As it appears, biblical repentance simply means a change of mind, an inner condition that may not even includes the condition of the heart at the time. All it takes is a mental decision. It doesn’t necessary include an immediate change of the heart condition, nor actions.

Make sense, because the condition of the heart always come after the decision of the will, but not at the same time. Feeling may not reflect decision of the mind immediately, but it always manifest later according to the path you choose. More importantly, when one decides to repent, something always happen to his or her spirit, giving him or her the peace of God, assurance, and joy. (Pslam 13:5; Isaiah 55:7; Isaiah 61:1-7; Act 3:19)

Repentance Is God-Inspired

Repentance is a spiritual process that has to involve God. If God doesn’t prompt us to repent, then there is no need to repent. (John 15:22; John 16:7-8) If repentance is self-generated, then it’s just false guilt.

The Bible says that there are two type of sorrows that come from sins, one is worldly sorrow, which is caused by self-condemnation, excessive guilt, and Satan’s accusation. The other is godly sorrow, which is caused by convictions of the Holy Spirit in our spirits.

Worldly sorrow can never bring one back to God, but it pulls one away from Him. There is no need to punish and condemn ourselves if we have sinned, because God doesn’t need us to help Him to do His work. Calling sinners to repent is His servants’ work. But convicting sinners in the spirit is His work alone. Sinners cannot make themselves more forgivable by self-condem. Condemnation only strengthen sins and addictions.

2 Corinthians 7:9-11

⁹yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.

¹⁰Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

¹¹See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

True repentance produces new attitudes. But it leaves no regrets. Regret is painful, and it doesn’t help the sinners at all. See my post: Getting Over Regret.

Repentance Goes With A Broken Heart And Humility

Psalms 34:18

¹⁸The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Isaiah 57:15

¹⁵ For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Repentance Isn’t Just Mental Consent

Matthew 21:28-31

²⁸But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

²⁹He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.

³⁰And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.

³¹Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

Repentance has to be followed by obedience. In the above parable, the second son made a verbal consent, but he didn’t really take action upon it. Jesus says that if anyone doesn’t do the will of the Father, then he is not entering into the kingdom of God!

The first son refused to do the will of the father, but repented afterward and took action. Jesus compared him to publicans and harlots, who are stereotypical sinners in Jesus time. But even sinners can go to heaven if they repent and obey.

The main point of this parable is that if anyone repents, and do the will of God, then he is going into heaven. If anyone just believes and confesses Jesus as Lord, but refuses to obey, then he is not going into heaven. (Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:21)

Does the actions save the sinner? No. Forgiveness of God that comes after repentance saves the person.

Then what if someone repents but doesn’t follow up with actions? Then he must repents again and again, until he finally obeys. As long as he is still disobeying, he needs to repent, otherwise he risks going into hell if he dies in sin.

No one can really cheat his way into heaven by continuously repenting but refusing to obey. We need to sleep and rest, so it’s impossible to stay up 24/7 and keep repenting of disobedience to make sure we don’t suddenly die in sin.

How about postponing repentance and obedience all together until just before we die? It’s a dumb idea, because death can come at any moment.

True Repentance Is Always Followed By Spiritual Fruits And Actions

The changes following repentance aren’t part of the repentance process, but are natural consequences of it if it is a real repentance.

True repentance always produces good changes, because it’s spiritual. If something spiritual is taking place, it’s impossible to not having any eventual, outward manifestation in the physical realm:

Luke 3: 2-14

²… the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.³And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

⁴As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

⁵Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

⁶And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. [The call to repentance precedes salvation]

⁷Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. [Abraham is the biological ancestor of the Israel race, the chosen people of God. He is also the father of faith — the spiritual father to all Christian (Romans 4:16)]

⁹And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

¹⁰And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? [Please notice the word "do"]

¹¹He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. [The answer is specific good deed]

¹²Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? [Take Actions]

¹³And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. [A straightforward and specific correction]

¹⁴And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. [Same]

Matthew 3:7-8

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Some teachers teach that salvation in the Old Testament was based on good work, but that the salvation in the New Testament is “Once saved always saved”. They claim that before Jesus went to the Cross, it was still under the Old Testament rule, so he asked people to repent of their deeds while was still walking on earth.

If that was true, then why did the apostles still call people to repent and demonstrate good fruits after Jesus went to the Cross?

After John the baptist died and Jesus went back to heaven, the disciples continued His ministry on earth, and they were still calling people to repent and demonstrate fruits that mark genuine repentance. It shows that the Gospel was the same before and after the Cross. See below:

Acts 26:20

[Apostle Paul says:]

²⁰But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

As a result of the preaching of Paul, many people believed in Jesus Christ, confessed their sins, and changed their deeds. People who believed in false gods and practiced occults brought their occult books to the public and burned them. The total value of those books is 50,000 pieces of silver, which is approximately 5 millions USD:

Acts 19:18-19

¹⁸And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

¹⁹Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Next, what if we truly repent, but fail to correct our sins afterward?

God Always Forgive No Matter How Many Time You Sin And Repent

Many Christians worry because they still struggle with some sins in their life. Although they sincerely repent and ask for forgiveness from God, they often fall back to the same sins.

The good new is, as long as the repentance is genuine, God will always rush in to forgive at the first sign of repentance.

1 John 1:9

⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Luke 17:3-4

³Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

⁴And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

If you sin 50 times in one day, but repent at each time, God will still forgive you. Although you might have repented for the first 49 times and failed again each time, you can still confess and repent for the 50th time. God will still forgive you no matter how many times you have repented of the same sin and yet still fell afterward.

If Jesus teaches us to forgive a brother who offends us 7 times a day as long as he repents, wouldn’t he do the same for us?

Although God will always forgive us if we repent, it’s still better aim for the best and try not to sin again, because…

True Repentance Always Intent To Sin No More

Repentance is not a license to sin. Rather, the purpose of repentance is to turn away from sin and back to God.

John 5:14

¹⁴Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

John 8:11

¹¹She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

One time Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years, and after that he told him not to sin anymore, otherwise something worse will happen.(John 5:14)

The Bible says if we intentionally sin again after we were set free from sin, then the end will be worst than before. (Matthew 12:43-45; 2 Peter 2:20)

Sin always comes with negative consequences. You can’t break God’s laws without leaving damages somewhere. God’s forgiveness pardons us from His wrath and judgement, but oftentime it doesn’t take away natural consequences of sins.

The reason why sin is sin is because it always hurts and damages someone or something. (See my other post, Why Does God Allows Suffering And Evil)

For example, after King David repented of adultery and murder, God’s discipline and natural consequences for his wrong actions were still in effect. At the end he had lost 4 sons, honor, and health. His daughter and concubines got raped. Many people died because of the civil war between him and his rebellious son, Absalom. All these major tragedies in David’s life were results that traced back to his one night stand with a married woman.

It is the principle of “what you sow is what you get”.

Galatians 6:7-10

⁷Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

⁸For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

⁹And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

The negative consequences of sin alone should be an enough incentive for us to really repent.

How To Stop Sinning?

In the next post, I will discuss the most natural question that may come up in your mind after reading this post: So how do I stop sinning?

Relevant read:

How To Overcome Sexual Temptation (Series)

Parable Of The Mustard Seed (Faith is the most powerful weapon against sin)

Spiritual Battles… The Cost Of Not Engaging It

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Many churches seldom teach about repentance. When I inquired about this, the answer I got from them was that repentance after conversion was a separate deal from the salvation package, that it is about Christian living, and that some “experts” (i.e. revivalist) can preach about that if they got a special calling. (There are but a few revivalists in the last hundred of years)

But the Bible clearly teaches that if we don’t repent, we are not saved. Repentance isn’t just a one time act. It is necessary to repent whenever one commits sins. Otherwise, one will live in sin and risk dying in it.

What happens if we die in sin? We won’t go to heaven. Let me explain.

Repentance Is One Of The Initial Conditions To Salvation

Matthew 4:17

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Luke 13:3

³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Mark 1:14-15

¹⁴Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,

¹⁵And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. [Repent, and then believe. Not vice versa]

When Jesus began to preach, he didn’t ask people to confess and believe in the gospel and then repent, but he first asked people to repent. Repentance is the first thing that Jesus asks of us.

If we don’t repent, which is the first thing Jesus asked for, then how can we receive the rest of the “salvation package”?

Later, Jesus revealed other truth to his disciples, but the first step was to repent.

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost

Acts 3:19

¹⁹Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Acts 26:20

²⁰But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples received the Holy Spirit, and they too began to preach. The requirement to repent didn’t change. They still asked people to repent before anything else after the Cross and Ascension.

No repentance no forgiveness. And no forgiveness no salvation.

We Should Repent Of Our Past, Present, And Future Sin Whenever God Convicts Us

Repentance is as needed. Anytime the Holy Spirit convicts you of a particular sin (John 16:7-8), you have to repent and confess it right there and then, no matter how long ago you have committed it before. (1 John 1:8-9)

Refusal and negligence to do so would be quenching/grieving the Holy Spirit. (1 Thess 5:19; Eph 4:3)

This doesn’t have to be a passive process. If we want to maintain an intimate relationship with God, we have to seek God’s guidance on this actively. In time, we will become closer to God and sin much less.

Some teachers might tell you that God has forgiven us of our past, present, and future sin at the point of time when we become a Christian. That is very misleading— a big but subtle error.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is effective for the past, present, and future, but it is not automatic and once-and-for-all. We can still reject His atonement anytime if we choose to give up our belief in the pure Gospel, or to not repent of certain sins.

Some teachers also tell you that salvation of the Old Testament is different than the New Testament. In fact, in both Testaments, the saints receive salvation through faith, in Christ. Nothing that we do is good enough for us to earn our salvation, whether a believer is from the Old Testament era or the New Testament era.

See how King David from the Old Testament era deals with his sins from the psalms below:

Psalm 19:12-13

¹²Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. [David confesses and asks for forgiveness even for hidden sins that he isn't aware of]

¹³Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins [willful and prolonged sins] ; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

David prays for divine interventions and protections to keep him from future sins, while he trust God to blot out his past, hidden sins that he couldn’t even remember and be aware of.

Psalm 139:23-24

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

David is always careful. He is watchful and alert. He never stop asking God to convict him of any leftover sin or secret sin that are outside of his limited awareness so he can stay on the narrow path to heaven. (Matthew 7:14)

Sometime, David goes through heavy convictions. Maybe God is doing a major spiritual surgery to him — He is bringing many hidden sins to light:

Psalm 40:12-13

¹²For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

¹³Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

The heavy conviction of sins is a spiritual crisis— if you refuse to repent, then it becomes deadly, but if you repent, it becomes an opportunity to a great spiritual breakthrough.

I have been there from time to time before. This is not condemnation from the enemy, but genuine convictions from the Lord. Sometime it’s both.

The solution to this spiritual crisis isn’t positive thinking or distraction, which leads to false peace but real spiritual danger, but to really humble ourselves like David and ask for help and forgiveness:

Psalm 51:2-5

²Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

⁴Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

⁵Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

In the scripture above, David is specifically confessing his adultery and homoicide before God. He goes very deep this time, even trace back to when he was still a fetus.

Then, he goes on to ask for restoration of the joy of salvation! It clearly indicates that David knows that salvation is not automatic, nor is it “once saved always saved”:

Psalm 51:12-14

¹²Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

¹³Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

¹⁴Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

On the other hand, David knows that God will forgive and deliver him from his sins if he sincerely asks for it. He didn’t just believe and confess some easy, general, and broad term sins in an one-size-fit-all, one-and-only-once-in-a-lifetime prayer, but he actively seeks forgiveness from God when God convicts him of specific transgressions.

Do I Still Need To Repent After I became A Christian?

The following passage will make it clear.

Ezekiel 18:23-28

²³Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

²⁴But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

²⁵Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

²⁶When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

²⁷Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

²⁸Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

If the wicked turn away from his transgressions, he shall live. But if the righteous turn away from God’s grace and forgiveness, but sin deliberately and die in them, then he dies in sin!

In summary, if one has been living in sins for 10 years, then even though he was saved before, he would have ended up in hell if he died during that 10 years. If the period of unrepentant last only 10 minutes, it’s still a window of vulnerability when the sinner might die in sin during that 10 minutes and thus go to Hell.

Does it sound scary? Too scary to be possible? Read this verse.

Revelation 3:3

³Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

This verse talks about how we should watch out for the Rapture. But the principle is the same for salvation. We don’t know when we will die, so it is wise to stay out of willful and prolonged sins lest we die in them.

How Do I Know That I Am Saved?

You can be sure that you are saved RIGHT NOW. As long as you are not refusing to repent of any known sin, as long as you have a good relationship with God, and as long as you believe that salvation can only be obtained by grace, through faith, in our lord and savor Jesus Christ, then you can be absolute certain that you are being saved. If you shall die at this moment, you are going to heaven. (not by suicide, of course)

How Do I Make Sure That I Am Not Going To Die In Sin?

