Declaration of Dependence – Part 1

Michael writes this week that when Jesus is our Lord, our lives are a "declaration" and not a question. As Oswald Chambers said, "All God requires is extreme obedience with no complaining or questioning on my part and no explanation on His."  We may not understand God’s plan, but we trust His heart of love. When we're walking with the Lord, our lives are a "Declaration" for others to know the love of God; for we are his declaration, his epistles, his love letters, written not with ink or in tablets of stone, but in the tables of our hearts. We are the only sermons that some people will ever witness.

The Apostle Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.  Whether I live or die, my purpose is to display the gospel of my Lord." This is also the purpose of the church, “the called-out of God”. The purpose of our "brotherhood of Christians" is to manifest the Word of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights.

Joy is not the absence of pain, rather joy is the presence of God.  Shine the love of her Heavenly Father. What we think about life after death will define our life in this world and also in eternity. Most people think that everyone is destined for heaven because this life is over at death. However, eternal life is on God's terms according to His Word, not ours. Truth be known, the Lord Jesus said that there is a wide road to destruction in hell, which most people are walking today.

In this life, we can't see clearly what God is doing through our suffering and pain.  For now we "see through a glass darkly, but then (in heaven) face to face we shall know even also as we are known by God." While the Apostle Paul was chained to a Roman guard in prison, Paul said "my circumstances are working out for the greater progress of the gospel.  For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

CS Lewis said, "If you read history, the Christians who did most for the present world are those who prepared men and women for the next world."  William Booth, the head of the Salvation Army, recalls that he taught a Christian discipleship course for three years. He said, "It would have been better to have shown them five minutes in hell." Some believe that hell is a place of eternal life in torment for those who do not accept the Salvation from sin through the Savior.  Others believe that hell is the place of eternal death. Repent means to change direction: from heading to eternity in hell to an eternity in fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father in the Kingdom of God.

Let's continue Michael's message on dependence upon God in the next post.

In Christ, Brian