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| Voice of Prayer |
Seasons come and go. We watch with anticipation for the flowers first bloom, even when the temps are barely able to climb into the fifties. Then we watch for the rays to cast longer shadows for the lengthening days and by the fourth of July we expect to see the days grow shorter and the warmth to turn to a shiver that travels from the face and down our spine. It is most certainly the right time to reach for that jacket or even a hooded jacket to keep the moist off the glasses to see clearly while taking that "short" walk around the yard or the neighborhood!
In 1 Thessalonians 5, we are reminded to keep watch as the one who believes the Gospel, the one who belongs to Christ Jesus and not to give way to a careless attitude where one is unconcerned about the seasons. Keeping in mind to keep God's word and foremost for that instruction leads us through God's grace and to the light and truth. Our security is to be in the Lord and not in money or things or even in other people! It is not be centered in what we do but that the Lord is in what we do!
Was thinking about people who prepared for their children to go back to school. For in this new year, the parent or parents make certain the child or children have new clothes that fit, new shoes to start the year off right and to have a good outlook on their school learning. Had seen these teenagers interviewed this morning on their way back to school within the Portland, Oregon school district today and one teen said he thought he should be back at school for he was bored at home!
A friend we have known only a few years has a little one going to kindergarten, and we do not see them really anymore for they live in another community some miles away. BUT she had posted the child's look for school and her smile on Facebook and the little one's face spoke volumes about her starting school. Am thinking that the child will do well in her new surroundings indeed!
Preparation is always important. The Lord will come as we see in verse 3. There will be people who will be destroyed. Now no one likes that talk, right? Yet the Bible is firm on it. For we are told those who put their trust into things will not have opportunity to repent. For truly today is the day of salvation, to repent and turn toward the Lord God. If we keep putting off God, then why should we expect Him to answer when the "destruction" comes?
The Lord will come and many will see His coming manifested. He will come when they are not expecting Him to appear.
In the flood, Noah spent some hundred years to build and then the drops fell from the sky. Rain came down of which no one had seen before ever. And people did not repent! They did not stop what they were doing to heed God and the warning!
Jesus will return. And the warning is given to us that we make the changes needed to heed His plan and not ours.
Suddenly, yes destruction is suddenly, and will happen. As a pregnant woman, that woman in travail (those labor pains) will grown consistently till the child appears. So too, the Lord Jesus has spoken of His coming. And for any event, large or small people like to prepare. As for going back to school, preparation is key to having order and provide the needed supplies your child may need to be instructed in that which will aid them as adults.
For the Christian, the believer, we too must be equipped and watchful.
To be sober-minded, we keep awake and alert to the devices of the enemy. There was an event of a hurricane that was forecasted to hit the Texas coast last week and people were gathering their plywood on Friday and the storm hit Saturday. (seriously if you can trust the news on TV anymore) I wondered why many took it so lightly and not get out while the getting out would have been good to do! We should maintain vigilance to watch and understand what the Lord would speak to us for safety and keeping close to His heart when alarms are being sounded!
I know not how people live on the coastlines like they do. And many certainly continue to build in the pathways of destructive storms. If you look at the maps of all the former hurricanes they surely made their marks to be read about decades later. Still people will build in that same pathway!
If I am the Christian, and am told to live in that expectancy, am I doing that?
As the parent prepared for the child or children to return to school, should not we hold that place of action and be active in character to keep the Lord our priority? Do we leave church, and go somewhere to indulge in a meal? Do we leave a prayer service and go indulge in something hidden with the dark of night? (Well, I took care of God's thing, now I am doing my thing?)
Seasons most certainly appear. They come and they go. And being ready should be important to each of us. Observation to keep watch, is the action in full view of others, that Jesus is our Lord. He is Lord, morning, noon and night. He is Lord when we eat at a restaurant. He is Lord when we buy groceries or when we drop by to get those special cinnamon rolls our kids like to eat. Jesus is Lord when we retire at night. The seasons, well they last some three months....and with that we experience the height and depth of a cold and icy season, the extreme of a hot dog day summer or the extreme of a wind of 75 miles an hour in the dark of night.
Whatever our lives, they should reflect the life which when looked upon could be seen in a 24-hour period in the full blaze of a well-lighted day!
Just like knowing preparation is important for your children to return to school in good form, so too, we should be well prepared with an expectancy that the Lord is coming for His church, the believer's. What we do in any 24 -hour period should be for full display that we belong to Christ Jesus, with no if's, and's or but's about it. Belonging to the Lord is speaking His language, knowing His heart always and being prepared when He says "move"!
And then do it!
I pray today for those living in Texas and the children going back to school. I pray people would know in Jesus' name that power of destruction and that we should know God who keeps us in safety when we chase after Him, seeking Him while He may found and knowing there is a day coming when the Lord will come suddenly. Will people be prepared to know His coming? Today Lord is the day of salvation and may people heed the call to repentance. We pray today for children returning to school and may they be in safety and protection. May they be far from gun violence and far from the angry man. May people come to know the Lord Jesus and move in the places He has purpose for them. May they truly know His love and be bound to His plan of good. Lord we are thankful for those who are the lines in Texas in search, in rescue, in clean-up and and restoration. We pray today for hearts to be encouraged and show us who we might help and send money that would be the most useful. WE BELIEVE FOR THE GOOD TO COME TO TEXAS AND MAY THEY RISE OUT OF THE DESTRUCTION WATERS KNOWING BETTER IS AHEAD! LORD THANK YOU FOR LOVE AND SAFETY IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. AMEN!
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