“Blessed are ye [or you] when _____.”  Can you finish this quote without looking it up.

if you can’t, there is no shame in that. It only means, you have the opportunity to discover a new treasure from above.

God’s Wisdom is higher than man’s wisdom, as the heavens are higher than the Earth, but because of that HIs Wisdom is often, and easily misunderstood, overlooked, undervalued, or misconstrued, especially when it applies to the topic of suffering.

The  exact phrase: “Blesse are ye” (or blessed are you)  is only used twice in the entire Word of God. Both times it refers to suffering for the Name of Jesus. Both times it is spoken outloud from the voice of our LORD to those who were deciding to follow Him. He was testing his students true faith. Would they turn back if they knew that suffering was included as a part of the whole Gospel package?

Indeed it is. It is the calling of every born again, true follower of the Messiah, to Suffer: to Suffer reproach, reviling, and every form of persecution (including: loss of property, loss of social status, loss of employment, loss of citizenship, loss of travel status, imprisonment, beatings, torture, and even death, even death on a cross (or being stone, burned at the stake, killed on the rack, etc.).

To be perfectly honest: Suffering is foolishness in the eyes of man, but it is a source of nobility, honor, power, grace, truth, righteousness, purity, and a pathway to perfection in the Kingdom of God.

Those who don’t know the cross will never understand His Love. Those who don’t know His commitment, will never enter into His counsel. They will be permanent outsiders to the Glory and Power of the Cross. This will leave them wide open to a false gospel, and will cause them to be vulnerable to becoming false converts, never really truly grasping His Divine Call, nor their Divine Purpose.

 

 

Matthew 5:10-12 (KJV)

•  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake:
  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you,
  and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
• Rejoice, and be exceeding glad:
  for great is your reward in heaven:
  for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Acts 5:40-42 (NASB) 40 They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in The Name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, Rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

 

 

John 15:20-25 (NIV)
20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

 

 

Application Questions:

Have you ever suffered Shame for the Name?

• If not, you soon will, if you diligently pursue your divine purpose. That’s a promise from above.
• If you have, that’s very possibly a sign, that you are headed towards your divine calling.

Have you ever avoided the opportunity to suffer shame for the name of Jesus?

• If you have you are in good company, Peter the apostle, John Mark, and many others turned back on their divine call, including Judas Iscariot.
• Many, if not everyone, has fallen to the power of peer pressure.

The problem here is not that one has fallen to the power of the herd instinct to follow the leadership of peer pressure. No. The real problem is to make a habit of it. To allow it to become a pattern. The real problem is to not confess the sin,  not rot ecognize the cowardice behind the sin, not to become clean before the Lord, not to give yourself the chance to be forgiven, to be healed of a lie and set free from the dominion of darkness–so that you can walk fully in the light of God’s kingdom, with the courage that God has purchased for you at the Cross. Again, gaining His Wisdom is foolishness to man.

The real problem is to create a new religion and a new faith, with a new philosophy like Cain did Creating his own form of worship that was bloodless and without a real life blood sacrifice. This is the real tragedy, the real casualty in the war of faith and truth. And many there be that fall into the pit of an alternative universe: where the cross is not the cross; obedience is not obedience; courage is not true courage; worship is not true worship, and truth is not THE TRUTH  anymore.

Our Master, LORD, Savior, King and Judge has warned us about the Judgment to Come, and the fact that Judgement will begin at the house of God.

If your Read Revelation chapter 2 & 3, you will discover that out of 7 Churches, only two churches get an A+ Grade (with nothing said bad about them), and they were both the persecuted churches in their day. And and there were two churches that got an F grade, they failed to pass the test of faith and practice of following Jesus in his word and his truth, and by his spirit. And nothing good about these two churches was mentioned in the report card. But guess what, both churches were materially prosperous and not much persecuted. The remaining three churches got mixed grade did it report cards some failures and successes, but some real nasty sins in the midst of their congregations, we’re happening, because they’re teaching was compromised. As a result they became complacent towards their divine calling, and it is to be assumed that many there missed out on their eternal future with God. That is unless they would have repented of their sins which they allowed into the church.

All this is quite serious material. It needs to be digested, one line at a time. To be honest it is a shock to our system. The fact is, men like to make God into their own image. We want to make our sins an acceptable part of our religion. And this is no different from pagans to Christians, we are all vulnerable to this foible. To solve this problem, we first need to recognize that it exists. Once we recognize it exists, we need to decide exactly what we must do to defeat the problem, and defeat our enemy, by living in communion with the Lord Jesus, and not only be willing, but allow ourselves to rejoice when we suffer same for the name of Jesus Christ, Yeshua, the Messiah,. Amen?

 

One final note:

Many may be tempted by the deceiver to think this perspective on the Gospel of God, is morbid, and lacking taste. I assure you, this is the bread and butter of God (pun intended). It is the absolute Core Understanding of what, why, how, when, for whom, and with what results, the Gospel was Produced. Who will participate with God in His Life and Calling? Who will reject His Life and Calling? Life and Death hang in the balance. So let the salt of God, make you salty (pun intended), on step at a time, and be careful to become a follower of men and not of God. That you make not be lacking in taste! (pun intended). That your light will not be extinguished, and your call will not be watered down, sugar coated, emaciated, or lost altogether. Shalom!