Wise As A Serpent, Harmless As A Dove

Share

King James Bible StudyAnd when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Monday, May 20, 2019
Chapters: Psalms 5, 38, 41-42
Message: Wise As A Serpent, Harmless As A Dove

Hello My Friend,

I just got a taste of what Jesus must have went through when He was constantly criticized and accused by the Pharisees and Sadducee’s everytime He spoke and proved them wrong in what they believed. You see, a true Christians always reveal Christ to those in the world, you do not even have to mention His name, and they know you are one of His. And let me tell you, there is something very intimidating, and actually quite frightful to the world about Jesus, personal conviction. I do not care who you are, the second you see Jesus His words cut right through the heart as He reveals your heart. Because the world is full of so much pride to admit their wrong, the only thing they know to do to elevate themselves whenever they do see Jesus in you is attack your character. Jesus said something that comes to mind here. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” – Matthew 10:16-20.

but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” How amazing is it that God will speak on our behalf right through us? And if you ever wondered how you were able to speak to someone so ornery without stooping to their own level of name calling and personal attacks, here is your answer. We do not have to get them back with words of hate, that only adds fuel to their fire, all we need to do is let God speak. One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 5, I say part of it every morning when I pray to God as it reminds me of how important it is to look up.

To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue. Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” – Psalm 5:1-4,8-11.

their throat is an open sepulchre;Oh, my goodness, is this ever true. These are the very people who call themselves Christians, who will tell you they love and respect you, and in the same sentence curse and accuse you of what they themselves are doing. You know, the more we walk with Christ the more we really do become wise as serpents and harmless as doves. We do not have to stoop to their level of violence or hate speech as a defense, all we need to do is speak as Jesus would, and they will tear themselves apart by their own devices. Amen! “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:” – Matthew 12:25.

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation;” One by one every soul that refuses to acknowledge Christ for who He is, and accept Him as their Saviour will die in their foolish disbelief until the entire kingdom of Satan is destroyed. There is something we must understand about these people, the world is given the same freewill by God as we are, so they make their own choices on what they believe by what they are taught. When they attack us they truly believe in what they spent their whole lives learning, and just like we are on the defense when we are personally attacked so are they. Yet we are to have the mind of Jesus whenever we are reproached by those who are against what we believe. Try to remember what your thoughts and actions were before you knew Christ as your Saviour, and this is why we can never lose hope that Christ can get in them and turn their hearts around too. David wrote this Psalm as a remembrance of how his sin separated him from God and became to heavy a burden for him to overcome on his own.

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.” – Psalm 38:3-4,9-10,15-18,21-22.

I will be sorry for my sin.The hardest part in coming to Christ in the first place is not necessarily admitting that one has sinned, it is repenting of it. People do not want the personal conviction of acknowledging they are sinners to include walking away from it, which is why they get so defensive in the first place. Why do you think there are so many religions? They do not want to end up in hell for their sins, so they come up with these false doctrines to justify their actions. The problem with their freewill to choose that false doctrine is that they will end up in hell because there is only one way to escape hell, and that is Jesus Christ. Oh, and what about all this craziness about different genders and identifying themselves as something they are not? Well, they are very proud of who they are and are never going to let anyone them otherwise, and will never repent.

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” – Romans 1:21-22,27-32.

haters of God,You see, this is what it is all about, and this is why they attack us just for being a Christian. We do not even have to mention Jesus, but because we do not agree with their choices we are the haters. I was accused of spreading hate all because I said that people ought to let the president do his job. I never accused anyone or told anyone that what they were doing was wrong, their own personal convictions did that. It is like when you hear a sermon and swear it was pointed directly at you, the pastor has no clue what you are going through, but the Holy Spirit does. Be wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove by being kind to those who are against us, and witness to them, they need Christ too, and you do not have to speak a word, your actions will show Christ in you.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.” – Psalm 41.

because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.We have the victory! Our enemies will never triumph over us, and even if they kill our body, we still have the victory as we will be with Christ. No one wants to die prematurely, and we certainly do not want to die in the hands of our enemy, remember though that God has a purpose for you, and He will not take you before that purpose is fulfilled, so do not live in fear of your enemy, walk in the victory of Christ. And whenever you feel overwhelmed and overburdened by life keep reminding yourself of who your hope is in. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” – Psalm 42:5,8-11.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.” – Psalm 5:2.

Today’s Prayer: God, Thank you for the freewill to choose what to believe, and for showing me Your Son in a way that I not only believed, but accepted Him as my Saviour. I was reminded of the time in my life before Christ, and how blind I was to the truth, thankfully You reached me, opened my heart, and gave me a new view and life through Your Son in me. As we get closer to His return things are going to get more difficult, friend, and even family will turn on us, the world will hate us even more, and we will be reproached more than every. Lord, lead us and guide us, teach us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, to have the mind of Christ that we are a witness and a testimony of the victory that we have in standing by our faith and our Saviour. Whenever our soul get weary in well doing keep us looking to You, our hope, and health to our countenance. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: http://imfollowingjesus.com/index.html
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/byhisstrength

Copyright © 2019 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.