The Daily Word of Righteousness

We Shall Not Precede . . ., #9

They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. (Revelation 17:14—NIV)

We are not ready to ride with the Lord now, and if we do not repent of our sins and begin to keep Christ's commandments, we will not be ready then.

It is clear that the need of the hour is for the Christian churches, and all others who name the name of Jesus Christ, to start living righteous lives. We must pray every day. We must read the Word if we have a Bible.

Above all we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord Jesus.

We cannot overcome Satan by sallying forth in our presumption and confronting the demons. We can overcome the accuser only by our trust in the blood of the Lamb, by conforming our testimony to the Bible, and especially by loving not our life to the death.

Of these three requirements, the most important in the present hour is that of loving not our life to the death. This can mean many years of imprisonment, of being denied our most fervent desires, of being compelled to do that which we detest, of sacrificing our Isaac. It is not easy to give everything to God, to put our treasures beyond the grave, to get rid of all our idols and put God in first place in our life.

But until we die in the Lord we are vulnerable to the attacks of Satan. All it takes is for us to hold back some treasure from the Lord and it then becomes impossible for us to overcome Satan. No matter how many demons we rebuke, Satan will overcome us in the end if we do not give everything to the Lord.

There will be a warlike remnant who will trust in the blood of the Lamb, who will conform their speech, actions, and thoughts to the Bible so their testimony of God's Person is accurate, and who will be willing to live or die that Christ may be glorified. Because of these, Michael and his angels will receive the strength to pin Satan's shoulders to the mat.

Will you be one of these who overcome the accuser of the brothers? Until God has such a remnant Satan cannot be overcome.

We understand therefore that the purpose of the catching up is not to rescue us from trouble, it is bring us up to the Commander in Chief that we may take our place in the army of the Lord.

We who are alive at the time will not be transformed and glorified ahead of the millions of saints whom the Lord will bring with Him. It is true also that they without us cannot be made perfect. We all shall be resurrected, or transformed, and then rise together so we may appear with Jesus Christ and install the Kingdom of God on the earth.

How does that sound to you? (from We Shall Not Precede)