Torments of Hell III

Saturday 29 April
READ: Luke 16: 26
MORE LESSON: Matt. 22: 13

Perhaps the greatest torment in hell is the separation from God that the lost soul has to experience forever. Separation is a very painful experience. The whole experience of pain associated with the death of a loved one is the pain of separation. People feel so much pain when they lose a loved one because they will never see the person again. The damage that accompanies divorce is all about the pain of separation. Married people separate from each other because things have gone wrong; children are separated from parents, sibling separated from sibling. Separation is tormenting; it is painful when you want to see or hear someone but you are restricted and you can't. This is the reason criminals are punished in a prison by being separated from the society. Even in the prison, hardened criminals are further punished by being separated from other prisoners. With no one to relate with, share with or express inner struggles to, a man starts to deteriorate.

Hell is a place of permanent separation. The soul in hell will never see God again. He is separated from all love, peace, joy, hope. If he calls on God, God doesn't hear anymore. He is separated from family and care. Every soul in hell is separated and consumed in loneliness. No two souls in hell will create a relationship and start discussing; no! Each person is alone; as if he is the only one in the whole of hell. Each sufferer in hell is not even conscious that other sufferers are there. He is alone, consumed entirely by his torments, and oblivion to every other person. When the rich man in hell asked for water, Abraham replied, and beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence: Luke 16:26. The torment of hell is the torment of eternal separation.

God is the source of all love, light and life. Every man on earth enjoys life because God reaches out to them. Even those that deny that God exists have reasons to enjoy life because He reaches out to them. The air we breathe, the water, the light, the sense of life and love all exist because they flow from God. As the Bible puts it, That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust: Matt 5:45 The sinner today may think he can still survive without God because even though he is not reaching out to God, God in His grace still reaches out to him through creation. Immediately a man goes to hell, everything that flows from God is cut off from him forever and then he realises how tormenting it is to be without God. You will not end in hell, in Jesus’ name. But you must accept Jesus today and now to escape.

Prayer/Action
* Say to Jesus, “I embrace Your love, light and life, I shall not walk in darkness and sin any more, in Jesus’ name.
* Declare that the grace of God will be sufficient for you, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I declare that my enemies shall not live to rejoice over me and my family, in the name of Jesus.

Torments of Hell II

Friday 28 April
READ: Luke 16: 25
MORE LESSON: Psa. 9: 17

A man had a very wonderful family. He was a good man and loved his family very well but he refused to commit his life to Christ even though his wife and children loved the Lord. It is important to note that when it comes to the issue of going to Heaven, being a good person is not enough; no matter how nice a person is, if he refuses to give his life to Christ, he will go to hell. The man was so nice that he would drive his family to church on fellowship days before going back home to watch television. However, his family continued to pray for him.

One day he had a dream where he discovered that everyone in his house was gone. He looked up and saw his youngest daughter in a glorious place while he was in torments in hell. There in intense pain, he cried to his baby girl to come help him out of the place of torments. The girl looked at him with deep feeling and said, 'Daddy we love you but there is nothing we can do to help you anymore.' He screamed and woke up still screaming and sweats breaking out of his forehead. He quickly dashed round the house looking for his family to pray for him, he found the whole house empty. So he thought that rapture had actually taken place. He slumped on the floor and started wailing. It was the wailing that the family heard from the backyard, where everyone was working while he was resting in the bedroom, and rushed into the living room. He didn't hesitate but quickly gave his life to Christ.

Anyone who has a good picture of what hell is will never refuse salvation and risk going there. Hell is a place of untold torments. One of the torments of hell is the punishment that is meted out on the people there. For every sin a man commits on earth, he will be repaid back with torment in hell. For all stealing, lying, sexual immorality and abortion committed on the earth, there is a commensurate measure of pain that will be administered to the person in hell. Worms, demons and other kinds of agents of torture are in hell to inflict pain forever. Luke 16: 25 says about the rich man, ...remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Notice that the Scripture didn't just say that the man was 'in torments' but that he was 'tormented'. That denotes a deliberate act of inflicting torment on someone. There are agents that inflict torment upon souls in hell. It’s unimaginable! My prayer for you is that hell will not be your eternal home, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that everyone in your household will come to the saving knowledge of Christ, in the name of Jesus.
* Ask God to have mercy on you and your household, in the name of Jesus.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every Goliath that needs to die for me to be divinely announced to my greatness as it was for David, let the Goliath die now, in the name of Jesus.

