Christians And Death: Never ‘Good Bye’ but ‘See You Soon’!

Two days ago I ministered at the funeral of a 6 month old baby. I looked at his tiny little frame laid in the tiny little coffin… You’d think he was asleep, and in a way he was for the Bible teaches us that when little children or Believers die, the soul goes instantly to be with the Lord while the body goes to ‘sleep’. We find this written in the Book of Acts, where we read the story of Stephen the Martyr, who after praying for those who were stoning him, the Bible says that, and I quote,  “He fell asleep” (Act.7:60). Again, not the soul but the body, for the soul as I already said goes to be with the Lord.

I thought about it that night how wonderful it is to know the Lord. That even when loosing a loved one, we really do not loose them, we’re just separated from them for a short while, only to have them for eternity, providing they too know the Lord.

I have 4 children and 5 grandchildren. Some 15 years back my wife miscarried when she was about 4 months pregnant if my memory serves me well. We never did know whether it was a boy or a girl. If you asked me and as far as we’re concerned, we have 5 children and not 4, for one day we’ll meet our 5th one, and oh, what a grand day that will be. My faith in Christ provides for this hope that I have. I also have 4 brothers, and 2 sisters. However, I had another brother and sister who died in their infancy before I was born. So, in effect I have 5 brothers and 3 sisters, only 2 of them I haven’t yet met, but one day I will, for my faith in Christ provides for this hope also. How? Jesus Himself made that provision when He said: “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (Joh. 11:25,26).  And I choose to believe Him!

One Easter Sunday, a young man sarcastically asked one of the Deacons in his church who had just greeted him with the well known ‘Christ is Risen!’:  “Say, how can you know for sure He is Risen?” “Oh, I know, I  just know!” answered the Deacon. “But how can you be so sure?”, insisted the young man. “Because I just talked with Him in prayer this morning!”                                                                                                                                                                      

 How can I know for sure He will resurrect my loved ones, our miscarried baby as well as my infant brother and sister? Oh, it’s quite simple! All I have to do is remember the hell He resurrected me out of while living in sin, a long, long time ago. He promised to do it then if I just gave my heart to Him. I did, and He kept His promise. And that’s how I know He will keep it again!

The Bible And The Child Of God

How important is God’s Word to your life? Well, how faithful are you when it comes to reading it? An honest answer to the question I just posed will indicate where you stand in relation to Bible’s relevance to your life. Sadly, many Christians today read books about the Bible but not the Bible, make time plenty for their favorite TV shows but not the Scriptures, pour over their paper religiously, but not the Word of God, and then wonder why their lives are falling apart. Call me mean if that’s what you want but I know I’m telling the truth! It’s been well said that B.I.B.L.E. stands for “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”  You follow them, you win. You ignore them, there’ll be nothing but loses. It’s that simple! Let us look at one scenario in the Word of God which I would hope will point to the importance of of God’s Word in our lives. 

Moses died.  It was Joshua God chose to take His people into the Promised Land. A humongous responsibility to say the least and God knew that! That’s why He was going to give him all the help he needed. How? By pointing Him to His Word! He told Joshua: “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’ll make your way prosperous, and then you’ll have good success.” He was telling Joshua: “What worked for Moses, will work for you!” And it did! Joshua held unto the Word of God, and was able to successfully take the people into the Land that flowed with milk and honey. He was promised success if obedient to God’s Word, and found it, every step of the way.

If in leading almost 3 million people to the Promised Land, God’s Word more than sufficed for Joshua, it will surely suffice for us as well. To you and I God’s saying today: “What worked for Joshua, will work for you too!”  If it’s success we desire in our lives, God has already promised it to us, if we’ll obey His Word. Now, to obey His Word we must know what it says, and to know what it says we must read it. To not read His Word, is to not know what it says, and to not know what it says is to not be able to obey it, and that’s how we get in trouble. See how everything points to the necessity of reading and knowing the Scriptures? For it is through His Word God reveals His will for our lives, therefore it’s incumbent upon us to read His Word daily in order that we render Him the much needed obedience so that all the promises we find in His Word will become a reality in our lives, every last one of them!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Glorifying God By Way Of Thanksgiving

Let’s talk thanksgiving today. Have you learn to properly incorporate it in your prayer life? Much of our prayer should in fact consist of praise and thanksgiving. We ought never present our petitions to the Lord before we thank and praise Him for everything He’s already done for us. Gratefulness does go a long way, you know. And it blesses the Lord. Yes, it does! In  Psalm 50:23 God says: “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me”. Some of us eroneously think that we must preach, sing, or be involved in some sort of ministry in order that we glorify God. Yet, that’s not what the Bible says. God made it possible for every single one of us His children to glorify Him, and do so daily as we express our thanksgiving for what He has done and is doing in our hearts and lives. You and I need not look too hard to find a reason to praise and thank Him for and thereby glorify Him. They are all around us! 

Husband and wife went to their pastor and told him: “We would like to donate $1000 in memory of our son who died in the war.”  Another gentleman who stood near by overhearing that said to his wife: “I think we too should donate $1000 in the memory of our son!” “But why?”, answered his wife, “our son didn’t die, he’s alive!” “That’s all the more reason we should give!”, answered her husband.                                                                                              

Let me say it again:  Gratefulness goes a long, long way! I mean, when properly expressed it goes all the way to the Throne Room of God. And that’s where our petitions are presented also. We must make sure that thanksgiving and praise always precede our petitions. For when it does,  it glorifies Him and blesses us!

