It's been a long time since Jesus said He was coming back to get his church - over 2000+ years now. We have become lethargic and complacent as we are yet to see that happen, A tendency towards slothfulness has set in. As the day passes by we gotten spiritually sleepy. But Jesus says in
Luke 12:40 says “You must be ready, because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him”
The word says “We must be ready”, So lets see how we should get ready ?, how long should we get ready ? we get tired after some time how do we stay awake and alert as his word says “ the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him”
How should you get ready ?
We get ready only when we have to go to some place, other wise we are casual - Sometimes we are lazy with no mood to get out from our bed. There are some days when we are not groomed ,ready / dressed up as we are “Not ready”, its the same attitude in our spiritual life as well.
Jesus says “you must be ready” what does this mean, we need to understand with some spiritual basic
God created this world and all the things of the world, Every living thing that’s created by God obeys God except man.
God created man in his own image - Genesis 1:27 'So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them’ , He has created us to be like Him - moral, upright, with character and self-control, Man has that sense that they are answerable to some supreme being. Man was not created only for his short life on earth, he was not created to enjoy only the pleasures of the world, he was created to live with God eternally. Even if you live a hundred years on this earth, God created the man to live with him to eternity.
Since we are in the world we forget the purpose of God and we are deceived by Satan. our mind becomes “depraved mind” and its filled with pleasures of the world Romans 1:29-31 'They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. '
We are lead by temptations of the world with so much pleasures, Satan doesn't tell people about the consequences, but only the immediate pleasure. Remember this thing: whenever you are tempted, temptation always offers a certain forbidden pleasure, leading to Sin. If you are in Sin, there is no place eternally with God.
Salvation comes by faith, without salvation in Christ there is no place eternally. You must believe in God, believe that he is good, that he is kind, that he is interested in you. Sin comes when you don't believe that God is good and therefore you do the things which he tells you not to do, the things he tells you to avoid through the conscience within you. You don't obey in the things which he tells you to obey. Why? - Because you don't believe him, you decide to do as per your own self, leading to Sin as consequence.
First step in “Getting Ready” is to get the Salvation - Salvation comes with Faith, Open your hearts to the teaching of Christ in the Scriptures, and say, 'Lord, I want to obey your word.' I want to encourage you to turn to the Bible and read it. When you pray, say, 'Lord Jesus, help me to give up everything you tell me to give up and to do everything you tell me to do. I believe you are a good God.’ Once you do that you fulfill the promise of God as its written in Galatians 3:23-29 'Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.'
You may say, Brother this attitude to follow Christ comes only for few days, after which I get off track. Most of us don’t grow spiritually thats the root of the problem we get off track. The enemy who is a “devouring lion” tempts with the pleasures of the world to knock this out and we get off track. Rather you clothe with God’s word and start follow his works the old life is gone
2 Corinthians 5:17 - 'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ' , if the new renewed salvation is there in you, you will start to obey God’s word and start living a life thats pleasing to God leading to righteous life.
Romans 8:6-8,10 - 'The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. '
How long should we be ready ?
Once you enter the salvation, Christian living is not a one time event, it’s a lifetime commitment to live by Christ lead by Christ. Thats why we are called Children of God Romans 8:14 - 'For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. '
As we live in the world, we will have trials / challenges that will make us fall to the temptations, leading to Sin. Romans 6:23 - 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.' . The moment we give to Sin, we slack ourselves to go back to be a non ready state
As we live in the world, our thoughts cannot be like the people in the world, our minds / thoughts have to be lead by Christ which will make a life thats pleasing to him 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - 'For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. '
There is a general misconception when we walk with God. We tend to loose many things of the world and live without any pleasure, that’s a flat lie that Satan uses to keep us away from Christ centred life. Word of God gives us a promise that we will be given all the things that we need in the earth (This includes all the worldly blessings and Spiritual blessings) Luke 12:30-31 - 'For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. '
God gives his “Grace and Mercy” to his children - God knows we cannot accomplish everything in the world. The writer of the Hebrews presents this truth even more graphically ( “empathize with our weaknesses”…”God’s throne of grace” … “mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” ) — Hebrews 4:15-16 - 'For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.'
