10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
Speaking to both believing Jews and Gentiles, Peter reminds them that they were “called out of darkness.” And in that state they were not the people of God but were of the devil and of darkness. In fact, Peter writes that they were “not a people.” I suppose he meant that being always guided by their fleshly desires, they were more like animals than people. Hence, they also did not receive God’s mercy. But when they came to the light and believed they were privileged as Children of God to receive His mercy.
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Peter correctly expresses every dedicated Christian’s attitude: though we can’t see Jesus we love Him, believe in Him and rejoice in Him—because of the salvation we have that is based on our faith.
In the wake of America’s new administration—a new President with new policies—many people are afraid. Some are afraid of being deported. Some are afraid of being jailed. Many are afraid of the new President’s extremism: on immigration, on his supposed anti-environment beliefs, and his anti-woke beliefs, on all his Bidden reversals, and on what he will do to our country, The outgoing President is so afraid, that he has preemptively pardoned his entire family and many of his loyal supporters, like Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, and Liz Cheney.
While I was asking myself how anyone can overcome fears, I came across a number of Scripture verses that will give us a clear answer.
Scriptures That Will Help Us Overcome Fear
In the following five verses we will find that the reason we fear is because we lack something; we lack a relationship with God—a relationship that will give us a lasting peace with God, a trust in Him, a saving faith, a loving Heavenly Father, and an enduring love from God. Let’s look at these verses.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
We need not be afraid of anything in this world if we have the peace that God gives us.
Psalm 56:11
In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
If you put your trust in God you need not be afraid of anything.
Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
If you will give your heart to Him to save you, you need not be afraid of anything. He will be your strength.
Romans 8:14-15
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
If you will give your life to Him, if you will trust Him to save you (if you will ask Him to forgive your sins and cleanse you and give you a new life), you will be His adopted child and will no longer have that spirit of fear in you. He will be your Father in which you can cry out to Him whenever you fear anything or have any needs.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.
If you are saved and are one of His children, you will abide in His love and will have no fear.
The first and most basic thing to nail down in order to prepare ourselves for heaven is to know how and to be assured that we will get there. If we know all about heaven—if we have studied the subject thoroughly from the Scriptures—and we fail to be assured of our entrance, then all our effort in study will be in vain. But the good news is, we can know for sure that we are going to heaven; the bible tells us how we can get there.
We Enter Heaven By Faith And The Gospel
I would like to start this section from Revelation 21:3-4, because it gives us a clear picture of what heaven will be like. Then we will travel backwards in time to the cross and show what Jesus did for us on the cross to accomplish heaven. So, in Revelation 21:3 and 4, John wrote,
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them,and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
So, here we see the presence of God in heaven and what He will do for us. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. And He will abolish death. And He will eliminate any mourning, or crying, or pain.
And He does that for us based on His own suffering and death on the cross. He suffered and died for our sins. Let’s look at Isaiah 53:3-6.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
From this passage, we could say that Jesus was a “substitute recipient of God’s wrath on sinners.”1 And by His scourging we are healed. Everything, every blessing we see in Revelation 21:4 will come to us as our healing of sin that He worked out for us. Our having no pain, no mourning, and no crying is our healing from His cross. It is our new body which He has made for us through the cross.
Yet we must receive it by faith. We must acknowledge what He did for us on the cross. Then we must respond to it; first, seeing our sin and separation from God (Rom. 3:23; 6:23); then to see that we need His remedy for our sin—that if we believe in Him (Jn. 6:40) and ask Him, He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us of sin (1 Jn. 1:7), making us His children (Jn. 1:12). And if anyone chooses to believe in Him, He gives us a new heart and a new life. His old life is passed away and a new life is come (2 Cor. 5:17).
Now let us return to Revelation 21, and we will start reading from verse six to verse seven.
Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
From these verses we find two key words: “thirst” and “overcomes.” Jesus says to us, first of all, that He will give the water of life to the one who thirsts. Jesus here is bringing us back to the time when He provided for us a living example on this very subject from John 4:7-14. In this story He said to a Samaritan woman who had come to a well to draw water, “Everyone who drinks from this water [from this well] will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
So here in Revelation 21:6, Jesus is saying to those in heaven, if you thirst, that is, if you desire anything from Me, I will give you living water—water of life from Me—without cost. That is our heavenly blessing.
