Great work equals great opposition thought Littlestone as he was understanding the times that surround us.
He prayed for all of his brothers and sisters that are being persecuted globallyfor being His people and showing others the way of Jesus. He knows from his own experience that many people rather choose the wide path of destruction than turn their heart and ear to the One who has called them with an everlasting love.
Pride is a pair of glasses: one side is of delusion and the other side is deception. Together the view engages the gate opener to destruction. Destruction is now and then forever…… God will not be mocked as scripture speaks in Galatians 6:7-8: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Littlestone also thought how the fear of man can lead into spiral of a downward slope. He remembered the word of his King in John 12:42-43: Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
He thought they better love the honor because it will be for eternity. It can be the neighbors or the work place, that the voice of Truth bows to the fear of man.
He has witnessed not much talk of Holy Spirit working through as He has been placed as a Governor overseeing the purification and sanctification of the “stone pots”, us, which Jesus Christ turned from water to wine…… Alas, maybe because the cross at work within each of His saints is welcomed, but not so much regretfully within the congregations that meet on Sunday. This should not be……The cross of Christ is our liberty and freedom in His Spirit….. Christ in me is my hope of glory…..
Romans 12: 1-2 speaks loudly as to the life we are to be living now if we have the guarantee of Holy Spirit….. He thought Ephesians 1:14 speaks: The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.
Littlestone found the scripture as he was reading it, he thought,….hmmmm,….. so there is a much fuller or a completed deal to be received of our inheritance…..
Could that be the fullness of Christ?……
If so, then how much more should we be living as Romans 12:1-2 this day….. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Littlestone opened the Word to Hebrews chapter two:
For this reason [that is, because of God’s final revelation in His Son Jesus and because of Jesus’ superiority to the angels] we must pay much closer attention than ever to the things that we have heard, so that we do not [in any way] drift away from truth.
For if the message given [b]through angels [the Law given to Moses] was authentic and unalterable, and every violation and disobedient act received an appropriate penalty, how will we escape [the penalty] if we ignore such a great salvation [the gospel, the new covenant]?
For it was spoken at first by the Lord, and it was confirmed to us and proved authentic by those who personally heard [Him speak],
[and besides this evidence] God also testifying with them [confirming the message of salvation], both by signs and wonders and by various miracles [carried out by Jesus and the apostles] and by [granting to believers the] gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
It was not to angels that God subjected the [inhabited] world of the future [when Christ reigns], about which we are speaking. 6 But one has [solemnly] testified somewhere [in Scripture], saying,
“What is man, that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man, that You graciously care for him?
“You have made him for a little while lower [in status] than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
[c]And set him over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things in subjection under his feet [confirming his supremacy].”
Now in putting all things in subjection to man, He left nothing outside his control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him.
But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while [by taking on the limitations of humanity], crowned with glory and honor because of His suffering of death, so that by the grace of God [extended to sinners] He might experience death for [the sins of] everyone.
For it was fitting for God [that is, an act worthy of His divine nature] that He, for whose sake are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the [d]author and founder of their salvation perfect through suffering [bringing to maturity the human experience necessary for Him to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest].
Both Jesus who sanctifies and those who are sanctified [that is, spiritually transformed, made holy, and set apart for God’s purpose] are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them [e]brothers and sisters,
saying,
“I will declare Your (the Father’s) name to My brethren (believers),
In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”
And again He says,
“My trust and confident hope will be placed in Him.”
And again,
“Here I am, I and the children whom God has given Me.”
Therefore, since [these His] children share in flesh and blood [the physical nature of mankind], He Himself in a similar manner also shared in the same [physical nature, but without sin], so that through [experiencing] death He might make powerless (ineffective, impotent) him who had the power of death—that is, the devil—
and [that He] might free all those who through [the haunting] fear of death were held in slavery throughout their lives.
For, as we all know, He (Christ) does not take hold of [the fallen] angels [to give them a helping hand], but He does take hold of [the fallen] descendants of Abraham [extending to them His hand of deliverance].
Therefore, it was essential that He had to be made like His brothers (mankind) in every respect, so that He might [by experience] become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things related to God, to make atonement (propitiation) for the people’s sins [thereby wiping away the sin, satisfying divine justice, and providing a way of reconciliation between God and mankind].
Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering.
Littlestone smiled to himself as he read thereby wiping away the sins, satisfying divine justice, and providing a way of reconciliation between God and mankind……How he thought so many people bring up people sins and never bring up the power of the blood of Jesus that wiped them away. Yet, we have been given His Spirit within us with His divine nature, the power of God within us to live a very holy and transformed life from Him in the heavenly realm…We live in the heavenly realm abiding in Christ and Christ lives in us as we are on this earth…… It is a mystery but it is the life we live now as believers in our Great King and Heavenly Father God.
He knew and knows that it takes Christ in me to love God with my whole heart. Living a life and a heart that is consecrated to God takes courage, endurance and patience.
Littlestone also thought, if we are really loving our God above all things…. Then, we would be living a life thinking of Him. Talking to Him on all things. He knew to live a life pleasing his King was important. It was his purpose and goal…. He was His follower…. ….
He continued his thoughts in living a life consecrated unto God, will create much opposition. The same evil that ran after his King to find fault and persecute is the same evil that hunts after His saints today.
However, thanks be to God, that whatever the devil means for harm, God turns to God for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose…. As Romans 8:28-39:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Littlestone wondered the last time he heard that taught and preached on a Sunday morning. If time is short, we must know where we are in Him……
Then he heard….. There are ones who are hungry, which shall be filled…..There are those who are for show and the honor of men are greater then their hunger for I AM. Then there are those who play the harlot and deceive themselves as going to a building once a week will bargain their eternal life in I AM.
Littlestone waited quietly as he did not expect his King to answer his thoughts….
But He did. He answers yours too….. Psalm 139…..He is here with you…..now. Speak to Him…..
O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do];
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken],
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And [You have] placed Your hand upon me.
Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,
And the night will be the only light around me,”
Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,
But the night shines as bright as the day;
Darkness and light are alike to You.
For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
[that You would kill the wicked, O God;
Go away from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
For they speak against You wickedly,
Your enemies take Your name in vain.1
Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with perfect and utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart;
Test me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Listen, write, find scripture to be in accord…. Then again, listen and write and ask some more and find the words He speaks in His word…
Walk and talk with the Lord today because we are not guaranteed tomorrow.
You need to know Him….. Come to His cross, if you have not yet. We can go to the cross very often for it is our way and His……
Use today for knowing Him and He to know you and whose house you are.
His voice cuts the hard stuff and melts them away…. His voice is powerful! Hear Him as a sheep of His should!
SELAH!
