voice, empowered, rejuvenated, granted boldness to take on the powers of darkness in the might matchless name of Jesus. At His Name, demons tremble. He has a name above every other name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven of thing on this earth of things underneath this earth.

Later In Act 6 they stirred the people to seize Stephen.

12So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13They produced false witnesses, who testified, "This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen's Speech to the Sanhedrin
Stephen was bold and strong in spite of the fact that his life was on the line. His speech is worth reading in Act7. we can see the power of the Holy Spirit at work as he boldly shares the Gospel and also related the whole history of the old testament to them- quoting te scriptures accurately as he went along.
He was brutal with them and unable to resist him they stoned him to death.
51"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts7

you would think this martyrdom would silence them but that was not the case. They kept marching on from faith to faith.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. Acts8
In Chapter 9 we find Paul on his murderous journey but the Lord arrested him.
1Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

The Church's greatest enemy became her greatest asset. Paul the murderer was gloriously converted and went on to build churches and write thirteen best seller of all time.

As you stand to see your salvation God will work through those adverse circumstances. He will work everything out for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His original intension. Keep focused. Keep marching on in the name of the Lord. Jesus is the Captain of your salvation. He has gone ahead of you to make crooked paths straight. Fear not when you go brought t the water, you will not drown. When you go through the fire, you will not be burnt, just like the three Hebrew children thrown into the fiery burning furnace, He will be there with you.

©Fenny West
inspirations 4generations.com
Please let me hear from you if you have been blessed.

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