Narrow Gate and Difficult Way

Decisions

 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14 

How do we make decisions and choices? What do I do and what don't I do; where do I go and where don't I go; which job should I take; which person should I marry?

Constantly we are faced with choices and we find ourselves at cross roads needing to make decisions.

Should I consider money profit, time profit, the easy way or simply follow the crowd?

The LORD JESUS wants us to ask Him for the right gate and enter by that gate which might not seem inviting to the natural mind. I will be seen as 'Narrow Minded.' The way that He leads us in, may be difficult but it leads to eternal life. The LORD'S presence is with us in our journey on that path.

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 Riches 

Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, "'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Matthew 19:16-24

The gates in the wall of Jerusalem are small. So are the gates of the new Jerusalem, each one a pearl of patience. Let us therefore prepare ourselves and prune down and practice to travel light!

 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Revelation 21:15, 21, 25-27 

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Commitment in Marriage

The marriage relationship, as commanded by GOD, is a permanent covenant. Even if it is difficult, we are required not to break it. The LORD establishes this relationship, enables us to endure, and molds us within this covenant relationship. 

If marriage is difficult, so also is singlehood. It has its own challenges to keep oneself pure!

The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry." But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." 

Matthew 19:3-12 

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Family Members 

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 10:37-39 

When the LORD JESUS comes into our life, He has take first place in all our relationships.

We have to surrender to Him, everything that means 'life' to us!

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Letting CHRIST Live In and Through Me 

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
John 6:60-66 

The LORD requires our natural mind and physical body to conform to His ways.

 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1-2 

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Rewards! 

 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
Matthew 19:29 

The LORD'S reward is a hundredfold of all that we give up for His sake in addition to eternal life!

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Endurance!

 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14

 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 24:13

We must also be determined to persist and persevere on this difficult path until the end of our journey on earth. The LORD Himself enables us by His grace!

 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, 

And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 

To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, 

Be glory and majesty, 

Dominion and power, 

Both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25 

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