BEING READY”: What Does That Really Mean?
I have been in a sense caught up with the idea of the coming of the Lord and what it might mean to individuals right now. I have been around those who spend endless time studying every movement made by Israel and what that might have to do with the Christian right now. Yet that isn’t the answer to what I feel in my spirit. All of that knowledge leaves emptiness inside not what you might receive from a well-balanced in-depth look into the Word. There really is nothing to go on from looking for dates and hidden times when something might happen. Now if I say that too many times, people are going to say that I am teaching the study of “ESCHATOLOGY.” No, I’m not; the point I am trying to make to you is that that type of study is not the meat and potatoes of the Word that will keep you alive spiritually.
Even though we are living at the point in the “eschatological” period that will bring the Lord back at any moment, the needs of our spiritual man must be met. The teaching of end-time prophecy may not be a spiritual uplifter, but teaching what it takes from your spiritual life will be.
The parable of the ten virgins waiting to greet the wedding party stays with me, especially those five foolish ones who left their posts to go make the preparations that should have been made before coming to the Gate of the wedding.
I receive emails from ministries of all sizes about a moment by moment description of what will be in the last moments of history before Jesus returns. It is a good thing that ironclad knowledge of the period of the Lord’s return is not required evidence of being ready, because not everybody has read the same book or written it. If it was, it would be like a Pentecostal convention on divorce & remarriage, without one brother in there. To put it another way; it might look like a family fight.
The wise virgins stood at their posts lamp oil full provisions ready and they waited for the Groom’s return. They had met the needs of their spiritual life and were ready to face the coming reunion of the family.
Can’t you see being ready is not the knowledge of the time of the return but the spiritual readiness that qualifies you to be there at the Lord’s return for you and me. In fact, look closely at the preparations each group of these ladies made. I think the most significant and outstanding point was the oil in the lamps the wise women had, and they held extra in case the groom was delayed. Look at this; the spiritual life was full of the Holy Spirit and they were overfull with spare containers in case the wicks on the lamps were to burn low.
If you find a man sick of the palsy along the way to the Lord’s return, you need to have enough of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in you to meet his need. If you see a hungry family along the way, you need that spiritual wisdom to know the kind of food that they need. You need to be willing to serve and keep open the route and your timing in getting to the assigned place for the Lord’s return
The Lord Jesus shouldn’t be the only one that could bless the loaves and fish, but there should enough anointing within you to bring that type of creative miracle to pass. What do I mean by this? We really have been playing church in some extremes, but now in order to be ready for Jesus, you must be willing and ready to do the work of the Lord. He said we would do the greater, but where is the greater and what is it?
It is speaking a Word with prophetical anointing to a nation and seeing it turn around. It is speaking a creative word and seeing the nonexistent become existent because of the power and the wisdom of the Lord that flows in you because of the Holy Spirit using your body and life as his local address.
You see somewhere we have lost some vision that is gained in the Word of God through the teaching anointing of the Holy Spirit in us. God said in the Book of Genesis, “Let us create man in our image; and in the image of God created he them.” You have to understand something here; the most popular teaching throughout the body is that man was created, mind, soul and body, a three-part being; therefore, we are the image of the God.
No, by all means, the word used in image was likeness, a physical mirror of the likeness of God. God breathed into him the breath of life, and that life was the life of God Himself and now our life also.
I wonder when we are going to recognize that this journey means being like the Lord. It means, as Paul told the Philippians, “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” It means recognizing and being willing to understand what it means to have His name, the name that is above all, the name of Jesus. It means to have faith enough in your relationship to Jesus in the kingdom to speak to the fish at the edge of the river and have him open his mouth and have enough there to meet your needs. It means telling the sick be healed in His name. The lame walk, the deaf hear the blind see and the dead will rise at that name. Do you have any concept of what it is like to hold a dead life form in your hands and breathe into it in the name of Jesus and see life come. I do, and it is no mystery because it works in faith because I have watched the breath of life in a dog, a bird and a baby return because of that name and that name only.
