TRIBULATION: "My God WHY"

                                                 When The Door Slams

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I bowed down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed these things to me. But the angels said to me, "Do not worship me! I am a servant like you and your brothers the prophets, and all those who obey the words in this book Worship God!" Then the angel told me, "Do not keep secret the words of prophecy in this book, because the time is near for all this to happen. Let whoever is doing evil continue to do evil. Let whoever is unclean continue to be unclean. Let whoever is doing right continue to do right. Let whoever is holy continue to be holy." Listen! I am coming soon! and I will repay each one of you for what you have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega," the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.                                                                                                     (Revelation 22:8-13 NCV) 

            If you have visited a hospital for crippled, mentally challenged or, abnormal children, there little bodies twisted, grotesque, sometimes hideous; if you have visited a home for the aged and beheld those pitiful vegetable state, kept alive sometimes by machines that prolong death and not life, shapeless lumps of flesh unable to live or die; if you have walked in cemeteries where they lie the bodies of countless soldiers, who died, some of them in vain; if you have looked on the victims of hurricane, flood and fire or the corpses of innocent men and women murdered by maniacs, if you have watched the haunting faces of alcoholics, drug addicts, the despair of terminal illness; if you have held the hand of a dying dear one where physicians and prayer alike have failed to save...If you have faced the ironic enigmas that add up to nothing in your arithmetic, if dreams have been blasted and hopes destroyed by the heartless law of cause and effect with no answer from heavens, your heart may cry out with the biggest word in your vocabulary, "My God, WHY?"  

            Think about this: We need not bombard heaven with all our "Whys" because God has answered all our agony and distress in one all-inclusive "Why." We can never fathom the depths of that "Why," but we can rest in the certainty that in it we found the meaning of all our troubles and the fulfillment of every shattered dream. It is the cry of Jesus Christ on the cross, "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?"

            When that "Why" was uttered the greatest thing that ever happened in all history was taking place. It is beyond our understanding for if our poor minds could explain it, there wouldn't be much to it. And if we could understand it we wouldn't need faith. But there it is, the WHY of all WHYS that gathers up all the others and answers them forever.  

            Renewal: My struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, I will put on the full armor of Go, so that I may be able to resist in the day evil, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:12-13)

 Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness  

                                                            Never Rest Ministries             

            

                   

Are You Going To Die One Time Or Two Times

                                                 When The Door Slams

How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?                                                                                                     (Psalm 89:46-48 NKJV)

            We do not know what lies ahead, just over the hill. Terrible things are happening in our world...and we are afraid. But deep beneath our fear of life lies, carefully hidden, the real reason for our fear these days. It is something we try to ignore. In the joy of life it seems so remote. The truth is we are afraid of death.

            The Christian should have no fear of death...But, on the contrary, faith should give him a touch of enthusiastic anticipation and a tingle of adventure as he looks forward to the experience that shall surely reward his hope and exceed his most glorious expectations.

            It is easy to think of others having to keep this appointment with death, but difficult to remember that we, too, must keep this same appointment. When we visit a dying friend, we are conscious of a certain solemnity that gathers about such persons. Death is appointed for all, and the questions of its occurrence is merely a matter of time. Other appointments in life we can neglect or break, but there is an appointment that no man can ignore, no man can brake. 

            Think about this: It is only when we do know [Jesus] that we are not afraid, for there is nothing to fear. Only when one is no longer afraid to die is one no longer afraid at all...If you are afraid of death, then you are afraid of life. If physical death were the only consequence of a life live apart from God, we would not have so much to fear, but the Bible warns that there is the second death, which is the eternal separation from God. 

            Renewal: In every way we are trouble, but we are not crushed by our troubles. We are frustrated, but we don't give up. We are persecuted, but we are not abandoned. We are captured, but we are not killed. We always carry around the death of Jesus in our bodies so that the life of Jesus is also shown in our bodies. While we are alive, we are constantly handed over to death for Jesus sake so that the life of Jesus is also shown in our mortal nature. Death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. The following is written, "I believe; therefore, I spoke." We have that same spirit of faith. We also believe; therefore, we also speak. We know that the one who brought the LORD Jesus back to life will also bring us back to life through Jesus. He will present us to God together with himself. (2 Corinthians 4:8-14)

            However, there is a bright side. As the Bible pronounces hell for the sinner, it also promises heaven for the saint. A saint has been described as a sinner who has been forgiven. The subject of heaven is much easier to accept than the subject of hell. And yet the Bible teaches both.  

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                                        Never Rest Ministries 

                              

You Wonder How Much More Suffering Can We Stand

                                                 When The Door Slams

Transgression Speaks [like an oracle] to the wicked (godless) [deep] within his heart; There is no fear (dread) of God before his eyes. [Rom 3:18] For he flatters and deceives himself in his own eyes Thinking that his sinfulness will not be discovered and hated [by God]. The words of hid mouth are wicked and deceitful; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wrongdoing on his bed; He sets himself on a path that is not good; He does not reject or despise evil.                                           Psalm 36:1-4 AMP

            This is how we know what real love is: Jesus gave his life for us" (John 3:16). Throughout His earthly, Jesus was constantly exposed to personal violence. At the beginning of His ministry, His own townsfolk at Nazareth tried to hurl Him down from the brow of the hill (Luke 4:29). The religious and political leaders often conspired to seize Him and kill Him. At length He was arrested and brought to trial before Pilate and Herod. Even though He was guiltless of the accusations, He was denounced as an enemy of God and man, and not worthy to live. 

            The sufferings of Jesus also included the fierce temptations of the devil: "Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil" (Matthew 4:1). Remember, too, that He knew in advance what was coming, and this enhanced His suffering. He knew the contents of the cup He had to drink; He knew the path of suffering He should tread. He could distinctly foresee the baptism of blood that awaited Him. He spoke plainly to His disciples of His coming death by crucifixion. 

            Think about this: Jesus, the supreme sufferer, came to suffer for our sins. As a result of His sufferings, our redemption was secured. This mean you don't have free will, "you have God's grace".

            Christ living in us will enable us to live above our circumstances, however painful they are. Perhaps you who read these words find yourself almost crusted by the circumstances which you are now facing. You wonder how much more suffering can you stand. But don't despair! God's grace is sufficient for you and will enable you to rise above your trials. Let this be your confidence: "can anything separate us from the love Christ has for us? Can troubles or sufferings or hunger or nakedness or danger or violent death?... But in all these things we have full victory through God who showed his love for us" (Romans 8:35-37).  

            Renewal: Since by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves for a sincere love of the believers, [see that you] love one another from the heart [always unselfishly seeking the best for one another], for you have been born again [that is, reborn from above-spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] not of seed which is perishable but [from that which is] imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting word of God (1 Peter 1:22-23 AMP).  

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness. 

                                                         Never Rest Ministries