Are you willing to stay in the prison where the Lord has placed you? Or are you going to take matters into your own hands? You cannot get out of the prison in which you are placed without breaking God's laws.

Are you trying to be happy in this present life or are you laying up treasures in Heaven? The Gospel of the Kingdom is the hope of the poor and afflicted of the world, the hope that one day they will be able to dwell with God, free from injustice and affliction. It is not a means whereby rich Americans can gain even more money, houses, cars, clothes, entertainment, vacations, and thus utterly destroy the vestiges of eternal life they presently possess.

The individual who waits God's time for deliverance cannot be hurt by the second death, the Lake of Fire. Why is this? It is because during his imprisonment the behaviors over which the second death always retains authority are burned out of him, driven from him.

Day by day we repent, turning in the direction God desires. Day by day the rewards, the increments of personality, are added to us. This is the road to the Throne of Christ. This is the way we become qualified and competent to be raised in the first resurrection, and then to return with Jesus to serve as a tree of life and a ruler of the nations.

Have you found the gate? Have you gone through the gate and now are walking on the road to life? If so, never, never quit. Never take matters into your own hands. Do not light up your darkness with fires of your own making. Wait for God. For how long? Until He brings you out of prison as He did Joseph.

Some of us find glory and blessing, the goodness of the Lord, in the present world. Others die in faith. But you can be sure when the eyes of those who die in faith are opened to the spirit world they are surrounded with throngs of saints congratulating them on their faithfulness to God.

Paul the Apostle went from one prison to another. When he was martyred and his eyes were opened he saw a grateful Christ standing with open arms, ready to receive him into eternal joy.

Since then Paul has been able to see his writings, his letters to the churches, used by the Lord to change the course of history, to bless unnumbered multitudes of people from all walks of life.

But the end is not yet. In the Day of Resurrection when Paul is raised to receive his reward, the Divine Light and Glory that will come to rest upon Paul for eternity will be as a galaxy of stars—no, infinitely greater in splendor than any galaxy of stars.

The seed of those who die in the Lord will be comparable to faithful Abraham.

How about you? Will you take matters into your own hands so you can "enjoy" the toys of the present world? Or will you patiently bear your cross on the road to eternal life until you hear the "Well done!" of Jesus?

I have made my choice. God, help me hold steady to the end!

And God help you, friend, to hold steady to the end. I know you will as you walk hand in hand with the Lord Jesus on the narrow road that leads to eternal life. (from The Road That Leads to Life)