Keep calm – God will come to our aid

“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” This Bible text from Exodus 14: 14 was the basis of Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider’s sermon on 9 February 2020 in Pô in Burkina Faso.

The exodus from Egypt was a veritable odyssey for the people of Israel. When the Israelites had reached the Red Sea and noticed that the Egyptian army was behind them, they panicked and criticised God and Moses because they thought they were trapped. Moses urged the people to trust God and to keep still. And he was right: God intervened in an unexpected way to save His people.

Cares without solutions

Brothers and sisters too are sometimes faced with difficult situations, and see no solution to their problem. And sometimes they blame God or the Apostles, the Chief Apostle said.

• “Sometime we find ourselves in difficulties and realise: if I had not obeyed God, I would not be in difficulties.”
• “Sometimes the faithful say: yes, it is the Apostles’ fault! Our Church would be a lot more successful if we were to take a different path.”
• “We could be afraid today and say: yes, but evil is so much stronger than God. It always wins.”

But God is here

In such moments the Holy Spirit is here and tells us that God will help us. The children of God can keep still and trust Him. “Let’s not shout at God, let’s not criticise Him. Let’s not blame Him,” the Chief Apostle said. For He will save and deliver His people. “The great deliverance that God wants to give us is the first resurrection.”

Even if it appears that the New Apostolic Church is not particularly successful at the moment, the members should keep still and trust the Lord. “Jesus promised to be with His Apostles to the end, and He will make sure that the bride will be prepared through the Apostles and that the first resurrection can take place.”

And even if evil seems to have the upper hand right now, the Chief Apostle said, no one needs to be afraid: “In the end, it is always Jesus who wins. In the end, He will triumph over evil. There will be no place for the evil one. He will have lost everything.”

Be still and pray

Because they know that God will deliver them and that He will triumph over evil, His children can quietly trust Him. “This trust also affects the content of our prayers,” he explained.

• A short prayer is often enough: “Your Father knows what you need; trust Him.” No one needs to spread out their earthly cares in their prayers, for God is aware of them all. It is much more important to pray for faithfulness: “Jesus, help me to remain faithful despite my cross. Help me to remain faithful in this trial.” For God needs His children. “We have a mission to fulfil. We must be witnesses of Jesus Christ.”
• No one needs to tell God how much good he or she has done because He also knows all of this. Instead, we need to be humble: “We are silent before God, because we know that it is He who has done most of the work. It was He who fought for us. What Jesus has done for us by dying on the cross is much greater than anything we could ever do for Him.”
• God also fights for our neighbour. Jesus said: “I did not come to punish sinners, but to save them.” That is why we must not judge our neighbour. “Stop accusing your neighbour,” the Chief Apostle said. “You are no better than he or she is. Be quiet. We are all sinners. Here too we need to learn to be silent before God and recognise: I am a sinner like all others. I am no better than they.”
• Don’t ask unnecessary questions. Nobody understands and knows everything. Why will all receive the same reward? Why does one have to suffer so much, while the brother next door has no problems? When will the Lord return? But God does not yet answer these questions. He says to His children: “That is not your problem. Just follow Me. Remain faithful in the situation you live in.”

“So let us trust in His love and remain faithful to Him,” the Chief Apostle said. “We don’t know when Jesus will return, but we do know that He will return, and we are preparing ourselves for it.”