I Am Coming Soon!
“Our beloved Savior made it clear during His ministry on earth that there was a great price to pay to follow Him””
We must set our minds and wills to be obedient to Yahveh (the Lord). Our Savior says in Mark 8:38, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Yahshua (Jesus) is bringing up the following subject to the forefront because we all have suffered shame, self-consciousness, embarrassment, the fear of man and rejection, and concern for our own reputation too many times and have not spoken up and taken a stand to proclaim His righteousness and His kingdom. In reality, we have all fallen prey at time to being cowards. Our beloved Savior made it clear during His ministry on earth that there was a great price to pay to follow Him. Yes salvation is free through His atoning and sacrificial blood, but to follow Him into His kingdom He was very explicit on how high that cost would be. Again and again and again we are going to have to be confronted with the reality of the cost to follow Yahshua (Jesus) and to recount the cost at every new threshold in the narrowing of the narrow path that leads to life. We are continually going to feel that the death of our flesh is being required even more than before.
“Those who never “counted the cost” bought into a cheap form of religion that denies the power of truth””
Very few of us when led to salvation, were ever taught that we first had to count the cost and what that cost would be. This is due to the fact that most people were never taught it and never counted the cost—therefore, they are walking on the broader path instead of the narrow path. From generation to generation the broader path gets filled with more people and the narrow path is overlooked and justified away by “religion” that says this does not apply to the Jesus we know. Those who never “counted the cost” bought into a cheap form of religion that denies the power of truth. We have to take a serious look at the Savior who gave His life and the requirements He made clear right up front to those listening, in order that they could truly count the cost and know what it meant to follow Him. It would need to be recounted throughout their walk in order to continue following Him on that straight and narrow path that He said very few would enter. "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24).
““And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God” ”
To deny Him does not mean to completely disavow that you even know Him and that you are His follower, it is the way you live your life. This should bring us conviction. Only those who have denied themselves, picked up their cross, and are being daily crucified on that cross, identified with their Savior, only they are going to be the ones who can bear witness bravely and never deny Him even if it cost them their lives. Yahshua (Jesus) is taking the words “deny me” into a place where your whole lifestyle has to be so dramatically speaking of your love and service to Him and that your humility to live a yielded life to Him is so very magnified that others will know you have been with Him. That is what the servant girl said to Peter, "This man was with Yahshua (Jesus) of Nazareth" (Matthew 26:71). You have been with Him. So even though his mouth denied it, the fact that he stayed so close to the Messiah spoke to the non-believer, but he had not yet counted the cost to be associated with Him. He who is ashamed of Me is not really the right word. It is everything about us has to be so peculiar and separate unto our God and Savior that others will know that we are truly believers regardless of the cost to our lives, marriages, and families. We cannot in anyway succumb to fitting in, pleasing others, and try to remain undercover. Unless you pick up your cross and deny yourself you are not His disciple. So he who denies himself and picks up his cross and continues that life of denial where everyone can see you are truly separate and peculiar and have been living a life of intimacy with Him—those are the ones Yahshua (Jesus) is not going to deny.
“Being caught up in the reality of prophecy and the reality of its unfolding before us can be such a preoccupation that we forget that the flesh is needing crucifixion and our call to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling””
As we are watching prophecy unfold very quickly, reading more accurately than any of the media which is giving us falsehood, we, who know the Scripture, are excited to see our Savior’s words and the prophet’s and apostle’s words unfolding so quickly—pointing to the times truly being the last days. Some say the last hours some might say the last minutes that we have left on this Earth as we know it. This reality of being aware of the prophet’s words is vital, “We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). The light is to lighten our path and to follow our Savior who is the One who leads His sheep out of this doomed world into His kingdom. However in this huge outpouring of prophetic revelation of the Scripture and the political times that are unfolding, we must become more like Yahshua (Jesus) who set His forehead like flint when He knew He was on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified. He knew what was coming and He had a work to fulfill on this earth and no fear of what was coming could stop Him for the joy set before Him. Being caught up in the reality of prophecy and the reality of its unfolding before us can be such a preoccupation that we forget that the flesh is needing crucifixion and our call to work out our salvation with fear and trembling as we make every effort to be found pure, spotless, blameless, and holy is more important than ever because we do not have a lot of time to get our bridal garments ready before we see our Bridegroom. So the prophecies are wonderful to stir us up to the reality of the times but what are you doing with the little bit of daylight and peaceful times that are left before all hell truly breaks out on this earth and more and more lives are going to be martyred and the cost to follow our Savior will become even greater in countries such as the United States of America?
Do you want abundant life? If yes, know that it means suffering death to our fleshy nature so that Yahshua (Jesus) can live in and through you and be manifested by the fruits of His Spirit being seen and recognized by others as the Savior—not a work of the flesh. Apostle Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “… to live is Messiah and to die is gain” and we are to pour out our lives as a drink offering so others can live because the abundant life of Yahshua (Jesus) is being magnified in and through our crucified carnal nature. We must get to that point, dear ones, where to live is Christ (Messiah), and to die is gain, gain, gain and more gain! If we cringe when we hear the word “die,” then we are not candidates to really be disciples; we are not willing to suffer with Him, because suffering means death to self and flesh and all its desires, hopes, and dreams because Yahshua (Jesus) is our exceedingly great reward at any cost.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I have been enveloped in the pride of my own understanding, in my own flesh, in my own self-justified ways. Yahveh (LORD), what You see in my heart does not line up to being a true, born-again believer who suffers with You, who walks as Yahshua (Jesus) walked, and who has Your interests over my interests at heart. Yahveh, we are at the last hour; no one knows when You will come for our souls, to “… give to each person according to what they have done” (Revelation 22:12). You want me to fully give my life to You afresh with a new understanding of what it means to be Your son or daughter.
Yahveh (LORD), I want You to lead and guide me. Please forgive me for my selfishness, for being afraid to suffer, for being marked in Your sight as a coward. Forgive me for being ashamed of You; forgive me for not speaking about You and Your word to others. I want to enter that narrow gate that so few will enter. I beseech You, through Yahshua (Jesus), to help me strive with everything to enter that narrow path into Your righteous eternal kingdom. I want to be victorious; I want You to be pleased and say, “… Well done, my good [and faithful] servant!” (Luke 19:17).
Yahshua (Jesus), I know You are coming soon and that time is of the essence; help me to use my time for Your glory and Your kingdom. Forgive me for fritting around and wasting time. I ask Your Spirit, to lead me into all truth. Forgive me for not having a love for the lost. I acknowledge that I am so selfish that I rarely care about others’ souls, not to the degree that it should consume me and cause me to die to my flesh so that You can reach the lost through me. I ask You to give me Your love, compassion, and a desire to seek and to save the lost through the power of Your Spirit.
I ask Your Spirit, to fill, lead, and empower me to bear Your identity and to count it a joy to be worthy to suffer with You. Forgive me for what has been. Thank You for Your blood of Yahshua (Jesus); I give my life to You. Help me in my weaknesses, and perfect Your power in my weakness. May I have many souls to bring into Your kingdom. Help me to never lean on my own arms of flesh, but in all my ways to acknowledge You and You will make my paths straight (see Proverbs 3:6). May You blot out the label “coward” from my soul. May you write upon me: “More than a conqueror through Yahshua Messiah (Jesus Christ).” In Yahshua’s (Jesus’s) name, halleluYAH!
