The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Rewards to the Overcomer, continued

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2:10,11)

The Lord talks to the church in Smyrna about being in prison.

More often than not, it seems, the Lord permits Satan to put us in some kind of prison. The purpose of the prison is that we may be tested.

The Lord allowed Satan to put Job in a prison of poverty and physical suffering. In addition to his physical agony Job also suffered from the fact he did not understand the reason for his trouble.

Maybe you are in a prison today. It seems you are shut up and cannot come forth. You are not receiving the desires of your heart. Your future grows increasingly bleak.

Yet you have tried to be a good Christian. You have made every effort to maintain a Christian home, to raise your children according to the Bible. Now the roof has caved in on you and there is no explanation.

The Lord is extremely ingenious in designing our prison. Satan thinks he is having his way, as in the case of Job. But the Lord knew from the beginning the wonderful change that would take place in Job, how he would prosper in the end, how many people would be helped by his testimony.

Satan thought he was going to have someone to join with him in rebelling against God. Satan hoped to turn a righteous man into a hater of God. But God knew what would happen and so He let Satan attack Job.

God always is ahead of Satan.

What kind of prison are you in? The Lord is testing your integrity. If it actually is God who is allowing you to be boxed in, then you cannot escape without sacrificing your integrity, without breaking your vows, without sinning against God.

The main purpose of life on earth is not to make us happy but to teach us righteousness and the knowledge of God.

If you will stay patiently in your prison until God lets you out, even until death if necessary, you will receive the crown of life. This means you not only will have eternal life but the authority and power of eternal life to enable you to govern the area given to you. The reward is rulership.

Also, you cannot be harmed by the second death. The reason for this is that you have already died. You were faithful to death in your prison. Your self-will died there as you waited patiently for the Lord.

The sins that the Lake of Fire governs, the timidity, the lying, the immorality, died with your self-will. Now if you were immersed in the Lake of Fire there would be nothing left to burn.

The holy fire that God Is consumes all that is not found in His Son. Staying put in God's prison will make you fireproof.

Stay there! Stay there! Stay there! You will be everlastingly glad you did for true saints are made in the fire of suffering and denial.

To be continued.