JESUS IS COMING
Are you ready?
While I was reading my Bible very early in the morning, the resounding thought kept coming to me, "Tell them I'm coming". The truth is that many of us get so caught up in our day-to-day routines that we forget about this unchangeable truth. There is coming a day, that is approaching sooner than ever before, when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will come back for His people. No one knows when that day or hour is except for the Father but we do know that we are supposed to be ready in season and out of season.
So let me ask you, are you pleased with the way you're living your life? Are you pleased with the way you are treating other people? More importantly, is GOD pleased with the way you are living your life? We need to make an effort to remember that this life is not the end. You have a choice to make; life and blessings, death and curses. We're told to choose life. Sadly many are deceived by the doctrines of man that are taught as the word of God. They're being led astray and don't even know that they're headed to an eternity in Hell and eternal separation from God.
Matthew 7:22-23 (nkjv) says:
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
These are the words of our Lord, Jesus. Nowadays preachers and people go around citing legalism if you want to obey the commandments of the Lord. Yes, we're not supposed to be legalistic but we're also not supposed to be lawless. It is not the commandments that were done away with through the coming of Jesus (He came to fulfill the law) but the acts of trying to be made perfect by staying ritually clean on your own (don't eat, don't touch, and other physical efforts) and making your own sacrifices to cover our sins. Through confessing Jesus as Lord with our mouths and believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10) we're saved and made right with the Father through His sacrifice. The only sacrifice that is needed has already been made. Now the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) so we keep the commandments He gave us as we're led by His Spirit because we love Him and want to live a life that is pleasing to Him.
If we sin we need to repent. Ask for the Lord's forgiveness and His help to stop doing those things that aren't pleasing to Him.
If we don't repent and continue thinking, "Well, I believe in God. Jesus is my Savior so I'm fine. I can do whatever I want now because the price for my sins has already been paid for." You're opening yourself up to the curse of the law because you're no longer in Christ if you continue in willful disobedience and sin. The Bible says that even demons believe and tremble (James 2:19).
Luke 13:2-3 says
2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Sometimes there are testings, tribulations, trials, and persecutions but for the righteous, the Lord delivers them out of all afflictions (Psalm 34:19). However often times when someone is walking in unrepentant sin they will encounter an untimely death like the Galileans of whom Jesus was speaking.
Remember though, God is merciful.
1 John 1:9 (nkjv)
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is time to get ourselves right with the Lord and walk ready, watching for His arrival because Jesus IS coming! Let's live ready.