Victory through Trials and Tribulation You must WIN to have the PRIZE

Jesus leads you to victory, if you follow Him. If you follow Jesus you will have many battles, trials and tribulations

We must go into the kingdom of heaven through much tribulation. The way of the disciple, the true follower of Jesus is a life of battles, trials, tribulations but also of victory. We are called to overcome, sin, satan and the flesh.

I read the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:28-37.

" 28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

 31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36Just as it is written,

            “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;

            WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

37But in all these things we OVERWHELMINGLY CONQUER through Him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Are you suffering temptation, tribulation, distress, difficulty, pain, rejection, persecution for following Jesus? Are you overcoming? If you stay in Jesus you will overcome.

If you are not haveing tribulation, you are not following Jesus. we read in Acts 14:22 "strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

 There will be no crown for those who did not bear their cross. There will be no prize for those who did not run the race and won. Are you making progress in your journey into the kingdom of God. Are you enduring tribulation with Jesus, and overcoming?  Are you a victor or a loser?



May Jesus bless you.

Don't Quit

Quitters will not make it into the kingdom of heaven.  The one thing that Jesus Christ requires of us is that we endure with Him until the very end.

Never quit following Jesus Christ. Never quit praying. Never stop testifying for Jesus, never stop going after Him. Never stop seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Never let Him go out of your mind.

Those who endure until the end will receive the prize of eternal life. Those who endure until the end will be saved.

Many believers never start following Jesus Christ. We have to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ every day until the very end, or else we will not win that prize of eternal life.

Never quit. Endure until the very end.

May Jesus bless you.

How to Overcome and WIN the Prize of Eternal Life

Not all those who believe in Jesus Christ will have eternal life. Eternal life is only for those who overcome  the evil one, those who overcome satan, like Jesus overcame. We will only win that prize of eternal life if we fight the good fight, endure until the end and overcome like Jesus overcame evil.

If you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master and you start following Him, you enter a war zone. You are at war with evil, you are at war with satan and you have to win him. You have to conquer, you have to overcome. You have to overcome temptation. You have to overcome the flesh. You have to overcome the forces of evil and  be victorious. You have to take your stand on the side of Jesus Christ. You have to turn away from evil, stand against evil and overcome the forces of darkness because they will be coming at you. satan will want you to stumble, he will do anything to make you fall so that you do not win that prize of eternal life. He will put temptation in your way, he will put marvelous opportunities in your way to distract you from following Jesus Christ. He will do anything for you to lose that prize of eternal life. But we CAN overcome. We have to overcome if we want eternal life.

Firstly, REPENT and take a stand, take a stand against yourself. Take a stand against evil. Take a stand against anything and everything that will separate you from Jesus Christ, from anything that will prevent you from winning that prize of eternal life.

You have to do your utmost to endure with Jesus until the end to win that prize. You have to FORCE yourself to obey Jesus Christ and do His will, and do so until the very end.

satan will try his best to trip you up. So you have to make sure that you do not stumble, that you do not slip. If we keep our eyes, our focus on Jesus Christ then He will keep our foot from stumbling. He will guide us every step of the way until the very end, but without Jesus Christ we cannot do it. We cannot do it on our own . we have to go with Jesus every step of the way. Obey Him, REPENT. Be baptized in water for the washing off of your sins and then SEEK the infilling with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, that will lead you and guide you every step of the way, but you have to stay with Him. You have to stay focused on Him .

If you do stumble, if satan does trip you up, you have to examine yourself. Why did you stumble? Why did you fall? What did you do wrong? What must you do next time to prevent that same thing from happening? And then, REPENT, plead Jesus forgiveness but make sure that next time that the same temptation , the same pitfall comes around that you overcome. The devil might trip us up the first time but the next time we will be prepared for him.

The only way that we can endure is to stay focused on Jesus and not be distracted.

Do not allow sinful things to creep into your mind. Do not allow worldly thoughts to dominate you. Do not open the door to temptation. Do not watch TV, videos, do not play video games and games that will distract you and get your focus off Jesus because then you will be vulnerable and in your moment of weakness or inattention the devil will trip you up and you will slip and fall again. You have to stay focused on Jesus all the time. You have to be serious. Keep Jesus in your mind, on your mind. Have your mind on that prize of eternal life. Do not engage in silly talk, jokes. Do not go along with worldly friends, worldly Christians who are not serious. If you let your guard down the devil will get you and it can be fatal because you might just not get up again and follow Jesus Christ.

Remember, you have to overcome. We have to stay with Jesus until the very end. That is the only way. It is not our Bible knowledge, our fellowship, our Christian friends or our good intentions that will make us overcome. It is the dedication with which we run this race, that we go after Jesus with every ounce of power that is in us. He will never leave us. He will not forsake us, but if we open the door to the devil, if we take our eyes off Jesus then we are in danger of defeat. We have to be serious about this race. we have to be serious to overcome.

Not many will make it. They asked Jesus whether those who are being saved are few and He said:"Strive hard because many will try hard and not be able." We have to stay focused on Jesus every day always in everything that we do. we have to seek and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit until the very end.

Remember, your enemy the devil, never sleeps, he does not slumber. He is out to get you. But we have to overcome. be wide awake, stay focused on Jesus, never let up your guard, don't let your guard down because then you will be defeated. Fight this good fight, run this race in such a way that you overcome and win the prize . That is the only way. Eternal life is for those who overcome.

