Are We Ready?
Time is moving SO fast. Are we ready for whatever is in store?
Recently I posted on Linked In: BE READY. Linked In is a secular business social network which I’ve tapped into to find Believers who are professionals (translate: organised and diligent folk) seek to connect with other Believers. Many are pastors and many others are missionaries. Then there are committed Followers who have secular work who are linked in, just like me. I wrote the following:
LINKED IN Post: BE READY
There is the scripture about the virgin’s lamps. Is your lamp full of oil? I can’t help thinking we need to be ready, full of the oil of the Holy Spirit, aware of the signs of the times, and ready to say, “Yes, LORD.”
Matthew 25:1-13 reads,
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish ones took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise ones took oil in jars along with their lamps.
“Now while the bridegroom was taking a long time, they all got drowsy and started falling asleep. But in the middle of the night there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. Now the foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, since our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and for you. Instead, go to those who sell, and buy some for yourselves.’
“But while they were going off to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Now later, the other virgins came, saying, ‘Sir, Sir, open up for us!’
“But he replied, ‘Amen, I tell you, I do not know you.’ Therefore stay alert, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
I’ve been writing for a few years, and most recently, on my blog and to a lesser degree here on Linked In. I’ve been watching political and social events in the world, natural disasters and human dynamics, all in order to prepare myself and readers for whatever God may have in store for us.
I’m not significant in the world of politics or media, religion or supernatural investigations, but I have some gifting for discerning the times. So, I’ve been a Watchman on Alert, looking for signs and proposing a view to help us all to Be Ready!
But for What? The return of Jesus? Armageddon? Persecution? All or none of the above…. simply to encourage us all to be the best we can be, spiritually ready for whatever God may call us to.
Now I’m saying, being a follower of Jesus is the start, not the finish. I believe we can “trust the LORD with all our hearts,” but also we need to assume we must demonstrate we are ready. We must be in fellowship, be in the Word of God, be in good relationship with all — and if not, to try to rectify any situations of conflict.
Jesus said not all will be ready. He also said he’ll say to some, “I never knew you.” So, we need to take his love for granted, but not our own.
Be Ready is the clarion call… Be Ready Right Now. Let our love, our light, our passion for him and his word be in our hearts and in our minds.
Let’s Be Ready for whatever he has in store.
We won’t be able to look back. So, let’s gather our spiritual armaments and love! And let’s live “on our marks”. It’s time… for something. The signs and movements are simply too numerous and too scriptural to list them all.*
To say, “I just know” isn’t good enough… but we “study to show (ourselves) approved” (2 Timothy 2:15).
May we all be spurred on… may we all be ready… may you and I not be left behind.
REVELATIONS Reminds Us
Today, I expand a little on the LINKED IN post to remind us that just as Jesus saved us individually from spiritual death so that we might have everlasting life with him, so too did he rescue society from barbarism, teaching a way for society to exist in peace and prosperity.
Two thousand years ago, he turned the world viewpoint from survival of the fittest to love thy neighbour. What we in the 21st Century take for granted didn’t exist before Jesus. But now, even though we have the UN and UNESCO fighting for their version of human rights, with Jesus put in the back seat (or given no seat at all) in the dominant West, the world is becoming a more aggressive, darker place once again.
I read Revelation again recently. I found myself understanding it better than I have in previous readings. Am I finding more clarity as we move forward in our world, at an increasingly rapid pace….. toward, I suspect, oblivion?
Only focusing on Revelation prophecy, what I see is that we had our thousand years of darkness and Satan in the pit as Christianity was on the rise in Europe and sent (full of errors granted) around the globe. More recently, the light in this world has been fading, and Satan has been rising to the point where wrong is most definitely touted as right and right as wrong.
Even last evening, while watching a news editorial programme on British television, a journalist highlighted Christian value as wrong, as it did not adhere to today’s values of inclusion (LGBT) and abortion.
Time certainly must be short. I keep hearing it from the LORD, and I keep hearing others say they are hearing it from the LORD.
So, let us look forward (Philippians 4:10) and let us gather our focus. The Day of the LORD will soon be at hand. Let us watch so that we will Be Ready for him.
