Good Word Elisa and Barry and Susan!

The American Church That Blends in with the World around it.

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2005/elisa530.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2005/barrya530.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2005/susanf530.htm

It fits nicely with the Amy Carmichael poem I posted today:

"Hast thou no wound, no scar?"

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2005/deborah530-4.htm

When I first got saved and came out of the world, the older women discipling me warned me:

"If you aren't experiencing any trouble from the devil,

perhaps it is because you are going in the SAME DIRECTION! [as the devil]"

Boy is this ever TRUE when you take a stand for righteousness, lead someone to the Lord, or stand in the gap with intercessory prayer for another! And the times when things have gone along quite smoothly....no trouble from the devil, ....I stop and take stock, and notice that I've been so busy with work and other worldly pursuits that I haven't been sticking my neck out for the Lord. The road is ROUGH for the servant of the Lord.....look at Paul! Imprisoned, ship wrecked, bitten by a snake, thrashed so much he had out of body experiences visiting Heaven! He was HATED! Paul continually stuck his neck out for the Lord....and he was constantly attacked! Look at Jesus! He healed everyone He came in contact with, brought sight to the blind, raised people from the dead, supernaturally fed thousands, preached and discipled in season and out, and look at what happened to Him! He was HATED! This is the one we are suppose to be following in HIS footsteps!

So when the going gets tough.....I just remind myself "I must have done something right"!

Are YOU experiencing tribulation and persecution?

Jhn 16:33 ...In the world ye shall have tribulation...

2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Phl 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

God prunes back those bearing fruit, so that they may bear even more fruit. Are YOU being pruned? Or are you comfortable.

Jhn 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Jhn 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

2Cr 4:17

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory;

Rev 3:19

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

The prosperity doctrine doesn't line up with scripture:

1Ti 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1Jo 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1Jo 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

And one more scripture, I forgot which totally flies in the face of the Prosperity Theology:

Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him

deny himself, and take up his cross [suffering], and follow me.

Mat 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.

Mat 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Do Worldly people Love YOU? Or do they despise and persecute YOU?

Jhn 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you.

Jhn 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Jhn 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Jhn 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Are you fellowshipping with the enemy?

2Cr 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

2Cr 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them]. (This will not win you a LOT of worldly friends! They won't want you around them.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them].

)

2Cr 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,

1Cr 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

2Ti 2:26 And [that] they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Rev 3:15	I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16	So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17	Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18	I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19	As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Hast Thou No Scars?

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar, on foot,
or side or hand?
I hear these sung as mighty in the land.

I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star
Hast thou no scar?
Hast thou no wound?

Yet I was wounded by the archers spent
Leaned me against a tree to die and rent
by ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned.
Hast thou not wound?

No wound, no scar?
Yes as the master is, so shall the servant be,
and pierced are the feet that follow me.
But thine are whole.
Can he have followed
far who has no wound, no scar?

by - Amy Carmichael

Maranatha!
Deborah
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