Living Forever

Every person ever born will live forever. Not through a magic elixir or reincarnation, and not necessarily in heaven or in a state of euphoria.

Some will live for eternity in eternal torment in the lake of fire, which we call hell. Many people berate Christians for what they call proselytizing. They are of the opinion that we get some sort of gold star for bringing the most people to church.

They think it is all about nickels and noses - church attendance and offerings. Yet, the motivation of most authentic Born Again Believers is to open heaven's gates to as many people as we can.

We ask God to let us meet people, who are willing to listen to the Gospel and be saved. We shudder at the thought of our friends, loved ones and acquaintances spending eternity in torment.

The unsaved view hell as a continual party full of pleasures of the flesh. That is what Satan wants them to think. He paints this picture in their minds and insists that the Christian viewpoint is misguided at best.

These unsuspecting people buy into Satan's lies and believe them as truth; rejecting God's truth as the lie (Romans 1:25). The unfortunate fact about this foolish stance is that they may not find out until they die that the devil duped them.

Then the door of the Ark will already be closed (Genesis 7:16). There will be no more time to believe in Jesus for salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). The multitude of chances God gave them during their lifetime will be over (Genesis 6:3).

It will be too late for them to come to Christ.

Prayer:

Father God, please direct us to people in our sphere of influence who need to know You. Give us divine appointments every day so that we can share Your love through the Gospel of Christ with those whom Your Spirit is drawing to the shadow of Your wings.

We pray for our loved ones who are deceived by Satan's lie; and we ask You to open the eyes of their understanding, so that they can see the Truth about Your love for them. Strengthen their inner being to accept Jesus by Your Spirit (Ephesians 1:18, 3:16).

Thought for the Day:
Praying that, while there is still time, many in our sphere of influence will believe God's Truth; and trust in Christ as their Savior, so that they too can enter into eternity with Him forever.

We Never Die

Humanity searched for generations for the fountain of youth, so we could drink of it and never die. Reincarnation purports that we never die; we just continually come back to life in another form.

Our eternal destination depends on our choices while we live on this earth. The Bible proclaims the truth that we do not ever die. We leave earth to live either in heaven or hell for eternity (2 Corinthians 5:8; Matthew 25:46).

Every physical body will die and go to the grave, to be resurrected immortally at the coming of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). However, our soul and spirit never die, they live in the presence of Satan or God forever.

As an unbeliever, we die twice: once physically and the second death in hell for eternity (Revelation 20:14). The body and soul - the mind, will and emotions - of an unbeliever experience the unrelenting torment of a lake of fire forever (Luke 16:19-31).

Instead, as Believers we die to sin and the flesh now, and we live eternally in Christ. Our last breath on earth is followed by our next breath in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8). Our immortal body, soul and spirit will enjoy Heaven forever.

God calls everyone to come to Christ for eternal life (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). Pride and rebellion prevent so many people from surrendering their life in total submission to God and His will for their life.

They believe the devil's lie that this is our only chance at life and we must live it with gusto. They do not realize that God's plan gives us blessings in this life, as well as an eternity filled with prosperity and hope (Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 40:5).

Prayer:

Father God, there is no reason for anyone to choose an eternal existence in hell (John 3:18). You call us to give up sin, so that we do not earn the wages of sin, which is death both now and for eternity (Romans 3:23, 6:23). You give us reasons to choose eternal life instead.

Thank You for planning for this eternal life to start at the moment of our salvation (Romans 6:23). Help us to humble our self under Your mighty hand, so that we will never die; but enjoy Your abundant, immortal life forever (2 Timothy 1:2; James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6).

Thought for the Day:

Jesus shared in our existence in flesh and blood; so that through His death, He could make Satan powerless over sin and death, and to forever free us from slavery to sin, fear and death. - Hebrews 2:14-15

The Blessing of Difficulties

  

 

 

We often fear that facing our past will cause us more suffering. We imagine that we will experience all that pain all over again. We are already tormented from the damage done to us by other people, even if they did it unknowingly or could not help how they acted because of pain in their life. The truth, however, is that facing the past frees us to face the future. We encounter God in the midst of the memories, and He reveals His truth to us. This always trumps Satan’s lies, which otherwise keep us in bondage to him our whole life.

We also fear facing the current problems in our life. We want to ignore them or pretend that they do not really exist, so we do not have to deal with them. Have we made faulty decisions? Hung around with the wrong crowd? Is someone perpetrating his or her evil on us? Again, God’s faith, resident within us, gives us the power to deal with these issues as they arise. A young, Jewish boy faced the mighty Philistine with these astute words, “The battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 17:47).