Being ready; it means having your lamp burning bright full of the oil of the Holy Ghost with your path lit. It also means ever vigilant waiting for the Lord’s return and willing to give of what you have as the apostles did at the temple for the lame man.
In the particular period we are in now, with the shortages and the prices that being forced out of hand because of the oil situation, many believers are shaking with fear in their lives. But the Word of God is very clear about seeing these things come about. We are to lift our heads and hearts with joy and keep in the front of our hearts that He is coming this is the time the Word said to look for him!!!!
Those that are without Him have a reason to fear because they have no hope beyond going to bed at night. This conversation of the end is not a time of fear but of joy for those that believe because it is homecoming.
Pastor Jim
Being Ready
Part2
I have been noticing the prices in the grocery, drug stores and hardware stores, just for a few to mention, and I have studied several clothing and multiline stores on the computer. They without exception are increasing prices on just about a weekly basis.
What is the reason given? For the most part, the major reason or cause is transportation costs. I can’t dispute that. I know a man who is a cold truck driver; he hauls milk and juices mainly. Six months ago his fuel costs to fill up were just over $1200, and that included his refrigeration unit. This week he left on a two-week turnaround, and his starting fuel cost was $2900. He will have to fill up maybe 1.5 times more before returning home, and even though he is a contract driver, because of costs, his job for the first time in nearly 25 years of this is now tenuous in the least. How many more are in the same situation right now?
The reason I wrote this article was I believe the Holy Spirit wants you to understand the Lord Jesus is still in authority and has charge over all this. Someone asks why He doesn’t do something to change this. Well, the answer in itself is very simple; we did it to our selves by our waste of all of the natural resource. The first step then is going to be repentance by the body of Christ. Study 2 Chronicles 7:14 , and study it in every translation you can, breaking down the verse with a Strong’s if possible. This will give you an insight into what God is saying.
The first thing is if His children, His people, who are called by His name will humble themselves–that means step away from your own agenda and anything of self and yield completely to the Lord. In other words, total submission to Him. One of the things I personally see the Lord saying is that the authority of the throne room will be re-invested in a submissive body. In this last day the Lord is not going to defeat Satan; He has already done it and doesn’t intend to do it again. He has provided the way through the sacrifice of Jesus and it is now up to you and me to walk the path He has provided through His Word. We need to understand from the get-go that nothing in His Word is withheld from us because we are His children by the blood of Jesus. As His child in good standing because of both your repentance and submission, the power of God is free to work through you and for you.
If we humble ourselves and pray, then He will do something. He will hear from heaven and heal our land. Land in the Old Testament is synonymous with wealth and provision. So do you realize that is what He is going to heal and that no matter how high these prices go, His healing and provision is greater. That is the first step in the healing of the lands of His people.
Now look back to Exodus and the Israelites’ departure from Egypt ; they were wealthy because the Egyptians paid them to leave. Realize this: on Monday they were slaves, and on Wednesday they were wealthy. This is just a paraphrase for an example. The Word said the wealth of the wicked was held in store for the righteous. Realize what He did once He will do again.
Think about this. The children of the Lord were created from the dust of the earth, and it is the same dust that Satan in his serpent form crawled on. Read Romans 16:20 and see that despite the blustery false front Satan uses and even with all the hate he has, the Father will use the ground he walked on to destroy him
Now read the verse from 2 Chronicles again and see the Lord.
All of this will only come to pass when you and I pray in these areas;
REPENTANCE
SUBMISSION IN YOUR LIFE TO EVERY DESIRE OF THE FATHER
Pray earnestly for His will in the salvation of His people
Pray earnestly for the land to heal so there maybe a dramatic provision for the people.
Pastor Jim
Write with your thoughts and requests to
PRAYING God’s best for each and everyone.
NEW BEGINNINGS MINISTRY
