Pastor's Corner: The solution for the fear of death

Psalm 23:4 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.

Death is the single common denominator that will come to all men.

I have been called several times over the years to pray with a person who has been diagnosed with very little time left on this earth. It is the last stage of life as we know it here and the entering in to a new dimension of life in the hereafter. In Hebrews 9:27 it says “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”

One of the first questions I ask a person on their death bed is if they are ready to go into eternity. If they aren’t sure, or don’t know at all, I ask if they believe in God. I have never had a person on their death bed say they did not believe in God. Next, we look at God’s word.

The gospel is pretty simple when it comes to the facts about heaven. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We, as a Christian community, just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus, this last Sunday. We acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he suffered and went to hell and was raised from the dead by God the Father on the third day. Jesus paid the price we could never pay. He shed his blood for our sins. Because He did this for us we can invite Him into our heart to be our personal savior. It’s one thing to believe that He did this and it’s another to pray and accept Christ as our personal savior.

In Romans 19:9-10 it says “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” In 1 John 5:11-13 it says “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (12) He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (13) These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. You can know that you have eternal life!

Pray this simple prayer. Jesus, I confess that you died on the cross and shed your blood for my sins. I confess that I have sinned, but I also confess that your precious blood was shed for my sins and cleanses me from all sin. I receive you into my heart right now as my personal savior. I thank you that I am forgiven, and I forgive myself and anyone who has ever hurt me. I purpose in my heart, by your grace, to make you Lord and Master of my life from this day forward. Amen!

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Brian Barrows

Lead pastor of Abundant Life Ministries