IF YOU THINK THEY HATE YOU, YOU'RE RIGHT

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." ~ (John 15:18-19 NKJV) During these last days, evil is increasing exponentially and more and more people feel that they don't need Jesus anymore. This is what was foretold by Jesus Himself in Matthew 24. During His few years in ministry, Jesus did AMAZING miracles. He healed people instantly, He cast out demons, He taught like no one else during His time. He fed thousands of people in one day with just a few pieces of bread and fish. He calmed a torrid sea. He re-attached a soldier's ear without surgery. He made the blind see, opened dear ears, etc... I could go on and on with everything that the Lord has done. But even though they personally experienced all of those miracles, when it came down to a moment when they could set Jesus free, all of the people turned their backs on Him and asked Pontius Pilate to release to them a brutal killer named Barabbas. It amazed me when I read this scripture that they actually wanted to release a common criminal and send Jesus off to be brutally beat and crucified. In this day and age it is no different. We can see time and time again how many people are turning their backs on Jesus and casting Him out of their lives. Some cheerleaders at a high school in Texas were told they can no longer run through a poster of a scripture to start the games like they had for so long. A group of college boys were asked to NOT pray in the locker room anymore before a game. A Christian bakery was attacked because they refused to make a cake for a homosexual wedding. The mother of a young man killed in a car accident in Oklahoma was asked to remove the crosses from the scene where her son had died and they weren't even put there by her. In the same state, the devil worshippers tried to erect a statue of the devil, which was eventually built in Michigan. In DC, the Ten Commandments were removed from the steps and put in the basement out of site because they offended people. I'm going to say this: in order to be an atheist you HAVE TO believe in God. After all, how can you possibly hate someone who YOU SAY doesn't exist? Family, we are in a very challenging time as Christians because no one likes us. We will be challenged every time we speak what know to be true according the Word of God. Why is this? Because Jesus said that we will be hated because of Him. (John 15:18) It is during this time that we have to decide who we will serve, God or man. Joshua 24:15 says, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Jesus gives us a choice as to who we will believe. But if we believe the Word of God is 100% true, then we shouldn't have a choice. Our ONLY choice should be to believe in Jesus! That belief cannot falter because we want to be accepted by the world. We may gain the acceptance of the world (Matthew 16:26) by being lukewarm Christians but we will lose our ETERNAL LIFE (Luke 17:33) because of our refusal to acknowledge Jesus. Jesus said if we reject Him before man He will reject us before the Father (Matthew 10:33). During these difficult and challenging times, we MUST choose Jesus. We must stand strong and put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) so we can stand the flaming arrows of the enemy. We must move forward in boldness with no fear because God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (1 Timothy 1:7). Let's stand for Jesus! If we truly believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior then we MUST stand for JESUS. We must stand in the face of great aggression and even persecution. We must stand even though the world hates us. We must stand because it's the right thing to do. And we must stand because we love God... PERIOD! God bless you!! Robert T Sells *************************************** About the author: Robert T. Sells (aka The Anointed Poet) is the co-owner, with his wife Marlas, of Words of Inspiration Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee. He is an award-winning writer and poet who is known for his gift of prose and has been spreading the message of the Gospel through poetry and song around the country. Sells is also the author of several books in the Words of Inspiration poetry series and a Christian spoken word CD. For more information about his ministry or to purchase products and/or services, visit his website at www.wordsofinspirationministries.com.