By: Eric Wheeler
email: eric@sharingtheway.com

8/13/08

Dear saints and fellow believers in God,

I wanted to write to you to tell you to hold fast to that profession of faith that you have made in Christ Jesus.  Put all of your cares on Him for He cares for you.  Do not be dismayed or discouraged by those things which you suffer – that is, by the testing of your faith.  For it is necessary that we be tested and tried in order that God might see the precious fruit come forth that He has so labored within us.  Hold fast unto those things which God has promised you.  Do not let Satan tear them from you as he so desperately desires to do.  Do not let your hearts become discouraged, or your faith become weak.  For our God is a powerful God and He is able to deliver us from all adversity.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, these are troubling times which are upon us.  Wars and rumors of wars are lurking everywhere.  Economic woes and worries surround us and afflict us all.  Yet, God is our Provider.  He will not let us down.  He has promised to feed us and clothe us.  He swears that He knows our needs before we ask.  Don’t be discouraged therefore.  Go to Him with your requests and needs, and He will surely provide for you and your families.  Know this though:  God wants to see what we are made of!  He wants to know whether we will follow Him and obey Him in both “feast and famine”.  It is one thing to say that you know Him and that you trust Him in a “green season”, but what about when it is dry?  It is easy to praise the Lord when things are going well, but what about when they are not?  I tell you the truth – God is now going to test the hearts of all who claim that they are His and who claim that they know Him!  For there are many who say that they are “Christians” – that is, followers of Him – and yet they will be found “wanting” – that is, they will be found spiritually lacking (Rev. 3:15-22).  God “measures” His people.  That is, He judges them.  He evaluates them to see whether or not they “measure-up” to what they profess.  Jesus said that we humans will be judged according to our words, and that by our own words we will either be justified or condemned (Matt. 12:36-37).  If we say that we know Him, but we do not, then we are liars and the truth of God is not in us.  But if we are faithful to Him who has called us, and who has placed His truth – that is the Spirit of Truth within us, even Christ Jesus Himself, then we will not be found lacking – but will rejoice with all the saints of God at His open coming – when all the hidden things of God shall be revealed.

Many do not understand my speech.  Yes, even many more shall be offended at me.  And not at me only, but with all those who have His Spirit.  For this is the will of our Father who is in heaven.  Jesus said, “If they have loved Me, then they will love you.  If they have hated Me, then they will hate you also. For the servant is not greater than his master.  And the student is not greater than his teacher.”  My dear brothers and sisters, the world cannot know us, for it doesn’t know Him.  We cannot be of the world – for the world loves its own.  And those who are of the world love the things of the world – even its riches, and its glory, with all of its distractions.  But God has called us to renounce the world and its treasures.  God has instructed us to not pursue its idols and pay homage to its decrees.  We are even to trust in Him, and to not be led away to serve this world’s goods, nor sacrifice to its gods.  Do we not understand that all of this world’s riches and priorities are but sacrifices made to idols?  What do you think the apostles meant when they wrote to the early Church “to abstain from idolatry and meat sacrificed to idols” (Acts 15:20, 29)?  They were warning the young believers to keep themselves from the things of the world and its pursuits, and from its lusts, and from its defilements which have the power to lead one astray.  We are commanded to seek the pure milk of the original faith, giving ourselves to holiness and godliness, and “keeping ourselves unspotted [untainted] from the world” (Jam. 1:27).

We must give up our materialism.  In fact, we must go way beyond that!  We must “give up all of our possessions and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” in order to inherit eternal life and to possess the things of the next age.  Those who live for this age will die with it.  A man’s own possessions will devour him.  If you don’t believe it, then watch what will happen on the world scene to come.   All who have not learned to live by Christ alone will find that their bread will not save them.  Do you think the Scripture says in vain, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.  And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come; buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” (Isa. 55:1-3).

The very reason that man was kicked out of the presence of God – that is the Garden of Eden – in the first place was that mankind didn’t believe God.  Mankind was then sentenced to a life of trying to survive on our own, apart from God, working the ground for our own survival, only to find out that the very dust from which we were taken was going to devour us anyway!  Ours is a futile dismal existence which only leads to death.  If you are a person who is serving the flesh – then I tell you the truth – your flesh will surely devour you!  As it is written: “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:19).  And again, it says: “For all those who live according to the flesh shall die.” (Rom. 8:13).  And again, it is written: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal [fleshly] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.  So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God… But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:5-13).

