♥ Pain- Road to Heaven, Fun- Road to Hell! Which Road Are You On?

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are MY ways higher than your ways. Isaiah 55:9

December 1943 : The young mother is completely exhausted. After struggling for weeks, her 5 year old daughter has closed her eyes for ever. Today meningitis could be combated with antibiotics. They were not available then. "Will my husband be preserved for me  at least?" thought the young woman in her heart.

New Year's Day 1944 : The soldier has been granted leave from the front line to attend the funeral of his daughter. He thus escaped a devastating cauldron battle. Hope is growing. After the funeral, the husband soldier leaves again to the battle ground.

April 1944 : There is a knock at the door. The father-in-law enters. His expression already betrays bad news. Stunned, the young woman listens: her husband has been killed in action. Oppressive questions and thoughts invade her mind. Why this twofold loss? Oh GOD, W H Y?

August 2003 : At the age of almost 90 the widow follows her husband and daughter into eternity.  Her faith kept her from many a doubt. It was a stronghold despite her being unable to understand GOD's ways. So the words of apostle Paul were used for her epigraph: I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7).

Examples like this comfort the believer who has to suffer. But today's text warns us against expressing thoughts hastily regarding the suffering of others.  Auschwitz, the terror attacks of September 11th 2001, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004, the diagnosis of a  tumor in a friend: all call for silence in cases of immeasurable suffering. Eternity only will reveal the answers to all our questions.

The suffering of a Christian is only for this earthly life which may be 60-70 years more or less, because that is the only time satan is allowed by Adonai GOD to inflict believers. But the un-believers have no suffering in their earthly lives, simply because satan knows he has a whole eternity in hell to inflict suffering on the un-believers, suffering of the worst kind unimaginable to man.

So my dear brothers and sisters, let this be a warning to all un-believers. You might enjoy a lifetime of comforts and have no struggles. But enjoy it while it lasts because the Bible warns us that it is temporary, as JESUS told us in the parable of the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. When you see your Christian neighbors suffering in this life, don't look down on them or say, what point is there in being a faithful Christian. Being good, yet they suffer. An eternity in heaven with JESUS awaits them.

Is it better to have a small period of pain and suffering on earth as a Christian and an eternity in heaven afterward with unimaginable joy.
Or
Is it better to have a small period of joy and fun on earth as un-believers and an eternity in hell afterward with unimaginable suffering.

Allow me to tell you another profound truth. It is against the people of GOD that the devil mobilizes his forces.  As the devil is unable to attack JESUS, he attacks those who faithfully  follow HIS leading and call.

★ I Do My Best!

A born again Christian once asked a passer-by, "Are you saved?"
"I do my best!", was the reply.
"So do I", responded the Christian, "but not in order to be saved, but because I am!"

Countless people still believe that they can be saved by their good works. They admit that they cannot meet with GOD's approval as they are. This is a good sign : they do not belong to the mass who do not care and ignore the issue of GOD and eternity. But we human beings have a driving force within us, encouraging us to satisfy GOD in our own way. It has always been so. In some heathen religions it even went so far as to think one could reconcile the godhead; by sacrificing one's own children.

The error lies in the fact that GOD does not need to be reconciled to us : HE is not the enemy of man. We humans live in rebellion against HIM. So if GOD sometimes intervenes painfully in the life of individuals, HE does so to awaken and remind them of HIS claims on them. As a righteous JUDGE, HE must condemn evil, but HE is never against us.

We need to be reconciled to HIM. This can only happen through a fundamental change that must take place in us. It begins on our partby our confessing our sins before GOD and obtaining forgiveness and peace through faith in HIS SON, The LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

The salvation that is available for everyone who confesses the guilt of his life before GOD is a gift that cannot be obtained through good works, but solely by faith in the LORD JESUS CHRIST.  On this matter anything that comes from ourselves is of no avail; GOD must be the giver.

Through salvation GOD gives us a totally new start. If anyone is in CHRIST, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (1 Corinthians 5:17). Seen spiritually, therefore, every  believer is a new creation,  the work of GOD created in CHRIST JESUS.

Created for what purpose?  For good works!  Only then does the Word of God speak of good works.  But they are not simply our own achievement s that we undertake independently of GOD. They have been prepared beforehand by HIM. And the believer can carry them out in the power of the new life that he has received. He does so, because this new life urges him to.

