Are You Persuaded?

Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39. nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Persuasion - Strong’s Ref. # 3982 a primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy, to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively, to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty):

One of the definitions is to be convinced. This is a question that is being asked now. How can I become convinced?

He said in His Word that He will keep us in the palm of his hand. The question we have to ask ourselves is, do I believe this? Has fear and worry caused me to lose my confidence? In these very troubled times everything that can be shaken will be shaken. This is not a cause for fear but an opportunity grow in grace and truth, as well as an opportunity to increase in confidence as we see God’s absolute faithfulness revealed toward us.

When I was a young Christian I heard a minister talking about faith in God and the unshakable truth of God’s Word. After hearing several messages from this traveling Evangelist, I realized I didn’t truly believe like that. The truth is I had so little teaching, I hadn’t had a chance to really learn anything. I was being honest with myself and with God. I went before the Lord about it and told Him that I wasn’t there. I wanted to be with all my heart, but in all honesty I wasn’t. I wanted to learn. This was the beginning of a lifelong journey for me. Sometimes in order to grow further with God we have to just be honest and do a true assessment of where we are spiritually. So many Christians want to say no to the things of God that are beyond their experience, I would encourage you with all my heart to be open to the Holy Spirit and have a willing and teachable attitude. I can say with all honesty that I haven’t arrived and that I’ve got a long way to go, but glory to God what a journey I’ve been on. If you haven’t already done so, I would like to invite you to step out of your religious box and begin the journey of faith. You see without faith it is impossible to please Him. It can not nor will it ever happen.

With out understanding we have no basis for our faith at all. I’m talking about spiritual understanding. Although we must study to show ourselves approved, true revelation only comes by the Holy Spirit. This is our decision to make, whether we will accept it and act on it, or just ignore it. This may sound like an obvious statement but we can never become persuaded in the things of God if we will not first accept it as truth. You might say what believer would do that. The answer is many believers are in this very place, either because of bad teaching or no teaching at all, or because they simply refuse to believe the truth of God’s Word and instead believe a lie. I realize this sounds hard, and it is not my intention to offend, but it is true. Jesus talked about this in the parable of the sower. I would encourage you to get your Bible out and read these in Mt.13, Mk.4, and Lu. 8.

Sin will cause a callused condition of the heart that will keep us from hearing. Jesus said ...

Mark 4:19 "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20. "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.’’

This is talking about the condition of our heart and how it effects not only us receiving the Word, but also allowing it to grow and bear fruit. He admonished us by saying… 4:9 And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’’ This is our responsibility not His.

In Matthews account He said this…

Matthew 13:14 "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: `Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15. for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.’