Many do not (and will not) understand what I am writing.  But I do not write anything new, but only that which the Spirit is giving me to write – those things which have been written of old and foretold long ago: “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years [the span of time that represents a complete time of testing, ie: a lifetime in the flesh] in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His words or not.  So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger [suffer], and fed you with manna [that is, the bread from heaven – Christ the Word of God – see John 6:32-35] which you did not know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Deut. 8:3).  As long as a person is a “man” that is “one who is living in the flesh and according to the flesh” he will have to suffer and hunger (continually crave) for something more.  He will be empty and unsatisfied until he finally comes to the Lord to learn how to live (and survive) by Him instead of by his own futile works.  Jesus said that everyone who comes to Him will never hunger or thirst again (John 4:14, 6:35). That is, they will never desire or crave or hunger for anything else.  God promises that if a person seeks Him and His righteousness first above all else, then He will even provide them with everything that the world vainly desires and uselessly seeks after, just as an extra bonus, as well as much, much more (Matt. 6:31-33).

Have we forgotten that “the earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness thereof” (Psa. 24:1)?  Do we not remember that He has given it to His saints as an everlasting possession (Dan. 7:18)?  Do we not know that “the meek shall inherit the earth” (Psa. 37:11; Matt. 5:5)?  If our Father, the Creator and Sustainer of all the earth, has given it to us who believe Him, as His legal heirs, then why do we fret over those who have seemingly “stolen our inheritance” in the meantime?  For God has already determined their end: “Yet a little while, and they shall be no more” says the Lord (Psa. 37:10).  And again, He says, “For they [the wicked] shall be as ashes under the feet of the righteous” (Mal. 4:3).  And again, He prophesies, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those wicked vinedressers – those thieves and robbers who have said in their hearts, ‘This is the heir. Come, and let us kill him and seize his inheritance!’” (Matt. 21:38-40).  I tell you the truth; God will utterly destroy them, and will give back all that they have stolen and more to its rightful owners.  For who can take anything out of God’s hand?  And who can escape God’s justice?  If God has ordained something to be, who can steal that promise away?  Therefore, little children, and beloved of the Father, don’t fret over the wicked that seemingly prosper in their way – those who have this world’s goods, and who don’t mourn now, but rather laugh in the face of God.  God has determined their end from the beginning, and what will be.  And it isn’t as far off as one might think.  I have seen in visions what God is going to do, and He has revealed in whispers what wonders He is about to perform for us.  Do not let your hearts become weary, nor faint for lack of faith.  For God is real, and those who love Him and serve Him, He will not forget.  He once told me in regards to the fiery trials ahead, which will come upon the whole earth to try all of those who dwell therein, that “those who honor Me, I will honor”.  He wasn’t just speaking to me concerning a futuristic age, but also for the “here and now”.  The Bible says that the righteous “will not stand before mean [average] men, but before kings and rulers” to be witnesses of His grace and truth (Prov. 22:29; Luke 21:12-13).  God is in control.  And for those who prove themselves faithful and loyal regardless of the cost and adversity, will surely “shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3).  I tell you the truth; they will do this both in this age – that is, in the here and now – and in the one to come (Isa. 60:1-3).

Keep the faith, my brothers and sisters.  Resist not evil done against you.  If men make fun of you, and persecute and abuse you, for His name sake, let it be (Matt. 5:39).  Do not return evil for evil, but overcome evil with good.  Turn the cheek and do good to those who wish evil upon you and who mistreat you.  When men spit in your face, and threaten to harm and sue you, forgive, and give to them generously as your Father allows.  Allow yourselves to be defrauded.  Do not avenge yourselves, and you will see that God will reward you mightily.  Become mature in Christ in your hearts, and above all, practice love.  For love is the fulfillment of the law, and the truest indicator that you are really His (John 13:35).  Remember, love never fails, and it covers a multitude of offenses.

Be of good cheer, for our Redeemer lives, and He is near unto us.

 

May God keep you and bless you, always.
Your brother and fellow believer,

Eric
eric@sharingtheway.com

 

 

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