THIS IS HOW SATAN WANTS TO STOP YOU FROM GETTING READY FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS….
As you follow Jesus, God works in your life daily to make you conform to His will. This divine work has a single, central goal. JUST ONE GOAL.
This goal is NOT to make you happy in this world. It is NOT to make you rich in this world. It is NOT to make you great in this world. It is NOT even to make you comfortable in the world.
Rather, God’s GOAL is to BRING YOUR LIFE IN THIS WORLD TO AN END! And to replace that life WITH THE LIFE OF HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.
The reason for this is simple. God has a standard of perfection that He wants mankind to meet (Matt 5:48). However, there’s no way that you (or, any man) can ever meet this standard of perfection that will please the heart of God. Fortunately, this standard has been fully met in Christ. And God wants to transfer that perfection to you.
To achieve this goal, here is what God does. He simply crucifies your old life, and INTEGRATES YOU INTO THE LIFE OF CHRIST, thereby turning you into a brand NEW CREATURE entirely (2 Cor 5:17).
In this way, you become ONE with Christ. Such that when God sees you, He sees His Son reflected in you. This is what greatly pleases the heart of God - today, tomorrow, and for all eternity.
This integration of your life into the life of Christ is crucial for your journey to eternity. This is why Jesus strongly urged believers to ABIDE IN HIM, warning that ANY man that does not abide in Him will be gathered, cast into the fire, and BURNED (John 15:6).
A believer that does not fully understand this truth, and embrace its implications firmly, can never, ever be ready for the return of the Lord.
Today, as mankind approaches the end of The Age, and the coming judgment, God is gathering ALL that will be saved into His Son, Jesus Christ.
However, standing resolutely and viciously against this divine plan is what the Bible calls ‘SELF’. SELF is the nature that mankind inherited from Satan because of the fall in the Garden of Eden.
Since the fall, SELF has ALWAYS sought to replace God in the heart of man. This SELF is at the foundation of EVERYTHING that man is, and man possesses – his mind, his intellect, his wisdom, his glory, his plans, his purpose, his possessions, his accomplishments, his enjoyment, his relationships, his standing in the society, and so on.
In the way it operates, SELF functions as Satan’s remote control in the heart of a man. That is, if Satan wants a man to do anything, or to possess anything, he comes to that man (and also controls that man) through SELF.
It is for this reason that Jesus presents DENYING SELF as the very first step in following Him. This is recorded for us in Luke 9:23, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himSELF….”
We must never forget this: SELF and Christ can never, ever dwell in the same heart! Thus, until a man DENIES SELF, he cannot take up his cross daily to follow Jesus, as God demands.
Now, here is a bizarre fact of life. Generally speaking, man does not really want to deny SELF! This is because too much is at stake. For example, to deny SELF is to LOSE YOUR IDENTITY IN THE WORLD. To become a nonentity as far as the world is concerned.
Of course, nobody wants to be seen as a nonentity in the world! This is why man wants to desperately cling to SELF - even when a part of him may strongly desire to follow Jesus. As mentioned earlier, this is completely impossible.
This is the grim lesson that the Bible teaches us through the story of the rich, young ruler in Mark 10:17-23. The man loved Jesus dearly, even running in the street to catch up with Him. And verse 21 of this passage records that Jesus loved him too. But, neither the love of the man for Jesus, nor the love of Jesus for the man, could alter the impossibility of having Jesus and SELF in the same heart. The man left in sorrow. That’s the power of SELF!
In the end-time that we live in today, the danger posed to mankind by SELF becomes even more complex. And dangerous. Writing about the end-time, Paul, the Apostle, wrote: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be LOVERS OF SELF…. (2 Tim 3:1-2).
What this means is clear. It means in the end-time, man will INEXPLICABLY find it much more difficult to RESIST SELF! Man would just instinctively LOVE SELF, OBEY SELF, and FOLLOW SELF. This is how Satan’s ability to control mankind will reach its peak in the end-time that we live in today.
