Author: instructionstoayounglife.com

When it is all said and done the most important words that you will ever hear is what the Lord will say to you at judgment. There is judgment for all, the Christian and the nonChristian.

I Corinthians 4:5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.

The Lord is going to judge everyone. There will be no hiding. He will bring to light the things we have hidden in darkness and He will judge our motives. This is a heavy truth but it is better to hear it now than to wait until it is too late.

II Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

God is a God of justice. Justice means that there will be just compensation for what we have done. He will compensate the nonChristian with wrath and punishment for their not believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and their resulting sins and lack of works of obedience.

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

God’s wrath is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. How many times have we suppressed the truth, which means, we heard it and did not do it. We justified ourselves, or at least tried to, until our hearts became dull and we no longer heard the truth. Repent, repent, repent and turn to Him with all of your heart. His judgment day is going to be a very frightening day.

Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Let no one deceive you with empty words. Don’t just listen to those who will tell you what you want to hear. His wrath is coming!

II Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

The Lord will judge the Christian for their faith, and their resulting obedience and good works. In fact, He says that judgment will begin with the household of God. If you are a Christian then that means you.

I Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

If John the apostle fell like a dead man when he saw the Lord how do you think we will be when we see Him in His glory? One of the responses when He returns will be of great and terrifying fear. However, for those who know Him, He will remove our fear just as He did when John saw Him.

Revelation 1:17.18 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Another response will be that those who have done the most will feel as if they have done the least. He says that at judgment He will separate the sheep from the goats. He will point out to the faithful the many things that they did and their response will be “Lord, when did we do these things?”

Matthew 25:31-40 But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

The Lord makes it very clear here what separates the sheep from the goats.

Matthew 25:41-46 Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Works are not what saves us but works are what distinguishes us. May you hear the good words that will forever echo in your mind at judgment day.

Matthew 25:21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Your life did not just begin in a random sort of way. You were planned and skillfully made in your mother’s womb. The Lord planned you before the foundation of the world and He chose your parents because He wanted you to be the unique and special person that you are. You are beautiful in His sight and there is nothing that you can do to make yourself more beautiful to Him.

Psalm 139:13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.

You have no flaws because He does all things well. Whatever imperfections that you think that you have are marks of His ownership in your life. There is no one like you and nothing was done in accident.

Psalm 139:15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

Not only did He form you but He also knows all the days that you will live on earth. He knows all about you and He was pleased with how He made you.

Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

You were made in His image. His image is not in physical appearance because that is temporal but His image is in the unseen and reveals the glory of God. The physical will pass away but His image in you will live on forever.

Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Man is the only creature that was created in His image and yet man is the only one who has rebelled against his Creator. We don’t want to do what He has created us to do and that is to have fellowship with Him in a relationship with Him. We wanted to go our own way and the image of God was no longer seen the way He designed. Man violated
God’s Word and the word “violate” means to change, so we were changed and no longer showed His glory to the world. How can we be changed back so that we can reflect the image of God in our lives? There is only one way and that is to return to our Creator and be restored to Him. When this happens then we will become a new creation in Christ and the old things will pass away.

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Once we are restored then we will understand more fully His creation of us and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Our soul will know it and we will give thanks to Him.

Psalm 139:14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.

Give thanks to Him today for how He made you. Give thanks for the unchangeable characteristics in your life. Give thanks for the parents he chose so that you would have the unique genetic makeup that you have. Give thanks to Him for making you in His image. Give thanks that you are beautiful.

One of the blessings of being a child of God is that we are never without comfort. He is a God and Father of comfort who comforts His children in whatever struggle we have.

II Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

He comforts us so that we also may be able to comfort others when they have the same or similar struggles.

II Corinthians 1:4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

The Lord comforts us when we are depressed. Depression is an affliction. The Lord comforts us in our afflictions.

II Corinthians 7:6 But God, who comforts the depressed,

The Lord comforts us through His Word and His Holy Spirit. Go to Him in your pain. He has not left you alone. He said that He would not leave us without comfort. The word orphan literally means “comfortless”. He said He would not leave us as orphans but He would send the Holy Spirit to comfort us.

John 14:16-18 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

The Lord unites us through our struggles and through our comfort, that we might be one in Him. We need each other.

II Corinthians 1:6,7 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

Is there anyone in your life who needs comfort? We are the body of Christ. We are His heart, His hands and His feet. The Lord has allowed you to go through suffering so that you might bring comfort to others in the same affliction. When we suffer we become aware of the suffering of others. Someone else will be comforted through your love and refreshed through you.

Philemon 1:7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

We are comforted through the faith in the Lord of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Lord is using you and you are not always aware of it. Keep standing firm in Him.

I Thessalonians 3:7 for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith;

When you spend time with Him and walk with Him then you know His love and experience His comfort. You also receive hope through His grace and are strengthened for every good work and word that He has called you to do.

II Thessalonians 2:16,17 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

Most people feel the need for more discipline in their lives but fewer people are willing to discipline themselves. Discipline is the training that forms our character. A good parent will discipline their children with the ultimate goal of the child having self discipline. The Lord does not punish His children but He disciplines His children. In fact, He says that if you are without discipline then you are not a child.

Hebrews 12:8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

The Lord disciplines us for our good, that we might become more like Him.

Hebrews 12:10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

The Lord tells us not to regard lightly His discipline or faint when He reproves us.

Hebrews 12:5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;

He disciplines us because He loves us. Just as a parent takes special care to train and discipline the child whom they love.

Hebrews 12:6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

Discipline produces in us endurance so that we will be faithful to the end. Thank the Lord for the discipline that He gives you.

Hebrews 12:7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

However, discipline is painful. Just as some children need more discipline than other children, in the same way, if we learn to obey and do what is right then we will receive less discipline from the Lord.

Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

The Lord exhorts us in His Word to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. The word disciple comes from the word discipline. We are to have discipline in our lives so that we will do what is right. The outcome of a disciplined life is peace.

I Timothy 4:7,8 …On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Since discipline can be painful and it is very necessary in life. How much better it is to discipline yourself to obey the Lord and to do what is right than to be disciplined by Him, to keep you from further sorrow and shame. He has given us everything that we need to live a disciplined life.

II Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Is there anything in your life that you need to change or that you have been slack in? Turn to Him with all of your heart. He loves you and wants you to become like Him. He wants you to know and experience the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

Be zealous and repent so that you will not experience His discipline.