Thyatira 10
Way back in eternity when God first conceived you, He imagined a being whose intimate friendship would enchant Him for eternity. Are you aware that you are so highly prized by the Lord and that your friendship with Him is His greatest joy? How wonderful you are to God!
Often the things of this life cloud our vision from seeing the wonder and beauty that God sees in us. But even though our vision becomes distorted because of this life, God’s vision of you is never distorted. He sees you as a child that is born of Him, sinless! In the letters Jesus writes to the churches He can seem to be quite harsh, but He is in fact being highly protective over His own. He is protecting His children from the harmful destruction of their enemy.
This is what we have in His letter to Thyatira. Thyatira, like the general church, did not want to deal with touchy subjects and rather than confront the problem, they tolerated it. But tolerating evil is as dangerous as getting involved in it simply because tolerance gives agreement to the sin, thus empowering the works of darkness against the whole church. Jesus, however, is not afraid to be offensive because He knows it is the only way to get their attention and cause them to turn from the sins they were committing.
There was a particular prophetess in their midst who was propagating teachings that were contrary to those of the Lord. Jesus was not and does not tolerate her teachings. But He is initially kind to her as he gives her time to repent. In other words, the Lord first comes along with His teachings encouraging the person involved in these sins to repent. If they continue to refuse then He will get quite tough. Look at the problem with me ….
Revelation 2:20 – 23 (TPT)
But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is seducing my loving servants. She is teaching that it is permissible to indulge in sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I have waited for her to repent from her vile immorality, but she refuses to do so. Now I will lay her low with terrible distress along with all her adulterous partners if they do not repent. And I will strike down her followers with a deadly plague. Then all the congregations will realize that I am the one who thoroughly searches the most secret thought and the innermost being.
We will break this down over the next few blogs, but I do want you to know that He does not have a thousand issues with the saints in Thyatira! He is only dealing with two issues. Yes, they are big in His eyes and they must be dealt with, but He has not forgotten all the other things He is so pleased about. Also, He is concerned with their eternal inheritance that the devil was busy stealing from them.
Remember, sin does not separate God from you, it separates you from God. Sin causes you to withdraw yourself from His presence because you have chosen someone else’s presence. God is jealous over those who are His own. He is jealous over you!
it is our own tolerance towards sin and sinful behaviours that are the cause of the problems Jesus said would happen if there is no repentance. When we see trouble in the world like we are now you can be sure that God is not the problem, the church is. Please note, Jesus is not talking to the world or the ungodly here either. He is talking to you and me.
As we saw in the sin of the Nicolaitans, we have this tendency to always put the blame on someone else and not ourselves. But as we learn to take responsibility for our lives and choose to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord we will begin to see the kingdom of heaven getting established on earth. The world does not have the answers to the problems they’re facing, we do. We are the ones that have the God given divine authority on the planet and we will give an account to the Lord for what our contribution to life and death was.
I want to leave you with a question. How tolerant do you think you are towards the sins Jesus is addressing with Thyatira? How would you answer Him?
And don’t get discouraged here because there is a very good end! Read the first paragraph again 😊.
To be continued …
Have a supernaturally blessed week.
Yvonne
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