{"id":18154,"date":"2020-08-23T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/?p=18154"},"modified":"2020-08-20T18:32:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T17:32:18","slug":"embrace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/2020\/08\/23\/embrace-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Embrace Him"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-18154-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/August-23.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/August-23.mp3\">http:\/\/www.gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/August-23.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/job.23.13-14\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Job 23:<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">13-14<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cBut once he has made his decision, who can change his mind? Whatever he wants to do, he does. So he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first thing we learn from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/mat.26.36-46\">Matt.26:36-46<\/a> (please read) on how Jesus dealt with pain and translated it to glory is, you have to embrace pain. Pain is your friend. Say it aloud, pain is my friend.<\/span><!--more-->I know some people will struggle with this because they do not want to confess anything negative.\u00a0But that is a problem, that is the wrong doctrine many people have been indoctrinated with. Pain is your friend. The truth is, nothing promotes you faster than pain. Does that not make pain your friend? No matter how much your parents love you, they can never promote you like pain. Yet you love your parents more than pain. Is that fair?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/mat.26.46\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Matt.26:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">46<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Up, let\u2019s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!\u201d<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Jesus did not say, \u2018Up, let\u2019s escape. You go to galilee, you go to Samaria, or let\u2019s go to Nigeria they would not find us there!\u2019 Jesus said, let\u2019s be going, let\u2019s embrace, let\u2019s face it. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/jhn.18.4\">John<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u202c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 18:<\/span><b>4<\/b><b>\u202c <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so <\/span><\/i><b><i>he stepped forward<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to meet them. \u201cWho are you looking for?\u201d he asked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d (emphasis added). The Bible says Jesus fully realized, meaning Jesus was not deluded but still Jesus stepped forward and embraced the situation. Embrace it!<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus said to them, &#8220;Who are you looking for?&#8221; They said, Jesus of Nazareth! He said, &#8216;I am He!&#8217; They all fell-down. But that did not give them some common sense. They came back again, and Jesus asked them, \u2018Who are you looking for?&#8217; They said, \u2018We are looking for Jesus&#8217;. He said, \u2018I am He!&#8217; And they all fell-down again. Jesus says, &#8220;No one takes my life, I lay it down by Myself. I have the power to lay down and I have the power to take it up.\u00a0 The reason I am going to lay down my life is not because of Me but because of you. If I do not lay it down, you cannot have life. So, I am laying it down so that I can pick it up, and you can have life!&#8221; Profound! (paraphrased).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we see pain (the necessary ones that is) for what it is, we stop being afraid of it. However, it is a necessary path you have to take because you cannot be promoted until you are tested. Embrace your life, embrace your test. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+18%3A11&amp;version=VOICE\">John<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u202c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 18:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Voice) \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus (to Peter): Put down your sword, and return it to the sheath. Am I to turn away from the cup the Father has given Me to drink<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">?\u201d There is a path that God has set before you, turning away from it is postponing the greatness of your life. The earlier you embrace your path, the earlier your glory begins and bursts forth. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c\u202c<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Prayer<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Father, help me embrace the path You have laid out for me so that I will experience the glory thereof, in Jesus Name. Amen!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Job 23:13-14 \u201cBut once he has made his decision, who can change his mind? Whatever he wants to do, he does. So he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny.\u201d The first thing we learn from Matt.26:36-46 (please read) on how Jesus dealt with pain and translated it to glory [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[146,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acknowledge-god","category-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19959,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18154\/revisions\/19959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}