Every day the world we live in changes. Sometimes we hear about good news but lately the news is not very good at all. People have their own ideas for the reasons for this but, if you are a Christian, you know why it is happening. God’s predictions always come true because He knows the future and has told us in the Bible. If you have read His Word, the prophets especially, you know that the news isn’t news when you know about it ahead of time.
I know that specific news stories are not mentioned in the Bible, but when you read the books of Daniel and Isaiah and the 24th chapter of Matthew, it does sound eerily like what is happening all over the world today. Some people dismiss the prophecies in God’s Word as being too vague but when you read them in their context, they make a lot of sense for us today. Why am I bringing this up? Because we are at the very beginning of what is referred to as the last days.
Theologians would say that we’ve been in the last days for nearly two thousand years but the waiting is almost over. We are in the beginning of the “third day” since one thousand years is as one day in the way that God sees time. Read the chapter I referenced in Matthew, then read the beginning of the book of Revelation. Then…watch the news and you will understand what I mean. The “day of the Lord’s coming” is not far off and I pray that everyone who claims to be a Christian truly is. Because when the church is taken and those who were dead are raised to meet Him in the air, the world will become far worse than it is now.
You don’t want to be here when that happens and you aren’t taken up. It will happen in a moment and the world will watch many people just disappear. Not beamed up and not dissolved but taken like Enoch and Elijah were. Make sure that you are counted worthy to be in that number. Jesus made it possible and like the thief on the cross, if you believe in Jesus with all of your heart, you will be worthy.
God knows who He will call to be His, but if you don’t answer… what will happen? Nothing.
Just like His disciples, when Jesus called them to be His disciples if they had refused or just chose not to be His disciples, the church would not exist today. Christianity would be very different or nonexistent. But God had a plan and when the call went out to them, they did answer. Then they spread the gospel to the world they knew and those they could reach and the church grew.
People need to realize that Jesus is the only way to eternity with our Creator. It has nothing to do with your works or your money. Remember, the thief on the cross had no way to be baptized or even to witness to anyone until his story was told in the gospels. Jesus still promised him that “today you shall be with Me in Paradise”, just because of his belief alone.
Does God have a plan for your life? I think He does if you will give your heart and your life to Him. Just saying some words in a “sinner’s prayer” will not save your soul, you have to believe in Jesus with your heart and your faith in Him. You might feel something in a revival service if you say that prayer but if your heart and your behavior doesn’t change then it was just words. I pray that you will seek to know Him and believe in Him for your Salvation because we’re not guaranteed to wake up tomorrow.
As it says in God’s Word, “it is appointed to man once to die and then face judgment“; make sure you are not facing Him without the forgiveness that belief in Jesus for your eternity brings.
In our life, God sends us in all kinds of different directions. Some of us go into politics, some are pastors or teachers and some are emergency workers. Issues arise when we want to know “why” this turned out this way. God knows the why but He is not disposed to let us know. Occasionally our prayers may be answered with a reason for our situation but God doesn’t usually tell us.
Why? Because He doesn’t have to tell us. I know it’s frustrating but God doesn’t owe us an explanation. He loves us and will lead us down certain pathways if we follow Him. But…He is not required to tell us why we are going this way. In my younger days, I thought I was following Him but I was going my own way. At the time I had not given my heart to Him. I had been “Baptized” but it was just a show. I thought it was real but it was all in my mind.
I didn’t know that we could convince ourselves of being called by God until much later in my life. It’s a scary thought that we can do this because some people could go to hell convinced in their mind that they are saved. Since I finally gave my heart to Him and even became a pastor back in 2011, I have met a few people who are so convinced of their “salvation” but they are living a life that doesn’t have the fruit that Jesus said a Christian would have. I know that isn’t proof of their salvation or whether they are even saved because only God knows the true condition of their heart.
I pray that every person who reads this will search their heart and the Bible to make sure of their condition. Why? Because of the time that we are living in. We are in the days directly before the beginning of the book of Revelation. So many things are lining up with prophecies and the coming of Jesus in the clouds could happen soon. When is a good question but the Bible tells us not to speculate about a “date and hour”. That has been done before and none of them were right.
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