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The Biblical Principle Of Long Life
Contributed by Daniel Olukoya on Mar 5, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: God wants His children to have longevity of life that is why he makes provision in the bible for our bodies to be spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally balanced.
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In the last few years, we have witnessed or heard about a lot of tragedy. People that were expected to be alive were dead. A lot of young people were dead and some of them were born again. Is it God’s will? No. We must also realize that the devil has some powers to kill but the only strongest power is the power of God. Just as the Bible has principles for long life, it also outlines what could cause short life.
God’s original plan for man was life not death, health not sickness, energy not weariness and radiance not dullness. So, if Brother Adam had not sinned, he would have lived forever. The Bible emphasizes that God is not interested in short life. One man of God said that it was a tragedy for a plant to die at the seed stage because it could not become a plant. A situation where young people are dying shows that a lot of things are going wrong.
Deuteronomy 6:1-2:
“Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it. That thou mightiest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.”
Here, we can see that God is not interested in short life. Job 5:26 also says,
“Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.”
Proverbs 3:3: “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart”.
Proverb 9:11: “For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.”
Proverbs 10:27: “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
God is not interested in short life for His children.
Proverbs 16:31: “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”
That is, if you hair is gray it is a crown of glory if you are in the way of righteousness.
Psalm 90:10: “The days of our years are three score years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow. For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”
This verse is a curse and not a blessing. It is the minimum, which a lot of people now claim whereas they should not claim it. But even this minimum, which is a curse, is difficult for a lot of people to attain.
Psalm 91:16: “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”
Isaiah 65:22: “They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”
The Bible is telling us that it is a tragedy for somebody to sweat to gather, but before he would begin to reap the fruits, he dies.
Ecclesiastes 6: 1-2: “There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men. (The Bible calls it an evil thing). A man to whom God has given riches, wealth and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it, this is vanity, and it is an evil disease."
SIX MAJOR WAYS BY WHICH PEOPLE DIE ON EARTH
1. A person can die by his own hand: This is when a person just destroys himself, for example, by personal execution, personal murder, or assassination. It is possible for a person to eliminate himself. Sometime ago, a man fainted in the street and people rushed to help him. By the time a doctor that was passing by got there, he found a packet of drugs in his pocket, which he must have taken. As a medical personnel, he found out that they were hard drugs which he ought not to have taken. But he went to the chemist bought it and swallowed it. He decided to kill himself.
2. A person can die by the hands of another man. It may be robbers, witches or wizard, etc
3. A person can die by fear, especially the fear of death.