We can all learn from David’s prayer, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” (Psalms 19:13)

This is a matter of faith. If we always worry about the future, what we worry about will tend to come true, but if we have faith in God, His power will manifest. Have faith in God and His words. Study God’s word and proclaim His promises frequently. The more you do it, the more truth will sanctify you, change you, and strengthen you. (John 17:17; James 1:21; 1 John 1:7)

Your willpower and best intention in the present can never guarantee the final condition of your heart, not even the present condition! Only the power of biblical faith, which can unleash the power of God, can accomplish that. That’s why we have to pray, praise, fellowship with other Christian, and study the Bible diligently. The more we do them, the more likely that we can endure to the end because these activities can increase our faith, cover our blind spots, keep us close to God, unleash the power of truth, and help us retain more truth.

And finally, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Related Post:

Can You Lose Your Salvation?

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However, there are many less obvious bible verses that might give hints that a rapture event might actually happens after the Tribulation begins.

I find the pre-tribulation, secret, and conditional Rapture very easy and obvious to defend, so I just settle on that, and from there, I am going to investigate other possibilities – what if other rapture theories can be right at the same time? Maybe there are multiple raptures?

The more I research the arguments from every school of rapture theory, the more I am convinced that the majority of them must be wrong!

Am I being proud to say that? No, if interpretations of scriptures from every school of thoughts contradicted with one another and sometime even themselves, then at least half of them must be wrong.

Some arguments are based on sound logic, but many more are based on assumptions and poorly supported scriptures. Occasionally, I would find some gems from their arguments, but many times I just couldn’t accept the quality of the exegeses that were done by many.

It became more and more confusing and hard to organize the information. Thank God, I found a solution to do this! Reasoning by elimination seems to be the best way to handle this mud pit.

By eliminating arguments that are stretchy and preserving the gems, we will find a clearer picture. If we don’t know what’s certain, then at least we need to know what’s not.

Is There A Second Rapture? The Last Trumpet? Would It Be The Post-tribulation Rapture?

Post tribulation theorists believe that the Rapture will happen after the Tribulation. Partial rapture theorists believe in a secret pre-trib rapture, but they also think the post-tribulation can be right too, because of the “last trump”, see the following verses.

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15–17)

“⁴⁹And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we^[a] bear the likeness of the man from heaven.⁵⁰I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”^[b]55“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”^[c]” (1 Corinthians 15:49–55)

Some say that the “last trumpet” is the last of the seven angelic trumpets in the Revelation. The seventh trumpet is sounded at the last half of the Great Tribulation (Rev 11:15-18), and so believers of post-trib Rapture believe that the Rapture should happen after the seventh trumpet is sounded or even later at the day of Jesus’ second coming.

Those who believe in partial Rapture, aka the two raptures or even multiple raptures, believe that both the conditional, secret pre-trib Rapture theory, the pre-wrath Rapture theory, and post-trib Rapture theory can be right at the same time.

Under this belief system, the Rapture Bible verses that mention the “the trumpet” would be the “trumpet Rapture”, and the verses that only talk about an escape for the worthy when Jesus will come to snatch them like a theft would be the “pre Trib escape Rapture” (Luke 21:36).

There Were Many “Trumpets” In The Bible, Not Just the Seven Trumpets in the Great Tribulation

The problem with the “trumpet Rapture” is that the “last trumpet” could also mean the last trumpet of the Church age. There is also hint that indicates that Paul wasn’t talking about the trumpet in the book of Revelation.

At least there is one thing I am sure, which is the seventh trumpet isn’t the “last” trumpet in any sense, because on the very last day of the Great Tribulation when the Lord will come down from heaven with His saints and heavenly army there is yet another sound of the trumpet! See below:

²⁹ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹ And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31

Beside, apostle Paul wrote to the first century churches about the “last trumpet” as if everyone in the church understood what he meant, but the 7 trumpets in the Revelation were unheard of by any Christian at the time, because the book of Revelation hadn’t been written yet at the time.

The author of Revelation hadn’t received the visions of the end time as of the writing of Paul regarding the “last trumpet” and the Rapture, so Paul was very likely to mean something else when he wrote “last trumpet”, and that he was expecting the readers to understand it without the knowledge of the book of Revelation.

Therefore, there are only two remaining possibilities for the true meaning of the “last trumpet”: either it is the last trumpet of the Church age (symbolic with the Feast of the trumpets), or it is the last trumpet at the second glorious global appearance of Christ.

Possibility 1: “Last Trumpet” could be the last trumpet of “the feast of the Trumpets”, which symbolizes the things to come (Col 2:16-17), and the Christians at the time were familiar with the concepts and symbolism of the feast.

For more analysis on the “last trumpet” from the pre-tribulation camp, you may want to read this forum post. Although I don’t agree with everything in the post, such as an all-inclusive pre-Trib Rapture, I think her analysis on the “feast of the Trumpets” is excellent.

Possibility 2: “Last Trumpet” could also be the sound of trumpet on the day of Jesus’ second coming (Matthew 24:31).

I think this possibility is less likely, because if the Rapture happens that day, the bodies of believers will be changed into immortal bodies forever (1 Corinthians 15:49–55). It means they will never reproduce (Matthew 22:30).

However, during the Millennium that follow after the Great Tribulation (Revelation 20:1-10), there are mortal people (Isaiah 65:25; Rev 20:8-9), but where do these mortal come from if everyone who survive the Great Tribulation is transformed into immortal at the “post-trib” Rapture, and the wicked are slaughtered and eliminated entirely from earth (Isaiah 34:1-3; Matt 13:40-43; Matt 13:49-50)?

Since the mortal men on earth during the Millennium are most likely the offsprings of the Tribulation saints, it implies that those saints who survive the Tribulation will remain mortals. Their mortality implies that the Rapture does not happen at the end of the Tribulation, since the “last trumpet”Rapture will transform the bodies of believers into immortal bodies.

Conclusion

Either a second post-tribulation rapture, or a one time post-tribulation Rapture, is implausible. The “last trumpet” probably isn’t the seventh trumpet in the Revelation, nor is it the trumpet on Christ’s second coming.

There is yet another point for post-trib rapture that is worth tackling, which is the “first resurrection” argument:

If Revelation 20:1-6 mentions the “first resurrection” after the Tribulation has ended, doesn’t it imply that the Rapture can’t happen before the Tribulation? (Remember the “Trumpet Rapture” comes with a simultaneous resurrection)

Find your answer here: The First Resurrection

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However, you can be certain that you can keep your salvation NOW and find out how you can make sure you keep it – just read on!

Anyone can fall from any height. As long as we are on earth, we have to be careful lest we are disqualified. (1 Cor 9:27)

If you find this webpage because you are afraid of losing your salvation, do not fear! You must believe in God’s infinite power to forgive!

It doesn’t matter how addicted you are to certain sins, or how many times you have repented of these sins already, but you keep sinning again – as long as you repent sincerely and genuinely want to stop sinning, the Lord will forgive you at your first sign of repentance. (Luke 17:3)

If you think you have committed the unforgivable sin, then you didn’t. But, if you insist that God won’t forgive you for whatever blaspheme thoughts or words that you think you have committed against the Holy Trinity, you are in grave danger of hell simply because of unbelief.

Although we have become born again Christians, we must continue to believe in God’s forgiveness through faith in Christ to stand firm. (Gal 5:4; 1 Cor 15:1)

In other words, if you stop believing in God’s forgiveness through faith in Christ, you lose your salvation until you can believe again. So please stick with your faith.

Many Christians are suffering because they worried they might have committed the unforgivable sin. Some have gone so far that they became convinced that Christ had given up on them, so they rejected Christ and joined the dark side! This is exactly a self-fulfilling prophecy!

These renegade Christians believe their feelings of fears, and outward signs that seem to convince them that they have passed the “point of no return”, instead of believing in God’s promises of salvation and Christ’s forgiveness. If one believes in outward signs and feeling more than he or she believes in Christ’s infinite grace and forgiveness, he or she has officially fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:4-6)

Unless they repent of the sin of unbelief, and once again place their trust on God’s promise of salvation, forgiveness, and grace, they will not regain their salvation.

But any time they go back to God and seek forgiveness through faith in Christ, God is able to forgive them of any sin.

I learned that people who are fearful of the unpardonable sin often need as many proof as they can find to ascertain themselves that they can indeed be forgiven, here is an extremely useful article for those who are extremely worried about the unpardonable sin:

Unforgiveable? The Unpardonable sin of Blasphemy Against the Holy Ghost

If you are still worried about the unpardonable sin after you have read my post and the link I gave you above, go to Testimonies of Christians who found forgiveness after being sure they had blasphemed the Holy Spirit and committed the unpardonable sin for many more articles of real Christians who have gone so far from God because they thought they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, but found forgiveness after.

This worry can escalate to the point of mental illness. If you find intrusive thoughts of blasphemy raging in your mind, it is possible that you have developed a clinical disorder known as the Religious Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Fortunately, once you know the cause of ROCD by reading the articles through the above links, you will see recovery very quickly.

Now let’s see what kind of traps can get Christians into hell so we can all avoid them.

Two Types Of Christians Who Ended Up In Hell After They Crossed Over

1. Christians who deliberately sinned till the end of their life after they have become born again, because they thought God would look at the other way when they sinned since they thought they were “once saved, always saved”. They refused to repent from certain “pet sins”. They had grieved the Holy Spirit and quenched Him (1 Thess 5:19) Their conscience were seared by sins by the time they died. (1 Tim 4:2)
2. Christians who thought God won’t forgive them, so they stopped believing in Christ through faith. Forgiveness is not automatic. We must receive it by faith. Anytime we add anything extra to the gospel we risk falling from grace (Gal 5:4; Gal 1:6-9). For example, Christians who were once saved, and later added extra requirement to salvation such as performance of good deeds would end up in hell when they crossed over, because they believed in “a different gospel”. (Gal 1:6-9) Anytime we disbelieve in forgiveness in Christ through faith, we lose our salvation unless we believe again. (Gal 5:4; 1 Cor 15:1)

In fewer words: Christians will end up in hell if, by the time they die, they still refuse to repent from their pet sins, OR they still believe their sins can’t be forgiven.

We don’t need to experience a 100% sinless life before we are allowed into heaven, but we have to be sincerely wanting to be free and genuinely repenting from all sin – at least before we die and cross over.

However, if someone plans to repent on death bed, that leads to two major problems – first, he doesn’t know when he is going to die, and second, his repentance is probably insincere, after many years of active sinning it would be hard for him to genuinely want to stop sinning. We can’t mock God. (Gal 6:7)

666 – The Mark Of The Beast: A Biblical Example Of How Christians Lose Salvation

Christians who get left behind will face the anti-Christ after the Rapture, and they will have to endure the great Tribulation – which is the final seven years of earth, with all the intense suffering that the world has never seen before. At some point during the Tribulation, the anti-Christ and his false prophet will force everyone to take a mark of the beast on his forehead, or on his right hand. (Rev 13:15-17) Anyone who takes the mark of the beast is going to hell.

Rev 14:9-13

⁹A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, ¹⁰he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” ¹²This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. ¹³Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” 

When God says anyone who worships the beast is going to Hell, He means anyone – including Christians.

During the Tribulation, Christians who happen to remain on earth will face intense persecutions.

For those who refuse to take the mark of the beast, chances are the anti-Christ government will have torture programs instated for them. The demonic government is not going to let their enemies die so easily. Remember, during the Tribulation the demonic army of Satan will be on earth without major restraint from God (2 Thess 2:7; Rev 12:9; Rev 12:12).

The Tribulation will be terrible! But there is an escape; the only way out is the Rapture. In the Rapture, the Lord will harvest selected Christians from around the world and take them up to heaven (1 Thess 4:15-18), and shortly after the Rapture the Tribulation will commence.

Be prepared for the Rapture because it can happen anytime soon. Being a born again Christian doesn’t guarantee we can join the Rapture, but only those of us who keep the words of Christ will qualify. (Rev 3:10)

If Jesus thinks you are ready for the Rapture, you can be certain that you are also ready for Heaven anytime should you die and cross over. But if by any chance you find yourself getting left behind, repent completely, so you can at least go to heaven if you die during the Tribulation.

If you do get left behind for whatever reason, remember don’t take the mark of the beast 666 no matter what! Some Christians will say “God will understand. God will forgive”, but they are putting greater trust on their assumptions than on God’s explicit warning. Their chance of getting away with eternal punishment is zero.

Christians, listen to what God said! Love truth, not make true of what we love.

*Caution* The following section is for those who might be tempted to “beat the system” – by trying to sin, and yet still try to get into heaven by being a born again Christian. I know a lot of people, including myself, who sometime entertain the idea that a little unconfessed and unrepented sin here and there is OK. This is an extremely dangerous way of thinking. See the Bible verses and explanation below.

