Wisdom is proven right by her actions. What we do with the knowledge we
gain will reveal our true wisdom! There's little value in the study of "End Times"
or Jesus' "Second Coming" (eschatology) unless we learn to apply
God's Word to our everyday living. There can be great value in knowing what
lies ahead and it's definitely important to know what we believe and why we
believe it. Having said that, let's not forget that when Jesus returns He won't
be asking us what our eschatology is but where our heart is.
As we approach the time of Jesus' "Glorious Appearing" life for the true,
faithful Believer will become increasingly more challenging! Like Lot we'll find
that gross sin all around us will vex our righteous soul. We will need to learn
how to keep proper spiritual focus. This is one of the reasons for Jesus' telling
us in Lk.21:28, "So when all these things begin to happen, stand straight and
look up, for your salvation is near!" It's now time for us to do exactly that! It's
time to lift our vision and focus! It's time to set our affection on things above
not on earthly things.(Col.3:2) It's time to allow the eternal Heavenly Kingdom
to fill our thoughts. Col.3:2 - Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only
about things down here on earth. This isn't something someone else can do
for us. It requires a quality decision based on the Word of God and a
determination to follow through and remain committed to God's will in our
generation. This may not be easy! It may require serious soul searching
and persistent praying until God's peace floods the soul.
Since the depression of the 1930s and end of world war two North America
has experienced overwhelming material prosperity. Materialism has become
the god of our nation. The issue isn't the amount of wealth we've gained but
rather covetousness, which never has enough. This is the engine of
materialism! As Christians who live in the world it's always been a challenge
not to become apart of it. How do we live separated from the world without
being completely removed from it? It's all about heart, attitude! Too often those who promote claiming the Abrahamic promises of prosperity fail to draw
our attention to his heart. As we consider preparing for the challenges that lie
ahead we must address this issue of materialism. Where is our heart? Let's
never forget it's our heart God wants. While Abraham lived in material
prosperity what was his heart longing for. What did he really want out of life?
What were his goals and objectives? Heb.11:9&10 lets us look into
Abraham's heart and there see some of what caused him to be called the
friend of God.(Jms 2:23)
Heb.11:9,10 - And even when he reached the land God promised him,
he lived there by faith-for he was like a foreigner, living in a tent. And
so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise.10
Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to
a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by
God.
Abraham spent his life looking beyond this present world and this is how we
are to live as well. Lk.12:21 - "Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly
wealth but not have a rich relationship with God." Jesus spoke very
specifically to his disciples about materialism how we're to disciple ourselves
accordingly. Mt.6:19-21 -"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they
can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten
or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. 21 Wherever your
treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. We're looking at
how to prepare for the days ahead. The spiritual treasures we store up in
heaven can never be taken from us. In the future true Believers will experience
increased persecution and will have less and less favor. This trend has
already begun in both Canada and the USA. This kind of thing has been
foreign to us but not to the Church throughout its history.
Heb.10:32-34 - Don't ever forget those early days when you first
learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even
though it meant terrible suffering. 33 Sometimes you were exposed to
public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others
who were suffering the same things. 34 You suffered along with those
who were thrown into jail. When all you owned was taken from you,
you accepted it with joy. You knew you had better things waiting for
you in eternity.
It can be difficult to really know how attached we are to things of this world.
How would we respond or react if the house we'd just finished paying for was
confiscated because we simply refused to deny our faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. What would we do if we were imprisoned for our faith? What would be
our attitudes towards those who were responsible for it? These are things we
need to work through, with the Lord, now! We need God's grace active in our
life if we are going to accomplish God's will. Lk. 6:35 - "Love your enemies!
Do good to them! Lend to them! And don't be concerned that they might not
repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be
acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to
those who are wicked." This is where the rubber really meets the road as far
as accurately representing Jesus is concerned. In the power of our self this
kind of thing is beyond difficult, it's impossible! True Jesus bought salvation is
not dependant upon humanism of any form. We MUST learn to blend our
voice with that of the Apostle Paul who said in Ph.4:12,13 - I know how to live
on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every
situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13
For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the
strength I need. Right here is a critical truth! This now brings us to the
MOST IMPORTANT accept of our preparation, trust and faith in Jesus.
Thus far I have purposely waited until now to mention the most important
point. The reasoning behind this is to hopefully have laid the foundation of how
IMPOSSIBLE it is to be prepared without intimacy of relationship with Jesus.
As John starts describing the New Jerusalem in Rev.21 we are told in verse 7
"All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their
God, and they will be my children." The question that need to be answered is
who and how are we going to be victorious. We need to bring this down to
where we are to day in God's prophetic colander! How are we going to be
victorious in the days to come? We're given a solid Bible answer in 1Jn. 5:4,
"For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the
victory." How are we going to get the victory over covetousness and
materialism? How are we going learn to live with heaven in mind? How could
we ever come to the place where we could love our enemies as they imprison
us or confiscate our possessions? By trusting Christ to give the victory!