This ugly, sad reality does NOT exclude the church of today!!! In fact, the prophecy quoted above was written in the context of the church generally. To confirm this prophecy that was written over 2,000 years ago, we only need to look at how CARNALITY is thriving in the church of today!
This is not the only prophecy that fore-shadowed the sorry state of the church in the end-time. Here is a direct prophecy from the Lord Himself, “And because iniquity shall abound, THE LOVE OF MANY shall wax cold.” (Matt 24:12)
Paul also prophesied ‘A FALLING AWAY’ from Christ in the end-time (2 Thess 2:3). And, of course, Jesus made it clear that when He returns, He’d BARELY find faith on earth! (Luke 18:8).
Apart from these dire warnings about the state of the church in the end-time, any believer that has a bit of discernment knows very, very clearly that SELF is ruling the church of today! Not Jesus Christ.
Without any shame, the false teachers of today (usually called ‘men of God’) openly use SELF to attract and keep men in what they call ‘churches’.
Have you not observed that the BIGGEST and RICHEST churches today are those that appeal most passionately to the SELF element in man? They attract men with the promise of wealth. With the promise of prominence in the world. Greatness in the world. Happiness in the world. Peace in the world. Satisfaction in the world. And so on.
One thing you’ll barely EVER hear them preach PASSIONATELY is the message of The Cross!!! This is because, to preach The Cross, you have to, first of all, preach that men should DENY SELF.
Clearly, preaching the denial of SELF in this AGE OF SELF will be very, very bad for church business! As church business today ranks highly among the fastest-growing industries in the world.
In contrast, please see how the Apostles of Christ were radically challenging their hearers with the message of The Cross, as they took the Gospel of Christ from church to church, and from nation to nation. “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been CRUCIFIED TO ME, AND I TO THE WORLD.” (Gal 6:14). Also, please see – Acts 14:22, 1 Cor 1:18, 2:1, Phil 3:18, Gal 2:20, etc.
This is because the apostles of old knew that unless believers are made conformable to the death of Christ by God through The Cross, the life of Christ can neither TRULY manifest nor grow in such believers. Never!
In these days, the failure to consistently preach The Cross is responsible for the lukewarm and blind state of the church of today. Do you remember the testimony of the lukewarm church in Laodicea, in Revelation 3:14-22? Here’s verse 17, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing….” SELF! SELF!! SELF!!!
Today, would MOST of our churches not rejoice and dance heartily at such a wonderful ‘testimony’? But, Jesus, seeing beyond the façade of the glitter of that church pronounced them, “… wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked”.
Words that aptly describe the church of today! For the experience of the church in Laodicea was recorded as a cryptic warning for the end-time church.
Friends, as prophesied, this is where we are today - even as the second coming of Jesus approaches rapidly. The situation will definitely NOT improve! Certainly not in these days that Satan has captured the hearts and destiny of mankind by constraining men to be ‘LOVERS OF SELF’.
Again, this is WHY Jesus will barely find faith on earth when He returns (Luke 18:8). For the raging OCEAN OF SELF would have swept MOST believers away. Into perdition.
This is why the few believers that will survive this end-time onslaught of Satan would have to live RADICALLY AWAY from what men call Christianity today. Away from what they call ‘church’. Away from their doctrines. Away from their lifestyles.
Such believers would have to cultivate the grace to hear DIRECTLY from God in this end-time. To hear, as Jesus knocks quietly on the door of their hearts for DIRECT personal fellowship with Him. This is what Jesus meant by “… I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” in Revelation 3:20.
Only a handful will hear that gentle knock. Of that number, only a very few will actually open to Him. And, that’s because THE CROSS (along with its suffering and shame) await ALL believers that dare to separate themselves and open the door for Christ in these dark days.
May you and I be counted among those FAITHFUL FEW. Amen.
Thanks for reading, God bless you.
