Effie Darlene Barba

Paul was certainly not immune to suffering.  He was aware of the tribulations he was going to face as he proclaimed the name of Jesus.  After all, he had once been the persecutor of the Christians.  No one understood this more.  Yet, some might try to say.  Well certainly Paul might have faced persecution; but that was in his time.  We live in a different time and God wants each of us to prosper.  God does want us to spiritually prosper.  However, without the trials, can we truly grow in our faith?  How can we truly come to realize that He is the only true source of our joy and our “being”?  Yes, this is a new kind of prosperity that includes suffering now for eternal gain later.

The journeys of Paul were arduous and filled with danger.  Yet, his only desire was to spread the good news that Jesus Christ, the true Messiah paid the penalty for our sings.  Only therein was there a new kind of prosperity.  A prosperity of the heart, soul and spirit was what Jesus offered to the world.  A new way of life freed from the chains of sin.  Forgiven, redeemed and filled with the love and joy of the Holy Spirit.  This was a new kind of prosperity that the world searched for vainly outside of Christ.

Today in the United States we are surrounded by great financial prosperity compared to that of many people in the world. We have basked in the freedoms of speech and religion, at least until now.  Yet, instead of peace, hope and joy these prosperities have led to division, destruction and anger.  Instead of standing firm for Jesus Christ, Christians have become “comfort-seeking, entertainment-addicted, security-craving, approval-desiring Christians”.[1]  As such we risk everything.

A New Kind of Prosperity

Indeed, within our churches today, there are many who attend in hopes to gain prestige, health, wealth and social status.  They do not truly love or even know Jesus Christ.  Not as Lord and Master of their life; hence, not as Savior.  For to be saved one must accept Him and His sacrificial gift.  He, who knew no sin, paid the ultimate price that He might be able justly to save all who come to Him.  Those who come desiring earthly gain by worshipping Him, do not really know Him.  They are seeking the gift, not the giver of the gift.  Therefore, the sad news is they do not really know Him.

Paul left Athens and went to Corinth where he taught the gospel.  He remained for 1.5 years training the new converts to continue the church growing in the truth of the gospel message.  Corinth was a city built on wealth, prosperity, and sexual pleasures.  Yet, Paul found many there who recognized that human prosperity was not satisfying, they sought for a new kind of prosperity.  A prosperity that filled the spirit and the soul, even if it came through tribulations and trials.

Brought before the tribunal another important thing that happened in Corinth was that the Roman Government accepted Christianity as a sect of Judaism, thereby legitimizing it as an acceptable religion.

Furthermore, Paul wrote his letter to Thessalonica while there in Corinth after Timothy and Silas joined him.  He had sent them to minister to the churches and now they returned to him.

The New Kind of Prosperity Revealed in 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 1:   ² We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;

³ Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

⁴ Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

⁵ For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

⁶ And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.

Paul presents to them a New Kind of Prosperity.  One founded upon the joy, hope, and treasure of knowing Jesus Christ.  For this reason, we suffer here; that we might let go of earthly pleasures and find our joy in Him.  John Piper wrote: “Christ is most magnified in us when we are most satisfied in him, especially at the moment of suffering and death.”[2]  Our Joy is fulfilled in Him, greater than it could ever be with earthly things.  So, even our suffering brings Joy as Paul proclaimed.

All the suffering and affliction, the trials, the beatings, the rejection was worth it just to know the joy of witnessing your salvation and your faith (I Thessalonians 3:7-9).  Glory be to God!

So, what is this new kind of prosperity?

It is the joy of knowing Jesus Christ.  Whatever trials we face on this earth, He is all sufficient.  He is our hope, peace, love, and greatest treasure.  If I lose everything else and have Him, I am truly blessed.  For He is my Steadfast, Abiding Joy forever.

True Suffering would be spending both this lifetime and eternity separated from God.  So, the new fangled prosperity gospel proclaiming wealth, riches and fame here and now leads to the worst suffering.  Whereas the true prosperity of knowing Jesus Christ both brings joy here and now, as well as into eternity.  Which prosperity do you truly desire?  The counterfeit one or the real one.

Twitterable quotes:

[bctt tweet=”Paul knew and taught of a new kind of prosperity. Knowing Jesus Christ is the greatest joy of all. He is our greatest treasure. Nothing else!” username=”effiedarlene”]

[bctt tweet=”True Suffering would be spending both this lifetime and eternity separated from God.  So, the new fangled prosperity gospel proclaiming wealth, riches and fame here and now leads to the worst suffering.” username=”effiedarlene”]

[bctt tweet=”the true prosperity of knowing Jesus Christ both brings joy here and now, as well as into eternity.  Which prosperity do you truly desire?  The counterfeit one or the real one.” username=”effiedarlene”]

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?

