God is not intimidated by what anybody does to the church, but He does take it very personally. When you persecute the church, you persecute Him. Although He is not intimidated by the persecution and it is not going to shape what He is going to do eternally, because God still has His timetable, but if someone is going to be doing something wrong, He is either going to confront that person or He is going to raise someone else up. Just like He confronted Saul.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”(Acts 9:15–16 NKJV) You are a chosen vessel. Everything that you need in your future is based on – you were chosen. You weren’t just born for nothing on the earth. We are a chosen vessel to bear His name. This is an important shift we have to make. If you live your life, trying to bear your own name, to make your name something, and your name is what matters, you’ve got your priorities mixed up. If you’re not representing Jesus’ name, He’s got nothing to go to the Father for you with.
Say: I am a chosen vessel. I bear Jesus’s Name everywhere I go.
Saul was a chosen vessel. He went from something that God spoke over him to something he’s now been living among them. We have to go from what God says about us, to what we now do for Him, based on what He’s given us to do, as a chosen one. We need to know that there will be suffering if we bear His name and do what He says we must do.
Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? To surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (Romans 12:1 TPT)
When you give yourself to bear His name, this becomes your genuine act of worship. You give your body as a sacrifice by reforming how you think. If you think differently, then you can give your body. The Holy Spirit is constantly working with us, to help us to bear His name, rather than our name. God is only interested in what we do with the blood of Jesus, what we do with the name of Jesus and how we bear the name of Jesus on the earth. When we bear the name of Jesus on the earth, then He (Jesus) will glorify us to the Father.
Say: I give myself to bear His name. I give my body as a sacrifice and I am reforming how I think. I put God first and the rest is blessed.
You can’t walk in faith unless you are first honest. Many people want to deny being honest and assess the situation or assess themselves honestly; because faith requires that you know where you are now, so that you can put faith to where you are now. We have to confront the choices that we’ve already made to this point that’s brought us into the self-important, self-promotion, self-esteem system. Because by faith, it means I’m in Him. And if you’re in Him, He will help you to be honest about yourself without condemning yourself, and without having a pity party. He will convince you of the way that you can live without condemning you of the way you have lived. The appropriate self-esteem is the way you see yourself in faith. You also need to allow the patience of faith to have its full work. It might be tough, but God will see us through.
Say: Thank you, Lord, that You saved me. Thank You, Lord, that actually Your Word says that the best I’ve got is as filthy rags before You, and that it’s only because of Your name that I have any value for eternity. It’s only because of Your name and the faith that You’ve given me that anything is worth anything for eternity.
Many Christians think they can live their lives with a diluted lifestyle of, “I can have whatever the world gives me as long as I’ve got some of what God gives me.” This will never work. You will go nowhere living this diluted way.
We have to be in a place where we give God everything. When you get to this place, Jesus says,” Let me use it for My message. Let Me use it for glorifying and promoting the will of God, My Heavenly Father and when you give it to Me, I’ll show you what I can do with it. Not only does it bless the people, but it will bless you.” And when God pours out His blessing upon you, your immediate reaction will be to fall at His knees and repent of all your natural man stuff and He will redefine your future when you do that.
But you have to have the repentance before you can get the reframing because the repentance is something that happens in your heart. And when it happens in your heart, you can’t help but have a physical reaction to it and that is – mercy to me. You can’t change what is past but you can change what is future.
Say: Lord, I choose You. Where I’m weak, I thank You that You strengthen me. Because I choose You, I can ask You to help me so that I can live completely dedicated in all of my ways to raising You up, to glorifying You, to raise up high the name of Jesus. And I thank you for Your help, Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Hallelujah.
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