TODAY’S SIGNATURE VERSE ••• Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:42 NKJV)
PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• I wish people would stop asking if I’m ready for Christmas. I’m never ready. Pandemic or not, it always sneaks up on me. On the plus side, there aren’t many of us, so there’s not a lot to get ready for… I need to order some food though. We had breakfast for dinner (“brinner”) for Thanksgiving, so I’m going to have to step things up for Christmas. It’ll get done though… probably through the culinary talents at Cracker Barrel. As much as I love to cook, I don’t love putting holiday meals together. Plus, given the size of our Family Twig, it’s more economical.
As we settle in for the final countdown to Christmas, I hear the chords of guitar riffs and the lead singer of Europe… Just kidding. But it does remind me of this truth — no one was really ready for the first Christmas either.
The prophecies were all there. Written 700+ years before Jesus was born… and yet, no one expected it. Their perception of the Messiah’s arrival was skewed, and a baby born in poverty (and a barn) wasn’t their picture of the promised Savior of the world.
And what about now? It’s not just Christmas we’re waiting for. We’re still waiting on Jesus. And whether you believe in the pre-Tribulation Rapture as I do, or post-Tribulation, or hold another view of Christ’s return — Jesus is coming.
And yet, too often, we live as though there’s an infinite amount of time until he’ll arrive. Here’s our challenge: He’s not delayed. He isn’t waiting to change planes in Milwaukee. We simply don’t have His itinerary, though His Word does give us indicators.
Friends, based on what I’m seeing, we don’t have time to keep taking naps before He arrives. He’s coming. And soon.
Prophecy expert Don Stewart recently pointed out three signs of the end times that we’ve seen this year: “lawlessness, violence, and the apostasy, or falling away of the church.” And if you don’t see that, then I have to assume you’re living under a rock. I doubt many people need a recap of all that has happened in 2020. Hello?! Lawlessness. Violence. And falling away of the church.
Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. It says, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” This sounds really exciting, right? Trumpet blows, and boom! We’ll be in the presence of Jesus!
But first, we have to be ready, and that brings us to the words of Jesus and our signature verse, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42).
So the bigger question from “Are you ready for Christmas?” is this: Are you ready for Jesus?
Today, as you pray, thank Jesus for His promised return! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you be ready and prepared that no matter what you’re doing when the trumpet sounds, you’re ready. Pray for others to be ready. And if you know you’re one of the many who are not ready, please hurry. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and forgive you. Give your life to Him. This is an event you won’t want to miss.
SHARING ••• My Grace-Full Life is written by Denise Heidel. You are welcome to share anything I write, but please credit my writing and graphics accordingly. Visit www.MyGraceFullLife.com to read past blogs. Subscribe through my website to have My Grace-Full Life delivered to your email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the NKJV translation.
