My Emphasis
You’re not a Christian until you’re tested. You don’t love the Father until you’re afflicted and sailed through. Many of you think Christianity is all about living in luxury and being surrounded by everything you need. Jesus Christ didn’t promise such a thing. This was why He declared in the Book of John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Therefore, Christianity isn’t about the things of this Earth but the things of Heaven.
If you’re given a present for whatever reason, you don’t know what’s inside until you open it. If you’re lured into a cult, you don’t know what’s done there until you’re fully inside. If you’re digging a pit, at a point, you can see the world around you. As you dig deeper, you can still see the light of day. This time, you can still come out by yourself. If you dig deeper again, it will get to a stage where you can’t even see anything around you anymore, and you can’t get out without the help of somebody. This is how Christianity is. If you remain on the surface, you can never make it to Heaven. Only those who dig deep will enter Heaven.
Many of you are serving God on the surface, this is why you can speak whatever you like with your mouth. If you serve Him deep down into your heart, you cannot explain what you’ll see. But in all this, the assurance of Heaven will consume you. If you’re all alone deep down inside a well in a no man’s land, you’ll rely on a miracle to come out, if not, you’ll die there. Christianity is either you die or alive. This is why you can speak boldly that death is a gain if you’re on the right path. Death is a gain because your Spirit and soul are in Jesus Christ.
When Peter was speaking to the Lord, assuring Him that he would stand by Him, he didn’t know that something could happen that would make him deny the Master. He didn’t understand that everything the Master was saying was spiritual, not physical. When the time came, he was shocked to see himself deny the Master he loved most. When Apostle Paul was about to travel to Jerusalem in disobedience to the Spirit of the Father, he thought working for the Father is by mouth. When he faced with death, if not for the grace of the Master, he would have been killed. Serving God is not by mouth! It’s a journey of life and death.
My dear Beloved, mock not, judge not if a Brother or Sister passes through any affliction. Nobody can boast of anything at all. We’re all living and walking by the grace of the Father alone. Whatever you may pass through in this journey, stand firm and remain standing. Deny not the Father! If a commander of a troop runs away during the war, he is not fit to be a commander. A warrior never runs away amid war. No matter what happens, either by death or alive, he’ll stand till the end. We’re warriors, warriors of Jesus Christ, and we must not give up. Let us rejoice every day as we steer ahead. We shall be rewarded for all our services in the end. I pray for you this day that Jesus Christ our Master, will hold us by His hand and lead us beyond the scary mountain in Jesus' name. Amen! May the Lord give you the grace to walk with Him in Jesus' name.
