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No man or woman is greater than his/her prayer life. The dictionary defines prayer as a reverent petition made to God or another object of worship. When Jesus Christ died on Calvary the veil of the temple was torn in two which represented the fact that now man could come into the presence of God himself instead of going through the temple priest. In is through Jesus Christ and His life, ministry, death, and resurrection that we can now commune with God directly. But how many of us take full advantage of this unlimited access to the throne room of God?
The Bible exhorts us to pray unceasingly, fervently, and earnestly but for most of us the fulfillment of this command is not a reality. Leonard Ravenhill in his classic Christian book, Why Revival Tarries says the church is most poverty-stricken in the area of prayer, “We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few prayer-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”
I believe the Christian life can be counterfeited in just about every area except for prayer. A true prayer warrior brings the presence of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians chapter six, the Apostle Paul states that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” As we beseech the throne room of God, spiritual forces are battling either on our behalf or against us. Given this spiritual truth, it is possible that one man or woman praying on earth can move angels into action.
Earlier in my Christian life, I was very ministry focused. I saw the doing of God’s work as the top priority but in actuality, without prayer, even our good intentions on God’s behalf are futile. Prayer is the time when the Lord is able to cleanse us, teach us His mind and will, and make the impossible possible.
A church is truly set on fire by its commitment to prayer. The world is not waiting for a new definition of the gospel; they are waiting for a new demonstration of the power of the gospel. It is the life that is transformed that makes the world sit up and take notice. That is why the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 12 exhorts us to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” It is only as our mind is renewed that we are able to prove and do God’s will.
I think for many Christians we view the reading of God’s Word and prayer as separate, but I believe they are intimately connected. The Word allows us to know the mind of God; prayer enables us to commune with God. What a marvelous privilege - to commune directly with the Living God!
I often find that when I am reading the Word of God, I will stop frequently and begin praying. It is as if God is teaching me His Word and at the same time prompting me to pray for the things that are His will for my life. Of course, I John 5:14-15 underscores this symbiotic relationship between God’s will and prayer, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
I don’t think anyone of us is ever truly satisfied with our prayer life but if we want to experience the power of God and see our churches and ourselves revived, we need to begin with prayer. God will answer if we are faithful.
“In the spiritual sphere, the riches garments of the soul are spun on the looms of prayer and dyed in the travail that fills up the sufferings of Christ.” – Leonard Ravenhill
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Preparing for Revival
During the past several months the Lord has been teaching me about revival. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently taking a Revivalism course at my church on Monday nights. My professor recently mentioned that true, Biblical revival contains four components:
1) It is initiated by God,
2) It creates widespread repentance, including the conversion of unbelievers,
3) It changes society in some significant way, and
4) It averts God’s judgment.
I wanted to spend some time discussing the second point because I think when most people, myself included, think of revival we imagine masses of lost people coming to know Jesus as their personal Savior. While this is true in part, the main thrust of revival is God’s people repenting of their sins and turning in obedience toward God.
I would assume that for many of us who have been Christians for a long time, we struggle with this concept, especially when we look at the state of our nation and witness the lawlessness that abounds everywhere. But God is always concerned first and foremost with His people. In fact, the great revival verse of the Bible deals with this very topic, “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
If we truly want to see the state of our nation changed than we, as God’s people, need to humble ourselves before God and turn from our sin. This is God’s plan for true revival – it begins with the church not the world.
When you really dig down and look at the personal lives of our political leaders during the greatest times of our nation’s glory, you find things that show human nature and not divine inspiration. God is not limited by our leader’s religious views. Even when we had ungodly leaders and men of questionable character, the Lord still blessed the nation. God’s promises are not determined by who are leaders are, but by the holiness of His people.
And this is really the whole key to experiencing the presence of God – holiness. I can look at my own life and realize that the times I have felt the Lord intimately have been the times when I have forsaken sin, and likewise, when He seems distant, it has always been as a result of disobedience or failure to confess and repent of sin.
Many today do not want to hear this because if forces us to look at ourselves first and begin making changes on the inside. It is easy to want to look at our nation, our state, our church and assign blame but that is not what God has told us to do. We must humble ourselves, forsake sin, and pray.
Never underestimate the power of prayer. My professor mentioned this past week that two women prayed earnestly for a very long time for D.L. Moody to be moved to lead revival. They prayed relentlessly and were able to bring down spiritual strongholds that eventually enabled D.L. Moody to spearhead the Great Awakening of the mid-1800’s.