If you are not in this category, but are among those who fear you might have become unforgivable, then go straight to the links at the bottom for more articles that tell you that you are forgivable.

Other Scripture Passages That Say A Christian Can Lose His Salvation:

1. Unforgiveness

But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:26

If you die at the time when you harbor bitterness toward someone, which means you withhold forgiveness from that person, the Father will not forgive you as well. If you refuse to forgive even after you die, it means you  die in unforgiveness, i.e. You die in sin! Will you still go to heaven if the Father doesn’t forgive you?

2. Believing in good work rather than salvation through faith in Christ only

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. Galatians 5:4

Some new Christians were indeed saved by grace, but later they got deceived by cult such as the Mormon and Jehovah Witness. These cults preach a “different gospel” (Gal 1:6-9), and the result for anyone who believe in a “different gospel” is “fallen from grace”.

What is a “different gospel”? It is a gospel that preaches anything other than believing through faith in Christ, an example of a “different gospel” would be salvation by faith plus good deeds, or something other than faith.

We are saved by grace, through faith in Christ. If we are fallen from grace, that means we lose our salvation, unless we repent and go back to the pure gospel and hold on to it. ( 1 Cor 15:1)

3. Disobey God’s will

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23

We all fail to obey God many times. That’s inevitable because of our ignorance, weakness, and foolishness. But if God sends us explicit warnings and rebukes us through His faithful servants, but we insist on disobedience and keep it that way until we die, we are in grave danger of hell when we cross over.

It doesn’t matter how many souls we have saved, how much we have served God, or how many good works we have done: If we don’t do God’s will, all our good works are just filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)

4. Deliberately keep on sinning

²⁶If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”^[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”^{[e] 31}It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31

One can only lose his salvation by unrepentance or false repentance on deathbed. If a Christian plans to use Christ’s sacrifice to sin willfully and get away with hell, his repentance is false, and God is not mocked (Gal 6:7).

God isn’t a computer program which has bugs you can take advantage of. You can’t beat the system by taking advantage of His provision.

In addition, sin can blind and deceive its slave (Ephesians 4:17-18; Hebrews 3:13). It can also harden the transgressor’s heart. (Hebrews 3:13)

I believe that’s why the Scripture said “no sacrifice for sins is left” for those who deliberately keeps on sinning, because the sinner has already seared his conscience by deliberately sinning and he can no longer truly repent. (Hebrews 10:26; 1 Timothy 4:2)

What if you have deliberately sinned?

You have to be very deliberate to be able to “deliberate sinning” to the point where you can no longer truly repent.

Every time we consciously sin such as ignoring the speed limit when we drive, or lust after someone and decide to satisfy our lust with more dark deeds in private, we are “deliberately sinning”.

No Christians on earth has never deliberately sinned before. Most sins began with conscious decisions, albeit under heavy pressures of temptations.

Don’t worry if you are addicted to certain sins. If you are struggling with sins but sincerely repent every time, then it’s not deliberately sinning. Sometimes God allows us to be tortured by sins for reasons such as training our faith, humbling us, or reminding us to rely on Him.

As long as we have “today”, we are to ask God to deliver us from traps of sins and ask for His grace to experience total freedom. (Hebrews 3:7-15) Don’t ever compromise and let your addictions reign – no matter how much pains the addictions have caused you.

5. Returning to the Pre-Saved days

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:20

If a Christian re-commits himself once again to the old lifestyle he had before his conversion, the Scripture says his condition is worse than before.

The consequences of sins for him will be heavier than prior while on earth, and if he dies in that condition without returning to God, he will suffer much more than unbelievers and more than he would have had had he not become a Christian in the first place. (Hebrews 11:24)

If You Worried You Might Have Committed The Unforgivable Sin

Go To:

Extremely comforting words that explain why you and I are forgivable as long as we repent NOW

Good Precautions You Can Take To Minimize The Chance For you To Die In Sins

Anyone can fall from any height. No matter how many souls we have brought to Christ, or how spiritual we have become, if we die in sin, big sin or small sin, we can jeopardize our eternal rewards and even our salvation.

No amount of precautions can bring you to heaven, only forgiveness through faith in Christ can. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

But here I like to give you some articles and suggestions of precautions you can take to prevent hardening of heart and searing of conscience by sin, to keep you qualified for the Rapture, and to prevent a prolonged window of time when you could die in sins.

First, practice the way of love, for he who has the love of God has no reasons to fear anything or stumble in darkness. (1 John 2:10; 1 John 4:17-18) Ultimately, the commandments to love God and love others will make you bullet proof!

Second, practice the presence of God daily and walk in the Spirit!

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1. You will be bad habits resistant and temptation resistant
2. You will be productive and prosperous in anything you do
3. You will be freed from all guilt and insecurities
4. You will walk a straight path, bypassing all wrong turns and complexities in life
5. You will save tons of times and resources that others need to spend to achieve the results they cannot even imagine they can achieve

A Narrow Path

This post is going to challenge and turn upside down the way of men. What is the way of man? Human wisdom, certitude, the board path… You got the idea.

Most people do what most people are doing. The Bible said the same of the board road and wide gate (Matt 7:13).  More people choose that path, but that leads to destruction.

You can hear the same from some of the smartest men in the world – that if you go after the low hanging fruits and do what most people do, you are less likely to succeed. In fact, the majority is usually irrational and wrong. If you follow the stampede, you will hurt yourself. For example, the stock market! History repeats and people still buy high and sell low. They just follow the stampede and the same financial actors.

Only the few who actually know what they are doing and stick to it will receive the rewards at the end (Such as Warren Buffet).

You know what it takes: Courage, patience, faith, wisdom, knowledge…

It takes that same for the spiritual elites to live differently than the majority of people on earth.

And more.

Fortunately, God already wrote down what we need to do in the Bible. It is quite a list, but as I meditate on the verses that explain how to live a spirit filled life, I became so excited because I realized it wasn’t as difficult and complicated as I thought.

They are all familiar Bible verses. I just hadn’t put them together to pay a closer look before. I began to feel that my previous experiences resonate with the verses.

If you happen to have read most of the Bible, this post should be an easy scan for you. I wish I am doing a great service to you by putting the familiar verses in a focused manner that makes it easy to understand our central theme: how to live a spirit filled life. It was all hidden under my nose before!

The Natural Man, The Flesh, And The Spiritual Man

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgethc all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:14-16

9 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.  Gal 4:29

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.   Gal 5:16-18

As Christians, we have both the spiritual part and natural part within us. The “natural man” is capable for logic, senses, emotions, words/languages, imagination, and general capacities of human beings, while the “spiritual man” is born after the Holy Spirit when we accepted Christ as our personal savor and Lord (John 3:1-16), and one of the functions of the spiritual man is to  serve as a spiritual organ that communicates with the Holy Spirit.

The natural man is pretty good at doing what it does, but it can’t receive truth and revelation from the Spirit 24/7 like we Christians can, because, on top of the natural man we also have the spiritual man in each of us.

Writing a post like this one requires the exercising of both the natural man and the spiritual man. The spiritual man receives divine knowledge from the Spirit, while the natural man deciphers the messages into human languages and understandable thoughts, so we can remember and communicate with others the lessons and messages we have received from the Spirit.

In order words, I have to allow the Spirit to lead and use my natural capacities in order to write this post. It doesn’t mean I become a robot and the Spirit take over the control of my body, but I follow His promptings to do what He directs me to do, and trust that He will empower me to do it.

As Christians, we should dedicate our body members to God (Rom 6:12-13), which include our natural capabilities; therefore, they are to be driven by the Holy Spirit, not the flesh. (Rom 8:4)

The flesh is the sinful tendency that we still retain even after our conversion into the family of God. The flesh will be gone only at the day we get into heaven or at the moment of the Rapture when we experience a transformation of our bodies into the new ones like that of Christ. (1 Cor 15:51-53)

But at the meantime, we have a war to fight. Our spiritual man and the Holy Spirit repels the flesh, and vice versa.

Here is where the natural man comes in. The flesh wants us to rely on our natural strength and capacities, rather than relying on God. The natural man is well-intentioned but it can only put on the form of righteousness. It isn’t able to empower us to live a genuine righteous life.

The natural man and the flesh don’t know what God’s perfect will is, and it will try its best to please God with its limited strength and wisdom.

Humans have a stubborn tendency to rely on the natural man to perform good works. Whenever we sin we like to figure out what went wrong with our own wisdom and logic, and then we double, triple, or quadruple our willpower to avoid sinning again. To our dismay, no matter how hard we try, the power of sin only becomes stronger over us. (Romans 7:21-23)

As Christians, it is very common for us to experience struggles between relying on our natural abilities/flesh and the Spirit.

Most of the times we are philosophically confused about it because very few Christian pastors or teachers teach about walking in the Spirit in a systematical, practical way.

As a result, many Christians are serving God out of the flesh, instead of relying and obeying the Holy Spirit.

To Rely On The Flesh Is Disobedient, Self-Centered, And Counter-Productive

On the surface, it looks like everything is fine as long as we have the heart to serve God and live a good Christian life, but it isn’t.

Matthew 12:30

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

Matthew 7:21-24

²¹Not 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.²²Many 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? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.²⁴Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

1 Samuel 15:23

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Romans 8:7-8

7 Because the carnalc mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

The flesh can put on the show of good works, but the power source of these good works is the flesh, not the Spirit, and it is the same flesh that is the source of all vices that we find ourselves struggling with in our Christian life.

As long as we continue to rely on the flesh, we will never experience true victory over sins, and we will never truly please God.

The flesh and the natural man can only do what they think is good. They act on what they know in their limited wisdom and knowledge, and thus create a lot of unintended consequences that will ultimately lead to bad results, but this reality will not be immediately obvious to those who are walking in the flesh.

We are in fact resisting God if we rely on our flesh to carry out good works.

The flesh likes to boast of its power. It wants others to see what it can do. It is “self”. To live in the flesh is to live a “self” life without God being our actual Lord.

The Bible never said that the flesh is dead when we accepted Christ as our savior and Lord, but it actually teaches us that the flesh will continue to present, so we have to be watchful, lest it regains its control over us.

The moment we fail to live in the Spirit, the flesh will dominate. (Gal 5:16-18)

When the flesh dominates, sins will abound.

Don’t be surprised if you find your flesh to be active from time to time. It happens if we quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thess 5:19), or by a dozen of other reasons, so be vigilant and always learn from the Spirit so we can always walk in Him and avoid falling into the flesh again.

It is a lifelong practice with a very steep learning curve, so don’t feel disappointed if the flesh beats your best intention at times. Just go back to God and ask for grace to resume the practice again (Proverbs 24:16).

How Do I Walk In The Spirit?

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal 5:16

Quench not the Spirit. 1 Thess 5:19

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Rev.2:7

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Jude 20:20

We walk in Him by knowing who He is, by obeying everything that He tells us, and by approaching Him as much as we can. How do we know Him? The Bible teaches us who He is.

He is with us Christians 24/7, and He loves to fellowship with us anytime. (Phil 2:1-4)

The Holy Spirit speaks to us very frequently with a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). We can easily ignore Him and pretend we don’t know what He is trying to say, or assume that what He says is undo-able.

Why Does Christian Struggle With Sin? Why Doesn’t God Hear Our Prayers And Deliver Us From Sins and Bad Habits Right Away?

By repeatedly ignoring or resisting the Spirit, we can quench his power in us (1 Thess 5:19). If we allow that to happen, we will fall prey to the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Sins will regain dominion over us as the grace and power of the Spirit recede because of our little disobedience here and there.

Many Christians are struggling with sins. Me included. Until recently I re-discovered why – I fail to obey and listen to the Holy Spirit all the time.

When there is the flesh at work, no amount of prayers will stop it from bearing bad fruits, unless I repent at once and walk in the Spirit again.

I said “re-discover” because I learned this before, and this lesson brought me to a major revival a few years ago. I tried my best to stick to the right path while this lesson was still fresh, but later, the subtle deceptions of the flesh had slowly crept back in, and I relied more and more on the flesh again.

I was like a frog in a slowly heated water.

Watch Out Even For The Innocence

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12)

There is no sin that is too little. If the Spirit tells you not to do something that you think is innocent, then run away from it and never look back! I often do it or look back anyway, and it would bring me to a less innocent act, and then another that is even lesser, until I find myself drowned in sins.

In fact, anytime we disobey the voice of the Spirit His power in us will start to diminish, and we will find it harder to obey as we sink further downward.

There Are People You Can’t Handle. If The Spirit Warns You Of Them… Run And Hide!

