A Word of encouragement when we grow weary...

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For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. -- Hebrews 6: 10-12 (NLT)

This walk is a long tough slog sometimes -- let's be honest. We live in a thankless world that conditions us to demand to see the results of our work immediately. It conditions us to demand appreciation for our sacrifices. It conditions us to become despondent in despair if we feel our own needs as being unmet somehow. Of course we are not to live and think this way anymore but God understands that we are inescapably human and our flesh will often times get the better of us. I had one of those weeks last week. You know the type I speak of if you truly labor in the Lord. I do not mean that you work for a church. I do not mean that you organize a ministry. Both of those should be noble undertakings as well but I mean labor in the Lord. I mean that you are burdened with the things of God. Maybe you wake up and you are burdened that there are so many people who are unsaved and heading toward an eternity in hell. Maybe you go through the day trying to remind people in church of the importance of doctrine and belief because it pains you to see so many crawling into heaven. Perhaps you spend your evenings watching for false teachings so you can warn people or spend the night interceding for the body of Christ.

So I woke up today and needed a Word and God led me to the above key verses. To be honest, I do not recall these verses before and that is part of the beauty of God's Word. You can read and re-read. You can write devotionals every day for five years and still God will show you something new every time. There is so much meat in these verses for those who may feel the nagging urge from the enemy to feel discouraged in our labor of love. It all starts with a simple statement we need to always remember -- God is not unjust! Hallelujah! In a world that is unjust at nearly every turn we do not serve an unjust God. It matters not what area we are discussing; God is just. I write a lot about the false teachings and false prophets. God's justice is promised:

"What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people--the shepherds of my sheep--for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for," says the Lord . Therefore, this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: "Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. -- Jeremiah 23: 1-2 (NLT)

It is important that when discouragement starts to set in that we remember who we serve. We serve a God who is just in everything He does. The Bible says we will all have to give account for every idle word we have spoken.

Next in the key verses we see that God is promising us that He will not forget how hard we have worked for Him! We live in a world where people quickly forget what has been done for them. A world that suffers from attention deficit disorder when it comes to the things they should appreciate. It is most definitely a "what have you done for me lately" world in which we live. Not surprisingly, God is the opposite of the worldly system. This should give us encouragement to plod on through the tough times. We have no need to rest on our laurels. We have no need to dwell upon our successes. God will remember them. Remember who we serve:

From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-- he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. -- psalm 33: 13-15 (NIV)

He sees all. He watches all. He considers everything that we do. Our God is not a part time God. He is not an absentee landlord. He is intimately involved and concerned about everything that we do. He will not forget how hard you work for Him.

Perhaps the greatest revelation within the key verses comes next. If you want to show your love to God -- care for other believers! Oh I know this grates against us sometimes. It is easier sometimes to sing about how much we love the Lord than it is to care for fellow believers. Beloved this is serious business for God. Jesus described it when He talked about who would enter heaven. I know we all know these verses but today I ask that you truly consider them:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? "The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' -- Matthew 25: 34-40 (NIV)

If you want to show love to Jesus --He is saying you need to show love to the least of His brothers. In another Scripture Jesus outlines that those that do the will of the Father are His brothers. Christianity was not designed by God to be a solo project. We were designed to be a community. A community that loves each other, despite our differences. That we would focus on that which unites us -- the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not a building that unites us. It is not a flashy leader who unites us. It is not a denomination that unites us. There are too many calls for false unity today. Too many who claim the mantle of Christian leadership but show love only to those who blindly obey and ask no questions. Too many others in Christian leadership who show absolutely no love of Christ towards other Christians. I have seen well-intended Christians in leadership positions speak in such condescending manners towards other believers that it made the Spirit inside of me grieve. The one thing Jesus said would differentiate us from people in the world would be our love for one another. But amidst the politics of church and the self-righteous- pseudo piety that passes for genuine faith these days the love is seemingly lost. What we are left with is a caricature of a Christian that the world correctly sees as hypocritical. Love is what binds everything according to the Bible. Yet too often we only love conditionally but Jesus taught us the opposite:

If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. -- Matthew 5: 46 (NLT)

It is easy to love the lovable but there is no reward for that. Singing a praise song is not showing love to God. Serving in a ministry is not showing love to God. Showing love to the least of His brothers -- THAT is showing love to Him. That is how we express our love to God.

