Christian, be ready!

Jesus said:

“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

“Therefor you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour do you not expect”. (Matthew 24:42-44)

This ties in well with the idea that in order to come to God you MUST believe “that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. (quoting from Hebrews 11:6). Do you really think it will make no difference to you if you seek God diligently in these last days? Would that be a distraction from the “main business” of seeking your prosperity and the prosperity of your family? If you are thinking and behaving like this, you are in a dangerous place according to the Word of God. You may say you believe in Jesus but by your deeds (or the lack of them) you practically deny Him.

The truth is, Jesus told HIS FOLLOWERS to be ready and He tells you that no matter how much you study prophecy and world events, YOU DON’T KNOW WHEN HE IS COMING.

You also do not know the day of your death.

My observations of the church today, especially the church in western nations, lead me to think that by and large, we are not ready for the return of Jesus Christ. I will tell you why I believe this. The reason is, that only a small percentage of Christians can be found in public prayer meetings.

If the church organizes a picnic or a social event, people will be there. But if a meeting is convened simply to seek the face of God, to wait on God or to intercede for the lost, few will attend.

Folks I am talking about pentecostal and “spirit-filled” churches now.

This shows how out of touch we are with the heart of God. God’s heart is beating for lost people – its the only reason I can see that Jesus was sent to die on the cross. God wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth, but there are spiritual powers lodged in people’s minds and in the atmosphere which prevent them from seeing the truth and being liberated.

Jesus is not a lifestyle enhancing product, part of a vast array of products available in today’s New Age spiritual smorgasbord. He is the Savior of the World. “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

Jesus said that you don’t know when He will come back. That means you must be ready, through watching and praying – ALL THE TIME. There is never a time for you when it is truly SAFE to be overcome with worldly and fleshly things and be in a prayerless state.

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36).

Every single one of us will face the challenge of worldly cares taking us away from the presence of the Lord. We are taught to “cast our cares upon Him, for He cares for you”. There are a lot of bad things that can happen in life, and we need to cast the care of it onto the Lord. Only then can we pray properly.

We need to be disciplined soldiers of Christ because we are in the spiritual warfare anyway. We can’t get involved in TOO many businesses and hobbies, squeezing out the time to wait on God. That would be idolatry and a sure recipe for being unready for Christ’s return.

A lot of us are too sleepy to pray. I mean physically sleepy as well as spiritually. The reason so many of us are SO tired is because of our diets. You can call this extremism, but I challenge you to eat according to the laws of life and health for one month, and see if THAT ALONE does not enable you to pray for one hour a day more.

We look down on believers who are addicted to nicotene, but half of us are addicted to sugar and all kinds of toxic and un-nutritious food which leaves us lethargic and sleepy. We further toxify ourselves with coffee to keep going, but we have to play catch up later, leading to more sleep.

I wish Christians would limit their secular TV watching and computer game playing to maximum about 30 minutes a day, if that. People were able to follow Christ before the TV was invented, and many of the great revivals happened because people waited on God and prayed earnestly, fighting their flesh and the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, rather than seeking out worldly amusements.

I know some young men who never played sport all their teenage life, and just sought God. In his early 20’s now, one of them is in demand in his college breaks as an international prophet and evangelist and has been doing this for some years now! Is it a co-incidence? Or does really seeking God make a difference.

This thing about over-eating or eating garbage not fit for rats (much western processed food) is an issue that won’t go away. Do you say you cannot pray, do you say that you are sick, or tired, or you “don’t feel like it”? If you are a Christian, it probably has a lot to do with the way you eat (or the way you don’t exercise enough).

Jesus said not to let your heart be weighed down with carousing or drunkenness. A lot of people have bellies that are like alcohol factories, full of yeast producing terrible toxins and alcoholic concoctions guaranteed to send you to sleep or send you to hospital. This is a fact of the modern age.

Folks, people are dying out there, and we can’t afford to be lazy, drunk, fickle “soldiers” of Christ.

If you are not ready for the return of Christ, you are going to miss out on something. Whatever turns out to be the truth about end times, you will definitely be sorry. If you are not ready, you will suffer badly.

So be ready.

Wake up and pray.