Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Eze 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Mt 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Lu 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
It's all about priorities. Temporal verses eternal.
For the cause of Christ
Roger
I've been saved for many years and have always (until recently) thought as the majority of believers do here. But now I see God is the God of the living. He sent Jesus so that we may live and have life more abundantly. The JOY of the Lord is our strength. He gave us ALL THINGS TO USE AND ENJOY. As JESUS is SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD. Is Jesus full of joy now? YES! So am I.
The love of God constrains us not the fear of God. That is old covenant thinking., that is law. They had a reason to fear because their righteousness was based on themselves. But we have the righteousness of Christ. How sad it is when I see so many believers living under the old covenant of law and they have not graduated to the new covenant of grace. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.... The unsaved have much to fear because they are condemned already and NEED Jesus righteousness. But WE have it and need to learn to walk in Him.
It's also about where you stand. Are you standing in your own righteousness? OR are you standing in Jesus righteousness?
I'm depending on Jesus and He teaches us how to keep our priorities straight. He gave us the HolySpirit who dwells in us and teaches and guides and comforts us. They did not have the HS in the old covenant. The HolySpirit is EXCLUSIVE under this new covenant of grace. The covenants each have different requirements and many Christians are walking in a covenant that is no longer in effect. Mistakenly believing some how God is pleased by their law keeping.,sacrifices and works. God is pleased when we MAGNIFY HIS SON JESUS., not when we magnify our own works. We are admonished to look away from ourselves and instead 'looking to Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith'
God is not seeking to make our lives a miserable and joyless condition. He wants us to enjoy our families., our relationships with each other., the blessings He so bountifully gives us. He is our Father who richly supplies us so much so that we are overloaded with blessings from His hand. I can honestly say when I tried to gain things and keep things in life by my own hand, my own strategies and religion's harsh monk like existence, it all slipped through my fingers no matter how hard I held on. But when I allowed Jesus to take care of me and be my source for all things., I have not gone without. He is truly faithful and wants to take care of us while we are here and when we get to heaven.
So many of us are trying to secure our lives by ourselves. He gives us the ability to do the things we need to do. He gives us favor so that if we tried to say- get a job on our own, no way would we get hired. But going in His strength., His provision is much better than we could ever have imagined.
Apart from Him we can do nothing., we can get nothing that is lasting. I'm only getting a tiny glimpse of God's provision now while I'm here on earth. And the heart peace He gives now is very much a supernatural thing. I can be secure in all situations because I have seen that He has given the best He has by giving His Son. Why do people think the lesser things here while we are here on earth serving Him will be lacking?? That is religion's teachings. Not the Bible.
We are told that the joy of the Lord is our strength. But so many believers have no joy., only a adherence to a dry and lifeless religious experience that requires them to look at themselves and allllll they can do for Jesus. When in reality we are to look at alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Jesus has done for us and our lives will be lives of thanksgiving and joyful service.