Take Heart, Help Is On The Way!

Are you at a place of hardship? Is your heart heavy burdened? Are you in need of deliverance some sorts? Or perhaps, an answer from the Lord that seems to be delayed? May I say something that hopefully will encourage you? All of us have been there at one time or another, and many of us find ourselves there right now. Satan will have you believe that you’re an isolated case, that nobody’s got the problems you do, that God might just have a thing against you and singled you out for pain and misery. Yet none of that could be further from the truth. Whatever it is you’re going through, know that if it’s a situation of your own making, if you’ll repent, God will forgive and bring about deliverance. And if it’s a trial that God allowed, know that as He delivered you in the past, He’ll do it again. 

Let us look again at the story of Jehoshaphat and the invasion of the Amonites, Moabites and the Meunites I posted about just a few days back. When he heard they were coming he was greatly distressed, went to the Lord in prayer and this is how he prayed, and I quote: “O Lord God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you? Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your  people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?” (2Chr.20:16). He reminded God of His promises, that they were forever,  and that they believed Him and were resting on them all! And this is what you and I need to do as well whenever we go through rough patches in our lives. Remember God’s promises of healing, deliverance, salvation and so forth, that they are eternal for God cannot change. The Bible says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Heb.13:8). If He healed you yesterday, He will heal you today; and if He heals you today, He will heal you tomorow as well! If He delivered you yesterday, He will deliver you today; and if He delivers you today, He will deliver you tomorow also! If He guided you yesterday, He will guide you today; and if He guides you today, you guessed it, He will guide you tomorow as well! If He saved one of your loved ones, He will save the others as well, if you’ll just stand in the gap for them, for He doesn’t change, cannot change and will not change! So whatever it is that you’re going through, know that help is on the way, just as in times past!  That is if you haven’t…. changed! And I pray you haven’t, so that His promises to you will be as real today, as they were yesterday!

Church: It Does A Family Good!

Let’s talk church for a little bit. Most of us who know the Lord would agree that church should be of extreme importance to our lives if we are to cultivate and maintain a healthy relationship with the Lord. If that’s the case, let me test you today by asking you one question: were you to handle your job or run your business the way you handle church going, where would you be? Let us look at one Scripture we find in Acts 3:1, where we read: “Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer,  the ninth hour.” This was on a Sunday. To most of their contemporaries, Sunday morning was no different than any other time of the week. But to both Peter and John, it was ‘the hour of prayer’! What does Sunday mean to you? Are you anxious to go to church or do you simply dread it? Going a little further….The Bible says they “went up” to the temple. Going to church is indeed an “upward” experience in every single area of our lives, be it marriage, kids, finances, etc, even secular statistics proving that (assuming you’re attending a good, Bible teaching church). Moving on, still… We read in the Scripture I cited, that they went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, ‘the ninth hour’. Please note, it doesn’t say ‘about the ninth hour’ , ‘close to the ninth hour’ or ‘around the ninth hour’  but ‘the ninth hour’! They were punctual when it came to church attendance. They got there on time! What about you? How many times have you been late in getting to church? What would happen if you were to show up for work or your business appointments the way you do church services? How long do you think you’ll last? The way we treat church attendance says volumes about us, and it is going to greatly impact our children, for they watch and learn in silence. Frightening in a sense, isn’t it?

I was raised in a home where we’ve been taught that Sunday is the Lord’s Day, a day of rest for both body and soul…. We didn’t do any work on Sunday. We didn’t shop on Sunday. At my Dad’s funeral, when preacher after preacher took to the pulpit eulogizing my Dad for his 40 years of ministry with kind and  gracious words, it blessed me.  But I felt my proudest when the Pastor of the church my Dad attended stood up and said: “You know, Brother Giurgiu has never missed one church service that I can remember, in all the years he’s attended our church…”  I thank God a million times for blessing me with consecrated parents who loved the House of the Lord! My life has been greatly impacted because of that, and Praise God, it still is.  

This happened in a small village, somewhere in the jungles of Africa. A woman who became a born again believer was a faithful churchgoer. She had a husband who could not stand the fact that she turned to Christ and did his best to make her life miserable because of that. He’d turn particularly violent on Sundays when she would come from church, badly beating her  at times. However, nothing could deter her from going to church. She’d join some of her villagers and walk with them to church every Sunday, with the family dog following her. At the end of every service when the altar call would be given for those who needed prayer, she’d go forward, her dog behind her, asking the pastor to pray for her unbelieving husband. While they prayed, the dog would quietly lay down at her feet. One Sunday as she came home from church, her husband beat her so severely, that she died. A little while went by. The man noticed that his dog would disappear every Sunday morning for a few hours and decided to follow him and see what was going on. Followed his dog that next Sunday, who seemed to follow some of his fellow villagers, and sure enough after a short while he found himself at the church his wife used to faithfully attend. Walked in, keeping his eyes on the dog. His dog just lay there, and when the altar call was given the dog got up doing the same thing he did before, slowly walking  forward following the people who responded to the altar call, and once he got there, laid down. When the man looked at what was happening, he broke down, started to sob, went forward, knelt next to his dog and asked God for mercy as he committed his life to Christ. Saved as a  result of his wife’s unwavering faithfulness and love for God and His House!!

How about you? How faithful are you when it comes to church attendance? Just like in the story above, it could well be a life saver, indeed even more, a soul saver for you and those you dearly love!