Similarly, if the Spirit tell you to avoid certain individuals or situations, avoid them right away. There are many people or situations that will lead you astray. They can be innocent, well-meaning folks or events: pastors, Christians, harmless looking people, Christians gathering, or Church functions.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

There was a Christian whom I admired and wanted to connect with for quite a few years, and finally I had a chance to serve with him in a ministry. Soon, I found out that he had a lot of issues to deal with, and one of them was bitterness. This bitterness had spread out to those whom he had come across with, especially and including me. Gossips, divisions, and outburst of angers (from this person) were frequent when he was present. I regretted that I invited him on board and that I didn’t cut off all ties with him quickly.

God will deal with the people in your life if you lift them into His hand. Don’t intervene. Don’t offer any assistance or counsel to anyone if it wasn’t from the Spirit.

I made this major mistake with the guy I mentioned above, and with some other individuals.

As a result, my walk with God had been contaminated by the negative influences from fellowship with these people. It took me quite some time to recover spiritually. Their negative influence was one of the reasons why I fell prey to the flesh again a few years back – by allowing bad examples before my eyes for too long I was led astray.

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm Proverbs 13:20

Examples of harmful effects these individuals can bring you include: they can hurt you deeply or tempt you to sin by gossiping, judgmental attitudes, and slanders. They can give you such a hard time that makes it difficult for you to be joyful, thankful, forgiving, and attentive to God’s voice. Their influences can rob you of peace.

In some extreme cases you can actually receive strong warnings from Holy Spirit when you come across extremely dangerous situations and people, see one of the stories here.

How To Be Successful All Your Life?

Jesus has spent only 3 years on earth, but look how much He has achieved.

It was miraculous.

You and I can replicate His effectiveness too, if we simply do what He would do. We could replicate the results of a successful person by replicate his actions!

But how can we know what He would do in every situation? By the Spirit!

The functions of the Holy Spirit are to teach us all truth, tell us what God’s will is, and remind us of what Jesus taught us. (John 16:13-14; John 14:26)

Without the Spirit, we can only read the letter of the Bible, but we will not be able to truly understand and apply the deeper meanings of them. In other words, God’s words aren’t God’s words if the Holy Spirit doesn’t actively bring the words alive for us. (2 Cor 3:6)

Many times, too many times, I had wanted to read the Bible more, but ended up doing worldly things. The problem was, I wanted to control when I would read the Bible, how often I shall read, and how deep I wanted to understand the words. I was trying to achieve spiritual goals with the power of my flesh.

I had failed almost every time when I tried to be more spiritual with methods, formulas, and plans. But at the time I didn’t know what went wrong.

There is no success formula which you can use apart from the active leadership of the Holy Spirit. Formula will fail, schedule will fail, method will fail, and knowledge will fail if you don’t walk under the active leadership of the Spirit.

To apply this principle on a broader scale: we should do everything out of the Spirit from the beginning to the end. Not just with the spiritual things, but with everything as well, including career choice, spouse choice, school choice, and everything big or small, even when to sleep.

At this point you may worry, “What if I hear Him wrong?” At times you may get deceived or confused as to which voice is the Spirit’s, but if you don’t listen at all, you will always get it “wrong” anyway. So in fact you are left with only one choice – just listen:

John 7:17

If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

John 10:4

And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

You Will Achieve A lot When You Walk In The Spirit Fully

Joshua 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

John 16:13

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

To meditate on God’s words day and night is to live a Spirit filled life. They work together. They are almost synonymous. Anytime you treat the words of God with complacency and neglect, you grieve the Spirit and quench His power in you, and anytime you rely on yourselves rather than the Spirit, the power and deep knowledge of God’s words will be withheld from you.

For 5 years, I have attempted to meditate God’s words day in and night out, just like what the Bible commands us to do, but I had failed at every attempt.

However, whenever I sincerely converse with the Spirit, He often shows me relevant verses and explanations with simple real life applications. And when I apply the words according to His leading, it always become obvious of what I should do. It’s like a ray of light shining through thick clouds.

You can’t replicate the work of the Spirit by formula, methods, and plans. There are dozens of dozen of Bible study plans and methods out there, but unless the Spirit initiates the plan and guides you through every thought and step, your effort is futile:

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalm 127:1

Once you meditate on God’s words day and night in the Spirit, God will make you prosperous and successful because He promised it. (Psalm 1; Joshua 1:8)

You will also have the mind of Christ fully at work in you (1 Cor 2: 16) . We are what we think (Prov 23:7). If the mind of Christ in us works actively, we will surely replicate Christ’s results.

Meditation of God’s words in the Spirit is just the “inner game” of our walk. Now let’s move on to the “outer game”!

The Outer Game Of Our Walk In The Spirit

If we get the “inner game” right, the “outer game” will take care of itself. Let me show you what the “outer game” is about:

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Proverbs 21:5

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Luke 5:4-7

The Spirit often instructs me to do something “out of the blue” in random places. There were several times when He used me this way and “we” had brought several strangers to Christ. All I did was just obeying His prompting.

Prior to my walk in the Spirit, i.e., while I was still walking in the flesh as a Christian, I had never brought one single soul to Christ.

Looking back, I can see logical, biblical, and even scientific reasons behind His “random, out of the blue” instructions. The limitation of human understanding often prevents us from seeing the big picture at the time, and thus the prompting of the Spirit often seems random and uncomfortable to us.

But we will eventually get to the big picture and increase our understanding as we simply obey every promptings of the Spirit.

One problem: Humans don’t like unpredictability and unknown; We like schedule, plan, and habits.

You don’t need to force yourself to build godly habits; The Spirit will build something magnificent out of His daily walk with you as you go along. This includes everything in life: career, school, relationship, finance, and health.

You will learn as you do, and whatever you do in obedience to the Spirit you will reap multiple results in this life and the next.

Like in the example of Simon and the fishes (Luke 5:4-7), God loves to instruct us where to “let down our nets”, such as where to drop our resume, which person to marry, which school to attend, and which business venture or ministry to undertake.

He loves to speak His mind to us, if we would let Him.

If we listen and act upon His instruction, we will get multiple good results in our endeavors – just like how Simon caught many fishes in one move.

Simon was an experienced fisher – just like how most of us are experts in our own field – but he and his pals failed to catch any fish for an entire night.

Like Simon and his pals, we will deal with uncertainties in our endeavors no matter how good we are at what we do. As natural human beings, our skills and experiences can only give us the approximation, not the exactitude.

There is a huge difference between approximation and exactitude.

We will never have complete information at any point in life. If we act like the non-Christians, we are playing the number game. “Number game” aptly describes what every human endeavor on earth is like: full of trials , errors, and guesstimates – this is the only way non-Christians can achieve anything.

If we rely on the flesh, we are playing the number game; It’s like throwing spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks; We will have to make multiple shots and hope that one gets in.

We will have to climb all the way up through mountains, and sooner or later we might find ourselves on the wrong mountain, and we have to climb down and try the next one, because we have no map.

We will have to compete with thousands of other people who are relying on the flesh too: job searching, public exams, tournaments and contests, business ventures, and even ministry… Since you are not following an unique calling from God, you will have to do what most others are doing or create something new of your own (and hope it works), and hope that you beat the competitions and reach the top from above the thousands.

Eventually, you may achieve some success on your own term, but the result will not last for eternity since this success isn’t part of God’s plan – it is a discord in His grand scheme of things! You will also have wasted a lot of time during the trials and errors stage. Your time will be much more productive if you give your time to God instead.

With the one clean shot you make under the Spirit’s guidance, you will live your life to the full as you make one clean shot after the next, and the next and the next and the next and the next… for the rest of your life.

If we want to master the “outer game” of our walk in the Spirit, we have to walk every single step under His guidance. (Psalm 37:23-24; Proverbs 3:5-6)

Forget All Your Earthly Glory

God is I AM, not I WAS or I WILL. Forget about your accomplishments, titles, CV, wealth, and circumstance. Surrender your past and future to Him and just focus on Him in the present.

When we truly surrender everything to Him, He can use us freely in the now and then. If our mind get entangled by the past (baggage or accomplishments) or the future (goals and ambitions), the Lord can’t use us freely.

Our employers, business partners, customers, fans, friends, and others all look at our past and evaluate us base on that, but the Lord cares about the NOW. He can use you to accomplish anything if you just walk with Him and obey Him in the present, not the past or future.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ. Hebrews 5:11

Throughout the Bible, God has used so many different characters, most of them were ignoble: they were shepherds, servant girls, slaves, losers, fishermen, and other weak folks. He has also used someone who had an impressive resume, such as priests, kings, and the riches.

It doesn’t matter to God – as long as you are willing to obey and be faithful, He can use you anytime.

You might have been a loser up to this point, or you might have been successful, but God can do something new and better in your life today if you simply follow His instruction and do what He wants you to do.

In the world, employers look at your education, credentials, references, and all that. You can be unemployed and broke right now, but the Lord can give you a prestigious job, a profitable business, or other amazing accomplishments within a very short time no matter how incompetent you were.

He knows your true gifts and talents. He has an unique calling that is custom-made for you. Only you can do the best job in that calling. No one can substitute your role in His unique plan. If you disobey and miss that calling, the blessings God could have given you and others through you will be forever lost.

His calling may seem insignificant at the first glance, maybe it isn’t a prestigious job, rather, it could be a job no one has ever heard of which is in the middle of nowhere, or it could be a business venture that goes against all odds. Persist and keep going! You will find the hidden gold mine if you just keep digging.

A friend of mine was called to be an academic. His field is data mining (*boring!*). For years he had spent so much time with text books, solving many mathematical and computational problems. He could spend an entire week in a room just to solve one math question that he finds interesting.

As a result, he can now look at any question his colleagues bring him, and within minutes he can formulate a strategy that his colleagues can use. His colleagues are PhD, masters, and some of the sharpest minds in Google. To this day, He has brought hundreds of millions of profits to Google. He manages hundred of researchers, four secretaries, and the whole nine yards (For example, a queen size bed in his office that Google gave him).

On the side he has started a few successful companies that monetize his other research findings, all of which makes multimillion dollars in profits.  (He manages quite a lot of people! )

You too can be very successful in your unique calling if you surrender all of your past and future to God, and regardless of what others think of your resume and credentials, just be courageous and do what He wants you to do.

More On The Inner Game Of Our Walk In The Spirit

Now that we have the overall view of the big picture, we can go back to the “inner game” again to add some more crucial information, because without the light of the big picture, it’s hard to fully appreciate the information I am going to share here.

By now we know how narrow the narrow path is. It’s very easy to fall prey to the flesh again without even being conscious of it. The flesh is subtle and deceitful.

We must remember where our fleshes belong – the cross. We must put our flesh on the cross on a daily, hourly, and as-frequent-as-it-takes basis.

²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25

The walk in the Spirit requires our active cooperation. We must exercise our willpower constantly to focus and obey the Spirit. And we must not forget the truth — that we have crucified our flesh.

To be watchful of the flesh all the time can be stressful. To be on call for the Spirit all the time can seem stressful too. Also, in the presence of the Lord His light and justice will progressively reveal all of our sins and erroneous thinking. For the faint of hearts it can seem too much to handle.

Satan will siege every opportunity he can find to attack you as you try to maintain this delicate balance on the narrow path. If you start shifting your focus and attention from the Lord to yourself, then Satan, the flesh, and the world will easily deceive you into walking in the flesh again.

One of his tactics is condemnation. Since you have become alert and aware of your own every darkness in the presence of the Lord, he will use that as an opportunity and condemn you with every sin that you see in yourself until you can’t stand before the Lord anymore.

If you fall for that trap, you will see your inadequacy more than you see God’s adequacy, and you will sink in doubts and sins very quickly.

Bouts of depressions and regrets will follow if you let Satan does that to you, and soon your strength, peace, and joy will leave you as you believe in Satan’s accusations and deceptions. (See Spiritual Battle.)

Before you realize what has been going on, you may have long departed from the walk in the Spirit already. It’s a narrow path, so narrow that it’s easy to fall into the ditches on both side.

In my own walk in the Spirit, I learned some important lessons about how to maintain the walk. For example, in Getting Over Regret I shared how I walked through the trap of regrets, and learned to forgive myself as I grew. It’s important to forgive yourself after you have been forgiven by God. Otherwise, the narrow path can become unbearable because of perfectionism.

It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint

If what I just shared in the last section sound excruciating, it probably is, but in time it will get better as you become more “skillful” at abiding in Christ and walking in the Spirit.

One of the skills you need is to be thankful.

Give thanks often for every little progress and blessing that God grants you. You will find a lot of strength as you give thanks. The walk in the Spirit is full of challenges. It’s important to celebrate every progress you are blessed with before the next wave of challenges come.

The next skill is to forgive, because you will be very sensitive to sin in the presence of the Lord.

If anyone sins, don’t worry too much as you should lift him or her to God, believing that the Lord can take care of every consequence of that sin. If you sin, just repent. True repentance leave no regrets.

