DOMINION OVER DARKNESS (PART X) STRANDED IN A DUSTY LAND

2 Pet. 1:14 “Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me”. Apostle Peter walked in the consciousness that he was a pilgrim ready to fly. 2 Tim. 4:6 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand”. This is Apostle Paul proclaiming his readiness. The Bible says “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. Heb. 9:27. There is no intermediate place. One of the things that make Christians earthbound is wrong theology and erroneous doctrines. One of the greatest mistakes that man makes on earth is that man lives, man talks, man sees, man does everything as if he will never die. 1 Pet. 4:7 “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer”. This is the prescription: be sober, be watchful, be prayerful because the end of all things is at hand. This age is winding down very fast. The Apostles wrote these things over 2000 years ago, if the end was at hand as at that time, it means it is nearer now.

The Apostles could confront death frontally because: –

1. They lived their lives in holiness. Dominion over death is possible and it is in Christ. It is part of the blessings of our redemption. Holiness is loving God and going out of your way to do what pleases him. Holiness is loving what God loves and hating what he hates. It is being complete in obedience to his word. Holiness is possible. Take note that without holiness no one will see God.
2. Their focus was to do the will of God. They lived a life that was at the centre of the will of God; they did not run their own programme. They walked hand in hand with God to fulfil his purpose just like their master, Jesus, who said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”. John 4:34. They elevated the will of God above every other thing.
3. They did this will of God with a heart of love; love for God and charity for man, practical demonstration of it. Today, the word ‘love’ has been so much abused that people no longer know the true meaning. True love makes, true love lifts, true love ennobles, true love transforms you from a nobody to somebody. “And God said; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. God himself, the creator, decided to make the creature after his own image. That is the true meaning of love. Whenever anyone says ‘I love you’, ask the person this question, ‘do you have what it takes to lift me? Today what people call love is actually lust. Love minus truth is equal to lust. Can you love without God? No! This is because God is love. The average person is self-centered but true love is selfless. True love thinks about others.

TO BE CONTINUED.