Watch and Do Not Grow Weary

 

Ever feel as though you are all alone, in waiting for the Lord to return? Do you attend a church that would rather give a seminar on the Ebola virus, than the Lord’s return? Ever feel as though you want to watch and wait, but then life takes over and you get caught up dealing with the problems and cares of this life? Ever feel as though you simply don’t have enough hours in the day to devote to spending time with God? Ever feel as though you don’t think you make a difference? 

 

Well friend, if you’ve ever felt that way, you are not alone. Since my reconversion in 2007, I can honestly say, I’ve felt all the above on numerous occasions, for extended periods. I know it’s not any fun, and I know that in those moments, it seems unproductive, but let me share a quote with you from Winston Churchill:

 

“Mountaintops inspire leaders, but valleys mature them.”

 

Arguably, what has cemented my passion for the Bible all these years has been prophecy…even when I was drifting away from God. It was in those times that I often thought that the low points of my spiritual walk were simply self-inflicted products of my own faulty understanding and interpretation. Or that in my flesh, my relapses into former habits somehow kept knocking me down to new lows and I would never grow as a believer. 

 

But even in my lowest of lows, I could never not be expectant of the Lord’s return. I just pushed it out of my mind and tried not to think about it. There were times when I even tried to think like other Christian’s, who didn’t seem to have that same awareness. Somehow if I could just get on board with the ‘flavor of the week” Christian movement, I could somehow be more productive and have more friends.

 

Besides, wasn’t I tired of always being labeled the “gloom and doomer?” My friends and family would ask me, “Why do you always focus on the negatives?” Or that “We aren’t called to sit around and just look up into the sky all day, we need to be busy doing the Lord’s work.” I’m accused of being obsessed about the Lord’s return, and that I am a “one-trick pony” always going on about the same subject. All I can say is, “Guilty as charged.” I might be a “gloom and doomer” but that’s only because the world is racing toward an eternal abyss, and where it is heading is no joy in that message.

 

My spiritual walk has oftentimes felt like one gigantic valley. It’s always uphill both ways, and I feel at times, incredibly isolated.  I’ve attended two prophecy conferences in my life…one in 1991, and the other in 2009.  I simply don’t have the time, money, or resources to ever go to the big ones…in part due to my job, and also due to my personal commitments. So if you’re out there and you feel alone, please don’t. I mean, you are in the physical sense temporarily alone, although you have a network of believers most of which you haven’t met on this side of the Rapture, but will rejoice all the more on the other side of it. 

 

Assessment

 

I believe that the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 not only speak to the individuals and congregations of John’s day, but also to the seven specific periods of time chronicling church history. There is one repeated phrase in each of the letters; look at what Jesus has to say to each church: “I know your works.”

 

Jesus is not unfamiliar with our struggles. Remember, it is He who is walking amongst the candle-stands, and it is He who holds the seven stars in His hands. He is intimately familiar with each of our struggles, and what we as a “corporate” body of believers go through in each day, and in each era. I also believe that the last four churches are in existence at the same time, and notice what He has to say to those faithful Philadelphian believers…

 

“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.  Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.  Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown” (Rev. 3:8-11, emphasis added).

 

Do the modern day, Pre-Millennial, Pre-Tribulation dispensationalists feel like they have a lot of strength these days?  Hardly.  Look at America’s Pastor for instance; clearly a man who cares little for the prophetic word, yet, he’s made tens of millions of dollars off of books he’s written.  His influence in the evangelical world is impressive…yet even he has little influence over significantly important geo-political matters. 

 

How much less am I who writes online once a week? I can’t hold a conference and have thousands of people attend. I can’t write a book that sells millions of copies. Well, I mean I could if God had wanted me too, but that is not what I’m speaking to. God has allowed the weak and beggarly things (me) to continue on for a purpose.

 

God has placed me in this time in this place, for a specific purpose, and has allowed my life to turn out as such, that I would bring my unique set of circumstances and understandings to the public forum…not for my glory, but for His. I struggle at times, and I told Jack that every topic I wanted to write about, has already been written about six ways from Sunday.

 

He told me that that didn’t matter. What matters is that I write it from my perspective, which has never been written before. And so off I went, and now three years have passed and I don’t regret a single word I’ve put into print. Honestly, I don’t know the reach of what I write, and all I hope, is that I’ve helped get the message out that this age is coming to an end, and that our Lord is returning soon!

 

But guess what else? He’s done the same for you. The prophets of old and the apostles and the early church fathers, and everyone since then, has LONGED to see the days in which we live.  To see Israel back in her land. To see the world coming about just as the Bible said it would. We live in exciting times and in this moment when our anticipation and excitement should be peaking, Satan is ramping up the pressure to keep us subdued, suppressed, and deflated.