THE ETERNAL EMPTINESS God created ALL of mankind with an eternal emptiness within their chest. If your religion works for you then it has already COMPLETELY filled that emptiness inside of you. If your religion has not relieved that emptiness, then you need to look for one that will. You may try to deny the existence of God outside of your religion, but you cannot deny the existence of the emptiness that your religion has not filled! What is that emptiness? Ecclesiastes 3:11 (in various translations) states that this emptiness is “eternity” or an infinite emptiness that ONLY GOD can permanently fill! It is Gods sign to every soul that there is much more to life than just going through the motions, trying to survive, and having some occasional fun. Have all the fun you want to, but it will NEVER fill you up. Participate in your religion all you want. Pray all the prayers to your God that you want to, even pray all day long. But if your God is not the true God, He will not be able to fill that emptiness in your chest. You may dull yourself to those feelings of emptiness for a period of time by activity (religious or otherwise), but it will still be there waiting for the opportunity to remind you that there is “something missing” in your life — there is MORE, MUCH MORE! Those deep inner-feelings of incompleteness are inescapable, especially at night. In the dark, you have to be honest with yourself. You can try to stay awake by studying your religious books OR even try to tire yourself out so that you will go to sleep quickly by watching TV till late, surfing the net, playing video games, talking or texting with your friends, etc. But eventually you will have to go to bed and try to get some sleep. When you do, reality will be waiting to remind you that all of the rationalizations of the day, that you have hidden behind, DO NOT WORK IN THE DARK. Put on a mask for your friends and act like the most “spiritual” OR “the most fun-loving” person of your group, but in the dark, when all of the facade is stripped away, the real you — THE EMPTY YOU — is still there, waiting! Isnt time for you to be honest with yourself and say, “I am empty; something is missing in my life!”? Again, what is that emptiness? That is the True and Living God of Creation saying to you that you need Him! That your life has no real meaning without Him! That He created you to really live, not just exist! Try telling yourself all you want that you already believe in God and that your religion is the true faith, but you will never make that emptiness go away just by practicing a religion no matter how much it trumpets itself to be the true religion. The emptiness within will never listen to your excuses, your smoke-screens, and your defense of your faith! YOUR RELIGION IS EITHER WORKING OR IT IS NOT WORKING. YOUR ARE EITHER TRULY FULL INSIDE OR YOU ARE EMPTY! For those who are honest with themselves, who do not lie to themselves, there is NO middle ground — YOU ARE EITHER FULL OR YOU ARE NOT! The emptiness within you cannot be filled because you faithfully follow some religious leader no matter how right he claims that his religion is. This emptiness is your Heavenly Father, your Creator, knocking on your heart’s door. This is between you and Him. He is calling to you, telling you that He is for real and that He wants to love you if you will let Him! HE WANTS TO HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU! TRUE FULLNESS IS THE MOST VALUABLE AND THE MOST PRECIOUS/PRICELESS THING IN EXISTENCE! AND IT IS AVAILABLE TO YOU! Go ahead, try all you want to, but NOTHING can fill the emptiness in your chest but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. NO AMOUNT of religious activity, doing good, or prayers alone can fill you up inside. Only finding and knowing the true and living God can fill you! Truly knowing the ONE who loves you IS FULLNESS! Jesus told a person who was thirsty (empty) within: Everyone who keeps on drinking of this water [natural life] shall thirst again. But whoever takes a drink of the water which I shall give him, shall positively not thirst, no, never, but the water which I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water gushing up into life eternal. (John 4:13-14 Wuest’s Expanded Translation of the New Testament) Later Jesus cried out to those who practice religion: Let anyone who is thirsty [empty] come to me and drink. Does anyone believe in me? Then, just as Scripture says, streams of living water will flow FROM INSIDE HIM. When he said this, he meant the Holy Spirit... (John 7:37-39 New International Readers Version) THIS IS GODS PROMISE TO THE EMPTY: THOSE WHO COME TO HIM IN THE MANNER HIS WORD PRESCRIBES SHALL BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD. (Ephesians 1:21) THE RESULT: NO MORE EMPTINESS! I will share with you my personal testimony: I was 18 years old, was popular in school, could date any girl I wanted, was active and successful in sports — “life was good”! BUT I WAS EMPTY! VERY, VERY EMPTY INSIDE! Then one night in the middle of the night, the Lord Jesus Christ came to me and woke me up, I got up and prayed. I repented of my sins. I began to worship God out loud. The Lord came to me and FILLED me up inside with His Spirit (this is called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit). (I had already been water baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as a 12 year old, but I was not living the life prescribed by the Bible.) WHEN THIS HAPPENED TO ME, I WAS NOT PARTICIPATING IN A RELIGIOUS SERVICE OR CEREMONY, I WAS BY MYSELF KNEELING BY MY BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! As the Spirit of God filled me up, I began to speak in a foreign language that I did not know how to speak intellectually (the Bible calls this “speaking in other tongues”). I LITERALLY FELT THE EMPTINESS IN MY CHEST BEING FILLED. Now today, I am almost 68 years old and I solemnly affirm to you, that no matter how difficult life has been at times in these last 50 years, I HAVE NEVER ONE TIME BEEN EMPTY AGAIN. IN FACT MY LIFE IS FULL TO RUNNING OVER EVERYDAY! THIS IS MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY. THIS HAPPENED AND IS HAPPENING TO ME. BY GOD’S LOVE AND GOODNESS ALONE, I AM FULL! Now my Friend, God is NO respecter of persons! If He did this for me, He will do this for you no matter where you live in this world or who you currently claim as your God! I challenge you to try THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, put Him to the test. What do you have to lose? Oh that’s right, you have your EMPTINESS to lose! Unless of course you want to stay empty! So, My Friend, I pray for you that you will come to know that the emptiness that our God put within you from the beginning IS the greatest blessing of your life. Why? Because it will never let you settle for less than ALL that the True and Living God, God the Father manifested in the flesh as the Lord Jesus Christ, has provided for YOU! You may choose to ignore God, but you can NEVER ignore the emptiness! NEVER! NEVER! Deny what I have written here, but your emptiness will still be there! What I have written may even make you angry, BUT THE EMPTINESS IS STILL THERE — proving me right every moment of everyday! Don’t be angry at me — I did not put that emptiness there, God did — be angry at yourself for choosing emptiness over life and fullness! Again, there is NOTHING like being filled up inside with the Spirit of Jesus (the Holy Spirit)! If you will let Him, He will fill you with Himself and your emptiness will NEVER return. Absolutely nothing is better than that — NOTHING! PLEASE MY FRIEND, DON’T CHOOSE TO STAY EMPTY! SEARCH FOR AND FIND THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN PERMANENTLY FILL YOUR EMPTINESS — THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (THE ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH)! Bishop Chester M Wright Antioch, The Apostolic Church, Arnold, Maryland, USA Twitter: @thebishop7 Facebook: Apostolic Iron page Personal website: ApostolicIron Church: theantioch
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 12:21:16 +0000
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