Encouragement
7-24-11 Truth
Have we noticed anything unusual or unsettling in our world lately? If we have, could we possibly be moving closer to the time when Jesus returns to earth, with so many extreme and devastating natural disasters occuring almost everyday now. If the count down of the return Jesus has started we might want to know this tiny bit of information. If this is true what do we really need to know, and should the end times even be important or relevant to us? If we are in the last days what does God want us to know about these days and what does God want us to do when they begin? We need to know the truth about these events and what is happening and what is going to happen, because the truth will set us free. The truth will not only set us free but will lead us into the Kingdom of God, when the day of our Lord comes. First of all we need to know that they will be difficult times if we have not noticed already. Second we need to find strength, endurance, comfort, shelter and help during these trying times to be able to endure to the end, so that we can be looking up when we see the Lord coming in the clouds for those He loves and those that love Him and those that overcome these trials to be able hang on to our faith.
God speaks to us in Daniel 12:9&10, about the importance of knowing what is going on in our world or what is happening in the last days which will give us the tools and knowledge so we can endure them to the end. God says to us that, “the time of the end. 10 Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand”. Where do we stand with these profound words from God? Are we going to be on the side of those that who wise or are we going to be with those that do not understand what is going on? We also see from this passage that there will be trials in the last days and with so many devastating traumatic events happening in our world today, and that almost every day now, we truly are being purified, cleansed, and refined now, because we may possibly be in the beginning of the last days already. We need to also know that these extreme events are in accordance with the events that will take place in the last days, found in Mathew 24 as well as other places in the Bible as we see with such events as earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, wars and financial problems? Many people today may not know what truly is really happening, but we that know God personally need to know what God is doing. It is an exciting time.
In Daniel 12:3, we can see the importance of knowing what is going on in the later days as God says to us that “Those who are wise will shine like the bright expanse [of the heavens] , and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” What enlightening, beautiful and encouraging words from God. From this passage we see that our knowledge of what is happening in the world in the end times seem to be of great importance to God with many blessings attached too His words we also see from this passage the importance of sharing this good news with others? It will be a great blessing to those that do.
Why is knowing what is happening in our world and sharing it with others in the latter days so important? The main reason as we have already seen why it is so important can be found in the book of Revelations as well as other places in the Bible, but the main point is that God wants us to be able to endure to the end and not fall away, as we know some will with the great apostasy or falling away, found in Mathew 24:10. Another reason it is so important which we have already seen in Daniel 12:3 is that we need to help those that do not know God personally that they need come to know and understand what truly is happening, and that God loves us and wants all of us to come to Him before it is to late. There are additional passages in the Bible that also stress the importance of enduring to the end like the one found in the book of Revelations 2:7, where Jesus says to us that “He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” We also see in Relations 2:26, that Jesus says, “and he who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end to him I will give authority over the nations.” The important thing to note is not that we will rule over nations which is a reward for those that endure to the end, but to overcome the trials that are here now and those that are to come, before the great day when Jesus returns.
We need to not only know the truth but know that the truth will set us free. Knowing the truth about what is happening in the last days will also give us wisdom, understanding, direction and endurance not only us but those we need to share this knowledge with so that they can also enter into the Kingdom of God when it comes. We need to know the truth, not only about what is happening, but why it is happening the way it is happening, which will give us much strength to endure to the end with God’s help.
Why is the day of the Lord coming?
We see that God tells us in Zephaniah 1:14 that “The great day of the Lord (is) near and coming very quickly.” This was stated a long time ago, in the fifth century B.C., but the main point for us to know is not only that the Lord is coming but why the Lord and great day of the Lord are coming. Zephaniah 1:17 answers that question to us as well as many other places in the Bible do also, when it states that, “Because they have sinned against the Lord”. This passage says that the day of the Lord is coming because the world has turned away and sinned against God. So the day of the Lord, in not just an arbitrary day that God has chosen out of the blue, but there is a reason behind the day and timing.
