The way of the King must be made straight. Every valley must be filled in and every high place must be leveled. The crooked must be straightened. The rough places must be made smooth. It is the King who is coming. His royal pathway must be constructed in accordance with His majesty.

How is your heart and mind today? Can you make up your mind to serve the Lord, turning away from the lust of your flesh? Can you trust God enough to give your loved ones, your job, your ambitions, your joys, your security, to Him? If you are unable to do this, ask the Lord Jesus for the strength to commit all your life, relationships, and possessions to Him. He will give you strength if you will cry out in sincerity.

But if you continue in the things and affairs of the present world you are facing the terrible dangers that are appearing on the horizon. You may decide to wait until the Lord presses you into submission to His will. If Christ is required to send many problems and sufferings your way in order to press you into Himself, be assured that it is His love that has done this for your sake, your welfare. There is a danger that He will regard you as a lazy slave and remove your inheritance from you (Matthew 25:28).

The Lord's people are to be holy—separate from all sin and uncleanness. We are to "come out from among them." No longer is it possible to walk on the fence of indecision. The eternal roles and destinies are being established now.

If we allow the Lord Jesus Christ to become our personal Lord, we will inherit the rewards that have been assigned to the overcomers. But if we refuse and rebel, we will die with all other sinners and rebels. For Christ is Lord and every knee must bow in submission to Him—either voluntarily now or under the fires of wrath at His coming from Heaven.

The Lord Jesus is so wonderful! Can we do less than give Him all our personality and ambitions? If we do not, we will not be able to stand in the coming age of moral horrors.

The Dung Gate

. . . and a thousand cubits on the wall unto the dung gate. (Nehemiah 3:13)

The "thousand cubits" are symbolic of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, the rule of the Kingdom of God over this earth. Our decision to serve Christ with a perfect heart makes us eligible to be raised at the coming of the Lord Jesus and to rule with him during the thousand-year Kingdom Age. The purpose of the thousand-year period is to finally remove all "dung" from the creation. It is the thousand-year Day of Atonement.

Our decision to serve Christ totally will bring us to the "dung gate." There is much evil, much that is repulsive and disgusting, in the heart of every saint whom the Lord has called. The Holy Spirit will allow us to see the darkness in our personality, and through the authority of the blood of the Lamb and the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit we shall, be able to cast the darkness out of our lives.

But the dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Bethhaccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. (Nehemiah 3:14)

To be continued.