PREPARING TO MEET THE LORD

 

Today, in this Last of the Last Day of Time

Being prepared to meet the Lord is a Critical Issue.

Christ Jesus said that He was coming Soon,

And He came Soon to everyone since He spoke those words;

Everyone who died since then, met Him

And received their Reward.

Being prepared to meet the Lord is an everyday Issue,

But it has special significance in this Last Day of Time.

Christ Jesus told us about Ten Virgins

And only Five were prepared to receive Him.

They all thought that they were prepared,

But in Fact only Five were ready.

How do we Prepare to meet the Lord?

First, and above all,

We love Him with all our Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength

And our Neighbor as ourselves.

Our prayer is that His Kingdom would come

And His Will be done on Earth as in Heaven.

This is a Prayer for the return of Christ Jesus,

Who will Soon come and establish His Kingdom on Earth as in Heaven,

In Jerusalem, on Mount Zion for a Thousand years.

We understand, as the apostle Paul has told us,

That this World in its Present Form is Passing Away.

It is Passing Away before our very eyes,

If we have eyes to see.

Our Hope is not in this World,

It is in Christ Jesus and His Promises to us.

Our Hope is Christ in us the Hope of Glory.

The only people with Hope, are those who have been Born Again

And who are walking in the Light of Christ Jesus.

There is No other Hope.

Maintaining that Hope is Critical in our being prepared to meet the Lord.

That means staying in constant communication with Him

Through His Spirit that lives within us;

Through Prayer and Thanksgiving.

Christ Jesus, wrote Seven Letters to Seven Churches

In the Book of Revelation.

One of those was written to the Church in Ephesus.

Christ told them that they had worked hard;

They had persevered;

They did not tolerated Wicked men;

They tested and rejected False Apostles;

They endured many Hardships for Christ's Name

And had not grown weary.

In other words, they were very Religious.

Yet Christ Jesus has this against them

THEY HAD FORSAKEN THEIR FIRST LOVE.

Christ Jesus told them to REPENT

And remember the Height from which they had fallen;

To REPENT and do the things they did at First.

He told them that if they did not regain their First Love,

He would remove their Lampstand from its place in Heaven;

They would no longer go to Heaven,

But would go to the place the Unbelieving go.

We learn from this, the Critical Nature of maintaining our First Love.

First Love is the realization

That Christ has Saved from Death, Hell and the Grave;

That Christ Jesus Died for us;

He Suffered a brutal Death to Purchase for us

The Forgiveness of our Sins.

The apostle Paul said these things:

I have been Crucified with Christ

And I no longer Live,

But it is Christ who live in me,

And this life that I now live

I live by Faith in the Son of God

And His Power at work in me.

I set my heart on things Above,

My Life is Hidden with Christ in God,

I Cloth myself with the Garments of Christ

And let His Word dwell richly in me.

Christ Jesus said this:

If anyone would come after Me,

He must Deny himself

And take up his Cross daily and follow Me.

For whoever wants to Save his life will Lose it,

But whoever Loses his life for me will Save it.

What good is it for a man to gain the Whole World,

And yet lose his Soul?

If anyone is ashamed of Me and My Words,

The Son of Man will be Ashamed of him

When He comes in His Glory

And in the Glory of the Father

And of the holy angels.

(Luke 9:23-27)

The apostle John said this:

This is Love:

That we Obey His Commands.

(2 John 6)

Christianity often falls into empty Religion.

That is due to the fallen Nature of mankind.

The Pharisees, that Christ rebuked, had fallen into Religion

And out of Heartfelt relationship with God.

In this Last of the Last Day of Time

Great Trials await us as Christians

As Christ Jesus has made clear to us.

He said this:

You will be Betrayed by Parents, Brothers, Relatives and Friends,

And they will put some of you to Death.

All men will Hate you because of Me.

But not a hair of your head will Perish.

By Standing Firm you will save yourselves.

(Luke 21:16-19)

Be always on the Watch,

And Pray that you may be able to Escape

All that is about to happen,

And that you may be able

To Stand before the Son of man.

(Luke 21:36)

To the Church in Philadelphia He said this:

Since you have kept My Command to Endure Patiently,

I will also Keep you from the Hour of Trial

That is going to come upon the Whole World

To Test those who live on the Earth.

I AM COMING SOON.

Hold on to what you have, (First Love)

So that No One will take your Crown.

Him who Overcomes I will make a Pillar

In the Temple of My God.

Never again will he leave it.

I will write on him the Name of My God

And the Name of the City of My God,

The New Jerusalem,

Which is coming down out of Heaven from My God;

And I will also write on him My New Name.

He who has an ear,

Let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.

(Revelation 3:10-13)

Let us maintain our First Love

So that we are ready to meet the Lord.

Jude said this:

Build yourselves up in your Most Holy Faith

Pray in the Holy Spirit.

Keep yourselves in God's Love

As you wait for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

TO BRING YOU TO ETERNAL LIFE.

(Jude 20-21)

To Him who is able to keep you from falling

And to Present you before His Glorious Presence

Without Fault and with Great Joy--To the only God and Savior

Be Glory, Majesty, Power and Authority,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages,

Now and forever more! Amen.

(Jude 25)