Ready Or Not???  A Word from THE WORD!!! #472

I have a brief (hopefully) word of caution to share with you today.  I pray that the scriptures will help you prepare for daily living with Jesus!

“But thou hast fully known

my doctrine,

manner of life,

purpose,

faith,

longsuffering,

charity,

patience,

11 Persecutions,

afflictions,

which came unto me

at Antioch,

at Iconium,

at Lystra;

what persecutions I endured:

but out of them all

the Lord delivered me.

12 Yea, and all that will live godly

in Christ Jesus

shall suffer persecution.

13 But evil men and seducers

shall wax worse and worse,

deceiving,

and being deceived.”  2 Timothy 3:10-13

We live in a world consumed with faith, but often, only the faith that pulls your fat out of the fire—that so-called faith that claims that believers will have no troubles or suffering, if and when they have ‘enough’ faith.  Scripture paints a different picture, and Paul tells us above that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”; an obviously different message than many preach today.  This is why it’s important for us to know what God’s Word truly says.  Are you ready for Jesus’ return?  Have you been born again?  Are you living faithfully before God and man?

“And this know,

that if the goodman of the house

had known what hour the thief would come,

he would have watched,

and not have suffered his house

to be broken through.

40 Be ye therefore ready also:

for the Son of man cometh

at an hour

when ye think not.”  Luke 12:39-40

What are you depending on to face God, Jesus Christ The Son and the judgment to come?  Are you trusting to yourself, someone else or are you ready to face God the Father and Jesus the Son through the blood of the cross?

“And such trust have we through Christ

to God-ward:

5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves

to think any thing as of ourselves;

but our sufficiency is of God;” 2 Corinthains 3:4-5

When we follow Jesus, the cost may come unexpectedly, but we need to be prepared for truth to bring suffering.

“These things I command you,

that ye love one another.

18 If the world hate you,

ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world,

the world would love his own:

but because ye are not of the world,

but I have chosen you out of the world,

therefore the world hateth you.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you,

The servant is not greater than his lord.

If they have persecuted me,

they will also persecute you;

if they have kept my saying,

they will keep yours also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you

for my name’s sake,

because they know not him that sent me.”  John 15:17-21

Jesus called us to follow Him, to love one another (being the love of God not the mushy, gushy popular culture version) with God’s kind of love that does that which is best for the recipient of that love—not the self-gratifying kind.  He also tells us that when we follow Him, living faithful to His Word, we will often receive the same treatment that He received—and it often was less than kindly.  You choose!  Will you be born again and follow Jesus in obedience to His Word?  It’s your choice but choose wisely, there is a test.

I pray that you will be ready when Jesus comes for His own!

Amen and Amen!!!