But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
We must continually fight fear and unbelief as long as we live on this present earth. We fight such, through prayer, through gaining assurance that we have the will of God in that which we are doing, and by keeping that Word given us by God by HIS Spirit before our eyes day and night.
*****
Psalm 1 ... Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in HIS law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
*****
There are things we must do if we are to live in the way of God and prosper.
* We cannot walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Just because a man is successful in the world does not mean we can go in his counsel. We must, instead, walk in the counsel of God, which is often exactly opposite from the way that successful ungodly man might have you go.
In the early years when I was on radio, I had an advertising agency promoting my radio broadcasts and meetings.
The agent assigned to me began to make "suggestions".
First, he said to me: We would like you to add the following to all your printed materials and envelopes... "Send Me Your Prayer Requests"
I replied: "NO! I don't want to do that. They should pray directly to God through Jesus Christ, not through me!"
Then the agent told me it was very important for me not to offend anyone.
I'm called as an apostle/prophet ... apostles deal with scripture and doctrine and fight perversion of such in the churches ... prophets delivers messages of correction and the rebellious often attack the prophet.
The gospel itself is an offence to the unruly!
Lk. 12:51-53 ... Jesus said ... Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
I could not walk in the counsel of the ungodly (the ad agency) and follow God.
Within a short time, they set me aside and no longer represented me.
This agency represented, at that time, Kenneth Copeland, Marilyn Hickey, Robert Tilton, and had represented Jimmy Swaggart ... big-time ministers.
I knew I had "blown it". They definitely had the power to make me into one of those same big-time ministers.
One time Marilyn Hickey came to me and said: "Joan ... please pray that Michael Ellison will agree with my doing TV shows." (Michael Ellison ... not God)
That is how powerful this advertising agency was.
So I thought I had failed when they eliminated me as a client.
But God showed me I had passed a test.
Mt. 4:8-10 ... Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (obey me)
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
*****
* We cannot walk in the way of sinners, doing what they believe wise.
James 3:17 ... But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
(without hypocrisy: without pretense)
*****
* We cannot sit in the seat of the scornful ...
We cannot sit with the scornful, eat with the scornful, keep company with the scornful, nor be friends with the scornful, approving them by our friendship.
Scornful:
- one who shows contempt toward a person he considers to be despicable or unworthy
- looking down on someone and complaining about such in a derogatory way
- one who shows strong displeasure against another person, considering self to be more noble, worthy, righteous than that other person
- one who speaks of a person in a disrespectful way, making fun of that person such as saying: "Can you believe he would have said that?
*****
* To succeed and to have the power to succeed, we must keep the word given us by God before us "day and night" to think constantly upon that word ... By doing this, we will eventually have the power to do that word ... That word from God will rise up in us and overcome all other directions.
As we draw from the waters of that word given us by God by HIS Spirit, God says we will be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of water. Our leaf will not wither. Our plans from God will not fade as do other plans of this world. Winds do not usually blow over a tree. And most of all we continually draw our water from that river of water so when there is heat and a drought of the world, we do not collapse as do others. We have continual nourishment.
As a consequence of these actions: Whatsoever we do will prosper
*****
Joshua was told by God to meditate on God’s word day and night so he might be strong enough to do God’s word and then he would make his way prosperous and then he would have good success. Joshua 1:8
The same thing applies to each Christian today.
During one period of my life, I was so frightened that I took every scripture brought to my attention by the Holy Spirit and recorded each of these scriptures on a cassette tape on both sides of the tape, and played that tape every night when I went to bed. Each time I awoke in the night, I turned the tape over and started it playing again and would go to sleep with the tape playing these scripture.
This helped me fight the fear and helped me to believe the Word given me by God on the fearful subject at hand in my life at that time.
We do what we have to do to overcome.
There are times I have had to avoid persons who would steal faith from me.
Jesus once said:
Mt. 10 … Whosoever therefore shall confess ME (The Word) before men, him will I confess also before MY Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny ME (deny the Word) before men, him will I also deny before MY Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than ME is not worthy of ME: and he that loveth son or daughter more than ME is not worthy of ME. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after ME (the Word), is not worthy of ME. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for MY sake (for the sake of The Word) shall find it.
We might end up losing our life, our association, with certain people on this present earth.
I’ve often had people leave me and despise me because of the warnings I have given them from the Word of God.
I’ve had people leave me and despise me when they witnessed my way of life in Christ by the instruction of God by the Word, the Holy Scriptures.
Jesus warned:
Lk. 6 … Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
The apostle Paul said … Phil. 3:13 … Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
As long as he was alive on this earth, Paul had to contend for the Word of God … doing the Word of God in the issues pertaining to this present life.
We do not arrive to the point where we can stop contending for the life in Christ.
As long as God chooses to leave us on this earth, we contend for the Word of God.
I Cor. 9:24-27 … Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
*****
Jesus said "few" would find the way of life.
Mt. 7:13-14 ... Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Dictionary definition of "few" is two or three ...
So many people who say Jesus is their Lord today have a form of godliness but are empty vessels when they try to speak, showing nothing of God but vain imaginations. They can be swept off the path very quickly by a wind, even by a little wind, having no root system.
They have no real, consistent foundation in doing the word of God. Mostly they try to look good in the eyes of other men, doing all manner of plans of themselves and men of this world.
Few find the real way of God on this earth, living victorious lives, overcoming on this earth.
It is because of their choices and their lack of faith in God and there preponderance of faith in other humans and even in themselves.