Now it is no longer a toilsome effort in the uncertain hope of deserving GOD's approval. It is joyful discipleship, following in the footsteps of the LORD JESUS, who glorified GOD on this earth and desires that HIS redeemed should take HIS place here. Good works, in GOD's view, are those thst we do, because we have been saved. 

★ Witnessing or Silent Christian!

That Christians should be a witness unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST, is a fact that is made very clear in the Word of GOD. That many Christians have failed to be witnesses for our LORD is also a fact,  and a very lamentable one. To be satisfied with the fact that one is saved and feels no responsibility beyond that is a sad situation,  and may cast doubt about the reality of one's faith. This should lead one to examine himself to make certain that his faith is not the kind described in James 2:26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. "

It is not that every believer is expected to be an evangelist,  but every believer should seek to do the work of an evangelist,  though it may be on a very small  scale.

A believer cannot be totally silent about his faith, especially where there is freedom of religion. "It is not merely that we are saved from hell", wrote C.H.Mackintosh, "that is true; it is not merely that we are pardoned,  justified,  and accepted; all this is true, but we are called to the high and holy work of bearing through this world, The NAME, that is above all names, the testimony,  the glory, of our LORD JESUS CHRIST".

The apostle Paul quotes from psalm 116 in 2 Corinthians 4:13, saying, "We having the same spirit of faith,  according to as it is written,  I believed,  and therefore have I spoken; we also believe and therefore speak". The apostles Peter and John were not standing before friendly interrogators when they said,  "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in GOD's sight to obey man rather than GOD. For we cannot help but speak about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20).

Written by A.M. Behnam

Are you a believer who is witnessing about CHRIST? Whether it be in big or small ways, it does not matter, as long as you witness!
JESUS CHRIST died for you in public, for all the world to see, not in private  or in secret.  HE hung on the cross in our place, publicly. Let us not be ashamed in standing up and witnessing to the world, about that JESUS. And the way to start is by firstly being a witness among your family and friends. And when you do that,  you will see that you are miraculously given, up from GOD's throne, the boldness to witness, as The LORD leads, before larger crowds whether the crowds are friendly or not.

★ Show Me Proof!

Exodus 12:13--"The blood will be a sign for you on the houses you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

Show me proof that I am saved. Oh! For evidence that I am among God's people!  "The blood shall be to you a sign, a proof, a token". There is none other granted. Look not for a sign within your breast; see it in the blood of CHRIST; look not at your feelings, but at HIS sufferings;  look not at your joy, but HIS pain. It would not have been faith but disobedience in Israel to have spent the night in inquiring and looking if the blood marks were upon their house doors. "None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning", GOD had said. And they sat within and waited for the daybreak.

Are they,  whose doors are shut, and who assemble in fear and trembling around the paschal lamb, less safe than their neighbors who calmly wait for liberty's coming morn as they keep the feast? It is the blood upon the door, not the feelings of them within the house, wherein the safety lies. Those with faith obeyed GOD, took the blood and sprinkled it, and in that redeeming blood was the security.

But give me evidence that GOD is satisfied respecting my sins.

Heed HIS words: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you". HIS sword of justice has been plunged into the adorable Substitute.  HIS justice asks for no second judgment, no double dying for sin. The very sword that slew the LAMB now shelters those for whom the blood was shed. We once bent over a poor dying man and said, "Friend, you are leaving this world. You will very soon appear before GOD. How is it about your soul? Where are your sins?" He was too weak to lift a finger, but looked up calmly and whispered,  "My sins are under the blood". He rested in this -- that GOD looks upon the sacrifice of HIS SON, and not upon the sins of those who put their trust in HIM.

This article is written by H. F. Witherby.

★ Little Sins!

A little thorn may cause much suffering,
A little cloud may hide the sun,
Little foxes spoil the vines,
And little sins do mischief to the tender hearts.

These little sins borough in the soul and make it so full of that which is hateful to CHRIST,  that HE will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian,  but a little sin can make him miserable.

Christian, what hast thou to do with sin?
Hath it not cost thee enough already? 
Burnt child, wilt thou play with the fire?
What! When thou hast already been between the jaws of the lion,
Wilt thou step a second time into his den?
Hast thou not had enough of the old serpant?

When Satan cannot get a great sin in, he will let a little one in, like a thief who goes and finds shutters all coated with iron and bolted inside. At last he sees a little window in a chamber. He cannot get in, so he puts a little boy in, that he may go around and open the back door. So the devil always has his little sins to carry about with him to go and open the back doors for him, and we let one in and say, "Oh, it is only a little one". Yes, but how that little sin becomes the ruin of the entire man.

