THE TWO SIDES OF THE CROSS - How to Survive the Rough Side of the Cross (Part 3)

          


     
“ This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” 
Joshua 1:8(KJV)

((1) Make Time For God’s Word - The bedrock of Jesus’ ability to survive the rough side of the cross is the fact that he knew the will of God and he was willing to let that prevail - Mark 14:36 (KJV) “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt”. It is only in knowing the will of God for our lives, coupled with an unflinching conviction to please Him that we can be motivated to continue defying the odds during the rough journey of our faith, the bible talked about Jesus in Hebrew 12:2B (KJV) “…………who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 


     Because our Lord Jesus Christ knew what was ahead of him he was able to endure the rough time of his calling. But how did he know that? From the scriptures, he knew exactly what the scriptures says concerning every situation that confronted Him. When Satan came tempting him, he told Satan that it is written in Mathew 4:3-4(KJV) “ And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” 


    That was the secret of Jesus Christ, he knew his scriptures; he knew God’s will concerning everything that confronted him. As followers of Jesus Christ, our survival in this hostile world is predicated on proper perspective that is based on what scriptures says; we must know what God is saying regarding every situation we find ourselves in, that is the surest way of surviving the bumpy road of our faith. We must therefore make time out of busy schedule to hear, read, study, memorize and meditate on God’s word, and it is in only in doing this that the word of God can release it potent force in our lives. As Christians we can never have an over dose of His word. 


    The bible says that when we know the truth, it shall set us free according John_8:32(KJV) “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Practically, it appears to me that It is not only in knowing the truth that can grant us freedom, but it is much more in fellowshiping with the truth; the truth that we encounter; the truth that is lifted from the pages of the bible and is incarnated in your life is what can give you the necessary strength to survive the rough side of the cross. Let’s us go back into the scriptures and look to the case of Joshua so as to shed more light on this truth. During his preparation as the person to lead the Israelite army against the ruthless Amalekite army, the Lord God commanded Moses to rehearse the scriptures in the hears of Joshua according to 

    
    Exodus 17:14 (KJV) “And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” Listening to God’s word before a major military encounter with a ruthless enemy like the Amalekite might sound unwise to the natural mind, but in the wisdom of God, clinging to his word is what will open him to specific direction regarding what is confronting the children of Israelite. Having achieved success in defeating the Amalekite army, Joshua was promoted and given a difficult assignment of leading the children of Israelite to the promise land after Moses his mentor died, again let’s analyze the commandment God gave Joshua regarding this huge assignment. Joshua was instructed by the Lord again to give heed to the scripture, 


    but this time around he was specifically instructed to go beyond just listening to his word; he was commanded to get into other deeper dimension of taking in the word of God according to Joshua 1:8(KJV) “ This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” He was not supposed to let the word of God depart from his mouth, he was supposed to read, study and memorize the scriptures so as to commit  the word of God into his memory so that he can be able to preach it and quote. 


    Besides committing the scriptures to memory, he was to go a step further into the word intake as stated in Joshua 1:8B(KJV) “Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to carry out everything that's written in it, for then you'll prosper and succeed.” Meditation is what moves the word of God from the memory into the heart so as to unleash the power and the grace that leads to obedience. And it is in obedience that we can achieve victory in our Christian pilgrim. This deeper command of taking in the word of God, simply buttress the fact that hearing the word of God alone is not sufficient to ensure a life of total obedience to God. It is the deeper consultation of God’s word that empowers the believer to obey. Having walked us through the importance of the word, let’s look at some practical ways of taking in God’s word:


The word of God is the foundation of all that we stand for us Christians; it is the rock of our salvation and it’s the only force that will anchor our faith in times of trouble. Satan, knowing the power of God’s word in our lives, will always make sure that we do not make time to assimilate it. But thank God for giving us the Holy Spirit, the one called alongside with us to help us. Anytime you are having hard time studying the scriptures, ask for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK WITH THE SUB TOPIC
“How to Survive the Rough side of the Cross Part 4”

Please if you have any comments or questions kindly leave it below, thank you.












Location: Accra, Ghana

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