Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives and answered the question His disciples asked, What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age? He gave them signs to look for, but then indicated that when He does return He would come like a thief in the night, catching many people by surprise.
I don’t really like surprises. I remember years ago, in the third year of teaching my weekly Bible class, when I looked out at the sea of upturned faces I caught sight of my parents sitting in the middle of the class! They had come at the urging of friends to surprise me. While it was a fun moment for everyone else, it was not enjoyable for me! I felt caught off guard. While God helped me recover my composure, it was a very unsettling experience.
Surprises. Things that happen suddenly. Unexpectedly. With no time for last minute preparation. While I don’t like them, God has operated according to this pattern many times. And He has put us on notice that He will do so again at the end of the age. The question I continue to ask myself is, Am I ready for His surprises? Are you?
The worst surprise I’ve ever received was when I found my husband unresponsive in our pool. Nothing will ever compare to the horrific shock of realizing my life’s companion of 49 years was gone. The comfort God gave me then and now is that, as unexpected as the end was for us both, Danny was ready.
Are you ready for your life’s end because you know with certainty you have received eternal life through faith in Jesus?1 Because you trust Him.
Are you ready for sudden disaster, death, or disease because you are confident that whatever comes, God will never leave you nor forsake you?2 Because you trust Him.
Are you ready to hear the trumpet sound, and the loud voice of the Archangel calling you to rise and meet Jesus in the air?3 Because you trust Him.
Until the moment you see Jesus face to face, are you ready for those divine appointments when, without any preliminary notice, your teenager or co-worker or neighbor asks you how they can have peace in their hearts? Purpose in their lives? Are you ready at a moment’s notice to just give them Jesus? Because you long for others to trust Him, too.
There are many signs that are pointing to the final hour of human history. I, for one, don’t want to be caught off guard. 2018 is a year in which I want to do everything humanly possible to be ready for the surprises that await at the end of the age.
But it’s also possible that you and I could be in our own final hour and not even know it. Life can end abruptly without preliminary notice. Are you ready? Is there a person you need to forgive? An apology you need to make? A letter you need to write? A phone call you need to make? Whatever it is, do it now. I want to live life so that whenever or however it ends, I have no regrets.
By all indications, 2018 will be a trying time. A testing time. But it will also be a trusting time. Get ready….
For the glory of His Name…
1John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:6-8; John 5:24; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
2 Hebrews 13:5; Psalm 23:4; Isaiah 43:1-7
3 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
In the midst of global, national, political, social, racial, and even personal turmoil, you and I need to be anchored by faith in God’s Word. As the door closes on human history as we know it, we need to be confident that God has everything under control and is working to bring His plan to completion. While believers may increasingly be a marginalized minority, we know we are not alone, because Jesus promised that He would be with us to the end of the age.
Be encouraged as Anne challenges us to immerse ourselves in God’s Word, refocus our faith, and refresh our spirits in this final hour.
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This Bible study was prepared especially for the Winter 2018 Newsletter.
Thousands of people gathered at the base of Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC for the 93rd annual Singing on the Mountain. For many it was a life-saving experience. When I challenged them to make sure Heaven was their home because they placed their faith in Jesus, dozens stood—elderly, children, men and women. To God be the glory!
As you look back on your life, are there some choices you have made that stand out? Choices that helped to shape your education, your career, your lifestyle, your family, your faith, your character? What have been the consequences of those choices?
Every day we make multiple choices from the time we choose to get out of bed in the morning, to the time we choose to go back to bed in the evening. Some choices are practical, some are emotional, some are social. But the ones that make all the difference in our lives are the moral and spiritual choices. These choices, in a very real way, determine our character and our success as human beings.
A delegation representing The National Day of Prayer in India, with expected attendance of 200,000, came personally to invite me to speak. I have accepted the invitation issued by a government official in Telangana State with great expectancy of God’s blessing.
