PRESS THE PAUSE BUTTON TO YOUR BOOK OF LIFE
If the key to the Judgment that leads to the lake of fire is the unaltered content of your book of life, then it makes simple sense to make the necessary change to your book of life in order to avoid that Judgment.
Make no mistake - making a change is an absolute prerequisite for avoiding that Judgement. In fact, it is of such vital importance that you can safely consider it to be the sole purpose of your existence. If you don’t make that change, then your life will have been meaningless and the praises heaped upon your character at your funeral service will as empty of truth as your body is of life.
If you have not as yet made the change to your book of life, then you are in for a very pleasant surprise. You see, you have already been judged and all you have to do is give acknowledgement to it, which then constitutes the necessary change to your book of life. It’s as easy as that. Puzzled?
If you are broke, unemployed and destitute and someone deposits a large sum of money into your empty bank account without informing you, then your predicament will continue until you find out about the money that you suddenly have acquired. Conversely, if that someone does, in fact, notify you of the deposit, but you choose to ignore it for whatever reason, then your woes will not come to an end unless you decide to make use of your windfall.
It is very likely that you have already been informed of the finished judgment upon your life but you have chosen to ignore it as an act of that free will mentioned earlier. In your favour, let’s just say that the reason you paid no attention to it is because the significance of it did not strike home. Well, here’s your chance to reconsider.
Your reaction to what you are about to read will either bring about that change to your book of life or it will catapult you headlong into the inevitable. Bear in mind that one’s book of life has no planned ending and neither does one have the power to add pages to it once it has ended. When it ends, it ends.
Your life was judged when Jesus Christ – God in the flesh – hung on the Cross as your substitute, taking your judgment upon Him so that you may be free of the Judgment that would send you to hell. After having paid the price for your condition of sin, He rose from the dead so that you may also live again to restart your book of life, having had the consequences of all the previous chapters of your book of life erased. How does that grab you?
Want proof? Speaking of the event of the Cross shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.” (John 12:3-33)
What did this mean? It meant that your judgment (judgment of this world”) was about to take place. It meant that the power of the devil (“the prince of this world”) and the sin he instituted was about to be broken. It meant that, as a spirit-creature emanating from and existing within the Spirit of God, you would automatically be included (“will draw all men unto me”) in the Body of Christ on that Cross for judgment. The only difference is that Jesus Christ was to take all of the punishment and pay the penalty on your behalf so that you may never be judged again.
Now this is where your free will enters the picture. God will never impose His will upon your life or force your will to suit Him. The Cross was the provision made for your deliverance and although your real life (your spirit-life) has its existence within the Spirit of God and, therefore, by “default” you actually had to be included on the Cross, the mind of your spirit has the final say in the matter. This is where you decide which way to go. Is it to be your acknowledgement now of the Judgment by way of the Cross and the only entrance to the Kingdom of God or is it to be Judgment later and the hell it offers for eternity? You don’t want to be in the latter Judgment.
Is this a catch 22 situation for you? If your heart is not in it but you decide to acknowledge it just for the sake of escaping hell, then it won’t work, for God knows your heart. On the other hand, if you are truly convicted and you recognize the call of your Heavenly Father and you want to be reconciled to Him, then your heart will reveal it to God and He will receive you. Whichever way you look at it, Jesus Christ saved you from the Judgment of God. That little component of your spiritual make-up, your free will, has to go one way or the other.
You see, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)
God created everything by His Word and it was manifested. In the same way you can manifest your Salvation by the word of your mouth. “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:8-10)
God created you for His pleasure and to have fellowship with Him. You lost this birthright in the fall. But now it is restored to you. You are born again through Christ. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
You may want to say this prayer.
"Dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I am a sinner. I repent and turn away from my past life. Please forgive me. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was raised from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me in my future walk with You and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."
If you have said that prayer and meant it, then you are born again and your book of life starts a brand new page. From now on you will have the help of the Master Editor, the Holy Spirit, to guide the mind of your spirit in compiling further pages. You can be assured, you are going to make some mistakes, but unlike the former pages of your book of life, you will be able to render those mistakes of no consequence by confessing them to the Father and asking for forgiveness. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
PART 3 (Final) to follow.
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