“Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware, like a trap. For that day will come upon everyone living on the earth. Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.” Every day Jesus went to the Temple to teach, and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. The crowds gathered at the Temple early each morning to hear him. Luke 21:34-38
Like it or not we all have a dance with issues of darkness. As a small child I did not want to turn off
the lights; darkness frightened me.
(Things do go “bump” in the night, you know). As an adult the table turned, and I cannot
get to sleep if there’s a light on. But
that presents other problems, such as getting up in the middle of that darkness,
thinking you’ll have no problem getting through the darkness. After all, you’ve done it a thousand times,
and you know where to walk; but this time you discover someone moved that
chair. (Rather, your bare foot finds out
for you).
On a spiritual plane Jesus taught the principle of keeping the lights
on. This entire chapter of Luke’s Gospel
has Jesus’ teaching of the end of days and the coming judgment. To be caught in the darkness of carousing,
drunkenness, and all the worries of this life (and aren’t there many?), is to
be unprepared for the Advent, the next coming of our Lord. The word of Jesus’ message is alert,
and the Lord taught us how to do that.
There are three moving parts to keeping the spiritual lights on.
1.
Pray
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
This is Paul the Apostle’s advice to a church family he loved very much. The worries of life are no match for
prayer. There is no mistaking the fact
that praying is a trust issue. To pray
is (in the language of the Scriptures) to bind oneself to
the care of another. We bind ourselves
to God’s will as we bow before Him…praying.
2.
Keep Praying
Never stop praying. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Paul told another loved group of disciples at Thessalonica that a little “now
I lay me down to sleep” praying will not suffice in spiritual warfare. You’ll just wind up sleeping in the
darkness. To never stop praying
means just that; keep yourself in prayer mode day-in and day-out. Be (as Paul told Timothy about his preaching) always at it, in favorable circumstances or not. Make prayer an ongoing conversation with your
Heavenly Father.
3.
Pray with Other
Believers
And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25
Ours is not a solitary faith. It is
true that we are individually responsible for our choices…those which lead to
good or evil. But we are never to imagine
we are to depend only on ourselves to muddle through. My single most annoying flaw (most annoying
to me, and to my Heavenly Father) is failing to enlist or involve others in my
struggles. And that is exactly what Paul
writes to his fellow Jewish believers in this passage, that we cannot afford to
experiment with “aloneness” when we are involved in Kingdom of God; it’s a
group project!
I’m not sure God’s people grasp that nearly as much as the world
does. The diversity mania mantra is Stronger
Together. That is coopted from God’s
Word to enforce a forced unity in people who resist change. Taking it back to the holy meaning of praying
with other believers, we must keep on gathering, because there is vital
encouragement to be found in our worship.
Times of giving, building, testifying, and bowing before God in prayer
and praise bring the kind of strength Jesus exemplified for us.
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
Title image, Pixabay.com and W Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The
New Living Translation©
For other posts on this topic see: On Guard and Wisdom from Above