Choices are like a spiritual, moral workout. In a physical workout, to strengthen my upper body, I do a series of repetitions on stiff rubber bands. If I pull the band once or twice, I could say it doesn’t make any difference, so why go to the trouble? Because just one or two pulls actually doesn’t make any difference. But if I pull on them again and again, in a series of repetitions, day after day, they effectively begin to build muscle mass. The difference can actually become visible as I grow stronger.
Like pulling on those bands, choices are effective when made again and again, day after day. The repetition of right choices builds our character and strengthens our faith. The repetition of wrong choices can weaken and destroy us. Increasingly, others will be able to see the difference the choices are making.
My father taught me that when the White House calls, I am to answer. So when I received a call asking me to come to a Faith Leaders Briefing in the West Wing, I dropped everything and went. On a very stormy summer day, I found myself seated at a large conference table with other Christian leaders. We listened to presentations, facilitated by Pastor Paula White, that gave insight regarding the President’s agenda. I came away renewed in my commitment to pray for the President. Every day.
While most of us have made some wrong choices, or at the very least, some questionable choices, Daniel was a man who made right choices again and again. Many of us grew up knowing Daniel as the courageous man whose steadfast belief in the one true God got him thrown into a lions’ den—and also saved him from those hungry lions. But Daniel’s miraculous adventure in the lions’ den was just one brief episode in a life that stretched for decades, and changed history. From heaven’s perspective, there is surely no greater prophet in the Old Testament than Daniel.
As you may be aware, Daniel was taken into captivity with the nation of Judah when he was just a teenager. He lived the rest of his life as a slave in Babylon. As such, Daniel wasn’t free to make many choices. But the choice he could and did make at a very early age was to place his faith in God, and then live it out. Day by day. Choice by choice. The end result was a man whose character and faith were so strong that he stands out as a colossal giant in history.
What a privilege it was for me to remind the 7000 attendees at the Association of American Christian Counselors, who were gathered at the mammoth Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN, that the Holy Spirit is the counselor’s Counselor!
After writing The Daniel Prayer, I have reflected on the choices not only that Daniel made, but that I have made. At this stage in life, I can look back over the years and see some choices that stand out—some good, some bad. Some right. Some wrong. The impact on my life of choices I’ve made is striking in that at the time, many of them didn’t seem to be that strategic or life-defining. But they were.
What fun to help introduce Daniel to my daughter Morrow’s summer Bible study! It was held in the same room where we taped the first session of The Daniel Prayer video Bible study curriculum.
Without doubt, the most important choice I have made was to place my faith in Jesus as my Savior and Lord as a young girl. That choice was followed by others, such as the choice to read my Bible daily. But the next choice that stands out is the one I made as a teenager, which was the choice to live out my faith through surrendered service to my Lord. And that choice was followed by a third choice to embrace the magnificent obsession of knowing God as Abraham did—as a Friend, then pursue Him in a lifelong journey of faith, one step—or choice—at a time. Those three choices, more than any others, have set the direction of my life. They were the primary determining factor for thousands of choices that have followed.
This Christmas, would you give the King a gift for His birthday that I know He wants? Give Him your “chooser.” Reflect on your life’s choices. Regardless of whether you have made good ones or bad ones, right ones or wrong ones, from this day forward choose to surrender and live your life for Him. Choice after choice after choice after choice…until you are strong in faith and character. Until others can see the difference your choices are making. Until others can see Jesus in you!
For His glory,
Message adapted from Anne’s new gift book, The Daniel Key. Releases March 2018
Meeting Place for PrayerAnne has created a page on her website where she will post some of her own prayers, and provide space for you to post your prayers also. Her purpose is to encourage you and herself to remain faithful, focused, and fired-up in prayer during these dangerous, dark, and divided days. Then remain attentive to what God may say in reply. Click here to visit.
The purpose of this webpage is to give you resources to help keep you focused on hope, as you embrace Hope for yourself. Then turn around. Give Hope to someone else. Give them Jesus! Click here to visit.
Watch Anne LIVE at The Cove
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This Bible study was prepared especially for the Fall 2017 Newsletter.
This Bible study was prepared especially for the Summer 2017 Newsletter.
