Pestilence is Increasing on the Earth
Sometimes I like to try to imagine what people in Israel imagined about the Messiah coming before Jesus was born. He was so different than anyone thought He would be. He came differently, from a different place, with a different message, and different set of actions than anyone was expecting. Only a few recognized Him though an entire nation waited for Him and studied the prophetic passages concerning Him.
The same will be true in our day...even more so. Not only is His return plain and obvious for the humble, He comes like a thief to those unwilling to see.
A couple of days ago, I heard the Lord say "take stock of what helps you grow in Holiness and a humble response to Me. Ask me to help you grow in these things...the simple routines in your life that keep you watching and steady to wait for me."
Then the Lord showed me to take stock of the attitudes and activities that keep me distracted and to begin to pray that He would get them out of my life.
The fourth seal of revelation describes an increase in pestilence globally. This is happening right now. That is why I am writing out these thoughts. Pestilence is remarkably engulfing much of the earth right now! This is one of the main signs given!
Matthew 24:42“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43“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.
44“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
46“Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
47“Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
48“But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’
49“and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
50“the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51“and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I've watched people watch for the return of Jesus as my main interest for about 12 years now. Nearly everyone who's ever told me they thought they would see the return of Jesus in their day ...even since they were children... Have drifted away from an active pursuit of readiness that agrees with the Bible passage about being ready: watching, corporately praying, getting rid of the weights that hinder, meeting together more as the day approaches...
I would guess well over 100 people over the last 10 years have told me God somehow showed them they would see Jesus return. Some I barely knew, and some I know well. When you teach about the end times you become a magnet for these sorts of statements. I can only name a few still actively pursuing readiness for His return! Some have abandoned faith altogether. My point is not any one person's trajectory... It is the nature of pursuing Jesus. The crowds left, the 11 stayed.
If you see your faith in Jesus as anything other than a precious gift He is actively keeping alive in you, you are eventually going to lose it. Faith isn't generated by you, it's accepted by you, and can easily be lost before you even know it.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Pursuing Jesus is to pursue readiness for His return. Jesus ties eschatology to going with Him when He comes! Your pastor might argue that your end time view isn't an issue necessary to salvation, but Jesus would differ with that argument! Just read Matthew 24 and 25. Jesus says he rejects followers who don't embrace His end time views! I'd rather not be a foolish bridemaid "shut out of the wedding" or "given a portion with the hypocrites" because I'm a believer who thinks my master is delaying!
Those who pursue Jesus are prone to drift back! Especially those who have tasted a zealousness for His return. When you embrace His near-return you become a threat to the enemy. Satan works overtime to get those pursuing Jesus to doubt. Satan only has so many resources. He has to concentrate them on actual threats to his stolen kingdom.
Satan's main strategy is reason. He gives seemingly good reasons to us to chill out and pull back from God's leadership. He has been doing this from the start. "Did Jesus really say..." We are susceptible to embracing reasons. Age and options do this to people. Time does this. Boredom does this. Responsibilities and disappointments do this. None of these excuses will be acceptable.
Matthew 22:5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.
6 Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
7 “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town.
8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor.
Luke 14:17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’
18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’
19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
Drifting from a pursuit of readiness for the return of Jesus doesn't happen in one day. It happens over time as the return of Jesus seems to tarry. Sliding backwards is not a conscious choice. Its a billion tiny choices that accumulate in a direction over time.
I can tell you for sure, Jesus isn't tarrying. The church and the world are growing more dull...literally delusional. So much more is happening now than 10 years ago. If I plucked someone out of 1960 and dropped them into our day with our news, they would be preaching on every corner "the end is neigh."
The default mode of the human heart is to doubt. Faith takes help from heaven. You have to want it enough to pursue it.
No one will accidentally find themselves ready for the return of Jesus. The Bible is clear that readiness is intentional and rare. It's a narrow road in Matthew 7, which, in context, is an end time passage (read the last couple of verses of Matthew 7). Jesus told us all "be ready."
That's my prayer: that Jesus would not let me be comfortable to drift back into the dullness of America.
Revelation 6:8I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.
What did you imagine this would look like? Is it possible you imagine it in a way that goes beyond the Bible?
With lots of love!
"An outbreak of a deadly and rare brain disease has killed at least 11 people in the United States so far this year. Scientists say the mosquito-borne illness, Eastern equine encephalitis, may be worse because of unseasonably warm temperatures. It’s one of just several diseases scientists worry are being affected by climate change."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/05/climate-change-worsen-diseases-equine-encephalitis-west-nile-dengue-fever/3859382002/?fbclid=IwAR1zNSMQ037tiRlwhtFp9yiOPev8ZPSnJcJfX2Uqr0gUy6mNTUj1uuweG3k
"In Nepal, there have been nearly 11,000 cases of dengue since mid-July, according to government figures, more than five times the previous annual peak.
