Keeping Your Eyes Focused On Jesus

KEEPING OUR EYES FOCUSED ON JESUS DURING TURBULENT TIMES
Dear Saints,

Recently I have read so many "warnings" coming forth that it is enough to make a person’s head spin! Fear is so being generated in the body of Christ that it could leave one weak and fearing what the future holds. You hear about the Illuminati, the different "power" sources world wide, Bird virus and other new diseases upon the earth, killer bees, global warming, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, strange weather patterns, on and on the list goes. Many are shaking in their homes, wondering when we are going to be attacked or the new world order will take over. Fear! Fear! Fear!!! Where is the hope we have been given through Christ Jesus? What report are we giving when these things accost us? How focused on Jesus are we when the world around us is in great despair?

I have been seeking the Lord on all this craziness that is going on knowing that something has to be done. The world is in chaos and many in this world are going to hell in a hand basket. Strange phrase, "going to hell in a hand basket" but what I understand it to mean is that people are being led to hell without standing against it but are rather being carried in by the plans and schemes of the enemy and the people just go merrily along. I think of the many Jews who were lied into going to the gas chambers, thinking they were going to showers. For many, they had no clue what they were headed into and today satan continues to mislead people straight to hell. Lord, open their eyes and ears to know Your Truth, in Jesus’ name I pray! When I hear of all these dark things I wonder what we are supposed to do as Christians. I am but one person, how can I impact these other powers that are in place, gaining momentum? Lord, what am I to do for Your kingdom’s sake???? These questions have been going forth to the Lord for awhile now.

This morning, during a time of "quiet" when my husband and I were in prayer, I again sought the Lord on what I/we were to do. In my spirit I heard the message He has spoken to me before, "Love My people." I felt it coming from His Father’s heart, loving all mankind and wanting them to accept Him through His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. It spoke of those children not yet born to the family of God but to whom He was calling out to. It was words I marveled at, knowing how messed up the world is and yet His love awaited all those who would receive Him that He sent. It came from the voice of Him who loves the unlovable and who is a father to the fatherless. It was the voice of the Ancient of days reaching out to the young, the old and the in between, "Love My people." That is so paramount on the heart of our heavenly Father in this hour. I was surprised that He did not give me direction in our ministry though He did later show me how we could love His people through ministry. Rather, He simple said, "Love My people."

As I was meditating on what God had said, suddenly I was given a thought about when Jesus walked on earth. It was a turbulent time that He was born into. Israel was occupied by Roman forces and had been by for least 50 years prior to Jesus’ birth. Herod was so threatened by the rumored newborn ‘king of the Jews’ that he murdered all the male children who were 2 years old or younger. A consensus was being taken so the people could be taxed and a heavier burden placed upon their shoulders. Certainly this wasn’t the best of times for a Jewish child to be growing up into. Jesus saw the injustices that were done to the Jewish people, crucifixions were common place. If we consider it, Jesus didn’t grow up in an environment of freedom but rather in a time of great oppression. What was His mind set? What was His course of action in lieu of the darkness and oppression around Him? Did He show His followers how they were to come against the evil of their day? While we know of the wrong being done in our day, of the evil that lurks around and of sin that is being accepted as ‘good’, I wonder how much different is our time compared to the day our Lord grew up. Actually, things are probably better for us now in America than they were for Jesus in His time on earth. As such, could we not learn much by looking at the way He walked and talked during that time? As His followers and joint heirs, would we not want to follow after Him?

