Heeds The Words

After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.  Revelation 19:1-6 NASB

Yes Lord! We need You! It seems in our lifetime that we need You more than ever!  in the current cultural moment, where outrage has become more expected than surprising and all too often being offended is more encouraged than discouraged. 

Jude 1:17-25 NASB But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

When we have given our lives over to Jesus Christ, accepting Him, receiving Him, acknowledging Jesus as the risen Saviour, we will have the only source that enables us to respond to outrage and wrath in a reconciling, productive, and life-giving way. Because Jesus Christ has loved us at our worst, we will love others at their worst. Because Jesus Christ has forgiven us for all of our wrongs, we can forgive others who have wronged us. Because Jesus Christ offers eternity with God instead of pouring out punishment and rejection for our offensive and sinful ways, we can offer a hand up to those who behave offensively and sinfully toward us and others. 

Ephesians 4:30-32 NASB Do not grieve Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

The help that comes from Jesus Christ defuses wrath instead of feeding it (Proverbs 15:1). Within the Saviour resides power to subdue fruitless arguments; break vicious cycles; turn enemies into friends; end wars and change history.  At the cross of Calvary, He confronted our violence with His nonviolence, our hostility with His forgiveness, and our wrath with His love.

When we trust Holy Spirit we will respond to chaos with humble courage, receive criticism graciously, forgive all the way, bless our own betrayers, befriend our fellow sinners, resist our inner moralist, disarm guarded postures, and do anything God asks of us. 

Luke 21:25-28 NASB There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

As God’s people, we are to be ready to receive Jesus into our lives and prepare for His return. We must make prayerfully reading the Bible a daily exercise, the days are moving quickly, those who believe in Jesus Christ must get back to the basics of His truth, relying on faith unseen, trusting Holy Spirit’s supernatural presence, the forgiveness at the cross, the resurrection, the power of God, the blood of Christ, and all that God has unveiled in His word to those who believe.  This is the only way we, God’s people, can stand firm as brothers and sisters united by Jesus, singing worship carried to Him on hands raised with praise for our magnificent Lord, all while ministering to the fracturing world around us in the cities, towns, families and communities God has invited us to join Him in. 

Jesus is coming soon. Are we actually ready? Ready for the moment when Jesus knocks at the kitchen door but we are in the midst of a to do list that took precedent over kingdom tasks so we reply to the king of kings with “but I was going to….”   

Let this be fuel for our fire!  the Lord is accessible NOW. Jump into His presence today. Come boldly. Come humbly. Thank Him for who He is and what He is doing. Holy Spirit’s PRESENCE inhabiting our PRAISE carries the power to change the atmosphere! Oh Holy Spirit we love You! Teach us the Gospel! We trust You! We ask for Your wisdom, come dwell within. 

Revelation 22:7-11 NASB And Jesus spoke, behold I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he *said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”And the angel *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 

Jesus is always with us. And yet He is near, He is coming, He is moving in. Our world is clearly facing the types of crises for which there is no way out. Only God has the answers.  the solutions to our individual problems, the answers to humanity’s turmoil will only come by Holy Spirit’s revelation.