Faith, Hope and Love
It is tempting to imagine a different Jesus than the one the Bible describes. It is tempting to think that Jesus has changed the way that He does things...that He expects less of me than He did His first friends, or that He will be more clear with me than He was with His first friends, or that somehow...this time...He will waive His hand and the world will change. That I'll get to be a spectator and still get the benefits of a participant. The spectators all walked away. Only the participants remained. It took faith to follow Jesus. Jesus will never change. He will always require Faith, Hope, and Love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Acting in faith makes you different than those that don't. Faith can be tiring, and embarrassing, at first. Faith requires "abiding"...talking to and listening for an invisible God. Faith requires that I disregard what I see and I act on what I believe. It requires training the eyes of my heart on the invisible God...training my spiritual ears on what He is saying, and then making actual decision in the physical realm that agree with what I see and hear in the supernatural spiritual realm where my King's kingdom is manifested. Jesus is coming to manifest His kingdom fully here, too...but not outside of the process God has chosen. This is the plan: that I would participate fully in the manifestation of that very kingdom. The kingdom doesn't come except people like me begin manifesting it here first...that is the only plan...ever. There are only participants in the kingdom.
Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
That means the kingdom comes with Faith. It will ALWAYS require faith to believe Jesus is returning right until the day He splits the sky and is visible. That is what the angels told His disciples He was going to do. Just like He left, He will return:
Acts 1:9-11 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
The angels told the disciples they were wasting their time standing there looking up to heaven. It was time to begin obeying in faith...eyesight just left and will be useless until He returns the same way He left. Until then, it will require faith to see what is really happening in the earth, agree with it, and usher in the return of Jesus. It requires faith, believing what you don't see, and sometimes even disbelieving what your eyes are telling you, to actually agree with God about Jesus' return and what to do. Those who do this will be rewarded, those who don't will be locked out (Jesus' words, not mine). There will only be a pure and spotless bride...there is no alternative in the generation that sees Jesus return....and she makes herself ready...by faith:
Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
The Bride is expected to participate, but Jesus has given her the "brush and curling iron" to get ready! He is orchestrating the perfect events to convince her to get ready, called tribulation, and He has given her the Spirit...so she might gaze on Him and use her spiritual ears to listen to heaven, and He has given her the Word, which describes all the events to a "T". Anyone who wants to watch, pray, and be ready has all they need...but do they want to do that?
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Faith is the ONLY way you will see Jesus return in advance of splitting the sky, but you REALLY want to believe BEFORE you see. Jesus told Thomas blessed are those who believe WITHOUT seeing. This is why: there is an intense time coming that you must be READY for. You only get ready if you understand how long and how dark the night will be. It takes faith to see this storm forming all around you. It really does. It will never be obvious except to those who have eyes of faith to see it...ever.
If you plucked someone out of the 1960s and put them in 2014, they would see the dramatic increase of darkness, the intense political movements that have occurred, the famine, the open daily murder, the rise of facsim and socialism the Bible describes, and they would be shocked by how much the world has advanced toward the day of the Lord. But you are in the broth. The heat turns up in a process...day by day...slowly. you can't detected the daily changes, and it takes faith to see it unfold...and so it slips right by you. Until the day it comes like a flood.
Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Elect means saved people. The days are limited for the sake of saved people. Saved people need to get ready to endure these days. You get ready by FAITH. It takes faith to endure the time when faith is the only mode of operation. Faith is confidence that what you hope for will actually happen. Confidence takes time to BUILD. Confidence is the oil in the watching bridesmaids lamp. You are going to need a lot of confidence...called faith in the Bible....faith for healing, faith for food multiplying, faith for prophetic direction...to the right or to the left...faith to see the armies of heaven around you like Elisha...faith to sing open prison doors like Peter...faith to shake off trouble like Paul and counting it glory...it takes faith to endure...just like it always has for every follower of Jesus up until America circa 1800.
Jesus told the story of two sets of believers in our generation. Five will have faith to begin all-in building faith...seeing with spiritual eyes what is coming, and get ready like their lives depend on it (because they do). Five will think "he loves me, so he would never let me miss it." they won't even believe the trouble is coming, and won't begin building all-in. These five will say "no trouble will touch me."
Amos 9:10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’
Five will be right and five WILL be wrong:
Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘ No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
You can't share confidence. It is only built over time. You must build it in advance of when you need it. This starts with watching. Every time Jesus described His return he said: watch, pray, and/or be ready. It happens in that order. Seeing it coming is the major motivator for praying yourself into readiness.