If you desire God to send another revival, won’t you humble yourself before God and pray earnestly with me?
"There is sanctifying power like a sweet, refreshing shower, waiting for each consecrated heart."
- Leila N. Morris, hymnist
1) It is initiated by God,
2) It creates widespread repentance, including the conversion of unbelievers,
3) It changes society in some significant way, and
4) It averts God’s judgment.
I wanted to spend some time discussing the second point because I think when most people, myself included, think of revival we imagine masses of lost people coming to know Jesus as their personal Savior. While this is true in part, the main thrust of revival is God’s people repenting of their sins and turning in obedience toward God.
I would assume that for many of us who have been Christians for a long time, we struggle with this concept, especially when we look at the state of our nation and witness the lawlessness that abounds everywhere. But God is always concerned first and foremost with His people. In fact, the great revival verse of the Bible deals with this very topic, “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
If we truly want to see the state of our nation changed than we, as God’s people, need to humble ourselves before God and turn from our sin. This is God’s plan for true revival – it begins with the church not the world.
When you really dig down and look at the personal lives of our political leaders during the greatest times of our nation’s glory, you find things that show human nature and not divine inspiration. God is not limited by our leader’s religious views. Even when we had ungodly leaders and men of questionable character, the Lord still blessed the nation. God’s promises are not determined by who are leaders are, but by the holiness of His people.
And this is really the whole key to experiencing the presence of God – holiness. I can look at my own life and realize that the times I have felt the Lord intimately have been the times when I have forsaken sin, and likewise, when He seems distant, it has always been as a result of disobedience or failure to confess and repent of sin.
Many today do not want to hear this because if forces us to look at ourselves first and begin making changes on the inside. It is easy to want to look at our nation, our state, our church and assign blame but that is not what God has told us to do. We must humble ourselves, forsake sin, and pray.
Never underestimate the power of prayer. My professor mentioned this past week that two women prayed earnestly for a very long time for D.L. Moody to be moved to lead revival. They prayed relentlessly and were able to bring down spiritual strongholds that eventually enabled D.L. Moody to spearhead the Great Awakening of the mid-1800’s.
If you desire God to send another revival, won’t you humble yourself before God and pray earnestly with me?
"There is sanctifying power like a sweet, refreshing shower, waiting for each consecrated heart."
- Leila N. Morris, hymnist
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sacrifice Not Success
Last Monday I began taking a Revivalism college course that is being held onsite at my church. During the class, my professor showed a YouTube video called “Agony” that contained an excerpt from one of Leonard Ravenhill’s sermons entitled "The Cost of Discipleship." Ravenhill was a 19th century English Christian evangelist and author who focused on the subjects of prayer and revival. He is best known for challenging the modern church to compare itself to the early Christian Church as chronicled in the Book of Acts. His most notable book is Why Revival Tarries, which has sold more than a million copies worldwide.
At one point during his sermon, Ravenhill says Christianity is not measured in success but in sacrifice. This point really caught my attention because I believe that part of the reason the Church today is not as effective as the early Christian Church is because we are a results driven society. We are constantly bombarded in our daily lives with statistics and metrics to measure how we are performing at work, at school, at home. It is no wonder that this mindset has crept into the church.
Jesus never focused on success when it came to the ministry. If anything, He continually admonished us to go and preach the gospel and let the Father worry about the increase (I Corinthians 1:6-7). He told us to love others, even our enemies, but perhaps due to our human nature and pride, we just can’t leave it at that, can we? We need something to achieve. We need a barometer to justify and validate our efforts.
One of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament is Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” I think when most people read this verse and see the word “prosper” they assume it means a person is saved as a result of hearing the Word of God. But the Word of God also prospers unto judgment too. I think of Noah and all that time he spent building the ark and warning his contemporaries of God’s pending judgment and no one got into the ark except for Noah and his family – eight souls total. Most would view that “result” and conclude that Noah failed in his mission because so few were saved; but in God’s view, Noah was a complete success because the Word of God he spoke and lived as he tirelessly built that ark was unto judgment.
My life and your life if you are a Christian, will not only be examples unto salvation but also unto judgment as God will use our words and lives to exact His justice upon those who have refused His salvation. This is why his Word is always prospering when it goes out because its purpose is two-fold – to save and to judge.
