The Word Works!: THE BLESSED HOPE III

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Psalm 9:9; 18:2; 27:4-5; 30:5; 73:26). Oh! How inspiring! These should be our thoughts and prayer. I love them! God loves us, and He always seeks to do us good no matter what we face; He’s always with us and all we need do is to solely rely on Him (Proverbs 14:32; Psalm 34:18; 37:39; 46:1-2; 48:14; 138:7; Isaiah 40:29-31; 49:14-16; 51:3; 66:12-14; Nahum 1:7). Some people are always fighting for things that do not last. Some are killing others all in the name of wealth. There are better things ahead that none of the things in the world could be compared to.

Listen, it is better to die in the Lord, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. We have something to glory of brethren in Christ. I love a message that was given to John by revelation: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:1-5). I love the last portion of this revelation “…Write: for these words are true and faithful.” God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Numbers 23:19). So, my dear brothers, since future victory is sure, be strong and steady, always abounding in the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted as it would be if there were no resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:58).

This is a solid promise from Jesus Himself, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:37-40). Thanks be to God. Problems and challenges may come our way, but we’re looking forward to something great! Jesus gave us an extraordinary peace that could not be found in the world, and admonished us to not be troubled and afraid (John 14:27).

Never lose heart, for we have a blessed hope. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

Let me make this clear: Just as I’ve shared these with you doesn’t mean that you should die just like that. It doesn’t also mean that you should take your own life because God will ask you if you do. Did you know you can decide to live for long? Yes! Refuse to die like a “chicken.” You know, some people go to bed and the following day it’s like, “Surprise, he’s dead!” Let this not be you. Some people say God killed such and such so let’s leave everything up to Him. Really? God doesn’t kill! When someone dies you hear people say, “the Lord gives and the Lord takes; such is life.” They’re just similar to those obituary announcements you see on television.

You see such announcements as, “With gratitude to God, we regret to announce…” Who’s ever grateful for the death of a beloved? They’re being grateful to God for something they regret. That’s a bundle of contradiction. You’re never grateful when a loved one is taken away. You see, there’re only three occasions recorded in the Bible that God took anybody away, and none through death. The first person in the Bible that was taken by God was Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5). Elijah was the next person to be taken (2 Kings 2:1-11). The two men involved knew they were going to be translated before it happened. You can decide when you want to be with the Lord.

In the New Testament we see a similar instance. Jesus was the third person to be taken into heaven. The Bible records that after His resurrection, He spent forty days with His disciples. Then one day, while talking to His disciples, He was ready to go and God took Him away alive! The people around all saw Him as He was taken away: He gradually ascended alive until a cloud received Him out of their sight. He did not vanish, He ascended alive! (Acts 1:9). Psalm 90:10 reads, “The days of our years are three score years and ten (70): and if by reason of strength they be four score years (80), yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away”

The Taking of Elijah into Heaven

When you see a scripture, do not apply it to yourself immediately. Find out the context, who said it and to whom. The statement above was written by Moses. Taking a look at Genesis 5, you’ll realize that most of the people lived for many years. Some even lived up to 969. Those people lived in sin, and God, seeing the transgression of man, said in Genesis 6:3: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” This is different from what we see in Psalm 90. One day, Moses was watching the children of Israel as they walked by. He shook his head and said, “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.”

Some people think God is speaking through Moses, so our days have been reduced to 70 and 80. When someone lives much longer they feel like, “What’s he still doing around?” Take note that Moses said such a thing to a group of people and not everybody. Even if he said so to us, he himself lived for 120 years, and was even strong when he died (Deuteronomy 34:7). Why didn’t he die at 70 or 80 as an example? Even at the time he said that he was past 80 years. Be very careful about the things that you accept. Someone may be in a family where people do not live past age 60. Grandma, grandpa, uncle, mother etc. died before age 60 so he’s made up his mind to die before getting there.

That’s a serious problem. If everyone died at such age you can make this your confession: “When it gets to my turn I’m going to change things; I’m going to break this bondage and teach the next generation that we can live long. Hallelujah!” That’s faith! Don’t think everybody’s dying so I must prepare to go. You’re not just everybody! You’re a born again child of God; you have the life of God flowing through every fibre of your being! This wouldn’t work when you’re ignorant of what you’re truly made of. When someone dies and you’d want to bring him back to life, you can!

