How to be a part of the great multitude?

“And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.”

-Revelation 14:3-5, NIV

The 14^th chapter of revelation talks about the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth – but who are these people that were redeemed? We know, as Christians, that we are saved when we accepted Christ in our lives, but are we all sure that we will be a part of this great multitude? Well it depends on how we live our lives, I believe. It all depends on our choice. Then when I was meditating on the verses I’ve wrote above, God revealed to me the qualities we should apply if we really want to be a part of this great multitude.

First is that they kept themselves pure. The verses say that these people did not defile themselves with women, meaning they had been sexually moral, but I think that it is not just talking about being sexually moral. The verse said that “they kept themselves pure”, and purity does not just come from sexual morality, but of purity in living too. So I could say that these 144,000 people who were redeemed lived a life of purity, not living by the ways of the world.

Second is that they follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They were not partial on following Him. These people were redeemed because they were followers who obeys the Lord’s commands fully! Now, I could say that for us Christians who wants to be a part of this 144,000, we should not be partial in our obedience. We should obey all of the Lord’s commands fully and we should not compromise!

And lastly was that no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. These people were redeemed because they were speakers of truth. Now for me, being an ambassador of Christ, I must become a model to other people by having a clean mouth, speaking only what is true and pure and not slandering other people. I could say that it is a must for us Christians to first clean our mouths, for we could not become speakers of the truth if our mouths are full of filthy and slanderous words. Plus, a benefit of having a clean mouth is that we would gain an access into being a part of this 144,000 people who were redeemed!

Thank You, Lord, for revealing these things to me, for giving me careful guidelines on what I should do in order to be a part of this great multitude. Lord, by Your grace, help me become a pure, committed follower of Christ, and a speaker of truth. Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://heavenawaits.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/144000.jpg

Wake up!

“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”

-Revelation 3:2

It has been more than a year since I’ve accepted Christ in my life. There had been lots of ups and downs for me. My first 6 months as a Christian, I could say, was the time I became very intimate with my relationship with God, and was working very hard to win as many souls for Him. I was very consistent in my devotions, prayer, attending church fellowships and cell groups in that time, but then a time came to me where a bigger responsibility was given to me in my office work. Because of this, my old devotion has weakened and the Christ-like attitude I was practicing when I was consistent is slowly dying. I admit, I had become a compromiser because of that.

But when I was reading Revelation 3:1-6 for my devotion, God told me to wake up. And then I then realized that my faith, which is what remains to me now is slowly dying. My intimate relationship with God has dropped dramatically because of the great responsibility given to me in my office work. I had less time doing my devotions and most of the time, I worry and become very irritated because of the timelines we have in our work – I have compromised so many times. But then, because of this verse, God reminded me that it’s not too late. He said that I still have this faith remaining – but it’s slowly dying. God is telling me to go back to my old devotion with Him, strengthen my faith again and continue on living for Him. He wants me to wake up!

“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

-Revelation 3:3

God, again, reminded me and gave me a warning – He said that if I don’t want to lose the salvation I had when I first received Him, then I should go back to Him, repent and start obeying Him again. God is challenging me to stop being a compromiser, and start to live a serious devoted Christian life for Him!

I believe that God has personally revealed this to me because He doesn’t want me to continue living as a compromiser, but I also believe that God wants this to be told as a warning too to everyone who is in Him – especially to those who are like me who became compromisers. He is telling us that it’s all our choice, we could continue living as compromisers or to continue living as devoted Christians for God. It’s all up to us which way to choose, but I pray that we all choose become devoted Christians.

Original link for the photo: http://www.brays-ingles.com/images/wakeup.gif.gif

Who has God?

“Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”

-2 John 1:9

Many Christians claims to have God with them – and I am one of them. We attend Sunday fellowships, read the bible, pray everyday, and write devotionals, but is it just right to say that we already have God with us when we do these things? At first, I thought yes, but Apostle John has proved me wrong. I now understand that having God is not about doing these things. So how do we have God? And who has God?

With what John said in 2 John 1:9, I’ve learned we could only have God if we are obedient to the words of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. So that means only those obedient Christians have God. Attending fellowships, reading the bible, praying everyday and writing devotionals are important for our growth as Christians, but the most important thing is obeying the Lord’s commandments. This is where many of us lacked – and I admit, I am one of them. I have fallen many times and had become disobedient, but we shouldn’t take make these failures tell us who we are supposed to be.

