Failing to Listen to God
Listening to God is not a onetime event. We must continually keep His Word before us, or we'll begin to listen to the wrong voices.
In Genesis 2:16-17, the Lord gave a command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But Eve began to listen to another voice and did not hold firmly to her Creator's words. All that Satan had to do was plant a single doubt about God's integrity and offer Eve one appealing advantage of doing things her own way--and she fell for it. He mentioned wisdom, but using her own reasoning, Eve added two more benefits to the temptation: the fruit is good for food and a delight to the eyes.
The schemes of the Enemy have not changed. He still whispers lies and twists truth to convince us that a) God cannot be trusted and b) His ways are not the best. In every temptation, there is a deception about the character and motive of God, plus an attractive promise of a better way.
The world is filled with voices that vie for our attention and influence our thoughts and actions. Throughout the day, consider the messages that are sent your way through the media and people. Consciously begin to compare them to what Scripture says about God and His ways.
Remembering what God says in the Bible is our safeguard against deception and temptation. Daily devotions won't protect us if they're quickly forgotten during the day. Follow Christ's example: be ready with truth in your mind and on your tongue whenever temptation strikes (Matt. 4:1-11).
~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~
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The First Empty Tomb
Jesus is the only person who has an empty tomb. Everyone else who's died has returned to the dust, but Christ is alive and seated at the Father's right hand. Because He overcame death, His followers are also guaranteed empty tombs someday. When Jesus returns for His church, those who have died in Him will be resurrected into glorious bodies. And believers who are alive at that time will instantaneously be changed.
Knowing this, we naturally wonder, What kind of body will I have? The best way to answer that is to see what Scripture reveals about Christ's body after He rose from the dead. He didn't come invisibly in the form of a ghost but rather had a literal, physical body. He talked, walked, and ate with His disciples. Yet although He was recognizable, He was somehow different, and at times it took His words or actions to jog their recognition.
Here's one thing I can tell you about the resurrection: you will look better than you do today! God is going to give you a strong, glorious, eternal body which is perfectly fitted for your life in heaven. Believe me, you will not be disappointed, because God has far more in store for us on the other side than we can ever imagine. You will be more alive there than you could ever be here.
A more important issue we must face is how to get ready for that day. This life is just a puff of wind compared to our eternity. It's my personal opinion that the way we live here on earth will determine our capacity to enjoy heaven. The time to begin living for God is now.
~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~
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No dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement!
(Thomas Brooks, "The Crown and Glory of Christianity, or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness")
Throughout the Scriptures unholy people are branded, to their everlasting contempt--with the worst appellations. They are the most dangerous, and the most harmful beings in the world, and therefore are emblemized . . .
by lions--for they are cruel, Psalm 22:21;
by bears--for they are savage, Isaiah 11:7;
by dragons--for they are hideous, Ezekiel 29:3;
by wolves--for they are ravenous, Ezekiel 22:27;
by dogs--for they are snarling, Revelation 22:15;
by vipers and scorpions--for they are stinging, Matthew 12:34, Ezekiel 2:6;
by spiders and cockatrices--for they are poisoning, Isaiah 59:5;
by swine--for they are intemperate, Matthew 7:6.
Remember this: that all these stinging expressions and appellations which disgrace and vilify unholy people, were inspired by the Holy Spirit and published in His holy Word.
The glutton is depicted as a swine;
the fraudulent person is depicted as a fox;
the lustful person is depicted as a goat;
the backbiter is depicted as a barking cur;
the slanderer is depicted as an asp;
the oppressor is depicted as a wolf;
the persecutor is depicted as a tiger;
the seducer is depicted as a serpent.
Do you think that God admit such vermin as unholy people are--to eternally inhabit His holy Heaven? Surely not! God has long since resolved upon it--that no unclean beasts shall enter into Heaven--that no dirty dogs shall ever trample upon that golden pavement! Certainly God will not allow such beasts and toads and snakes and serpents--to forever live with Him! Heaven is a too holy place to admit such vermin to inhabit!
"Nothing impure will ever enter it." Revelation 21:27
"Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Revelation 22:15
All in Heaven are holy: the angels holy, the saints are holy--and the Lord Himself above all is most glorious in holiness.
Now certainly it would be a Hell to these holy ones to have unholy wretches to be their eternal companions! When the holy angels fell from their holiness--Heaven was so holy that it spewed them out! Certainly there will be no room in Heaven for such filthy beasts as unholy people are! 'Jerusalem above' is too glorious a habitation for beasts--or for men of beastly spirits, or beastly principles, or beastly practices. The city of the great God was never built for beasts. A wilderness and not a paradise--is fittest for beasts.
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The fire will test the quality of each person’s work. (1 Corinthians 3:13 NIV)
I have no doubt that you love the Lord. I am not raising any question about that. But, I do say again, we are involved in a great system which is a very complicated thing, and a great deal of it is not of the Lord. It is something that man has brought in. Man has put his hand upon the things of the Lord, and man has made things according to his own mind, and therefore a great deal has come in which is of man and not of the Lord. And when we say that, we are not only thinking of Christianity in general, we are thinking of ourselves. This is true of ourselves. We have all come into something called Christianity, and we have all taken on something of Christianity, and there may be a great deal that we have to get rid of, and come back to the simple fundamental reality. And the fundamental reality of all realities is the presence of the Lord. We have got to know that the Lord is with us, and that the Lord is with us in all that we do, that this did not originate in our mind. It did not originate in our will, it did not originate in our emotion. It did not come from our soul, this thing has come from the Lord in every detail, like the tabernacle. Just like Jesus Christ, in every detail it has to come to us from God.
That ought to send us back to our knees – to go through all our work. It may be necessary for us, from time to time, to stand back and ask the Lord about all that we are doing. 'Is this out from God, or is it something out from ourselves? Is this way of doing things the mind of God, or is it our mind? Is the Lord in this, or have we come into it?' You see, that is a great deciding matter. Make no mistake about it! Everything that is only of man is going to perish. Sooner or later it will be shaken. Every man's work shall be tried in the fire, says the Word of God.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
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