Be Ready, Be Watching

Luke 12:40 "You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is
... So be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at a time when you don't expect him

The theme in my heart today is one of readiness. You have seen it written here over the past days that there are many many people who are not ready today for the Lord's return. These people will fight you tooth and nail to "prove" Jesus cannot show up at your door today. Time will demonstrate the error of their teaching and doctrine.

Be ready for the Son of man to show up. Look up at Luke 12:40 there and tell me if you see any wording there about being ready sometime later or in the future? It says be ready now.

The Lord dropped another bombshell into my lap this morning. This one floored me. We have discussed in the past why those who are not ready and watching for the Lord's return, likely will not take part in the escape. They do not believe the word of God, they are faithless toward the words that tell us to "pray that you may be counted worthy to escape all that is about to happen and stand before the Son of man."

This faithlessness ties directly in (by an opposite way) to the faith of the centurion

Matt 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

In the case of those not ready for Jesus to return today "as thou hast NOT believed, so be it done unto thee" is their problem.

We know that readiness has an important component for it called "watching." We are commanded to watch for our Lord's return daily. Again, this is something the scoffers of our day refuse to do. Their refusal to watch guarantees that Jesus will come upon them as a thief:

Rev 3:3... and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief,and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

So from the word of God we know, readiness comes from watching, which many refuse to do. Here's where the Lord floored me today:

If you've been reading here the past couple weeks you know the major theme has been faith, belief, prayer to be ready for whatever lies ahead. In this powerful trio we need to look carefully at prayer and how it works hand in hand with the coming escape. We know that the midtrib-prewrath-posttrib teachers refuse to pray to escape all because simply put, they don't believe there's an escape from all. How could that hurt them? Well, first, as you believe, so things happen to you-refer back to Matt 8:13 for a refresher there. There's also the disobedience factor, refusing to pray this particular prayer to escape all. Then, aside from the willful disobedience, there's the fact that they are not praying to be counted worthy of the escape.

They are not praying to be counted worthy of the escape.....now, we know the word of God tells us that our readiness comes from watching, if you aren't watching Jesus will come to you like a thief (rev 3:3), okay got it, so how exactly is it we are supposed to "watch" so we'll be ready for Jesus when he shows up?

Mark 14:38 ... Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test;the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble. ...

Keep "watch" with prayer....Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

In this case, its a very specific prayer that we don't have to guess about, its spelled out for us: that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

And we still aren't done with these key words of prayer, watching and readiness. What is it there in Mark 14 again? Something about testing? Mark 14:38 ... Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test

Keep watch..prayer, not be put to the test. Gosh that sounds familiar in this context of escaping all, where have we seen that before? Oh yea... 10 ‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

We are commanded to be ready, and readiness comes from watching, and watching is done through prayer and we are given a specific prayer to pray that relates to the escape. We know that how we believe affects our destiny both in this life and the next. If you don't believe you can jump rope, you probably can't and we know for a fact that "as we believe, so things are done for us" from the word of God (matt 8:13). Can you see the thread woven throughout this day coming to the world? The coming of the Son of man, like the days of Noah and Lot. An escape from all that we must pray for, being kept from the hour of trial that will come on the entire world. Readiness, watchfulness, prayer, faith, belief are all fundamentals that will be crucial in the days ahead.

Watch daily for our Lord's return, that means PRAY. Whatever else it is you are praying for I suggest that you: ...keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The Lord Jesus did not give us many specific prayers to pray that had the prayer spelled out for us by Jesus himself. One of the prayers spelled out for us by Jesus is the Lord's prayer, another is the the prayer for escape from all. We are told specifically what to pray for. The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy. If Satan and his servants can steal anything from you, they will, to include your escape from all.

grace and peace