CONSIDER JESUS!

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¹² In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, - 2 Timothy 3:12 NIV

Because of our faith in Jesus, we will face opposition and ridicule from the enemy and those he has under his grip. Understand this, as a follower of Christ, your very presence on this planet spells doom to the enemy, he will stop at nothing to discourage you, he will not pass up an opportunity to weigh you down with anything he can. You are a threat to him, his biggest threat actually, if you weren't he wouldn't bother with you. Jesus already told us what to expect:

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. – John 15:18 NKJV

The enemy wants to distract you from running the race that your Father has set before you because as you pursue your destiny in God, the enemy’s domain keeps on shrinking, every step you take in agreement with and obedience to God results in God being glorified, and as God is glorified, the enemy continues to suffer loss and humiliation again and again as those he’s held captive are being freed when we walk in sync with Heaven.  

Know this, the devil’s favorite weapon of choice is religion, through it he will try to make you feel like you don’t measure up, you are not holy enough, you are not even saved; the enemy has effectively used religion to make people feel like God is mad at them and is out to get them, the devil will stop at nothing in his quest to pile guilt, shame and condemnation on you. The good news is, you don’t have to accept anything he throws your way, resist him by steadfastly looking unto Jesus.

If he can wear you down to the point of giving up, then he’s accomplished his purpose of rendering you ineffective in dismantling his kingdom and freeing his captives. The enemy’s strategy is to get you to take your eyes off Jesus and to look at yourself instead. He knows that as long as you have your eyes fixed on Jesus, his wiles and schemes against you are toast. Whenever feelings of giving up, discouragements or disappoints assail your mind, consider Jesus. Make the deliberate decision to think about Jesus and all that He victoriously went through for you.

³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – Hebrews 12:3 NIV

Remember the account of Peter walking on the water? With his eyes fixed on Jesus he walked on the water just fine but the moment he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the waves he started drowning – lesson – every time we take our focus off of Christ, we end up drowning in what we were once walking on. Every time we take our eyes off Jesus, we end up being overwhelmed by situations and circumstances. The Word admonishes us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2)

When the enemy tries to get you to look at yourself, don’t fall for his trap. He will first try to get you to look at all your accomplishments and the moment you start feeling good about what you've done, he’ll quickly switch channels and bring up all your past shortcomings, failures, mistakes and sins while whispering and screaming all kinds of accusations at you. Don’t be fooled, pay him no attention, never take your focus off of Jesus. His perfect sacrifice is the basis of your acceptance before the Father, it is also your guarantee of victory in this life. The apostle Paul knew this firsthand, no wonder he said he was forgetting the past and moving on forward (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)

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We should not allow the devil to dangle our performance of lack thereof before us. We are not ignorant of his devices and because of that we should not give him a foothold in our lives. The Lord has already told us that in this world we will have tribulations, but we should be of good cheer because He has overcome and since we are in Him, we are already victorious.

Are you enjoying good times? Consider Jesus! Are you facing tough times? Consider Jesus! Always, consider Jesus!