Ready or Not?

Last Fridays earthquake in Japan has given me pause to think about my relationship with my Creator. Am I right with God? Am I ready should something devastating and unexpected come my way? Are those I love ready? Just what does it mean to be ready?

Last Fridays earthquake is not the only thing that is spurring me to this thought…has anyone noticed since 9/11/2001 how many devastations are happening on the earth? Whether they are man made or natural disasters it seems that the magnitude of these disasters shows us that the world is in turmoil like it has never been before! I've also noticed on a personal level an increase in the number of people I know who are battling life threatening diseases or are dying suddenly and unexpectedly. In this I recognize an urgency.

As a Christian I am commanded to be ready and to warn others that they need to be ready and then tell them how to get ready. So the first thing I did was get on my knees before God and tell him that I am sorry for everything that I have done that has offended Him. You see, as I thought about this I realized that my love for God was not as vibrant as it once was. I was growing spiritually lazy. Where before I was praying regularly and reading my Bible daily, now I had been growing undisciplined. I can’t blame that on anyone but, me! It was getting to where I was only reading my Bible some of the time and praying mostly when I was worried rather than as daily communication with God. The Bible tells us that we are to pray without ceasing. This reminds me of a song, “Make My Life a Prayer to You” by Keith Green and of a time when my life exemplified that. I treasure that kind of a life with my God and I want it back!

The second thing I did was to begin praying for those I love, including my family, church family, and coworkers. I prayed that we would all be revived in following our God obediently. I prayed that our relationships with God would be refreshed where they have become stagnant. We are to be a pleasing aroma to God, not a stench! And I prayed that in that refreshment we would receive more of the Holy Spirit to help us reach those who do not have a relationship with God.

And finally I prayed for the lost, the devastated, the ill and those who are dying. I prayed that they would find God and that God would find them and that they would know the Way, the Truth and the Life in Jesus so that even if they lost their physical lives they would not lose a glorious eternity with God. I prayed that they would be reached before it is too late and that they would learn about the Good News of the coming of our Savior and how He came to rescue us from sin so that we would not perish eternally.

In the book of John 3:16-18 Jesus himself tells us that God sent Him to be with us: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” Jesus can be with you today. He can give you the sense of security you have been longing for – an eternal security – no matter what comes your way. Are you ready?

As Jesus’ disciples began putting their faith in Him they realized that they didn’t even know how to pray effectively. So they asked Him to teach them how to pray. He shared with them a prayer that has become known throughout the world as The Lord’s Prayer. What a beautiful way to begin a relationship with God.

Jesus’ prayer as I learned it:

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name!
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!
Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses(sins), as we forgive those who trespass(sin) against us,
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Christians added this to the prayer later:

“For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory,
Forever and ever, Amen.”

(Jesus’ prayer was recorded in the Bible in the books of Matthew Ch. 6 and Luke Ch. 11. You can read them for yourself here: Luke, Chapter 11.)