How Are You Preparing?

I find myself in prayer more and more to seek clarity and guidance as our reality continues to shift. The environment that our media and culture is leading us to is unsettling. In just a few months, our realities have been shook and our limitations are apparent. Now is a time that would be easy to be consumed with fear and concern because there are so many unknowns. The occurrence of the pandemic and its effects has desensitized us to the possibility of …what else? What if we needed to be brought to this to be prepared and open to the thought of what else? What if this is just the beginning and we haven’t seen the worst yet? I know there are a lot of ‘this is the end!’ statements being made but that is not where I intend to take you with this post. The bible has already told us there is going to be an end, being concerned with the when should tell you more about you, than when it actually happens. If we are living a life that is truly a serving life out of love and if we have a faith and a relationship with Christ, then the ‘end’ means nothing to us but rather a new beginning. If you are fearful of the end, and if you are concerned, then maybe this is your wake up call and your spirit is convicting you. Jesus wants your heart, wants your attention not for him but out of love for you. He does not want you to be fearful but hopeful, even when life around you feels like it is falling apart. Your hope and rest comes from having a relationship with him, connecting with him daily. Jesus’s first coming was to give us a person to person, lived out instructional experience on handling trials of this world and loving others. But the second coming, as we are warned, will not be as the first.

Jesus has warned us of how things will be before he comes again, to help prepare us, so we do not get caught up in the world, but stay focused on him.
There are many accounts in the bible that warn and tell us how challenging the time of tribulation is going to be, especially for Christians. In a time of prosperity and peace, the idea of the second coming is pushed away from our minds and it is easy to procrastinate and become disobedient. For example, when the now pandemic had just been localized to China, it was hard to see the pictures and stories showed to us on what they were going through, but did we really feel the threat of it coming to our country? Then when it came, were we prepared? Is what you are experiencing now from the effects of the virus and the harm it is causing, different from what you use to think when it was not in our backyard? If we were more prepared, would things look and feel differently?
So, we should not be concerned of when the second coming is but more concerned with how are you preparing spiritually. Are you repenting and spending time in prayer and deepening your relationship with Christ? Are you teaching your children and reaching out to others to help guide them to Jesus? Do you have love for one another? If you want a relationship with Christ and feel like you have no one to talk to or are unsure, I would love to refer you to the church I go to. If that is still too much, just let me know, I want to help anyway I can.

I have attached a few verses that speak to me on this but I encourage you to read on your own, and to pray and ask to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

James 5:7-9 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Revelation 3:10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

Revelation 3:20 here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

1 Peter 4: 7- 8 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer: above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins

Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all there is you see the Day drawing near.