Be on Guard Lest Your Hearts Be Dissipated
Luke 21:34
“Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know the ordinance [judgments] of YAHveh (the LORD)” (Jeremiah 8:7). There are people who will know because they know His word. He said when we see certain things happening, we are to “recognize that He is near, right at the door” (Matthew 24:33). Many of these things are now unfolding quickly before our eyes—we don’t know the day or the hour, but we better be ready, prepared, poised, and looking up at YAHshua (Jesus) who is the glorious “lifter of our head” (Psalm 3:3) and “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
If our eyes are not riveted upon our Savior they will be allured downward, to focus on the temporal things of this dying world. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). YAHshua (Jesus) is coming for those who are lovingly, longingly waiting for Him. He warned against the distractions and dissipations that easily beset us "Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap” (Luke 21:34).
The definition of dissipation is the act of wasteful expenditures of time, energy, money, etc. It is a preoccupation with that which is futile, fleeting, and temporal in life rather than focused and devoted to that which is of the King and His eternal Kingdom.
Human nature does not have the spirit of YAHshua (Jesus), it worships, lusts, and desires the creation rather than the Creator. But when we are born again the eyes of our understanding are opened and our spiritual ears are opened to hear what the Spirit is saying. We are to fight the good fight of faith in a war that wages between the born again Holy Spirit within us and our carnal nature that is set upon the worldly dimension and its sensory fulfillments. “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).
If we sow to the flesh and its desires and do not beat back our carnal nature and its idolatrous rebellious ways, by default we will reap the consequences of sin which is deception leading to destruction. We have a choice to yield to the Spirit and live a holy life or live for the flesh with its futile dissipations that lead to ultimate destruction. The flesh and the Spirit are at war with one another and we must learn to fight the good fight of faith against the flesh, sin, and the god of this world, the ancient serpent Satan, who “is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short" (Revelation 12:12).
It is written, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant [one who obediently serves with his gifts others in the body], whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food [the gifts that help nurture and build up] at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards”(Matthew 24:45-49 NIV).
To “eat and drink with drunkards” means to be intoxicated and preoccupied with the things of this world. In the last days, scoffers will say, “for years they’ve been saying He’s coming back, but He is not.” So their hearts grow cold and they become more and more self indulgent and cold hearted as they feed their flesh, becoming less and less in tune with the truth and more and more adulterous and drunk on the world.
“The master of that servant will come on a day that he does not expect and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:50-51). Not everyone who calls YAHshua (Jesus), “Lord, Lord,” and not everyone who goes to church doing religious things will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many are going to be assigned, like the foolish servant, a place with the hypocrites in hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (see Matthew 24:51). Be ready! Be waiting! Be wise! He is coming like a thief.
Prayer: YAHveh (LORD) I need Your help! I see and hear the warnings of judgment that are definitely here and accelerating. I am sorry for my halfhearted lip service rather than wholehearted devotion and service to You my holy King and Savior. I am not worthy to be called Your child. I have squandered my life in much dissipation. I ask for Your pardon and mercy to forgive me my sins and cleanse me of all my many idols and preoccupations that are futile and lead to ultimate destruction. Help me to fight the good fight of faith and by Your mighty spirit YAHshua (Jesus), to be more than a conqueror so that my flesh will not rule me but Your Spirit will rule. I want to be one of Your wholehearted disciples that follows, obeys, endures, and glorifies You to the end of the age. I humbly and wholeheartedly ask for forgiveness and the cleansing of Your applied precious blood whose power forgives and cleanses my confessed sins allowing me to be clothed in Your righteousness. I want to walk and live in a manner that is worthy by upholding Your blood that poured out to redeem my soul. In YAHshua’s (Jesus’s) Name, Amen.