The third skill is wait.

You should accept your current condition before the Lord. Don’t strike. Just wait before God and wait for the Spirit to guide you along.

If we try to rush it before God’s timing, we are relying on the strength of self. I have done that many time and it always turns out to be a waste of time. I have forfeited or delayed many blessings and breakthroughs that could have been mine, or could have been mine earlier, by worrying too much and working too hard for them (all those schemes, visions, and plans!), instead of just waiting prayerfully and peacefully before God.

The blessings that I had deprived myself of by striving and scheming include biblical insights, purity, calling, financial wealth, career success, relationship, and more. That sounds a lot, but in fact everyone on earth experiences the same – falling short of God’s perfect plans. I believe very few people throughout history have attained all the blessings that God had planned for them.

If there is such person, he or she is perfect indeed.

Don’t worry too much about failures in your walk! The more you worry, the more likely you will fail. Simply trust God can empower you to accomplish everything He wants you to accomplish.

For me, the first time I embarked on the walk in the Spirit it was exhilarating! It had lasted for 2 to 3 years, and then I fell into the ditches because of many of the traps I have just mentioned in this post.

After that I was able to resume my walk slowly. The big fall into the ditch confused me somewhat, so the recovery took a while.

This time the future is bright, and I was just freed from a major sinful habit because I started walking in the Spirit fully again.

I hope by sharing my personal victories and failures with you I might be able to strengthen your walk in the Spirit. God bless!

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Yes, I mean even the genuine Christians will be left behind, not just the people who think themselves are Christians.

So what exactly can keep you from being “caught up” in the Rapture? (1 Thess 4:17)

By reading the scripture carefully, I have come up with the following Bible verses and explanations why certain attitudes and sins can disqualify us from the Rapture.

Rapture In The Bible: What Can Keep Us From Being Caught Up In The Rapture?

Although the list may seem long and elaborate, these sins cannot hinder us from participating in the Rapture if we simply:

1. Loves Jesus and obey His commands (John 14:21; 1 John 2:3-6; 1Peter 4:8)
2. Be humble and always willing to confess sins and repent(1 John 1:9; Jame 4:6; 2 Corinthians 7:10)

We can commit anything on the rapture-disqualification list only if we do it intentionally, but you will find the sins on this list pretty common for today’s Christians. (Including you and I at certain points of our life, if this list convicts you, consider this a loving warning. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if one repents   )

Here’s The List And Explanation For Each One:

1. I Hold Grudges Against Someone

Matthew 18

. ³² Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³ Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
³⁵ “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”^[f]

We must forgive, even if the offender continue to sin. We may distant ourselves from the offender if he or she continue in his or her offenses, but we must forgive from our heart. The consequences of the offenses may not deserve any pardon (waiver of punishments), but we must still forgive (Not pardon, you have every right to not pardon an offender).

The consequence of unforgiveness is torment. The Lord will deliver us to the torturers, Satan and his demonic forces, to be tortured, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

Many cases reported that unforgiveness tied to health issues, which indicate that unforgiveness open doors to “torturers”.

Bitterness and grudges cause one to miss God’s grace (Hebrews 12:15), which in turn block one from growing spiritually and receiving the power and desire to do God’s will.

Missing God’s grace, in turn, will open door to a number of offenses that can block one’s entry to the Rapture, see the other points below.

2. I Offended Someone But Refuse To Ask For Forgiveness

Matthew 5:23-25:²³“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.^[d]

If we offended someone by our words or attitude, but in our heart we think “I am only accountable to God so I just confess to God”, this pride will cost us. The victims of our offenses may appeal to God, who is the righteous judge, and He will not settle the matters carelessly.

Sometime we offended someone greatly, but forgot about it, the nagging guilt will linger (Psalm 32:3-4) unless we ask God to search our heart and bring those hidden sins to light. (Psalm 139:23-24)

We will get stuck in “prison” until we get our conscience clean.

3. I Bully Other Christians

Matthew 18:6

⁶ “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Matthew 24:48-50

⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

2 Corinthians 12:20

²⁰For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Perhaps you have never seen one Christian bully in your entire Church life. Maybe that’s because you are still new in your heavenly journey, or maybe God has shielded you from seeing some of these dark sides of His family.

Christians play politics too. When there are people, there will be power struggle. Some people want to get the things they want, but instead of praying for them they manipulate their ways through to get them. (James 4:1-3)

How dare them? Because they think God is good and love, so He is not going to punish them, which is clearly not what the Bible teaches.

Like I said in the previous post Rapture In The Bible: Will Christians Be Left Behind (Movies True)? Such Christians will be ashamed when Jesus come and find them bullying other Christians in the Church.

Today, mature Christians and servants of God are working hard to follow God’s will and therefore are very productive in the kingdom of heaven, while immature Christians, constantly create problems and heartaches for the true servants of God and for those who genuinely seek the Lord. They are sources of dissensions, gossips, quarrels, and all the confusions that happen in the Church and many people refuse to become a Christians because of their poor examples.

Without the troubles they create for the Church, the true servants of God and sincere young Christians could have done more for the kingdom of God, instead of channeling a large chunk of their energies to deal with the stresses and pains that these carnal Christians create for them.

4. I Am a Spiritual Baby When I Should Have Already Been A Master

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Matthew 25:26-30

²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. ²⁹For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ³⁰And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

God expect us to bear fruits and be profitable with what He has given us: time, grace, and gifts. If the Rapture happens the hour after we have become Christian, then I think God is going to be more generous with our entry into the Rapture.(Luke 12:47-48)

However, as our Christian age progress, the Lord expect us to mature as well, but we can intentionally refuse spiritual growth.

You can actually hear a lot of excuses from Christians who refuse to grow. They refuse to love, forgive, obey, and surrender. They don’t want to humble themselves, and don’t care if they have created troubles and heartaches for others in the Church. They only care about what they want, what they feel, and what please them.

No wonder Jesus calls them “wicked servants” and disqualify them for the Rapture, and rewards in heaven. (Matt 25:26-30)

I found two relevant articles on this: Why Christians Remain Babies? and You Might Be A Spiritual Babies

5. I Commit Adultery

Rev 2:22

²²Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Matthew 5:27-28

²⁷Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

²⁸But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Many Christians have addictions with porn, prostitution, and masturbation. If you don’t think so, then I encourage you to simply put this aside and keep on keeping on in your heavenly journey.

For those of us who agree what I am talking about, the only solution for those who are in bondage is to pray sincerely for deliverance and embark on the journey to purity and freedom NOW.

If we are sincere and truly want holiness, God knows our heart and will have mercy on us. But if we try to hide our sins and cover them with excuses, we will not get away with them unpunished (Psalm 32:3-5).

If the Rapture happens the moment while we are in the middle of adultery such as watching porn, imagine how shameful it will be? When the “Last trump” and “shout of Archangel” are heard by everyone in the world during the Rapture (1 Thess 4:14-18; 1 Cor 15:48-55), we would be like “Ouch! It’s happening! Arrrrhhh Noooo! It’s too late” . Whenever I imagine this picture, a sense of holy fear would urge me to keep on pursuing holiness and fight against sins.

Revelation 16:15

¹⁵“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

Don’t let Jesus catch you naked!

6. I Commit Idolatry

Rev 2: 21-22

… because you allow^[c] that woman^[d] Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce^[e] My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²² Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their^[g] deeds.

Idolatry is the same as adultery.

Anything that compete for your affection to the Lord is an idol. That includes family member, boyfriend/girlfriend, accomplishments, money, pet sin, and anything other than God.

7. I Tolerate Sins

Galatians 5:19-21

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,^[c] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders,^[d] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. ²⁵ And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. ²⁶ Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

The above verses are self-explanatory. We can be disqualified from Rapture and even Salvation. If you want to know how to get salvation,  see the statement of belief that I endorse. You can’t lose your salvation if you don’t have one to begin with.

8. I Am Spiritually Asleep

Mark 13:36

³⁵Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: ³⁶Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. ³⁷And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

I explained what “sleeping” means in the previous post.

9. I Owe Debts And Am Not Going To Repay It

Psalm 37:21

The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives.

Matthew 5:25

²⁵“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.^[d]

Ecclesiastes 5:5

It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

If we mismanage our finance, and evade our financial responsibility for any reason, according to the Bible we become the wicked. You know what the Lord does to the wicked!

If we deny our responsibility and say to our conscience, “I will pay, just not now, later!” The Lord may actually give us extra time to repay the debts, such as 7 years. *Wink Wink* (Hm, the Great Tribulation last 7 years too)

The key is to be humble and sincere. If we have financial hardship, ask God for help, but don’t evade our responsibilities.

10. I Am Too Busy For God

Luke 21:34

³⁴“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

Be careful what you ask because the Lord may actually give it! If we want more time with the world and serve God later, or pray later, then God may give us more time with the world indeed. Is 7 years of extra time enough? *Wink Wink*

11. I Postpone Serving God With What I Have Now

Matthew 25:26-29

²⁶ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷²⁸ So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.
²⁹ ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.

V29, “outer darkness” describe “the days of the Lord” (Zeph 1:15). In that period of time, the Church is supposed to hide in the heavenly chamber (Isaiah 26:20-21) that Jesus has prepared for us (John 14:1-3) But the “wicked servants” will remain on earth to experience the Tribulation (see my previous post), which refine their faith.

12. I Refuse To Follow God’s Calling And Disobey His Will

Matthew 12:30

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

Matthew 7:21-24

²¹Not 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.²²Many 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? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.²⁴Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

2 Timothy 1:8

.. who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

1 Samuel 15:23

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

If we rely on our own strength to serve God, our work won’t count. In fact, we are working against the will of God by doing our own will instead of His. We will stand in the ways of people who truly obey God, and create unintentional consequences that affect others for eternity.

For example, churches or ministries might suffer because one person disobeys God’s will and chooses to do it his way; another example, a Christian marry a non-Christian, thinking that he/she can lead the spouse to Christ, and this decision can affect generations who have to decide which parent to follow. (I heard a story of a Christian woman who married a unbelieving husband, and later she regretted it after bearing two child. The kids also won’t accept Christ, and she felt she had spent her life breeding non-Christians)

If God has sent His servants to teach you about obeying His will, but you resist it because of pride and denial, you maybe in danger of disqualification from the Rapture and the heavenly rewards that could have been yours, because the more you know or refuse to know, the more you are responsible. (Luke 12:47-48)

Many Christians today are still in control of their life, rather than surrendering it to God. It’s not that they don’t know God’s will, but they don’t want to obey.

For more information on this topic, see The Full Surrender

13. I Shut My Ears to His Voices

Rev 3:20-22

²⁰Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²²He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

John 15:6

⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

“I will listen later!” “I will remain in Christ, but later!” Sure, is 7 years later late enough? *Wink Wink*

Christ is standing at the door. We must be ready to hear Him out and careful not to occupy ourselves with other priorities that are higher than Him.

14. I Pick And Choose Christ’s Words To Obey

Rev 3:10

¹⁰Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Rev 3:2-3

²Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. ³Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

We can’t pick and choose what to obey. We must obey the full commands of Christ, and never deliberately avoid some of them. If we do pick and choose, the Lord will “have not found (our) deeds complete in the sight of my God” (Rev 3:2), and we know what He may do in that case!

He gives us the word to keep, not to mock. (Gal 6:7)

15. I Am “Useless” to Christ

Rev 3:15

¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

James 1:26

²⁶ If anyone among you^[b] thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

John 15:6

⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

In my previous post I explained why being lukewarm means useless.

If Christ comes at the Rapture and find us in the useless condition, He said He will spit us out of His mouth! Meaning, out to the Tribulation! To be purified.

If we want to be useful to Christ, simple, remain in Him! Obey His commands based on what we know now.

Do Not Worry!

So you see, although the list of reasons that can disqualify us for the Rapture seems long, the root causes are the same: pride, disobedience, non-repentance, and love of sinful pleasure.

As long as we have the following, we will do fine.

1. Loves Jesus and obey His commands (John 14:21; 1 John 2:3-6; 1Peter 4:8)
2. Be humble and always willing to confess sins and repent(1 John 1:9; Jame 4:6; 2 Corinthians 7:10)

If there is any question, email me. If you find this post urgent, please tell your friends and family about it.

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Yes, unfortunately.

Question 2: Will I be left behind?

It depends…

Let me explain.

There Is A Barrier Of Entry To Rapture

A lot of us are probably not going to make it to the Rapture. This is going to be a huge surprise for those who won’t make it, but as we speak many of us still live in ignorance, and some even have an arrogant attitude too, partly because of the assumption that everybody in the Church is going to be raptured.

Another reason why they are ignorant, or even arrogant, is because many Christians haven’t really read the Bible closely enough and simply carry on their daily life as if the most terrible time in history, the 7 years of Tribulation, isn’t coming within a very short time.

