"Behold I Am Comming Soon"***

The return of the Lord is imminent. The hand writing is on the wall. The signs are all around us. The whole world is in chaos. We are living in the days the prophets dreamed about. We are a chosen generation to be sure.

While these are exciting times from an eternal perspective, with all that is being shaken down, it is easy to get discouraged. The Spirit calls me this morning to talk about my focus. I guess He was noticing my discouragement.

He said, "Unless you are focusing on the end game and the Return of the King, you will suffer under discouragement, and apathy will soon follow." So the next question is about how to refuse to be discouraged and avoid the drift into apathy.

The early church was energized and the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread like wildfire. Interestingly enough, it wasn't the crucifixion of the Lord that captured the hearts and minds and imagination of the people in those days, but rather the resurrection of the Man called Jesus. Many were crucified in those dark days, but none were raised from the dead.

Their focus was on the hope of eternal life through the fact of the resurrection of the once dead Savior of mankind. As I look around the Body of Christ I am saddened by the apathy so many have to the greatest news to hit our planet.

Not only did our Savior rise from the dead, but He left here promising to return. In the view of many witnesses, Jesus ascended toward Heaven.

Acts 1:9 "After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly 2 men dressed in white, stood beside them. "Men of Galilee", they said,"Why do you stand there looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you will come back in the same way you have seen Him go."

How can I become apathetic or discouraged when that kind of message has been given to us? The message of Christ's return should surely cure any case of "apathy" as we anticipate it at any moment. As I let those words sink into my brain, I can feel a surge of encouragement coming up from the Holy One within.

Rev 22:12, in the words of Christ Jesus to John, His beloved disciple: "Behold I am coming soon. My reward is with Me. I will give to everyone according to what he has done." The King of Glory has promised to return and then....promised a reward, according to what we have "done".

Do we think that we will earn any reward for being asleep at the switch? For having missed great opportunities due to apathy or indifference? The question then becomes, "What in the "world" am I doing with so great a message entrusted to those of us who know Him?"

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and He is coming back soon to pick us up.

Are you ready? Are all your friends and family ready?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

To Serve God His Way

The Holy One calls to me this morning. I am frustrated by selfishness. I see it all around me. I see it IN me. We live out our lives centered for the most part on our desire to be the master of our own destiny, the captain of our own ship, plotting our own course with a myriad of self-centered agendas.

We ever live to protect and defend our own comfort zones, to keep our own personal status-quo. It is in this atmosphere that most seem to find their place of service "unto the Lord". It is in this atmosphere of my life that the Holy One speaks to me this morning.

The Lord is dealing with my heart and mind of judgment. As He is teaching me, so many of the lessons He has for me personally come out as He catches me judging others.

Matt 7:1-3 says, "Do not judge or you will be judged. For by the same way that you judge others you will be judged and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own?"

Back to the selfishness that I see, I realize I am guilty as well. However, the Holy One is only using this example of my judgmental mindset to take me deeper to the point of our conference this morning.

What he wants me to ponder is my role as servant....HIS servant. By showing me the selfishness of others, He is indirectly pointing out the selfishness in me. When the Lord calls us into His service, we don't necessarily get to vote on where that service might might take us or what that service might involve.

Unless we come to "serve" with a heart of surrender to the Master, our service can very easily become self-service. We tend to gravitate toward what we like to do to serve God or others, or what we can do in our own strength, or even where we might be able to gain personal satisfaction or affirmation or reward for ourselves.

The Holy Spirit is asking me to assess my life of service. Have I been serving my God, His way or my way? As I look at all the selfish pursuits I have under taken to control my own comfort zones, I can see how so much of my idea of service has been self imposed, self-centered and self-motivated.

The Holy One reminds me of the words of Jesus, my Lord and Master, in Matt 7:21,"Not everyone who says to Me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only He who does the will of My Father in Heaven".

Have I been seeking the will of my Father in Heaven, to serve Him here on earth? Or rather, have I been doing the things that promote my will on earth? I can judge no one but myself and in this place of personal assessment, I must allow the Holy One, through my submission to His authority and government over my life, to make the call to service for this servant to answer. And then I must make it my ambition to serve the Lord His way.

This attitude of life may put us in different places than we would choose for ourselves and it will most likely take us far out of our comfort zones. But it is necessary for us, so that at the end of our days here on earth, we can hear Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant".

How are you serving God? His way or yours?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?