Something a little different...

Praise the LORD!!!

   Today, there won't b a Bible verse, actually none at all. I'm going to grace you with something a little different. Most of last night and the majority of today, I've been fighting computer problems. So very little along the lines of work for the LORD got accomplished. This all came about yesterday when I received a bulletin on myspace about the emergency needs on the Lakota Indian reservation. Since I'm unable to assist at this time financially or physically I did what I could, well at least began to.

   I began to post the bulletin on every one of the sites, that I network for the ministry and even a few others. After getting this started, and I do mean 'just' started, my computer began to slow down. Within an hour of starting, I had to shutdown my browser and restart it, but in just a short time it  was creeping along again! Imagine what its like having a high speed connection and working at dialup speeds, well this is what I was doing for the most part. Now my computer is old, a 1 G. Pentium with only 256 M of RAM, but it truly shouldn't be that slow. So what was the cause of this and why isn't it the first time it happened?

  Two very good questions, but with only one answer. satan, he doesn't like what I'm doing online and has tried at every opportunity to stop it!!! If I were to spend the day chatting in a room somewhere or visiting a porn site, not that I would(just examples), I'd have no problems at all. But being that I'm bring the attention to the LORD that I am, he can't stand it and must try to hinder it or stop me in any fashion possible. Since most of my work lately has been online, what better way to bring me troubles than to effect the computer that I depend on the most.

   If you're a Christian and are doing works that truly bring glory to the LORD, you can count it as good as gold that satan is going to be hindering you in every manor he can. The greater the works the greater the troubles that will come your way and the more often you'll be having them. Now it is a common misunderstanding of many new Christians, that once you've given your life to CHRIST everything will be perfect! Well let me tell you something. It ain't so!!! Many preachers and pastors kind of 'sugarcoat' the GOSPEL, and don't fill people in on the whole story. Or they just give you the first part of it and allow you to find out the hard facts about being a Christian all on your own. Now this is wrong, totally wrong and has become a common factor because they're to worried about getting the 'numbers' in. The more people within your church, the larger the tithe, hence more money for projects, making more room for more people. Do You get the idea yet? Its the world creeping into the church. Money, money, money!!! What would you think JESUS would do today if HE walked into one of the 'mega churches', with their tape and CD sales area, coffee and gift shops? I think it'd be a replay of when HE walked into the temple and over turned the money changer's tables!!

   If anyone has ever told you that being a Christian is easy, if it weren't against the Christian manor, I'd say find them and slap them. Being a Christian is most likely one of the hardest things you will ever undertake within life. Living a worldly life is a breeze in comparison to it. Not just the fact that it is so much different, but the fact that once you've begun to really show CHRIST within your life, you've suddenly got a whole new set of enemies. For all the demons of hell will be against you. Living life is hard enough, but when you've begun to witness for CHRIST and truly showing HIM within your total being, to the point that others that see you wonder what makes you so different. The troubles will really begin to pile up and sometimes to a point of almost totally overwhelming you.

   Well how will you handle this happening is the question!?! There are many ways and most are wrong. Thats right, wrong. Not wrong in a complete sense, but wrong to say the least. You can rebuke satan. You can pray for the LORD to rebuke satan. You can cast out the evil. Or you can rant and rave about all of this happening. In all these cases, you'd be wrong. Because in all of them, you are giving glory to satan by acknowledging his part in the troubles. The best way to handle these, sounds a bit unusual, but in all right is the only true way of handling them. Give glory to GOD and thank HIM for finding you worthy of having such trials and tribulations within your life! I can hear some of you now. "Say what? Are you nuts?" I may be, but I'm crazy for my LORD and I understand that HE has allowed everything that happens within my life to happen so that in the end HE will be the one to receive all the glory. Whether its trials and tribulations or smooth sailing, they all have been allowed to happen by HIM and for HIS glory.

   Now I know there are going to be those that say this is un-scriptural. It's not! WHO created all? GOD. WHO created both the LIGHT and the darkness? GOD. WHO is in total control, that not even a single sparrow falls to the ground without HIS knowing it? GOD. GOD is and always will be in total control and I don't care what theologians or any preachers say, GOD has allowed evil to coexist within this universe for a reason. How would you know what was right, if there wasn't that to judge it against, hence evil exist. It always has and always will be an everyday part of life. Where there is good, you will find evil. The more of one that is abundant, the more of the other will be close at hand. So instead of giving the glory to the wrong power source, give the glory to GOD and thank HIM for allowing you to under go it's touch and also thank HIM for giving you the strength to bear up under the weight of it. Give HIM the glory, for HE is and always will be the only true power in all of heaven and earth!!! Praise GOD, hallelujah, praise GOD!!!!!!!

  



Use these verses, but don't stop with them, cross reference and seek out GOD from within HIS WORD!!!


Prayer request can be sent to: prayers@vineofchrist.org


GOD bless and good day,

Rev. Marshall Barth

Vine of CHRIST Ministries

Vine Ministerial Network International