Faithful Love

It has been a little while since I have added to my blog. Busy. But also going through those fiery trials in which both James and Peter tells us to rejoice, consider it not strange, and to be aware that these things are common to the brethren.

James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

I Peter 4:12-13 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Am I reproached for the name of Christ? Yes. With blasphemy and murderous threats. With ridicule, mocking and menacing. With constant reminder of past mistakes and shortcomings. The accuser of the brethren does not play fair. He does not wait for you to recover from the last onslaught. He knows your vulnerabilities, your sensitive spots, those areas of unbelief where he can make you doubt the Word of God. He knows he can use those closest to you when he needs a mouthpiece. He knows that he can get to you through the pain of your children. He uses the sympathy of friends and the reasonable advice of kind colleagues. He does every possible thing to separate you from the love of God and the Truth. And when you listen to him, even just a little, you struggle to maintain your prayer life, you begin to lose your right view of God, and you begin to look to the world for solutions.

Romans 8:33-39 tells me that nothing can separate me from the love of God.

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Lord also tells me that in Him, I am a new creation. My sins are not held against me. They are washed away by the precious blood of the Lamb.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

I am accepted in the Beloved, because He has made me acceptable.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Anything not from the Word of God which challenges my faith, my peace, my joy and which causes me even to doubt the love and truth about my Saviour, can only be from the mouth of a liar. And we know that the devil has been a liar, a deceiver and a murderer from the beginning. (John 8:44)

And so, I will be more than a conqueror. I will be victorious and I will hold fast to the truth. I will believe God, not man. And I will obey, no matter how hard or how unreasonable His charge seems. And He will complete the work He has begun in me, because He is faithful and will do it. And I will pray (Ephesians 6:18).

And the peace of God which passeth all understanding will keep my heart and mind in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.