Then in verse seven, Jesus gives us the condition for this heavenly blessing. We must be overcomers. And John clearly tells us in 1 John 5:4 what this means. He writes, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.” Hence, we who are Christians are overcomers, and so we will inherit the blessings of heaven. We will drink from the water of life freely whenever we thirst.
1 John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2006), John MacArthur’s notes of Isaiah 53:5.
This gospel demands our commitment, our obedience, our Lordship, and our turning from sin.
The title of this blog is the title of a book written by John MacArthur, Jr. in 1988. This book, I remember created quite a stir, and it is still having an impact. I have had it on my book shelf for a while and just now decided to read it again more seriously. This time I intend to blog through it.
The theme of the book is getting the true gospel clear—from Jesus’ teaching. It is also to refute the wrong, misguided way of salvation. MacArthur strongly refutes all those who bring “another gospel,” those who “distort the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6-8).
In the first chapter MacArthur confronts all evangelists who have used gospel presentations such as …
“Accept Jesus as personal Savior”
“Ask Jesus into your heart”
“Invite Christ into your life”
“Make a decision for Christ”
MacArthur says that none of this terminology is biblical. And I have to admit that I have used all of it myself! It was how I was taught, how I heard it growing up in the 60’s and 70’s.
MacArthur rightly points out that “the gospel Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow Him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer.” (p. 21)
Looking back at my own point of salvation, I am thankful that my counselor did it right. He pointed me to the Scriptures and also gave me the idea that conversion was the point where I was deciding to follow Jesus and to allow Him to be in the drivers’ seat.” That I was giving Him control of my life, that I was being submissive to Him, that I was beginning a new life of submission to His will.
But MacArthur points out that many evangelists of today, when they present the gospel, give no invitation to making spiritual commitments whatsoever, or to turn from sin. They insist that this would amount to human works and have nothing to do with faith (p. 22).
So apparently, some say that conversion is just a prayer said, just making a decision for Christ, and then letting Jesus bring that Lordship issue along later. Yes, I remember this being said. But it is wrong. Jesus demands Lordship and commitment from the start. He demands a life of obedience from the start. He says, follow Me!
We must believe that genuine assurance of salvation will come from seeing the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in the life—seeing the fruit. Hence, real salvation cannot be isolated from His work in us. There must be not only justification, but also regeneration and sanctification. Yes, there must be evidence of a holy life.
Hence, we must not dismiss holiness in the life. And we should not only point to a person’s salvation experience. We should not encourage a person to base his salvation assurance on the memory of a prayer, or walking an aisle, or speaking in tongues, or some other experience.
Faith that does not result in a righteous life is dead faith. A real and growing faith must have fruit—the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. A true Christian must be able to look back and see that he has put aside his old life and is growing to be more like Christ, that he is growing to hate the world and to love God and His word. A true Christian loves to go to church and hear the word of God preached, and to sing songs of praise to God with others. A true Christian longs for heaven and to see Jesus; and he hates sin, sin in the world and sin in himself.
As I see it, there are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
1. To prepare Israel for her Messiah.This is probably the most primary purpose—that God would use His wrath to prepare Israel by tribulation, and thus to cause them to repent of their rebellion against Him. And I suppose the most well-known passage that declares by decree how Israel will come to repentance is Daniel 9:24.
According to this six-point decree and prophecy through the angel Gabriel, “Seven weeks [or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and your holy city…” The first two promises by decree are…”to finish the transgression [and]; to make an end of sin…” we will stop there because, out of the six, these two have most to do with how God brings Israel to repentance.
The first decree, “to finish the transgression,” is focused on some specific transgression. What would that be? Down through the years Israel has committed many sins, as we all have; but the transgression inferred here is obviously their sin of the rejection of Christ as their Messiah. All that will come to an end. Miraculously, God will break them during the Tribulation. They all at once will repent and turn to Him.
We don’t know in detail how it will happen, but we do know that two-thirds of the Jews will die during the horrors of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8-9); and then, when Jesus comes, and they see Him, they will recognize Him as their Messiah and turn to Him (Zech. 12:10).
