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In January 2008 The Rev. William Asarisi was awarded his Doctor of
Divinity Degree for Saint Luke Evangelical School of Biblical Studies. To
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Welcome To Asa-Ministries International
Bringing The Good News Of Jesus Christ To All Nations
If God is
For Us...
Romans
8:28-31
"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 alos 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?" Romans 8:28-31
When a person becomes a Christian and they are striving to do the very best
that they can to live the kind of life that the Lord wants them to, sooner
or later they learn that they are going to be confronted with difficulties
and challenges that are unique to being a child of God. And, indeed, there
are burdens that we have to bear; things that, if we had never become
Christians, we would never have to endure.
Some of the things that the Bible speaks about which we invite into our
lives by choosing to follow the Lord are things like: Ridicule from people
who don't care for anything concerning the Lord. People of the world don't
care about the values and the allegiance that we pay to our Heavenly
Father. The apostle Peter wrote, "In regard to these, they think it
strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation,
speaking evil of you" (I Peter 4:4).
We may experience the loss of friends just because we want to now be pure.
We want to live a life of purity and righteousness which is acceptable to
the Lord; we want to maintain our integrity as children of God. And
sometimes what happens is that the people who we use to associate with
don't have those kinds of values; they don't share those things. So
consequently, they have the tendency to no longer want to have anything to
do with us.
Some will lose their jobs, simply because they want to be faithful to the
Lord. And I have known of people, because of certain commitments that they
have made, who have been forced to find different employment.
It could be the emotional pains that come from divisions that arise within
the family unit. (See Matthew 10:34-35). Jesus spoke about that when He had
revealed the truth that He did not come to bring peace on earth, but
instead He brought a sword. He plainly stated that there would be division
among family members, and many times that is what happens to us.
And all of us can relate to the inward struggle that we have to go through
in this life - the fact that there are things that tempt us, and sometimes
we give in to the temptation. And then what happens is that we feel
absolutely horrible (as we should) for betraying our heavenly Father. Every
Christian goes through that sooner or later.
Can you relate to any of these things that I have mentioned? Do these kinds
of things make it difficult sometimes to be a child of God and to live the
way in which the Lord wants us to live? They certainly do.
When these things happen to us, what actually is occurring is a severe test
of our faith. And these challenges and difficulties in life our either
going to make us, or they are going to break us (as far as our relationship
with God is concerned).
Through His word, God has revealed many things that will help us to pass
these tests of faith, but perhaps the most simplest and fundamental help is
the realization that God is on our side - the truth that "we are His
children and He is our Father" reminds us that He is always standing
there with us. Just like those of you who are parents, when your children
are going through difficulties you understand that these are things that
they have to experience in their life in order to grow up; to be people who
are profitable, and to learn lessons that are vital to their maturity. But
as parents, you are standing behind them, not condoning their mistakes, but
helping them through the consequences of those mistakes; you are for your
children! And in a supreme way, God is the same. God is for us, and that
provides us then with strength that we need to overcome.
Some people seem to have the idea that God is like a wicked father who
can't wait for his children to misbehave so that he can punish them. But
that discription in no way fits our Creator. Although our heavenly Father
is a just God, and will punish those who do not know Him or obey the gospel
of His Son (see: II Thessalonians 1:8-9), the Scriptures plainly reveal
that God is also a loving Father, who does not want to see any perish:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should
perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).
In the 8th chapter of the book of Romans, the apostle Paul speaks about the
whole concept of salvation. He writes about this beginning in the 29th
verse, saying: "For whom God 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." But then notice what he says in 31st verse, where he asks
this question: "What then shall we say to these things?"
These "things" that Paul is talking about are the things that he
had just enumerated: God's foreknowledge, and the predestination (the fact
that God had predestined how salvation and reconciliation would be
accomplished for each soul that obeys and abides in the words of His Son),
and the fact that we have been called, and we have been justified...and
glorified... Paul emphatically asks: "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO SAY TO
THESE THINGS??? ...and here is the answer:
"If God is for us, who can be against us?"
In the context of Romans, chapter 8, the apostle Paul wants us to think
about the things that God has done for us and continues to do for us;
especially when it comes to the salvation of our souls. And he wants us to
think about these things in comparison to the misfortunes and the
difficulties that we may have to go through - to understand that there is
NOTHING that can defeat God's purpose for us, if we maintain our faith in
Him. For he says: "Yet in all these things we
are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans
8:37).
Contact
Information
Asa-Ministries International
614 W Maple Street
Deming, NM 88030 USA
Main Number (575) 546-9742
Fax Number (575) 546-9742
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