Appreciating The Gift Of Life

“For whoever wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, turn from evil and do good, seek peace and chase after it. For Adonai keeps his eyes on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers; but the face of Adonai is against those who do evil things” (1 Peter 3:10-12 CJB).

Many concerned brethren wrote to us inquiring about things they read which are supposedly from the Lord. As is apparent, we prayerfully and carefully examined some of these teachings in the light of the Scriptures so that the truth of the Bible remains our guide. Like we alluded elsewhere, our motive is to satisfy ourselves with the Truth and to allow such Truth which we receive by faith, to guide our conscience. When I witness to people I often remind them that abusing their bodies through drugs, alcohol and cigarettes shows little appreciation for the gift of life. Furthermore, our lives are not our own, it's been gifted to us by the Almighty God, that is why we will have to account for it either to be crowned with the gift of eternal life or for eternal damnation (Romans 14:12; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

This week however, the Lord has given us something new to reflect upon: loving and valuing our God-given lives. The Bible tells us that after God created everything, He was pleased and approved His work (Genesis 1:31). He set out laws for nature in terms of reproduction (Genesis 1:11) and He also set the reproductive laws in motion when He commanded both man, plants and animals to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:20-25). This is the Creator giving earthly life its orders, and being alive in this world we see this very thing still in operation around us. This is so because, He holds all things together by the Power of His eternal Word (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17).

Loving Our Lives to Please God

Since man is created in the image of God, man has been endowed with the power of will and choice (Genesis 2:15-17). Morally, man’s conscience needs guiding to determine rewards or punishment. Biblically, rewards would refer to the preservation of life which God promised to compensate our faith and obedience (John 3:16-18). While punishment refers to a total separation from God, we are promised life and perpetual existence in Him alone (John 1:4; 15:4-6). Scripturally, and by faith, we know God exercised His dominion over man and all creation on earth by allowing death and decay (Genesis 3:17-19).

Therefore, knowing that the reward for obedience is eternal life, loving our lives is to live pleasing to God (Colossians 1:10). The point I am making is this: Christ is life and our faith and obedience to Him equals our union with Him (John 17:20-23). This union is the life-sustaining nourishment leading to our preservation – eternal life. Just as much as life is interrupted when we separate a branch from a vine, likewise the life of a believer is interrupted and lifeless when we are not living in union with the Lord (John 15:5). Union or oneness with Christ Jesus is seen through the fruit He produces through us by His Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22; Romans 8:9-11).

Similarly, when the Lord said we must hate (Luke 14:26) our own lives, He meant we must share in His life of suffering and deny living for our own pleasures, but offer our lives in service to God (Romans 12:1-2). This is the life He called Aaron and his sons to a lasting priesthood to God; you and I have been called likewise (1 Peter 2:9).

Why Do Some People Hate Life?

I honestly don’t have all the answers to this question. However, having been endowed with all faculties common to man, I can testify that hard situations can make us give up on life. We often blame everything and everyone around us, but ourselves. Often, most of our problems are as a result of our own choices. The choices that landed us into trouble were self-driven and God had no influence in our lives. When this has happened, we may express our displeasure at life and even spend the rest of our remaining days complaining and being dissatisfied. Sadly, there are those who would try out God, and if God does not conform to their standards, He is not needed. To those people I say: shame on you! God’s life in you results in fruit for living (Galatians 5:22). This is what everybody will see and want, not our constant consciousness about our own lives. This is therefore a wasted life; it has no support from the Source, God.

In conclusion, a few weeks ago, the Lord showed Charis in a vision a young man who returned back into the world. In this vision he was portrayed as very old, wrinkled, frail and looking under-nourished. In the vision, while pointing at this young man an Angel,  “look at this worldly man”. This is the condition of a person who does not have the life of God: withered and without life support, dead from the inside. Brethren, your life is wasted without Christ and you show no appreciation to your life and existence if you choose to live apart from Him. Through this message, the Almighty God says: love your life and unify it in Christ Jesus (John 3:17-18). Love life which has meaning and value only in Christ and enjoy it in service to God and man!

Blessed Love,

Brother Glenn.

Remain Faithful Unto Death

Prophetic Warnings are not News Updates

Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off (Proverbs 23:17-18 ESV). And, You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you (Isaiah 26:3 ESV). Also, Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10 ESV).

Brethren, be prepared the Lord did reveal that Christians will face the coming persecution(s) when the antichrist and the false prophet is being revealed. We must therefore ready ourselves to remain strong and fearless to withstand the time of the testing of our faith. Are we saying Christians will face tribulation...YES! Be Prepared!

