I am thankful, my heavenly Father, that You are so very merciful, and do not give up on me, when I do the wrong thing, or generally lose direction. To have a relationship with You and Your beloved Son Jesus is so very important to me. My inner being is not fulfilled or content unless I spend time in prayer and Your Holy Bible. There is a blessing that comes when I share and tell others about the wonder of worshipping You and having even the smallest seemingly trivial prayer answered.
Power and achievement are realized when those of like mind come together. Sadly harmony in a group setting can sometimes not occur, because certain or all of the people in the fellowship, have not yet learned to give all of themselves to Jesus, and are therefore unable to humbly surrender pride and work with others in unity. I am sure all of us will quite often, have pride and self-interest, come to the fore in our mind, which is only assuaged by the power of the Holy Spirit. Such human attitudes when expressed by individuals, have spoiled church fellowships from the beginning. The apostles of the early church did not always have an easy time or congregations filled with ‘saints’, either, 1 Corinthians 1: 9, 10 “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement.”
The events on earth, before the second coming of Jesus, are prophesied to be troubled times, when the personal relationship of each person to Jesus, will be thoroughly tested. Malachi 3: 2”But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and the launderers’ soap. Verse5 ‘And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien – because they do not fear me,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
In Matthew 24, Jesus had a lot to say about the conditions in the world, that will precede His second coming, and the end of this world as we know it. To quote just a few thoughts, Matthew 24 : 5 “For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” V 11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” I understand the words of Christ to be warning us that we cannot live and plan according to our emotions. There is a need for all to give heed to His words foretelling that people or events may not be as we think we saw; and we cannot just believe what others tell us is fact. We can only believe and act upon events as predicted in His written word, kept deep in each mind and heart. Verses 12 – 14 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 And he who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
For the most part all believers and readers of the Word of God, have a real living hope in the second coming of Jesus. To affirm this hope, it is important to discuss it with others and support fellow believers in a church fellowship . Also when we study together and discuss our hope, all of us become more spiritually alive and directed.
I ask that Jesus give me the desire to daily, prayerfully read the scriptures with the understanding which only the Holy Spirit will give. I also ask that, I will not be deceived by wrong attitudes and human teaching. I am so grateful, that God does not leave our salvation to chance, and has instead given us every opportunity to find and receive an enduring, close and saving relationship with Him.