Contending
Jesus wants back on earth. He is contending for US to be ready. All of creation is not groaning for a new president, or less carbon emissions, or clean water in Africa…NO! All of creation is groaning for this:
Romans 8:19-22 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Chief among those earnestly expecting…contending…is the one who stepped into His creation to make the revealing of the sons of God…His own Bride, or co-heirs…possible in the first place. Jesus isn’t just on an extended sabbatical till His alarm clock goes off! No, He is all-in on contending…interceding for us to wake up and get it together.
Jesus is so serious about contending...interceding for us...that He is fasting in heaven right now. His first miracle was to turn water into wine at a celebration of the wedding...the beginning of His public ministry didn't happen at a wedding by accident, this was a picture of why He came!... His last night with His disciples they shared a meal and he poured His last glass of wine:
Matthew 26:29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
This is the heart of a groom. But it is also the heart of a TRUE bride. If Samantha Stolz was missing from home...there is nothing that would deter me from wanting her back...my life would be on hold until she was back with me...and she would feel the same way about me. This is how Jesus feels about His Bride...and this is how His Bride MUST feel about Him, too...nothing less will endure...
Jesus is fasting wine until He can drink it with His whole family again on earth. He is contending for us all to be together with Him on earth. This is what God has always wanted: man with God face to face on earth. Until then, earth is broken. The Bride will wake up to this reality and love her groom enough to make this what her life is all about.
But, that waking up...that coming into love...it isn't an emotion, it is a choice. This isn’t about evaluating the strength of your love. No one is "there" yet. We all have to wrestle out what this looks like as His appearance unfolds. Jesus’ return is a process, on purpose. It is perfectly designed to give the right context for the people of the earth to decide if they are about this wedding. The length of time for the process if 2,520 days, or 7 Jewish years called the tribulation. Like any other wedding, the days leading up to it are pretty intense. Two families are coming together, and the Bride’s side…well, let’s just say they need to adjust to the Grooms view of life. The Bible uses hundreds of chapters to describe this process, and, if you study those chapters, you will see it is happening right before our eyes.
The trouble is supposed to make us long for Jesus to return. When we see our brothers and sisters martyred, it is supposed to wake us up to cry out...how long??!!
Luke 18:7-8 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
But it is also supposed to cause us to begin evaluating our mode of living. It is supposed to cause us to respond in our day to day choices, to grow in love and anticipation.
It takes time to grow in love to the point where you put life on hold until Jesus returns. It must begin by recognizing and then believing that you are actually in THAT day. This is what all of the first disciples did:
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
It is a judgment on this generation that we are actually IN the last hour and few will even enter in to what that really means. You MUST get ready like you would for any other wedding. Everything else needs to be put on hold until the wedding happens. Sifting your beliefs and your choices is what makes you ready to endure. This wedding is going to have some trouble, and, if you are a believer pretty much anywhere but North America, you are already feeling it…it IS coming here, friends:
Matthew 24:9-13 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
You get ready over time. You wouldn’t try to do all your wedding prep on the day of the wedding…because it would be more important to you than that. Why would you take a wait and see approach to a much more important wedding than the earthly one you put everything into?
Day by day, it is the choice to wrestle with what you see and what you pick to invest yourself in next. As we grow in the reality of the hour, it makes us ready as we choose to forgo life now for a life that lives longing for Him to return...a life lived studying the events of his return so we can do anything possible to hasten the day.
If my wife disappeared, nothing would deter me from doing whatever it takes to get her back. Jesus feels this way about His Bride. His Bride MUST feel this way about Him, and will before He returns. She will cry “come” as a main occupation, while still living life. It is actually the "normal" dynamic of the return of Jesus that makes coming out of the world and into that "end time reality" SO hard…but that is the point. You actually have to choose which you want. Which do you want?
Matthew 24:37-39 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 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, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
It is hard to believe something no one around you seems to believe and then begin making PRACTICAL choices about what you do and say to reflect what you believe. The practical working out of this reality is called "buying oil"...every desire that might distract me that I forgo, every plan I alter, every person I contend for by telling them the truth and not just saying I’ll pray for them, but actually pray for them, every word I speak in truth no matter the consequence...it not only hastens the day, it makes me ready FOR that day.
