Preparing for the Return of Jesus Christ...

Chapter Seventy-five:

The expectation of Christ's return is at the very center of Christianity. The Book of Revelation is written to those of us who are His, those who have been forgiven of their sins, who hear and keep His Word.  It is not written for those who have refused to accept Christ's sacrifice for their sins, it is not for those who think there are many ways to heaven, and it is not for those who walk in unbelief and unashamedly disobey and mock God's Holy Word.

To be clear, this chapter is not about the specifics of the end times, as believers can study those for themselves. Scripture verses such as Matthew 24:3-44, Second Thessalonians 2:1-12, and Luke 21:7-28 tell of the signs of the times leading up to Christ's return. For the believer, it is a fine line we walk. We are to live as if Christ's return could happen at any moment, but we are also to live as if it could be after we have died.  I see Biblical prophecy as more of a warning from God that we must put our efforts into being prepared for Christ's return. And Jesus is returning!

Scripture warns us in Matthew 24:21,22  that "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." God is giving us ample warning about how terrible the times will become, that even those who are walking closely with Him will have a difficult time enduring, so for their sake He will shorten the days.  So we need to ask ourselves the question, if Christ does return in our lifetime how well will we have prepared ourselves? 

Some of us will be further along than others in how to listen to and follow the Holy Spirit, and that is to be expected, but the time has come where there can no longer be any excuse for any true believer to stay where they are, spiritually speaking. If the Holy Spirit shows us that we are not living our lives as we should, our only choice is to get on our knees, before a Holy God, and ask the Holy Spirit to create a new passion in our hearts for following Christ.  In addition, we have got to be willing to cut ties with this world. Those who are of this world, and those of us who have come out of the world,  are walking in two totally different directions. We can no longer live with one foot in both camps. We are either believers or worldlings, we cannot be both. It is to the serious believer that the Holy Spirit will give direction and guidance. 

Even now many of us are facing extremely challenging times in our lives, times of uncertainty and trials the likes of which we have never endured. I believe the Lord is allowing these things to happen to us now, so that we begin to learn how to really follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, before the times become even more turbulent in the world.  There are several things we must do. We must look for and reduce the unnecessary daily distractions that we allow into our lives. These distractions not only have the potential to increase our levels of stress and anxiety, but they often affect our ability to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. 

Remember, when we take that step of obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit, our mind and body (flesh) may not always be in agreement. Recently I have found myself in a very unexpected and stressful time. While praying about it, during a time when my body had already been affected by the stress, which resulted in a bad headache and very painful stomach issues, I heard the Holy Spirit speak three small words to me..."I've got this.".  He was giving me reassurance that He knew what was happening to me and was telling me I could rest in trusting God. Even though my headache and stomach issues didn't automatically go away, I kept reminding myself of those three small words. It took several days before my body calmed down, but whenever I started to worry again about the situation, I immediately reminded myself of those three small words. During difficult times, ask the Holy Spirit to give you something to cling on to, whether it be just a few words, a Scripture verse, a favorite song/hymn, anything that will give you hope and not allow fear to control you.

 Even if you find yourself brought to tears due to the circumstances, continue to trust in what the Holy Spirit has told you. Even if it has to be as frequent as minute to minute, hang on to what you know to be true. Do not look upon this as failure on your part if your feelings do not line up with what you are believing and clinging to in your spirit. The important thing is that you continue to follow and obey the prompts of the Holy Spirit, in spite of how your body is reacting.  It may be similar incidences like this that that God will allow to happen in all of our lives so that we learn, even more, to put our trust in Him and what the Holy Spirit tells us, rather than on what we are experiencing. We need to learn now how to walk in trust and obedience, and that comes by listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I also believe this is one of the reasons we are told in Philippians 4:8 that we must focus on those things that are true, those things that are honest, etc.  If we focus on those things that are not true, not honest, not just, but focus on disheartening and worldly things, it quickly puts us into a state of inner turmoil, which causes us to be less able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and our flesh can quickly take over. It is very difficult to hear the voice of the Spirit if we are allowing our flesh (anxiety, frustration, anger, self pity etc.) to have its way. Scripture tells us that we can, and must, learn to control our flesh.  If we allow our flesh to run our day, then any direction or leading coming from the Holy Spirit is very easily drowned out. We have to make a choice, will we allow our flesh to have precedence in our day or will we allow our spirit to be guided by the Holy Spirit.    
         
