I woke up today at eight in the morning. I can already see what my co-workers will be asking when I get to work. "You look horrible. What happened?" I feel that my joke for today will be, "I was up until four casting out demons in Guatemala." Of course, I was only up until one in the morning casting out the demon and the other three hours were spent instructing two of my close friends.
Sometimes, God will put people in our lives to press on each other. "As iron sharpens iron, so does man sharpen man." My favorite scripture, Proverbs 27:17. God gives us people to clash against so that we may grow. My close friend who I was staying up with will debate with me all day and night if we both had the times. Just yesterday morning, we were debating about xbox and video games and their relevance to God and His glory. We are not afraid to offend each other because we know that we will stay friends, and if we do not clash with each other at our hardest, we will not get sharper.
Just as I told my two friends last night, we must be ready to step up our game now. We must be ready to step up our spiritual lives! Matthew 24:44 says, "so you also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him." Last night, when the demon came to my friend's house, he did not get a call in advance from the demon to set up an appointment. It just came. He had not been through an encounter like this, so God woke me up and made sure that I was there to help the process along. Now, all glory and praise be to God because we could not cast out demons if it were not for Him! I was not casting out the demon, and neither was my friend. It was strictly God that was working; but we need to be ready to be used by God at any hour.
In the post that I made last Thursday "Be Ready for Followers," I spoke about how a boy came up to me out of the blue to ask me to preach to him. I would have never guessed this boy to be asking for anything of the sort, and it was literally the one day that I did not bring my hand held Bible with me; but God had prepared me with enough knowledge to give him what he needed. We never know when a situation may arise. Sometimes it will be a demon trying to scare you, and sometimes it will be a friend or a stranger trying to ask you about God, or anything in between. We need to be ready for everything.
How do we prepare? You prepare by praying! You ask God what He wants you to do in order to prepare. You prepare by fasting, becoming physically submissive to better serve God. You prepare by reading the word, because you will always need scripture to serve God to the fullest; and you use scripture when it is written on your heart, so be prepared to meditate on the word. You prepare by singing praises and thanks to God; because putting Him on your heart and filling your spirit with His glory will keep you positive and ready to face any challenge.
When I say to step up, I am saying pray, read, and act! What is the point of reading the Bible if you never apply it? What is the point of praying if you do not follow it with actions? Be active with Christ! He wants you to test Him! He is calling His children to stand up and do what they are called to do! It is time to not just pray prayers, but be a blessing! It is time to not just read, but to teach and instruct as well! It is time that we get serious about our faith, because every day is a day closer to the last days of time.
My last posts these past two weeks have been all pointing to this. I have spoken about tithing and blessing others, about being a light to others, about being ready for spiritual war, about preparing our minds with Philippians 4:8, about forgiveness and positioning ourselves to be used by God, about leaving yesterday behind and pushing past pain, about making sure that we believe the Bible as all truths, and about our identity in Christ. We must be ready to do God's will, now! We must be ready to answer His call, now! We must be ready to fight the good fight, now! If you do not prepare now, while you still can, you will miss out on everything that God has called for you to do; and someone else will do it instead. David was about fifteen when He started to do God's will by fighting Goliath, so you are never too young. Abraham was eighty when God called Him, so you are never too old. Moses had a speech problem, but God had his brother help him. There is no excuse in the book for use. God is above excuses, because He makes a way for us to do what we are called to do.
It all comes down to this: are you ready to step up to God's calling, or not?
I do this in dedication to my two little brothers, Juan and Marcos. The call is going out to you, too. Are you stepping up with me, or not?
-D
No comments:
Post a Comment