What is the Spirit Saying Today?

As I read the Word of God today I asked the Lord, "Lord, what are you saying to us/me today?" I read in various places until again I came upon Matt 25...that's when the flame inside me went from low burn to full flame. I believe the Spirit of God has testified with my spirit in agreement that the content of Matt 25 has some real treasure for us today.

Before we get to a reminder of what's in Matt 25, another lingering voice within me keeps pointing at "patient endurance:"

Rev 1:9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

2 Peter 1:5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Rev 3:10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

One of the key foundational aspects of us as servants of our God is our
patience. We must endure, we must be patient, we must persevere....

And this patient perseverance works hand in hand with the glow I see all over Matt 25. If you recall, Matt 25 gives us the parable of the virgins and the parable of the talents before giving us a picture of the Lord judging all mankind. Matt 25 is a grand panorama taking us from where we stand today, all the way through to the very end of "life as we know it" on this earth.

If we look at the parable of the virgins, what do we see? Again we see patient perseverance and preparation. Preparation? Yes, the evidence of "prepared" virgins is in the oil filled jars. The wise virgins prepared themselves to wait for however long it took for the Lord to show up. They were ready to wait :-)

The parable of the virgins also has direct tie in with the "open door" we see in Rev 3 and 4. Someday in this worlds future, a door WILL open in heaven and wise virgins WILL go through it. We know from Rev 3 that this "open door" also has a direct connection with being kept from ALL of what's about to happen, exactly as we are promised in Luke 21:36.

In addition to our patience, readiness, perseverance in waiting for our Lord, we are given the gem that is known as the parable of the talents. The parable of the virgins tells us to be ready to wait, the parable of the talents tells us we are not sitting around staring at tents and sand while we do our waiting. We are to DO something, anything, with the "talents" that our Lord has given us. Remember, even the servant who came back with a little return on what he was given was told "well done" by the Lord:

Matt 25:22“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
23“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

It was the servant who has nothing to show for what he had been given that reaped the wrath of our master. We are all to be growing spiritual fruit in some way. We are all different parts of the body and what our "doing" is for each of us is radically and wonderfully different.

In my case, the Lord has given me faith to believe him for very big things. We worship a big God, very big, and he delights in people (like the centurion or the woman with the issue of blood) who believe him to the fullest extent of what he said to us. For example, if Jesus raised the dead, AND Jesus told us that we shall do greater things than he did, who among us BELIEVES him and takes him at his word?

I am sure that our God is looking for people today who will take him at his word and expect to see our God move according to his word. If the Lord said it, he meant it, and we fail to believe it at a great cost to ourselves and the world around us.

Keep the faith, done for today. Grace and peace