“Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” Acts 4:19 (NIV)
Evil prevails when good men do nothing. Remnant, it is time to arise! Peter and the other apostles spoke out to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court, “We must obey God rather than men! (Acts 5:29). It is time to take a stand. It is time to be who we are called to be… the salt and light of the world! Taking a stand may get you banned from Facebook, or fired from your job, or cancelled by your so-called “friends!” But Jesus said that if you wanted to be His disciple you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him, daily. The cross symbolizes the death of your rights and flesh. And that requires you to take a stand! If you’re blending in, you are not taking a stand. Paul talked about conforming to the world versus being transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Please don’t simply blend into or conform to this perverse and corrupted culture anymore. Do not be ashamed of your Savior! Jesus said of those who are ashamed of Him now, He will be ashamed of at His return (Mark 8:38). Those are really strong words, but they His not mine! Obey Him, even as the Apostles proclaimed that they would obey Him over man (Acts 5:27)! Obey Him even when you are disobeying man, or disappointing your friends.
Cry out to God for a reckless, undivided, wholehearted, passionate faith, that is willing to rise up in this hour and do something! Ask Him to expose everything that is hindering you from standing up and standing out as His light in your world. As He reveals these things to you, quickly confess them as sin and bring them to the cross. Ask Him for the same faith the apostles and so many others have had throughout history, where they did not love their lives more than they loved Jesus, and willingly gave it up for Him. Ask God for this kind of faith to rise up in your church, as well as the other churches across our city and nation! God is calling out a remnant army of wholehearted lovers of Him. Will you be one of them?
