Today's Reading:
Isaiah 57,58,59; Psalms 103; 2 Peter 3
Today is Wednesday, July 29, 2020. This devotion is very relevant to the current times in which we live. Make no mistake about it. We are not only IN the last days, but we must LIVE as last day saints. Otherwise, we will be duped because we didn’t take the enemy seriously. He plays for keeps, and we must not underestimate his tactics “nor be ignorant of his schemes” (2 Cor. 2:11). If we will live as last days saints, God will give us last days anointing!
Scripture
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these people are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for hastening the coming of the day of God …” (2 Peter 3:10-11)
Observation
I remember watching an amateurish musical in a high school that featured first-time wanna-bes. The scene was the death of the beloved town’s judge that everyone looked to for direction and counsel. But now that he’s gone, they were doomed to failure. The death-bed scene was filled with actors trying to be sincere, but with no luck at all. In the midst of a requiem speech, one of the ladies caught her skirt on a chair, toppling it. She starts to giggle. It spread to the rest of the cast and rumbled into the audience. It turned into a most humorous “supposed-to-be-somber” scene. What they presented was supposed to fit the situation, but it turned out to be quite the opposite!
Application
How much more, when God tells us that we live in the last days, ought we to be holy in all our conduct? We must live as last days’ saints; otherwise, we’ll be out of character from what we are supposed to be. Often, we don’t live as if these are last days. We are trivial-pursuit activists; our goals are no different than any of the mockers who are saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (3:4).
But, we are last days’ saints. I must be about my Father’s business. Everything I do must have, a sense of urgency about it. No, not with a sense of panic. We will not be impetuous nor desperate, but there must be a sense of urgency. And let the small things go — possessiveness, petty squabbles, pecking orders, insecurity. We are in the last days … we must live like last days’ saints. Wise as serpents yet harmless as doves.
Prayer
Father, I receive Your Word of refocus and wisdom. Change me into Your image so that I portray You well and live as I am supposed to live! Help me to be a wise warrior in these last days, not an easy push-over. You said in James 4:7 that we are to “submit to God, RESIST the devil, and he will flee.” He won’t flee unless we resist him! And that I will do!
We have heard that there will be another protest against the cross that is on our college campus in Eugene. These people are relentless, so we must be even more so! Hebrews tells us, “For you have need of endurance…” and that we shall be till the end. Sure, we grow disenchanted with those of a fatherless generation who have been taught poorly in our colleges and universities! Parents have paid exorbitant fees to watch many become unbalanced, disrespectful, and unreasonable. Remember: state institutions are run by the state, and they are producing what we see all around this nation today. Yet, that is exactly what the Lord said would be the characteristics of the end times.
“People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — Have nothing to do with such people.” (2 Tim. 2:3-5)
SO, I ENCOURAGE OUR YOUNG LEADERS: DO NOT get enlisted into this group. Stay holy even as He is holy. “Have nothing to do with these people” as we are told. Let raise up a NEW GENERATION of powerful warriors, a Joshua generation, an army that submits to God and resist the devil, and if we do that, the enemy WILL flee!
Ephesians 5:11 tells us: “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them!” Do your research. Don’t depend on Twitter or the false media, the inconsistent data, or what others say. Be wiser than your enemy and learn the Word. You will be kept in His hands and you will find that His promises are true!
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