“Whether we die young or old, what
matters is the grace to continue living hereafter. It is now four
years since our beloved brothers and sisters slept in the Lord. We
must realise that their death is an unavoidable call - a call to our
Heavenly home that no one can disobey.
Jesus said that if you do not take up
your cross and deny yourself daily and perhaps even get killed for
your belief in Him, you are not worthy of Him (Matthew 10:38, Matthew
16:24). The level at which satan attacks us seems to be equal to the
level of our commitment to the Lord. I don’t think enough people
understand this. If you are totally committed to God, He will take up
satan’s challenge against you.
As soon as we make a true conversion, a
commitment asking Jesus to purchase us, we become Jesus’ property.
Then satan hates us the same way he hates Jesus. That is why the
moment we are truly saved, we are engaged in a phenomenal battle
(John 15:18-22). We cannot separate warfare from salvation. True
salvation is going to put you into direct conflict with satan.
Many of us would say, “Why should I
suffer or die? After all, Jesus won the victory on the Cross and
suffered for me?” But the question we need to ask ourselves is,
“What did Jesus say?” He said, “I have said unto you, the
servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me,
they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
Anyone who claims that he does not have
to suffer because Jesus did it for him is indirectly saying that he
is greater than his Master. He is actually contradicting what Jesus
said. Basically, we need to give up our lives here on earth and gain
eternal life in Heaven. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Saviour, we are accepting citizenship in Heaven and death here on
earth.
Once Christ purchases us, we become
aliens here on earth and there is a barrier between us and everything
here on earth. We are servants, we simply obey the command of our
Master. We do not decide what suffering we must bear.
Many people have been serving the Lord
fervently and have come into difficult life situations because of
being mistreated by either wicked men or carnal Christians. The truth
is that they have been treated unjustly. But to become offended would
only fulfil the enemy’s purpose of getting them out of the will of
God. If you stay free from offence, you will stay in God’s will. If
you become offended, you will be taken captive by the enemy to fulfil
his own purpose and will.
If we are Christ’s followers, we must
follow His example. If He could forgive the people who were killing
Him, we can certainly find a way to forgive those who hurt us. When
we cannot forgive, we hurt ourselves more than anyone. Nursing a
grudge damages our heart. Life is too short to waste our time on
things that have no lasting value or significance.
From eternity’s perspective, death is
not a period; it is only a comma because of Jesus Christ’s death
and resurrection. When a believer dies, he goes into glory, where
there is no conflict. Heaven is our home. A man may die young yet be
satisfied with living but a wicked man is not satisfied even with
long life.
Those who try to kill us are only
helping us to go home and rest. But those who send us home will go
into further conflict; they will have more questions to answer than
when they were alive. The wicked seem to prosper now and live without
a care but they will spend eternity in terror and despair.
How can we honour the memory of the
martyrs of faith? Endeavour by the grace of God to live for the Lord
and give yourself to the needs of others.
Romans 14:8 – “If we live, we live
for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live
or die, we belong to the Lord.”
What a blessed memorial!
How do I end this write-up? Here, I
drop my pen.”
Prophet T.B. Joshua
No comments:
Post a Comment