1) Why all the life of struggles.
When you deny Jesus on earth, He will deny you before his Father who is in heaven. If you confess Him on earth, He will confess you before his Father who is in heaven. If you are ashamed of Jesus Christ and don’t want to be publicly associated with him, forget open doors. And that is why we get so messed up. We work tirelessly for people to open doors, create opportunities, make connections for us, and give us money. If God has never given you an open door, then you are missing something as a Christian.
We struggle night and day while Jesus is seated there with the master key, waiting for us to call on him. If you have never seen him come through for you or intervene in your circumstances, then you might have surely disregarded his authority over your life. If you have Jesus, you have everything. If you never have money, power, contact, or education, but you have him, then you have everything. He has the master key, and nothing will make the Lord more real to you than when he opens things up. You are too powerless to open up on your own.
2) Maintain a Life of Humility
The greatest people in our congregation are not necessarily the people with master’s and doctorate degrees, Mercedes and Benzes, or folks with six-figure incomes. Nothing wrong with any of those things in and of themselves. But the most powerful people are people with little power who know him and advertise his name. No matter what position you hold and the influence you have, keep yourself small. Keep yourself small in the eyes of God. Keep pride far away from yourself. Humility is a big deal to God. If God has blessed you, praise God. If God has given you a great job, bless God. If God has given you a big house, bless God. If God has given you a nice car, bless God. It is okay if we are blessed, but do not become elite and big-headed. On our best days, when we have been blessed the best, we remain sinners and saved by grace.
Do not you ever forget so you do not look down on people who do not have education, money, job, or career? Do not look down on anybody because you may be looking down on somebody who has access to a master key. When we get a lot of power, then we become self-sufficient with the mindset that we can thrive without Jesus. We become very boastful, “I can make it on my own, and I have my Visa and MasterCard. I know people” If you know Jesus Christ, you know somebody.
Revelation 3:10 “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.”
Revelation 3:9 “I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.”
Just because you are in church, or synagogue does not mean you love the Lord. There is a synagogue of Satan. The religious talk does not mean anything.
3) Get to know who God is
Look at the story of a German shepherd and a little puppy. The Big dog looked at the puppy and said, “You little puppy, you cannot open this door because you are short. Look at this door, I wonder how long it will take you to open it because I can open it in a minute. You cannot reach the knob. In fact, let us have a contest” The little puppy said, “I agree with you. But you go first.” The German Shepherd jumped up on the door, got his mouth around the knob, twisted at the knob, and in half a minute, he got the door opened” Then he looked back at the door and pulled his shorts, and said, “Your turn, little puppy.”
The little puppy came to the door, gave a small bark, and scratched the door. And sooner, a man on the inside came and opened it. When you know who is on the inside, you will not go through all that. Do not let it bother you if you are a little puppy because if you know Jesus, you have the key. He can open up what the big dogs cannot help you with.
4) God will see you through all test
In the synagogue of Satan, they will make things tough for you. But if you trust in the Lord, he can keep you from the hour of testing. God calls you in a test. If you are in a situation where the door has not yet opened, consider it a test. God is able to walk you through the test until he reverses the situation. Nothing makes God real than when he reverses the irreversible. Nothing makes God more real than when he flips something that looks unflippable. Nothing makes God so powerful to you when there is no way out, and you are trapped, and it all seems like the devil is running the whole show, and suddenly God reverses the whole situation.
Jesus says, “You’re going through this test, I’m going to keep you through this hour. But I am coming quickly, whole fast what you have so that no one will take your crown.” When God is silent, that does not mean he is still. Sometimes, it looks like you do not see him doing anything or like you are just waiting for nothing. But God likes to come in suddenly. He likes to break in when you did not expect it. The reason why he likes to do things suddenly is so that when it happens, there is no debate on who caused it to take place. And it becomes inextricably clear that this was heaven invading history.
5) People do not have the final say
Wait upon the Lord because he comes suddenly. Once you have this perspective, you are free. People do not have the last say. They look like they run in the show until God swoops in and takes over. When we were getting to our prayer group in school, people told us we could not meet in the school anymore, and we did not have a place to go. They were going to vote whether they wanted to let us stay or to put us out of school. When the day of the vote came, God caused an incident(traffic) on the freeway such that the people who were going to vote against us could not make it to school that day.
And when the council could not wait for them any longer, they voted without them. As soon as the vote was over, they came rushing in, and it was too late. There is no miracle that God cannot do. Stop living your life based on what man can do. People do not get the final word because they do not have a master key to your life. Montana put up a price for anyone who would bring in wolves. They were going to pay $5000 for anyone who brings a wolf. Sam and Jed decided to go wolf hunting. They went wolf hunting in the mountains. They put up their tent and rested so that by morning, they could start wolf hunting. In the morning, Jed woke the first, and 50 hungry wolves were surrounding the tent with blood-red eyes. They were dripping and growing in sharp teeth, waiting for some flesh.
Jed woke up Sam, “Sam! Sam! Get up!” Sam said, “ Why is it that you are calling me?” Jed said, “We are rich! We are rich already.” It all depends on your perspective. It all depends on how you see things. The devil may be nipping at you. The synagogue of Satan may be nipping at you. But when you have God’s perspective, it changes what you are looking at.
6) Hold unto Jesus till he comes and be a full-time Christian
You might be weary and willing to give up, but Jesus says, ‘Hold Fast.’ You hold fast to your obedience and non-denial. Do not let them take your crown, which is the right to authority. Hold unto Jesus till your change comes. To he who overcomes Jesus will make him a pillar in the temple of his Father, and he will not go out from it anymore. Those who overcome the propensity to give up are in closest proximity to God. Those who overcome and live near to God will have a name in the New Jerusalem.
Everybody is not equal in heaven. You can have a 40-watt bulb, a 60-watt bulb, or a 75-watt bulb in your house, but all of them are bulbs and will light the house to their capacity. However, all the bulb’s capacities are not the same. All Christians are Christians, but they do not exude the same experience because they do not have the same relationship. Many believed in him, but he would not commit himself to them because he knew what was in them. They got saved, but they had not yet got committed. They were on their way to heaven, but he could not use them on earth. They were forgiven for their sins, but they did not want folk to know that they were Christians.
There are a lot of Christians who Jesus is just not deeply committed to in a practical way because they want to be 40-watt Christians expecting a 100-watt blessing, and it does not work that way. He wants to know that you are all in and that you are a full-time Christian and not a part-time Christian. God has a lot of Christians. Many Churches have a lot of Christians who are just there to watch the show. All they want to see is what the choir is singing and what the preacher is preaching. These Christians do not get dirty, incur responsibility, knocked down, or get mocked.
But other folks in the Kingdom of God are really on the field. They serve in ministry and help out. They give to the advancement of the cause of the Lord. You can depend on them because they are forever holding their role, loving the Lord, serving the saints, giving to the Lord, and giving glory in their witness for the Lord. If you want God to put you in the ring of honor, if you want him to say to you, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant,’ and if you want heaven to know that you are one of his choices, leave the crowd and come to the field. Let’s get busy glorifying the Lord, obeying the Lord, and not denying the Lord. Let us stand up to our peers and be obedient to the Lord.
Read part I: Tony Evans | Sharing Kindness in the Culture
