Prayer – Lord, I hear Your voice and the warning that You’ve given. Help me to obediently do Your Father’s will. Open my eyes and heart to the options I have and guide me in an even closer relationship to You and to Our Heavenly Father.
Not
everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On
judgment day many will say to me, 'Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and
cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I
will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.' Matthew 7:21-23 NLT
Meditate.
Consider Jesus’ words and listen to what He is saying.
Do you
really know the Lord? Does He know you? When a relationship is established between
two people, they get to know each other intimately, and they generally try to
please the other person. God is certainly willing for us to get to know Him. He
wants our love as much as we want His. He wants us to know more than just His name—but
that is a starting place. The first of the Ten Commandments is about loving God
and He promises to love those who love and obey Him.
But I lavish unfailing love for a
thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. Exodus 20:6 NLT
A
thousand generations is a long time—at least forty thousand years. That’s our
God. He is an eternal God—time is beyond Him. He created the heavens, the earth
and all that is within it. So powerful—and yet He seeks out mankind—as we seek
Him. In the Bible, He lets us know just what He is thinking.
For the LORD is the one who shaped
the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He
turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth.
The LORD God of Heaven's Armies is his name! Amos 4:13 NLT
But there
are those who just think that they know Jesus and they call out, 'Lord!
Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed
many miracles in your name.' but beware—Jesus’ reply to that group was…'I
never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.' Whoa! We need
to take a good look at our relationship with Jesus. What will He say about our
actions in this judgment day to which He refers? I’ve never performed miracles
or cast out demons—but does that mean I’ve not done His Father’s will? Note
that in this scripture passage in Matthew Jesus was addressing the multitude in
His Sermon on the Mount which happened relatively early in His ministry. Yet He
was already speaking of judgement. We will be judged for what we do—but as
believers in Jesus we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven if we do the Father’s
will. Good motivation for us to make good choices. Who wants to be left out of
Heaven? Sounds like even those who consider themselves Christian may face
eternal life outside of the Kingdom, if they are not obedient in following God’s
laws. Beware—you’ve been warned.
View at the Mt. of the Beatitudes
Presumed Site - Sermon on the Mount
Overlooking the Sea of Galilee
Israel
Verse
of Salvation ~ Our God approaches, and he is not silent. Fire devours
everything in his way, and a great storm rages around him. He calls on the
heavens above and earth below to witness the judgment of his people.
"Bring my faithful people to me--those who made a covenant with me by
giving sacrifices." Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God
himself will be the judge. Psalm
50:3-6 NLT
© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All
rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale
House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
Available as e-books or paperbacks at Amazon.com
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