Sunday, November 09, 2008

There Are Difficult Times Ahead

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"Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead." (2 Timothy 3:1, The Message).

Each year we experience the changing seasons -- Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Their order has never been altered, nor has the cycle of their turnings ever been interrupted. Year after year it is always the same. While their intensity may ebb or flow, their time remains set and unchanging.

In a remarkable similarity, History also has its own changing seasons. And our world in now entering into Winter, an epic era of crisis. In Nature, winter is a time when darkness extends its rule of the clock; days are shorter and nights are longer. Cold trumps warmth, pleasures recede and harsh realities advance; toughness is rewarded, while that which is frail and soft is all but doomed.

We have passed through winter before, and we will pass through this one as well. Spring will indeed come, but not for a long time. And it just might be the greatest Spring of them all. For this Winter we are now entering may indeed be our final one -- the End of Days.

Paul wrote, "As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people." (2Ti 3:1-5, Message).

Those words were written almost two thousand years ago, but they read today as if Paul had just observed our world during the pass three months.

May I encourage you to let the Lord Jesus LAYER you with His presence, enfold you within His kingdom, cover you with His hand, and keep you safe till the storm passes by.

Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead.

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