Be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The end times. The last days. The final countdown. History’s end game. No matter how you try to slice it, nobody has the knife or knowledge to predict it.

When evils appear to be prevailing fast and frequent, the talk is always about the end of the world.

Truth is, it’s ALWAYS the end times and that’s how we should always live.

No predictions or prognostications have ever been correct yet people still try. It’s a total waste of time and a total miss of the actual point.

Get right or get left. There’s no time like the present. Be found on the right side of history.

I think in all seriousness the Lord laughs at our preoccupations with the unknowable and utter disregard for what’s been clearly revealed.

This is, once again, man’s desire to be like God at work: Omniscient. Shamefully misdirected, self-righteous, and futile.

Be patient and stand firm is the instruction.

Patience is knowing He will return at His appointed time. Standing firm is to be unwavering in our call.

The time of the Lord’s coming is no game to be won. It will happen with or without you.

Meanwhile, our marching orders are clear:

Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”
‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV

The tongue is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Nothing is so important now that can’t be said better later.

But in the moment, in haste, in anger, and selfishness, most jump the gun and end up shooting themselves.

No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There’s plenty of evidence supporting the ‘count to ten’ intervention. Self-control is a mark of maturity.

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Slow down.

Years as a therapist taught me that the best and most effective words are those that are given pause to simmer down and cool off.

The tongue is a hellish fire .

Let it burn down to embers before trying to cook up a good response.

Nothing is so important now that can’t be said better later.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe he exists and rewards those who earnestly seek him.
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We normally don’t engage in conversation with an empty chair.

But those who pray do so every day, often to the scurrilous glances of onlookers.

The supernatural exists.

By definition it’s “beyond the scope of the natural world” and every prayer you offer is an acknowledgement that indeed, the chair is occupied and attending to our voice.

Faith in practice is belief beyond this visible, tangible existence and into the realm of the divine.

It presumes a loving, caring being seated on a throne befitting his majesty hanging on our every word.

The chair is never empty.

Contrary to rules of the natural world, prayer expects no dialogue in return to verify the chair is fully occupied.

Prayer transcends the natural, and is heard and understood in all its content by the only heart and mind invisibly capable of it.

So pull up a chair and tell your private story to the only one who hears, listens, and replies in ways, languages, and experiences that are supernatural.

The chair is never empty. 

He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Moses had it all and left it all.

By faith he left Egypt not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Seeing ‘him who is invisible’ changes you.

What was once your preoccupation with circumstances of the present—upon seeing him who is invisible—leaps out way ahead and into the prospects of eternity.

Every living being dreams of such an experience.

Stuck in the work-a-day world, we wish for something that will lift us out and into something more, of greater use and vision and purpose.

Seeing ‘him who is invisible’ and unquestionably supernatural is our deepest longing.

But is it even possible?

What’s the miracle experience you think will propel you and your belief forward like Moses?

Faith makes things real.

Pray for the faith of Moses who acted upon it and saw him who is invisible with his mind, heart, and his own two eyes.

Faith is confidence in what we hope for

and assurance about what we do not see.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We all have at one time or another experienced that “Aha!” moment when everything comes together, it all makes sense, and a convincing argument comes to life to birth an undeniable shift and purpose in our way of thinking and feeling.

Like the instant a little child first comprehends something only adults have always known, that’s when we start growing up. That confidence and assurance are acquired psychic elements necessary for healthy growth and maturity.

Faith is nothing we can touch, taste, or see, yet the reasoning behind its emergence pierces both mind and heart inescapably.

Faith is inherently future-focused.

It requires awareness and conviction of a fully-functioning supernatural world around us and within us which is on our team and working for us 24/7.

Ironically, faith is borne from reason not an abandonment of it. It comes from a hearing that awakens our soul to something more and bigger than ourselves.

All these arguments and examples are incomprehensible to those without awakened spiritd and thus, is a bullseye on our back and the daily target of the ruler of this world.

But faith is a changemaker from the inside out.

Keep the faith.

Keep hope alive.

It won’t be long.

Faith asks a lot from us

but promises infinitely more in return.

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

My friend devotes her entire existence to promoting the best in others.

As she comes to know you, she discerns things about you that make you a better person and you never take notice it was her friendship at the helm of your voyage.

Encouragement is her gift. She pays full attention to the details of your conversations and remembers important parts of them as if they were her own.

And at just the right times and places, she shows up like an angel unexpectedly dispensing love where it hurts most of all.

Though it may seem like a miracle it’s not. She’s merely obedient to the instruction she receives about how we should live our lives with faith in action.

And she always leaves you wanting more.

She sees the Day approaching with a winning strategy to recruit for God’s kingdom and at the very least, to demonstrate her unique brand of love that sows deep seeds.

The woman is on a mission and it shows wherever she shows up to illustrate this passage of scripture.

“I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Knowledge of what is right and wrong is already inscribed in our minds and hearts as is the awareness of God, the originator.

“No longer will they say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.

Inherent to being human is the often disregarded but innate belief in One who put everything in order and motion.

To be human is to know of God, but to be among the saved of our species is to acknowledge Him and the plan in place to tie it all together.

Doing what is right and doing so within the framework of its origin is that plan.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

That plan included the human demonstration through Jesus, His son, that our sin has been crucified once for all.

The greatest story ever told is the unfolding of this revelation about new life emerging from otherwise certain death.

All stories must come to an end except this one which demonstrates our hope and trust in a new beginning.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭8‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