He Will Keep You...
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 5:09AM 
Happy Wednesday, Friends! Susie Larson here...
And to those visiting, I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way. Each month I give away a $10.00 Starbucks gift card to someone who posts on my blog. So leave a post, share an insight, bless lots of folks, and just maybe you'll win a jolt of java for you and a friend.
It's time to announce the winner for August: Tammy Steiner, congratulations! Just send me your mailing address and we'll get your gift card out to you within a week. You can contact me through my website: www.susielarson.com
Now on to my topic...
Anne Graham Lotz is my guest on today's show. Anne is a voice crying in the wilderness, calling God's people to wake up and to prepare a way for the Lord. She is convinced that her generation is the one that immediately precedes the return of Jesus Christ. And this isn't just a 'feeling' or a hope-so kind of thing. Anne studies prophecy, watches the social, spiritual, and economic climates, and she makes a compelling case that it's time for God's people to wake up and look up!
Jesus said that the coming of the Son of Man will be like in the days of Noah. People will be eating, drinking, and partying right up to the end, with no sense of their impending doom. Anne writes, "There's something drastically wrong with a culture that goes about everyday activities oblivious to God...In a similar way, our generation seems to have no fear of God or awareness of our accountability to Him."
She further writes (speaking to the state of our nation), "God's past blessings do not mean that He will keep you safe at present or in the future. Your hope is not in the local or state or federal government. Your hope is in the Lord alone. With all of your know-how and your go-to-it innovative, creative ideas, you cannot predict your future or secure your future. God holds your future, and you need to get right with Him."
These are sobering times, and we need to be awake and alert to what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the Church. Are we weak, though we say we are strong? Are we lukewarm though we pretend not to be? Or do we daily fan the flame of our first love devotion to the One and Only Savior of the world?
We cannot keep ourselves, we are kept by a living, loving God, who patiently wills that all would voluntarily come to Him by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. But the clock is ticking, prophetic world events are piling one on top of the other. God is who He says He is and He'll do what He said He'll do. But oh, how He loves His own!
Are you running a mile wide and an inch deep? Are you more focused on a trivial task list than the coming of our King? I know I am sometimes. Yet, we live in unprecedented times. If we--as God's saved and beloved ones--don't live focused, passionate, and purposefully, who will?
Will we be found ready? Or will we be distracted, unprepared, with a lamp half full of oil?
Just how do we live with a constant state of reverent readiness?
The answer is right here in Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let's run with patient endurance, the race set before us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who, for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father. Let us consider Him who endured such scorn from sinful men that we might not grow weary, and lose heart.
Remember, we're not kept by perfection or performance, we're kept by faith in Christ alone.
Never have we been closer to the return of Christ as we are now. It's quite possible we or our children may see Christ return for His bride. May we live faith-filled, focused lives, tossing aside the trivial, embracing the substance of Scripture. May we reach out to those who are partying and shopping and living as though they have all the time in the world.
I'll leave you with this passage from Jude 1:23-25
Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.
~Until next week
Reader Comments (12)
Heavenly Father, Help keep my eyes open, my knees bowed, my heart ready.
My 9-yr-old daughter has been reading a series of teen novels about the end times, and that has sparked many great conversations. Although I stress with her that no one knows the exact date of Jesus' return (not even Jesus himself!), we need to be ready every day and living our lives as if each day is our last. Thanks for the solid reminder to put first things (i.e., HIS things and people!) first.
You are so right, though we don't know the hour, we need to discern the times and be ready and expectant for Jesus' return. Lord, make us ready! Bless you, my sister!
Thanks for your post. Isn't it something how often God speaks through our children? I've such a sense these days that I'm supposed to lean in and listen, and keep an ear bent toward heaven. God is moving in our midst; may we move with Him. Bless you, dear!
Thanks for stopping by. Loved your simple prayer. Ditto. :)
You sound like such a wonderful momma. I love that He gently leads those with young. He is good! Thank you for your wise words, and for your encouraging words. Bless you, dear sister!
Yes and amen to your post! Thanks so much for sharing your heart! As Anne said, 'What will we lose if we live ready? Nothing!" Even so, we cannot deny God's fulfillment of prophecy; may He find us with oil in our lamps! Bless you, sister.
I will be completely honest. Before today I've never heard of you. I was just listening to your "Alone in Marriage" broadcast on the Focus on the Family website. To say that you spoke to my heart would be a gross understatement. I'm also new to blogs, so my comment be in the wrong place. I just want to say thank you for allowing God to use you through your circumstances. It certainly is an encouragement to me. I look forward getting my copy of Alone in Marriage.
So nice to meet you! I'm grateful God used the Alone in Marriage message to encourage you. And you left your post in exactly the right place! :) May God continue to lift you up, make you strong, and establish you in His wonderful purposes for you! Blessings to you, my dear!