If we all read Jesus’ words very carefully, then we will know that there is a tough barrier to entry for the Rapture.

Let me show you the Bible verses that talks about the barrier to entry and explain why I said that the Rapture is going to be conditional.

Where In The Bible Does It Say That The Rapture Is Conditional?

Here is a list of Bible passages that say the Rapture is conditional, but this is not the entire list. For the purpose of simplicity, I will use the key ones that bring the point across, and then move on to the next sections that include other verses.

The Days Of Noah – Matthew 24:36-51

³⁶“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[f] but only the Father. ³⁷As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.⁴²“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

V36-38 Talks about the end of Church age when the Rapture is about to happen. These are the days like the days of Noah, when people were eating, drinking, and business as usual, right before the flood came. Likewise, our age is similar to the days of Noah, when people are thinking everything is ok, and then Jesus suddenly come and bring in the Rapture.

V42 was speaking to Christian. We have to be ready for the Rapture. What if we don’t? If Rapture is going to include all Christians, then why did Jesus ask us to keep watch and be ready?

If you happen to think that a Christian who commits serious sins isn’t a true Christian to begin with, then I would say you are probably doing fine, because you are too innocent to know that a genuine Christian can indeed commit serious sins, and that many have already committed them, and some are continuously, actively sinning. However, later in this post, and the next one, I am going to list other sins and traps that can disqualify even an average Christian from the Rapture.

V 45-48. Jesus was speaking to Christians because He was talking about His servants. There are servants who are wicked! A wicked servant cannot be a non-Christian, because a non-Christian isn’t a servant, but is an enemy.

V42. “Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come!” If Jesus is coming to take every Christians during the Rapture, then whether we know He is coming or not isn’t relevant, and Jesus didn’t need to tell His disciples to keep watch so many times. Jesus wasn’t a man of many words, so if He says something more than once, it must be important.

That Day Will Close On You Unexpectedly – Luke 21:34-36

³⁴“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. ³⁵For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 21 and Matthew 24 are both sides of the same coin. They addressed the same speech that Jesus delivered, which talked about the Tribulation, and the time that comes before it.

V34, “that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap” means the day when Jesus comes at the Rapture (Matt 24:42)

V36, Again, Jesus warned us to “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen”. Note that He used the words “may be“, which indicate there are prerequisite conditions to be met.

One of the prerequisite to escape the Tribulation is to be always on watch and pray.

This means if we are not always on the watch, we can miss the Rapture. If the Lord finds us being weighed down with dissipation (pleasures of sin), drunkenness (addictions, undisciplined life), and the anxieties of life (fame, wealth, success, career), then the day Rapture takes place it will be like a trap, rather than deliverance.

The Foolish and Wise Virgins – Matthew 25:1-13

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹” ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

¹¹“Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

¹²“But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

¹³“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Speaking of the Jewish marriage in Matt 25:1-13, the Lord mentioned about a “bridal chamber/heavenly mansion” (John 14:1-3), which, according to Jewish tradition, is where a Jewish bride will enter at the start of the bridal week.

This “bridal chamber/heavenly mansion” is the one that Jesus promised He would prepare for us in heaven. (John 14:1-3)

V 12-13 Those who are unprepared are not allowed into this chamber/heavenly mansion.

What is this chamber/heavenly mansion’s for?

²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until his wrath has passed by.

²¹ See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;
she will conceal her slain no longer. Isaiah 26:20-21

This chamber is for us to hide ourselves “for a little while until his wrath has passed by“. How long is this little while? 7 years of Tribulation!

The 10 virgins are all describing Christians, and this parable isn’t about salvation, but is about permission to join the Rapture. Those Christians who aren’t ready will remain outside of the heavenly chamber that Jesus has prepared for us. (John 14:1-3)

Where else could these unready Christians be? earth.

Spitting Christians Out To Tribulation – Revelation 3:15-16

¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Jesus was rebuking the Church in Laodicea, one of the 7 Churches in the first chapters of Revelation, which are the symbolic Churches that represent today’s Churches.

What does it means to be lukewarm? Lukewarm is neither cold nor hot, but Jesus would rather it be either one or the other! Why is that?

Because lukewarm water is good for nothing. Either cold or hot is useful – Cold is refreshing, and hot is useful for other purposes such as washing, cooking, and brewing.

Jesus was saying that this Church is good for nothing.

v16. Spit out. Jesus will spit out this church if it continues to be useless. It means Jesus will spit us out to the Tribulation and let it purifies our faith.

Jesus will treat us the same if He finds us useless. What does it means to be useless? Compromising God’s command; Serving God halfheartedly; Calling our own shots instead of living according to God’s plan for our lives (Knowingly); Serving God out of selfish ambitions; Being a poor Christian example to others (And be arrogant about it, instead of being heartbroken about it); Refusing to serve or go to Church; Relying on our own strength instead of God’s; Living an empty life without daily fellowship with God.

I will explain in more detail later in the post.

Casting Immoral Christians Into Great Tribulation – Rev 2:20-22

²⁰ Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹ And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.²² Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

Jesus was speaking to the Church in Thyatira. Can you imagine it? Christians can in fact commit sexual immorality and idolatry. You can’t argue that they aren’t Christians to begin with because Jesus was calling those who sinned his “servants”.

V22, Here Jesus used the words “great tribulation”, which means the 7 years of Tribulation.

One thing is sure here – the Rapture isn’t for every Christians. Rapture is a conditional reward for Christians.

If Christ Find Us Sleeping – Mark 13:36

³⁵Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: ³⁶Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. ³⁷And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Sleeping – everyone needs it, so it’s not talking about normal sleep, but is a condition that is the absence of: prayers, fellowship with other Christians, obedience to God’s call, or any crucial spiritual exercises that keep one spiritually active and healthy. Sleeping also means ignorance of one’s sinful condition, and lack of urgency to repent.

How Do You Make Sure The Lord Will Include You At The Rapture?

Keep The Word Of Christ – Rev 3:10

¹⁰Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Keep the word of Christ! But unfortunately…

A lot of Christians haven’t really read what Jesus had said, or simply brushed off some of his teaching because it’s uncomfortable to follow. For example, Matthew 5:23-25:

²³“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

²⁵“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.^[d]

It’s very easy to offend someone, but it’s very hard to see anyone actually apologizes to one another and seeks reconciliation. Many Christians act like kids (sorry kids, it’s just an expression. Jesus actually teach us to be like kids) and point their fingers outward. “Why doesn’t she/he apologize first?”

This is so mocking God! For they know what Jesus commanded us to do in this situation, but they brushed it off. See Galatians 6:7:

⁷Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Sure, we can pick and choose what we want to listen and obey, but we will have to pay the price for it. If we simply disobey what Jesus plainly said, it’s like going to grocery store and grab whatever we want without looking at the price tags.

The price to ignoring God’s word is huge, always.

Today, many Christians misinterpret God’s love. God is love, but it doesn’t necessarily mean soft love in its entirety. God’s love also has a tough side. (Revelation 3:19)

We do not want God to show tough love to us more than it needs to be.

Be Careful, Be Always On The Watch, And Pray – Luke 21:34-36

³⁴“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. ³⁵For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

“Being always on the watch” is literal.

If we are always on watch for Christ’s sudden visit, will we watch cable TV that has graphical, violent content? Will we be watching porn thinking no one will knows? Will we be holding grudges against someone as if Christ isn’t going to mind when He comes? Will we be dating casually and play the marriage game outside of marriage (kissing and touching are moral only within marriage)? Will we be allowing ourselves to do shameful things so when He comes He may catch us “naked” (literally or figuratively)? (Rev 16:15)

Encourage One Another

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I am also guilty of some of the sins I mentioned in this post! There were times, too many times, when I was sure that if the Rapture was to come I would probably be left behind. Fortunately, God was able to bring me up to speed again with this blog ministry. By encouraging my readers, I am blessed too.

Yes, I know it’s hard to be on watch, but let’s encourage one another and pray that that day won’t befall us like a trap.

Obey, Repent, and Wake Up – Rev 3:3

³Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Sin makes one asleep. Sin is deceiving. Once we commit any sin, it can deceive us and numb our sensitivity to it. It’s very easy for those of us who have been to Church for many years to become complacent and think that some of the basic commandments aren’t so important anymore.

They think they are above consequences of violating simple, basic commandments of Christ because they are now more sophisticated and have advanced knowledge. In fact, the longer we have been to Church, the heavier the responsibilities we have. Luke 12:47-48:

⁴⁷“That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Luke 12:47-48 was talking about the Rapture also (See the entire content in Luke 12). For those who think they know better, but refuse to act on their knowledge, Jesus will give them punishment that is proportional when He comes.

If we repent of our sin, we will once again see clearly, for the deceptions of sins are removed.

Experiences and knowledge won’t save a Christian from the Tribulation, only consistent and constant obedience and repentance do. This is going back to the basic.

Cleansed By The Word Of God – Ephesians 5:25-27

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing^[b] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

We are to anticipate Christ as a bride. A “marriage” between Christ and the Church will take place in heaven (Rev 19:7-9; Rev 21:1-2). To prepare for this ceremony, we have to be holy and blameless, being washed with water through the word.

We have to allow sanctification to take place in our life, see this article on sanctification, which I find helpful.

If anyone isn’t living up to the grace and time that he is given, such as the ones who refuse to be sanctified and mature (Hebrews 5:11-14), he or she is in danger of being left behind.

Shame, Caught Naked, and Arrogance

Being left behind is shameful. There will be a lot of pains, fears, tears, and losing battles. Christians who find themselves in that age are not going to accomplish anything of significance other than enduring persecutions and disasters that come wave after wave, according to the book of Revelation.

In the present age, which is the pre-Rapture age, is when the Church given the authorities over Satan. (Luke 10:19; Mat 16:19 ) However, during the Tribulation, power and domination are given to Satan and the Anti-Christ (Rev 13:7; Dan 7:21).

There will be two great witnesses, angels, and 144,000 Jews who will carry out the final task of evangelizing the world. The contribution from those who are left behind is insignificant, at least I don’t see in the Bible any major accomplishments from these saints other than losing their battles with the Anti-Christ (Rev 13:7) and being beheaded for their faith (Rev 20:4)

These words were used in the book of Revelation to describe those who are left behind and those who become Christians during the Tribulation Rev 7:16-17:

¹⁶Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
he will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

These are words of consolation, not words of praises. Sure the Tribulation saints are given white robes (Rev 7:13-14) because of the blood of Christ, but that does not mean the Tribulation is necessary for them to go through. They could have met Jesus earlier at the Rapture if they keep watch or accept Christ earlier.

They have gone through hunger, thirst, and scorching heat. They have shred many tears.

Unlike the pre-Rapture saints who died for Christ, and whose blood and tears were necessary because of the gospel, the blood and tears of the Tribulation saints could have been saved.

Are We Asleep? Or Are We Arrogant?

If you are confident in your answers, then good for you. Let hope that we will meet each other at the Rapture!

I personally have witnessed Christians who act very arrogantly in the Church. There were condemnation, gossips, slanders, outburst, factions…(2 Cor 12:20) Such Christians act as if the Lord can’t do anything about it.

Why would they behave in such a way? Because they think their salvation and the Rapture are guaranteed! They got it wrong on both – once saved isn’t always saved, and the Lord will discipline every Christian as He deem necessary. (Revelation 3:19)

On top of regular discipline and consequences of sins, the Rapture is coming very close and if it happens today a lot of Christians will find it a trap.

I don’t want to be caught naked! (Rev 16:15) The day of the Rapture will come very suddenly during good time so that the, arrogant, immature, and sleepy Christians will be so shocked as if they are being caught naked, literally or figuratively. (I worry about that too, none of us is totally immune to the possibility of being caught naked (literally) right?   )

Next I am going to list some major Bible verses that show what could hinder a Christian from participating in the Rapture.

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If God didn’t arrange the coincidence in the library, I would not have read it and the changes that came afterward would have gone missed.

I fell in love with the book once I opened it. Later, me and my friend purchased many copies and gave them out for free.

It revolutionized my Christian life. It was like a major revamp. To this day, the presence of God is still going strong and the level of intimacy has never receded.

Biblical foundation of the Practice Of The Presence Of God

Although the author of TPOTPOG, Brother Lawrence, didn’t mention many biblical references in the book, almost every aspect of TPOTPOG stem from God’s basic commands that we as Christian were familiar with.  The way he devotes himself to live out the commands and share the insights through human words make it very enjoying and inspiring.

I thought, it was so easy! Lawrence made it clear and concise what we must do and what attitude we must have to walk with God.

Prior to the reading, I had always wondered why it felt like something was missing in my relationship with God. There was a void to be filled, but I didn’t know how to fill it. I had been going to church and fellowship with other Christians regularly, and I had quiet time with the Lord everyday, but there was a silent yearning beneath my soul.

