Years ago, the Lord gave me a warning vision, which He now wants me to share with you, along with what I learned from it.
In this vision, I saw a Christian standing before God with outstretched hands. This person was clothed in filthy rags that hung from their body in shreds, and their hands were filled with broken bits of pottery, which they were presenting to God as an offering.
Afterward, I asked God what the vision meant and He showed me this:
If Christians do works (deeds) from a selfish motivation such as to earn love, acceptance, approval or praise from God or from people, it only leads to self-righteousness, which renders our garments as filthy rags and our deeds as unrighteous garbage in His sight. But if we do works from a selfless motivation such as the desire to obey God and please Him because we love Him, our deeds will be considered righteous. For the condition of our heart determines the motivation of our heart, which then determines whether our deeds are righteous or unrighteous. However, righteous deeds do not make us righteous in the sight of God because righteousness is only granted to us by faith in Jesus Christ who purchased it for us through His suffering, death and resurrection.
Then the Lord brought the following portions of scripture to my mind:
In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”
Revelation 19:7-8 says, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
God wanted me to share all this with you because we are in the last days and Jesus will soon return for His Bride. However, many Christians are totally unprepared because of the condition of their hearts. Therefore, God is now shaking everything that can be shaken in order to reveal every area of darkness, selfishness and self-righteousness that is hidden in our hearts so that each one of us can clearly see it. Then, we must be willing to repent and ask for forgiveness so that we can be cleansed from unrighteousness. And, we must be willing to surrender to God and accept His discipline so that He can deal with the condition of our hearts.
If we are willing, God will cleanse us and clothe us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ; then He will prepare us and send us out in the power of His Holy Spirit to accomplish the righteous deeds of the Bride of Christ.
I will end this post with this exhortation from Hebrews 12:5-6 and 25-29:
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.’ See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from heaven. At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
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