“As For Me … “
Joshua 24
14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
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I Samuel 12
23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
24 Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
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Psalm 17:15 - As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
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Jeremiah 17
15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? let it come now.
16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
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Jeremiah 26:11-16
11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.
16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.
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It’s time for us to draw some lines in the sand. It behooves us to set some personal markers where we say: This far, no further. (Please watch)
For …
if we as God’s people don’t, we will be blown off course like ships on the stormy sea, we will be double minded in all our ways, we will be tossed about by every wind of doctrine that comes our way.
And therefore …
In a word,
We will be unfit for the Master’s use, outcasts trodden under by the foot of man.
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It’s concerning to me that we, God’s people, seem to be somewhat adrift … aren’t securely anchored to the Rock of our stability. The recent “storms” that have descended upon us indicate we aren’t in the safe haven of God’s Word like we should be or thought we were.
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What do I mean?
I’m not, necessarily, focused upon the theological malaise of God’s people. I’m more focused upon our attachment to the world (to our Country) its system, its leadership, its mindset.
Unless I’m misreading things, many of God’s people seem to simply follow the directives, dictates, mandates that the world (our Country) places upon them.
Have we have forgotten that we are pilgrims and strangers in this world? Have we handed over our Citizenship in Heaven for Citizenship in our Country? We bow to its Laws more than we do the Law of the LORD which is perfect, converting the soul.
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We need to choose sides. We need to declare which flag we pledge our loyalty to: The Flag of America or The Banner of the LORD.
There are really only two sides: the side for God or the side against God. You don’t find God telling us in His Word to somehow find a happy medium between the two and hunker down. I think He calls that being lukewarm.
Yes, we are to pray for our officials. Yes, we are to obey their laws that set societal structures. But once our officials and the societal structures stand in opposition to God and His Word, then it shifts into the arena of spiritual warfare in which we declare our loyalty to King Jesus and Him alone.
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I’m saying …
*God’s people must set some personal stakes deeply into the realm of “As For Me”.
*God’s people must know the Word well enough to where our minds will automatically query: What does God’s Word say about that?
*Our actions and acts of obedience must fall in line with the Kingdom of God and His righteous rather than the Kingdom of the god of this world system.
*We must decide once-and-for-all who owns our body: The Government or God. Why is this important? Because it’s a matter of Divine ownership, not human dictatorship.
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We find it hard to stake out our ground of “As For Me” because we are afraid, we are frightened, we realize there will be personal cost.
That’s OK to admit. We’re human, we’re frail, we’re weak … in ourselves.
But …
We can do all things through Him that strengthens us. We can withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. The truth is that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
And with that realization …
We are to be persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We need to believe that, live in that, and if necessary, die in that. The world can take our bodies but they can’t take our souls.
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God’s people have been bought at a great price. Therefore we are to glorify God with our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls. To turn that over to any form of human manipulation is to abandon our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
“As For Me … ”
Trow about you?