FEAR NOT

I’ve never been an alarmist, especially when it comes to scripture and references to the “End Times.” I’ll leave that to others.

Yet, I cannot ignore the state our world is in. Who can turn a blind eye to the daily increases in fuel costs, food, or home foreclosures or the almost daily decrease in home sales or the closing numbers of the stock market? Storms and natural disasters recently have taken their toll in thousands of lives lost.

I don’t think we can argue that we live in unsettling times.

I often wonder about those who have no faith in God. Many are quick to blame Him but that’s about as far as they go in recognizing the Creator of the universe.

Where do they find comfort? How do they escape the fear that seems to be creeping into every society around the globe?

Where do they find hope?

I won’t speculate on the times we are in. Jesus himself said no man knows the hour of His return. “So also, when you see these things happening, you may recognize and know that He is near, at [the very] door. But of that day or that hour not a [single] person knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Mark 13:29, 32, Amplified Bible

What I will do is point to the Savior’s words that give hope to the hopeless, peace to the worried, comfort to the afflicted:

And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth [there will be] distress (trouble and anguish) of nations in bewilderment and perplexity without resources, left wanting, embarrassed, in doubt, not knowing which way to turn at the roaring (the echo) of the tossing of the sea,

Men swooning away or expiring with fear and dread and apprehension and expectation of the things that are coming on the world; for the [very] powers of the heavens will be shaken and caused to totter.

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great (transcendent and overwhelming) power and [all His kingly] glory (majesty and splendor).

Now when these things begin to occur, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near. Luke 21:25-28, Amplified Bible

There are many references in the Bible that read like today’s headlines.

I don’t use scare tactics but I do believe in the Truth of God’s word. A little book that came out in 1974, The Vision by David Wilkerson, reads more realistic today than it did back then. If you are looking for truth in prophesies of the Bible lived out in the 21st Century, read this book. When you do, never forget that God’s in control.

My prayer is that you will come to a deeper understanding of the Creator’s love for YOU. Check out these web sites:

Running on Empty

Power to Change

Blessings, Francine


1 comments:

    I agree that it's important to not be afraid. I don't know that our times are all that different from times in the past but more that we have global access to information about what's going on. I think too, that people use the events that are closest to them as the means by which they judge whether the end is near or not.

    We tend to forget that other parts of the world have been having a much more difficult time than we have. Had we lived in Russia at the time the communists took over, would we have thought this was signalling the end of the world? What about when communist Russia took over much of Eastern Europe? Or during the time of the great famine in the Ukraine artificially arranged as a form of genocide? Or what if we had been Armenians in 1924 (I think it was) when the Turkish government was using methods way crueler than Hitler to kill off a race and take their land? At the end of the 19th century, a large group of Americans was convinced that Jesus would come in 1884 and had all the signs to prove it.

    I believe that most Christians now and through the ages have been more than eager for Christ to come and probably expected it to happen during their lifetime. Look at the writings of the New Testament! Even the apostles were certain the day was imminent.

    And yet to shrug our shoulders and say that he won't come now is dangerous because, as Jesus said, no one knows the time. We need to be ready. We need to live as though he was coming today. I wonder how many of us actually do.

     
 
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