"Consider The Prize"

"The LORD redeemeth the soul of His servants: and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate." (Psalms 34:22) Maybe "desolate" did not make you shake all that much, because if you already know you are guilty, then what difference does it really make if you are found to be guilty? However, if you truly want to have eternal life in heaven; I mean, if that is really what you want, then you really need to consider the consequences of one thing: 'TO FAIL IN DUTY'. We all fail at one point or another, so it's really not the failing part that gets us into trouble; besides, God can fix pretty much anything that we mess up. It's more about our desire to get it right, not because we need to, or because it's some kind of a law, but because we really do want to please God, as any good servant wants to please his master. It is kind of like giving of our tithe, where the one hand does not consider what the other hand is doing, but yet, we are still a cheerful giver: that is the heart of God's servants. We are what we are because we love Him, yes; but much more than that, we are what we are because we abide in Him; in other words, we cannot live or survive without Him, and we know it! And it is in the acknowledgment of our condition outside of Him that makes us not want to fail our Master; because more than wanting eternal life in heaven, we want eternal life in Him! I can not get over the cult which I shall not name, but one that I am very familiar with; and when they come to the door, I love to express my longing to be with the Lord in heaven; to which I get a tilted head or an odd grin of unlikeliness, as they do not believe I will be going there. I don't want to live here on this earth with friendly animals and neighbors that like to have picnics; I want to be in the presence of the Lord in heaven, where lights are not needed, and where God's glory is the Light that we live in. Yet, our deliverance is not based upon our works, but upon our abiding in Him; our works we do because we do abide in Him, and it's in Him that we get to experience the peace that comes with never failing, because He does not fail, not because we don't, because we do. You can picture it like a servant that lives in the house of a very rich master; who has no worries of keeping the estate from meeting all of their needs, because that is the role of the master; but the servants only concern is to please his master, by which he is able to abide in his master's estate. He knows our heart, and better yet, He knows our weaknesses; and just as the rich master knows his servants lack what it takes to own the estate, he provides his estate for them to dwell within. In the case of what it takes for us to abide in God, it requires righteousness, which is something that we lack; but God, who knows our weakness and what we lack, has supplied the righteousness, that we can enter in...
"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,) concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: by whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for His name: among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 1:1-7)