A letter to the Fallen Church

Today I have an encouraging word for the church of Jesus Christ…a word from Jesus Himself, to encourage you to perservere and to overcome.

Revelation 3:7 – 13  is a letter to the faithful church.  Philedelphia is the only church that received no rebuke, but received encouragement and a beautiful promise from The Lord.
It reads like this:
“To the angel of the Church in Philedelpia write:  These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.  What He opens no-one can shut, and what He shuts no-one can open.
I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no-one can shut.  I know you have little strength, yet you have kept My word and My Name.
I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars – I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
I am coming soon.  Hold on to what you have, so that no-one will take your crown.  The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.  Never again will they leave it.  I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of My God, which is coming down out of heaven from My God; and I will also write on them My new Name.  Whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

 Who is this speaking to us?  Who is the one making a promise to the ones who overcome?  The One who is true, He who has the keys of David.  Jesus –  He who is to be trusted above all else.

What is He saying to us, His church?  Jesus says that He sees our hard work, He notices our service and now He says to us, see what I have done for you…I have opened a door before you that NO-ONE can shut.  I don’t know about you, but this encourages me.  No matter what things look like in the natural, Jesus opens doors for us and no man or demon can shut it again.

Jesus is aware of our struggles and He comes to help.   He sees our hearts, that we use the little strenght that we have to serve Him and He loves that we do this.
Jesus also promises to expose the pretenders amongst us and to promote us.  We can rest in  Him – He will protect us from impostors and He will raise us up and honor us before them.  This means that we can concentrate on worshipping our Lord and we can trust Jesus to purify His church.

 Another promise we have is that of a reward for keeping the Word of God in patience – a promise of safety in the dangerous times to come, but also a warning that we will be tested.  We can be confident that we can do all things, through Jesus who will stengthen us.  This confidence in our Lord will keep us in the dark days that we know are about to come.  We cannot escape the trials that we will have to face, but we can be confident that we will be saved.

Jesus is giving us fair warning – He is coming.  God says “I do nothing without warning my prophets” and from all over the world we are receiving the same message – prepare yourselves, Jesus is coming.  He is also warning us that it is possible to loose our crown.  We have to value and guard it.  We have been running the race diligently, we cannot but persevere until the end.  Satan wants to steal our glory and wants to stop the kingdom of God from manifesting on earth and we have to be on our guard.

We have to remind ourselves that Jesus is our Bridegroom, who promised to come back for us.  He is coming back for a spotless and blameless church.  We should never forget this and we should commit ourselves to preparing for His arrival.  Not only should we prepare our own hearts, but we should be encouraging each other to be ready to receive Him.  Let us commit ourselves to be clay in the Potter’s hand, to be open to receive correction from our Heavenly Father and to allow the Spirit to lead us into all truth.

To the overcomer Jesus makes a promise of a prominent place in God’s house.  What a day when we come face to face with our Father, to hear Him say ” well done, good and faithful servant”.  So let us persevere, let us run the race to the end, looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.  We can indeed do all things through Jesus Christ, who gives us strength.

Today, when The Lord sets before us an open door to testify about His goodness, let us testify.  If He set before us an open door to teach or preach, let us be faitful in it.  If today The Lord opens a door for you into the mission field, go through it.  He who is Faithful and True will go before us and He will reward us for our diligence in due time.

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