I enjoy receiving feedback from the posts I make to this blog. There are wonderful insights out there, thoughts that enlighten, challenge, and revelation.
One particular tidbit of feedback moved me to take my thoughts in a slightly different direction. A note came from a dear relative who confessed the need to be alerted to the times and rapidly spiraling events, but that the awakening was also somewhat depressing. Without placing words into her expression, I believe she was conveying a certain level of apprehension at the way things are changing.
I understand fully. I don't like the idea that life is going to get difficult, or that real persecution is coming our way, or that the world as we know it is about to be gone forever. (Of course, the world as we know it has revolved around a level of comfort and prosperity that has been unique to America over the last fifty years.) However, there is a genuine excitement in my heart about what is coming. Maybe it is just the way I'm wired, you know, man-wiring. Most men are wired in such a way that danger releases endorphins into the system. We get a bit pumped up and ready for a fight to defend our freedom and our reality. Most women, on the other hand, aren't wired at all. They are sculpted. God took a rib and fashioned the woman. In other words, he made them a differently than he made us men. Therefore, and generally speaking, women aren't nearly so apt to be "pumped up" by looming difficulties. They seek, generally speaking, to be secure, steady, and a bit quieter than their counterparts. (Now don't get ruffled. This is how God made us:) That is why the prospects of suffering through drastic change and upheaval are somewhat disconcerting and maybe even frightening to the more graceful part of humanity.
To clarify, I do not write these posts to depress. Rather, there is a growing enthusiasm in my heart for what is coming. Not for the terrible time of judgment that has been prophesied against nations that seek to destroy Israel, but for what I firmly believe will be the greatest hour the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has ever experienced. Within the text of Ezekiel 38 and 39 are these phrases. Listen closely and see the hope!
1. "So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then, they will know that I am the Lord." 38:23
2. "And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel." 39:7
3. "I will set my glory among the nations...and the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward." 39:21
4. "Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God." 39:29
Do you see it? Through the terrible events that are about to happen in the Middle East, the whole world is going to have the opportunity to know "I am." Who is "I am?" That wonderful, ancient, unpronounceable name YHWH was given to Israel. The eternally existent, eternally present, all powerful Lord of heaven and earth. He was revealed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He revealed himself to Moses and the prophets. He took on flesh and blood and called himself Immanuel...(God is with us)....Yeshua...(the salvation of YHWH)! Jesus declared himself "I am," then proved it to be so. This same "I am" is about to demonstrate to Israel and the world that he is still "I am" and that no other God will stand in his way.
Then, Jesus told us he would be with us always, even unto the ends of the earth. That speaks both of distance around the globe as well as the eternal measurement of time. Paul said, "and my God will supply all your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus!" Wow! Do you see it?
Our horizon is one of GREAT HOPE, and it's all within the changes we are seeing now. So, here is how I see it and why I try to do my part in sounding the ALERT. It is not to depress or frighten, but:
1. To drive us to our knees for spiritual preparation and maturity.
2. To drive us to our knees in intercession for the lost.
3. To open our eyes to our true citizenship. (We are only travelers through this time and space called America, or wherever you are located.)
4. To drive us to know the Word. (Both the written Word and the Living Word)
5. To infuse the church with enthusiasm to be the greatest witness the world has ever known, and to be alert to every coming opportunity to win another person to the Kingdom of Christ.
6. To encourage a greater faithfulness to the assembling of the Body while there is still time and freedom to do it.
7. To motivate us for a massive, short-lived harvest that will culminate with the sounding of a trumpet, the voice of an archangel, and the shout of the Lord.
8. To help us fix our spiritual eyes on what is eternal, even while our physical eyes scan what is temporary.
I know it is a bit of a cliche, but the meaning is POWERFUL. The end is already written, but the only "ending" involved will be the end of sin, unrighteousness, death, sickness, horror, terror, anti-Christ, Satan, and everything else that is anti-God! What is coming is just a blip on the screen and will lead to the birth of the eternal, physical Kingdom on Earth. I for one, am ready for the Kingdom to come....particularly to see the King! That is called HOPE!
Be hopeful always, even as I continue to blog about current events and bible prophecy.
Jimmy Root Jr
Author: Distant Thunder Book One of the Lightning Chronicles
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