What Will I Experience Through Practicing The Presence Of God?

Through practicing, you will be able to see the Lord and focus on Him in everything you do. You will find the power and desire to do His will amid all the usual obstacles, distraction, and chaos in life. You will be able to see and testify what God’s perfect will is in things big or small. You don’t have to do big things and take big leaps every time, even in the small things you will be able to handle them in a way that pleases the Lord.

You will gradually become a fireball for God. At first, you may not sense it, but when you can feel the intensity, it already happened. All the lukewarmness and complacency will be consumed by an intense desire to seek God.

Think You Will Feel Holy And Satisfied? Maybe Quite The Opposite!

Instead of feeling holy, the presence of God may make you feel quite the opposite! You will see every hidden sinful attitude and transgressions against God and others. You will see blind spots that you have previously missed. You will mourn for the complacency and lukewarmness of the past (In the presence of the Lord you will see your previous lifestyle as complacent and lukewarm, even if by human standard you were not) and feel intense pain for allowing yourself to have lived that way.

The fire gives you intense desire and focus for the Lord, but it can also pain you.

Rather than satisfaction or “as a deer panteth for the water”, you will feel very thirsty and hungry for more spiritual insights and growth. You will be afraid to miss out any chance to grow and serve the Lord. Anymore missing out with God’s perfect plan will pain you to no end because you can now see the eternal chain consequences of everything you do in obedience to God’s will, the blessings are too great, and therefore too painful to miss.

Random, Spontaneous, and Being On-call All The Time

You will discover that God like you to take the leap of faith when things are uncertain. Human likes to know what is going on, and what will happen, but the Lord’s servants are likely to engage one unexpected adventure after another.

You won’t know whom you are going to meet at any time, whom you are going to share the gospel with tonight, and out of a sudden God might prompt you to do something challenging such as to preach to a crowd on a very short notice.

The first year I practiced the presence of God I was a University student. Back then I would often take a walk in the Campus and run into friends. There were quite a few times when I met an acquaintance, a new friend whom I’d met for only a couple of hours, or an old friend whom I hadn’t met in a while, and God would ask me to share the gospel with them. Every time I obeyed God’s prompting the person I talked to accepted Christ!

God will work wonders around you if you obey His orders. See my article Self Doubt And The Leap Of Faith Part 3: Power And Desire to learn more about seeking God’s will and do the seemingly undoable by God’s grace.

Stretching You To Your Furthest Limit

You will become a threat to Satan’s kingdom, so expect him to wage a major campaign against you for as long as you live. If you are unalert and/or uninformed of his schemes, you will suffer continuous casualties. If you want to know why even a godly man can suffer unjust and undeserved attacks that can make your life tough, see my article on Spiritual Battle…And The Cost Of Not Engaging In It.

God will give you exciting projects to do, but the more success you enjoy, the more it can reveal your character flaws.

It’s like stress testing – you might be cool when things are normal, but God will test you by allowing things overload. You might be able to forgive one person at a time, but how about two? Three? Or many within a short time?

God will give you many challenging tasks to do, but His grace is sufficient, and He will also allow the enemies to launch waves of attacks on you – to see how long you can hold out, to test your faith and character under trying circumstances.

When people see success in you, they will be attracted by you. Many will come to you and ask for one thing or another. But be careful whom you fellowship with. Some are wolves under sheep clothing. And even Christians can be used by Satan to hurt you.

Many will come to you because they see that you have influences, so they want to use you for their own purposes, for examples, to rebuke their spouses and vindicate them in relational conflicts; to give you a bad report of someone they held grudges against so you will stand on their sides and that they can quote you in gossips or arguments; and to complain about something so you will fix the problems for them, etc.

Pray for wisdom and discernment! Don’t fall into these traps! Otherwise you spirit and soul will be contaminated!

The are many traps on your path to higher ground! Satan, the world, and those who live according to the flesh will try to pull you back as you practice the presences of God. On the other hand, the Lord will give you important assignments which test your faith and character. You will grow as you learn to defend yourself against the former and embrace the latter.

With Friends Like That, Who Needs Enemies?

There are roughly two kinds of Christians, carnal Christian and spiritual Christian. Carnal Christians seldom pray and fellowship with the Lord when alone, but they might still go to church regularly and can be very active in the Church socially, which is the problem.

These carnal Christians can also be active in a ministry, and that can create a lot of stumbling blocks for those around.

By definition, a carnal Christian is a Christian who runs his or her own show, with Christ as their savor, but not their Lord. A man who relies on self cannot help but creates many consequences that are eternally bad.

Even apostle Paul was grieved by such Christians:

²⁰[Paul:]For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you [The Corinthians Church] as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 2 Corinthians 12:20

These are fruits of carnal living. And those who live according to flesh (Carnal Christian) naturally persecute the spiritual Christian:

²⁹But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Galatians 4:29

Until they see their errors and repent, they will create problems for each other and for those who purpose to live by the Spirit. They despise what they don’t understand, and because a carnal Christian don’t understand a spiritual Christian, the carnal will persecute the spiritual out of ignorance and narrow-mindedness.

Carnal and Spiritual are opposite polar, but it’s not like you are either one or another – it’s like a spectrum where most people fall in between. Unfortunately, most people lean on the carnal side, and many are heavily carnal (But you may not find them to be frequent church goers anyway)! Be prepared for unpleasant experience when fellowship with carnal Christians.

I wrote an article about the harmful effect of bad friends, click here to see how you may avoid them.

Surrender All

God will come to you from time to time to ask for more of you. Can you surrender your relationship life to Him? Can you give up dating and reserve yourself for someone special? Can you surrender a prestigious career and follow your true calling? Can you surrender worldly entertainment and trust God as the sole provider of joy and peace?

Every time God come to ask you for something, there will be a lot of soul searching, discerning, some confusions, and ultimately, the best way out is to surrender, or you can stay where you are, but that’s not going to be the best place to be. You either choose the world from the start and embrace a self driven life, or you choose God and live a spirit driven life. Anything in between is not going to please anyone, and you will be left in limbo (figuratively, I don’t mean literally)!

Even after you decide to surrender, the temptations to take things back to your own hands will remain strong. The gal or guy you are smitten with is going to be around that you don’t know where else to look at, people will ask why you don’t apply for this or that job with your degree, and there will be many advice on how to take control of your life and etc.

More On Practicing The Presence Of God

To practice the presence of God in this age is challenging. It requires many spiritual knowledge, awareness, and training. The rewards of this discipline are exceedingly great that it worth to have an entire training program devoted to it.

The book itself is written in old English, but I somehow managed to understand what the author was saying. I am going to release a series of commentary on the original words of the book. Like this idea? Drop a comment to let me know!

More is coming.

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In the Bible, God had risen heroes to deliver his chosen people, the Israelites (Now we call the Jews), from their enemies and the sinful way of living that caused the enemies to arise at the first place. Many times, the chosen ones were surprised by the calling from God, and would consider themselves unworthy of the call.

Most of them were afraid, why me? Of all people in Israel, why me?

One of such heroes was Gideon.

¹⁴And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

¹⁵And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

¹⁶And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. Judges 6: 14-16

The Midian was nomadic people. They were numerous. And they, along with their alliances, the Amalekites and people from the east, were bullying Israel. Every time the Israel had sown, they came to destroy the produces and farm animals, leaving them with nothing.

Basically, the Midian and the foreigners roamed the land of Israel freely and camped anywhere they wanted for however long they wanted. The Israelites had to hide in the mountains.

When God spoke to Gideon and invited him to be the next deliverer for Israel, he was hiding from the Midian.

Gideon questioned the Lord about the call at first, reasoning to the Lord that he was the least in his poor family so he probably couldn’t handle the mission.

But the Lord thought differently, he called Gideon “mighty man of valour” (Judges 6:12)

Many times, how we see ourselves deviate greatly from how God see us. He is our creator so He know what we are fit to do, and He know the best timing for everything.

Arguing with the Lord about what He think of us isn’t humble. It’s an insult to the Lord’s wisdom, thinking we know better than the Lord. Have you ever argued with God when you sensed that He was calling you to do something?

Gideon didn’t argue with the Lord after He promised Gideon that He will be with him in his mission; He only asked for signs from God to prove that it was really God who was speaking to him. Then the Lord showed him that by miraculously consuming a meal prepared for Him by Gideon. (Judges 6:17-22)

Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

After this, the Lord asked Gideon to do one thing – to demolish the altar of Baal, an idol that the Israel worshiped at the time, and then build a new altar for God, and offer a burnt sacrifice there using the demolished idol as fuel – it was a dangerous mission because the Israelites will kill him for doing that, but he went straight to do it, albeit at night, for fear of the Israelites.

Perhaps God intervened behind the scene, Gideon’s dad said one sentence to the angry folks who demanded his son the next morning, and the mob disbanded. (Judges 6:32)

It doesn’t sound like a comfortable thing for Gideon to do, does it? When God ask you to do something, it’s always doable. He will give you the grace to do it, and take care of the consequences, but often times His instructions are uncomfortable to carry out.

This is a feel good generation. We like to do things that pleases ourselves and avoid things that make us feel uncomfortable. For Gideon and many other heroes of faith, they eventually mastered the skill of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. We will do well if we obey God just like them, and learn to master this skill as well.

My dad is a Tao priest who offers funeral ceremonial services. He is still doing that today. 10 years ago he forced me to shadow him in one of his services, and it tested my faithfulness to God as I felt I had to refuse it. But I was afraid of man more than I afraid of God, and I compromised. To learn more about my story and how I suffered a sense of shame because of my compromise, click here.

Several months ago, my grandmother died. She passed away without Christ, which was unfortunate, but I knew it was a second chance from God for me to show my faithfulness to Him. This time I stood my ground and refused to participate in any idol related ceremony.

As a result, God has blessed me with a good reputation among my relatives because they saw me stood my ground during the funeral, and my dad was willing to make accommodation for my faith during whole process. Throughout the funeral, people kept saying loud, “He is a Christian so he doesn’t do that”, and because of that everyone knew I was Christian.

Is It God’s Will?

Gideon was a very careful man, after destroying the altar of Baal, he asked for confirmations from the Lord whether it was God’s will to use him to fight the enemies and deliver Israel.

Make senses, because the Lord hadn’t asked him to take any specific action against the enemies yet, so Gideon was right that he chose to ask God specifically about whether it was His specific will that they should attack the enemies at the time, and whether it was him who should do it.

³⁶And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

³⁷Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

³⁸And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

³⁹And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew.

⁴⁰And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

So Gideon led the men he gathered and went to the battle field.

Have you regularly sought God’s specific will for your life? Sure you can hear His voice. If we surrender all our excuses to God, we will find that we can indeed hear His voice pretty clearly, the Bible says,

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,  and they follow Me” (John 10:27);

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”(Isaiah 30:21);

If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. (John 7:17)

God has unique plans for everyone. The plans may sound impossible at first, and that we are weak and fragile, but if we obey His prompting, and take the leap of faith every time the next step is shroud with uncertainties, we can expect great things to unfold at the right split of second.

God will engineer our circumstances in such a way that when we obey, people, heaven, and earth will cooperate with our actions, whether they are willing or do it out of evil intentions, or by accident or coincident, and the outcomes of our obedience will in turn trigger a chain of events that lead to multiple ripples that bless many.

A servant of God should do nothing on his own, but to trust and obey God. Many people either refuse to listen to God’s call because of self doubts, or they take matters into their own hands and fight without seeking God’s will. For the former, the result is God’s judgment and punishment (Matthew 25:14-30), and the latter is vain conceit and missing out on God’s perfect plan.

Win Till You (Almost) Drop

Win till you drop, sounds nice isn’t it? As you grow in faith and the skill of obedience, you will win, win, and win. Based on my own experience, the Lord grant me more and more responsibilities, honor, and success as long as I keep obeying Him, until I can’t handle the it anymore, emotionally, and physically.

It might come to a point where you will feel exhausted. The Lord will stretch your faith and obedience to the max. Stretching you makes you grow.

⁴ Gideon and his three hundred men, exhausted yet keeping up the pursuit, came to the Jordan and crossed it…

[Skipping a few lines of how Gideon went through the whole nine yards in his pursue]…

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen. ¹¹ Gideon went up by the route of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and fell upon the unsuspecting army. ¹² Zebah and Zalmunna, the two kings of Midian, fled, but he pursued them and captured them, routing their entire army.

Long story short, Gideon and his 300 men (Yes, they started with 300 only, and ended with 300 in its entirety, but the enemies lost 120,000+ men in this battle) had been beating up their enemies all the way through and they were exhausted by all the one way killings and pursing.