The key I believe for those of us walking with the Lord is to understand God’s gauge for success and it has nothing to do with pie charts, bar graphs, or flow charts. God’s measurement for success is simple – how much do you love Me? When Peter first saw Jesus after He resurrected in the Gospel of John, He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and three times Peter said yes, and three times Jesus told him to “feed His sheep.” Jesus is always measuring our heart never our actions or results. He looks upon the heart to see the love for Him and how it is manifested toward others. And to be honest, when the love of Jesus has captured your heart, all else fades away, doesn’t it? When we are truly ministering to the Lord than the response of others no longer matters as our “success” is found in Him alone.
“Five minutes inside of eternity I believe everyone one of us will have wished we had sacrificed more, prayed more, loved more, sweated more, grieved more, wept more.” – Leonard Ravenhill
At one point during his sermon, Ravenhill says Christianity is not measured in success but in sacrifice. This point really caught my attention because I believe that part of the reason the Church today is not as effective as the early Christian Church is because we are a results driven society. We are constantly bombarded in our daily lives with statistics and metrics to measure how we are performing at work, at school, at home. It is no wonder that this mindset has crept into the church.
Jesus never focused on success when it came to the ministry. If anything, He continually admonished us to go and preach the gospel and let the Father worry about the increase (I Corinthians 1:6-7). He told us to love others, even our enemies, but perhaps due to our human nature and pride, we just can’t leave it at that, can we? We need something to achieve. We need a barometer to justify and validate our efforts.
One of the most quoted verses from the Old Testament is Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” I think when most people read this verse and see the word “prosper” they assume it means a person is saved as a result of hearing the Word of God. But the Word of God also prospers unto judgment too. I think of Noah and all that time he spent building the ark and warning his contemporaries of God’s pending judgment and no one got into the ark except for Noah and his family – eight souls total. Most would view that “result” and conclude that Noah failed in his mission because so few were saved; but in God’s view, Noah was a complete success because the Word of God he spoke and lived as he tirelessly built that ark was unto judgment.
My life and your life if you are a Christian, will not only be examples unto salvation but also unto judgment as God will use our words and lives to exact His justice upon those who have refused His salvation. This is why his Word is always prospering when it goes out because its purpose is two-fold – to save and to judge.
The key I believe for those of us walking with the Lord is to understand God’s gauge for success and it has nothing to do with pie charts, bar graphs, or flow charts. God’s measurement for success is simple – how much do you love Me? When Peter first saw Jesus after He resurrected in the Gospel of John, He asked Peter three times if he loved Him, and three times Peter said yes, and three times Jesus told him to “feed His sheep.” Jesus is always measuring our heart never our actions or results. He looks upon the heart to see the love for Him and how it is manifested toward others. And to be honest, when the love of Jesus has captured your heart, all else fades away, doesn’t it? When we are truly ministering to the Lord than the response of others no longer matters as our “success” is found in Him alone.
“Five minutes inside of eternity I believe everyone one of us will have wished we had sacrificed more, prayed more, loved more, sweated more, grieved more, wept more.” – Leonard Ravenhill
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Case of Manny Not “Being Manny”
As an avid Boston Red Sox fan, I have to admit that I was intrigued by the possibility of the Red Sox potentially signing Manny Ramirez this summer. You may recall that Manny played for the Red Sox during most of the past decade and was the MVP of their World Series championship in 2004. He is also arguably considered the best right handed hitter to ever play the game.
After a long contract dispute to begin the 2008 season, Manny basically stopped playing for the team forcing them to trade him to the L.A. Dodgers mid-season. The rocky dispute between Manny, the Red Sox front office, and his teammates was covered ad nauseam for months. Red Sox fans felt spurned by Manny whose infantile behavior resulted from ill feelings toward management as both sides stalemated on a new contract. The emotions from that dispute have carried over the past two seasons as Manny and the Red Sox have played the game of “He said”, “He said” in the newspapers.
Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when I recently read the following ESPN headline, "Manny Ramirez: ‘My Fault’ for Boston Exit."
Manny had apparently granted an interview to “NESN Daily’’ host Uri Berenguer and told him he had become a born again Christian and spends his days reading the Bible. When asked about how his playing days ended in Boston, which included a fight with teammate Kevin Youkilis, he said, “I think everything was my fault. But, hey, you’ve got to be a real man to realize when you do wrong. Hey, it was my fault.”