As we continue to spend time in the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will teach us what we need to know. As we spend time in prayer, we will sharpen our ability to hear from the Holy Spirit and learn how to distinguish between His voice from other, unholy sources. As we put effort into becoming even more spiritually mature than we are at present, we will learn to walk in keener discernment.  We are reminded, "But solid food belongs to those who are mature, that is, those who by reason of practice have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Hebrews 5:14).  

While spiritual discernment is simply the ability to be able to tell truth from error, the ability to walk in discernment will be vital to our staying close to God.  We are living in a time when there is an unprecedented rise in the amount of erroneous and deceptive teachings within the Church, so we must prepare ourselves to live in these times so that when we have fought the good fight and finally stand before our Lord and Savior, He will look upon us and say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."  What a wondrous day that will be!

Why many Christians are Unprepared for the Coming Storm...

Chapter Seventy-four:

Given the time of year it is, here in the United States, we are in what we refer to as storm season. This is the time of year that deadly tornadoes can quickly develop with little notice, heavy rains can bring flooding, and strong winds can cause a lot of damage. For some time now, I have been sensing in my spirit that for believers, followers of Christ, that we need to be seriously preparing for a coming season of storms, but sadly many of us are not.  As I prayed about it, I came up with two reasons as to why many will find themselves in the predicament of being unprepared. 

First, I would have us look at the current state of the mainline churches. Of course, the finger is very easily pointed at the Church. But in this instance, it is a very valid criticism. Most of today's churches are caught up more in the social issues of the day, trying to determine how they can grow their congregation and how the newer building can be attained. In order to not offend, the Gospel message has been watered down so much that it is no longer served as a meal full of the truth that saves and restores the hearer, but is rather a soupy serving of what the people feel more comfortable swallowing. 

Those who sit in the pews are no longer being taught how to be strong, but how to get along. We do not want to be seen as being intolerant and unloving, so the Gospel message of repentance and needing a Savior is hardly heard any more.  In fact, some pastors are teaching that a God who would require a Savior to be sacrificed is a heartless, ruthless God that they would not want to follow!  With this in mind, the mood has to always be upbeat, the music has to be appealing enough to get one's emotions stirred up. The goal is for all to feel good about their walk with God, but not to bring up any discussions about anything that may make us do serious self examination about how we are living, or how we are allowing sin and our flesh to keep us as babes who still need milk, who cannot tolerate even the sight of meaty truth. 

There is no longer the focus on preparing for the second coming of Christ (Revelation 1:7).  It, too, has been modified to suit the needs of many pastors and preachers, and is often dismissed as pessimistic ramblings of a small group of people who really do not understand that God is a God of love, who loves all and will accept all. What is not surprising, therefore, is that those same attendees are not being prepared for how to live when times change. We can ignore Scripture and downplay or reinterpret what it says, but that will not change what will happen, what must happen, according to God's Holy Word. 

How will believers, who are being taught to expect only the best from God, that they will have no difficulties in life, and who have feel-good sermons and worship services on a weekly basis,  be able to handle the persecution that is soon to come? How will they be able to discern  good from evil when Scripture tells us that it is only the spiritually mature that will be able to do such a thing?  Hebrews 5:14 reads, "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."  How are these babes in Christ (if they are truly born-again believers) going to handle things when all they can handle now is milk and not the solid meat of the Word? 

But all blame cannot be placed at the feet of the Church.  Believers, themselves, have become lazy, enjoying these watered down, feel-good church services.  Why do they not demand more from their leaders? Why do they not question their leaders when they speak things that go against the very truths found in God's Word? Why do they not leave their church if they feel it is not meeting their need for growth and spiritual maturity, or has replaced the Word of God with man's opinion or man's philosophy? It is simply the nature of fallen man, to want to have the pretense of religion in their lives but not be willing to make the sacrifices for which it calls. Death to self, that is what being a true follower and believer requires, and for those who still want to remain independent, they do not want to face the truth that following Christ does have a cost, as they would rather be blessed than have to sacrifice anything.  

Sadly, many have little desire to learn about what they consider tedious Scriptural teachings such as the need to become spiritually mature and holy, how to pray and intercede, the need and benefits of fasting, and more importantly the lessons regarding spiritual warfare. They see no need to learn  how to defend themselves from the attacks of the enemy by growing closer to their Lord and Savior.  The enemy is gathering his troops, planning his strategy and the first line of attack will be against these very people who were too complacent or did not want to be bothered to learn how to grow strong through prayer and a stronger relationship with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

The prophet Ezekiel was alive during the time the Israelites were taken captive to Babylon, and was taken along with them. The book of Ezekiel is his record of what happened while in Babylon. While he was trying to reassure his fellow captives that they would be restored to their own land after the time of God's chastening, there were many  influential false prophets who, claiming to speak for God, tried to convince the captive Israelites that everything would be okay, that there would be peace regardless of what they were hearing from Ezekiel. They were doing everything they could think of to undermine God's warning that was being brought forth from Ezekiel.

