Prepare yourselves!
“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” Matthew 3:3
We here at New Life Church believe that we can hasten the day that Jesus comes back. More than that, we believe that we can bring His rule and reign down here on earth right now, through the way that we live our lives. Every time someone gets healed in the power of His name, every time someone gives their life to Him, every time a situation or troubling circumstance is overcome, God’s Kingdom is expanded… and we believe that is why Jesus has given us His Holy Spirit and filled us with His power.
If you believe in the name of Jesus and confess Him as your Lord and Saviour, if you have been born again by the Spirit of God, then you are a Christian and have your name etched in the Lamb’s book of life (Rom.10:9, John 3:3)…. However, far more than that happens. The Lord makes you a brand new person, He gives you a new nature, calls you His child and gives you all the power that you need to live this new life.
All of this wonderful news means that as a Christian I need to make a decision to lead a fruitful life. I need to decide how to spend my time, because even though I am now a supernatural person, I am still restricted in the amount of time I have available to me. I still have only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. My salvation is secure… but there are still battles to be won! Souls to win! Sicknesses and diseases to heal! Enemy strongholds and mindsets to be torn down!
Just like an athlete trains for the Olympics, just as a soldier prepares for war, so we need to be a people who are prepared. First and foremost, we need to ensure that our relationship with the Lord is prospering, that we are stirring ourselves everyday by praying, speaking in tongues, singing psalms, hyms and spiritual songs. We are able to arm ourselves for battle by reading the Word of God (the Bible), studying and meditating on it constantly (Josh.1:8). We can ensure that we stay spiritually and physically healthy by meeting each other every day in homes, by breaking bread together and meeting each others needs. We can “prepare the way for the King“ by telling our neighbours the Good News of Jesus and meeting their needs. We can ”prepare the way for the King” by doing the works that Jesus did and even greater things than He did! (John 14:12)
You see… the King is coming back! He is coming! And as Christ’s church here on earth, we need to prepare ourselves. The Lord has been speaking to us as a church here at New Life for the past couple of months to prepare ourselves. The Word of the Lord came to us again this morning to count the cost of following Jesus, to count the cost in our lives, to prepare ourselves, to make ourselves ready…
… Are you prepared?