#JustAskGod# #HeThatHasAnEar#
As you follow Jesus, God works in your life daily to make you conform to His will. This divine work has a single, central goal. JUST ONE GOAL.
This goal is NOT to make you happy in this world. It is NOT to make you rich in this world. It is NOT to make you great in this world. It is NOT even to make you comfortable in the world.
Rather, God’s GOAL is to BRING YOUR LIFE IN THIS WORLD TO AN END! And to replace that life WITH THE LIFE OF HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.
The reason for this is simple. God has a standard of perfection that He wants mankind to meet (Matt 5:48). However, there’s no way that you (or, any man) can ever meet this standard of perfection that will please the heart of God. Fortunately, this standard has been fully met in Christ. And God wants to transfer that perfection to you.
To achieve this goal, here is what God does. He simply crucifies your old life, and INTEGRATES YOU INTO THE LIFE OF CHRIST, thereby turning you into a brand NEW CREATURE entirely (2 Cor 5:17).
In this way, you become ONE with Christ. Such that when God sees you, He sees His Son reflected in you. This is what greatly pleases the heart of God - today, tomorrow, and for all eternity.
This integration of your life into the life of Christ is crucial for your journey to eternity. This is why Jesus strongly urged believers to ABIDE IN HIM, warning that ANY man that does not abide in Him will be gathered, cast into the fire, and BURNED (John 15:6).
A believer that does not fully understand this truth, and embrace its implications firmly, can never, ever be ready for the return of the Lord.
Today, as mankind approaches the end of The Age, and the coming judgment, God is gathering ALL that will be saved into His Son, Jesus Christ.
However, standing resolutely and viciously against this divine plan is what the Bible calls ‘SELF’. SELF is the nature that mankind inherited from Satan because of the fall in the Garden of Eden.
Since the fall, SELF has ALWAYS sought to replace God in the heart of man. This SELF is at the foundation of EVERYTHING that man is, and man possesses – his mind, his intellect, his wisdom, his glory, his plans, his purpose, his possessions, his accomplishments, his enjoyment, his relationships, his standing in the society, and so on.
In the way it operates, SELF functions as Satan’s remote control in the heart of a man. That is, if Satan wants a man to do anything, or to possess anything, he comes to that man (and also controls that man) through SELF.
It is for this reason that Jesus presents DENYING SELF as the very first step in following Him. This is recorded for us in Luke 9:23, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himSELF….”
We must never forget this: SELF and Christ can never, ever dwell in the same heart! Thus, until a man DENIES SELF, he cannot take up his cross daily to follow Jesus, as God demands.
Now, here is a bizarre fact of life. Generally speaking, man does not really want to deny SELF! This is because too much is at stake. For example, to deny SELF is to LOSE YOUR IDENTITY IN THE WORLD. To become a nonentity as far as the world is concerned.
Of course, nobody wants to be seen as a nonentity in the world! This is why man wants to desperately cling to SELF - even when a part of him may strongly desire to follow Jesus. As mentioned earlier, this is completely impossible.
This is the grim lesson that the Bible teaches us through the story of the rich, young ruler in Mark 10:17-23. The man loved Jesus dearly, even running in the street to catch up with Him. And verse 21 of this passage records that Jesus loved him too. But, neither the love of the man for Jesus, nor the love of Jesus for the man, could alter the impossibility of having Jesus and SELF in the same heart. The man left in sorrow. That’s the power of SELF!
In the end-time that we live in today, the danger posed to mankind by SELF becomes even more complex. And dangerous. Writing about the end-time, Paul, the Apostle, wrote: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be LOVERS OF SELF…. (2 Tim 3:1-2).
What this means is clear. It means in the end-time, man will INEXPLICABLY find it much more difficult to RESIST SELF! Man would just instinctively LOVE SELF, OBEY SELF, and FOLLOW SELF. This is how Satan’s ability to control mankind will reach its peak in the end-time that we live in today.
