VERSE: "Our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:15b-16).
EQUATION: Teachings of the New Testament from Apostle Paul = Authentic Scriptures from God.
ACTION: For the first time in the Bible, the great Apostle Peter, tells us as plain as day, that the letters from the brilliant Apostle Paul are not only full of truth but are as much Scriptures as the Words of the Torah (first five books of the Bible) or the Prophets. Jesus Himself revealed them to His servant Paul when He trained him for three years in the Arabian desert. The required action for those who have not yet done so, is to start with reading the Book of Romans, this year and then read all the way through the Book of James - very slowly, very methodically, while praying for the Holy Spirit to make the embedded truths here, easy to comprehend. Scripture immersion is required, at in this current age.
PRAYER: Our Heavenly Father and great God of Heaven Who has revealed Himself to sinful mankind, first through Moses and the Prophets and in these last days, through Your great Son the Savior Jesus, we praise Thee, worship Thee and bless Your Holy Name for giving us the Word of Truth - the Bible. Through this, Father, we cannot be deceived by those on earth who twist Your words to suit their own personal ends and misrepresent You, misleading others and making them just as much a candidate for destruction as they are. Father, give us, through Your revealed word- the Rhema of God and the Powerful Spirit of the Living God, the discernment to immediately recognize false teaching and error so that we may alert the unsuspecting and teach those who need to know You better. Grant us the courage to stand for revealed Truth so that we may proclaim it righteously, with humility and love, but with uncompromising accuracy, so that we may stand before You, holy and blameless, in the Presence of the Angels and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, to whom all praise is due, in His Name, the Name above ALL the other names, we ask all these things, amen and amen.
At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. (17) But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. (18)The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:16-18)
Sometimes even the best of us, the ones whom people think have it all put together, can feel beat down, press upon, disrespected and just plain mistreated. You saw it back in the 1970's when members of the United States Armed Forces returned from a pointless war started by politicians and were spat upon. You see it now with the people of God persecuted in subtle ways in North America and Europe and in typical barbaric ways in the Middle East and Asia.
Here (in the passage above) we have the great Apostle Paul himself. He is the only man ever personally taught by the Risen Christ Himself in the deserts of Arabia, and yet, there were Christians in Rome and elsewhere just laying into him. They weren't there when he lay in the filthy Roman dungeons for the sake of Christ or even at the end of his life here in 2 Timothy 4, he sat chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day!. No wonder he said in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 "afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed".
Back then, it was the persecutors of the church doing that to him but at the end of his life, we see many (so-called followers of Christ) deserting him in his final days. But guess who stood with him.
Guess who had his back.
Guess who will always be for you and I.
Guess who will never leave nor forsake us.
When you're done and troubled and feel like alone in a crowded room and everyone is against you, look to 2 Timothy 4:17a:
- The Lord will stand with you. The original meaning of "the Lord stood with me" is more powerful than any English translation. God will be present, stand closer than a brother and will make His Holy Presence known to you, if you will just let Him.
- The Lord will strengthen you. This word "strengthen" has proactive connotations and follow the Truth that He is present right alongside and in your spirit as well. This is important because God can only empower His own - those who are born-again into the family of Christ. This empowering is beyond description, as you and I will be able to persevere through the most horrid evil and emerge victorious - in His Strength.
The next step in the process of being oppressed, spiritually, emotionally and even physically can be found in verse 2 Timothy 4:17b and 18 above:
- He RESCUES us! The original meaning is "He snatches us out of the jaws of the enemy and draws us unto Himself"! Can you dig that! Yeah though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death....the shadow of the evil one and his agents here on earth mean nothing to the King! He sits in the heavens and scoffs, He laughs at them! He Who hung the earth on footings we cannot see and giveth life and breath which we cannot create in a laboratory, He is faithful and true to deliver us from all evil....and He says so in verse 18.
- He rescues us from every "evil deed". Today, with the sons of desert in their evil persecuting God's people, it does not appear that way, does it. But it is. Even with the acts of the follows of a false religion, God is drawing His true saints to Him and while we may not see it now, the fallen of the Faith's rewards will be a lot greater in Heaven, than any over-paid preacher in America, who sat in his comfortable mansion and said not a word, when the saints were persecuted for the Name of Jesus Christ.
The thing is nothing can come near us, unless we are being refined by fire for a greater purpose. These times of spiritual battle and woe will fortify us in the inner man if we just have the right perspective, if we just know the Scriptures and if we continue living surrendered lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
