Fight To Stay In the Hand of Jesus

171 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 1Ti 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Tim 6:12) The good fight of faith begins when you come to faith and ends when at last the prize of eternal life is consummated, in other words on that Day that you and I stand before the Lord where our eternal sentence is handed down. Grasp this truth! There is such a thing as eternal life and Judgment Day! Heb 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” What happens on that Day? Jesus summed it up in Mt 25:46 "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." And now you and I should have a better appreciation of the goodness (the nobility) of this fight. Eternal lives are at stake! Our lives, the lives of our spouses, children, friends, neighbors, co-workers, should we then draw back from the fray? It is important that we understand that the grasping of eternal life is not something we do in our own volition. We must always remember it is by grace we and everyone else are saved. Eph 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” And Jesus reminds us in Joh 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. Jesus has laid hold of the prize for us and by God's gift of faith, He holds us in His open hand, not a clenched fist. We have the freedom to walk away, and therein lies the battle. Fight to stay in the nail scarred hands of Jesus! Fight the good fight of faith! The world, your flesh and the devil will seek to lure you away. Stay put! The devil may dive bomb you like a pesky bird in that open hand, but he cannot snatch you away if you remain in the hands of Jesus!