This ugly, sad reality does NOT exclude the church of today!!! In fact, the prophecy quoted above was written in the context of the church generally. To confirm this prophecy that was written over 2,000 years ago, we only need to look at how CARNALITY is thriving in the church of today!
This is not the only prophecy that fore-shadowed the sorry state of the church in the end-time. Here is a direct prophecy from the Lord Himself, “And because iniquity shall abound, THE LOVE OF MANY shall wax cold.” (Matt 24:12)
Paul also prophesied ‘A FALLING AWAY’ from Christ in the end-time (2 Thess 2:3). And, of course, Jesus made it clear that when He returns, He’d BARELY find faith on earth! (Luke 18:8).
Apart from these dire warnings about the state of the church in the end-time, any believer that has a bit of discernment knows very, very clearly that SELF is ruling the church of today! Not Jesus Christ.
Without any shame, the false teachers of today (usually called ‘men of God’) openly use SELF to attract and keep men in what they call ‘churches’.
Have you not observed that the BIGGEST and RICHEST churches today are those that appeal most passionately to the SELF element in man? They attract men with the promise of wealth. With the promise of prominence in the world. Greatness in the world. Happiness in the world. Peace in the world. Satisfaction in the world. And so on.
One thing you’ll barely EVER hear them preach PASSIONATELY is the message of The Cross!!! This is because, to preach The Cross, you have to, first of all, preach that men should DENY SELF.
Clearly, preaching the denial of SELF in this AGE OF SELF will be very, very bad for church business! As church business today ranks highly among the fastest-growing industries in the world.
In contrast, please see how the Apostles of Christ were radically challenging their hearers with the message of The Cross, as they took the Gospel of Christ from church to church, and from nation to nation. “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been CRUCIFIED TO ME, AND I TO THE WORLD.” (Gal 6:14). Also, please see – Acts 14:22, 1 Cor 1:18, 2:1, Phil 3:18, Gal 2:20, etc.
This is because the apostles of old knew that unless believers are made conformable to the death of Christ by God through The Cross, the life of Christ can neither TRULY manifest nor grow in such believers. Never!
In these days, the failure to consistently preach The Cross is responsible for the lukewarm and blind state of the church of today. Do you remember the testimony of the lukewarm church in Laodicea, in Revelation 3:14-22? Here’s verse 17, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing….” SELF! SELF!! SELF!!!
Today, would MOST of our churches not rejoice and dance heartily at such a wonderful ‘testimony’? But, Jesus, seeing beyond the façade of the glitter of that church pronounced them, “… wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked”.
Words that aptly describe the church of today! For the experience of the church in Laodicea was recorded as a cryptic warning for the end-time church.
Friends, as prophesied, this is where we are today - even as the second coming of Jesus approaches rapidly. The situation will definitely NOT improve! Certainly not in these days that Satan has captured the hearts and destiny of mankind by constraining men to be ‘LOVERS OF SELF’.
Again, this is WHY Jesus will barely find faith on earth when He returns (Luke 18:8). For the raging OCEAN OF SELF would have swept MOST believers away. Into perdition.
This is why the few believers that will survive this end-time onslaught of Satan would have to live RADICALLY AWAY from what men call Christianity today. Away from what they call ‘church’. Away from their doctrines. Away from their lifestyles.
Such believers would have to cultivate the grace to hear DIRECTLY from God in this end-time. To hear, as Jesus knocks quietly on the door of their hearts for DIRECT personal fellowship with Him. This is what Jesus meant by “… I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” in Revelation 3:20.
Only a handful will hear that gentle knock. Of that number, only a very few will actually open to Him. And, that’s because THE CROSS (along with its suffering and shame) await ALL believers that dare to separate themselves and open the door for Christ in these dark days.
May you and I be counted among those FAITHFUL FEW. Amen.
Thanks for reading, God bless you.
#JustAskGod# #HeThatHasAnEar#
THIS IS HOW SATAN WANTS TO STOP YOU FROM GETTING READY FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS….
