SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/21/2015 4:17 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Introduction to the church of Smyrna
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
2:8-11
Message
of the verses: “8 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna
write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
9 ’I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and
the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10
’Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast
some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days.
Be faithful until death,
and I will give you the crown of life. 11 ’He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the
second death.’”
Let us begin by talking about the
words “paradoxical truth” to help us better understand what this church was
going through. The paradoxical truth
when it comes to churches is that the more it suffers the more closely to
Christ it will be. We only have to look
at churches in countries where it is not legal to practice their faith in
Christ to see that they are the strongest churches that they grow in their walk
with the Lord. Russia is a good example
of this when they were the head of the Soviet Union they had a strong and
growing faith in the Lord. Same with
China, and there are probably other countries today where this continues to be
true. I can tell you one reason for this
and that is if you were going to risk your life for the cause of Christ you
will not find any people in your church who are “false believers” for a false
believer will not give you their life for something that they are not committed
to. Jesus tells this church that they
are rich, when looking at them from the world’s view they were dirt poor.
I had a dear friend who is now with
the Lord who was a photographer and had been on every continent in the world
and when he went to the Soviet Union he would take them Bibles in so that they
could have Bibles to read. He would meet
with believers while there and this was at a risk to himself and also to those
who he was meeting with. People there
were starving for the Word of God, but their faith was very strong. My friend is now in the presence of the Lord
and will one day receive his crowns for doing the things he did while in the
body.
John MacArthur writes “Scripture
links persecution and spiritual strength, ‘Consider is all joy, my brethren, ‘wrote James, ‘when you encounter
various trials, knowing that the testing of you faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing’ (James 1:2-4). Peter encouraged suffering Christians with
the truth that ‘after you have suffered
for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory
in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you’ (1
Peter 5:10). The purest Christian
graces are those forged in the furnace of adversity.”
This is a short letter to a church
that was under tremendous persecution, and yet there is not one word of
condemnation give to it by our Lord Jesus Christ. We will begin to look further into this
wonderful church in our next SD.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am thankful to the Lord that so far in my
walk with Him that I have not come under the kind of persecution that these
saints in Smyrna went through, but that does not mean that it will not happen
in our country as we look at the freedoms we are losing at this point in our
history. My prayer is that I will receive grace from the Lord to get me through
any persecution that I may have to go through.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
love the Lord in a better way than I have been, and to live in the love He has
for me.
Memory
verses for the week: 2 Peter 1:5-9.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith
supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your
knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control perseverance, and in your
perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in
your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if
these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless
nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind
or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Fourth”
(1 Kings 6:1).
Today’s
Bible question: “Under what are both
Jews and Gentiles alike?”
Answer
in our next SD.
1/21/2015
4:49 PM
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