I remember the story of a woman who had her pastor-husband die. She didn’t cry; she said, “Until I see his body, I’m not going to believe this.” When she got to where her husband lay she was left alone. Her husband was a hefty man, but she didn’t look at him from that point. She raised her husband’s body and made him stand against a wall and proclaimed: “I command you to come back to life; in the Name of Jesus!” Her husband’s body shook; he came back to life. Praise God. A woman also saw her daughter sick; she continued in prayer but she gave up and the daughter died.

When her daughter died she said, “No! Rachael is better now; she’s better.” She continued to shout: “Rachael come back! Rachael come back!! Rachael come back!!!” Her daughter opened her eyes; she came back to life. Praise God! The Bible says that through faith, women received their dead back to life (Hebrews 11:35). You know, there’ve been several instances where people have been resurrected from the dead, both in Bible days and our day. You can do anything. Whether you can make such a thing a reality or not depends on your faith. Jesus said all things are possible to him that believes (Mark 9:23).

He also said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). We can do all things! You see, it’s your believing that counts. And the only way to grow your faith is through the study and meditation of the Word of God. A lot of believers are reading the Bible but they’re not meditating. It’s one things to read the Bible and it’s another thing to meditate. When you’re meditating, you’re muttering scriptures to yourself. As you do, your spirit get soaked like Smith Wigglesworth said; you become so conscious about what you confess with your mouth. Soon, you’ll begin to think and talk in line with the scriptures; this is the life God wants for us.

Everything God does, He does with His Word. God’s Word is His creative material. If you are God’s offspring, then you possess God’s qualities. If God creates by words then you can do same. No wonder Jesus said, “…by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:37). We can further break this down: “By your words you may live long, and by your words you may die premature.” Be very careful about the words you speak. Don’t even say things like, “Excuse me to say, when I die at age 21…” In the realm of the spirit there’s nothing like excuse me. Whatever you say begins to take effect the moment they come out of your mouth. This is the reason why a lot of believers are struggling with the Christian life.

Today they confess, “I don’t think I have faith.” Meanwhile, faith is the simplest thing to have. Faith is accepting that, “what God says is, what God says was was, and what God says will be will be.” That’s all! It’s not arguing or asking God if He really meant what He said. Just accept what God says and act on it. Be careful about the kind of thoughts that run through your mind. What do you think when you’re alone? What’s your belief? As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). When the Bible talks about your heart it’s talking about your spirit. And the doorway to your spirit is your mind. So you’ve got to be careful about the things you listen to.

Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:2). I love the way the message Bible translates it: “Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

God wants His Word to dominate us. If you have it in you, it’ll make you what it talks about. There’re people who say, “Living above 60 is full of trouble and sicknesses. There’s always something wrong in your body when you get there.” Do you believe them when they say such wrong stuffs? We live with many people in our society so you should be very careful about people you listen to. Those that confess such stuffs always have problems with their body when they get there. You’re what you say; you become your confession! You are where you are today because of the words you spoke yesterday.

If you can take care of your words and thinking, you’ll succeed in your walk with God. Stop thinking and talking wrong! Make up your mind you’re going to live long for God, working out anything you can to help in the propagation of the gospel. I’ve read some books from Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin, and there’re times he says that some believers have a wrong thinking, in that they always presume one has to die by some form of sickness. And it’s true. I read his biography on Wikipedia; I wanted to know at what age he died and what exactly killed him. I got to know he died at age 86, and the cause of death was old age. You see, he got what he believed and talked about.

Smith Wigglesworth kept declaring that knife wouldn’t touch his body, whether alive or dead. He sustained some kind of sickness and tumour that required operation but he refused to give in. He maintained his confession till they passed by. His body did not undergo autopsy when he died. Glory to God. You see, you get what you believe and say with your mouth! If you get a hold of the Word of God, you can do anything. It’s your creative material! After creation, the Bible records that God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! (Genesis 1:31). If everything was good and now something is wrong with your body, then the devil did it. You can change that with your words.

