Remember the Blood

By Associate Pastor Steven D. Niswonger

Scriptures: Psalm 23:5-6, Luke 22:41-44

Discouragement is the enemy of the Christian. Discouragement is a state of lessened courage…it is not simply the presence of fear. Courage, on the other hand, is not the absence of fear, but the strength to do what is right in the face of it. Christians must be a people of courage.

Why is discouragement dangerous? Because it usually comes when you have lost focus on the vision that God has given you. When this happens, you are often left looking inside yourself or to others for solutions to your problems, instead of looking to God. Discouragement is the result of weak faith, whether a momentary lapse or a life-long refusal to trust. When we look within to solve problems, we are faced with our own inability, which can lead to further discouragement. Problems seem deeper, mountains seem higher.

Discouragement happens to everybody…it is natural in humanity. However, it must be fought. Long-term discouragement will kill your vision. The Bible says, “without vision the people perish”. You will not last as a Christian without the vision and calling of God in your life.

So then, what can defeat discouragement? Having a cup that is running over with the presence of God. David said, “my cup runneth over.” There are two “cups” that we must know about, and two cups that we must have full to be successful.

David spoke of the Cup of Blessing. This is the cup that contains your salvation, protection, prosperity, God’s goodness, and His mercy. These are the blessings of God on His people. You keep this cup full through praise and worship…by “dwell(ing) in the house of the LORD forever”. In order to dwell in the house of the Lord, we all must fulfill our duties and assignments. This leads us to our other cup.

Jesus spoke of the Cup of Calling in Luke. We have God-ordained duties that God has assigned each of us. He provides the tools we need to complete the assignment…we don’t need to worry about how we will complete the job. God will give us every tool, except for desire. We must provide the desire to do the work of God.

For a moment, even Jesus struggled with the Cup of Calling in His life. Though He was fully God, He was also flesh. When flesh is called to sacrifice, it will try to preserve itself. Even in the flesh of Jesus. He possessed two wills as God robed in flesh. This is evident when He cries out, “not my will, but thine be done”. This was flesh crying out to Spirit. Since Jesus struggled, we should expect to struggle with discouragement and with the flesh. But, since Jesus fought against it and was victorious, we should also expect to fight against it and be victorious.

How did Jesus win the battle? What sparked His desire to fulfill His calling? He was praying so fervently that blood began to run down his face…it was when He remembered the blood that He won the battle. He remembered that this life is very temporary and that His actions had very real effect in eternity. When faced with discouragement, He went to fervent prayer.

We must also “remember the blood”. Remember that your choices have very real consequences. You are called of God to perform a purpose, to complete an assignment. What you do has eternal consequences, not only for you, but also for the world around you.

Saying “no” to ourselves…denying ourselves…when we think we see another way is most unnatural. However, when God asks a sacrifice, it serves a purpose…we can know that there is no other way to get the job done. It’s a matter of trust in Him.

What calling has God placed in your life? If you look deep enough, you will find it. Don’t hesitate to fulfill that calling. Provide the desire, and let God provide the rest. First, remember the blood.

What Are Life's Most Important Things?

I just read an article in Parade magazine about Professor Randy Pausch. He is dying with pancreatic cancer and was invited to give his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. There is also a video of his lecture on parade.com. Many of the things he had to say were inspiring but he said at the outset of the lecture that he wasn't going to say anything about God. I don't know what he believes about God or if he believes in God at all. His lecture just got me thinking about what I would want to do and say if I knew I was entering eternity. There are a few things that really matter in life but, like everyone else, I let so many other things occupy my time and energy. If we knew the end was near what would be important? What would we want our legacy to be? Here are a few questions I asked myself:



#1 Am I ready to meet God?

I want to live my life in a way that I will hear Jesus say "Well done" whenever it is that I leave this world. I believe we need to seek God now with sincere hearts. If we do, we will find the treasure that is worth more than can be realized in this world. I fell at an altar in a little church years ago and poured my heart out to God. I was filled with the Holy Ghost and have not been the same since that night. I'm so grateful for the touch of God.


#2 Have I lived a life of integrity?

It seems that it is easy to rationalize any decision that we make. We can say that we did something because we were entitled or we were making up for a past wrong. I believe that the life of a Christian must be a life of integrity. When we have integrity we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we lived our life in a way that was pleasing to God and have a good reputation among those who know us. Building Christian character is building our character on the foundation of God's character. When I am gone I want people to be able to say that I was a man of integrity.


#3 Have I loved my family?

Family is a precious gift from God. I have been married to Susan for 32 years. She is the love of my life, the woman of my dreams. It's not that things have always been easy or that we have never had a trial. I believe our success comes from our commitment to God and to each other. We have never seen life any other way than being together. We nurture our love for each other and don't want it to ever wane. We understand that everyday life is sometimes boring and there are long stints of the same old thing. But we will never let that get us off track. We will always rekindle the spark that drew us together in the first place. We have two sons that have grown up to be fine men. I want their love and respect. I want for them to have the kind of family life that we had when they were at home. I think that they had a happy childhood and wanted what they saw in Mom & Dad. Most of all I want them to lead their families to a relationship with God that will keep them strong. We fail to tell our families enough how much we love them. I love you all and have been tremendously blessed.


#4 Have Others Been Blessed By My Life?

I want to do all that I can to be a blessing every day to someone. This gets lost in daily life sometimes. It is our duty to provide for our families and we are busy about that business. I have always believed that work is a blessing from God and the ability to make a living is one of His great blessings. So I want to be thankful that God has blessed us in that area while at the same time doing my best to influence someone to give their heart to God. Nothing we ever achieve in this world will ever be as important as achieving salvation.


There are many other things that could be asked. How about your life today? What questions would you ask of yourself?

Exciting Changes at Redemption Ministries

We are excited that our TV ad campaign starts this week. Our ads can be seen on HGTV, TNT, and ABC Family, primarily on the weekends with some prime time spots. Be on the lookout if you are in the Saginaw or Flint area. We are also starting a new Sunday format this coming Sunday. We are going to have Sunday School for the kids between 10:00 & 10:30 while the adults enjoy fellowship over coffee and donuts. Then we will all join for our worship service. We are also anticipating moving our office out of the back room. This will give us some needed extra space for our new format. I want to thank all of those again who have been praying for us and our church. We are excited about the blessings coming our way. Susan is also starting a Monday afternoon Bible study in our home. We sent some fliers out and have had two respond so far. God is good! If your looking for a church to call home, check out Redemption Ministries this Sunday.