“The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.” 1 Peter 4:7-11 NLT
Can you feel it?
With any level of discernment, there is a feeling that things don’t seem right in this world. We have Israel being attacked by Hamas, and with a quick Google search, you will see that Israel is a central player in End Time theology.
But if we are not careful, we can be caught up in paying attention to the things happening out there that we have no control over. And by doing this, we take our attention away from the things we can control.
“So, John, what should we be paying attention to?”
Let’s look at what the first leader of the Christian church has to say about the end times:
The end of the world is coming soon. – This is pretty clear and to the point. Peter wrote this shortly after Jesus was taken up from this earth. So, with this being said, we are only closer to this happening. Let’s break this down further: we are not promised our next breath. So His return or our death is moving closer every minute.
With this truth planted in our minds, Peter will break down our response as disciples of Jesus.
Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. – Prayer for the Christian should be like breathing in and out. This isn’t the “save my bacon” type of prayer; this is communication with our reverent Creator. This prayer says, “Lord, please reveal Your will to me.” kind of prayer.
Jesus prayed without ceasing, as we are called to do.
“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT
When Jesus was faced with dying for the sins of this world, He asked God if there was any other way, but His heart was for the will of God.
There is power in prayer, and when we pray, it should give us strength to fulfill His will for our lives. More on this shortly.
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. – It was God’s love for us that He sent Jesus to die for our sins.
““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NLT
The blood of Jesus continues to clean us through this love, and even if we sin after accepting Him as our Lord and Savior, His blood cleans up the messes we make. This doesn’t allow us to continue in sin, as Paul would write in Romans, and our lives should reflect less and less sin as we move forward.
As we move through this world graciously forgiving those around us, it becomes an outward expression of what God has done for us through the sacrifice of Jesus. And God can use the grace we bestow on others to draw people to know Jesus.
Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. – Being a disciple of Jesus, we are called to fellowship. Satan can use isolation to separate us from the support system we have in the church.
One of the biggest lies that Satan will use is that we are going at this alone. But this is something that we need to work at intentionally.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And 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 10:23-25 NIV
This is something we have to do with intention. We are called to support and encourage one another.
“I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:11-12 NIV
The New Living Translation translates this verse this way:
“When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.” Romans 1:12 NLT
When we start in our faith, we will need a lot of encouragement. But as we grow in our faith, this should become a lot more encouraging on our part as we mature.
This is a complex world to navigate as a Christian; we will need a lot of encouragement to stay the course.
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus as Our Lord and Savior. We are also given spiritual gifts that we can use to serve the church and help build God’s Kingdom.
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NLT
I used to listen to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, and his catchphrase was “with talent on loan from God.” This is true for all believers. Everything that we have from God is from God. We have unique talents that He can use to grow His Kingdom. It is our responsibility to uncover these gifts and use them.
“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NLT
We will give an account of how we used the gifts of the Spirit when we get to heaven. And when we use these gifts to help others, our lives will bear fruit for the Kingdom.
“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.” Romans 12:4-8 NLT
Being human, we tend to apply weight to the talents some are given, and sometimes jealousy sets in. But God will bless us for the spirit that we use OUR gifts. And utilizing our gifts to the best of our ability will have the highest yield in helping God grow His Kingdom.
Another human tendency is our transactional mindset. We calculate what we do and who we do it for and think that the reciprocation should come from who we do the deed for. But this is not how God works. He asks us to give, expecting nothing back in return joyfully. He will provide for our needs and do this His way.
As Christians, we give of our time and money because of everything He has done for us through the grace He provided through Jesus.
I love this idea the best; He provides the gift and gives us the energy to use it as well: Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.
Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. – When our focus is on the gifts that He supplies with the energy that He supplies, it will bring glory to God.
“But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 NLT
It all starts with our faith in Jesus!
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness. I thank You for the gifts that You have given me. I pray that Your Spirit will clear them and give me the courage to use them for You boldly.
I thank You for the people You have placed in my life, I pray that I can be a light to them to help draw them closer to You.
I pray that this will bring glory to You.
In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!!
