Trinity Baptist Temple Church

Psalms 71:19-21 (NKJV)
Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side.

It is a great comfort to us in our sufferings and tribulations that God continues to do great things. He even takes those things the enemy meant for evil and turns them to good. What a great God we have!

There is none like Him. Even as He allows things to happen in our lives, even as He corrects us to bring us back to Him, even when we feel there is no way out… even then He will revive us and bring us out of the miry clay and out of despair.

He is always there and will never leave us; for He is our Comforter and very present Help in our troubles.

Encourage someone today!

Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

We will experience sufferings and tribulations in this life. But in all of it we have the promises of God, knowing that we can be drawn closer to Him, knowing that it is God that works in our lives, especially during those times.

He is the One who gives joy in our sufferings.
He is the One who gives peace in our sufferings.
He is the One who gives hope in our sufferings.

No matter what we may be feeling during those difficulties, we can rest on God’s promises. Our joy is in Him, and He never fails.

Encourage someone today!

Luke 14:33 (NKJV)
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

There is a cost in following Jesus Christ; we learned on that subject this past Sunday. It made me think about the song, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.”

In the western world, this song may have lost some of its meaning, as we are typically not threatened physically or at the cost of our lives. But this song has profound meaning from India, where many were persecuted and martyred for the name of Jesus Christ.

A convert and his family, from Assam, India, had been threatened by tribal leaders to renounce their faith. His response was “I have decided to follow Jesus.” These tribal Indian people first martyred his wife, and later they martyred him.

Yes, there can be a great cost when choosing to follow Jesus, whether that is to lose your friends or your family because you have a new life, or even that it may cost you your own life or the life of your family. Either way there is a cost.

As you read these words to this hymn below, let us each consider where we are in following Him, and if we have purposed in our life to not turn our backs on the One who took our stripes on His own back… the One who gave His life for us.

I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back, no turning back.
Tho’ none go with me, Still I will follow;
Tho’ none go with me, Still I will follow,
Tho’ none go with me, Still I will follow;
No turning back, no turning back.

My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus,
My cross I’ll carry, till I see Jesus;
No turning back, No turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me,
The world behind me, the cross before me;
The world behind me, the cross before me;
No turning back, no turning back.

Encourage someone today!