The Books at the Judgment

 

All who dwell on earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 13:8)

Salvation is secured for all who are written in the book of life.

The reason that being written in the book of life secures our salvation is that the book is called “the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” The names in this book are not saved on the basis of their deeds. They are saved on the basis of Christ’s being slain.

But John says in Revelation 20:12, “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” So, how then does the record of our lives contained in “the books” have a part in our judgment, if we are saved on the basis of Christ being slain?

The answer is that the books, which record our deeds, contain enough evidence of our belonging to Christ that they function as a public confirmation of our faith and our union with Christ.

Consider Revelation 21:27: “Nothing unclean will ever enter [the New Jerusalem], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Here the result of being written in the “book of life” is not only not perishing, but also not practicing detestable, sinful behaviors.

For example, consider the thief on the cross. Jesus said that he would enter paradise (Luke 23:43). But what will judgment be like for him when the books are opened? More than 99.9% of his life will be sin.

His salvation will be secured by the blood of Christ. His name will be in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

Then God will open the books. First, he will use the lifelong record of sin to glorify his Son’s supreme sacrifice. And, second, God will read that last page, where the thief’s dramatic transformation on the cross is recorded. This work of God in his life, recorded in the books, about that last day will be the public confirmation of the thief’s faith and union with Christ. And Christ will be the basis of his salvation, not his works.

Therefore, when I say that what is written in the books is a public confirmation of our faith and of union with Christ, I do not mean that the record will contain more good works than bad works.

I mean that there will be recorded there the kind of life in Christ that shows the reality of faith — the reality of regeneration and union with Christ. That is how we enter each day as a Christian: confident that our condemnation is past (Romans 8:1), and that our name is in the book of life, and that the one who began a good work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Christ.

THE TRUE WORSHIP!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY APRIL 05, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE TRUE WORSHIP!

Memory verse: "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." (John 4 vs 23.) 

READ: John 4 vs 24; Hebrews 12 vs 28; 

John 4:24: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Hebrews 12:28: Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

INTIMATION:

Worship is paying great honor to; to love and admire very greatly. You worship because you know the worth of what you worship. You worship God because you know who He is. When you catch the revelation of God and His worth, the appropriate response is to reverence Him in worship. The truth about God is revealed in His Word. According to our memory verse, Jesus is saying, in this most profound statement, that one must know the word of God in order to worship the God of the word. Ignorance of God’s word leads to one worshipping a god who is the creation of one’s mind, and such is the spirit of idolatry. 

It is in consonance with the true worship that Jesus gave us the greatest commandment of God, “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength...” (Mark 12 vs 30.) Worship must be based on the truth of Scripture, not our opinions or feeling about God. To "worship in truth" means to worship God as He is truly revealed in the Bible. Your worship is acceptable to God when it’s in truth and in spirit. In truth because of the self-revelation of God to you in His Word, and in spirit because it involves the totality of you—coming from the inside of you. 

“God is Spirit” means He is not a physical being you can see, and is not limited to one place. He is present everywhere, and can be worshiped anywhere, at any time. It is not where we worship that counts, but how we worship. Your worship must be genuine, and acceptable. Genuine worship is spirited. You must engage your real you, and your real you is in your spirit. Made in God's image you are a spirit that resides in a body, and God designed your spirit to communicate with Him. Genuine worship is your spirit responding to God's Spirit—Holy Spirit—Who in turn responds with help. The Holy Spirit prays for us (Romans 8 vs 26), teaches us the words of Christ (John 14 vs 26), and tells us we are loved (Romans 5 vs 5).

The Bible, in First Corinthians 2 vs 11 says, "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." The things of a man are known to the spirit of man, and only the spirit of man can genuinely worship God acceptably. It is not just a matter of saying the right words; you must mean what you say, engaging your inner self in all you do. Heartless worship is not worship at all! It is an insult to God. He wants all of you. He is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time. He desires your full devotion, and complete commitment.

Acceptable worship should be a lifestyle. It ought not to be a part of your life; it should be your life. Worship is not just communion, It is your whole life given for service to God, and His pleasure. God is worshipped continually, and in any place. God should be praised at all times; at work, at home, in battle, in jail, and even in bed! Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory, and pleasure of God. The Bible, in First Corinthians 10 vs 31, says "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 

But how is it possible to do everything to the glory of God? It’s by allowing God's love so permeate our motives that all we do will be to His glory. By doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus and by carrying on a continual conversation with Him while we do it. You can keep as a guiding principle, asking, "Is this action glorifying God?" Or "How can I honor God through this action?" When we worship, God looks past our words to see the attitude of our hearts. The Bible says, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (First Samuel 16 vs 7.) Therefore, your heartfelt worship is what God accepts and responds to.

