GOD'S TOKEN: WORTH MORE THAN A BUS RIDE

Praise the Lord everybody!! Let everything that has breath praise His holy name. God is truly moving by His spirit in these last and evil days. I am grateful that He has seen fit to allow me to see what I've seen so far and I pray God allows me to remain until He comes.

With all the trials and tribulations I have endured over the years, you would think that I would become bitter and question my faith. Yet I have given no thought to doing such a thing. The other day I was reminded of one reason why I do not.

I was enjoying another "Hour of Power" service at my church the other day when we read a scripture that grabbed my attention.
 2nd Thessalonians 1:1-7

1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

Paul tells the church at Thessalonica that the trials, persecutions, and tribulations that they are going through are just a "manifest token" of God's righteous judgment, a part of being proven worthy of the kingdom of God.
How many of you remember when we had to buy tokens in order to ride the bus or trains in New York? The token was a little coin that you put in a machine at the subway station and once the machine recognized and accepted the token it would then allow you into the train station to ride the train.

Paul is also telling all Christians that there is a price to be paid by believers to ride the gospel train into the "kingdom of Heaven". The trials and tribulations that we endure for and in Christ are our "manifest token", our proof that we belong on that train. One of the keywords in verse 4 is to "endure". We must endure these trials, standing flatfooted in our faith, and trusting that God will see us through. This is how we purchase our token, not with money but with faith.

Jesus paid the price with His life. If we want to follow Him we must receive our "manifest token".

                 God Bless You All, Brother Darrell, Speaking Off The Wall