Dear Family,
I hope you are doing well and pray that we all stay safe through this storm!Lately my thoughts and prayers have been filled with an awareness of Jesus's soon return for His Bride. It's making me want to be ready to meet Him and to be certain that all of our loved ones are ready, too.
Now is the time to be sure of what we believe and of what our future holds. Now is the time to share our faith so others can be ready for Christ's return and be confident of their future with Him, too.
I pray you are strengthened through today's message.
Do you ever have trouble singing some of the worship songs at church — the ones with lyrics that everyone seems to sing, yet you struggle, because deep down you don’t believe them to be true?
There were times in the past when I stumbled over lyrics like, “I will sing of Your love forever,” because I wasn’t sure about forever. Deep in my soul there was doubt causing me to question. I knew myself, knew I couldn’t be trusted with something so self-sacrificing as singing a love song to God - forever. I mouthed the words, but my heart didn’t believe. I wasn’t yet fully surrendered. I wasn’t given over to agree.
Is there any uncertainty in your heart, any doubt that stops you from singing and believing?
What do you feel when you read these words of Jesus? “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Simply calling Me ‘Lord’ will not be enough. Only those who do the will of My Father who is in heaven will join Me in heaven. At the end of time, on that day of judgment, many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? Did we not drive demons out of the possessed in Your name? Did we not perform miracles in Your name?’ But I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. And now, you must get away from Me, you evildoers!’” (Matt. 7:21-23, The Voice).
Is any part of you fearful and unsure about the future? If so, don’t ignore the warning. Heed the wake-up call. Pretending doesn’t bring peace. Going along with the crowd doesn’t bring assurance.
We can have whole-hearted confidence of where we are going and how we’ll spend eternity. We can know for certain that we belong to God, and He belongs to us. But it takes honestly facing our fear and doubt.
The Holy Spirit bears witness of the truth that we are either accepted by God in Christ Jesus or we are not because we are outside of Him. If we don’t have assurance, then we need to question the true condition of our heart — we are either fully surrendered, completely bowed and given over to Jesus as LORD, or we are still holding some back in unbelief.
Holy Spirit is our seal. He is the way to know if we are in God through faith in Christ Jesus. Consider Paul’s explanation, “In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as owned and protected [by God]. The Spirit is the guarantee [the first installment, the pledge, a foretaste] of our inheritance until the redemption of God’s own [purchased] possession [His believers], to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:13-14, AMP).
When we yield completely and surrender all to God, God gives us His Spirit to confirm we are forever His. Then there’s no room for uncertainty or fear, no worry with singing about forever, because we have been sealed by the Spirit of God. We are confident because our confidence is fully in Him.
Do you want to sing of forever, with whole-hearted agreement?You can — by putting your trust in the Son of God. Come to Christ today and repent for unbelief and all of the wrong you have done to Him, to others, to yourself. Give Him all of your life as you believe He is God, your Creator, the One who knows you best and is ready to forgive, redeem, and set you on a course that leads to life - forever with Him. Romans 10:9 declares, “So if you believe deep in your heart that God raised Jesus from the pit of death and if you voice your allegiance by confessing the truth that ‘Jesus is Lord,’ then you will be saved!” (The Voice).
Now you know. Go out and tell someone today!
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