No Roadkill Please
Greetings in the Lord!
As I was praying today and pondering in my heart some recent happenings, or non-happenings as it were, the Lord said "Judges 3."
So I got out my Bible and began to read:
These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains...They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands, which He had given their forefathers through Moses.
Hmm...OK, so these Israelites were not familiar with war, or for us nowadays, it is just like Christians not knowing about spiritual warfare, the need for true repentance, or still having to learn about spiritual discernment and wisdom. We need circumstances and experiences for us to grow in these areas, or to even wake some people up! Yes, it's true, a lot of the Church is either sleeping or living in "drunkenness", ie, intoxicated with worldly pleasures, or overburdened with the complexities of life so that they are not paying attention to the Holy Spirit. But the Lord allows circumstances around us to wake us up, force us to be sober minded, and drop the worries of life in His lap so we can turn our attention to the Holy Spirit to hear Him say to us:
"What is truly important in this life?"
I purposely avoided reading too much about the false dooms day declaration before the event but did have a conversation yesterday with a godly woman who filled me in. While she said she had not been too concerned with it beforehand, she did admit to taking her own personal inventory to see if she found anything in her life that might be displeasing to God: unconfessed sin, unforgiveness, anything that would be a blemish or stain to the Lord according to his word and she took it before Him to ask for forgiveness. She also made the amends she needed to make with others. It seemed like a reasonable response to me--not worried about things but just taking care of business...His business. In fact the passage the Lord had me read on May 20th was from Zechariah 1--a call for Israel to repent and return to God to be restored, which is what she did.
So while it's unfortunate that false prophetic claims are heralded by skeptics as reason for their unbelief, a wise person would at least make a personal inventory (repent) and take care of unresolved business (return their hearts to God), and thank God for His patience with us. "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation..." and that we still "ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming."
Yes, 2 Peter chapter 3 is a good reminder for the Church to pursue holiness even in the midst of a sea of skeptics and false claims. Obviously, no one knows the day or the hour of the Lord's coming again, but a good old fashioned fire drill isn't half bad every now and again. Personally, I'm glad Jesus didn't come back yet as currently the storms in my life have destroyed the ship I was sailing on and I'm floating back to shore on a piece of driftwood just like Paul. Should've followed His advice to winter in the harbor instead of set sail for Rome (Acts 27), but that's another story...
So, getting back to the prophetic word for today we can understand that many in this generation of the Church are going through things (the Lord is allowing this) to teach them spiritual warfare, discernment, reliance on Him, and to trust that God has a good plan for our lives even when our circumstances look pretty bleak at times. It's for our own good. Also, it's just a fulfillment of Scripture:
"At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightening that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather."
Matthew 24:23-28.
Lord, I pray that you will carry us through the storms of life and teach us all that we need to learn in your Word and through your Holy Spirit. May we continue to grow in spiritual maturity and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as we live our lives taking care of Your business and in waiting for Your return. Lord, I pray that you direct our footsteps to gather us in places where Your living, Holy Spirit is and away from the "carcasses" of this world, that we would feast on the good things You have for us. Amen
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
As I was praying today and pondering in my heart some recent happenings, or non-happenings as it were, the Lord said "Judges 3."
So I got out my Bible and began to read:
These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains...They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands, which He had given their forefathers through Moses.
Hmm...OK, so these Israelites were not familiar with war, or for us nowadays, it is just like Christians not knowing about spiritual warfare, the need for true repentance, or still having to learn about spiritual discernment and wisdom. We need circumstances and experiences for us to grow in these areas, or to even wake some people up! Yes, it's true, a lot of the Church is either sleeping or living in "drunkenness", ie, intoxicated with worldly pleasures, or overburdened with the complexities of life so that they are not paying attention to the Holy Spirit. But the Lord allows circumstances around us to wake us up, force us to be sober minded, and drop the worries of life in His lap so we can turn our attention to the Holy Spirit to hear Him say to us:
"What is truly important in this life?"
I purposely avoided reading too much about the false dooms day declaration before the event but did have a conversation yesterday with a godly woman who filled me in. While she said she had not been too concerned with it beforehand, she did admit to taking her own personal inventory to see if she found anything in her life that might be displeasing to God: unconfessed sin, unforgiveness, anything that would be a blemish or stain to the Lord according to his word and she took it before Him to ask for forgiveness. She also made the amends she needed to make with others. It seemed like a reasonable response to me--not worried about things but just taking care of business...His business. In fact the passage the Lord had me read on May 20th was from Zechariah 1--a call for Israel to repent and return to God to be restored, which is what she did.
So while it's unfortunate that false prophetic claims are heralded by skeptics as reason for their unbelief, a wise person would at least make a personal inventory (repent) and take care of unresolved business (return their hearts to God), and thank God for His patience with us. "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation..." and that we still "ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming."
Yes, 2 Peter chapter 3 is a good reminder for the Church to pursue holiness even in the midst of a sea of skeptics and false claims. Obviously, no one knows the day or the hour of the Lord's coming again, but a good old fashioned fire drill isn't half bad every now and again. Personally, I'm glad Jesus didn't come back yet as currently the storms in my life have destroyed the ship I was sailing on and I'm floating back to shore on a piece of driftwood just like Paul. Should've followed His advice to winter in the harbor instead of set sail for Rome (Acts 27), but that's another story...
So, getting back to the prophetic word for today we can understand that many in this generation of the Church are going through things (the Lord is allowing this) to teach them spiritual warfare, discernment, reliance on Him, and to trust that God has a good plan for our lives even when our circumstances look pretty bleak at times. It's for our own good. Also, it's just a fulfillment of Scripture:
"At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightening that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather."
Matthew 24:23-28.
Lord, I pray that you will carry us through the storms of life and teach us all that we need to learn in your Word and through your Holy Spirit. May we continue to grow in spiritual maturity and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as we live our lives taking care of Your business and in waiting for Your return. Lord, I pray that you direct our footsteps to gather us in places where Your living, Holy Spirit is and away from the "carcasses" of this world, that we would feast on the good things You have for us. Amen
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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