Eli was a priest of the Lord and he had two sons; Hophni and Phinehas who became vile because they were not trained in the ways of God. While the priest was busy serving the Lord, and ministering to the people his children were left to themselves. He failed in his responsibility to train them up in the ways of the Lord. Although he was faithful keeping the vineyards of others, he failed to keep his own vineyard - Songs of Solomon 1:6.

The mystery about the Rapture, unravelled by the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in our text was mentioned by the Lord Jesus Christ in John Chapter eleven, during an important conversation with Martha when He went to raise Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus spoke about the Rapture, neither Martha nor the disciples understood what He was talking about because it was still a mystery at that time.

David, the sweet Psalmist knew how to count his blessings. When faced with any challenge, he always remembered what God had done for him in the past, and thanked Him for it. The children of Israel in the wilderness always forgot their great deliverance from Egyptian bondage and captivity, whenever they encountered a little problem. David praised God and was victorious but the children of Israel perished in the wilderness because of murmuring and complaining. 

There was a time David found himself in a seemingly hopeless and helpless situation. Being a man after God's heart he quickly realised that the only way out was to encourage himself in the Lord his God. The Devil had employed his deadly weapon of discouragement to bring David down, but the Lord delivered him. Many have been destroyed and are still being destroyed by discouragement because of the lack of knowledge - Hosea 4:6.

The journey that leads to heaven is painful but gainful in the end. It is the way of self denial and cross-bearing. Jesus, our example endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. The Lord of glory went through a painful ordeal on earth to gain His place at the right hand of the throne of God in heaven. He was despised, beaten, wounded, bruised and finally crucified to die a painful death on the cross.