Hi how are you all? I am a bit late writing this week but hey here I am. How has your week been so far? Winter has come with icy winds and very windy conditions. It doesn’t snow where I live but it can get a bit cold. We are used to hot summers so the cold we get is cold for us.
This week I want to reiterate the fact that God is still on the throne. Psalm 91 is still true and we need to be found hidden under the shadows of the Almighty. Sometimes this is hard to believe when we see the world around us getting more violent and the earth being shaken.
Matthew 24 is our go to scripture at this time. In this story, the disciples wanted to know what end times would look like. Maybe they had recently heard the book of Daniel and thought now would be the right time for Jesus to open up what had been closed in that book.
In the book of Daniel, God gave Daniel a snapshot vision of the end times. Then God told him to close the book. God only reveals what He knows we are capable of receiving. Daniel could never have imagined what living in the end times would be like in the place in history where he lived.
So, in Matthew, Jesus opened up a bit more about what end times would be like. The picture isn’t pretty. He said that there would be people out to deceive others, that there would be wars and rumours of wars and that famines and earthquakes would be common. Doesn’t this describe the world you and I live in?
But that’s not the worst! Christians and Jews would be hated because we carry His Name. It will be a dog eat dog society. Evil will be everywhere and, some will lose their hope. This is definitely describing today. It seems that all is doom and gloom until we remind ourselves that God is still on the throne.
Then Jesus states these words in verses 13 and 14 in the Message Bible:
“Staying with it—that’s what God requires. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll be saved. All during this time, the good news—the Message of the kingdom—will be preached all over the world, a witness staked out in every country. And then the end will come.
These verses give us so much hope even for today. This is what God requires of us- that we stay with Him until the end. What does this mean? It means we love God and love others, no matter what. It means we keep the fruit of the Spirit coming out of our lives- love, joy, peace, patience etc. It means we keep going to Church, reading our Bible and praying and not giving up our Christian faith when times get hard. This is what endurance is – staying with Jesus forever.
The other amazing thing about these verses is that the Gospel (good news) will be preached everywhere. This means in the big cities and the little cities, in the villages and tribes that are yet to be discovered and in every country and continent. Nobody will say they haven’t heard. Isn’t this great news? However, it means our work here is not finished yet. We should be a part of this plan to see it happen.
So when we read the news or hear a bad report of more bad things happening in the world, cry with those people and grieve. But then get back up and make sure you play your part in helping as many people as possible hear the Word of God. Then Jesus will come and evil will be soon finished.
So my question to all of us is what is your part and are you contributing? This way we can all keep living the life God intended for all of us.
Bless you heaps
Karen
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