As you follow Jesus, God works in your life daily to make you conform to His will. This divine work has a single, central goal. JUST ONE GOAL.
This goal is NOT to make you happy in this world. It is NOT to make you rich in this world. It is NOT to make you great in this world. It is NOT even to make you comfortable in the world.
Rather, God’s GOAL is to BRING YOUR LIFE IN THIS WORLD TO AN END! And to replace that life WITH THE LIFE OF HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.
The reason for this is simple. God has a standard of perfection that He wants mankind to meet (Matt 5:48). However, there’s no way that you (or, any man) can ever meet this standard of perfection that will please the heart of God. Fortunately, this standard has been fully met in Christ. And God wants to transfer that perfection to you.
To achieve this goal, here is what God does. He simply crucifies your old life, and INTEGRATES YOU INTO THE LIFE OF CHRIST, thereby turning you into a brand NEW CREATURE entirely (2 Cor 5:17).
In this way, you become ONE with Christ. Such that when God sees you, He sees His Son reflected in you. This is what greatly pleases the heart of God - today, tomorrow, and for all eternity.
This integration of your life into the life of Christ is crucial for your journey to eternity. This is why Jesus strongly urged believers to ABIDE IN HIM, warning that ANY man that does not abide in Him will be gathered, cast into the fire, and BURNED (John 15:6).
A believer that does not fully understand this truth, and embrace its implications firmly, can never, ever be ready for the return of the Lord.
Today, as mankind approaches the end of The Age, and the coming judgment, God is gathering ALL that will be saved into His Son, Jesus Christ.
However, standing resolutely and viciously against this divine plan is what the Bible calls ‘SELF’. SELF is the nature that mankind inherited from Satan because of the fall in the Garden of Eden.
Since the fall, SELF has ALWAYS sought to replace God in the heart of man. This SELF is at the foundation of EVERYTHING that man is, and man possesses – his mind, his intellect, his wisdom, his glory, his plans, his purpose, his possessions, his accomplishments, his enjoyment, his relationships, his standing in the society, and so on.
In the way it operates, SELF functions as Satan’s remote control in the heart of a man. That is, if Satan wants a man to do anything, or to possess anything, he comes to that man (and also controls that man) through SELF.
It is for this reason that Jesus presents DENYING SELF as the very first step in following Him. This is recorded for us in Luke 9:23, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himSELF….”
We must never forget this: SELF and Christ can never, ever dwell in the same heart! Thus, until a man DENIES SELF, he cannot take up his cross daily to follow Jesus, as God demands.
Now, here is a bizarre fact of life. Generally speaking, man does not really want to deny SELF! This is because too much is at stake. For example, to deny SELF is to LOSE YOUR IDENTITY IN THE WORLD. To become a nonentity as far as the world is concerned.
Of course, nobody wants to be seen as a nonentity in the world! This is why man wants to desperately cling to SELF - even when a part of him may strongly desire to follow Jesus. As mentioned earlier, this is completely impossible.
This is the grim lesson that the Bible teaches us through the story of the rich, young ruler in Mark 10:17-23. The man loved Jesus dearly, even running in the street to catch up with Him. And verse 21 of this passage records that Jesus loved him too. But, neither the love of the man for Jesus, nor the love of Jesus for the man, could alter the impossibility of having Jesus and SELF in the same heart. The man left in sorrow. That’s the power of SELF!
In the end-time that we live in today, the danger posed to mankind by SELF becomes even more complex. And dangerous. Writing about the end-time, Paul, the Apostle, wrote: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be LOVERS OF SELF…. (2 Tim 3:1-2).
What this means is clear. It means in the end-time, man will INEXPLICABLY find it much more difficult to RESIST SELF! Man would just instinctively LOVE SELF, OBEY SELF, and FOLLOW SELF. This is how Satan’s ability to control mankind will reach its peak in the end-time that we live in today.