I am not sure if I have ever heard Manny Ramirez publicly say that he was at fault about anything. His antics were so notorious in Boston that the media and fans used to excuse his disruptive and often boorish behavior by saying that’s “Manny just being Manny.” I know, sad but true. So, to hear him take full responsibility for one of the most heated feuds in Boston sports history is eye opening to say the least.
But then again the gospel is just that powerful too. For you see, when a person truly gives himself to the Lord and becomes born again the Bible states, “He is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) One of the first marks of a life changed by the power of Christ’s love is ownership for one’s behavior. Manny’s apology was not just an “I am sorry” statement. He took full responsibility for his actions and put the blame squarely on himself.
You may be wondering why a follower of Christ would immediately take ownership for his/her actions. It is because the cross represents ultimate and complete forgiveness for one’s sins – past, present, and future. When a person has been forgiven by Jesus Christ that same forgiveness is then transferred to others. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the Welsh Protestant minister, preacher, and medical doctor who was influential in the reformed wing of the British evangelical movement in the 20th century, acutely understood this reciprocal nature of forgiveness when he stated, “I say to the glory of God and in utter humility that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything.”
You see Christianity poses a personal Savior to forgive your sins and mine. In one sense Jesus did not die for the masses; He died for each and every person that comes to the cross asking for forgiveness for their own sins.
I do not know for certain if Manny’s profession of becoming a Christian is genuine or not as only the Lord knows the heart. But I would venture to say this, if Manny has indeed given his life to the Living God, than I, for one, will be praying/rooting harder for him in his daily walk with the Lord than I ever did when he was an outfielder for the Red Sox. Championship rings, multi-million dollar contracts, baseball records, the Hall of Fame - all of it will pass away one day and be remembered no more - but one’s relationship with the Savior will endure throughout eternity.
After a long contract dispute to begin the 2008 season, Manny basically stopped playing for the team forcing them to trade him to the L.A. Dodgers mid-season. The rocky dispute between Manny, the Red Sox front office, and his teammates was covered ad nauseam for months. Red Sox fans felt spurned by Manny whose infantile behavior resulted from ill feelings toward management as both sides stalemated on a new contract. The emotions from that dispute have carried over the past two seasons as Manny and the Red Sox have played the game of “He said”, “He said” in the newspapers.
Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when I recently read the following ESPN headline, "Manny Ramirez: ‘My Fault’ for Boston Exit."
Manny had apparently granted an interview to “NESN Daily’’ host Uri Berenguer and told him he had become a born again Christian and spends his days reading the Bible. When asked about how his playing days ended in Boston, which included a fight with teammate Kevin Youkilis, he said, “I think everything was my fault. But, hey, you’ve got to be a real man to realize when you do wrong. Hey, it was my fault.”
I am not sure if I have ever heard Manny Ramirez publicly say that he was at fault about anything. His antics were so notorious in Boston that the media and fans used to excuse his disruptive and often boorish behavior by saying that’s “Manny just being Manny.” I know, sad but true. So, to hear him take full responsibility for one of the most heated feuds in Boston sports history is eye opening to say the least.
But then again the gospel is just that powerful too. For you see, when a person truly gives himself to the Lord and becomes born again the Bible states, “He is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) One of the first marks of a life changed by the power of Christ’s love is ownership for one’s behavior. Manny’s apology was not just an “I am sorry” statement. He took full responsibility for his actions and put the blame squarely on himself.
You may be wondering why a follower of Christ would immediately take ownership for his/her actions. It is because the cross represents ultimate and complete forgiveness for one’s sins – past, present, and future. When a person has been forgiven by Jesus Christ that same forgiveness is then transferred to others. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the Welsh Protestant minister, preacher, and medical doctor who was influential in the reformed wing of the British evangelical movement in the 20th century, acutely understood this reciprocal nature of forgiveness when he stated, “I say to the glory of God and in utter humility that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything.”
You see Christianity poses a personal Savior to forgive your sins and mine. In one sense Jesus did not die for the masses; He died for each and every person that comes to the cross asking for forgiveness for their own sins.