As you walk in Christ, the blessings (spiritual and worldly) we receive from Christ, we will be deceived by Satan to make us feel proud - all that we are accomplishing by our strength, when we get that attitude we actually “fall from grace”
Getting Ready is like running a marathon race, we need the energy and stamina to run longer. In Spiritual terms the energy to us comes once we have a sanctification from Christ - we get renewed and made ready every day. God primarily forgives the “sinner” and his “sins” are automatically taken care of. We are not sinners because we sin; we are sinners so we sin!. Adam became a sinner when he sinned; we are sinners by birth as Adam’s descendants Romans 5:12 - 'Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— '
What does God do when he forgives us in this sanctification process
He removes our sins ... East ... West (Try measuring East to West, its a endless cycle) Psalms 103:12 - 'as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. '
He throws our sins ... behind His back Isaiah 38:17(b) - '… you have put all my sins behind your back. '
He removes our sins ... as the clouds, your sins like morning mist Isaiah 44:22 - 'I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” '
You tread our sins underfoot … He sinks our sins ... in the depths of the sea Micah 7:19 - 'You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. '
So the question how long should we do this sanctification, the last breath of our life here in the world, once you do, you become righteous and holy in his eyes and when death meets us, the human body perishes and we are clothed with a spiritual body 1 Corinthians 15:51-52,54 'Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” '
Staying Awake and Alert
As you get ready, the time when God will come is a surprise. In Revelation Jesus said in
Rev. 16:15 "Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake..."
2 Peter 3:10-14 - 'But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. '
If you read thru this, the Word of God gives us a glimpse of how it will be when he comes and how we are to be prepared 2 Peter 3 : 14(b)- “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”
In other words God’s call to make us spotless, blameless is nothing but his call to make us holy - 1 Thessalonians 4:7 - 'For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. '
Look to Jesus and pursue the path of Holiness, Holiness the most outstanding character of our God
Isaiah 6:3 - 'And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” '
Revelation 4:8(b) - '… “ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” '
No other character so repeated. “Holiness” (or Holy) occurs over 900 times in the Bible.
Holiness is the most neglected subject in our spiritual teachings - So many Faith Seminars, Power Seminars, Gifts Seminars, etc, but what about Holiness Seminars?
Holiness is a character of God, man does not have this holy character, yet still God wants the relationship with man, to do that he expects us to be holy, so how do we be holy without that character we do not have ? It can be done only with total dependence on him. Only he can make us holy.
This is the first lesson to learn on holiness. i.e. I cannot do it myself ... I cannot depend on my strength ...
I must primarily and totally and ultimately depend on God for my sanctification!
Many times we feel we are righteous, Our view of righteous deeds are like filthy rags in Gods eyes, many time we are being deceived that we are holy as we are righteous by doing some acts of righteousness, Isaiah 64:6 - All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away”
As you walk in the world, watch for your life to be holy in God’s eyes, thats the only thing that can make you awake and alert - Four simple rules to be awake and alert
Regular Bible mediation - When you meditate the Bible, it strengthens our knowledge of God - Its a mystery not given to any one, we grow as we read more and more, As we keep on studying the Word, we grow in the knowledge of God which leads us to a walk that pleases Him with fruits in every good work - Colossians 1:10 - 'so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, '
Vigilant Prayers - Prayer sharpens all weapons — Ephesians 6:18 - 'And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ' , praying always in every situation to seek his will and guidance in the world.
Consistent Fellowship - By encouragement and seeing in action we avoid the sins due wilfully Hebrews 10:24-26 - “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,”
Periodic Self-examination - If you are born again - you need to wash your mind daily as it is the source for dirt to enter your body, Be specific! Don’t generalise!, Cite specific sins to get the daily cleansing of what God is talking to you.
Remember the Day when the Lord comes he will come in an unexpected time. Lets be prepared / lets stay awake and Alert so that we may live together with him..1 Thessalonians 5:10 - “whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. '
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