Torments of Hell I

Thursday 27 April
READ: Luke 16: 23
MORE LESSON: Luke 16: 19 - 31

The devil tries to deceive people into believing that hell doesn't exist but there is a place called hell. It is not an imaginary place, it is a very real place. Jesus told a story that confirmed that hell really exists. Just like every place in existence is describable and has definite characteristics, hell also has definite characteristics. The first characteristic of hell is that it is a place of torments. It is not just a place of torment but of torments. Luke 16: 23 rightly puts it that the rich man in hell was in torments. Every imaginable kind of torment is in hell. Hell is a place of fire. This is the reason the word 'hell-fire' is commonly used. 'Hell-fire' is not synonymous to hell; it is the fire in hell. Even though the fire of hell is incomparably more tormenting than all the fires on earth put together, it is only one of the torments in hell.

As tormenting as the fire of hell is, a greater torment in hell is the sad memory that haunts the people there. Deceivers have falsely taught that there is no life after death and once a man dies, there is nothing he remembers anymore. From Luke 16: 27 - 28, we see that man still remembers everything he did on earth after he dies. The rich man remembered his father's house and his five brothers that were not born again and started begging Father Abraham that someone should be sent from Heaven to go and preach to them. He also remembered how he lived lavishly on earth and wasted his life in sin. It is a great torment to be continually haunted by the regrets of yesterday when you can't do anything to correct it anymore. One of the great torments of hell is the sad memory and regrets of past mistakes that cannot be corrected but which consequence has to be faced forever. In hell, every sinner will remember the day he had the opportunity to accept salvation through Jesus Christ but he turned it down. That memory will bring great pain and torment.

Another torment in hell is the continual thirst that is there. The man in hell cried for just a finger-tip drop of water but he was denied. Water is so essential to human survival. Geographically, the earth surface is 75% water and the human body is also 75% water by composition. Life without water is unimaginable. Part of the torments of hell is that both internal and external water will be dried out of man. Hell is that it is a place of unquenchable thirst where there is no water forever.

The torments of hell are great indeed. You must not go there and you must do everything to keep all the people you can from going there. Consecrate yourself to Jesus today so that hell will not be your portion.

Prayer/Action
* Declare that your portion in eternity shall not be hell, in the name of Jesus.
* Ask God to take away from your life anything that will make you a candidate of hell, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Today, I strike my name from the list of beggars and debtors, I shall walk in abundance and lend to many, in the name of Jesus.

The Good Seed

Wednesday 26 April
READ: Matt 13: 37 - 38
MORE LESSON: Luke 13:18 - 19

A seed is anything that has the ability to reproduce after its kind. A seed carries life and can replicate after the life it carries when it is sown. So when you sow love, you reap love. When you sow money, you reap money. Whatever a man sows he shall reap (Gal 6: 7). There are many seeds you can sow, but above them all, you must know that you are also a seed. Every believer is a seed on a good ground. Your life is a seed that when it is sown on a good ground, it brings forth a harvest of lives. God has planted you as a seed and he is expecting a harvest of fruits from your life.
When you plant a seed in the ground, unless it is watered and taken care of, it will not thrive. In the same way, as a child of God, there are things you do that are equivalent to watering the good seed that God has made you to be. These include coming to church, personal prayer, devotion, reading the Word of God, fasting, paying your tithes, pledges, vows and offerings. Staying in the presence of God, doing night vigil, having your own personal fasting days are all ways of watering the seed of God that you are so that you can bear fruit. The reason many lives are unfruitful is because they do not adequately water the seed that has been planted in them.
In John 15:8, Jesus said, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Jesus' desire is that you bring forth much fruit. This means living a successful Christian life and bringing forth fruit that is worthy of all God's investments in your life. When any man sows a seed, it is always with the expectation of getting fruit one day. You are a seed sown by God and He is expecting fruit from your life. God always wants to eat from the fruit of your life.
This is why He makes sure that the conditions are favourable so that you can have good fruit. Therefore, the reason He has blessed you with whatever you have - life, health, sanity, food, certificate, money, job, marriage or children - is for you to bear fruit. You may not have all of these; but at least you have one. So why not let Him reap enough fruit from the ones He has given you and as you do, I know that He will add the rest to you so that you can bear more fruit. I pray that you will not be a barren tree in the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus Christ. The seed of your life will produce a mighty great forest in the kingdom of God, in the name of Jesus.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that you shall be a fruitful Christian, in the name of Jesus.
* Pray that everything/ability God has given you will bring fruit to profit His kingdom, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Every negative mystery that has surrounded my life and destiny for ages, be terminated now, in the name of Jesus.