We not only want to learn how to trust Jesus, we need to! Our victory, our
strength comes from and through Him! Intellectually knowing this truth does
not constitute trust. Trust is applied truth to the heart! The only way this can
happen is through relationship with Christ. Victory, both today and tomorrow
is all about relationship with God. It's one thing to jump up and down while
shouting victory and quite another thing to experience the peace of God while
you're alone and being falsely accused or imprisoned for your faith in Jesus
Christ. Victory is what Peter was experiencing while asleep between prison
guards with the potential of being martyred the next day. (Acts 12:6) Though
beaten and imprisoned Paul and Silas where able to express their personal
victory through the praises they sang together. (Acts 16:25) Trusting God to do
for us what we're unable to do for ourselves is vital for personal victory
regardless of the situation. Isa 26:3 - You will keep in perfect peace all
who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!
David said something in Psalms 23 verse 5 that we should be asking God for
the grace to fully receive and personally apply in our life! Ps 23:5 - You
prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. The important thing
to \see here is "in the presence of my enemies". So often our personal
preference screams out for the "absence of our enemies". There are definite
things about days preceding Jesus' Second Coming that will not fit into our
personal preferences. The enemies of Christ on earth will just "go away"! In
fact the time will come when the spirit of antichrist is extremely dominant and
very powerful. What are we going to do? How can we prepare our self? We
need to first embrace the concept that finding oneself "in trouble" with others
as a result of our faith in Christ is part of commitment to Christ! We need to
understand that at those times God is with us in the presence of our enemies
and they have no more power over us than has been permitted by the Lord.
Jesus said in Mt. 28:20 - I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
The peace of God is directly related to trusting God. Trusting Him while in the
presence of our enemies! Trusting Him while in situations that are contrary to
personal preference! The experiences of Daniel in the lion's den and the three
Hebrews in the fiery furnace are vivid illustrations of God's peace in action. All
these people had one common denominator! In the presence of their enemies
they were at peace! It's very difficult to trust someone you don't know. It's one
thing to say, "I should trust Jesus" and quite another thing to do it! There are
no shortcuts to intimacy of relationship with the Lord. Ps.9:10 - Those who
know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, have never abandoned
anyone who searches for you. Knowing the name of the LORD is far more
than understanding, it to be Jesus. That's a fact, but that information alone will
not transfer into trust without knowing the person of that name. We need to be
progressively growing in our understanding of God's person. We need to know
Him personally! We need to understand and believe in His person. This is the
foundation upon which trust stands and faith is activated in our life.
How can we learn of God's person? By saturating our self with the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His life, His person expressing and reveals to us the
person, the character, and the divine nature of Almighty God. Heb.1:3 - The
Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents
God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command.
After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of
honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.
Jesus came to reveal the invisible "Spirit God" (Jn.4:24) to us. It's very
interesting to notice what Jesus said in Jn.17:26, And I have revealed you
to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for
me may be in them and I in them. So absolute was Jesus was Jesus
representation of the Father that He said to Philip in Jn.14:9 - "Philip, don't
you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you?
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! The point is, if we're going
to trust God we must know Him and the way we grow in this understand is to
learn of Jesus. He needs to become the One we're obsessed with. How does
this happen? How do we learn of Jesus when He is presently seated at the
right hand of the Father in heaven? The KEY to this is the Word of God, the
BIBLE.
The Apostle John opens his Gospel this way. Jn.1:1-4 - 1 ΒΆ In the beginning
the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2 He was
in the beginning with God. 3 He created everything there is. Nothing exists
that he didn't make. 4 Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to
everyone. In the 14th verse of the same chapter he brings the Word right down
to where there is no mistaking it. "So the Word became human and lived
here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And
we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father." Jesus is the
Word of God personified! To read the Word of God, the Bible is to read about
God's person! I can't stress enough the importance daily reading the Word of
God. It's there God reveals himself to us! It is there we learn of His person! It
is there that faith grows and trust is established because we know the name,
the person of the Lord. Here in God's Word Jesus speaking into our soul
imparting ever increasing faith without which we can never please God.
Rom 10:17 - Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and
the message is heard through the word of Christ. (NIV)
Have you been aware of Jesus speaking to you today through the Word? Has
He shown you something new or something deeper about Himself today? God
wants to build the eternal foundation of His Word deep within your heart and
soul! A foundation upon which trust and faith grow and mature! I want to
encourage you in Jesus name to give yourself to prayerful reading of God's
Word. 2P. 3:18 - But grow in the special favor (grace) and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be all glory and honor, both now
and forevermore. Amen. Daily devotional reading of the Bible requires a
determined discipline. The enemy will see to it that you just can't find the time. We MUST MAKE the time. This should never be considered as optional!
It's an absolute necessity if we want to grow strong in the Lord. We need to
really know and understand the heart of our God! We also need to know what
He has said and promised us. This is the only way to avoid being deceived as
Eve was!
In the days just prior to Jesus' return there will be plenty of religious activity,
even in so called, Christian circles! There will be signs, wonders and even
miracles being done. We will need to be able to distinguish the real from the
false. Mt 24:24 - For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and
perform great miraculous signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible,
even God's chosen ones. This is not something we need to fear but we should
give due diligence to knowing the heart of God through personal
communications and intimacy as well as knowing what the Word of God
declares. We can learn from Jesus! How did He gain personal victory over the
temptations of the devil? Jesus combated each temptation through knowing
what the Word said and being desirous to obey it. If it isn't already, this needs
to be our passion; to do things the way Jesus did, for the reasons He did!
There's definitely more to be said regarding "Preparing For The Challenge" but
what has been said here is a great start to a progressive relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you have any questions please feel free to email mail me.
May God richly bless you!.
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