The second decree, “to make an end of sin,” will be all on God’s part, but it will nonetheless be the result of the bitterness of the Tribulation. Hence, as Ezekiel 36:25-29 describes it, He will cleanse Israel from all their filthiness and their idols; and He will give them a new heart and a new spirit.
In addition to this decree in Daniel, there are several other Old Testament prophecies of how God will prepare Israel for her Messiah. Here are three of the more prominent ones, with a few comments.
Deuteronomy 4:27-31
And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Here we see that Israel’s suffering through trails began quite early (with their dispersion, beginning in 722 B.C.); and so, He was working on them very early, preparing their heart. And then, much later, during the bitter days of the Tribulation, He will cause them to return to the Lord and to listen to Him.
Jeremiah 30:7-11
‘Alas! for that day is great,
There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s distress,
But he will be saved from it.
8 ‘And it shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. 9 ‘But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 ‘And fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,
‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
And no one shall make him afraid.
11 ‘For I am with you,’ declares the Lord,
‘to save you;
For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will not destroy you completely.
But I will chasten you justly,
And will by no means leave you unpunished.’
The day of Tribulation is called the day of Jacob’s distress (or trouble), referring to Israel. In this future time God will bring them through terrible distress in order to discipline them and to save them. In the end they will serve the Lord their God and Jesus Christ their king during His millennial kingdom (the reference of David here is a reference to Christ who is in the line of David).
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
During the terrible Tribulation, two-thirds of Israel will die, but one-third will survive. And God will bring them through the fire of the Tribulation in order to make them pure just as gold and silver is refined and purified by fire.
2. To bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations.This second purpose falls close behind in rank to the first; for all of the Tribulation is full of the judgments of God. Again, we will look at a few key passages that describe God’s judgment, with a few comments (bold text for emphasis).
Deuteronomy 30:7
And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
Here we see a very early promise of judgment on unbelievers, but more specifically on Israel’s enemies.
Isaiah 13:9-12
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud,
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold,
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
In this passage God shows us how he will judge the unbelieving and proud sinners. He will first terrify them with earthquakes and cosmic disturbances. Then he will exterminate most of them; he will make them scarcer than pure gold.
Isaiah 24:19-22
19 The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard,
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven, on high,
And the kings of the earth, on earth.
22 And they will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
Here we have revealed to us judgment on the earth, and also judgement on the evil angels and on humans. Verse twenty-two describes the judgment of angels and humans. I believe the gathering together “like prisoners in the dungeon” is what happens after death. They (evil angels and humans) will be held in a place of holding until the final judgment, called the Great White throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). This place of holding I believe is described for us in Luke 16:19-31, where we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. So, it appears that the holding place is full of torments, and they will be tormented even before they come to the final and eternal judgment of hell.
Jeremiah 25:32-33
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From nation to nation,
And a great storm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.
33 “And those slain by the Lord on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the ground.
Here is described for us the tremendous evil on the earth in that day; it will spread from nation to nation. And the Lord’s anger and judgment will come quickly in response, and there will not be any time to lament them, gather them or bury them. They will lie there to rot, and the rotting bodies will be as dung spread over the earth.
Zechariah 13:2
“And it will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
Here we have the prophecy that all idols, false prophets and unclean spirits will be removed from the earth. This will happen during the fires of the Tribulation; all evil will be removed and cleaned off the earth to make room for the coming kingdom of Messiah Jesus.
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “And 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; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “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. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And 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.’ 41 “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; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 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.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘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?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘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.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This passage describes the judgment of those who are alive immediately after He returns and before His millennial kingdom. It is often called the judgment of the nations. I would say that the judgment here is the sentence, where He says, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” But I don’t believe they go directly to the Lake of Fire. I think they will go to that holding place where the rich man is. Then after the millennial kingdom is over, they will appear at the Great White Throne judgment seat and be sentenced again and cast into the Lake of fire for eternity.
Revelation 3:10
‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
The “hour of testing” is referring to the Tribulation, the 7-year period when God’s divine wrath is expressed as seals, trumpets, and bowls.
3. To bring salvation to the repentant lost.This has to be included as one of the Tribulation purposes, mainly because of the great many people who will be saved out of it, and also because God always desires that man be saved no matter how and where that happens. The prophet Joel declared, “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32).