How do you watch then? Do you stare at the sky thinking "any second He could appear?" No! You watch with the Spirit and the Word. You watch with eyes of faith and the ears of the Spirit...it will always take faith to know it is about to rain. Just like Noah.
Matthew 24:36-44 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
1 Corinthians 13:13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Acting in faith makes you different than those that don't. Faith can be tiring, and embarrassing, at first. Faith requires "abiding"...talking to and listening for an invisible God. Faith requires that I disregard what I see and I act on what I believe. It requires training the eyes of my heart on the invisible God...training my spiritual ears on what He is saying, and then making actual decision in the physical realm that agree with what I see and hear in the supernatural spiritual realm where my King's kingdom is manifested. Jesus is coming to manifest His kingdom fully here, too...but not outside of the process God has chosen. This is the plan: that I would participate fully in the manifestation of that very kingdom. The kingdom doesn't come except people like me begin manifesting it here first...that is the only plan...ever. There are only participants in the kingdom.
Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
That means the kingdom comes with Faith. It will ALWAYS require faith to believe Jesus is returning right until the day He splits the sky and is visible. That is what the angels told His disciples He was going to do. Just like He left, He will return:
Acts 1:9-11 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
The angels told the disciples they were wasting their time standing there looking up to heaven. It was time to begin obeying in faith...eyesight just left and will be useless until He returns the same way He left. Until then, it will require faith to see what is really happening in the earth, agree with it, and usher in the return of Jesus. It requires faith, believing what you don't see, and sometimes even disbelieving what your eyes are telling you, to actually agree with God about Jesus' return and what to do. Those who do this will be rewarded, those who don't will be locked out (Jesus' words, not mine). There will only be a pure and spotless bride...there is no alternative in the generation that sees Jesus return....and she makes herself ready...by faith:
Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
The Bride is expected to participate, but Jesus has given her the "brush and curling iron" to get ready! He is orchestrating the perfect events to convince her to get ready, called tribulation, and He has given her the Spirit...so she might gaze on Him and use her spiritual ears to listen to heaven, and He has given her the Word, which describes all the events to a "T". Anyone who wants to watch, pray, and be ready has all they need...but do they want to do that?
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Faith is the ONLY way you will see Jesus return in advance of splitting the sky, but you REALLY want to believe BEFORE you see. Jesus told Thomas blessed are those who believe WITHOUT seeing. This is why: there is an intense time coming that you must be READY for. You only get ready if you understand how long and how dark the night will be. It takes faith to see this storm forming all around you. It really does. It will never be obvious except to those who have eyes of faith to see it...ever.
If you plucked someone out of the 1960s and put them in 2014, they would see the dramatic increase of darkness, the intense political movements that have occurred, the famine, the open daily murder, the rise of facsim and socialism the Bible describes, and they would be shocked by how much the world has advanced toward the day of the Lord. But you are in the broth. The heat turns up in a process...day by day...slowly. you can't detected the daily changes, and it takes faith to see it unfold...and so it slips right by you. Until the day it comes like a flood.
Matthew 24:21-22 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Elect means saved people. The days are limited for the sake of saved people. Saved people need to get ready to endure these days. You get ready by FAITH. It takes faith to endure the time when faith is the only mode of operation. Faith is confidence that what you hope for will actually happen. Confidence takes time to BUILD. Confidence is the oil in the watching bridesmaids lamp. You are going to need a lot of confidence...called faith in the Bible....faith for healing, faith for food multiplying, faith for prophetic direction...to the right or to the left...faith to see the armies of heaven around you like Elisha...faith to sing open prison doors like Peter...faith to shake off trouble like Paul and counting it glory...it takes faith to endure...just like it always has for every follower of Jesus up until America circa 1800.
Jesus told the story of two sets of believers in our generation. Five will have faith to begin all-in building faith...seeing with spiritual eyes what is coming, and get ready like their lives depend on it (because they do). Five will think "he loves me, so he would never let me miss it." they won't even believe the trouble is coming, and won't begin building all-in. These five will say "no trouble will touch me."
Amos 9:10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’
Five will be right and five WILL be wrong:
Matthew 25:1-13 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘ No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
You can't share confidence. It is only built over time. You must build it in advance of when you need it. This starts with watching. Every time Jesus described His return he said: watch, pray, and/or be ready. It happens in that order. Seeing it coming is the major motivator for praying yourself into readiness.
How do you watch then? Do you stare at the sky thinking "any second He could appear?" No! You watch with the Spirit and the Word. You watch with eyes of faith and the ears of the Spirit...it will always take faith to know it is about to rain. Just like Noah.
Matthew 24:36-44 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
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