“Behold! There is a water, and there is a fire! They are coming to test the quality of your faith.”

Dear siblings in Christ,

During my morning quiet time on Sept 24, 2018, I felt the Lord speak to me as I meditated on Psalms 50:16–23. But before I delve into it, I feel I should preface it.

Preface

All of us who read His words below would do well to do some serious introspection. The thrust of His message seems to be about the condition of our hearts. It is not just about our deeds, but rather about our motivation behind our deeds, even the righteous ones, especially the righteous ones.

What has the grace of the Most High birthed in me? Self-righteousness? Entitlement? Hypocrisy? Arrogance? Legalism? Dissension? Idolatry? Factionalism? Licentiousness? The Lord wants to emphasize that no matter what good works we do, if any of the above or the like are what we are harboring in our hearts, then our hearts are truly far from him, and what is coming as his discipline will expose that truth, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. Although His discipline is always intended to prune and sanctify us, our responses to His discipline will determine whether we reap life or death.

The Message

There are people who have My words on their lips, who profess My statutes, and who declare to keep My commandments, but I know what is in their hearts. They do this not so that they may please Me, but so that they may please themselves, in that they may hear the praises of those around them who see them and therefore be pleased in themselves because of those praises. They think I am as man and cannot see the heart. But I do see the heart, and this is what I see: their hearts are far from Me.

What right do these have who profess My name, who keep My law, who keep My statutes and commandments and yet have their hearts far from Me, what right do these have to be called by My name? Am I truly the one they serve? After all, who is the true Jew, and who is the true disciple? Who is the true Israelite? Is it not he in whom I have put My Spirit? Is it not he in whom I’ve worked a transformation? Is it not he in whom I’ve created a new heart and new mind? Is it not he whom I’ve predestined to be conformed to the likeness of My Son? Is it not he who keeps My statutes and commandments, not out of a dead religious mind-set, but out of love that is born of the Spirit and out of fear, reverence, and awe for the Most High who sanctifies him? Then why do these who run after religion and dead works not come to Me that I might sanctify them? Do they believe their works and traditions will cleanse them? All such righteous works of the flesh are simply filthy rags. Those who pride themselves in them do so only to look good in their own eyes, in the eyes of others, and in the eyes of their god, who is only a dead god.

I am the Living God. I am the River of Life. I am the Bread of Heaven. I am Everlasting Life. Worship Me, the only Living God, that you may have life. Repent of your religion! Repent of your dead works! Repent of your man-made traditions and all your self-righteousness! I am Life! I am what you seek! Your dead gods cannot offer it to you, but I can!

He who comes to Me, I will by no means turn away. And anyone who abides in Me shall be full of life. I see into your hearts, you people. I am not like the men of this world who see only the appearance; I see the heart, and I tell you, you who pride yourselves in religion and dead works, you have no life in you, for your hearts are far from Me. You put on a good show, but I see beyond the show, and I see your faith, and it is not in Me. And whatsoever is not of Me or rooted in Me, can and will be shaken.

Hear Me now, and listen to me! Repent of your dead works and religion! They have no life, and therefore, they cannot give you life. They are dead, and if you abide in them, death is what you shall reap for your souls. Repent of them, and let go of them!

Behold! There is a water, and there is a fire! A water for cleansing and a fire for purging! They are coming and are here even now. They are coming to test the quality of your faith and to show you the roots of your works. When they are upon you, and when they sweep away all your religion and tradition and works, you shall see the roots of these and know that these were not of Me, for neither fire nor water can harm anything that is rooted in Me.

Your hypocrisy will stare back at you. Your dead religion shall lie dead before you. Your man-made traditions shall weep and wail before you, and all your self-righteous works shall wither away before you. Then you shall know that these things that you practiced were not of Me, that the ones you put your faith in were not of Me, that the faith you claimed to profess in Me was a lie, and that the one who called you to repent while you still unashamedly practiced these things was the one called Holy and True, the Living God.

In that day, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Even in those days, after I have allowed the fire and the water to visit you for your many iniquities and to show you the idolatry and hypocrisy hidden away in your hearts, even right now, if you shall hearken to the voice of My Holy Spirit and not harden your hearts, I shall hear from heaven and save you. If you will acknowledge your guilt and how unashamedly you profaned My holy name by your many idolatrous deeds and all the evils you practiced, secretly or openly, while still hypocritically professing to be called by My name, I shall hear from heaven. I shall forgive you and cleanse you, and I will not remember your sins anymore.

It is your destiny to be conformed to the likeness of my Son. Hear, O you who profess your faith in Him, but only he who endures to the end will inherit this destiny. It is My desire to see you conformed to His likeness, but I tell you this day, you who profess My name and yet live wickedly, if you will not yield to My pruning and stubbornly reject My discipline and continue to stubbornly walk in all the lies you’ve believed and all the evils you’ve hypocritically practiced while falsely pretending to be Mine, a day is coming when I shall cut you off. Your time shall then be cut off, and you will be left as good for nothing except to be burned. You shall find yourselves where there shall be weeping, wailing, cursing, and gnashing of teeth, all surrounded by fires of terrible agony that shall burn forever, from which there shall be no redemption.

Behold! I set before you life and death. Choose life, O mortal man! Choose life that you may live and that you may know unto everlasting that I, even I, Yahweh, Am Salvation!

Author: Sujit Thomas

Sujit was working in Chennai in late 2015 when the Lord began to nudge him to draw closer to Him. That was the beginning of a major spiritual transformation in his life, and he has not looked back since. As someone who has experienced God’s undeserving love, grace, and mercy personally, Sujit would like people to know that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the unrighteous, but would rather see them repent and live.

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