December 31

 

 Song

Thank You Lord

I just want to say, thank You Lord.

 

O what a marvelous God we serve. We are grateful to You for Your guidance, protection and provisions all through the year, from January to this day, the last day of this year. Lord, we are grateful unto Thee.

We thank You for the good health You granted to Your beloved ones, we cannot thank You enough. We took ill; You healed us, we did not end up in the morgue, we are grateful to You, father, be Thou be exalted above the heavens.We thank You for Your goodness in our lives and situation. We remain grateful to You alone.

O! for the many battles You fought and won for us, we return all the glory to You, Who sits in the affairs of men, we thank You.

Beloved, year 2013 is ending today, just a recap our yearly theme is “harvest of souls”. The Lord have been so gracious to us as a ministry, for many came to the Lord though the ministry, so many changed from their sinful lives and gave their lives to Jesus, many others developed an awesome relationship with their Maker according to their testimonies. So if I may ask you, how far and well did you fare all through the year? Did you win any soul at all for the Lord? (1 Cor 3:9)

Let us examine our ways again today, and take a stand which way to go, come “Year 2014” which is less than 24hrs as I write as the Lord will announce to us come year 2014:

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.” John 7:37

Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast He pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year He pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of His Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of His voice, but the tenderness of His tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you by us.” What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo His children to His bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul’s thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year’s last day!

No waiting or preparation is so much as hinted at. Drinking represents a reception for which no fitness is required. A fool, a thief, a harlot can drink; and so sinfulness of character is no bar to the invitation to believe in Jesus. We want no golden cup, no bejewelled chalice, in which to convey the water to the thirsty; the mouth of poverty is welcome to stoop down and quaff the flowing flood. Blistered, leprous, filthy lips may touch the stream of divine love; they cannot pollute it, but shall themselves be purified. Jesus is the fount of hope. Dear reader, hear the dear Redeemer’s loving voice as He cries to each of us,

“If any man thirst,

let him come unto me

and drink.”

 Are you willing to drink from the fountain or any still making excuses which is not tenable to God on that great day. Come and see the portion of that man who refuses to heed to His call and drink from the fountain:

 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jeremiah 8:20

Not saved! Dear reader, is this your mournful plight? Warned of the judgment to come, bidden to escape for your life, and yet at this moment not saved! You know the way of salvation, you read it in the Bible, you hear it from the pulpit, it is explained to you by friends, and yet you neglect it, and therefore you are not saved. You will be without excuse when the Lord shall judge the quick and dead. The Holy Spirit has given more or less of blessing upon the word which has been preached in your hearing, and times of refreshing have come from the divine presence, and yet you are without Christ.

All these hopeful seasons have come and gone—your summer and your harvest have past—and yet you are not saved. Years have followed one another into eternity, and your last year will soon be here: youth has gone, manhood is going, and yet you are not saved. Let me ask you—will you ever be saved? Is there any likelihood of it? Already the most propitious seasons have left you unsaved; will other occasions alter your condition?

Means have failed with you—the best of means, used perseveringly and with the utmost affection—what more can be done for you? Affliction and prosperity have alike failed to impress you; tears and prayers and sermons have been wasted on your barren heart. Are not the probabilities dead against your ever being saved? Is it not more than likely that you will abide as you are till death for ever bars the door of hope? Do you recoil from the supposition? Yet it is a most reasonable one: he who is not washed in so many waters will in all probability go filthy to his end. The convenient time never has come, why should it ever come? It is logical to fear that it never will arrive, and that Felix like, you will find no convenient season till you are in hell. O bethink you of what that hell is, and of the dread probability that you will soon be cast into it!

Reader, suppose you should die unsaved, your doom no words can picture. Write out your dread estate in tears and blood, talk of it with groans and gnashing of teeth: you will be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. A brother’s voice would fain startle you into earnestness. O be wise, be wise in time, and ere another year begins, believe in Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost. Consecrate these last hours to lonely thought, and if deep repentance be bred in you, it will be well; and if it lead to a humble faith in Jesus, it will be best of all. O see to it that this year pass not away, and you an unforgiven spirit. Let not the New Year’s midnight peals sound upon a joyless spirit! Now, Now, NOW believe, and live.

“Escape for thy life;

Look not behind thee,

Neither stay thou in all the plain;

Escape to the mountain,

Lest thou be consumed.

Before we shut down for the year, here is another opportunity, a beautiful one, to surrender your life at the feet of Your Saviour and plead for the forgiveness of your sins, He is willing and faithful to “All” who come. “Come, drink and thirst no more” click here to accept JESUS Now!

Once again from us @ Overcomers-Faith Ministry Int’l (a.k.a mattersoftheheart – your daily devotional) we say HAPPY AND GLORIOUS NEW YEAR. WE LOVE YOU!

 

Remain blessed in the Lord.

Evang. Ifeoma Ohondu

 

 

 

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IFEOMA OHONDU is the founder of the MattersoftheHeart foundation, a platform where issues affecting our everyday life are discussed and where necessary proffer solution. She is part of the end time army, who will not break their rank to fulfill the urgent call of God upon her life by declaring His word to the helpless, the doubting, the comfortless and the dying world. The world will experience great restoration and healing in the Word of God through her ministration. She is a voice to emphasize key spiritual truth about Faith, Healing and Encouragement.