As we wait upon The Lord's Return, we are continually faced with many trials and testing and yes, spiritual attacks. It should not come as a surprise to us (1 Peter 4:12) and we should count it all joy (James 1:2). But many times we become idle, fainthearted and weak (1 Thes 5:14) and we need our brethren to admonish, encourage and help us.
The Lord has been showing me many things in His word regarding His return that I am eager and excited to share. Today, I am reminded in my own life and asked to remind with a question...
Are you doing what The Lord has asked of you?
The Lord is perfect in ALL His ways and He knows all of us and has a perfect plan for each of us...Should we choose His path and walk in it.
This is not easy by any means by every step counts and brings us closer to His purpose.
I believe there are three places we may find ourselves right now: completely without God; stuck in the seat of salvation; or being sanctified.
And even these three have there own stages to go through. Today, however, I will speak to the Christian women who are really seeking to follow God in their daily lives.
This will be a preview of a more in depth post regarding the times we are in and what we should be doing in preparation.
Firstly, I will encourage you by saying let no one discourage you in your walk with The Lord. It is personal and uniquely woven by God Himself, for He knows the plans He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11).
As a messenger and watchman for The Lord, I have been given a unique calling and burden for The Lord to warn and encourage His people to be ready for His coming. I have learned, however, not to impose my calling on others who do not understand. The Lord has told me that it is He and HE ALONE who wakens the hearts of men. I cannot 'wake people up', just as I did not wake myself up. But I am still called to sound the alarm in the hopes that more people will hear His voice and heed His calling.
You may not be a watchman but you do have a calling to work out your salvation with fear and trembling(Philippians 2:12). We all do.
If we want to truly live for God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we must allow Him to sanctify us into His perfect image. Obviously, this is a lifetime work but the sooner we humble our selves and surrender to His will for us, the sooner we can become the person He created us to be.
If you think about the uniqueness of your life and even the unique way in which God drew you to Himself and saved you through His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, it is very likely your story is unlike that of another. Similarly, once you have been saved, you begin to unravel, so to speak, the mistaken identity of your former life, and see the new life and true identity in which God had for us from the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 1:4).
In Philippians 3:13 Paul tells us that we should forget what is behind us and move toward what is ahead. Many us of know this verse as many churches use it to encourage leaving the old life behind. But many of us also know it is not easy to forget the pain we have gone through in our lives. And if you've been walking with the Lord, you know that the enemy will do all He can to bring up that past as often as he can to discourage and trick you into forgetting your knew identity. So, there must be more to this 'forgetting' so we can actually move forward. And praise God there is!
Let's look at 2: Ephesians 4:22 and Hebrews 12:1-2
If we are to leave our former way of living and embrace our new life in Christ, then we must not only forget the past but we must throw it off of us! Colossians 3 is a very powerful passage of scripture (and book) regarding taking off those ill-fitting old life clothes and putting on our new self.
I share all this to prepare you to allow The Holy Spirit to refine you sisters.
If you are a born again believer, you will need to be refined. We all do. And as The Lord has told me to tell His people: You will either be refined now, or you will be refined later (Jeremiah 13), but you Will be refined.
I encourage us all to be refined NOW!
It's not easy but it is necessary and for our own good.
When The Lord entrusted me with this ministry in 2009, it was founded on 1 Thessalonians 5:23. I had no idea why. I knew that verse spoke to me and that it was what The Lord wanted me to focus on:
"Now may the God of peace sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Well, 7 years later, He has continued to show me how this process of sanctification works for us, namely as women, and it is one of my main assignments until He returns.
Once you have a good grasp on this process and allow The Holy Spirit to do His great work in you, being ready for His return will not be a question or a fear.
Remember, none of us will ever get it all right. That is why He sent His Son- to redeem us- a broken, wretched, sinful humanity- and bring us back to Himself. HE GETS ALL THE GLORY!!!!
We cannot wash ourselves clean no matter how much we try. And even if we thought we could repent of every single sin, I assure you there would be more there that we didn't see.
But through His Holy Spirit, who leads us into ALL TRUTH, we can yield to His refining process and also Him to cleanse us daily and keep our garments clean.
Lord willing and by His Grace, I will continue to break this process of inner healing down. Praise God, I already have several drafts ready to be 'refined' and posted!
Blessings to you all sisters in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
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