Day of the Lord
Again, it is important to know that the day of the Lord is coming, and it is also very important to know why the day of the Lord is coming and that is because we in our world today are not living life the way our world was created to be lived in. We need to know that we are now living in great sin, like in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah, like in the times of Noah, when God destroyed all of the people because of the way they were living. We personally may not be sinning, but we need to know that our world has turned away from God so much and we are not living life the way life was made or intended to be lived, that God has to do something about it, as God has done so many times before, and this time it will be a permanent change.
To tie this all together we need to address another issue which is that the Bible says to us that we do not know the time when Jesus will return or when the day of the lord will come. This is true, but what we need to know and understand is that the day will come when man forces God and pushes God so far that God has to come back and straighten out the mess that we have made. We, man, are the ones influencing God to make the choice when the day of the Lord and Jesus return. Jesus states in Mat 24:37 “for the coming of the son of man will be just like the days of Noah.” As we see this in not an arbitrary day or date, but Jesus tells us that just like in the times of Noah, where man was the one that pushed God to cleanse the earth. If we know anything about Noah it is that God cleansed the earth of sin by a great flood. The day of the Lord will also be like it was in the times of Noah or Sodom and Gomorrah when God took action against the people because the people got so bad and out of hand that God had to stop the insanity and do something about it, that being their behavior because they did not listen. What if God did not chastise Sodom and Gomorrah or the people in the time of Noah? We probably would not be here today. What if God does not chastise us? How are will we go with our evil ways and evil thoughts until we kill, rape and steal until there is nothing left at least we have a resemblance of a Godly culture. We need to know that God loves us to much to let us go that far before He intervenes.
We also say that we do not know the day or hour when the day of the Lord will come, but Jesus and the Bible say to look at the signs for the time. Is our world a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah is this mans sign to God that our time is right? The signs of the end times can be broken down into two main categories of signs to look for. One of the categories is generated or created by God and the other group of signs is generated or created by man. Many of the signs that are generated by or from God maybe happening now, they may seem to have already started, that are found in Mathew 24 and other places in the Bible of earthquakes and tornadoes and floods and wars and rumors of wars and financial problems. All of these traumatic events are happening now at astounding rates. This year alone in 2011, there have been so many devastating events and natural desasters and tragedies that it is just insurmountable. God’s signs maybe in reaction to mans sin. The more we sin the harder God turns the screws and us to get us to listen. God is only going to let us go so far.
The signs that are created by man of sin are happening at lightning speed now and that at great frequency as well. We are not fooling anyone, with our politically correctness and our relative morality, sorry but sin is sin. We have turned so far away from God and are so far from how we are supposed to act that we do not even noticed or see it anymore. We cannot even protect our children anymore from the negative influences of our society and it is getting worse day by day. Today on the news we were informed that in Texas and that at all military funerals they are not aloud to say the word God in their prayers or in the service anymore at all. Well what on earth is a funeral about, but for no other reason then the hope of being reunited with God? What is our very existence about other then enjoying it and being reunited God one day?
In addition it is also important to know why the day of the lord has not come yet and why God has waited so long and that over 2011 years now before sending Jesus back, and that because we have done well up to now to this point and time in history. However, it seems that the last 50 years or so we have not been doing so well and that might be the reason God may have started the count down of the last days. We do not really know exactly what God is doing but we have a general idea and a guideline of the events and timeline that will take place in the last days, when the day of the Lord comes, when Jesus returns. Another thing to think about is we do not have to get frantic over the end times and sell our house and quit our job and move to some mountain peak and wait for the Lord’s return, but just be aware about what is going on and what God is doing in our world today. We need to be wise (Dan 12:3) and we need to be patient, God has waited 2011 years now before sending Jesus back to us, we can wait another few more years or so, with anticipation to see our King and Creator coming in the clouds for those He loves and those that have waited on Him to do the work that God has chosen us to do in the last days. So hang in there and look to the goal at the end of the race ( ). Fight the good fight and be looking up when we see our great love coming in the clouds for those that He loves and for those that He truly cares so much about that he gave his life that we may have eternal live. Find peace in yourself, because God knows what He is doing.
