Biblical Thoughts for Threatening Times

Biblical Thoughts for Threatening Times

Remember who your God is
-Sovereign over all things. Psalm 135:6; 1Timothy 6:15. He is sovereign over all things in all places at all times in all ways and always for GOOD.
-Owns all things. Psalm 50:10; Philippians 4:19. Therefore His heavenly storehouse always has plenty.
-Loves His children enough to give His Son for them and therefore will withhold nothing else they need. Romans 8:32. He gave the Son for you. The rest is the small stuff. The greater guarantees the lesser.
-Provides for His children in lean and dry times. 1Kings 17:8-16; 18:4; Psalm 37:25. Neither drought nor stock market failure dries up God’s resources nor His caring provision for His own.

Remember what Christ has done
-You are God’s possession forever through the work of Christ. 1Peter 3:18; Ephesians 1:13-14. Nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. NOTHING. Romans 8:38-39.
-All power and wisdom needed for life and godliness is in Him. 2Peter 1:1-4. The great question in threatening times is: “Will we have what we need?” What DO we really need? What we really need is CHRIST and what CHRIST PROVIDES. We have Christ. Therefore we will have all we need.

Remember who you are
-God’s child. 1John 3:1. Not a distant relative waiting against the dining room wall for crumbs from the Master’s table. He HAS prepared a banqueting table for you in presence of whatever enemy that may come. Psalm 23:5.
-Christ’s disciple. Luke 9:23-25. You are not on vacation. You are fighting a war. You are not commander-in-chief. Jesus is. Take up your cross and follow Him…daily. This is REAL living.
-One indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, whose fruit is the character needed for threatening times (Galatians 5:22-23) and whose armor is all the protection and weaponry needed for the fight of faith (Ephesians 6:10-18). The Father will give His Spirit’s help just for the asking (Luke 11:13).

Test yourself to see whether you are in the faith
-Have you trusted in Christ as absolute Lord or as provider of the good life? One is saving faith and the other isn’t (2Corinthians 13:5; John 6:26-27; Romans 10:9-10). Salvation is ALL of God’s undeserved GRACE (Ephesians 2:8-9) but this salvation FROM sin is FOR good works (Ephesians 2:10).

Understand God’s Purposes in threatening times:
-His Glory. He shows His glorious character as He provides for His children in perilous times. Psalm 50:15. He WANTS to deliver us. Threatening times give us something more visible to be delivered from.
-Your holiness. God would use tough times to make us like His Son. Romans 5:3-5; 8:28-29. Therefore we should rejoice not in the pain but in the PURPOSE of the pressure or threat.
-The Great Commission. What looks like a blow to God’s worldwide plan for the salvation of the nations is really a turbo charge forward as the church lives more sacrificial and streamlined lives (Acts!) This attracts unbelievers who are desperately in search for hope. 1Peter 3:15. Lack of Money will NEVER stop Jesus from building His Church.
-The purifying and strengthening of the Church. When the church is forced to cry to God day and night, it becomes more the church against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. Acts 1:14; 4:24; 12:5.

Remain faithful
-In the Word and prayer. All we need is in the inspired Word of God (2Timothy 3:15-17). You need to hear from God? It’s in there. All we need is also available through Bible-instructed, Jesus-trusting prayer (Matthew 7:7; John 14:13-14; 1John 5:14). If you have not been faithful, now’s the time to start. Then keep on.
-At your work. Don’t allow fear or worry to distract you from what God has given your hands to do. Philippians 4:6-7.
-To your family and church. Love and serve your physical and spiritual families. This is what the life of a disciple is about. This is following in the path of our great Servant-Redeemer (Mark 10:45). Don’t allow the threat of financial upheaval to turn you inward to a life of self-absorption. DO NOT give up fellowshipping together (Hebrews 10:24-25).
-In evangelism to the lost around you. There will be folks around you in whom God is working and therefore who are beginning to question all they’ve lived for. The gospel is good news for threatening times because it is for sinners who will turn “…to God from idols to trust the living and true God” (1Thessalonians 1:9). Be clear on the gospel and pray for lips to speak it with love, clarity, and boldness.

Be prepared
-To suffer, if the Lord so wills. The early Christians were schooled from conversion that suffering WOULD be a part of their discipleship to Christ (Acts 14:22). The “feel good” and “have plenty” theologies of the TV preachers and paperback writers is not the sturdy, soldier-like mindset of New Testament Christians (2Timothy 1:3-7). In the way of suffering is a fellowship with Christ that is deep (Philippians 3:10).
-Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness (1Timothy 4:7-8). Put yourself in training for godliness if you have not already. God’s Gym, not Gold’s Gym, is what is needed here. Ask the Lord what He would have you do to deepen the soldier heart within you.
-Reduce/eliminate debt. Travel as financially light as possible. Live by a budget. Cut back on non-essentials. Make a plan for paying off debt that is wise and aggressive.
-Let your generosity overflow. We should aim to imitate the believers in Macedonia in 2Corinthians 8:1-5, “…In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means…and beyond their means.” Seek to give MORE, not less, to God’s Kingdom work. If possible under God, don’t cut your mission’s giving. Be ready to give to help those suffering around you.

Long all the more for Christ’s appearing but don’t think that it’s necessarily tomorrow. There are always prophets announcing “the end” with every successive crisis. Christ will return when Christ returns. How shall we be prepared? Be holy (Hebrews 12:14). Be faithful (Matthew 25:14-30). He will be looking for faithful servants when He returns, not frantic, fear-crazed folks holed up in their homes.