Scripture: John 15 v 13 - 16: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."
Matthew 7 v 21 - 23: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
The question you will be asked by God the Father that qualifies you to enter Heaven is not how righteous you are, it really depends on who you know! Because He will ask you this: "Do you know My Son?"
Everything hinges on your answer and confirmation from Jesus. If you mumble and say I have heard of Him but I don't really know Him, your eternity is not in Heaven. If you can say that you met Jesus at a time of need in your life and have loved Him and followed His Word ever since, then your name will be in the Lamb's Book of Life, and you will spend eternity in Heaven.
If you profess to have done mighty works and acts of charity in the name of Lord Jesus then the Father will ask His Son if this is so. If Jesus says He never knew you, it means you were following false doctrines and are a wolf in sheep's clothing. Your fate is sealed.
I don't like sharing the gloom and doom message but I am an Intercessor and if I do not warn you when I am able to do so then I am as guilty as you and will share the same fate. An Intercessor is a watchman with serious responsibilities and these blog posts are to help you be ready for Heaven.
So many people say they are Christians but they do not live a holy life. They mistakenly think that they can get away with worldly behaviour as long as they say Grace at mealtimes and do other spiritual things. You must have a personal relationship with Jesus.
How does that work? A relationship between two parties relies on give and take. You need to talk to find out the other person's likes and dislikes so that you can please your friend and not hurt Him. He does not like you hurting His other friends either. He expects us to love one another like He loves us. He expects us to uphold one another and protect one another.
His golden rule is to do as you would be done by! So what you do for others will be done to you. If you build people up to be the best they can be, Jesus will unfailingly do that for you. If you break them down and cause them to fall, like through drugs or alcohol, sex or other sin, when you need help it will be difficult to find. Just saying.
Jesus says His friends are those who obey His commands and do the will of His Father, so to keep your name in the Book of Life, and Revelations 3 v 5 says it can be blotted out by Jesus, you need to change from doing your own thing most of the time to doing God's will all of the time.
This is not difficult to do as He never burdens us with things too heavy for us, and always makes a way of escape when we are in impossible situations. However, we make life difficult for ourselves when we disobey Him because then He has to discipline us to bring us back into line.
So today evaluate your personal relationship with Jesus, because it is of supreme importance for your eternal abode. Do you have a vibrant, free, joyous friendship with God's only begotten Son? Or are you relying on the fact that you you were born again and baptized and did nothing to further your walk with Jesus? You have to put some personal effort into every friendship for surely what you put in you will get out.
If you continue to neglect this relationship with Jesus there will come a day when it becomes meaningless and you fall back into old habits and lose it altogether. Jesus is using this message today to reach out before its over, to tell you that He loves you, and wants to restore or restart the fellowship you one had together.
Prayer: Heavenly Father forgive us for neglecting our relationship with Jesus. We respond right now by talking to Him and telling Him how sorry we are to have let things deteriorate to this level and how we will make up for lost time. Thank You for this reminder, Father, we love and worship You. In Jesus' name. Amen.
