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We’re waiting. We’re looking up. Is that all we need to be doing in the meantime, that period of time while we are all awaiting the rapture? Hardly. We have much to do–in the meantime. We have a lost world to reach and a sleeping body of believers to wake. More importantly, we have our own hearts to examine and prepare for the Lord.
It’s easy for us to focus on the externals, telling what’s going on, watching video after video, and reading article after article. Sadly, however, many of us don’t take the time to consider this: We will each be meeting the Lord face to face soon, hopefully very soon. I don’t want to find disappointment in His eyes over how I’ve finished the race. I want to know that I’ve left it all out on the field, given all I have to give for the kingdom’s sake. I also want to ensure I’ve spent just as much time with Him in prayer and the study of Scripture and allowed His Spirit to work on my own deficiencies and doubts.
This isn’t a time for us to stop growing with and learning about Jesus. If there’s ever been a time to lean into Him, it’s now. Throughout the Prepare Your Heart Series, you will be challenged to focus on the “being” of your relationship with God even more than the “doing.” Don’t get me wrong, you still need to “do” since time is of the essence, but that will be an overflow of the being-with-Him part. One of the most crucial elements of being with Jesus is to allow Him to show us our own hearts in light of His truth.
Through our first installments of the Prepare the Heart Series, we have considered the topic of the rapture and where our hearts are in anticipation of it. If you haven’t caught the other installments, there’s no need to have read them prior to this article. But here are some quick links below to the Rapture Ready articles if you’d like to view the topics.
Prepare Your Heart | Daybreaks Are Dwindling – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
This is a brief introduction to the Prepare Your Heart series.
Prepare Your Heart | Prepare Your Home
Watch this quick video to get you started.
Rapture: Why Are You Excited? – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
Asks the probing question: Are you excited over the rapture to get to heaven or to get to Jesus? There’s a vast difference.
Rapture: Why Do Most Fear? – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
Possible reasons for fear are not knowing the promise of the rapture, not knowing what’s waiting for you in heaven (hint: not punishment for sin), and not knowing Who’s coming.
Rapture: Why Do Many Dread? – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
Dread may be a natural response in our concern for those who will be left behind, or it may stem from holding onto a world that God is asking us to let go of.
Note: Since the last two sessions ran on RaptureReady.com, I’ve considered a category of fear and/or dread that the Lord never brought to mind while I was writing either of the above articles. Some people are afraid of or dread the rapture because they fear they will be left behind. These are believers I’m talking about, so that indicates they fear they may somehow lose their salvation. I don’t fear that–not ever. No matter how wrong I may get things still, I know my Father in heaven will never un-Dad me any more than I would un-mom my prodigal-at-times boys. If this is a topic that often troubles you, or if you need to nail this down, it is my pleasure to pass you on to Pastor JD Farag. The entirety of the message isn’t on this one topic, but it does address the passage in Hebrews 6:1-8 that Pastor JD calls one of Satan’s favorite Scriptures.
Excerpt: “And if there’s even just a little bit of doubt, man, Satan is going to exploit that, and all of a sudden, now your whole Christian life is going to be all about striving, working, trying instead of trusting.”
Back to our current topic:
Next, as we move into our “In the Meantime” sessions, we will tackle vital topics for each of us to consider as we make ready a people, ourselves included, prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17).
I’ll admit, some days I just can’t even deal with all this, all this darkness and bad news and rising evil. I want to sleep in, literally and figuratively. I want to leave all the “hey, the world is ending” work to others who are stronger and more capable than myself. I’m just a girl from Nashville. How can I be of use? I do ask that question, but it’s more rhetorical since I already know the answer. Still, I ask in moments of sheer panic when I feel the weight of my for-such-a-time-as-this season weighing me down. I know my call. It’s not so different from my call before I knew Jesus would be coming back sooner rather than later. Your call now, during this end-of-the-world season, isn’t likely too different from what you were doing before, either. We reach people for Jesus using our own unique gifts and talents, and we stay in His presence.
I hear the call. The way You’re whispering my name, I know to follow.
The words above came to me several years ago and led to what was my first full song beyond my early dabbling with lyrics. How could I have known then the massive implications they would eventually have on my life in this final-hours season? I’ve always known I was to be a discipler, to feed His sheep, but I never anticipated the urgency I would feel to help transform grazing sheep into occupying soldiers. The song goes on to say, “I stand in awe that You would choose to use the weakest, but I know: I hear the call; I stand in awe.”
