Part 1
PRAYER! Water, PRAYER, Flashlights , PRAYER, Batteries, PRAYER, Candles, PRAYER, Matches (lighters), PRAYER, dehydrated food
Living in urban Southern California, God excluded from any survival scenario, we wouldn’t have a-wooden-nickel-of-a-chance to survive. Even with faith and trust in God, we may not survive. The key no matter what, is that we maintain our faith and trust in God through any scenario. His Word doesn’t promise us anything but the strength to endure, even unto death.
Fewer and fewer men who profess faith in Christ disagree that we are seeing the end of all things. No doubt there are terrifying times just beyond the horizon. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little scared at the thought myself. The temptation I face is thinking that my material preparedness is going to save my family. Don’t get me wrong, I believe anyone who understands the times we live in should be preparing materially. We must however keep ourselves from thinking that our efforts will ensure the safety and well-being of those in our families.
I don’t want to be someone who says one thing and in practice does the exact opposite. If I truly believe the words of Jesus when he says, “whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” then I must continually question my motives for every thought I have and every action I implement to surviving certain social upheavals coming upon the streets of America.
I have been thinking and praying a lot lately about having the heart and mind God wants me to have during these days. God is sovereign and He will allow whatever He chooses with the lives of my family. At the same time, I don’t think it a faithless endeavor to prepare for what you see coming either.
Preparation, the idea of what preparation means within the context of a man of God, has a completely open-ended definition. My idea of this has been evolving over the last few years and I know many will not agree with me, and that’s OK. I am not interested in forcing my ideas on anyone.
My ideas of preparedness mostly come from historical research. Research not, of recent history (the last 300 years), but of the first through the seventeenth century.
Here’s an article that has really stuck with me since I first read it. This article will give you a little understanding of where I am coming from.
I will continue with this article soon. Check back
I have been contemplating this same issue for a number of years. I have come to understand that depending on, and trusting in, God is the key, not our own efforts. But faith without works is dead. Depending on God does not mean passivity or apathy. When we trust God for his provision it is still our duty to the part He expects from us. Jesus told us to consider the birds, that He feeds even them. Have you ever noted that birds (except when babies incapable of flight) do not stay in the nest and wait for their food? They forage wide and far for their sustenance. God provides for them, but they have to do what they can to co-operate in His provision.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible brings that same concept to bear upon man and says if any will not work, neither should he eat. We should not expect God to do for us that which we could, and should, be doing.
Through Pharao's dream God revealed to Joseph that there would come a very difficult time of famine, but he also showed him that there was still time to prepare. Joseph did prepare as far as he was capable to do, and God used this to provide not only for Joseph, but for all his brethren, and the whole of his country.
(Prov 22:3) A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
That said, we are definitely not called of God to acquire a "bunker mentality". Our duty is to prepare, but not out of fear. Basic preparedness can include things as simple a keeping a flashlight next to your bed. It is for this same reason cars come equipped with spare wheels, and ships carry life rafts. That is basic common sense preparedness for eventualities that have a remote chance of happening, even though we do not expect that we will be using these. This is basic, or low level preparedness. When certain circumstances develop that requires us to better prepare, we have to move to a higher state of preparedness. What Joseph did in Egypt was not simply everyday preparedness, he knew trouble was ahead, and he made specific preparations to position himself in the best possible way.