Well in my other post this week I talked about Second Passover and gave some hope that the rapture might be near. And while I truly feel this to be the case, I also felt the need to write this post about preparation in case things drag on longer than we expect as it has done several times now.

Prepare, prepare, prepare.
No, I am not talking about stocking up on bullets and canned goods, although none of those type of preparations are a bad idea in some moderation.

There will be rainy days in every life and the wise do well to prepare to weather some of the storms of life, but the preparation I am talking about is spiritual.

Think about the worst case scenario and war game it out spiritually.

Suppose our country and the world goes a little more crazy and a Covid-19 vaccine comes along with a digital mark and the rapture hasn’t come?

This may or may not be “the” mark of the beast, but for some of us Christians it will be a little too close.  If we refuse it  based upon strongly held religious beliefs, we will be persecuted and branded as pariahs and Neanderthals - are we prepared for that persecution?

The key to the success of everything is preparation.

When an airplane has an emergency how does the pilot keep nerves cool and make an emergency landing? He or she has trained and prepared for it.

When a soldier goes out to the battlefield to face an enemy or a police officer goes on patrol and faces a threat to life - how does he or she draw a weapon and take a life? That does not come randomly, that is something every soldier and police officer has trained for.

Even if they hope they will never be in that scenario they train and prepare in case they are so when the time comes they will do what they were trained to do.

I would submit that we as Christians should beware not to make the same mistake as Jesus disciples.  When the time came that He was arrested and crucified all the disciples fled- they were not prepared against that moment.

And if you know your scripture correctly you will recognize that while Jesus was praying in the garden and encouraging them to watch and pray (think prepare) with Him- they slept.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the Jews in the Holocaust and how many stories I have heard about Jews that lost their faith in God because they did not think God would ever allow such horrors to befall them.

We as Christians should take hope, because we have the blessed hope and God will rescue us before we get more than we are capable of handling.

But we should also remember that sometimes God gives us much more than we ourselves think that we are capable of handling even though He knows we can handle it, and in these instances the only way we can hold on to our faith is by the preparation and prayer that we have stored up beforehand.

Let’s continue to hope for a soon rapture and removal from this crazy ever darkening world - but let us also continue in fervent prayer in these days and to prepare our hearts to love God no matter what troubles come our way.

Pray everyday for the rapture, but also pray for strength for the day and for the coming days if it does not come as soon as we would like.

If you prepare your heart to love God no matter what beforehand, when the evil times of life come, your faith will never fail because you have already trained yourself beforehand what your reaction to the storms of life will be.

This applies not only to persecution, but to everything!
Financial problems, health problems, family problems- pray and resolve yourself beforehand that no matter what comes your way, God has got it under control and you will love Him and trust Him right on through it, just the same as when times are good.

Watch and pray, and also keep listening for the call to “come up here” surely it can’t be too much longer!

Maranatha!
Derrick Drew