"I do not want to get into heaven by the skin of my teeth!" -Perry Stone
You agree with that? Do you wanna get the perks of salvation by getting into heaven and saying you lived a pretty good life? Or do you want to be so beat up by the time you get there because of how hard you worked for God? Kind of like sports. Do you enjoy winning the game that was seriously hardly even a competition because you didn't even have to try that hard, or do you enjoy winning the game where you had to work your butt off, strategizing, and knowing that it was well-deserved because of how hard you worked? I tell ya. The games I remember in high school are the games that were so tough that they made the game incredibly exhilarating. When you know you're gonna win by 30 points, you go ahead and lay and play around, and send in the subs because it's just so easy. Nobody expects much excitement from those games, do they? You just gotta get those over with.
Hmm. So. Do we wanna just get life over with, or do we wanna fight to the death? I don't know about you, but I want to hear God say, "well done!" "That's my girl!" "I knew you could do it!" Doesn't the thought of that just make you so filled with unspeakable joy, so much so that you wanna get up off that chair you're in to change the world?! Well, if it don't, then I just don't know what to say to ya.
I think I may have blogged on this before, but not in this detail. You want to be raised up? Well, here is a serious word of encouragement. You may feel that God has rejected this nation at the state that it's in. You might. Or you may feel like the church itself is dying. But listen to this:
I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not!...No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too."
And do you remember God's reply? He said, "No I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!
It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God's grace--his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God's kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God's grace would not be what it really is--free and undeserved.
...A few have--the ones God has chosen--but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say,
God has put them into a deep sleep.
To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see,
and closed their ears so they do not hear.
...Did God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! ...But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.
...Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you will be cut off.
Romans 11:1-22
So there are the few called the remnant right now. Let's be one of them, not getting by the skin of our teeth.
By grace, Tara K
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1 comment:
Thanks Tara! I needed this!
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