For your information, Gideon wasn’t the only one who won till he almost dropped. There were Moses, who became sick and tired of performing miracles for the losers for 40 years; Joshua, who had fought more than a hundred battles in his lifetime, having only lost once due to someone’s stupidity, and when I read his biography I got bored by the long winded record of places he had conquered; Sampson, the strongest man on earth in his time, almost thirsted to death after killing 1000 men by himself with a donkey’s jawbone. And there were more than I can tell you in one article.

If you want to be a champion who in this life, who is counted by God for eternity, and if you want your success to last, then you should practice obedience and faith all your life.

What Is Grace?

Grace is the desire and the power that God gives us to do His will. Bill Gothard

⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

When God ask you to do something, He will give you the grace to do it. His grace is always fresh, which also means that you have to rely on His grace daily.

You can count on His grace for today, but tomorrow is a new day and you will have to ask for it again. God do this because he want you to rely on Him. He can’t afford to give you too much that you can wander on your own for too long. We humans are too forgetful and too easy to take pride in ourselves.

Because of His grace, we can bypass our weaknesses and still accomplish what He want us to accomplish, no matter how against all odds it seems.

In my final year of University, God prompted me to run for the vice president position of the student union. I was inexperienced with student activities in the Campus. I didn’t know the big fishes in student politics. I didn’t know what left and right meant politically. And I spoke broken English since I was an immigrant from Hong Kong for only 7 years at the time.

I faced candidates who were in the know, who were influential, who saw me as a nobody, and the media in campus was eager to cast a negative light on me because of my Chinese origin and lack of experience. I was against all odds.

But I prayed hard and followed God, I’d ran from class to class on my own, delivering self-introduction and pitch without script. There were many times when I mis-pronounced my website, allforstudents.org as allforstudents.orgies, the girls looked at me with a weird look. When I someone finally corrected me for that, I was very embarrassed.

My opponents ran for the election in a ticket. They were resourceful and they followed a script. Miraculously, every time my fellow Christians prayed for me, the audiences would applaud, whistle, and screamed, it had happened quite a few times, but I don’t recall any other candidates who had that kind of receptions.

At the end, I won the election. And later it would lead to God using me to deliver some students Christian organizations out of mild troubles.

God’s Grace Is Sufficient

¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

As humans, we will frequently feel the weights of our weaknesses. If we are honest to ourselves, we know we are clumsy and many things aren’t under our control. This is okay, however, because God God will lead us step by step. And whatever He ask us to do, He enable us to carry it out.

We are to cry out to God, approach His throne of grace, and receive from Him mercy and grace, frequently.

It goes against our human nature, which loves to be self-reliant and tends to place trust on humans and things rather than God, so don’t be surprised if you find it difficult to asking God for grace daily. We have to train continuously to put our nature under the control of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:17; Zechariah 4:6)

Focus, focus, and focus! This is very simple, yet very difficult. All you need to do is obey, seeking God’s will, and do it.

And make sure you stick it out!

Other relevant articles:

What Is Grace?

More Biblical Inspiration

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There were times when I was confused, perplexed, agitated, and stuck. I had prayed very hard at those times, but the answers were always postponed, blurred, or blocked. Sometimes even the usual channels which I had used to reach God or other Christians were jammed.

This happened before in the Old Testament time, when a servant of God, Daniel, prayed to God about something important, but the response from God was delayed for 21 days. The messenger of the Lord explained to Daniel what had happened to him during the 21 days:

Daniel 10: 12-13

¹² Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. ¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

God allowed His angel to be delayed by some major demons (Prince/kings of Persia) while being sent to carry an important message to His servant.

Today, Satan and His forces still operate fiercely to try to make you think that God doesn’t care about or listen to your prayers. Often times, if you don’t write down your prayers and questions for God on a journal, you will forget. Satan wants you to simply forget these crucial information and win the cases by your absence.

To use an analogy, it’s like when you try to surf the Web for information, or answers to some questions, but the Internet is cut, or a website you find helpful suddenly goes down and you don’t know what happened to it! How would you feel if your Internet get cut off suddenly? If it was me, I would be worried and wondered if the service provider is fixing it!

In fact, a website I recently recommended in my article, Spiritual Cleansing, suddenly went down after I posted the article. The author of the site later informed me that his site was targeted by IRC bots, and his router and modem got fired by a lighting! All happened in about the same time. Speaking of enemy’s attack!

Spiritual Battle Make Things Unusually and Unreasonably Hard

Are you familiar with the story of Job?

⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
⁹ So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. ¹¹ But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
¹² And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.  Job 1: 8-9

Like Job, we can encounter similar attacks from Satan. We too won’t know what is going on behind the scene.

After, Satan got permission from the Lord, he went out and wreck havoc on Job’s procession and family. Sometime Satan and his force will target us and ask permission from the Lord to do some damages to us. If we are unaware of the spiritual weapons we have, and that spiritual force is working invisibly against us, the attacks can go on and on.

Does any of the following seems familiar to you?

1. There might be days when you get targeted by bullies at work or school. And the bullying occurs very frequently and seems to have no end to it. You keep asking yourself and God but couldn’t find out why you have been targeted.
2. Schoolwork, landing or keeping a job, or other important tasks in life become unnaturally difficult and depressive. You encounter heavy distractions that make you doubt if you’re just lazy or dumb. You have been on your wit’s end. You ask and pray, but the situations get worst or stuck for no apparent reasons (or reasons just keep coming).
3. Relationships become very tough to maintain. Casual conversation or networking is frequently destroyed by misunderstanding, or unfounded prejudice.
4. Verbal abuses, physical abuses, and rebelling attitudes of family member(s) make your life a hell.
5. A simple addiction such as playing the World Of Warcraft, watching Youtube, or more sinister ones such as viewing pornography, holds you in bondage for years even you sincerely prayed for deliverance and repented every time you committed it.
6. One person after another comes to inform you of bad news or bad reports about one thing or another, which causes you to feel worry, upset, and even depressed. These random people just keep coming and dimming your outlook on life.
7. Coincidences overlap each other to bring you to a tempting situation.

If any of the above seems familiar to you, it’s very likely that this is not natural, but is engineered by our spiritual enemies.

Demonic Attack Doesn’t Have To Be Dramatic

There are cases of heavy demonic attacks such as hearing voices, demon procession, limbs or neck twisting at impossible angles, but for us average Christians, we most likely encounter attacks that are disguised and invisible. The enemies would prefer to have us think that the evil thoughts in our minds are our own ideas, that distraction is our own lack of discipline, that the bully who is picking on us is because we lacked social grace, and etc.

The enemies like to hide and pretend they are not there, because once we realize and identify the enemies and their work, it only takes a very short time and a few steps to totally bind and defeat them and their schemes.

On the other hand, if we fail to realize what’s going on, the battles will not simply go away just because we go to church every week, and have a quiet time with God every day to read the Bible and pray.

For real case studies on spiritual attacks, click here. Like me, you may actually find some or part of the case studies that resonate with what you have personally experienced.

The Enemies Can Rob You Of Joy, Peace, Productivity, Rest, Time, Freedom, and Possibly More

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:11 (Interpretation: That means if the Lord doesn’t rebuke the devourer, it can destroy the fruits of your labors)

Blessings are abundant to Christians. They flow to us by default, but Satan can rob us of blessings if we are unaware and get manipulated by him. For example, during my years in University, I used to have depressive thoughts, and they kept increasing by the year. Many time I’d tried to study but was totally disabled by the depressive thoughts. I would look for things to regret and feel bad about, and that makes me feel guilty, worry, and hopeless. There was no use to debate with my thoughts because debates only add fuel to them.

One time, God did a spiritual surgery on me and I realized how I could stop being depressive – by hearing His voice, instead of the enemies’, or mine. Since I applied what I learned, I have become freed from depressive thinking. See:

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

In my depressive years, I had somehow sensed that those thoughts were originated from the enemies, but I found the thoughts so convincing that I allowed myself to analyze each word. It was how I got trapped.

I had lost some blessings that could have been mine due to depression (Does it sounds like the DEVOURER that the Bible talks about?): peace, joy, academic excellence, energies, health, and many opportunities that I’d failed to notice because of my grim outlook on life, and the lack of energy to pursue them due to depression.

In fact, sorrow, guilt, and worries are recipe for addictions, because they create a void that has to be filled by something, if not God. They also create so much pains that makes it tempting to use some addictions to medicate the pains.

Satan and His Force Love To Hide Behind The Stronghold Of Sins And Bad Habits

It makes recovery from bad habits or addictions so much harder. Behind every addiction is a lie(s), and Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44).

Satan works relentlessly to deceive us into sinning, and when we sin, we become it’s slave. (John 8:34) Once we are in the bondage of sin, Satan will tease us, accuse us, deceive us, and cast excessive sorrows and guilt on us to keep us from spiritual freedom.

One essential step you can’t miss if you want to be free is to receive heavy dose of truth daily.

³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

Addiction to sin is demon’s castle. If you allow the enemies to build a base within your soul, then there is little use to fight them back, because they will come back from the stronghold very soon next time! As long as we allow certain sins in our life, they will remain strongholds for demons.

To understand more about Satan and sin, go here.

Another article I found useful is this: Deal With Sin

On the other hand, if you bind the enemies before you seek to demolish a sinful habit, it will make the healing and recovering process so much faster. In fact, the battles with addictions can drag on for years if you fail to realize that the enemies were actively working behind scenes and bind them accordingly.

Evil spirits can sometime present and resist you for no apparent reasons. They will delay answers to your prayers, blur your mind when you try to read the Bible, cause heavy distraction to you when you need to focus, and make you uncomfortable with spiritual disciplines in general. You must never be weary of praying battle prayers and verses against the enemies, especially if you are a dedicated Christian. Satan loves to target Christian who is dedicated, for example, a Christian who is involved in a ministry or obey a clear calling from God.

Usual Causes Of Defeat: Forgetfulness and Boredom

Satan and his demonic force aren’t tough to deal with, if you know what they are doing to you and follow the biblical steps to battle them. But the problem is we forget them easily.

Binding Satan everyday can be boring. When things get normal, it’s very hard to stay alert. (Looking back, things had rarely been normal for me, the enemies came back every now and then, but often times I was ignorant of it)

It’s also pretty boring to speak the truth out loud often as instructed by many Christian leaders and teachers. But really, the power of words is indeed amazing! I wish there is CG effect every time we declare God’s words, and that it will shows demons withering, heaven and earth shaking, a beam of light shining from a crack in the sky, and the whole nine yards, but this isn’t how it works.

God’s word can indeed make a huge difference: from death to life, poverty to prosperity, illness to health, sorrow to joy, addiction to freedom, failure to triumph and etc. However, most of the time we don’t feel a thing when we speak God’s words. Many times, the reality can be quite the opposite of what God promised in the Bible.

Nevertheless, God’s words will deliver. It will change the reality in time. Maybe God is just testing your faith and see if you really believe in His word.

I don’t think I can put it better than Paul Cook, the author of porn-free.org, a website that I recommend to Christian who is under bondage of any sin and bad habit.

Believe that you CAN be completely free! Breaking addiction is a healing process and believing that you can be free is an important part.  Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes”  ( Mark 9:23 NKJV). We exercise our faith when we believe in God’s word and confess it with our mouth (Romans 10:10).  It could be as simple as saying to ourselves each day when we get out of bed, “I believe that in Christ I can be and will be free of my struggle.”  Often our natural circumstances may not appear to be lining up with God’s word.  The challenge is to not allow our circumstances (or past failures) to steal our hope.  Faith believes in what is yet unseen (Hebrews 11:1-3).  It releases God’s power in us to perform the impossible and bring the unseen into reality!  Paul Cook

The above quote from Paul Cook doesn’t just apply to breaking addiction, but to everything that God has promised in the Bible.

The Rewards Of Making Spiritual Battle A Habit

¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms …¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:11,12,18

²⁹“Or again, how can anyone (i.e. you) enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man (i.e. the enemy)? Then he can rob his house. Matthew 12:29

The rewards of constant spiritual victories are freedom, success, peace, more success, and joy. These blessings are ours by default, but for many reasons Satan can come to destroy them. We must stay alert and never get tired or bored with waging frequent spiritual battles on his theftdom.

I can’t emphasis enough how important is to capture every sinful thought at the first second it arises.( 2 Corinthians 10:5) If it takes more than 2-3 second for you to reject the thought before God – and then replace it with godly ones (Philippians 4:8) – you will be much more likely to fall flat into temptation and commit the act.

If it takes you 50 times a day to bind Satan and capture sinful thoughts, then do it 50 times a day! My experience is that the enemies and sinful thoughts can seem overwhelming when you engage in spiritual battles with them, but if you stay focus and do what must be done, the temptations will lose the grips on you, every time! The more you win, the stronger your spiritual muscle will become, and Satan will eventually flee.

Relevant Articles

• Spiritual Cleansing
• Battle Verses Of The Bible
• Control Thought
• Demons Fill The Sky

See Also

• Spiritual Discipline

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