I do not know for certain if Manny’s profession of becoming a Christian is genuine or not as only the Lord knows the heart. But I would venture to say this, if Manny has indeed given his life to the Living God, than I, for one, will be praying/rooting harder for him in his daily walk with the Lord than I ever did when he was an outfielder for the Red Sox. Championship rings, multi-million dollar contracts, baseball records, the Hall of Fame - all of it will pass away one day and be remembered no more - but one’s relationship with the Savior will endure throughout eternity.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Hope Is a Choice
Dictionary.com defines “hope” as the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence; to believe or trust. The Christian faith is based on a hope placed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is rooted in the One who called Himself the Alpha and the Omega (the beginning and the end), the Chief Shepherd, the Cornerstone, the Deliverer, the King of Kings, and the Almighty God.
Hebrews 11:1 declares that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (italics are mine). This is not the type of hope the world has when they play the lottery and hope to win, or when they make an investment in the stock market and hope their money will grow and not decrease. No, this hope is much surer than that. The hope the Christian has is established upon the Living God.
Psalm 146 tells us, “Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, Who made heaven and earth; The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow.”
For the Christian, our hope is based in a God who created the universe, not in a philosopher or religious leader who has returned to the earth and has no power to help us. Our God promises to defend us, feed us, free us, open our eyes, raise us up, watch over us, and meet us in our loneliness. Who else can make such a claim?
The Scripture states that this life is but a vapor and after death eternity begins. King Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest king to ever live, said in Ecclesiastes, after having indulged himself in all the world had to offer, (e.g. women, wine, money) that all of it was vanity and the sole purpose of man is to “Fear God and keep His commandments.”
Charles G. Finney, a prominent preacher during the Second Great Awakening, perfectly described the type of hope offered by Jesus Christ and how it is attained, “Many seem to have conceived of Christ as their hope only in His outward relation, that is, as an atoning Savior, as a risen and ascended Savior, but also as a factual, historical, concrete statistic. The indispensable necessity of having Christ within them, ruling in their hearts and establishing His government over their whole being, is a condition of salvation of which they have not thought. Christ cannot be truly and savingly our hope, in any degree further than He is received into, and reigns, in our souls. To hope in merely an outward Christ is to hope in vain.”
In other words, our hope is a choice based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Any other type of hope is only grasping at the wind. This type of saving hope or faith is only for those willing to lay themselves at the foot of cross and present themselves a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) It is within the realm of obedience that faith becomes tangible as we see the hand of God operating in our lives – conforming us to the very image of His Son.
Hope is a choice. Won’t you choose the Living hope today?
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (I Peter 1:3-5)
Hebrews 11:1 declares that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (italics are mine). This is not the type of hope the world has when they play the lottery and hope to win, or when they make an investment in the stock market and hope their money will grow and not decrease. No, this hope is much surer than that. The hope the Christian has is established upon the Living God.
Psalm 146 tells us, “Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, Who made heaven and earth; The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow.”
For the Christian, our hope is based in a God who created the universe, not in a philosopher or religious leader who has returned to the earth and has no power to help us. Our God promises to defend us, feed us, free us, open our eyes, raise us up, watch over us, and meet us in our loneliness. Who else can make such a claim?
The Scripture states that this life is but a vapor and after death eternity begins. King Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest king to ever live, said in Ecclesiastes, after having indulged himself in all the world had to offer, (e.g. women, wine, money) that all of it was vanity and the sole purpose of man is to “Fear God and keep His commandments.”
Charles G. Finney, a prominent preacher during the Second Great Awakening, perfectly described the type of hope offered by Jesus Christ and how it is attained, “Many seem to have conceived of Christ as their hope only in His outward relation, that is, as an atoning Savior, as a risen and ascended Savior, but also as a factual, historical, concrete statistic. The indispensable necessity of having Christ within them, ruling in their hearts and establishing His government over their whole being, is a condition of salvation of which they have not thought. Christ cannot be truly and savingly our hope, in any degree further than He is received into, and reigns, in our souls. To hope in merely an outward Christ is to hope in vain.”
In other words, our hope is a choice based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Any other type of hope is only grasping at the wind. This type of saving hope or faith is only for those willing to lay themselves at the foot of cross and present themselves a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) It is within the realm of obedience that faith becomes tangible as we see the hand of God operating in our lives – conforming us to the very image of His Son.
Hope is a choice. Won’t you choose the Living hope today?
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (I Peter 1:3-5)
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