Be ready for these times

We need to be ready for the times that are coming. What times are coming? End times? I don’t know, but I do feel that something is about to happen.

Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

Break up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Colossians 4:2, Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving

1 Thessalonians 5:6-10, Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

These verses are warning us and instructing us to be vigilant and to be prepared. But these verses were written 2000 years ago. Are they still relevant for the times we are living in? I believe they more relevant than ever. We are living in perilous times.

The weather is out of sorts and unpredictable. The economy is unstable. Politics is generally a mess. People mostly can’t be taken at their word and churches are emptying at an alarming rate. We have been conditioned be society and by educational institutions to act like the world. Christians are being made fun and ridiculed at universities for their views. In countries where freedom of speech is propagated Christians are being persecuted for daring to propagate and stand up for their beliefs. The bible and prayer have been taken out of many schools and children are being taught unbiblical values.

What are Christians supposed to do? How are we supposed to act?

Let us look at Hosea 10:12. Sow for yourself righteousness. In other words, do the biblical thing. What would Jesus do? Break up fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord. We have to turn and face God. We have to earnestly seek His face and His will. There’s no time to waste or procrastinate. Now is the time to take action and firstly get right with God. Getting right with God shouldn’t take you longer than about 5 minutes. Repent, ask forgiveness and make a commitment to spend more time with Him daily. Then you can start your new journey of getting intimate with God and going to the secret place. There’s no point in doing ministry if you don’t spend one-on-one time with your Father. He is the only one who can give you what you need so that you can break the fallow ground. So that you can go out into the world (your world) and be a fisher of men.

Colossians 4:2 says we have to persevere in prayer and be thankful. Being thankful is such a great game changer. It is the way we change our mindset and overcome all kinds of hardship. Being thankful for what we have allows us to forgive. It allows us to show mercy. And of course as long as we are praying we are communicating with the Lord. Something to remember about prayer is that we don’t just put our side of the story before God and then switch off. We have to take time to listen to what He is telling us too. People often say that they don’t hear God, but the answer is being silent and taking time to listen. His there and He wants to communicate with us.

1 Thessalonians 5:6-10. This passage says that we are in the day. We must not get entangled in things that are done in the dark and that are of the dark. If we have the Holy Spirit living in us it is not hard to discern which things are light and which are dark. We have a warning system that comes with being a believer. We need to pay attention to the times we don’t feel at peace with things. That means that something isn’t right and we can’t be part of it.

No matter what is on the horizon, we need to be ready for it. We have to be clothed in the armour of God at all times and our lamps need to be full of oil. If Jesus comes tomorrow we need to be ready, but if our lives on earth are cut short we also need to be ready. Jesus is the flame and we need to be like moths that are trying to get closer and closer to Him all the time.

Confusion

Yesterday I witnessed a person under the influence of a spirit of confusion. During a meeting this person kept confusing the issue and it was so tiring. I know that different spirits or demons attach themselves to people and even possess people. It’s not always plain to see though. This time it was absolutely crystal clear. We have to realise that even Christians can be influenced by all kinds of deceiving spirits that want to lead us astray. The bible says that in the end times people won’t be sure of the truth.

2 Timothy 4:3-4, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, and they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

All of us have heard or at least heard of people who call themselves preachers of the Word but who twist the scriptures to suit themselves. That can be incredibly confusing if we aren’t familiar with the Bible. And by familiar, I mean we have to know the Bible properly. The only way to know the Bible properly is by reading it, or by hearing it. We really have to be well enough acquainted with the Bible so that when a preacher, or anyone else for that matter, says something that isn’t true, we can immediately pick up on it. I don’t think that this is really negotiable if we are serious about our faith.

Romans 10:17, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If, for any reason whatsoever, you cannot read the bible, then you have to listen to it. Let someone read out loud to you, or use an audible bible on the bible app which you can download onto your cell phone or computer. There are also CD’s available where the bible has been recorded being read out loud. Never before has technology made the bible so available to everyone, and I’m guessing that never before are so few people actually making use of it. The devil, who is your enemy, doesn’t want you to read, or listen to the bible, so he is going to try and divert you, and distract you, and keep you so busy that you aren’t going to have time for it.

1 Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour.

Even though the devil isn’t a lion; he is LIKE a lion, he is still going to devour you.

The dictionary gives the meaning of ‘devour’ as:

To eat something eagerly and in large amounts so that nothing is left, and

To destroy something completely.

Unfortunately the enemy isn’t stupid. He knows what we’re doing and even though he can’t read our thoughts (well, that’s what I’ve heard) he can certainly plant thoughts in our minds. Those thoughts are so well disguised as our own that we have to be extremely vigilant and discerning. If we don’t know our bibles we aren’t going to be able to discern a lot of the time. This verse says be sober. Does that mean we shouldn’t drink alcohol and get drunk, or does it just mean we should have presence of mind? I would say both, because I don’t think a person who is drunk with alcohol has much presence of mind.

There are three things that are going to help us. The first is faith:

Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The second is prayer.

Ephesians 6:18-19, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints- as for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.

The third is resistance.

James 4:7, Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Friends, we cannot allow the devil into our lives at this time. If you are confused about your faith or your salvation please speak to your pastor, or another Christian that you trust. Now is the time to stand and be counted.