Now there seems to be evidence of two different Tribulation revivals: one, mostly toward the beginning of the Tribulation and another at the very end of the Tribulation.
The earlier revival is divided into two groups. The first group (Revelation 7:1-8) are no doubt all Jews, 144,000 of them, 72,000 from each of the twelve tribes. And the second group (Revelation 7:9-17) consists of “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” This group, as recorded here, has been martyred and are now “standing before the throne and before the Lamb [in heaven].” They have come out of the great Tribulation and they have been given new glorified bodies. Verse fourteen states, “And they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” And then in verse 16 and 17 we read…
“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
We don’t know exactly how this revival will be set off, but I am guessing that it will be due to the miracle of the Rapture of the church and also to the realization of the horrors of the coming wrath of God.
Now it may be assumed that this countless group are all Gentiles, but I’m not sure of it. I think most of them will be Gentiles; however, I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that a few will be Jewish. The Scriptures do not give us any indication one way or another.
Though I think most will be saved toward the beginning of the Tribulation, I also think that the work of salvation will continue to happen all through the seven years, as they hear the consistent preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and also of the two Jewish witnesses and the angels. Most of these will be martyred, but some will survive and be blessed to go into the Millennial kingdom alive.
But I think the greatest number of people who survive the Tribulation and are saved will be Jewish. This will occur at the very end when Jesus appears in the sky. This is the later revival. As I stated earlier, two-thirds of them will die in the Tribulation, but one-third of them will be left alive and will be saved (about 10 million of them; I am taking the literal view that “all will be saved”).
Here in Zechariah 13:8-9, and 12:10-11, are the details of that conversion.
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
Zechariah 12:10-12
“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Here also is the record from Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew 24:29-31
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, 30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31 “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
“His elect” here consists of all glorified and unglorified people in world history who will be ushered into the millennial kingdom. And a big part of that elect group will be those unglorified, saved Jews who come out of the Tribulation. Many of those will be those who will serve Him in the new millennial temple (see Ezekiel 40-48).
This is our eighteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study.
Matthew 23:25-26
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Observations
The Pharisees lived as if external appearances were more important than what was inside of the life. They cared more about appearances than about the heart. They cared more about the body than the soul. Of course, they cared nothing about the soul because they were not converted; they had no spiritual life in them. All they knew to do was to clean up what they could see and what other could see. They were blind to God. They had no spiritual eyes.
Application
If we want to be pure and holy for the Lord we must start with the inside of the live. First, give yourself to God and His son. Believe in Him. Then use His word to clean up your heart and soul, and your mind and thoughts. And pray regularly. As you do this you will find that your body will be healthier too.
If we study the meaning of each part of the Ark of the Covenant we will receive a wonderful salvation message.
The Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim was located on the other side of the veil in the Most Holy Place. There the High Priest entered only once a year to sprinkle sacrificial blood on top of the Mercy Seat.
The appearance of the Ark was quite awesome, not only because of its brilliant gold, but also because of the mysterious light that hovered over the center of it—the Shekinah Glory, which was the glory of the very presence of God.
The Ark itself (without its lid) was just a box, 3 ½ feet long, 2 ½ feet wide and 2 ½ feet deep. It was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The wood represented the humanity of Christ, and the gold, His…
This article is an excerpt from my book, Prayer A to Z.
There is really only one prayer that a non-Christian can pray with the assurance that God will hear him. It is the prayer for mercy—from a humble heart that sincerely has decided to go God’s way. Any other prayers that are uttered by a non-Christian are an abomination to God and are not heard. Why? Well, it is not because God is not good. He is good (Read Matthew 5:43-45). It is because He can not grant any other request of the unsaved, because they naturally do not do what is right or seek after God (Romans 3:10-11). Isaiah 64:6 tells us that the unsaved are unclean and all their righteousness are like filthy rags to God. Therefore, God will not listen to their prayers because all their requests are made with selfish, ungodly motives.