What do we do with all of this information? We need to be wise and know that the day of the Lord is coming and we need to know why God is coming and that to cleanse the earth to make it suitable for God to live here with us, like our world was made to be lived in and was created in the beginning. Also, we do not know when the exact day or hour will be but we have a general idea from the signs that both God and man are presenting themselves. The more we turn away from God the more God turns the screws on us and chastises us, but that is ok who else is going to say anything or do anything about it, our behavior. In addition, how far do we think God will let us go before God will do anything about it, our behavior as we know God has done many times before? As we have seen with some of the signs in our world today it maybe true that God may indeed be doing something about it now and the evil people in our world today do not even know what is truly going on. We also need to know that God is coming because of the way we are treating each other and that because we are not living life, the way life was made to be lived. How are we treating our fellow man, if the truth be known, we treat our pets much better? If we went back even 50 years ago and look through time at our behavior today, to be honest it would be just overwhelming, words can not describe our behavior today other then we are a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah with all the modern day bells and whistles attached to our society.
Our view.
Another important aspect to note or discuss about the end times is our outlook or point of view. What is our outlook or point of view about God’s decision to Cleanthes the earth? Is it positive or negative? Are we looking forward to the last days or are we dreading them? Do we look at it as the end times, the last days or is it the new beginning? Is it heaven on earth, the kingdom of heaven coming to earth or is it punishment coming to our world, the wrath of God and the lake of fire? Is it the wrath of God on all mankind or it is a war by God against evil men and selfish nations? Is it a war against good and evil and spiritual forces that we cannot see, against Satan and his evil demons? To be honest all of these points of view are in the Bible, and all are true. The main issue to be made is for us to take a look and being aware of our point of view or attitude about the end times we possibly are in. To be honest a healthy point of view would be a little of both, fear and anticipation. A little fear is healthy but anticipating the greatest event ever in all of time will give us something to look forward too, motivation, staying power, strength and endurance, it is similar to the birth of a baby, it is very painful but the reward is ever lasting.
God is our source of strength in difficult times.
Things are going to get more difficult here if they have not already started. Several things we need to know about the day of the lord is that it is going to be a difficult time and that we need to find strength in these times of turmoil and the only thing we can really do is go to the source of these events or the source of it all and that is to find God and get to know God as much as we possibly can. God is a great source of wisdom, direction strength and endurance to go to when we are in need or in difficult times. People are another great source of strength, comfort and wisdom which God often speaks through to us. We need to know that there is a well of resources available to us from the four parts of our creator and care taker, they are - God, Jesus (God’s Son), the Holy Spirit (God’s Spirit) and the Bible (God’s Word) along with prayer and that They have been there throughout history. They have seen many a great a man and woman go through many a great a trial and tribulation, but God and His four parts always have been there for them, so why not for us too?
Sadness
It is sad really the end times and the future events that are going to take place that we find written in the Bible and what is happening now in our world today. The whole thing is sad really. Many devastating things even catastrophic are happening today and are going to happen in the future that it just makes us sick thinking about it. The point is why does God really have to put us through such devastating traumatic, excruciating events, just to get us (the world) to listen. We know that the answer is sin, but couldn’t God make an easer transition for us into the kingdom of heaven coming on earth and Jesus coming back with it, it was not that traumatic when Jesus came the first time. However, it is still sad to note that God has to resort to such drastic measures, just to get our attention and that to come to Him while we still can. We really must truly be a stubborn and hard people. But we do know these events were written in the bible so long ago and that for us and those that will be there and go through these times and events so that they know what is going to happen and are able to endure them. As we see in Zephaniah 2:1-3 God says that we need to gather ourselves and seek Him while we still can before the day of the Lord comes, and it be to late, “Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, before the decree takes effect- before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth who have carried out His ordinances; seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger”. Maybe this is what it is all about, that God is trying to get all of us those that will turn toward God to do so before the end of this generation comes to an end and that God will protect those that know Him during these times.
God is our source of strength. God is a great source of strength and wisdom and direction and peace seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all of this things will be add unto you. Amen
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Jesus said I come quickly and I come quickly. Let us continue to pray for the day. I appreciate this divine revelation. Praise God for your fine work.
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