DO NOT BE CAUGHT UNAWARES!
DO NOT BE CAUGHT UNAWARES
Days like these are a test of our faith! They are dark and gloomy and seem like the end is really here. The violence and bloodshed are unprecedented. It is like some kind of terror has been unleashed; war has been declared and the battle is on. There is an urgency for us to right our ways and handle our relationship with God as if our very lives depend on it. I see, playing out before our very eyes, in living colour and with vivid clarity all that our Lord and Saviour talked about in Matthew 24. And IT IS SCARY!! All seems to be falling apart and the very fabric that holds everything in place is fast ripping at the seams. Lawlessness thrives. Decadence is at an all time high. Goings on around us are anywhere from the bizarre to the incredibly alarming! “And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:10-13 NLT Still in spite of all that is happening, we are called to endure to the end. There has not been a time like now to be very intimate with the Holy Spirit. He will help us through and will produce in us what we need to cope with the present times.
I found something interesting in the headings of Genesis 4 from four different bible versions. New Living Translation calls it “A World Gone Wrong”; Good News Translation describes it as “Human Wickedness”; English Standard Version says “Increasing Corruption on earth”; while the Amplified says “The Corruption of Mankind”. Incidentally it looks like we have come full circle and we have found our way back to “Gone wrong”, “wickedness” and “corruption”. While this was happening then, God singled out Noah and preserved him and his entire family from destruction. I pray God will find us and our families worth preserving at this time. Remember we were told that before God destroyed the world with that flood in Genesis 6, the people went around their normal businesses. That is happening now. We carry on like “business as usual”. But the truth is business is no longer usual. Everything is changing, fast. It is looking a lot like the time is nigh when the Lord will return. “For the coming of the Son of Man (the Messiah) will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the [very] day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be[unexpected judgment].” Matthew 24: 37-39 AMPLIFIED
These warnings have been here for ever. I pray that we will not be swept away by all that is wickedly gone wrong. This is therefore not the time to be sitting on the fence, idle. This is not the time to procrastinate about answering the call of God and doing that which He has been asking us to do. Now, more than ever before, we need all our wits about us. Let us start standing in the gap for our nearest and dearest who are not yet saved. Let us be watchful and mindful of what we say, think and do. Let us navigate to the place of deep intimacy with our Heavenly Father so that we will not be caught unawares but rather be caught up in the air with Jesus when the time comes. “Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thesssalonians 4:17 NLT
BE ALERT! DO NOT BE CAUGHT OUT; BE CAUGHT UP WITH JESUS!
OLUYINKA EGO-MARTINS ©