I love this!  How many kingdoms am I trying to establish in my life?  Inner peace and serenity.  Showing love to other people.  Living outwardly the changes my Father is making in my inner man.  Overcoming addictions and selfishness to live a God centered life of loving other people.

Sometimes I dispair of my ability to make any of these kingdoms come to pass.  Luke says I've already got any kingdom within God's will - not because I bring it to pass, but because the Father has chosen to give it to me.

The Father has even given me the kingdom of walking in His will - of submitting to Him.  Of course, if He gives it, I have to choose to receive it.  I'll have a part to play in the process, but He is the one who makes it happen.  I'm glad He's eager to help me submit to Him.  I wouldn't get it otherwise!

Jesus, thanks that everything about Your kingdom is mine for the accepting.  Please grant in Your grace that I do my part to accept all of the kingdoms you are leading me to pursue.

Howdy All!

It's been a while since I've had the time to write a blog.  It's good to be back.  Anyway here's the blog.

I've been noting some interesting things lately.  For the first time, the USA is pushing Israel to give in to international pressure concerning their own safety.  The USA was a buffer for Israel in the past.  It's got me thinking more and more about the end times, and what God expects of me.

I've never bought the certainty of the Pre- or Mid- Trib rapture arguments I've heard.  The simplest rapture explanation to me is this: there's only going to be one trumpet blast, at the end of the Tribulation, and that's when the rapture happens.  I could be wrong in this, but that's my viewpoint after reading Daniel, Revelations, Timothy, and Matthew.  Anyway, this blog isn't about debating the rapture (please note this in your responses - I want to discuss being ready for any course God's will may take).

My viewpoint on this is actually irrelevant to this blog.  Could Jesus call anyone to live through the Tribulation?  Sure, He's God and He could to anything.  In fact there is precedent for this - the Hebrews through the 10 plagues in Egypt without being affected by them.  If He does call me to live through that, He promises it's in my best interest to live for God's glory.

For me, the question becomes this: do I trust Jesus more than I fear the great Tribulation?  For that matter: Do I trust Jesus more than I fear any Tribulation?  Jesus endured the cross for me, what am I willing to endure for Him?  Beyond that, how should I act if I end up in a concentration camp, or living in the wilderness as I wait for Jesus to show up?

I came across an interesting letter from Corrie Ten Boom, written in 1974.  For those who don't know, Corrie Ten Boom was a Christian Jew who lived in a Nazi concentration camp,  She saw her sister die, and was later miraculously released (through a clerical error, if I remember correctly).  She then went on to become a missionary.  If there was ever a Christian who know about following Jesus through tribulation, it was Corrie Ten Boom.

Here's what touched me most in Corrie's letter (text from her letter is in blue):

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution. In China, the Christians were told, “Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured.” Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly, “We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes – to stand and not faint.”

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next.

Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus’ sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, “Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation.” Then I write it down and learn it by heart.

When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, “Nothing could be any worse than today.” But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part evil is spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.” (I Peter 3:14) I found myself saying, “Hallelujah! Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!

Notice what Corrie says about tribulation - that I should expect it, and prepare for it.  Notice what the Chinese Bishop said - that ignoring it or minimizing it wasn't in the best interest of his flock.  Notice also what she says about how to deal with tribulation (great or otherwise) - by relying on Jesus, and showing the Fruit of the Spirit.

Why do we not want to address this issue as churches (how often do we hear sermons on end times events)?  I think it's because we've forgotten, in practical day to day living, that we rely on Jesus after salvation more than we rely on Him for salvation.  If we can't control it, we don't want to deal with it (I'm as guilty of this as anybody).  If we have to rely on Jesus to deal with it, by definition it is something we can't control.

Well, anyway, there's something to think about :)

Jess

Here's the link to Corrie's letter:
http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/page/how-to-prepare-for-tribulation-corrie-ten-boom/