We read in the book of Ezekiel 13:1-5 that the Word of the Lord condemned the false prophets who were saying all the things they knew the people wanted to hear,  that they were not conveying what the Lord really wanted His people to hear and understand. They were claiming that what they were saying were the true words of God, all the while they were blatantly lying to the people in order to keep them deceived. Later on in verse 10 it says, "Because they lead my people astray, saying, 'Peace, when there is no peace' ".

Ezekiel was the sole voice of warning against these lying, deceptive false prophets. Scripture tells us that these false prophets were men who did not pray and seek God, they had absolutely no relationship with Him, but were in it merely for their own gain, and most likely for the enemy's purpose of flattering God's people with vain hopes, rather than calling them to repent for their evil ways in order to be reconciled once again to their true God.

As I read this account, it struck me that this is exactly what is happening today. Those who study prophecy are giving  loud warnings that the false religions, the lukewarm churches are coming together, and rather than preparing us for the coming storm, most churches have lulled everyone into a false sense of security. They are saying peace when there is no peace! The question is this, my friend: Will you shake off this lethargy that has lulled you into a false sense of security, and instead, prepare for the coming storm, or will you be one of the many who will be caught off guard and wonder how on earth it happened?  

Of course, your anger will be against your church leadership who did not warn, who did not prepare you, and to some degree that is valid. But in the end, it is each of us who is responsible for our own spiritual growth and development, and if we are not receiving it where we are, it is our responsibility to seek it elsewhere!  God will not allow those who are earnestly seeking Him and desiring to be prepared for the coming storm to be left alone and  helpless. He will show the way that we should walk, but it has to be with the willingness to do whatever He asks of us, and with the humility that it will require.

If we find ourselves in the position of being spiritually immature and unprepared, we cannot spend time blaming our church, instead we must spend it crying out to God. We must pray that He will show us how to become spiritually mature through the reading of His Word, spending time alone with Him, in addition to our being willing to be changed from the inside out.  Only then will we be ready to face the coming storm.  We each need to ask ourselves, are we prepared as much as we should be for what is coming?

Announcement: New blog is coming...

As I mentioned in an earlier post (see 2/15/16 post), I have been reading an eye-opening book written by Mr. William Gurnall, titled "The Christian in Complete Armour".  It is so deep in describing how a Christian needs to learn how to wear one's spiritual armor properly, that it is in 3 volumes due to the extent of the material.   I believe every serious Christian should purchase his book, if possible,  as it has become a life changer for me and those who have read it.  These include not only friends of mine, but also other well known people, such as David Wilkerson,  Charles Spurgeon and John Newton .

However, understanding that it may not be possible for people to purchase this book, and knowing the importance of believers having this knowledge, I believe the Lord wants me to start a new blog, with the purpose of passing on to you the information that is inside Mr. Gurnall's book.

I know that I can never hope to aspire to write as he did, but I strongly believe that the Body of Christ is in much need of learning this so they can put it into practice in their daily lives.  The Church has gotten very weak, and many deceptive teachings are taking it away from its original doctrines.  This has not only served to weaken believers, but more seriously, has given new believers a wrong belief system from which to start their Christian walk.

In addition, we have an enemy that continues to not only stop people from becoming true Christians, but also daily, sometimes even hourly, attempts to attack those who are believers.  We can never be strong enough Christians without knowing the importance of the spiritual armor and how to implement it into our daily lives.  It is our duty, with God as our Commander in Chief, to learn how to become better soldiers in this fight we are in.

I do not fool myself into believing that I can pass on, in a blog, what took a lifetime for Mr. Gurnall to write.  I continue to re-read each book of the 3 volume set myself as each time I read it I find new, important  things that were not evident to me the previous reading.  So it is with humbleness that I take on the task of passing on to you, by way of this new blog, what I have learned, and continue to learn, from Mr. Gurnall's book "The Christian in Complete Armour".  When I feel it necessary, I will quote sentences, or even entire paragraphs, from Mr. Gurnall's book, as there are times when the original writing comes across in a way that has much more depth and meaning, and would be watered down if rewritten by my hand.

Update: The link to the new blog is ready. You can find it at the upper right corner of this blog under the section called "My Blog List".