“LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! MANY ARE THEY WHO RISE UP AGAINST ME.”
Psalm 3:1 (NKJV)
• Psalm 3 was written when David fled from Absalom his son.
HIS own son plotted to topple his government.
- Opposition may arise in the course of doing your assignment.
- God’s chosen ones are always the target of the kingdom of darkness.
TO a greater degree God loves YOU, the more satan hates you.
GOD'S presence in your life attracts attacks from the kingdom of darkness.
THE devil hates God and whatever belongs to Him with any perfect hatred (Psalm 3:1). - If you are the target of the wicked ONE in your place of work, where you live, even in your family, it means God is in the process of making you.
"I have written to you, young men [young women], BECAUSE YOU ARE STRONG, AND THE WORD OF GOD ABIDES IN YOU, AND YOU HAVE OVERCOME THE WICKED ONE."
1 John 2:14 (NKJV)
• The truth is: If everybody likes you, loves you, it probably means you are not living a clean life—you live a compromised life as a believer.
A CHRISTIAN who is living according to the Word of God MAY not have many friends (2 Timothy 3:12).
SUCH may have more people who are against them than those who like THEM.
• “Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for Him in God" (Psalm 3:2).
- Also in the ministry work, If you want to run your ministry as you are led by God, according to the Word of God, then you may have many who will hate you.
- People in this end time want a preacher who will tell them what they wanted to hear, not what God wanted them to hear Or tell them.
“FOR THE TIME WILL COME WHEN THEY WILL NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers”
2 Timothy 4:3 (NKJV)
HOWEVER, Paul’s admonition to Timothy is:
- “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. CONVINCE, REBUKE, EXHORT, WITH ALL LONG-SUFFERING AND TEACHING.
- … be watchful in all things, ENDURE AFFLICTIONS, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2,5).
- You do not stop preaching the truth because people are recalcitrant—unwilling to obey instructions Or difficult to control.
YOU keep at the message of righteousness, holiness and truth.
THEY may not want to hear it, but you have to keep at it with long-suffering, patience and endurance. - To fulfil your Ministry, you will need to endure afflictions.
IF you held on to the Truth, you cannot but experience afflictions.
YOU will experience many trials and temptations. - Your LIFE and journey to heavenly home would be fraught with tests, trials, pains and hardships, except you do not want righteousness, goodness, AND truth (Acts 14:21,22).
21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “WE MUST THROUGH MANY TRIBULATIONS ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”
Acts 14:21,22 (NKJV)
- If truth is your watchword, you want goodness and RIGHTEOUSNESS, you will have many tests and trials: "Yes, and ALL WHO DESIRE TO LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS WILL SUFFER PERSECUTION" (2 Timothy 3:12).
- The devil will concentrate attacks on you THAT you may deny God.
- It is a choice Life, however, it worth living, because there is a reward for it. IN FACT, it is the kind of Life God wants His children to live.
- Some people will make mockery of you, scorn you, because of what you are passing through.
- Many will even say you are a wicked person that is why you are passing through the pains and hardships (Job 8:4-6).
- When they try to attack you, they see God fights on your behalf.
• “But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head" (Psalm 3:3).
- Those who are against you may be many but they cannot prevail over you.
THE Psalmist said Jehovah is a shield for him, and He is, for every believer in Christ Jesus. - It is taught by the Lord Jesus Christ that we should pray for those who spitefully used us: "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).
HOWEVER, there are those who have yielded to the devil and work to propagate his work, such would need God's judgement to be pronounced on them (Acts 13:8-11).
- "BUT ELYMAS THE SORCERER (for so his name is translated) WITHSTOOD [opposed] THEM, SEEKING TO TURN THE PROCONSUL AWAY FROM THE FAITH.
- Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him
- and said, "O FULL OF ALL DECEIT AND ALL FRAUD, YOU SON OF THE DEVIL, YOU ENEMY OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?
- "And now, indeed, THE HAND OF THE LORD IS UPON YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE BLIND, NOT SEEING THE SUN FOR A TIME." And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand."
Acts 13:8-11 (NKJV)
THEY may gather against you, But they will fall for your sake.
“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
Deuteronomy 28:7 (NKJV)
• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
Peace!
TO BE CONTINUED