Prepare for Conflict

 

    A Christian should understand that times will be unpredictable and hard.  You may have to face conflict from people you are not anticipating, but you do know that you will face conflict because of what you believe.  Knowing this, you should be prepared to defend your faith and yourself.

    When facing the world, you never want to do it alone.  Have your family near you.  Put God first, but make sure that your family knows that they are the first physical priority (not your job, money, hobbies, or anything else.)  You need your family.  Your family can be your marriage, blood, friends, church, or all of the above.  You can never have too many people to love, care, or support you.

    When you are out on the mission field, it is important to report what God is doing or has done in your journey.  People need to hear details. No matter how difficult your job is, or if you fear the people in your life, try not to add more heartache to anyone's life.  No matter how hard the mission was, people need encouragement.   

    When serving God it is important to purify yourself.  You can't serve God to the quality that he deserves and requires if you don't purify yourself and maintain your purity.  Purification is not about ritual, it is about getting to a place where you really see yourself and relinquish all that is unsuitable to God.  

    Some of the things that you may need to be able to defend are as followed:  Jesus' resurrection, circumcision or following the Jewish laws as they were before Jesus, and cleansing versus ritual.  There is another thing that is controversial that I have never heard discussed in church: prophecy.  The Bible is complete.  It declared that it was complete, but there are still books out there that support the Bible, but were not added into the book.  In verses 8-11, we also learn that prophecies have not ended.  Many people believe that prophecies ended after Jesus came to Earth.  You have to work out your faith prayerfully and in God's Word to be able to defend how you believe.  You also have to understand the culture in which you are in.

    The Jews did not care for Paul's message and implications that it made.  They had him arrested and tried to kill him.  A centurion arrived due to all the discord in the city.  He intervened on Paul's behalf.  Paul was arrested because the centurion was not going to allow the people to kill Paul. When Paul spoke to the centurion, things changed.  Paul proved he was educated and proved the charges against him were lies.  

    Use your education and skills when in a conflict.  Paul went to Jerusalem, like Jesus, knowing he would face his most severe hardship.  Unlike Jesus, he did not know exactly what he would face.  He had to be prepared.  He knew how to argue and defend his faith.  He was as prepared as any good lawyer for court.

Acts 21