One thing that was sadly lacking in my life was someone to come along side me and counsel me in the area of sexual temptation and dating and marriage. I think young people really need that guidance, especially in those high school years, when their bodies and thoughts are swiftly moving in that area. All through high school I wasn’t at all seriously thinking of marriage or even dating. In fact, I purposely set my mind toward God and bringing people to Christ any way possible, especially through Hi-C club, the Christian group I was involved in.
Then again, when my guard was down, which was too often, I couldn’t keep my eyes and my mind off of girls. And I didn’t exactly know how to handle it. I didn’t feel ready or bold enough to ask girls on dates, but still I had eyes and an imagination. Sometimes, at a weak moment, I longed to see as much as I could. I remember going to the beach just to see as much skin as I could. And I was a Christian! What was I doing? Well, in those days, much of the time I was just very rebellious.
And then along came Joy. A girl named Joy. The first time I remember seeing her was while I was in band practice playing my trombone. She would be looking at me through the glass classroom door and smiling and waving at me. And it was a little embarrassing, because I really didn’t know her, and some of the kids noticed that she was trying to get my attention.
I really wasn’t attracted to her and she wasn’t that attractive. But she seemed to really like me. So, I invited her to our Hi-C group. I figured that as long as I had her attention, maybe I could get her saved. She started to come to our group, but I kind of knew that she was just interested in me.
One evening after group I walked her home; and when we got to her house, she really laid one on me—she kissed me. My first reaction was repulsion; her breath stunk of stale tobacco. But then, without warning, the feeling hit me. I felt something deep down in my soul. Instantly, I was in seventh heaven, and I wanted more. We kissed again, and I felt even better. But when I went in for a third time, she said she had to go. That was okay; I knew I would be back and I was still flying high. I ran all the way home. I was in love. For the first time in my life I was really in love.
I can’t remember exactly what I did next. All I remember is that I wanted more kisses from her. So, I tried to see her more. Even though I was always busy after school with sports and Hi-C clubs, I always had her in the back of my mind—especially her kisses. I longed for her, but it seemed that things were reversed. I was wanting her more than she was wanting me. I was going full steam ahead and she was putting on the breaks. I remember sitting in her house one time. Her mom was home, busy with house work, and me and Joy were sitting—in separate places. I was sitting on her couch watching TV—I think. And she was sitting in another chair reading a book. She was like my sister, always reading. I would be just sitting and she would be sitting and reading. All I could think of was when I was going to get another kiss. I have no idea what she was thinking. It was a strange relationship.
One day she opened up to me about her life. It wasn’t good. She had been—and maybe still was—on drugs; and she also had sexual relationships. I started to think that maybe pursuing her wasn’t the best idea. Yet I wasn’t ready to give up on her. I felt that I really loved her, and so, I doubled down on praying for her. Sometimes I prayed for a long time with tears, begging God to save her. I remember those prayer times. In fact, even now, fifty years later, every time I think of her, I pray for her salvation. Yet I have no idea where she is or if she is even alive.
Toward the end of my senior year, I got the itch to work. It didn’t take me long to find my first job at Minneapolis Floral, just a couple blocks from the school. It was a fairly easy job. I mainly just swept the floors, especially around the people who were trimming and arranging flowers to be sent out to weddings and funeral and such. I think I had that job for only a couple of months.
The next job I had was in a foundry, which was located in the warehouse district of Minneapolis. It was a lot harder, but it paid more. I think I made $2.50 an hour. I stood all day long in front of a grinding wheel, grinding and smoothing off little medal parts. What those parts were used for I had no idea and I didn’t care. Oh, my back and shoulders would just ache after a few hours of work. But it was work. Soon I got use to it. I think I only had the job for about a month. They were sorry to see me go, but I had to leave to serve my country.
A few months before I went to work, it must have been just at the end of my senior year, I remember walking down the sidewalk with a friend of mine, a wrestling buddy, on my way home from school one day. We were talking about what we were going to do next. He suggested going into the service, maybe the Marines. That was the first time I had thought about the service, but that thought kind of intrigued me. I wasn’t thinking at all about war; I was thinking more about really getting into shape and “becoming all I could be.” Something like that. Well it didn’t take me long to decides on the Marines.
Looking back on it, I think it was how God provided a way for me to escape from the temptations I had for Joy, and what would have been a very wrong path.
Stephen Nielsen 