March 31: Wilderness Challenge / Do You Feel Lower than Garbage? Leap for Joy!!!

Luke 6:1-26

Amplified Bible (AMP)

6 One Sabbath while Jesus was passing through the fields of standing grain, it occurred that His disciples picked some of the spikes and ate [of the grain], rubbing it out in their hands.

2 But some of the Pharisees asked them, Why are you doing what is not permitted to be done on the Sabbath days?

3 And Jesus replied to them, saying, Have you never so much as read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him?—

4 How he went into the house of God and took and ate the [sacred] loaves of the showbread, which it is not permitted for any except only the priests to eat, and also gave to those [who were] with him?

5 And He said to them, The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

6 And it occurred on another Sabbath that when He went into the synagogue and taught, a man was present whose right hand was withered.

7 And the scribes and the Pharisees kept watching Jesus to see whether He would [actually] heal on the Sabbath, in order that they might get [some ground for] accusation against Him.

8 But He was aware all along of their thoughts, and He said to the man with the withered hand, Come and stand here in the midst. And he arose and stood there.

9 Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful and right on the Sabbath to do good [so that someone derives advantage from it] or to do evil, to save a life [and make a soul safe] or to destroy it?

10 Then He glanced around at them all and said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he did so, and his hand was fully restored like the other one.

11 But they were filled with lack of understanding and senseless rage and discussed (consulted) with one another what they might do to Jesus.

12 Now in those days it occurred that He went up into a mountain to pray, and spent the whole night in prayer to God.

13 And when it was day, He summoned His disciples and selected from them twelve, whom He named apostles (special messengers):

14 They were Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;

15 And Matthew and Thomas; and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,

16 And Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor (a treacherous, basely faithless person).

17 And Jesus came down with them and took His stand on a level spot, with a great crowd of His disciples and a vast throng of people from all over Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to listen to Him and to be cured of their diseases—

18 Even those who were disturbed and troubled with unclean spirits, and they were being healed [also].

19 And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all [saving them from severe illnesses or calamities].

20 And solemnly lifting up His eyes on His disciples, He said: Blessed (happy—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and to be envied) are you poor and lowly and afflicted (destitute of wealth, influence, position, and honor), for the kingdom of God is yours!

21 Blessed (happy—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and to be envied) are you who hunger and seek with eager desire now, for you shall be filled and completely satisfied! Blessed (happy—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and to be envied) are you who weep and sob now, for you shall laugh!

22 Blessed (happy—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, apart from your outward condition—and to be envied) are you when people despise (hate) you, and when they exclude and excommunicate you [as disreputable] and revile and denounce you and defame and cast out and spurn your name as evil (wicked) on account of the Son of Man.

23 Rejoice and be glad at such a time and exult and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is rich and great and strong and intense and abundant in heaven; for even so their forefathers treated the prophets.

24 But woe to (alas for) you who are rich (abounding in material resources), for you already are receiving your consolation (the solace and sense of strengthening and cheer that come from prosperity) and have taken and enjoyed your comfort in full [having nothing left to be awarded you].

25 Woe to (alas for) you who are full now (completely filled, luxuriously gorged and satiated), for you shall hunger and suffer want! Woe to (alas for) you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep and wail!

26 Woe to (alas for) you when everyone speaks fairly and handsomely of you and praises you, for even so their forefathers did to the false prophets.

Once again I find that in God's world, everything is opposite of the way it is in our world. God's thinking is opposite of our human thinking. So the answer to this dilemma is to allign our thinking with God's thinking. 

When everything is going great in my life, (I have actually been in this position before), woe is me! For, I WILL mourn and weep and wail. According to verse 25, that is.

And look at verse 26! If everyone loves me and speaks highly of me, it means nothing. Because in the Old Testament, they spoke highly of and praised the false prophets! And according to Revelation 20:10, the false prophets are going to burn in the lake of fire forever.

But if I'm lowly and afflicted, I'm blessed and to be envied! And if I'm despised and rejected, I'm supposed to leap for joy! My reward is rich, great, strong and intense, the scripture says. If I hunger and thirst for Him, If I am weeping and sobbing now, I WILL be filled! 

Have you been trying for YEARS to please someone, but to no avail? You aren't the only one. Most of us have been or are currently in a similiar situation. Just hand this person over to God. Basically God's word is urging you to rejoice. Leap for joy! Most likely you will NEVER please this person (or people). And most likely this person isn't pleased with anyone else either. Don't take it personal. Just be kind to them and don't waste another second worrying about it! Instead, seek to please God! 

Rejoice! Leap for joy! Great is your reward in heaven!!!

"Jesus, thank You for Your words of encouragement! It's not about me! I refuse to take stuff personal. I will hand it over to You! And I choose to rejoice! If I am slandered and gossiped about, I will leap for joy! If some are displeased with me, I will rejoice! And know that I am pleasing You to the best of my ability! I will keep seeking Your face! I will keep on hungering for Truth! And righteousness! And I WILL find it according to Your word. Thanks for everything, the good and the bad, Jesus. I pray this in Your name, AMEN."