Prayer: Abba Father, I praise You with my whole heart, and all that is within me bless Your Holy Name. O Lord, let Your Word dwell in me richly in all wisdom, that I may worship You acceptably with grace in my heart, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

God Strengthens Us Through Others

 

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31–32)

What about the other ten apostles (not counting Judas)?

Satan was going to sift them too. Did Jesus pray for them?

Yes he did. But he did not ask the Father to guard their faith in the very same way he guarded Peter’s.

God broke the back of Peter’s pride and self-reliance that night in the agony of Satan’s sieve. But he did not let him go. He turned him around and forgave him and restored him and strengthened his faith. And now it was Peter’s mission to strengthen the other ten. “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus provided for the ten by providing for Peter. The strengthened becomes the strengthener.

There is a great lesson here for us. Sometimes God will deal with you directly, strengthening your faith alone in the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is asleep. But most of the time (we might say ten-elevenths of the time) God strengthens our faith through another person.

God sends us some Simon Peter who brings just the word of grace we need to keep on in the faith: some testimony about how “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).

Eternal security is a community project. Whenever God encourages your heart with the promise that in Satan’s sifting your faith will not fail, then take that encouragement and double your joy by using it to strengthen your brothers and sisters — with the very strength with which you have been strengthened.

SUBMIT TO GOD’S TIMING IN YOUR JOURNEY OF LIFE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY APRIL 04, 2023.

SUBJECT: SUBMIT TO GOD’S TIMING IN YOUR JOURNEY OF LIFE! 

Memory verse: "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”. (Ecclesiastes 3 vs 1.)

READ: Ecclesiastes 3 vs 2 - 8:

3:2: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;

3:3: A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up;

3:4: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time dance;

3:5: A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

3:6: A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

3:7: A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

3:8: A time to love, and a time to hate; A time to war, and a time of peace.

INTIMATION:

God has plans and purposes for all people, and for all things. He provides circles of life, each with its work for us to do. Times for the good, and times for the bad. All these are from God and are purposed by Him in His perfect plan. However, the major problem of many of us is not submitting ourselves to God’s timing and plans, but rather we always want to put God into our own timing and plans. And it will never work.

God’s timing is of great essence in the journey of life. The secret to peace with God is to discover, accept, and appreciate God's perfect timing. The danger is to doubt or resent God's timing, and instead want ours. This can lead to despair, rebellion, or moving ahead without His advice. God plans all things in our lives at His appropriate and perfect timing. Even the problems we encounter may be part of His plan and come at His timing. Although we may face many problems that seem to contradict God's plan, these should not be barriers to believing Him, but rather opportunities to discover that without God life's problems have no lasting solutions! 

From our perspective, God sometimes seems slow to intervene on our behalf. But what might appear slow to us is good timing in God’s perspective. It’s easy to become impatient while waiting for God to act, but we must never give up on Him. When God is silent and you are in deep anguish, review the great acts of God throughout biblical history, then review what He has done for you. This will remind you that God is at work, not only in history, but also in your life today.

For instance, Jesus was a close friend to Lazarus and his family. He loved this family and often stayed with them. When Lazarus was sick, the family sent for Jesus wanting Him to come immediately. He stayed where he was for more two days, and eventually Lazarus died. Jesus knew their pain but didn’t respond immediately. His delay had a specific purpose (See John 11). God’s timing, especially His delays, may make us think He is not answering or is not answering the way we want. But He will meet all our needs according to His perfect schedule and purpose. Patiently await His timing, for He controls all times, methods, circumstances, and events 

God’s response doesn’t always come the moment we want it. He only responds when He knows the right time has come, for He knows the best time to act. When you feel that God has forgotten you in your troubles, remember that God has a time schedule we can’t see.

God will act when He is ready. It is a common knowledge that children have difficulty grasping the concept of time. “It’s not time yet” is not a reason they easily understand because they only comprehend the present. As limited human beings, likened to children, we can’t understand God’s perspective about time. We want everything according to our timing, unaware that God’s timing is better. When God is ready, He will do what needs to be done, not what we would like Him to do. We may be as impatient as children, but we must not doubt the wisdom of God’s timing. Wait for God to reveal His plan. Don’t take matters into your own hands. 

God’s timing is inherent in our becoming the persons God ordained us to be. We are forever in the process of becoming the person we will be. The word becoming implies the direction we are taking in our spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual growth and development. Life is a journey: it's not a destination. Every ending is a new beginning to our future, and every beginning is an ending to our past.

It's obvious that this is unachievable without Christ. By our own abilities, we will always crash. The Bible notes in First Samuel 2 vs 9, "…For by strength no man shall prevail." It's only God that makes all things possible with us. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4 vs 13). It is the power we receive in union with Christ that sufficiently helps us to do God's Will and to face the challenges that arise from our commitment to doing it. 

