Trial by fire

Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire.

--- The Bible

We will have to go through several trials, and on the last day, God will save us. We have faith that He will. For this reason, we're able to go through these trials. This will be as hard on us, as purification by fire is, for gold. Peter, continues thus, in his first letter to all Christians, chapter 1, verses 5-9. He also mentions that we'll be extremely glad cos we've been saved by Jesus Christ, and this helps us keep our faith. Honestly, if I was tortured for christ, I don't know whether I'll stand tall for Him. But as dc Talk put it in their Jesus Freaks book, "There's no point in thinking if we would be able to die for Christ, if we haven't been living for Him". So, let's focus on living for Him right now - the trail-ing, fire-ing and die-ing, we can worry about, when the time comes. The time will surely come.

He (Peter) continues in a slightly different vein, uptil verse 12, where he talks about the prophets who foretold the coming of Christ. They knew that God's amazing plan was on the way, so they were trying to figure out more of the person, who would be Jesus. By the Holy Spirit's revelations, they were able to let us know who JC was, before He came. The interesting point here is, that angels apparently, would've wanted to know this - but they were not given this message. It was given only to humans. Makes me think of that lovely Steven Curtis Chapman song, Angels Wish...

I can't fly, atleast not yet
I got no halo on my head
....
I know things
Even angels
Only wish they knew

At the heart of it all, is a God who simply loves and adores us. So much, so that we'd be willing (and we rightly should be!) to go through any amount of trials, temptations, shame, regret, pain, embarrassment to get to Him on the last day. Lord Jesus, may this be our prayer, our aim and our life's goal. Amen.

Surprise!

God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.

--- The Bible

1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Peter mentions in verse three that we've a great hope, since God is good and raised Jesus from death. This new life and hope gained through the resurrection is awesome. He then continues in verse 4, talking about a something that God's got stored up in heaven for us.

This has me thinking... What is this something? Sounds like a real surprise doesn't it? We, humans, simply love surprises. We're so happy to get them (and to give them, I might add!) Then definitely, our God and creator, who made us all in His image, would give really awesome surprises. So I'm guessing that Heaven's got something for us, which is beyond our wildest dreams and the furthest reaches of our imagination. Something really exciting. Something that can't be found on earth. And we're going there to get it! Awesome!!!

Remember, this joy to look forward to, is gained by our hope in Christ's sacrifice and His resurrection. That is what we need to do now - gain hope for living, from the life, dead and raising-up of Christ.

God bless the one who hears of the hope of Christ, and takes heed. Amen.

Almost - a way with words

God will bless everyone who hears and obeys this prophecy. The time is almost here.

--- The Bible

The opening three verses of Revelation, are beautiful and simple. It simply states that the entire account of revelation to follow, was:

1. Shown by God to Jesus

2. So that Jesus could pass on the message to His servant through His angel

3. Blessed are those who read it, hear it and obey it

4. Most importantly, time is short

The time factor is mentioned twice - first, in verse 1, where it is mentioned that these things must happen soon, then again in the third verse, The time is almost here. I think this is pure brilliance and wordplay by John. Call it what you want, but a world where "soon" and "almost" takes more than 2000 years sounds totally bizarre and mind-blowing. Well... welcome to the world where Jesus Christ reigns. This simple time-factor helps us to understand that God really really really does not talk about or do things the way we humans do. His ways are higher than ours. Truly. Believe it. Bank on it. With all your heart.

God bless.

Grave Robber

My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who
have already died. Then you won't grieve over them and be like people who don't
have any hope.

--- The Bible

Petra, in their 1983 hit single, Grave Robber, sing "Where is thy sting, tell me, where is thy bite? When the Grave Robber comes, like a thief in the night!" And truly, the only sting of death is the intense pain of separation. This pain is nullified if we know we're gonna see our loved ones pretty soon... Looking at verses 13-15 of the 4th chapter of Thessalonians, we see Paul trying to let the Thessalonians know exactly how it's gonna be. As believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no doubt that we're all gonna be raised from the grave (or we'll rise like phoenixes from the ashes, if we've been burnt!) But how well do we base our faith and our lives on this hope, so that we are not too let down by the death of a dear one?

Personally, I think the correct response is summed up by the Jars of Clay hit single The Valley Song - "I will sing of Your mercy that leads me through valleys of sorrow and leads me to rivers of joy."

Amen.

Desire

Our desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God's laws.

- The Bible

Desire is such a multi-pronged word - from the lustful, sexual desire it could mean anything neighbouring the desire to purchase a kitten and bring it up! Whatever desires we have, they tend to draw us away from what our Lord wants us to do. In most cases, the desire itself may not be the sin, but pursuing that desire would lead us to sin.

Romans chapter 8 verses 1-17 talk about living by the power of the Spirit. Jesus Christ walking on this earth as a perfect human, and being a sinless sacrifice has defeated the power that sin holds over us - we're free to walk the earth, as we will. We are free from sin. But this freedom is found only in the Lord. It's freely given to all who believe; so simply let's believe and we'll have the ability to use the power found in Jesus to fight our own desires and be captivated by the awesome plans that He holds for us, in our future.

God bless you all,

Amen.