This ugly, sad reality does NOT exclude the church of today!!! In fact, the prophecy quoted above was written in the context of the church generally. To confirm this prophecy that was written over 2,000 years ago, we only need to look at how CARNALITY is thriving in the church of today!
This is not the only prophecy that fore-shadowed the sorry state of the church in the end-time. Here is a direct prophecy from the Lord Himself, “And because iniquity shall abound, THE LOVE OF MANY shall wax cold.” (Matt 24:12)
Paul also prophesied ‘A FALLING AWAY’ from Christ in the end-time (2 Thess 2:3). And, of course, Jesus made it clear that when He returns, He’d BARELY find faith on earth! (Luke 18:8).
Apart from these dire warnings about the state of the church in the end-time, any believer that has a bit of discernment knows very, very clearly that SELF is ruling the church of today! Not Jesus Christ.
Without any shame, the false teachers of today (usually called ‘men of God’) openly use SELF to attract and keep men in what they call ‘churches’.
Have you not observed that the BIGGEST and RICHEST churches today are those that appeal most passionately to the SELF element in man? They attract men with the promise of wealth. With the promise of prominence in the world. Greatness in the world. Happiness in the world. Peace in the world. Satisfaction in the world. And so on.
One thing you’ll barely EVER hear them preach PASSIONATELY is the message of The Cross!!! This is because, to preach The Cross, you have to, first of all, preach that men should DENY SELF.
Clearly, preaching the denial of SELF in this AGE OF SELF will be very, very bad for church business! As church business today ranks highly among the fastest-growing industries in the world.
In contrast, please see how the Apostles of Christ were radically challenging their hearers with the message of The Cross, as they took the Gospel of Christ from church to church, and from nation to nation. “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been CRUCIFIED TO ME, AND I TO THE WORLD.” (Gal 6:14). Also, please see – Acts 14:22, 1 Cor 1:18, 2:1, Phil 3:18, Gal 2:20, etc.
This is because the apostles of old knew that unless believers are made conformable to the death of Christ by God through The Cross, the life of Christ can neither TRULY manifest nor grow in such believers. Never!
In these days, the failure to consistently preach The Cross is responsible for the lukewarm and blind state of the church of today. Do you remember the testimony of the lukewarm church in Laodicea, in Revelation 3:14-22? Here’s verse 17, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing….” SELF! SELF!! SELF!!!
Today, would MOST of our churches not rejoice and dance heartily at such a wonderful ‘testimony’? But, Jesus, seeing beyond the façade of the glitter of that church pronounced them, “… wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked”.
Words that aptly describe the church of today! For the experience of the church in Laodicea was recorded as a cryptic warning for the end-time church.
Friends, as prophesied, this is where we are today - even as the second coming of Jesus approaches rapidly. The situation will definitely NOT improve! Certainly not in these days that Satan has captured the hearts and destiny of mankind by constraining men to be ‘LOVERS OF SELF’.
Again, this is WHY Jesus will barely find faith on earth when He returns (Luke 18:8). For the raging OCEAN OF SELF would have swept MOST believers away. Into perdition.
This is why the few believers that will survive this end-time onslaught of Satan would have to live RADICALLY AWAY from what men call Christianity today. Away from what they call ‘church’. Away from their doctrines. Away from their lifestyles.
Such believers would have to cultivate the grace to hear DIRECTLY from God in this end-time. To hear, as Jesus knocks quietly on the door of their hearts for DIRECT personal fellowship with Him. This is what Jesus meant by “… I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” in Revelation 3:20.
Only a handful will hear that gentle knock. Of that number, only a very few will actually open to Him. And, that’s because THE CROSS (along with its suffering and shame) await ALL believers that dare to separate themselves and open the door for Christ in these dark days.
May you and I be counted among those FAITHFUL FEW. Amen.
Thanks for reading, God bless you.
#JustAskGod# #HeThatHasAnEar#
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