Prayer: Abba Father, show me the path of life that I may work in it. In Your leading and timing I am assured of the lines fallen unto me in pleasant places, and the destination ordained for me is sure to come, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Are You Born Again?

 

The question that only you that have the answer

How to Respond When You Falter

 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:19)

Christians do not live only in defeat. But neither do we live only in perfect victory over sin. And in those times when we fail to triumph over sin, Romans 7:13–25 shows us the normal way a healthy Christian should respond. 

We should say:

I love the law of God. (verse 22)I hate what I just did. (verse 15)Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (verse 24)Thanks be to God! The victory will come through Jesus Christ my Lord. (verse 25) 

In other words, no Christian wants to live in defeat. No Christian settles for living in defeat. But if we are defeated for a time, we shouldn’t lie about it. 

No hypocrisy. No posing. No boasted perfectionism. No churchy, pasted smiles or chipper superficiality. 

And even more, God save us from blindness to our own failures and the consequent quickness to judge others. 

God, help us to feel worse about our own shortfalls than the failure of others. 

God, give us the honesty and candor and humility of the apostle Paul in this text! “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25).

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH HIM WHO BELIEVES!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY APRIL 03, 2023.

SUBJECT:  ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH HIM WHO BELIEVES!

Memory verse:  "Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9 vs 23.)

READ:  Mark 11 vs 22 - 25:

11:22: So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

11:23: For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

11:24: Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you have then, and you will have them.

11:25: And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you Your trespasses.

INTIMATION:

Who is the believer whom nothing is impossible with, and always possesses the confession of his mouth? This is the believer who has faith in God, and continually “believes” Him without any iota of doubt, and also in right standing with Him. 

Note Jesus’ remark in our memory verse; “...all things are possible to him who believes.” Notice that the word 'believes' is a present-continuous tense. It is not that all things are possible to him who 'believe'. The believing is continuous, and ought to be so, because the Word of God is in the now and living. It is like the author; ‘Eternal, and Unchanging.’

You don't believe today, and tomorrow be filled with doubt. You can't believe now, and later begin to doubt. James called this a wavering faith; "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man, suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1 vs 6 - 8). 

Doubt is the opposite of faith. You have faith when you decide to take God for His Word. You doubt when you decide not to take God for His Word, or you fail to make a decision to take God's Word for the matter in question. Our faith in God and His Word must not waver, and must remain firm, no matter how frightened or unsure we may feel about the outcome of the matter.

It is common amongst us to see and then believe, like doubting Thomas (John 20 vs 25). God's way is to believe and then see. The Bible says that God "calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Romans 4 vs 17). And, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20 vs 29). Look at the instructions of Jesus in the passages we read today: First; "Have faith in God." Without faith we can't please Him, knowing that if you come to Him, you must believe He is what He said He is, and that His reward is with those who seek Him diligently (See Hebrews 11 vs 6). 

Second; You have to believe in your heart that what you say will come to pass. It is only what you believe in your heart that you speak out in faith, and it is only with the believer with conc faith in Christ that nothing is impossible with.

Third; You must speak out your believe. It is only in confessing your faith—your believe, that you receive from Him. It is whatever you have spoken in His hearing, that He will do for you (See Numbers 14 vs 26).

Many people think that they need "great faith" in order to have their words work miracles. This is not what Jesus taught in the Scripture. However, He said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17 vs 20). Therefore, put your faith into action by speaking it out, then the grace of God—the power of God (not your faith) will swing into action.

Some people become discouraged when they speak and did not receive immediately. Though, the outcome may or may not be immediate but it is sure to come provided you are in right standing with God, and have asked according to His Will. Take a cue from the following; Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11 vs 14, "Let no man eat fruit from you ever again." It was the following morning that the disciples saw that the fig tree that He cursed the previous day has dried up from the roots (See Mark 11 vs 20). In another scenario, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He called him to come forth, and he who had died came out immediately. (See John 11 vs 43 - 44).

Finally, the other qualifying condition is your having the right motives in prayer. When you do not have the right motives, you receive nothing. It is only with the right motives in prayer that you can bring the power of spoken faith in the Word into action. To have the right motives, you must; (1) not hold a grudge against another person (Mark 11 vs 25); (2) you must not pray with selfish interest; (3) your request must be for the good of God's kingdom; (4) you must have faith in God and His Word, not faith in the object of your request.

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust is in You who made heaven and the earth. I know it is only what I say in faith that You have promised I will have. The Word of faith is in my mouth and in my heart. Give me the grace to continually speak out my conc faith, and Your word, that I may have what I say, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!