Be Ready and Waiting
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to rent a room in the mountains and seek the Lord about many things. It was a time of fasting, prayer, and searching the Scriptures. I always dedicate myself and the place of lodging to the Lord as holy, washed in His blood. I want to be consecrated as a holy vessel before Him and my environment as well. I had just begun my prayer in Jesus’ name, and I heard Him speak so clearly to me, “The Year of 2015 – Be ready and waiting.” I paused before Him, knowing that this was a Word for this upcoming year. I have searched the Word in line with this command.
What are we to be ready for? What are we to be waiting for? What does this next year hold for us? We may not know, but we know Who holds our future. Amen! Jesus said in Matthew 24:44, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man (Jesus) cometh.” No, we do not know when the return of Christ will be, but we are to be ready at all times; ready as if He could come at any given moment. Jesus said, “But take heed to yourselves and be on your guard, lest your hearts be overburdened and depressed (weighed down) with the giddiness and headache and nausea of self-indulgence, drunkenness, and worldly worries and cares pertaining to [the business of] this life, and [lest] that day come upon you suddenly like a trap or a noose; For it will come upon all who live upon the face of the entire earth. Keep awake then and watch at all times [be discreet, attentive, and ready], praying that you may have the full strength and ability and be accounted worthy to escape all these things [taken together] that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man.”
We read in Exodus 19 that God desired to manifest Himself before the people. Moses was instructed to sanctify the people for two days and to “be ready against the third day” (v.11); the day in which the Lord would “come down in the sight of all the people.” They sanctified themselves by bathing their bodies and washing their clothes. This outward cleansing was an emblem of an inward cleansing. How are we sanctified (set apart); made holy? …By the blood of Jesus and the Word (Heb. 13:12; Eph. 5:26). We are commanded to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:6), for without it, we will not see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Keep your hearts pure before the Lord; and if you do sin, confess it to Jesus, and He will forgive you (1 Jn. 1:9).
Finally, we read in Hosea 6: 2&3, “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” I submit to you that the Lord desires to manifest Himself to us. He will certainly do this in the rapture, but I believe that the “two days” is two thousand years; so after this, I see a “reviving.” Two thousand years are behind us since the birth of Jesus. Then, the “third day”, we are raised up. Notice verse three that as we follow on to know the Lord, He will manifest Himself as the rain, as the latter and former. Let us be ready; washed in the blood of the Lamb (made pure and holy). Our Great God is getting ready to manifest Himself. (to be continued).