Make Him Lord.

M A K E H I M L O R D

I used to be afraid of the rapture. I had a sense deep inside that if Jesus came back, I was going to be left behind. In fact, I even had several dreams where I had been left behind. Imagine that! Haha, God can really be in your face sometimes lol. What made me afraid of the rapture was the fact that I knew that if Jesus were to return, I was not ready. I was busy YOLOing out there, doing me. I was choosing me above God, not all the time but most of the time. I’d still go to church and read my Bible sometimes, but I knew I didn’t have oil in my lamp. I knew God was Lord but I had not made Him my Lord. I was in charge of me. Or so I thought, in reality the enemy was running my life.

Anyway, do you ever get the sense that you are not ready? That if Jesus were to return you may not make the cut? I think that’s God tugging at our heart so we can take a moment to sit with Him and ask what it is in us, that we have not surrendered. What it is in us that is leaving us exposed. Where have we not made Him Lord.

The thing is, we still get to choose how we want to live our lives but God does give us a warning. This is what will happen if you do not bring yourself under My covering and protection. If you choose Me, I can protect you and take care of you. If you choose you, you can’t take care of yourself and you will struggle.

As much as a 1 year old baby can’t look after themselves, we too cannot take care of ourselves outside of God. We are open and vulnerable. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” My pastors said recently, the word “may” in that verse shows us that there are those the devil can devour and there are those he cannot touch. He is looking for the ones he can devour. When we refuse to come under the protection of God, we leave ourselves open to be devoured, destroyed and consumed by the devil. So obeying God is for our good, for our safety, for our protection.

God does not warn us about the end times to scare us into submission. Nope. He is a loving Father who does not want any of His kids to perish, 2 Peter 3:9. Even His tone in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 from last week is gentle and not forceful. God does not want little robots following Him around. God wants us to choose Him because we want Him. He has already chosen us and sent us Jesus, now the ball in in our courts to choose Him.

God warns us of future events so we can make an informed decision. So we can’t say, “Well God, if I had known there would be a rapture I would have prepared.” Or, “If I had know you were coming back I would have given my life to Jesus.” He is giving us an opportunity to choose now. Which is a sign of mercy. You realise He does not have to do that? Literally the Bible could have been a few pages long, talking about how God loves us, how Jesus died for us, how we need to believe in Him and how He is coming back along with the trending hashtags, #loved #chooselife #staywoke.

Instead God gave us a whole book which explains right from when He created the world how He was there loving and caring for man, to Jesus dying on the cross and heaps of prophecies for things to look forward to and heaps of tools for how to live life and how we can turn to Him in any situation and ask for His help. God loves us. He really does.

So circling back to the rapture, the rapture is a good thing, which is why we are to encourage each other about it, 1 Thessalonians 4:18. The rapture is exciting because life down here is getting a bit messy (a bit how’s it going) but right before it gets worse, we believe God is coming back for us. Isn’t that exciting? I believe the rapture will happen right before the scary stuff in Revelations starts unfolding, and I’m all for it. I have never heard anyone complain about getting an early mark from work! It is exciting.

But even for those who do not make it in the rapture, there is hope. Or let’s say it doesn’t happen when we expect it to happen and life gets really sticky down here, there is always hope with Jesus. Choose Jesus in every situation even if it costs you your life. Yes. This life on earth is short. We live our lives for Jesus and in the last days we may get faced with death, Revelations 6:9-11. That is a scary reality and I’d rather pretend it’s not in the Bible, but it is there. Keep believing in Jesus. Keep your hope in Jesus. Keep your faith in Jesus. Death is not the end.

2 Corinthians 5:8- 10 says, “We live with a joyful confidence, yet at the same time we take delight in the thought of leaving our bodies behind to be at home with the Lord. So whether we live or die we make it our life’s passion to live our lives pleasing to him. For one day we will all be openly revealed before Christ on his throne so that each of us will be duly recompensed for our actions done in life, whether good or worthless.”

I am not saying go put yourself in dangerous situations and do unnecessary things. I am saying live your life for Jesus, keep Jesus first in your life and do not compromise on who God has called you to be for temporary pleasures or temporary comfort. You have a heavenly Father who loves you and will never leave nor forsake you, see Hebrews 13:5–6 and Deuteronomy 31:6–8. You are not alone.

Love and blessings.

Melissa Tsingano.