Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Now, brothers and sisters, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be quickly shaken in your mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, saying that the day of Christ has already come.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 (emphasis added)

He is coming soon. I will grant you that the church has been saying that a long time, but it has been true for a long time and it gets truer every day that passes. It will be truer and truer until it happens. It won’t ever be less true than it is right now and it will be even truer tomorrow or next year or next century. It is true. He is coming soon. Soon. Soon. And soon. “These words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things that must happen soon” (Revelation 22:6, emphasis mine) These are the last words that Jesus had to say in His Word. The very last that He Himself gave. And He said it more than once. He is coming. It is going to be soon. And it is going to happen. Don’t lose sight of that. It can be deadly.

Years ago, I knew a guy. He had been raised in the church, but he was set on having some fun. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe, but there was no urgency to his life. There was time for it. It was the way he led life at that time. He had three girlfriends. Why? Well, he hadn’t decided on just one yet. He was waiting to see how it would go. There was time. Another friend of mine was talking Jesus to him and asked flat out why he hadn’t made a firm decision to believe and act on it. His words were ‘worst case, I can repent on my deathbed.’ He was dead within 24 hrs of saying that. Car accident. No chance to repent on a bed. Gone. We don’t know if he got right with the Lord before he died. But we know Jesus was talking to him about it. Through friends, family, and co-workers. Jesus was staying front and centre. We can only hope he took Jesus up on the offer. The end is coming soon. We won’t have time to repent and spread the Good News when Jesus comes back. It will be too late. He’ll be back and everyone will know He’s real.

“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Revelation 22:7). If you believe in the Word, you believe in the Word. If you believe and apply it, you won’t be afraid. You won’t be troubled. You won’t be shaken in your mind. Because the Word will strengthen your faith. It will build it up if you’ll let yourself dwell on the Word on a daily basis. Fear comes from worry. Faith comes from the Word. Remember the definition of faith: eager expectation. Fear is eager expectation in the devil’s ability or the world’s ability to do you wrong. Faith is the eager expectation, the TRUST, that the Lord told the truth and can be trusted to do what He said He would do. Period.

Keep the words of the Word. Don’t do the do nots. Do the do’s. In fact, when we keep the Word the whole do/do not thing is semantics. It’s paper principles. Because when we seek the Lord with intent. When we open the Word to seek His face, asking Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to us in whatever scripture we’re taking in that day, things change. We start to spiritually metabolise the Word (Psalm 19:14). It gives our spirit energy in specific areas and we draw strength from that in those areas and get to walk in them. In other words, we WANT the do’s (Philippians 4:8). We AUTOMATICALLY start doing the do’s. Which means whether consciously or unconsciously, we start to avoid the do nots. We start disliking the behaviour and thinking that does us harm. We get renewed to new thinking (2 Corinthians 2:12).

You’ll enjoy yourself while you’re doing it. Get into the Word and it will excite you. It will make you eager to open it and read. Any part of it. It’ll be fun. It’ll be awesome. Trust me. You’ll like it better than movies, books, television, games, or any other kind of entertainment. It isn’t that those things are wrong or bad, it is only that the Word is better. You will find yourself turning to the Word instead of the remote. Thinking about passages you’d like to read when your chores are done instead of a show to put on. Learn the Word. Live it. Be Blessed. Don’t wait to start. He’s coming soon.

““Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work” (Revelation 22:12). Do the work. The Word gives us lots of things to do (John 15:1-2). Talking up Jesus to people. One on one. Inviting them to coffee or a meal to chat about spiritual things. Spreading the Good News. And most important, make disciples. This isn’t a job that has an end date. It isn’t a phase. If you’re breathing, you should be discipling. Your children. Your friends. Your neighbours. Someone at church. Someone you brought to church after they got saved. Take a year or two and spend time with them. Helping them build on the Word. Read it together. Talk about it. Look things up. Study it. Pray about it. Listen to the Lord together. Leave no stone unturned. It isn’t work. It isn’t a stage. It’s a privilege. Not ready to disciple? Find someone to disciple you! Can’t find anyone? Ask the Holy Spirit. He’s here to tell us all things. All of them. Everything we can handle. Everything we’re ready for. Each piece of information getting us closer and closer to God. We need instruction and we need training. Thanks to technology, we have more teaching available to us than any other generation in the history of humanity. Use it. These are the things we’re to do every single day that we have breath in our body (Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18). To live for Jesus, abide in the Lord, and disciple our fellow humans. Period. Never stop. He’s coming soon.

“He who testifies these things, says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”” (Revelation 22:20). The world will tell you it’s stupid. The devil will tell you it’s useless. That this ‘soon’ thing has been going on for more than two thousand years with no end in sight. That isn’t soon. That’s a pipe dream. But that isn’t what the Word says. The Word says Jesus is coming back. More than that, He’s coming back in the same way He went up (Acts 1:10-11). My absolute favourite thing about that passage is the angels. I can see it so clearly. Jesus rising into the air. Every face tracking Him. Staring up into the sky. Watching Him get smaller and smaller. Eager in their view of their Risen Lord, their Saviour, the Living One. And as they stand there, craning necks, squinting eyes. Two angels appear. No one notices them. The angels look at the people. Look up at the empty sky. Look at the people again and say, ’Ummm…. Why are you staring at the sky?’ A ‘whatcha doing?’ moment. I find it so funny. I can see them blinking. Taking in the angels. Mouths agape. Fighting the urge to look back at the sky. The angels patting a back here or there saying ‘You know He’s coming back, right? The same way? Not now though, but soon. Give your necks a rest.’

He’s coming soon. Angels said it and they cannot lie because they can only say what the Lord God Almighty gives them to say and there is no lie in the Lord. Jesus is coming soon! He’s coming from the sky. He’s not lying. The angels aren’t lying. The prophets aren’t lying. The early church wasn’t lying. The prophecies and revelations aren’t lying. The Word isn’t lying. There are no contradictions, arguments, or uncertainty. He’s coming back. Soon. Jesus isn’t lying. He’s coming back soon. Don’t let the world convince you otherwise. He’s coming back soon. Meditate on it for a while and you’ll start to feel it. That tingle in your spirit. Holy Spirit will proclaim it to you. You’ll have that visitors-coming urge to look out the window. Glance at the sky. See if you can see Him yet. He’s coming back. He’s coming back. He’s coming back.

Soon.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Revelation 1:1-8

Jesus loves you. He loves you and washed your sins into non-existence by His blood. Shed in the garden. Shed in Jerusalem. Shed on dirt, stones, and thorns. Shed on the cross, on the tree, on the wood. Shed for you. Shed for me. He started things, He’s going to end things, and He’s made a special place for you in it. Because He loves you and can’t imagine not having you with Him. He doesn’t want to. He wants you. With Him. In glory! He wants it so bad He’s coming back just so that you can head into the sky with Him. A perfected present of fellowship to give and share with His Father in His Spirit. He loves you. He loves you so much. He’s coming. And He’s coming soon. Just to see your smile when you see His.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.