You will be shaken in the days to come, make no mistake. Don't ever seek to save your life in the sense of resisting God's will for you. If you do you will certainly lose it. Remain faithfully in your prison. Never mind those who slander you, keep your eyes on Jesus. The children of the barren are more than those of the married wife.

God will allow Satan to put you in some kind of prison to test you.

Satan is hoping he will be successful in pulling you down from your place around the throne. God is hoping the self-will shall be burned out of you. It is a kind of gamble.

Peter and the other Apostles were arguing about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom. They had never been converted from their self-will to the will of God. Therefore they were not fit to be in the Presence of the King.

Peter was turned over to Satan. Jesus did not prevent the sifting of Peter but prayed for him that he would remain faithful.

So it shall be in the last days. All the stars of God will be turned over to Satan that they may be sifted. Jesus will pray for us that we shall remain faithful. Those who ride with Him in that day are called, chosen, and faithful.

We must remain faithful to the point of death. We must place all of our treasure in Heaven, realizing we may never have the desires of our heart until Jesus returns in glory. Is this too hard, too strict for you? If it is, think carefully about the Christian families that were fed to the lions in the arenas of Rome; about the families that lived in the catacombs in order to escape the moral pollution of the Roman culture; about the Christians of today who are being murdered and raped in Sudan; about those imprisoned in China. Then say the Gospel of the Kingdom is too strict, too hard when it demands you place all your treasures in Heaven!

It is the crown, the rulership, that is at issue. The crown of life is the authority and power to govern by the power of incorruptible, resurrection life. There is no other power as great as this.

We will be knocked about for "ten days," a specific time. Christ will always be in control of our testing. We are being tested to see how we will respond under a variety of circumstances. God will not issue the authority and power of indestructible resurrection life to anyone until God is absolutely certain the individual will not repeat the folly of Satan.

We are seeing some of the stars fall in our day. The Internet is proving to be a means of providing satisfaction in the area of physical lust. Because of the preaching of grace, grace, grace, rapture, rapture, rapture, the believers do not have the inner strength to resist the freely offered indulgence in lust. Even the pastors and evangelists succumb because they believe their own teaching.

To be continued.