fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. This is God. We must fear his disapproval, to seek his counsel and teachings, hoping to please him. If we fail to learn how to live a godly, sober, and righteous life in this present world, we will meet his fury. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil. Pro 16:6. But Christendom does not depart from evil because they are taught with lies that God accepts them in their sins as long as they believe in Jesus. So Christendom has no fear of God. Therefore Christendom has no knowledge: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Pro 1:7. Christendom thinks the cross is jewlry and discards the necessity of every disciple carrying their cross; therefore Christendom perishes and their end is destruction.
Faith in Jesus leads to salvation just like faith in Jesus purifies the heart, but neither is instant; both require persistent seeking of the Lord's teachings and commands, with total obedience over time. Pay attention to the New Covenant's exclusions - requirements, and qualifying conditions; otherwise you too will face God's fury. To be saved means to have been saved from even the desire to sin, by a new heart and mind being given to you by God; nothing counts, but an entirely new creature, raised up with Christ to the heavens, where you sit in him at rest.
2 A man's foes will be those of his own household. When you are a true seeker of God, denying your former evil activities in the world, the basis of your friendships will diminish. As you deny foul language, revelry, drinking, carousing, etc., your friends and family will become uncomfortable and begin to attack your commitment to goodness. Your family will be used to attack you; they will be your enemies and are the sword that Jesus spoke of. But the sword that allows you to be attacked is to teach you to have patience, forgive, have mercy, love, and live by faith. From the Word of the Lord within: "after a man has demonstrated his faith, do I give him peace."
The Lord has to show us each and every problem we have, many that are hidden, and lead us (by moving the world around us if necessary) to feeling the pain of our problems - pain so great that when we are tempted, instead of a trigger to fail, it becomes a trigger to succeed. The sooner you understand that everything that happens to you has been arranged to help you grow, the sooner you will be able to forgive, and the sooner you will be at peace, rather than angry or resentful. This life is an illusion. God is far more powerful and at work around you than you can imagine. For those whom he loves and calls, he controls everything around them. (This arrangement of circumstances only occurs for those whom he loves and calls.) And if you have a deep hunger, he loves you and has called you. The hunger is his gift to you. It is his way of drawing you to him. So you will starve and mourn, and starve and mourn. But you will eventually be filled and comforted. It works. Trust Him. He created you. He is in you. He knows you much better than you do. He will change you to be like Him, leading you to purity and then to union with Him in the Kingdom within, where you walk by the Light of God.
From the voice of the Lord: "Live in the fortress of faith where it doesn't matter if someone gives you a kiss or hits you with a baseball bat," knowing everything that happens to you is totally under his control and direction. So if you get hit with a baseball bat, he is teaching you the necessity of forgiving, to ignore it, despite the pain suffered and wrongness of the person wielding the bat. Your life is an obstacle course, designed by God, for you to crawl over and through, learning to forgive and love despite the pain and injustice. This life is a boot camp to produce a soldier of love, whose weapon will be the sword of the Spirit, the word of God planted in your heart. When you realize it is God who has allowed that person to be rude, ugly, and painful to you, you can easily forgive them because they are just an obstacle of potential resentment, whose offense is to be overlooked, (or if not overlooked, to produce the pain of resentment ), thus being used by God to help you spiritually progress.
3 He who finds his life will lose it; he who loses his life for my sake shall find it. You cannot please God continuing to live in your sinful nature, even if you think you have been "saved." You must put to death your selfish, sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial to save the life of your soul. If you choose to continue to live your life as you please, you will lose your one chance to save your soul. If you crucify your lusts and affections on the cross of Christ, in obedience to his listened to teachings, you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, with eternal peace and joy, while on earth and then forever.
