A Wakeup Call

If you woke up in Endicott or Owego or most of the area in a fifty mile radius, you may feel devastated or hopeless.  You may even be questioning your faith and the Lord, if you are a person of faith.  

My wife and I were evacuated from our home Thursday morning about 4:30 am, out of a sound sleep.  My wife was told we had to get out as soon as possible.  From that time until now the world seems to me like a different place.

We have the National Guard in our streets and flooding all over the place.  People have lost cars, trucks, many possessions and even businesses.  Many have no electricity or water.  Some homes have had extensive damage, many have been condemned and others totally lost and many people are in shelters.  I think many people are in a panic mode not knowing what to expect next.

This is a great time for the church to step in and help those in need and a time to pray for the Lord to use you in a special way to be a blessing to those around you that need salvation and whatever other help they may need.  Don’t let Satan tempt you into feeling sorry for yourself, which is easy to do at this time and also don’t be afraid to let your needs be known.  

Try not to let fear and anxiety control you, they will devastate you and cause you more problems than what is going on around you.  Fear and anxiety are faith destroyers and will only cripple you in the end and you won’t be any help to yourself or anyone else.  

I see the things that are happening here and all over the world as a wakeup call to everyone, not just the non-believer but those that are in the church as well.  I think God is telling us to get our houses in order. The church has been silent on many issues that are not being addressed, preaching watered down sermons and trying to be so user-friendly not to offend anyone.  But God is not happy with these kind of things and He knows how to get people’s attention and He will.

I feel we are in the end times and these circumstances and situations are the beginning of birth pains that the Bible relates to.  I believe the clock is ticking and it is close to the closing hour of life, as we once knew it.  We have been abundantly blessed with riches and blessings beyond measure.  And what have we done except play the “gimmy” card, storing up material things for ourselves and turning many of them into idols.

Now, before you get too offended, I am not putting every pastor in a box, or every person either, but if the shoe fits you alone will know it. I have written many lessons where I have stepped on my own feet and some I have wept over while typing them and had to repent and confess sins of my own doing and ask the Lord to forgive me.  I have also been broken over the tragedy that has been going on in the lives of many people.  Believe me this is not a self-righteous message but I believe it to be the truth.

Think about what you own and what you need, then think of the things you don’t need and could sell to help yourself or to bless someone else.  I think the poor people in the world are the happiest, especially the believers, because when they lose everything they have they haven’t really lost much because they didn’t have much to begin with.  But one thing they can’t lose is their relationship with the Lord, which is more important to them than anything else as long as they don’t choose to give up and walk away.  

The Lord didn’t promise us a rose garden or that we would never have any problems.  No He said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”  He also said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  So if you’re thinking about the blame game, don’t do it unless you point your finger toward yourself.

Jesus didn’t say that we would gain the whole world if we followed Him.  But He did say in Mathew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”  What was He talking about?  Food and clothing, read it carefully.  When the Lord said in Jeremiah 29:11, “His purpose was to prosper us and not to harm us but to give us hope and a future,”  God wasn’t saying that He would prosper us so that we could hoard things for ourselves, no, He was going to make it possible for us to bless others as well as ourselves.

We have been deceived into thinking like the world and conforming to it, to our shame.  The Word says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can prove what is the good and perfect will of God!”  It also says in Matthew 16:26, “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul; or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?”  

I believe that what is going on today will continue to increase and, like I said, we need to get our house in order.  These things are something to think about and I hope you will and not take them lightly.  Have a great day and God bless you.  And no matter where you find yourself in the scheme of things, try to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy praise, praise the Lord!!