Like what our youth pastor said, if we fall, we must stand up immediately. We shouldn’t let our failures paralyze us or even kill us, for we would really lose God if we choose to be like that. What we must do is to continue to move forward and continue on the teaching of Christ. If we sin, then forget about it. What’s done is done – we are sinful by nature after all. The only thing we can do is to forget the past and to continue in this race.

“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.”

-2 John 1:10

Before John ended, he also gave us another warning, and that is to keep distance to those who don’t hold to the teachings of Christ. This is easy to understand as they could corrupt us and make us turn back from this Christian race we run. John is very strict in his words as he doesn’t want the believers to backslide. What we should do is to hold on tight to them so that we wouldn’t be carried away by the wickedness of this world.

Obeying the words of Christ and taking careful note of every warning given to us by the writers in the Bible is very important to keep us running in this race. We shouldn’t let ourselves lose God. God is all we need after all – nothing more and nothing less.

Original link for the photo: http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2312879.jpg

Crave for the Word!

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
-1 Peter 1:14-16

All of us, being citizens of this world, are sinners. We all have lived in this world by following its trends and by feeding ourselves with our own selfish desires. Sin runs to our flesh ever since we were born (which was a result of the original sin bore by Adam and Eve), and it has been a part of our identity as humans. Knowing this, will it be possible for us to become holy? Many of us think that it is just impossible, and so choosing to be carried away with the flow of this world. Most of us use this as an excuse to become disobedient, but for us Christians, how should we think or act about this?

Like what Peter said in 1 Peter 1:14-16, the obedient children, which pertains to us, Christians, must become holy – not conforming to our old desires when we were ignorant about God. We must remember what we are when the first man was created – that we are created in God’s image and likeness, so we should be like it. We should become holy. But how should we do this? Is it enough to say that we already have knowledge of God? Will our small knowledge about Him protect us from all the evil? Well, I personally believe not. 

“Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

-1 Peter 2:1-3

Like what the verse above said, in order to become holy, we must get rid of everything that is evil. Knowing what is good and what is evil is not enough. We must learn to beat our body and turn away from these evil things. Of course, temptation will always try its best to put us back to where we were before, but our knowledge about God will remind us of what is good and what is evil – but it’s still up to us if we want to flee from them or not.

Then after we flee from these evil things, we must replace it with another – something that is better and is of greater worth. Instead of craving for the desires of our flesh, like the verses said, we must now crave for the pure spiritual milk – which comes from the word of God! Craving means that it is something we are desire so much, or something that we earnestly look for – meaning, having a basic knowledge of God isn’t enough. We must earnestly seek for Him from our devotions, from His word – by reading the Bible! We must know about Him more, and we should not stop! Day and night, we must be bombarded by His word. We must be like a child seeking for Him, continuing to grow from His word – until our final breath from this world. And if we do this, I believe that we will be guarded from any kind of evil, and become holy – which is what God is expecting from us.

Thank you, Lord, for what You have revealed to us today. Help us apply them into our lives so that we would grow more and become the people you want us to be. Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://www.babyphotospictures.com/babies-pictures/baby_drinking_milk.html 

Faith with deeds

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?”

-James 2:14 

Faith – is often described by many as the act of believing in something; or someone. Then I asked myself: if this is the real description of faith, then does it mean that everyone who simply believes in God will be saved? Even demons (James 2:19)? It’s been a question for me since it was written in Ephesians 2:8 that it is through our faith that we were saved by grace – giving me the impression that even those who simply believes in God but does not obey Him will be saved. So do you think everyone who just believes in Christ will be saved?

Well, the answer for my question is fairly easy – no – obviously. Like what apostle James said in James 2:17, faith without deeds is dead. And if our faith is dead, do you think the saving grace of God will be activated in us? Of course not, because faith is not as simple as believing only. And another thing, how can our faith in Christ be seen if we are not obedient to His Word? We believe in Him who is without sin, but are not obeying what He says – is that even called faith? In the part of believing, maybe yes – but is incomplete without deeds, and therefore cannot be called real faith. To show this, James made a great example – which is Abraham.

“Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”

-James 2:21-22

With this example, we could see that Abraham was not just considered righteous, but was also justified (James 2:24) because of his faith and action. Now with that being said, we can easily conclude that faith is not merely about believing alone – but believing with action. And as Christians we all must remember that, and we must act out what we are believing in – act out Christ in our lives by obeying His Word. Only by this that we could be confident in ourselves that we are truly saved by grace – if we are believing and obeying in Him. For our justification comes from these, and if we have them, we wouldn’t have any worry about facing the Lord in the end of times. This serves as a warning for all of us who is in Christ – so that we wouldn’t go astray.