It is God’s anointing and power working in and through us that result in our victories in this world. When we see the mighty hand of God evident in our life on our behalf, this gives us glorious joy beyond words (1 Peter 1:8). Even when we are personally violated, God brings glorious freedom to Believers through forgiveness, empathy and second chances. We learn to trust God to turn around even the most negative issue for our good (Romans 8:28).

As we seek God’s deliverance from the issues, we learn that His grace sufficiently empowers us in our weakest moments, even if He chooses not to deliver us from the problem itself (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). We can glory in our imperfections and weakness, because that is when God’s power is manifested in and through us. We find our joy in His love rather than in our circumstances. Human joy depends on life’s situations, but God’s joy is our strength regardless of the circumstances.

We are happy just because of His presence in our life. We choose our emotions and our responses to them because Christ lives in us with all the power of the triune Godhead. We persevere in prayer and accept God’s answer, even if He says, “No” or “Wait.” We can also follow God’s Spirit in responding to the problems in other people’s lives. We do not have to rescue or enable anyone. We can help them, but only when the Holy Spirit tells us to do so.

Prayer:

Father God, remind us that Satan uses our thoughts as His battleground against Your Spirit. He attempts to persuade us to curse you and die (Job 2:9). As we surrender every thought to Christ and walk in obedience to Your Spirit’s direction, we live a positive, productive life regardless of our circumstances (2 Corinthians 10:5). We shine with Your love and live as a testimony of Your mercy and grace in our life.

Thought for the Day:

Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
– Galatians 5:16, 25

Assurance of Our Salvation

Read: Ephesians 2:1-19

“Now we can come fearlessly right into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in him.” - Ephesians 3:12 

So many Christians are tormented by Satan’s lies concerning their salvation. It is wise to consider your salvation experience and to make sure it is secured. Have you truly repented? Have you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are you attempting to walk in the Spirit and to avoid the temptations of the flesh? Do you have a hunger for Bible study? Do you enjoy praying? Do you have a heart for spiritual things? If so, then you are truly saved.

Therefore, you can ignore the doubts Satan whispers in your mind. God’s Word gives us assurance of our salvation. It brings comfort and peace to our soul and strength to our spirit to help us to grow into everything that God created us to be.

We were once under God's curse, doomed forever because of our sins. We went along with the secular crowd and followed their example. All of us used to be just as they are, doing every thing that our passions or thoughts led us to do. We were born with evil natures, and were under God's judgment just like everyone else. However, now that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and Emmanuel, God in the flesh who dwelt with us, He is our Savior and we are actually joint heirs with Him and children of our Father God (1 John 5:1-4).

God gives us the rich experience of knowing Christ with certainty and clarity (Colossians 2:2). There is no eternal doom waiting for those who trust in Jesus for Salvation (John 3:16-18). God expressed His richest mercy toward us and raised us from the dead with Christ. We did in no way deserved His favor, but He lifted us up from the grave into glory anyway. Salvation is not our reward for being good. We cannot take any credit for it (Ephesians 2: 8-9). It is God Himself who has made us who we are today. He gave Salvation as His free gift to whomever chooses to believe (2 Peter 3:9; Acts 17:30). Are you a Believer?

I never want to forget that I was once a sinner. I never want to judge anyone else in the moment of their negative behavior, but to give them the same measure of mercy and grace that Christ gives me. We are now all one family, because Christ broke down the walls of derision and suspicion that used to separate us. If we have love in our heart for other Christians, this proves that we have been delivered from hell and given eternal life (1 John 3:14). I never want to say that I love people without proving it by my actions, so that my conscience will be clear before the Lord.

 

Loving God means doing what He tells us to do, which is not really hard at all. Every child of God can obey him, defeating sin and evil desires by trusting Christ to help us. We are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but members of His family, citizens of His country, and we will abide forever in His household (Ephesians 2:19). We can go boldly to God’s throne of grace in our time of need, trusting Him to receive us, simply because we have been sprinkled clean with the blood of Jesus and washed pure with the water of His Words in the Bible (Hebrews 10:22).

God put His Holy Spirit into our hearts as a proof to us that we are living with Him and He lives within us (1 John 4:12-17). I never grow bored with living the Christian life and I never want to become spiritually apathetic or indifferent (Hebrews 6:12). My confidence in my salvation is now a strong anchor for my soul, because it connects me with God himself.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for leaving Your home in the glories of heaven, for sacrificing You life on the horrendous torture of Calvary and for preparing a home for us in Heaven (John 14:2-3). Help us to stand firmly assured of the complete work You did for us on the cross, and to walk in that assurance every day of our life.

Thought for the Day:

We can live confidently in our salvation by trusting in Christ.