Talking about faith I always love to quote Rev. Smith Wigglesworth: “Fill your head and your heart with the Scriptures... As you do this, you are sowing seeds that the Spirit of God can germinate... You must be so soaked with the Word of God, you must be so filled with it, that you yourself are a living epistle, known and read of all men. Believers are strong only as the Word of God abides in them. The Word of God is Spirit and life to those who receive it in simple faith... Know your Book, live it, believe it and obey it... If a thing is in the Bible it is so; it is not even to be prayed about; it is to be received and acted upon. Inactivity of faith is a robber which steals blessing.”

The Bible says that when Christ ascended up He filled the earth with gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Hallelujah! The Greek word for “perfect” in the verse is “teleios” {tel'-i-os} (Strong’s #5046), and it means “brought to its end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness; perfect; that which is perfect; consummate human integrity and virtue; full grown, adult, of full age, mature.”

That means until we come to perfection, a completeness. You’re not complete when you get sick, are you? You’re not complete when you’re poor. It says “wanting nothing necessary to completeness;” that means having everything necessary for life. So is it God’s will for you to fall sick and die? Absolutely not! Neither is it His will that you should die young. No wonder He said, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 1:2). We’re going to keep on preaching this message and it’s going to impact lives all over the globe.

Our money, time, and resources will go into the gospel. We’ll give and give and give! Our money will go into the work of God; we’re going to reach the unreached and untold. People will come to know God and understand Him better and better until we all come to the unity of faith. This should be your way of thinking. There’re people who’ll always complain about giving. They always have something to talk about. Where else should my money go if not for the gospel? Jesus told us to stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars (Matthew 6:20; Luke 12:33). Remember our works of labour follow us, and we’ll by no means lose our reward.

You can make so much wealth while you’re here but remember you’re not going to take it with you when you depart. Your position in heaven will be determined by the number of lives that were touched because of you. There’re others who say there’s nothing like heaven. Even if there was nothing like that, it is better to accept it. That way, when you go and there’s heaven, glory to God; but if not, fine. You have nothing to lose and nothing to gain. But praise God, who has given us a solid assurance that we have hope; a blessed hope indeed. We have something to look forward to.

When you were young, you had the most faith to do anything. But as you grew, society begun to teach us fear in life. Someone would tell you how difficult it is to do things; they will always tell you things by experience. And probably you’ve influenced a few others but thank God knowledge has come through His Word. I wonder why some believers even listen to some motivational speakers who are not born again themselves. What is such one going to tell you in his conference? God created you, so He alone can teach you about the true and real you. The only place He tells you such thing is by His Word. Some people think we say these things to make God appear good but that couldn’t make Him better than He is.

Believer, meditate on what I’ve shared with you; don’t lose sight of them. Wear these blessed thoughts, like a necklace of diamonds, around the neck of your memory; put it, as a golden ring, on the finger of recollection, and use it as the King's own seal, stamping the petitions of your faith with confidence of success. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, we’re not afraid when He’s with us. His trusty shepherd's crook makes us feel secure (Psalm 23:4). As the sheep of His pasture we recognise His voice. He knows us, and we follow Him. He gives us real and eternal life. We are protected from the Destroyer for good. No one can steal us from out of His hand.

The Father who put us under His care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief. No one could ever get us away from Him (John 10:27-29). So we can conclude that whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's (Romans 14:8). Take courage and be bold in all you do. Earth-leaders push for position, Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks, The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers: “Let's get free of God! Cast loose from Messiah!” Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing. At first he's amused at their presumption; then he gets good and angry. Furiously, he shuts them up. (Psalm 2:2-5). Fear nothing!

If you’ve not given your life to Jesus, I want you to do so now. Don’t say I’m waiting for someday because it might be too late. If you’ve tried to get yourself saved, stop it because you can’t. If you’ve been worshipping any other apart from the Lord, repent and accept Christ into your life now. Jesus is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, for He makes intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). He alone can give solution to your problems. Click “here” to surrender your life to Him now!

Finally, beloved, do not be discouraged no matter what comes your way, For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11). And now I pray for you, that the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost (Romans 15:13).