May Jesus bless you.

Overcomers and Losers

Not all believers will make it into the kingdom of heaven, only those who OVERCOME. The losers will be eternally disappointed. They will end up in damnation.

We read in the book of Revelation about those who overcame. They overcame by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives until death. Those were the ones who denied themselves and followed Jesus Christ , The overcame because they had a testimony. They followed Jesus Christ, they sought the kingdom of God, they sought the WILL of God and they followed Jesus Christ every day until the very end.

Not many believers will make it into the kingdom of heaven, only those who OVERCOME, those who overcome themselves, their own desires, the pressures of the world, the desires of the flesh and submit themselves to Jesus Christ, who follow and obey Him until the very end.

Are we overcoming in this world of temptation, sin, wickedness? Are we focused on Jesus Christ and striving for that prize, eternal life, that is reserved for those who overcome? If we are not overcoming it is because we are not IN CHRIST, we are not WITH Jesus, because He will never leave us and He will never forsake us but if we leave Him and we go on our own  we will certainly be losers.

Are we overcoming? Are we doing the will of God?

May Jesus bless you.

More POWER

Those of us who follow Jesus Christ and have the HOPE of eternal life have to endure until the end, we have to overcome and we have to DO what Jesus requires of us. Many people say that they do not have the power to stop sinning, they do not have the power to resist temptation.

All POWER and all authority belongs to Jesus and all the power that we have comes from Jesus, and He GIVES POWER to those who ASK Him, who SEEK Him. We have to OVERCOME, it is only overcomers who will have the prize of eternal life. Jesus will give us the POWER to overcome if we ASK Him. We have to SUBMIT to Jesus, whatever our problem is and we must RESIST THE DEVIL, STAND in the Name of Jesus and when our power runs out then Jesus will give us the power to overcome.

We FIRST have to STAND with ALL the power that is in us and when it feels that we cannot endure any more then the POWER OF JESUS comes in and we overcome! We HAVE TO overcome. If we need more power we need to PRAY MORE and Jesus will give us the power to overcome.

May Jesus bless you.

GO ALL THE WAY

Many people eagerly start out following Jesus Christ but very few are willing to go all the way and endure until the end. Jesus' disciples were also often tempted to leave Him. We read in John 6 when Jesus said to them:”If you do not eat My body and drink My blood” most of them wanted to leave Him. And Jesus said to the twelve:”Don't you also want to leave Me?” Peter said:”Lord, where will we go to? You have the words of eternal life.”
Even Peter himself swore, He said:”Lord I will go with You all the way, even until death, I will die for You” but he denied Jesus three times. When Jesus was led away to be crucified all His disciples deserted Him. He was all by Himself, all alone, they had all left Him. It was only afterwards, after they had received the Holy Spirit that most of them went on to die for Him.
If we do not go WITH Jesus and follow Him ALL THE WAY until the end, then it is all in vain. Jesus said:”Whoever puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of Me, is not worthy of the kingdom of God.” Many people are only willing to go with Jesus up to a point, for a short while. When they have to choose between Jesus and friends, popularity and acceptance of men, they choose their friends, they deny Jesus. When they have to choose to obey Jesus they stop following Him. When they have to choose to be baptized in water, they refuse! When they have to choose between friends, their wife, their husband, their children, their job and Jesus then they deny Jesus. They turn away from Him. They go after the things of the world. They rather go for the pleasures of the world than to obey Jesus Christ. They rather go for Bible study and church activities than to LISTEN to Jesus, PRAY, GO where He sends them, DO what He tells them to do. They are not willing to follow Jesus ALL THE WAY.
Many believers are UNFRUITFUL. We can only be fruitful if we remain IN Christ, if we are LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT and if we DO what Jesus himself tells us to do.
Very few are willing to go all the way, to LISTEN and to OBEY until the end. If we are not willing to go WITH Jesus ALL THE WAY until the end then we are not worthy of Him and everything that we have done, everything that we have given up, up to that point, is a waste, its all in vain! If we don't go all the way we will not enter the kingdom of heaven, we will not have eternal life.
Are you willing to go all the way and to endure until the very end, even until death? If you are not willing to endure you won't make it!

May Jesus bless you

Join the struggle

To follow Jesus Christ is a struggle every day and if you do follow Jesus you WILL feel the pain. Jesus said that we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him every day. He also warned his disciples that they will be hated by all men. If you follow Jesus Christ this world will hate you and reject you.
Jesus said that we must take His yoke on us because his burden is light and His commandments are easy. That is when you FOLLOW Jesus and STAY with Him, then He will help you to overcome. He will help you to bear the load, but you will be tried, you will be tested and only those who endure until the end will have the prize of eternal life.
If you follow Jesus you have to sacrifice yourself unto the Lord. Therefor Paul writes in Romans 12:1 He says:“I beseech you brethren that you present your bodies as a living and a holy sacrifice, acceptable unto the Lord. That is your reasonable service.” That is what the Lord requires of us if we want eternal life. We need to sacrifice ourselves and present ourselves unto the Lord for HIS purpose to do HIS will. Only those who STAY with Jesus until the end and who overcome evil, themselves, the flesh and who OBEY Jesus Christ, only they will have the prize of eternal life.
It is a struggle until the very end. You have to overcome to win the prize. Stay focused on Jesus or else you will not be able to make it.

May Jesus bless you.