Building on this great revelation we see the next thing to consider is that we need to be mindful to not become spiritually dull and indifferent! How prevalent is this becoming the body of Christ? We have entire churches that have become spiritually dull and indifferent. Realize that we are not talking about being indifferent towards the world -- but rather towards the spirit. Churches that focus more on programs than healings. Churches that focus more on seeker-friendly, purpose driven numbers than on genuine salvation and discipleship. But here is the scary key to this portion of Scripture. It is not just that these churches might choose to focus on the wrong things. It is that they are so dull or indifferent to the Holy Spirit of God that they confuse the machinations of church with the movements of God. Emotionalism replaces the manifestations of the Spirit. Impossible you say? Just look at the false Holy Laughter movement from the 1990s. Uncontrollable gyrations, barking like a dog, and rolling on the floor in spasmodic laughter -- all passed off as moves of the Spirit of God. For years thousands were led astray. Even today you see so much false emotionalism being passed off for the Spirit of God. An abuse of the usage of tongues. People shouting out in the middle of services. People running across the altar of God. All passed off as a "move of the Spirit." Nonsense. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and is all about order -- not chaos.

But look in the key verses to see what God has attached this warning of becoming spiritually dull to. If we wish to avoid the spiritual indifference that has infected too many believers and too many churches then we must strive to continue to love other believers as long as we live. Hmmm, well that seems a bit obvious until you dig a little. Unfortunately, Christianity can morph into something other than God intended it to be. God intended Christianity to be about people. About bringing them to the foot of the cross for salvation and then about lovingly discipling them so they can go out and love other people to the foot of the cross. But so often these days Christianity becomes about something other than people. In churches it becomes about church worship instead of God worship. It becomes overly focused on money and tithing. Missions and evangelism. Music and the arts. And listen, these things all have their place in a healthy church. They just cannot be what the church is about. They cannot become the focus. Oh sure, lip service will be paid to Jesus as everything that is done is wrapped up in the name of Jesus. But as the Seven Sons of Sceva learned in the Book of Acts, there is no power in His name without a proper relationship. In a healthy church the focus needs to be about love. It needs to be about the love of God towards us -- which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It needs to be preached in an uncompromised manner. It needs to be focused then on genuine discipleship -- making sure that the enemy doesn't steal back anything the new believer has received as a new born child of God. This is the heart of love in Christianity. If this is accomplished correctly then the natural outgrowth will be a church that gives so tithing doesn't even have to be preached. In a church that loves the Gospel and loves others the natural outgrowth will be a church that goes out onto the highways and the byways to bring this great love to the lost. You do not have to force people or guilt people into supporting missions. Music and the arts become a natural outgrowth of the love of Jesus Christ that resides in the hearts of His believers.

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. -- John 13: 34 (NLT)

Lastly, look at what is on the line beloved! Faith and endurance are the keys to inheriting the promises of God. Joseph was given a dream at age 16 of what God would bring into his life. That dream must have seemed so far away when he was rotting away in prison for 13 years. Yet his faith was matured during those 13 years. He endured and when the work God was doing in him was complete -- the promises of God were made manifest in his life.  

I understand how difficult this walk can be sometimes. I heard a sermon yesterday where the pastor correctly said that if everything was easy then we are probably not doing God's will. Despite the poor theology being sold today; Christianity does cost us something. I watched a Paul Washer sermon yesterday where he correctly said that we tell people when they come down for an altar call that it will only take five minutes when it really will cost them the rest of their lives. That is the purpose of salvation. That the old life will be dead and the new life will be reborn.

But that new life comes with burdens. Those burdens sometimes grow heavy upon us. That is fertile soil for the enemy to plant his lies of discouragement. That is just what he wants to as we are in the end times. There is a world full of people on the outside of salvation looking in and the clock is ticking. Time is running out and there remains work to be done. The Word of God is always water to a thirsty Spirit. My Spirit was parched this past week. God knew it and gave me the above verses to drink today before starting this week. As always, I pass them on to you and hope that they minister to you as well. If you find yourself tired from the labor of the Lord remember that He is never unjust. He will not forget your hard work like the world does. Remember that it is through your great labor of love for the Lord that you truly show your love for Him! Loving other believers is how we love God and by doing so we keep our focus where it belongs -- on other people instead of ourselves and on the only God that can deliver on all His promises. This focus will keep us spiritually sharp and avoid any indifference. Lastly, that the promises of Almighty God await us for our faith and endurance. I leave you with His Word to break any yoke we might find ourselves is today:

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. -- 1Corinthians 15: 58 (NLT)

Reverend Anthony Wade -- May 7, 2012

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.