"but when our hearts are breaking we should remember the great Physician’s words: “Bring the boy to me.” As long as they breathe, we should pray. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives." - C.H. Spurgeon
Many believe, whether or not they utter the words, that there comes a point of giving up on someone that has either fallen away from God or has never been near to Him. I love that Spurgeon believed as I do. As long as a person has breath in them there is hope to come to Christ. A great many people whom I know are prayed for daily whether or not they know it. The only singular time when hope is lost is when God says "Enough!" and takes them out of this world. The true application of what's been abused in media today about the Shepherd seeking the one lost sheep has to do with Jesus not giving up on those who are His. What most don't realize of that deceptively serene picture of Jesus with a lamb on His shoulders is after finding the lost sheep the Shepherd intentionally breaks its leg to reintroduce the lamb to dependency upon the Shepherd again. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each trying to do their own thing.
Before writing this, this morning, the Mercy Me song "So long Self" was going through my mind. We need to realize that God's love has a Plan and His Plan has to do with His kind of love. It's not about denying you life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. It's about where to truly find that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If you look where Satan cultivates it, you will only see the intensity of the attractiveness of it but none of the truth in what it will cost you. If you seek it where Christ says it's to be found, you will find fulfillment in ways you never dreamed possible. Saying goodbye to our selfish ways and wants and seeking what things God wants for us, brings us to more fulfillment in life than we could ever find on our own. When we live for ourselves only, in all truthfulness, we lose. When the only cost we count is how it impacts us, we lose. Jesus never, ever, gives up on those who have believed and come to Him for salvation. To those who have believed the lies of Satan, who are on the outside looking in at Christ, oh my friend open your eyes, see just how much you have been deceived by Satan. Jesus is the only one who saves souls, Satan is the destroyer of them. Only Jesus has the lifeboat in this world. Who seeks to save. Many a person whom has prayers going up to God for them are indeed going through many rough times. It's not the prayer that is the problem. It's that Jesus is reaching down through all the lies and dirt and muck of sin to draw out the one being prayed for. Watch a video of people being pulled up out of liquids that cling to them. It's a hard process. Giving up isn't what Jesus does.
There is, however, a day, set by God the Father, that the Bible calls 'the fullness of the Gentiles'. A time when the Word of God has to be completed. When the foretold prophecies have to be fulfilled. That day is when Jesus returns and calls those who have believed to come to Him. It's more commonly known as the Rapture of the Church. Life after that will be harsher than anything lived by man before it. Now is the time to choose Jesus. Now, before that call goes out. Now, while there is still hope.
People see the headlines and miss the significance of them. It is no coincidence that the events happening in Israel are happening. It's a fulfillment of Scripture. The return of Israel as a nation began it. The return of Jerusalem as its capital. The peace treaties. All the significant steps prior to the Rapture. What Christians have sought for 2 thousand years is happening now, and people are missing it.
If you haven't chosen Jesus, please don't put it off any longer. While in today we have hope, this is still a limited time offer.
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