Our LORD JESUS is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw HIS hand.
As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed.

HE is the sun ever shining;
HE is the manna always falling around the camp;
HE is the Rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from HIS smitten side;
The rain of HIS grace is always dropping;
The river of HIS bounty is ever flowing,  and
The well-spring of HIS love is constantly overflowing.

♥ Hidden Sin!

Chuck had slowed to a stop when his car was hit from behind and was pushed into the vehicle ahead of him.  A sickening, crunching sound indicated that additional vehicles had collided behind them.

As Chuck sat quietly for a moment he observed that the vehicle directly behind him was pulling out into traffic.  Obviously hoping to avoid an encounter with police, the escaping driver neglected to notice he had left something behind.  When the police arrived, an officer picked up the hit-and-run driver's license plate from the ground and said to Chuck,"Someone will be waiting for him when he arrives home. He won't get away with this."

Scripture tells us: "Be sure your sins will find you out. Numbers 32:23", as this man who fled the accident discovered. We may sometimes be able to hide our sins from the people around us, but nothing is ever "hidden from GOD's  sight (Hebrews 4:13)". HE sees each of our failures,  thoughts, and motivations
(1 Samuel 16:7; Luke 12:2-3).

Believers are given a wonderful promise: "If we confess our sins, GOD is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9)".

We cannot hide from GOD
No matter how we try;
For HE knows all we think and do,
We can't escape HIS eye.

This article is taken from Our Daily Bread 2013 written by Cindy Hess  Kasper.

So don't let any unconfessed so-called  "hidden sins" come between you and GOD, because the sins that you think are hidden, are in reality totally bare and open to HIM. So don't let Satan fool you into thinking otherwise.

Psalm 69:5 - O GOD, YOU know my foolishness;  and my sins are not hidden from YOU.

★ Uncompromisingly Run!

How uncompromisingly have you run the race of faith? 

The apostle Paul explained that he had uncompromisingly run the race of faith, which had only one end: the upward call of GOD in CHRIST JESUS in glory.
And how could Paul run the race so uncompromisingly? Because he never forgot how much his JESUS loved him, loved him so much that HE changed the sinful Saul to apostle Paul. Only his love for JESUS, and his appreciation of JESUS' sacrificial love for him could make him so devoted and zealous.

All his human advantages, everything that had distinguished Saul the pharisee, he counted as rubbish and forgotten.  Nothing should prevent him from reaching forward to those things which are ahead in JESUS CHRIST.

What an example for us!

We like to forget our former sins. When we do that, we fail to fully appreciate the grace and pardon freely given for us at the cross. Paul always kept in mind that he was a persecutor, the worst of sinners, most unworthy of HIS forgiveness and grace. And it was that thought that made him run the race with such zeal. It was the love of his MASTER, the kindness that JESUS showed an unworthy sinner like him that drove him to become the most devoted servant of JESUS.

So I plead with you dear brothers and sisters in CHRIST,  never forget your past sins...Always remember what you were so that you can fully appreciate what you have become by HIS Grace. Don't brood over your past sins, but always keep in mind how far you have walked in HIS grace.

★ GOD'S EYE!

You are still at the wheel of your car, although you should be at your destination. You are just making an important call with your mobile phone. At that moment you notice a police car in your rear view mirror. Your reflexes make you take your foot from the accelerator,  put your phone away and fix your seat belt . You remember your tyres that you should have replaced long ago. Feverishly you think out excuses to explain your behavior, should the police stop you.

Now just imagine that GOD were so close on your heels that you could see HIM. Your thoughts would come in a rush. What about your last income tax return?  Or your marital faithfulness?  Your reputation in the neighborhood?  Your conduct in business?  Your honesty?

Well, GOD is really close behind you; only you can't see HIM. But HE can see you very well. Hold on to the impression that HE has caused to affect your conscience! Regard it as a chance that GOD is giving you to stop living as you are at present!  See that you get things in order with HIM! Go through your life, detail by detail!  Confess all your faults to HIM, and stop making them in the future!  In that way your life will change,  for GOD will forgive you everything in CHRIST and grant you a quality of life you have never imagined. You then need fear HIM no longer,  but will  be able to lead your life joyfully beneath HIS watching eye..

Taken from the daily devotional,  The Good Seed, 2013.