"My children, why are you afraid of the end times? Who has made you afraid of the days to come? Didn't I promise to be with you unto the end? Or has someone told you that I would cease to intercede for you and you would have to stand in your own righteousness?
"You have been striving to defend your church and your beliefs, and yet you do not realize it has been your church and beliefs that have been wounding you and filling you with fear of the end times. You have been taught to prepare to run in the coming days, to prepare to flee persecution and dread suffering. But yet you have been told that your salvation depends on clinging to your church's unique beliefs. Because you have not known that I have already saved you (that salvation depended on Me instead of on you), you have not known My peace and strength that will sustain you through all tribulation. Because your faith has been in your unique beliefs, you have not known the rest that comes from having faith in Me alone.
"My children are safe in My hands, and no one can snatch them out. They will overcome the dragon because I have overcome the world for them. They are spotless and blameless because I covered them in My righteousness—the righteousness of the spotless and blameless Lamb. My children are not afraid because they know I will be with them always and will never leave nor forsake them. My children do not fear death because they know that their souls are safe in Me, and that nothing—not even death—will separate them from me. My children know that their suffering and death only brings them closer to Me.
"My children see that I have overcome the world, and that they also have overcome by faith in Me. Because their faith is in what I have done for them on the Cross, they are not worried about marks on their hands—for they can only see the marks on My hands and their names engraved there."
*****
See also: "Suffering Redeemed" (art link)
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