Pam Padgett - teacher
2 Corinthians 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Considering that God raises from the dead ... one type of "death" we sometimes experience is when we do and speak as led by the Holy Spirit but are hated, accused, or
ignored by those who hate the word of God and ways of God.
But God is able to raise us up even from this type of "death",
giving us life by His power, often by a word given to us by the Holy
Spirit. We are not able to restore ourselves. But we can put our trust in God, for He is able to raise us up.
Many years ago I attended a church which had a singles group. During
the church service, those in the singles group sat in the same area of
the church building and I enjoyed being a part of the group.
Then I was led to share scriptures that teach us a divorced woman
commits adultery if she remarries, and a man commits adultery if he
marries a divorced woman, with three people I had met at the singles
group. One of these people was a woman who had been divorced twice and
had a young daughter, one was a man this woman became engaged to marry,
and the third was a woman who planned to be the maid of honor at this
wedding.
Matthew 5:32 But I (Jesus) say unto you, That
whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication,
causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is
divorced committeth adultery.
Mark 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Romans 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them
that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as
he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to
her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is
loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband
liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an
adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so
that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
I went to each of these people individually and shared these
scriptures. Although they attended a church group and considered themselves to be Christians they did not
uphold what we're taught in the Bible in this matter.
I didn't know it at the time, but this became known to others in the
singles group and they judged me to be wrong for having warned against
this marriage. Those in the singles group would no longer allow me to sit with them during the church service, even getting up and moving away from me when I sat near
them. It was as though this part of my life had "died", but I didn't
know why. I cried out to God, asking what was going on and asking for
His help.
Then after the church service one Sunday morning, a woman I didn't know very
well stopped me and said she had a message from God for me. The
message she delivered was that God knew how I was being treated by those
in the singles group, and that I needed to know it was because of what I
had spoken about this divorced woman remarrying and that this was what
HE had wanted me to do.
I was very helped by this message. It was as though life and joy returned in me, for God upheld, watched over, and helped me. I was
"dead" to the singles group, but alive because of God and His word to me. There is great joy in belonging to God, hearing from His Spirit,
and being cared for by God.
Those who hate the word of God "kill" us by hating, accusing, or
ignoring us. But God is able to raise us up and establish us by His
power and His word to us.