We would like to confidently share this conviction in the name of the Lord that Christians who rely on certain events to happen first before they take their salvation seriously will be caught unawares like the five foolish virgins (Matthew 25:3). The Lord said, there will be ‘sudden destruction’ (1 Thessalonians 5:3). Some two weeks ago, the Lord reminded me that His coming is near and what saddens Him is that certain Christians are only looking to apocalyptic world events to live temporarily obedient. The danger is, some Christians treat the Lord’s teachings which are aimed to prepare them for fruit-bearing and Christian service disrespectfully (Ephesians 4:12). Sadly, but true, some are treating prophetic websites like ours as ‘news sites.' They are only interested in ‘news’ from the Lord, and if His coming is promising according to them, they will remain in the ‘pocket, ’ but if His coming appears distant, they continue as distant followers. Undoubtedly, this is a dangerous position of hypocrisy do we really think we are smarter than God? The Lord knows that such believers have no love for Him as their action shows. If we don’t allow the Lord’s teachings to purify us and rendering us blameless, then we may suffer the consequences of the prophecy which says, “Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile”… [But] those fearing God shall become “let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy" (Revelations 22:11 NIV).

There is currently a trend amongst Christians to ‘prophecy’ end-time related events when certain things happened around the world to the excitement of many, and sadly, the non-discerning are led into confusion and faith failure (1 Timothy 1:19). When the things ‘prophesied’ failed to materialize their faith goes into a ’dormant’ stage until the next event occurs and interpreted as relating to the Coming of the Lord and those who do not guard against the times ‘awakes’ resumes their faith until the next event (Matthew 25:1-13). I sincerely pray that this message is serving as a warning to those Christians who are not taking their salvation seriously. The Lord’s prediction in the preceding scripture will find fulfillment in them.

God Cannot Be Fooled

If as Christians we maintain a double standard of living having faith but living contrary to the faith we profess, our fruit will judge the quality of our obedience to the Lord (Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10). From our experience with the Lord, we learned that no excuse we may try to offer can ever stand up against the Lord’s judgments (Romans 2:12-15). Indeed, we may succeed in being ‘clever’ and deceiving people, but God will reveal the deceitful intentions of our hearts (Jeremiah 17:10).

Being involved in ministry work, we have seen over the years how many people expressed passionate obedience and love to the Lord, and their works were in agreement with their intentions, however, when evil thoughts and ill-feelings entered them the spirit of excuses manifest. When this happens, the pleasure of sin consumes them, and the defense to appease the conscious is excused. Therefore, in the end, we have a ‘clever’ Christian who is well-trained in the ‘art’ of deceitfulness. Let me be direct, do you think your clever manipulations will escape God’s attention? (Galatians 6:7).

We thus confidently testify that some time ago the Lord revealed to us that He looks into people’s heart's intentions and the evil that entices them into disobedience. When we embrace what He despises and use excuses to justify our behavior we sin consciously (1 Peter 2:16; Romans 1:20). Thus, the ‘bulk’ of evidence against our motivation whatever drove us to be it greed, lust, or hatred comes from the heart (Luke 6:43-45; Matthew 15:19). Thus, whichever way we may try to turn for answers to conceal our heart's intentions, the Lord righteousness we simply cannot escape (Hebrews 4:13; Proverbs 5:21). At the end who is the fool!

Overcoming Uncertainty

As humans and since we cannot tell the future, our response to things that could adversely affect us would be met with uncertainty which would trigger every kind of survival technique. Thus, our natural instinct would lead us to some defense mechanism to survive the uncertain situation. This fear in uncertainty does not have faith as a shield (Ephesians 6:16), instead of melancholy sets in and people look to sources other than the Lord for solutions. If this happened then our faith, which holds our hope has soundly deserted us. Fear drives Christians who accept solutions outside the Lord's counsel, and they are driven to create temporary solutions (Numbers 14:4). We are not talking about a genuine belief a person has when expressing his or her faith. In fact, as the above scripture suggests, if we fail to obey the Lord’s command as in the incident in the preceding verse we create a solution in our uncertainty against the will of God.

Also, fear, anxiety, and curiosity are amongst the sensations we experience when times of uncertainty strikes. Now, whichever manifest it leaves the human soul without peace, and as long as the situation endures, the feeling to rid oneself of the unwanted sensation will continue. Depending on our relationship with the Lord, if we have entrusted our wellbeing to Him our faith would conquer the fear and anxiety that flows from uncertainty.

In our concluding remarks, are we curious about the future? Are certain world events filling you with fear and anxiety? If so, examine your relationship with the Lord and respond by faith to the convictions from the Holy Spirit and you need not fear. Be consistent as a Christian in your conduct, faithful in truthful and humble service and everybody will know the love of the Lord has been perfected in you.

As always, we would like to extend an invitation to anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ yet, or if you are not born again, to pray our suggested prayer on this link Prayer of Sincere Repentance by faith and follow the Lord (Matthew 4:19). You may also contact us for any questions or comments about this article or our ministry.

Blessed Love

Brother Glenn