Excited to See Jesus – 3-30-22

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” 2 Thess. 2:15 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.

Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.

If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father. 

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

BIBLE READING:

Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading is the Book of Second Thessalonians chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV). 

The Great Apostasy

2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of ^[a]Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of ^[b]sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits ^[c]as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For the ^[d]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[e]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Fast

¹³ But we are ^[f]bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through ^[g]sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴ to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our ^[h]epistle.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and ^[i]establish you in every good word and work.

Footnotes

1. 2 Thessalonians 2:2 NU the Lord
2. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 NU lawlessness
3. 2 Thessalonians 2:4 NU omits as God
4. 2 Thessalonians 2:7 hidden truth
5. 2 Thessalonians 2:7 Or he
6. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 under obligation
7. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 being set apart by
8. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 letter
9. 2 Thessalonians 2:17 strengthen

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Fake News. Lies. Propaganda. False reporting. Accrediting the wrong people with the information. This sounds like the year 2022. Or even 1944. Or 51.
Yep, 51 – the estimated year that Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians. Some came saying the rapture happened and they were left behind! And worse, saying his message was from Paul! AND that meant they were IN the Great Tribulation. It certainly must have felt like it then and the years that followed – before the century was over, Christians and Christian Jews were being lined up and marched into the colosseum (a building build with the spoils from destroying the temple of the Lord) to be slaughtered for entertainment. Yes it must have felt like the Great Tribulation. Another term is Jacob’s sorrow.
In 1933, when Hitler came into power, and the grievous years after – must have felt like the Great Trib and was definitely a sorrow for Jacob. When studying that period of History, I can only imagine the despair and hopelessness – some who believed in Jesus must have wondered if they missed the rapture, missed the mark, and missed salvation. And the world did not help because it was done secretly and the rumors were too horrid to believe.
People who have studied both say the cruelty and horror of both were equal in being indescribably evil and brutal. Yet, neither were the Great Tribulation.

In 2022, people have become too comfortable and have forgotten the depth of uncivilized horror we are capable to putting on our fellow man. Open, recorded, and accessible meetings are happening on the world stage and we intentionally advert our eyes. They are saying unbelievable things that almost touch the depths of horror man has already reached.
I rebuke fear with remembering our Memory Verse this month:
Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

We have not missed the rapture and today is not the Great Tribulation – There is a HUGE confidence and comfort in our Lord when we understand these things. These things are taught to adults and children, young Christians and old Christians – so we most certainly can put aside any fear of the unknown, to learn what is known.

Paul prayerfully writes and we prayerfully apply to ourselves and each other: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.” Verses 1 & 2
Fear not – stand firm – don’t be shaken There is a fear He is addressing about having missed the rapture, but also a fear of learning and understanding these end time signs. First remember that we are supposed to give our lives to God – these aren’t our lives to live.  We are citizen of Heaven not of earth! We are to be heaven minded, and therefore comforted by our prize of being with our savior forever.

As I try with words to comfort you, Paul also tries with words to comfort – he is pulling from many teachings and prophetic texts, some not even in the Bible. But these are the doctrines we (who believe the Bible) believe. But we only have part of the info. Because of this we have people saying these are signs of the rapture, meaning these happen first. Others say the rapture can happen at any minute so these are the signs of the great tribulation. And still others say these are the signs of the second coming of Christ. (All major events described as happening in the end times.) Well, Jesus said we were starting the end times then, so we are definitely last in the times, now.

So Paul makes a list of signs that must happen before some end time event (based on which thought you support) can happen. The problem is – Paul didn’t take us into the spirit and these are based on teachings and this is not meant to be a prophetic timeline.  The Bible is not fallible – but maybe we are looking at it wrong.  Like the book of Proverbs is written for instruction not prophetic promises, and people incorrectly pull out something as a promise that was only a teaching example. Paul is comforting them not speaking prophecy – so we have him saying remember this will happen and that will happen first…
Like when my son was waiting for His father to come pick him up Friday after work. Every time my son would wake up and expect dad to be there, and I said we have to go to work and school first and have a few meals and snacks and you’ll go to afterschool club and when you get home you’ll still have TV time. Not necessarily in that order but I am glad you are excited to see dad. Sometimes I would get a call from school – my son was so excited he told everyone he was seeing his dad. And he carried on so much that she was confused as to if dad was picking him up.  AND Sure enough after school and work, while still waiting I would have to remind him of that conversation – we did not miss dad, because I stopped to get gas on the way home.

That is a great example! Maybe the modern problem is we aren’t looking up and waiting, wanting, excited to see Dad! I talk about repentance and the time is short – and so many sleepy eyed Christians tell me to settle down it has been years that people have been saying it (as if to say it won’t happen) and I say Yes! 2000 years of saying – it is going to happen sooner for us than for these Thessalonians almost 2000 years ago! Yet they sat there ready and waiting. Are we sitting here so ready, we wonder if we have missed it?

You have read Paul’s words above – I did not even try to comfort you with his words. Our evil generation not only fights about which event we are talking about, but we also fight about the son of perdition and about the retaining one.  I am trying to focus on the meaning of why Paul wrote and why it is comforting. And not try to be a fortune teller.

A common theme in Paul’s writings is to stand fast (stand firm, stand therefore, etc.) sometimes written out directly and other times implied.  And after Paul comforts the church, he concludes this section with the encouragement to stand firm and prays for them to get back to their purpose (sometimes even Biblical things can be distractions).

Now for my personal opinion on the events of the end time’s –

I believe we should live with our eyes fixed on heaven, on God, and on Jesus who is standing between us and God. We should wake up every day and hope it is the day of the rapture. And then say a prayer for one more day to try to bring at least one more soul into the fold. Since I was a small child, I believed it would happen in my life time, I would not die but I would be raptured. And now I live each day repentant and as best I can as to not miss it for any reason (and fail and learn and grow, but I repent and continue to ask for God’s help).

I hope the rapture would be pretribulation. But I do get very angry when preacher use an unbiblical argument for that – so we do not suffer. Paul suffered. The first century church were being killed off as fast as the word spread. Hitler killed on fire Christians who believed every word of the book, (as well as Jews, criminals, and homosexuals). Christians all over this globe currently suffer. Many of you come from countries where persecution is higher than the USA, where I hear most of these preachers use this argument. But we all do hope not to suffer – but suffering is pretty much promised. There are other biblical supports for a pre-trib rapture. My hope for a pre-trib rapture is to get to see my love, Jesus, sooner!
I firmly – very firmly – believe in a mid- to end of trib Rapture. Why? So we are prepared. And if I am raptured sooner, let God lead the needy to my supplies.

I am not the Bible and I can contradict myself. I live like the Rapture is scheduled for today and prepare for it to not happen for another 50 years.

These things are going to happen in God’s time, whether we understand them or not, or if we believe them or not. So we might as well not argue over details and get distracted by the comfort… Jesus is coming for us and loves us.
Like my son sitting in the window looking for daddy’s car to come down the road.

I also think there is at least one last uprising of the church – revival or awakening or both – we are not done – do not sit around idle waiting to escape – do the work we are sent here to do. Occupy until He comes. Stand therefore stand! And be like my son telling everyone that Daddy was coming – because Jesus is coming!  

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Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!