If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link.  There is nothing more important than this; because,  He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.

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Are You Passionate About the Truth? Jesus is Truth

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Disclosures

©Effie Darlene Barba, 2019
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Credits

[1] John Piper, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-plundering-of-your-property-and-the-power-of-hope accessed 10/18/2019

[2] John Piper,  https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/whats-the-origin-of-desiring-gods-slogan accessed 10/19/2019

Photo by Ryan Moreno on Unsplash

As you read about Paul’s missionary journeys in the book of Acts, you find a pattern.  Each time he entered a city, he first went to the synagogue.  He would be cast out of the synagogue and would begin to teach in the streets or in houses nearby.  Rejection never deterred him, though he faced it everywhere he went.  He had been stoned, left for dead, beaten unrelentingly until blood poured from him flesh, thrown into prison, spit on, and yet, he marched on spreading the gospel truth.  His journeys long, fatigue nor defeat a word he considered as he spread the news.  What was it that made him so bold and passionate about the truth he marched back into a city after being stoned and left for dead?  It was his love for God.  A love so great desired God’s Glory be seen and honored by all.

Are you or I that passionate about the truth?  Jesus, the Son of God, the very essence of God came, lived a perfect life, beaten, died on a cross to pay the penalty of our sins, rose from the grave victorious, and is seated on the right hand of God the Father.  Look around you.  Is not Christ’s name at stake while the secularists want to destroy all who proclaim Him as Lord and Savior? So, are you passionate about the truth?  Jesus is the only truth that really matters. He is the only hope for this world.  As we sat idly by while the minority removed God from the schools, while moving in secular humanist atheistic ideologies, we have watched as anger, division, and violence rise.  Without God, where is hope?  No wonder people search endlessly for self, where self cannot be found.

Paul Passionate about the Truth

Continue reading “Are You Passionate About the Truth? Jesus is Truth”

Spiritual Discernment is defined as a decision-making process in which an individual makes a discovery that can lead to future action. In the process of Christian spiritual discernment God guides the individual to help them arrive at the best decision.  That is essential in this Christian journey; because, we need the Spiritual Discernment afforded by the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us each step of the way.  Sometimes we face very difficult decisions and are uncertain as to the way to go, until the doors all shut before us and around us.  That does not mean we throw up our hands and quit.  Rather with hope filled expectation we await the Holy Spirit to open the right door.  At other times we face severe tribulations and wonder if we could have gotten off track, only to find the Holy Spirit filling our heart with peace and joy amid the trials.

Certainly, this was the case for Paul as he embarked on his second missionary journey.  He was provided with abounding faith in his heart, along side a mind filled with spiritual discernment for the journey.  The ups and downs of life presented themselves all along the way, yet he remained focused on Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior every step of the way.  Early along this journey he met Timothy who became as dear to him as a son would be.  After Timothy accepted Christ, Paul recommend he be circumcised.  Not because it was needed for salvation, as Paul had fought to prove in the previous chapter.  Rather this was done to open more doors for Timothy as he grew in the ministry of Christ.  As Paul later wrote, “take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak” (1Corinthians 8:9).

Spiritual Discernment for Travel

Continue reading “What Is the Importance of Spiritual Discernment?”

The meeting continued as the Apostles and elders met.  Jewish leaders and new converts had wanted to teach a doctrine proclaiming a necessity of circumcision and the law being part of the requirement for Gentiles to become Christians.  Paul and Barnabas had not been able to persuade them any differently, so the council met.  Peter reminded them that even though he had been skeptic, God had clearly shown him that Gentiles and Jew alike were to be saved by grace alone through faith alone.  The Jewish nation had proven their own inability to follow God by the works of the law-a yoke they could not bear.  The Holy Spirit’s baptism of Cornelius happened just as with the first Jewish believers, not requiring circumcision. Then James speaks of when the ruins are rebuilt, and people seek God as he quotes Amos.

Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. ¹⁵ And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

¹⁶ ‘After this I will return
And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins,
And I will set it up;
¹⁷ So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,
Says the ^[d]Lord who does all these things.’

Old Testament Proclamations

Continue reading “When the Ruins Are Rebuilt and People Seek God”