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.
Romans 8:19-22 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Chief among those earnestly expecting…contending…is the one who stepped into His creation to make the revealing of the sons of God…His own Bride, or co-heirs…possible in the first place. Jesus isn’t just on an extended sabbatical till His alarm clock goes off! No, He is all-in on contending…interceding for us to wake up and get it together.
Jesus is so serious about contending...interceding for us...that He is fasting in heaven right now. His first miracle was to turn water into wine at a celebration of the wedding...the beginning of His public ministry didn't happen at a wedding by accident, this was a picture of why He came!... His last night with His disciples they shared a meal and he poured His last glass of wine:
Matthew 26:29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
This is the heart of a groom. But it is also the heart of a TRUE bride. If Samantha Stolz was missing from home...there is nothing that would deter me from wanting her back...my life would be on hold until she was back with me...and she would feel the same way about me. This is how Jesus feels about His Bride...and this is how His Bride MUST feel about Him, too...nothing less will endure...
Jesus is fasting wine until He can drink it with His whole family again on earth. He is contending for us all to be together with Him on earth. This is what God has always wanted: man with God face to face on earth. Until then, earth is broken. The Bride will wake up to this reality and love her groom enough to make this what her life is all about.
But, that waking up...that coming into love...it isn't an emotion, it is a choice. This isn’t about evaluating the strength of your love. No one is "there" yet. We all have to wrestle out what this looks like as His appearance unfolds. Jesus’ return is a process, on purpose. It is perfectly designed to give the right context for the people of the earth to decide if they are about this wedding. The length of time for the process if 2,520 days, or 7 Jewish years called the tribulation. Like any other wedding, the days leading up to it are pretty intense. Two families are coming together, and the Bride’s side…well, let’s just say they need to adjust to the Grooms view of life. The Bible uses hundreds of chapters to describe this process, and, if you study those chapters, you will see it is happening right before our eyes.
The trouble is supposed to make us long for Jesus to return. When we see our brothers and sisters martyred, it is supposed to wake us up to cry out...how long??!!
Luke 18:7-8 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
But it is also supposed to cause us to begin evaluating our mode of living. It is supposed to cause us to respond in our day to day choices, to grow in love and anticipation.
It takes time to grow in love to the point where you put life on hold until Jesus returns. It must begin by recognizing and then believing that you are actually in THAT day. This is what all of the first disciples did:
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
It is a judgment on this generation that we are actually IN the last hour and few will even enter in to what that really means. You MUST get ready like you would for any other wedding. Everything else needs to be put on hold until the wedding happens. Sifting your beliefs and your choices is what makes you ready to endure. This wedding is going to have some trouble, and, if you are a believer pretty much anywhere but North America, you are already feeling it…it IS coming here, friends:
Matthew 24:9-13 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
You get ready over time. You wouldn’t try to do all your wedding prep on the day of the wedding…because it would be more important to you than that. Why would you take a wait and see approach to a much more important wedding than the earthly one you put everything into?
Day by day, it is the choice to wrestle with what you see and what you pick to invest yourself in next. As we grow in the reality of the hour, it makes us ready as we choose to forgo life now for a life that lives longing for Him to return...a life lived studying the events of his return so we can do anything possible to hasten the day.
If my wife disappeared, nothing would deter me from doing whatever it takes to get her back. Jesus feels this way about His Bride. His Bride MUST feel this way about Him, and will before He returns. She will cry “come” as a main occupation, while still living life. It is actually the "normal" dynamic of the return of Jesus that makes coming out of the world and into that "end time reality" SO hard…but that is the point. You actually have to choose which you want. Which do you want?
Matthew 24:37-39 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 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, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
It is hard to believe something no one around you seems to believe and then begin making PRACTICAL choices about what you do and say to reflect what you believe. The practical working out of this reality is called "buying oil"...every desire that might distract me that I forgo, every plan I alter, every person I contend for by telling them the truth and not just saying I’ll pray for them, but actually pray for them, every word I speak in truth no matter the consequence...it not only hastens the day, it makes me ready FOR that day.
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.
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