Arthur Blesitt Weekly - Vol. 2, No. 32

How to Die!
(Part 2)

Facing the moment of death!
I have been with many people at their moment of death. I have also face the fact that I would die in the next few moments or in a few minutes.

There are two profound moments in ones life:
When you take your first breath!
When you take your last breath!

Everyone reading this is in between those two awesome moments.
All your loved ones and friends are also in between those moments. This is a date with death that is unavoidable. Death is as sure as life. It is one of those things you will have to do.

After my times of near death and being with others at death and hearing the report of how many die I believe that as a follower of Jesus He gives 'dying grace'.
When that moment comes the real Presence of Jesus will be with you and give you the strength and peace to face that time of passing.
This is a supernatural impartation of God to you. The angels of God will surround you and will carry you to the Father.

I am simply encouraging you to prepare for that moment. For it 'shall' come.

I want to add the following devotions by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I could not say it as well as he. So please read the following.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church. The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000'”all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle also known as 'Spurgeon's Tabernacle.
Charles Spurgeon is my favorite historical preacher. I even had the honor and pleasure of preaching in that church and pulpit in 1972.
Spurgeon wrote what is now known as 'Morning and Evening' devotions. My wife Denise reads these every day. You can read these daily devotions on the Internet at:
http://www.spurgeon.org/daily.htm

The following will help you with instruction and inspiration and the Word of God to deal with death as well as to live life to the fullest.

IN THE END, NOTHING TO FEAR. GENESIS 49:33

Unless the Lord comes quickly, we will soon leave this body and expect to gather up our feet. We may expect to breathe our last and like our fathers go to meet our God
(Gen. 49:33). But do not let sorrow dim your eye. Do not let fear trouble your spirit, because death is vanquished. We have no reason to fear. Courage, Christian soldiers, for you are encountering a vanquished enemy.

If your Master had been defeated, you might expect to be blown like chaff before the wind. But the power by which He overcame, He lends to you. Awaken all your powers to the conflict and strengthen them with the hope of victory, because if the Head conquers the members cannot be defeated. You must conquer for Christ has conquered. The Holy Spirit is in you. Jesus Himself has promised, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age' (Matthew 28:20).

Are you afraid to die? Does the grave alarm you? Do not fear, for you cannot die. “Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep'¦. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive'
(1 Corinthians 15:20, 22). Oh, the comfort of the gospel.

All me to say this: If your trust is in Jesus, there is nothing in the Bible to make you afraid. Nothing in the Bible, did I say? There is nothing in heaven, nothing on earth, and nothing in hell to make you fear, if your trust is in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you' (John 14:19-20).

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THROUGH THE VALLEY. PSALM 23:3

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me' (Psalms 23:4). I intended to keep this choice promise in reserve until I came near the river Jordan. Then in my last hour, I hoped to enjoy its sweetness. But the other day I needed this heavenly loaf, and I ate it.

Children are told that they cannot have their cake and eat it too, but his rule does not apply to God's comforts. You can have a promise and enjoy it, too. Several days ago, when a trial howled around me, I ate the honey out of this verse. Its sweetness is still there, and no doubt I will enjoy this promise again when I come near death's gate. The blessed Holy Spirit has already sealed it to my soul with rich and full comfort. Would to God that every believer who is burdened and depressed might find it precious.

Although this promise has an inexpressibly delightful application to the dying, it is also for the living. If you are depressed by any difficult trial, then you are walking through the valley of death-shade; I urge you to repeat this promise, and may the Lord help you to feel its truth. “Yea, though (even now) I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.'

The words are not in the future tense; they are not reserved for a future moment, so use them now. Do not let this song lie on the shelf until your last day. Sing it all the days of your life.

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HE HEALS BROKEN HEARTS. PSALM 147:3

The Holy Spirit mentions this as a part of the glory of God and as a reason to declare His praise. The Lord is a Healer. He restores the brokenhearted.

The leaders of the earth think that they are great through their loftiness. But Jehovah becomes great by His condescension. The Most High associates with the sick and the sorry, the wretched and the wounded. He walks the hospitals as the good Physician. His deep sympathy with mourners is a special mark of his goodness.

Few will associate with the depressed, but Jehovah chooses their company and stays until He has healed them with comfort. He wants to handle and heal the brokenhearted. He applies the ointment of grace and the soft bandages of love. He binds the bleeding wounds of those convicted of sin. This is Godly compassion.

Well may those people to whom He has acted graciously praise Him. The Lord is always healing and binding. This is not new work for Him. He has done it from old. It is not a thing of the past, of which He is now weary, for He is still healing, still binding. Come, broken hearts. Come to the Physician who never fails to heal. Show your wound to Him who tenderly binds them up.

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FROM DEATH INTO LIFE. JOHN 5:24

Death is the end of dying. The day a believer dies, dying is done with forever. The saints who are with God will never die again. Life is wrestling and struggling, but death is the end of the conflict. Death is rest and victory. Life is full of sinning, but blessed be God, death is the end of that. No transgression or iniquity will follow us to heaven.

Life is longing, sighing, crying, wasting away, and desiring. Heaven is enjoying, possessing, and delighting one's self in God. Life is failure, disappointment, and regret. These emotions are over when death comes, for glory dawns with satisfaction and intense contentment.

The day of our death will be the day of our cure. There are some diseases that will probably never be healed until the last Physician comes. Then with one gentle touch of His hand, we will be healed forever. All infirmity and all sickness will vanish in our last hour. Blind sister, you will have your eyes. You who lost your hearing will hear the song of angels. You will limp will dance. You will have no infirmity. Death cures the ills of old age.

Our death day will be the loss of all losses. Life is made up of losses, but death loses losses. Life is full of crosses, but death is the cross that brings crosses to an end. Death is the beginning of our best days.

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NEVER SEE DEATH. JOHN 8:51

Some of you are comforted by the belief that you will live until the Lord returns, and so you will not sleep in the grave but be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye
(1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The hope of our Lord's appearing is a blessed one.

I do not, however, believe that to be alive at His coming is anything to desire. Is there any great preference in being changed rather than in dying? “We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep' (1 Thessalonians 4:15). This is a great truth. If I die rather than being changed, throughout eternity I will be able to say that I had fellowship with Christ in death. This is an experience that those saints who survive will never know. How precious will Christ be when, in the ages to come, we shall think of His death and be able to say, “We too have died and rise again.'

You that are alive and remain will certainly not have a preference over us, who, like our Lord, will taste death. We do not grieve for those that have fallen asleep before the Lord's gracious appearing, because our Lord has said, “If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death' (John 8:51). This is not only for the few who will remain at His second coming, but also for the entire company of those who have kept His Word. Even though they pass into the grave, they will never see death.
Glory!
A pilgrim follower of Jesus,

Arthur Blessitt Editor
Luke 18:1
Denise Blessitt Associate Editor