GraceinChrist

Satan's character remains unchanged over the millennia of human existence. Satan is the thief who comes to 'steal, kill and destroy.' In Luke chapter 8 we observe the ultimate conclusion of that work; despair and destruction in the life of a man seeking liberty and freedom. He was free but only in the shadow of the grave, free to self destruction, free to Satanic deception and free to solitary despair and desperation. Christ was and is the only solution to the bondage of such a soul lacking hope and devoid of help, powerless to help himself he falls in faith before Jesus, creator, judge and personal Saviour.

The last word of a prayer, of a book, of the Bible itself maybe Amen, but of our lives there is a word after the last. Mediocrity, compromise and rank materialism is met head on with the stark reality that at the end of life and service our eyes close not simply with an 'Amen' but are brought to a conclusion BY THE AMEN. He utters the final word of assessment on our life now complete. He knows our successes, He witnessed our failures, He gave us the opportunities, now He speaks. We best listen now to His command and call before our lives move from service to assessment, from activity to accountability. Revelation chapter 3 verse 14.

The church at Philadelphia emerges bright and glorious against a background of dismal failure and disappointment in the churches which have gone before. So often in the scriptures we find that the past is not sufficient to predict the future. God's saving grace for the broken sinner, received by faith is able to transform the least promising of lives; transforming Moses from fugitive to deliverer, Rahab from Harlot to grandmother of King David, Saul from persecutor to preacher and Zacchaeus from thief to philanthropist. The secret lies in knowing and experiencing the transforming power of the Lord Jesus in His truth and holiness.