Weekly Anchor Scripture: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” – Matthew 24: 13
Wednesday 8th September 2020
Focus Scripture: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” – Revelation 2: 10
Admonition Acts 14: 22
I bring you greetings from the Throne of Grace in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Some people’s orientation of what Christianity is all about is that of a merry-go-round kind of religion where all there is is nothing but pleasures and enjoyments; a kind of a déjà vu experience where anything goes. The pictures such people have in their minds, of Christ Jesus, is that of a free labourer that demands no wages for his labours. To them, Jesus Christ has paid all the prices there is to pay; theirs is just to stroll in with their usual lifestyle, not dropping anything behind, and just continue to enjoy the glory Jesus Christ has won for them and on the Last day, just stroll into heaven to continue their enjoyments. These people could be likened to those who received the Word, but the Word has no root in them and at any slight trouble, they vamoose, backslide, no longer Christians (Matthew 13: 20 – 21).
Brethren, the idea of ENDURING TO THE END which is our theme for the week entails our readiness to pay prices for our confession of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and profession that we are Christians, Christ-followers. The truth is that the devil has never been and will never be happy that we have chosen to hold on to the testimony of Christ Jesus (Revelation 12: 17). For this reason, being the ruler of this world (John 14: 30, 16: 11), we are like bastards to him and he is always ready to inflict as many injuries on us as possible. If we retrospect back to the case of Job, we would see that Job’s only offence was that he was doing God’s Will (Job 1: 7 – 11).
Let us have this in mind that the devil will attempt to attack us and his attack could be at any time and it could take or come in any form (Romans 8: 35 -39). Our's brethren is to make up our minds like Job did to ensure that we don’t become weary in the face of his many assaults, knowing that his target is our souls which belong to God. We have many examples, especially of the Apostles who faced the devil’s assaults but never gave in as many of us do today. Rather, they stood firm in their faith and they won the prize at the end (2 Timothy 4: 8).
Our Focus Scripture this morning exhorts us to expect to face tribulations and that we could be thrown into prison but that we must be faithful to the end. Let me quickly explain that the prison spoken about here does not necessarily mean the regular police custody. No! Some of us will be thrown into the prison of poverty. Some will be thrown into the prison of impossibilities in all ramifications and all sorts. In summary, that prison means all sorts of troubles that the devil may bring our ways. Our triumph, however, is in holding forth and not giving up (Psalm 34: 17 & 19).
As we close this morning, let’s round off with Apostle Paul’s exhortation to the Christians at Lystra shortly after he was stoned by enemies of our faith who thought Paul had died. Paul later told “them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14: 22). That is the truth, beloved brethren. Nobody has ever won the crown through pleasures and we will not be the first. To think or believe that Jesus Christ has suffered, therefore we don’t need to suffer is to believe the lies of the devil. The truth really is that wealth and the trimmings of life are part of his weapons to deceive and trick many to join him in hell. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it is not good to be rich or that God didn’t plan to prosper us. What I am saying is that our souls must proper first (3 john 1: 2) and be ready to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6; 11) even if we didn’t become rich. Be conscious of the fact that our citizenship is not of this world. Let us, therefore, be more conscious of our Home than running after the riches of this world which plunges many into temptations (1 Timothy 6: 8 – 10). With this in mind, we will FINISH STRONG in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, please, keep keeping on in Him!
Jesus loves you!