While Jesus is considered a political activist of His time, He did not speak out against the government per say as He did about the sin that was present within it. It was not an earthy government that He spoke of, but instead told a heavenly government to which we could look, to seek for God‘s kingdom to come upon the earth as it is in heaven. Storms did not overtake Him or cause Him fear, worry or doubt. Rather, He slept in the midst of a raging sea and when awaken calmly told the storm to be still. When the Pharisees tried to trick Jesus by asking whether they should pay taxes to the Roman government He did not get angry against the unfairness of the tax but rather said, "Give to Caesar’s that which is Caesar’s and give to God that which is God’s." Sounds like pretty good advice to me! Since we are now called with the same purpose and calling as shown by our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, should we not be doing the same as Him, not allowing the circumstances around us to shake us but to look to our heavenly Father for guidance and for His will to be revealed to us? Are we not new creatures in Christ Jesus, foreigners in this land, ambassadors of our heavenly Father’s Kingdom, and shouldn’t our warfare be done on our knees with our weapons being not carnal but found in folded hands held in meekness and submission to Him, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness and praying that it come to earth as it is in heaven? Should we not be so broken for those who are living in sin, whose very souls face eternal damnation unless their eyes be opened and they see Christ for who He is - the only Begotten Son of God, sent from our heavenly Father’s heart of love to give mankind an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as their propitiation for sin that they might not perish and have everlasting life and that they might have the chance to be joint-heirs with Him? Instead of being so fast to pass judgment on another, are we willing to lay down our lives in service and sacrifice to others as did our Lord Jesus?

Unless we begin to truly meditate and focus on the life of Christ Jesus we are going to see God’s will for us through distorted vision. If any one of us can honestly say that we have represented out Lord Jesus in all honesty and truth, displayed by a life that is filled with the fruit of the Spirit and void of any of natural man’s propensities, then we have to recognize that we are not there yet and still have a ways to go. If our lives are more focused on the sin around us then in being transformed into the image of our Lord and earnestly desiring His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, being builders of that kingdom along with our Lord in prayer and submission to His Spirit then we are no better than the Pharisees before us. Jesus came to change the world one person at a time for the glory of His heavenly Father. He knew there would be problems in the earth. But as long as we are focused upon Him and obedient to His leading, then we are doing our parts. And if we really trust God’s Word and what He has said, then the events around us will have no affect on how we live our lives, for we will be aligned with His! When Jesus was faced with arrest and persecution by the Roman soldiers, what was His response to His disciples? In Matthew 26:53-54 we read, "Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?" Jesus knew His purpose upon the earth. He also knew that His Father could protect Him from any attack. But Jesus trusted His heavenly Father’s plans for Him and for all mankind. Do we, as believers do the same? Or when things start to look a little scary, are we quick to hightail it away from the danger or fill with fear? Precious children, it should not be so! We are the children of the Most High God, called to be His hands and feet upon the earth, sharing His Truth and hope that has been given to all mankind! Greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world. If we don’t believe that than we have some learnin’ to do! We must put on the mind of Christ and become one with Him in thought and in deed. Family, we are to be a house of prayer, lifting up our petitions to our God and our Lord, drawing ever closer to our Beloved and our heavenly Father, open to the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit. We must decrease in our own desires and wants and allow His ways to increase in us. We have to believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We must seek His kingdom first and His righteousness and then He will add all that we need and then some. But our goal must be for His will to come on earth as it is in heaven, and we must be as broken for the lost as He is. He would that none would perish. Unless our hearts be broken for lost souls we will never know why our heavenly Father sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Yes, there will be trials and tribulations in the world. God often uses these very things to draw us close to Him. In good times we often forget God’s plans and purposes for mankind and we begin to go our own way, even to ministering out of our flesh rather than His heart. It was love that moved Jesus to be nailed to the cross and it should be love that moves us now, love from our heavenly Father and love for Him and all mankind. Is it any wonder He is saying in this hours, "Love My people"?

Jesus, sweet Jesus. He is our example and our reason for being. Let us be all He has given us the opportunity to be and may we keep our eyes upon Him, not only in turbulent times, but always for without Him we were lost and doomed to eternal damnation. With and through Him eternity is our with Him and with our heavenly Father and with all the saints who have believed in Him. Let us be those who lead others to Him by our very life, our sacrificial offering of thanksgiving and praise to Him Who saved us. Amen? Amen.

Living for His glory,
Joan Bowe