Salvation and the Fruit of the Spirit: A must have before you stand before the Lord!
Beloved friend, I am re-posting this article which I wrote a while back. The signs of the return of the Lord are upon us. Today we do not need a prophet to prophesy about the coming of the Lord in order to believe. Tangible signs are all around us that point to the soon coming of the Lord (Matthew 24).
In preparing to meet our Holy Lord, we are reminded by the Holy Spirit to remember to bear fruit – the fruit that remains (John 15:16). Many times, we meet people who say they are on fire for the Lord, they even shake under the power of God, they get drunk in the spirit, they even prophesy etc...YET they have no love, no peace, no joy… in short they do not manifest the fruit of the spirit. The scripture clearly says "YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUIT..." as the end times are without doubt upon us, we must crucify the flesh daily and allow Jesus to inhabit us. Below is an excerpt from an encounter of a friend of mine Mama Domitila, whom the Lord raised from the dead after dying for 4 DAYS.
The encounter takes place outside the beautiful gate of heaven where the angels took her after her body gave out and was pronounced dead.
“I looked and behold I was in a place that had many roadblocks! There were soldiers well dressed like the ones you can compare to military guards that we see here on earth at a checkpoint. They were checking ID cards of everyone before they let them go through the roadblocks leading to the gate into the Holy City. Right there, I remembered that I did not have an ID card on me! In Congo where I lived, it was required to carry an ID card everywhere you go. I was gripped with fear then and said, “What am I going to do since I do not have an ID card on me?”
The heavenly guards then asked me “How did you come here without your ID?” I turned to the two angels who had escorted me into heaven from earth, “Aren’t you the ones who brought me so quickly? I left without bringing my ID!” I was reassured however that since they are the ones who had brought me, I was not required to have one. The One who was with me asked me to count all the roadblocks which we were going to pass through however. I counted and found out there were twenty roadblocks in all! He spoke to me, “For each roadblock, it is required to present a specific ID.” I wanted to know what those twenty ID Cards were! He answered me and said, “Ten of those twenty ID Cards are the ten commandments of God; nine of those ID cards are the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit.” “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22) I counted and that added up to only nineteen. It was the explained to me that the twentieth ID required was SALVATION. This message came with a great warning however, that though one might try their best to follow all the ten commandments and though through their human effort they might try their best to manifest peace, joy... WITHOUT SALVATION THEY CANNOT ENTER INTO HEAVEN BECAUSE JESUS IS THE ONLY WY TO HEAVEN. WITHOUT it profits them nothing.
Only Jesus died for mankind. There is only one who is blameless, it is Jesus. Jesus committed no sin. Only Jesus is the blameless lamb of God who died for us to pay the ransom of mankind's sins. Only Jesus paid for the death penalty we all deserved because of our sins. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ and Jesus alone is the foundation of our faith. Jesus is the only way to the Father!
As it is written, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." (John 14:6)
To be continued in Part 2.
