Death comes to everyone, young and old, in all different ways. Some may die of a heart ache, cancer, or a car accident. We never know when the day or hour a loved one is going to die or even our self. This thought doesn’t really come into a person’s mind unless they are writing their own will, dealing with depression, they or someone else is terminally sick or someone has died. To any true believer in Christ, we aren’t afraid of death. To reflect on it, is only to think of our life with Jesus. When someone loved the Lord and then dies, we know they are in a better place, for their destination is heaven. 2If the person has already repented and became born again in Christ the Lord, then there is nothing to worry about. Pray that God leads you in His light. It is good for a believer to ask the Lord to guide them, even until the end. To not let them go off course but help them stay strong in their faith. David loved God but also prayed, 1“Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” Our flesh will fail us but in the strength of the Lord we can still stand strong. Trust in Jesus, like David did, and ask God to Let your mouth be filled with His praise 1“and with thy honour all the day”. Through good times and bad times, trusting in Jesus will deliver you out of harms way. If not in the flesh, your Spirit will come out victorious, for you are on God’s side. How can we fear death when God is with us? Plead to God that your family and friends may also believe in God and be saved. Ask God to help you reach them.
It is a very sad day when a family member or friend passes away, that didn’t believe in God for salvation. On the other hand, for a believer in Christ, it is sad to see them go but we know they are in a better place. God is with them. Even those people that said they believed but never showed any fruit of their faithfulness to God, I fear the worst for them in judgement. Our belief in God is more than just going to church on the weekends. 2It is more than just reading the Bible and praying. Our faith in God leads us to be born again. We are made new in Christ when our old life is dead and we are led to walk in His ways, through the Spirit. Our actions show our faithfulness to God. When there are fruits of God’s good works in our lives, then that is a life change. Reading the Word of God and doing nothing with God’s words, will not help us grow spiritually. Praying something that is memorized, scripted or quick, as to eat, is not of God. Read the Bible, as to know the message of God, in that moment, and do as the Lord commands. Poor out your heart in prayer. Seek the Lord often and give thanks. This is a life fitted for the Kingdom of God. If this isn’t your life now, then repent. Don’t sin and then say to yourself, “I can just repent later”. That is not how it works. Repent as to not sin in that fashion again. 3“Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In doing this, you shall not fear judgement, in death, for You are God’s son or daughter. If you have been saved, then rejoice.
Let us pray:
Oh Lord, I love You. I am grateful to know You. I rejoice, for I am saved from death and destruction. You have saved me from all my sins. My guilt and shame have been swept away because of Your great love for me. Thank You for the cross. Thank You for dying for my sins. Thank You for Your sweet forgiveness and grace. I am so grateful to think of how merciful You have been for me, in my life. I have failed You so many times but You never gave up on me. You continued to come for me and encourage me to live better. I am grateful that You gave me the will power to repent and forsake a life of sin. You have taken out of my life, a lustful flesh and have replaced it with a heart, full of love. Only You could change me from within. Be with me all my days. Until the end, lead me safely home to You. I pray that my family and friends may come to know You. That they may not fear death but rejoice for the day to always be in Your presence. I love You so much. Amen.
Let us read the Bible:
Note: Any Numbered References, found above, are listed below.
1Psalm 71:1-9 (KJV)
1 In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.
6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
2John 3:1-7 (KJV)
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
3Romans 6:1-13 (KJV)
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
