How many times was the Lord rejected?

How many times was the Lord rejected? How many times was He ridiculed and scorned? How grievous the journey knowing the end? How savage the battle in the garden? How savage the treatment at the hands of Romans? How cruel the desertion of all of his friends, including his best and dearest? How indescribable the drinking of the cup? Yet even in the midst of one of the cruelest deaths known to man, He ministers. How deep the love that cries ”forgive them Father?” How dead to the flesh a man must be to cry ” hold not this charge against them.” How transformed must the flesh be that has a vision in the depths of being stoned by his countrymen? And brother Stephen was taken home loving those who bore the stones.

Would I respond in kind in the same situation? I pray that I would, I pray that every trial and tribulation I now suffer is a mile run by one who trains for a marathon. Can I see my trials as blessings? Can I walk counter to modern Christendom and count my trials as I count my blessings Could I sing ” Count my trials name them one by one, count my trials see what God has done, count my trials, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done” This is the deeper life brothers and sisters. This is the counter-culture. This is the way of the remnant....bro Frank

Amen bro Keith. Paul is a great example to us when he tells us that he had " learned," to be content. There is no magic wand to arrive at this position. We must " learn." And we learn by walking through the fires and the floods. Giving ourselves over and surrendering in every situation so that we can find the freedom that is found in the darkness. What do I mean by that? Well the greatest freedom ever wrought was formed and delivered to us from Calvary. It is on the tree that Jesus set us free from the laws of sin a death. Gethsemane, Calvary, the cross, the resurrection, this is the path. There has to be a willingness to take up our crosses and die. I do not believe it is every forced upon us. Well I remember the day in 1995, four years after I came to Jesus, that I cried out to my heavenly Father" whatever it takes Lord for me to be useful to you." One of those prayers that you know that you know that has been heard before the throne.

The next 20 years there was one trial after another. The kind of trials that make you fall to your knees. Over and over again. Yet, I began to discover deep truths in these trials. After so many of them it occurred to me how faithful God was to me in the midst of them. How He was always there.How disappointed I was by my lack of total trust in Him a I walked through them. How I was determined in my spirit to walk through the next one, which I knew that was coming, with more faith and trust in the faithfulness of God. I discovered that this journey was a journey not about my own faith but about discovering just how faithful the Lord was to me. It was all about His faithfulness!! And the light bulb began to come on. I was " learning.".................bro Frank