We all must thank God for this revelation, for if this was not revealed to us, many would take the Christian walk easily, and many would become disobedient. All the glory be to God! Amen.


Original link for the photo: http://jesusfootprints.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/abraham-and-isaac-on-mount-moriah.jpg

Why did Jesus chose to live in a human body?

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by fear of death.”

-Hebrews 2:14-15

 

Death – for me, I could say that it is the most feared thing by every man on this planet, especially of those people who are greatly attached to the wealth of this world. Death really is scary, as it serves as the period of our life here on earth. It terminates all the biological functions of our human body which sustains us from living in this world. No doubt, simply by knowing this and judging it by its description, we could say that it has the rights to be called the “most feared” thing by every man as no normal person can overcome it.

But you know what? This death, which we all fear has been beaten over 2 thousand years ago! Our God, the Lord Jesus Christ beat this death for us! Yes, us, being normal human being, weak and fragile, can never beat an inevitable enemy. Death is just something we could not simply overcome. Ideas about being immortal came out from intelligent men, but no one succeeded on their studies on this. Only our God, who has the power above all things has the ability to beat death, that is why He, Himself took charge of defeating this enemy to remove our fear from it. See how He loves us very much?

That’s not all. As it was written on Hebrews 21:14, in order to beat death, He must take our form – this is the reason why Jesus lived in this world in human flesh. But too, this flesh had suffered temptations and lots of testing just like us. Jesus had overcome them though, even death, so that we could have the eternal life. See how great the things that our God has done for us?

“For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.”

-Hebrews 2:16

Simply by this revelation, I cannot say anything but thanks to our God. Thanks to Him that he sent Jesus to earth in human form! Thanks be to God that Jesus died and rose from the dead in order to destroy death and give us an everlasting life! And above all, thanks be to God for His eternal love for us. Amen.

Original link for the photo: http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000994487/grim_reaper_answer_2_xlarge.gif

The BETTER Covenant

And it was not without any oath! Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

-Hebrews 7:20-22

What’s so great about the new covenant that God has created through Christ? Well, the Jews had their own covenant which has originated from the time of Moses, why would God need to renew the covenant when there is already the one that is established for many years? What good does this new covenant has for both the Jews and us, which are considered Gentiles?

Well, we must all know that we have be very thankful that God that He made this new covenant! We had a lot of benefits because of this, which we all should be very thankful of. To justify these, I have written below some of the benefits I could think of which we can get from this.

One benefit we had in this is that we need not to be righteous by our works anymore in order to be saved! The grace of God had become accessible because of this! Before, in the old covenant, in order to be righteous, we must perfectly obey the 10 commandments, which is impossible, as every man who tried has failed. And so, it is impossible to become righteous. But now, because of God’s grace and the new covenant, we could now be righteous by faith. And just by this, by putting our faith in Christ, we all now could be saved! Being righteous is just up for grabs for anyone!

Another benefit we had here, which I believe we all must be very happy of is that we people which are considered Gentiles are now adopted to become God’s child through Christ! What else could be greater than that? In the old covenant, only the Israelites have fellowship with God. But now, any person that comes from any nation can have fellowship with Him!

And last that I could think of is that we have an access to ask for forgiveness ANYTIME! If before, in the old covenant, in order for the people’s sins to be forgiven, they would need to offer sacrifices which the priest would use as atonement for their sins. Well, thanks be to God we wouldn’t need to do this anymore! Jesus has now become the priest which serves as the mediator, on which we could ask for forgiveness anytime. And what’s great with this is that there is no need to offer any other sacrifices, as He Himself had become the sacrifice for us.

These three benefits that I’ve wrote are just some of the many benefits we could get. But aren’t these three overwhelming enough? This is why we should rejoice every time and in thanksgiving for this new covenant that God has made for us. Thanks be to God! Shalom!

Original link for the photo: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyrPBYn47eVIdsuRmHXkfbJ2km37wM7KCnGosDVmJxumsC6ZvAQXF9a45J1vDW94wmNWqBjaiXZAskcphOq1ACJlOO9nQFx0E3mYlZz2lDWjU1cwijeQrnIhCes-K0z2OqnYFXuUc8Xp6/s1600/new_covenant.jpg