Would you go through with it?

 Imagine yourself in a secret place, and the Spirit of God is speaking to you. He shows you that—in the next 24 hours—you will die. You are told that you will be:

- punched in the face

- kicked in the sides

- whipped until you bleed

- forced to carry a heavy chair, rope, and with chains of cement

- forced to trek half a mile while still bleeding, spat on by the on-lookers, and jeered at

- You won't say a single word to curse any of them, because you knew them, once upon a time. They were friends. They were people you healed, and ones you spoke words of encouragement. They all turned on you. Even your best friends abandoned you.

- They force you to sit down in the heavy chair on the edge of a fishing pier, tie you with the ropes. 

- To make sure you don't get out of there, they staple your skin to the chair, and some nails and hammer.

- Then they push you off the pier into the shark-infested water. Instantly, you feel their small teeth eating at you. They're not big sharks. 

- You don't know which one killed you first, the water or the sharks.

You know this is all coming soon in such detail. It terrifies you to know you will be betrayed. The crowds to against you. The amount of pain you will be in. 

You ask Father God to please don't let this happen if God is willing. But God wasn't willing to stop this. You both know why it must be done.

This scenario happened only once in all of humanity's history. It happened to Jesus, except instead of drowning in shark-infested waters, he died on a shameful cross. Blood is life. Without blood, we can't live. Which is why God required sacrifice of untainted animals on the altar to represent forgiveness of sins. Jesus became that lamb on the altar. Jesus came down from Heaven and became flesh, lived an untained life. He had trusted friends. He had grown with a family. He worked as a carpenter until God called him into the ministry. Then, one night, Jesus knew the time for his death was coming within hours. He asked Father God to take this cup (of suffering and death) from his hand. He was terrified out of his mind like anyone else would be if we knew our deaths was coming and in such grisly detail...

All so his sacrifice can forgive the sins of many. He wanted his friends back. He wants his adoring crowds back because he adored them more than they adored him. He wanted you back. He knew you before the world was made. He had you safely in his hands, waiting for you to be born. But, you became lost because of sin. Jesus is searching for you. Yield to his search light, let yourself be found.

Because if you don't, your sins, your negative attitude, condemning thoughts, your feel-good-about yourself ways without God, they are all not holy and deserving permanent separation from all that is good in the new world to come. If you say you never sinned, you are cheating yourself and believing the lies of the enemy of this world. 

Why are sinners punished? God is so much more holy than anything in this 13 billion lightyears sized universe. The only way to be holy is to let Jesus live in you.

The only price you have to pay is to give up those things in your life. The things that you are focused on. Including your will. You have to give up worldly relationships, sexual immortality, entertainment, explicit content (music, TV, manga, books, stories, etc.), drugs, drinking, and other things that keep your eyes off God. You need to replace those things with things of God. Surround yourself with believers who are on fire for God. If you're not willing to give up anything that God is putting on your heart to give up, then it will be hard to follow Jesus long term. It happened to me and I backslid, big time. 

Please, bare your soul before God, and hold nothing back from Him. Go somewhere where no one can hear you. Play some quiet classical music and say to Him: You are holy and I honor you. Here I am, God! Have your way with me. I am giving all of myself to you. Show me what price I must pay to follow you. I am not going to do those things anymore, and I ask you to take them from me. Give me new things, renew my mind to think a different way that is holy to you, to think like Jesus. I'm sorry for what I've done. I forgive the people who wronged me. Most of all, I forgive myself. Here I am, Lord, have your way with me! I decalre this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

If this message spoke deeply to you or will for someone you know, please share it with them, and be there for them. For yourself, find a local church and connect with other believers. Pray for God to guide you to the right one for you. 

Be blessed.