We spent the whole
season of Advent focusing on the coming Christ and then celebrated His birth on
Christmas Day but these events should not end; rather they should prompt us to
start looking to the heavens for his coming again. Many believers call this His “second coming”
but whichever coming it is He comes to call and gather us, those who believe in
Him, to Himself.
“Jesus said, “Don’t be
troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s
house. I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to
prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back. Then I will take you with me, so that you can be where I am.” John 14:1-3 ERV
So, we believers do
not stop anticipating Him after Christmas but that day renews our tenacity to
keep looking for him.
“[looking away from all
that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and
Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings
our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before
Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of
His work].” Hebrews 12:2 AMP
Do we just sit down
and lay back waiting on His return? He
promised He would come so why not just sit back and, as they say, “rest-on-our-laurels”? As we watch for His return He continues to
prepare us, through His Holy Spirit, to be ready for His return by bringing our
faith to its full maturity. Each
situation we live through has an effect on our faith, either for its
strengthening or for its weakening. The
outcome is dependent on how we respond to the circumstance. I do not know what trials you may be going
through and how your response is to them but I can best explain this by my path through my health trial of the
past year. The evening I went to the hospital
on October 1, 2017 I heard the Lord speak to my heart, “This is not unto death!” What a simple word, but I clung to it through
the many hospitalizations and continuing illness. I was in end-stage heart failure and was not
expected to recover. I clung to God’s
promise, “This is not unto death!” My cardiologist
decided he could do nothing for me and essentially gave up. I clung to God’s promise, “This is not unto
death!” Now, lest you think I struggled
alone you need to know that believers from my church, believing friends and my
pastor visited me. They agreed with me
in prayer as I asked the Lord for a new heart.
I clung to God’s promise, “This is not unto death!” Most of the time I was so tired I could
hardly think. I still clung to God’s
promise, “This is not unto death!”
Finally I ended up in a long-term care facility where people figured I
would never improve. I still clung to
God’s promise, “This is not unto death!”
I struggled with
this physical trial for two-thirds of a year and then moved to Montana to be
near my sister. I started receiving
better healthcare and attention to my physical needs in a rehab. I saw a new cardiologist and she had a
pacemaker (with defibrillator) implanted.
I improved immensely and now I am able to do everything I was able to do
before I got sick, and then some! It was
“not unto death” but unto life! So, am I
just sitting back waiting for the Lord’s return? No. I
am activating my faith. I am exercising
it. I am using it so that it can
grow. Remember that I asked the Lord for
a new heart? Have I gotten it? No. My
heart is still as damaged as it was before; God is just using man’s knowledge
to help it work better. Some people have
excused this away stating that the pacemaker made my heart new. Please people, this is NOT faith. I am still asking God for a new heart. I believe (accept as true and am convinced)
He will give it to me. Why am I
convinced? Because I have known Him for
45 years and He has never steered me wrong.
Now, that IS faith!
So my encouragement
to you today is to keep looking to the heavens.
Keep expecting His appearing.
Keep exercising your faith. I can
almost hear that trumpet call, can you?
“What we tell you now is
the Lord’s own message. Those of us who are still living when the Lord comes
again will join him, but not before those who have already died. The Lord
himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trumpet call of God. And the people who have died and were in
Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive at that time will be
gathered up with those who have died. We will be taken up in the clouds and
meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 ERV