Nepal is far from alone. From Brazil to Bangladesh, Honduras to the Philippines, the number of reported dengue cases has surged this year. There has been a “huge increase,” said Raman Velayudhan, the task force lead for dengue at the World Health Organization. “Unfortunately, things are a little grim at the moment."
The same will be true in our day...even more so. Not only is His return plain and obvious for the humble, He comes like a thief to those unwilling to see.
A couple of days ago, I heard the Lord say "take stock of what helps you grow in Holiness and a humble response to Me. Ask me to help you grow in these things...the simple routines in your life that keep you watching and steady to wait for me."
Then the Lord showed me to take stock of the attitudes and activities that keep me distracted and to begin to pray that He would get them out of my life.
The fourth seal of revelation describes an increase in pestilence globally. This is happening right now. That is why I am writing out these thoughts. Pestilence is remarkably engulfing much of the earth right now! This is one of the main signs given!
Matthew 24:42“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43“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.
44“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
46“Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
47“Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
48“But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’
49“and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
50“the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51“and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I've watched people watch for the return of Jesus as my main interest for about 12 years now. Nearly everyone who's ever told me they thought they would see the return of Jesus in their day ...even since they were children... Have drifted away from an active pursuit of readiness that agrees with the Bible passage about being ready: watching, corporately praying, getting rid of the weights that hinder, meeting together more as the day approaches...
I would guess well over 100 people over the last 10 years have told me God somehow showed them they would see Jesus return. Some I barely knew, and some I know well. When you teach about the end times you become a magnet for these sorts of statements. I can only name a few still actively pursuing readiness for His return! Some have abandoned faith altogether. My point is not any one person's trajectory... It is the nature of pursuing Jesus. The crowds left, the 11 stayed.
If you see your faith in Jesus as anything other than a precious gift He is actively keeping alive in you, you are eventually going to lose it. Faith isn't generated by you, it's accepted by you, and can easily be lost before you even know it.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Pursuing Jesus is to pursue readiness for His return. Jesus ties eschatology to going with Him when He comes! Your pastor might argue that your end time view isn't an issue necessary to salvation, but Jesus would differ with that argument! Just read Matthew 24 and 25. Jesus says he rejects followers who don't embrace His end time views! I'd rather not be a foolish bridemaid "shut out of the wedding" or "given a portion with the hypocrites" because I'm a believer who thinks my master is delaying!
Those who pursue Jesus are prone to drift back! Especially those who have tasted a zealousness for His return. When you embrace His near-return you become a threat to the enemy. Satan works overtime to get those pursuing Jesus to doubt. Satan only has so many resources. He has to concentrate them on actual threats to his stolen kingdom.
Satan's main strategy is reason. He gives seemingly good reasons to us to chill out and pull back from God's leadership. He has been doing this from the start. "Did Jesus really say..." We are susceptible to embracing reasons. Age and options do this to people. Time does this. Boredom does this. Responsibilities and disappointments do this. None of these excuses will be acceptable.
Matthew 22:5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.
6 Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
7 “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town.
8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor.
Luke 14:17 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’
18 But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’
19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 Another said, ‘I now have a wife, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
Drifting from a pursuit of readiness for the return of Jesus doesn't happen in one day. It happens over time as the return of Jesus seems to tarry. Sliding backwards is not a conscious choice. Its a billion tiny choices that accumulate in a direction over time.
I can tell you for sure, Jesus isn't tarrying. The church and the world are growing more dull...literally delusional. So much more is happening now than 10 years ago. If I plucked someone out of 1960 and dropped them into our day with our news, they would be preaching on every corner "the end is neigh."
The default mode of the human heart is to doubt. Faith takes help from heaven. You have to want it enough to pursue it.
No one will accidentally find themselves ready for the return of Jesus. The Bible is clear that readiness is intentional and rare. It's a narrow road in Matthew 7, which, in context, is an end time passage (read the last couple of verses of Matthew 7). Jesus told us all "be ready."
That's my prayer: that Jesus would not let me be comfortable to drift back into the dullness of America.
Revelation 6:8I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.
What did you imagine this would look like? Is it possible you imagine it in a way that goes beyond the Bible?
With lots of love!
"An outbreak of a deadly and rare brain disease has killed at least 11 people in the United States so far this year. Scientists say the mosquito-borne illness, Eastern equine encephalitis, may be worse because of unseasonably warm temperatures. It’s one of just several diseases scientists worry are being affected by climate change."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/05/climate-change-worsen-diseases-equine-encephalitis-west-nile-dengue-fever/3859382002/?fbclid=IwAR1zNSMQ037tiRlwhtFp9yiOPev8ZPSnJcJfX2Uqr0gUy6mNTUj1uuweG3k
"In Nepal, there have been nearly 11,000 cases of dengue since mid-July, according to government figures, more than five times the previous annual peak.
Nepal is far from alone. From Brazil to Bangladesh, Honduras to the Philippines, the number of reported dengue cases has surged this year. There has been a “huge increase,” said Raman Velayudhan, the task force lead for dengue at the World Health Organization. “Unfortunately, things are a little grim at the moment."
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