SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/15/2015
8:03 PM
Bible Reading & Meditation Focus:
Immediate Service
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
22:12
Message of the
verse: “12 “Behold, I am coming
quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he
has done.”
I begin with a small quote from my Spiritual Diary from
12-09-05 “Verse 12 speaks of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, for Jesus
says in this verse that He is coming quickly, which I think means that when He
comes to claim His bride that it will be a very fast event as spelled out in
1Thes. 4:13-18 where it says in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Jesus goes on to say that His reward will be
with Him and He will give a reward to every man according to what He has done,
and this reminds me of one of His parables that is about a person giving a sum
of money to three different people and two of them invested that money and got
a big return and one of them hid it and got nothing.”
Now we can see that the speaker has once again changed,
and this time it is again the Lord Jesus Christ who is the speaker and He once
again says what He said in verse seven: “"And behold, I am coming quickly.
Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book."” We have mentioned that this means that His
coming is imminent similar to what we learned when we studied the book of Mark
several years ago where Mark wrote in chapter thirteen and verse “33 "Take heed, keep on the alert; for you
do not know when the appointed time will come. 34 "It is like a man away on a journey, who
upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigning to each one
his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. 35 “Therefore, be
on the alert-for you do not know when the master of the house is coming,
whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the
morning- 36 in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 “What I say to you I say to all,
’Be on the alert!’"”
We can see from the last part of our verse in Revelation
that when Jesus comes He will “render to every man according to what he has
done.” John MacArthur writes “Believes’
eternal rewards will be based on their faithfulness in serving Christ in this
life. Their works will be tested, and
only those with eternal value will survive (1 Cor. 3:9-15; 2 Cor. 5:9-10). The rewards believers enjoy in heaven will be
capacities for serving God; the greater their faithfulness in this life, the
greater will be their opportunity to serve in heaven (cf. Matt. 25:14-30). Knowing that, John exhorted believers, ‘Watch
yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may
receive a full reward (2 John 8).”
Knowing that Jesus Christ could return at any moment
should be motivation for us as believers to get the word out to those who have
not heard that they are sinners and in need of a Savior, and that Jesus Christ
is that Savior they need.
One
more quick word on our rewards and how we can earn them and that comes from
something that is in the book of Ephesians, something that I have mentioned in
earlier Spiritual Diaries where Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
What I believe that this verse teaches is that in eternity past the Lord
not only called those who will believe, but also set aside works for us to do
and that these works are to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit so that
they will be done in a way that glorifies Jesus Christ and we as believers must
be faithful in doing these works in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my
desire to do the works that God has planned for me to do, and in doing them
bring glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will show me the things
that He wants me to do and that I will be faithful in doing them.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The temple of His own body”
(John 2:19).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said, ‘I pray the, let a
double portion of thy spirit be upon me?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/15/2015 8:25 PM
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