I still hear His call to me as a gentle whisper and some days as a mighty roar. Each day, each new Daybreak I’m given, I’m reminded it could be my last to help make an impact on this world. I have my job to do. And so do you. You’ve likely heard His whisper for many years telling you your call, at least in part. This is your unique-to-you call, how you function in the body of Christ and how you relate to the people God places in your life. I’ve covered the topic to a greater degree here in the Rapture Ready article: My Design: How Do I Share What I Know?. I hope you’ll take the time to seek God and ask how He might realign His call on your life to use your gifts to share the nearness of the rapture and encourage others to lean into Jesus.
I won’t bore you with all the lyrics, but I will share the chorus of the song:
I will sing Your Name
I will stand and claim
I will tell the world, lean into Jesus
Glory on display
Lift my voice and raise
Shout, and I proclaim the name of Jesus.
In the meantime, we do that: We sing His name. We stand and claim. We tell the world to lean into Jesus. In doing that, we’ll show His glory to a world that doesn’t even know they’re longing for a Savior. That’s our outward-facing call.
The ongoing “In the Meantime” sessions will challenge you to listen more intently and respond to His inward call to draw closer to Him in intimate relationship and to grow into a bold, mature soldier, one who will take their rightful place on the battlefield of this darkening world.
A few topics I hope to cover if the Lord tarries are below. If you would like to receive an email to notify you of when a new session topic is available, please feel free to subscribe for that here: Updates.
Leaning into Jesus
There’s no more urgent call for the believer than to press into Jesus each day, each moment while we wait, so that’s where we’ll begin in the next session. Much will likely come our way in the meantime, decisions to make and stands to take. If you’re not leaning into Jesus, the days to come will be a time of unprecedented fear for you. That’s not supposed to be the case. God did not give you a spirit of fear (‘timidity’ in the NASB), but one of power and love and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). If you’re walking closely with Jesus, leaning into Him in intimate relationship, you will not walk out a life of fear but one of peace–and even joy if you can imagine that–until He comes.
Rattle the Gates
The concept of the making of a soldier, the making of you as a soldier, is monumental. We must become emboldened, solid-in-our-walk-with-Jesus believers who are willing to occupy until He comes. We should take up so much space in our individual worlds and shine such light that those in our near surroundings will see Him through us.
Prepare for the Unprepared: Now
Many are preparing for food shortages and what appears to be an inevitable financial collapse. What do we do when the people in our lives who’ve refused to listen to our warnings come knocking, asking to dip into our storehouses? You can bet they will.
Prepare for the Unprepared: Then
If we truly believe Jesus could come at any moment, are we living like we believe it and preparing our homes as a sanctuary for the unborn-again sheep, those yet-to-be-born-again people who will come to faith in Jesus after our exit from this world? What if our actions now demonstrate the love of God to them while they’re living in the worst times of human history?
I have a few other ideas, but I tend to get ahead of myself, so I’ll stop here.
As we close, I’ll add the video link to The Call. This amazingly talented young man singing the song is my son Zack. He was only nineteen at the time, four years ago. It’s painfully ironic that he chose to forfeit his call and step down from the worship team only a few months after singing this song. Pray with me that he will return and use the talents God has given him for His glory once again. I’ll never give up. Fortunately, I know I will get to hear this voice praising Jesus again for a thousand years plus all eternity. That helps a mom hold on.
I hope you’ve found the “Rapture” portion of the Prepare Your Heart Series helpful.
Blessings,
Lisa
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Free Resources:
Daybreak, Last Days of Light – Free book download
How Do I Share What I Know? (Lisa’s Rapture Ready Series)
Prepare Your Heart – Rapture Ready series in process
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About Daybreak with Lisa:
Daybreak is a way of life, one of exposing the rising darkness and telling of the soon-coming Light. We only have so many daybreaks remaining before that final sunset when we, as believers, are caught up in the air to meet Jesus.
As an author, Lisa Heaton is a storyteller with a heart for truth. Her greatest desire in her fiction and nonfiction work is to challenge the reader to discover the truth of who Jesus is and who they are to Him. Now, here as we wait for the any-minute arrival of Jesus for His church in the rapture, Lisa’s latest mission is to warn the lost and wake the found and to help others discover their unique voice to share the truth of our times. More at DaybreakWithLisa.com.
The post Rapture: In the Meantime… :: By Lisa Heaton appeared first on Rapture Ready.
