Don't be caught in the almost. There will come a time where almost will not count. During prayer last night in church I had a vision. I saw a highway, it was two lanes going the same direction. The highway was packed with people that were walking steadily together. The sign overhead read "Eternity". What I noticed first was the appearance of everything being in black and white. It reminded me of an old TV show from the 50's. As I looked over the crowd spanning miles down the road, I noticed that there was nothing else in sight. No grass, no ground, just a one way highway full of people suspended over an endless pit of darkness. The Lord spoke one sentence to my heart "Time is running out, Ash."
As my frame of reference panned out, I saw the highway begin to narrow. As it narrowed, many of these people who were walking forward, blindly following the crowd, were falling right off the edge and into the darkness below. It was like they were oblivious to what was happening. They were following the crowd and suddenly it was too late. I'd see them walking, not realizing which direction they were headed and then they'd take that one step forward where the road was gone, the fear in their eyes as they lost their balance struck me to the core, the panic on their faces was horrendous. The separation from safety into the unknown was inevitable. That feeling of "what have I done" in their spirits as they fell. It was too late. They were gone. Just like that.
The next thing I knew I was down on that highway, but I wasn't in black and white. I was in color. I felt nothing but an urgency in my spirit so strong to warn them that the road was narrowing. I ran through the crowd screaming at the top of my lungs. I would pull on their arms, I would do everything I could to stop them, but I couldn't. Many of them acted like I was invisible, like they couldn't even see me. Some saw me but ignored me because I looked different than they did. There were a few that would turn, that would see the error in the way they were headed. They would move to the narrower way and I would feel a sense of relief. I was so thankful for each of them, for their safety and for their lives being spared; yet my heart continued to shatter for every person walking off that road and into the pit as the path narrowed.
With every mile, the surface of the road narrowed down. It became harder to stay on the course. More and more would fall away. Every single time, they didn't realize it until it was too late. It took that one final step in the wrong direction to cause the fall. A fall they could never recover from.
Are you blindly following the world? Can you see the narrow way? Will you be aware enough to take it, to change your course to the one that leads to salvation? If someone warns you, will you listen. How close are you to taking that one last step on solid ground? Are you sure you are on the narrow way?
There is no greater pain than the pain of being separated from the Lord for all eternity. There is no joy in Hell. There is no laughter, no peace, no rest. There is torment, agony, isolation, fear, trembling and pain. I don't come to you with visions to glorify myself. I come to you screaming in your face to repent. To find the narrow way and to walk it out. The words of the Bible are truth. I learned this far too late in life. Jesus radically changed my path, now it's my assignment as a disciple to point you to Him, to salvation and to the truth of the living word alive in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Your heresy is not enough, your Sunday morning service is not enough, your self-righteous religious ritualistic services are not enough; I could go on and on. Is your heart changed? Do you seek after the Lord with everything you have? Have you laid down your life for His life in you? Do you glorify Him? Do you point to Him? Do people even know you're a believer? Which step will be that last step on solid ground? Will you make it to the narrow gate?
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
John 10 - I Am the Good Shepherd
10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
I and the Father Are One
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. 41 And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.
1 John 3
3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears[a] we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Love One Another
11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Comments
Post a Comment