Hold Fast
by Rick Wynn
You know, I didn’t expect to be here today. I thought that Jesus would for sure arrive sometime this past weekend, but He didn’t come.
In all honesty, I must say that each passing day that Jesus doesn’t come, there is a sense of sadness in my heart for I so long to leave this place, yet there is a deep sense of joy because we’re yet another moment closer to going home. Time as we know, can only shorten. A recent letter I sent to www.his-forever.com talked about the importance of holding on and not casting aside your confidence in Christ. We should remember that Noah built the ark and preached salvation due to the coming flood and for 120 years, the Lord did not bring the rain. The most interesting thing about this is that Noah didn’t have the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Noah was spiritually dead. His faith was based upon what God said alone.
Today, we get the unction of the Holy Spirit and we still tend to doubt. Noah heard God and in total obedience did everything the Lord told him to do adding nothing more and doing no less, yet the flood came 120 years later. Don’t misunderstand, I am not saying that such thing could happen with the coming of Christ to rapture His people. That would not align with what the Word of God says. The point I am making is that Noah believed. He believed so strongly that he was willing to endure the ridicule, persecution, and proverbial stoning from the people for over a century. Seven days before God would bring the rain He “told” Noah, whereas He instructed Noah on that day to enter the ark.
I also cited scripture when I wrote that God finds it honorable when a man searches out a thing according to Proverbs 25:12. Even so, we must not forget that God has His plan for His specific purpose and that He reveals according to His desire. I believe that sometimes it’s easy to become so focused on our search that when God reveals a thing we can actually miss it. Those of us who are watching, praying, and are cognizant of the times as Jesus told us to be know without any doubt that the return of Christ is at the door. We cannot only spiritually discern this, but also we can spiritually discern the events of the world as the Bible prophesized. When we hear and read about it in the news, this is but a confirmation to that which we already knew. In spite of these things, we need to hold fast to our faith that Christ is coming and not become sidetracked by the fact that He didn’t come yesterday as we thought He would.
I get very concerned, not so much for those who are strong in the Lord, but for those who latch themselves upon the latest and greatest news about the rapture event concerning the “when” it will take place. My concern for them is exactly what I have already been hearing from so many. “I thought you said that Jesus was coming?” “Where is He?” Why should I believe that Jesus is coming when every time you say He’s coming He doesn’t show up?” My concern is for those who would loose faith and turn their focus back to the things of this world convinced that perhaps Jesus will come (someday) but who can know the day or hour, so let me continue in the cares of life.
Once a person’s mind gravitates to that place, how much more difficult it is to turn them back. This is exactly why it is so vital to have a relationship with Christ and why it is so vital to “tell them” who listen to you to make sure that they have that relationship with Christ. People are fallible. They fail all the time. Often we fail even when we believe we have everything figured out down to the minute dot. God however, never fails. If people listen to you and trust everything you say then if you should err, they hold you responsible and to a degree, so does God. Is it fair? Yes, but understand too that what’s fair is not the issue. The issue is that the person listening to you, believing in you, strapping themselves to every word you say, didn’t really believe from the beginning. Their hope was riding on you and your understanding. It would not surprise me in the least if God deliberately holds back certain events because He wants to give everyone the opportunity to hear Him. He did after all tell everyone to study to show himself approved. Everyone has been commanded to seek His face. Yet, most people do not search the heart of God. Many do not ask for His truth and wisdom. They rely on people’s truth and wisdom. The Word Paul spoke was true, but it didn’t help the seven sons of Sceva whom happened to be the chief of priests (Acts 19:13-16). Paul had a relationship with God, but the seven sons did not.
What is most important is where “your” relationship with God is. If your relationship with God is real then you will be steadfast, immovable, and willing to abide in the Lord regardless of and in addition to whatever any person says. When you search a thing out and even find at the very end that you have somehow miscalculated, it won’t change one iota the outcome of what you believe based upon what you know the Lord has told you. When you listen to a man or women of God and they speak truth, your spirit will leap in joy because it will recognize that truth. Then if they should say that Jesus is coming, it is settled. He is coming!
People, understand that God has drawn a line and is now separating the sheep from the goats. The wheat is being separated from the tares. Some of those tares have looked almost identical to the wheat, but now the differences are becoming clear. There is a purging taking place in this final hour. For those of you who have truly endured in Christ believing and walking in faith, you have noticed this separation. By now, you have seen for yourselves that there are people you know who profess Christianity, yet have no clue whatsoever that Jesus is coming at any moment and if you were to tell them, they would look at you sideways. Perhaps they would even agree at first, until you began to tell them that He is coming “NOW.” I was just telling a friend of mine this past weekend about the coming of Christ. I asked him if the Lord had placed anything upon his heart about it. He replied that he thinks about it here and there. This man is a pastor who is a member of a church ministry, which I once belonged. I asked Him if the pastor of the church was speaking anything at all about the end of days and Jesus’ return to rapture His people. His response was “no, not really.” The particular pastor who resides over that church confided in me once that he really didn’t know much about the rapture or Revelation concerning the tribulation. If he doesn’t know, what are the odds that the congregation knows? At any rate, my friend went on to tell me the wonderful things God is doing in their church pertaining to how the Lord is bringing in the souls causing the church to grow and that revival is about to break out. My heart aches, because so many simply are not getting it. God has drawn a line.
I believe that throughout the world, there is a stir in the hearts of people—believers and unbelievers. Believers who follow Christ can discern something glorious on the horizon. They can spiritually discern how their hearts are being prepared for the arrival of Christ. There is a “separation” taking place. They are very much aware of the world, but their focus is becoming more sensitive toward the Holy Spirit. Things that mattered to them before, no longer seems to matter today. In their relationship with God, they find themselves content in the moment whereas before they never knew such contentment. Perhaps many ties with friends, acquaintances, and even family members have been broken. Their view of the world changed from their point of view to God’s perspective.
Practically every meaningful substance in their life has turned into mere irrelevance in comparison to God’s position in their lives. Fear no longer has a hold on them and they seem to have an insight from God that illuminates every dark place in their vicinity. When they speak, truth rings in the hearts of listeners. They know without doubt that they could leave their lives behind at a moments’ notice for Christ’s sake. More than ever before are they cognizant of the world’s sins and its effects upon the lives of its victims. Thus, they seek God in diligence through prayer and intercession on behalf of those victims. They are also very mindful to seek forgiveness for their own sins as they anticipate daily the arrival of Christ. In general, their lives have changed from the pursuit of carnal or an outward physical satisfaction to an inward spiritual closeness to God. Perhaps such people do not fully understand what is happening to them because they find themselves becoming more or less “detached” from people and things, which they may have held dear.
In many respects, this is also a difficult time for those seeking God because He has drawn that line. In result, many who do not fully understand are in fear. The thought of the rapture for instance, actually scares them. In this hour, more so than any other does the seeker understand the importance of placing all his hopes and concerns in God’s hands, yet his heart cries out for others. Perhaps some have noticed that their spouse stand on the opposite side of that line. Some of our closest friends stand on the opposite side of that line. Also devastating could be the realizations that even the church ministry you sit under stands on the opposite side of that line. Not all ministries follow Christ regardless of their presentation of holiness. Many followers of Christ see their parents, siblings, children, and others whom they love standing on the opposite side of the proverbial line, which God established. Jesus made it clear that He did not come to earth to bring peace, but a sword (meaning conflict). He said that he came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a wife against her mother in-law. He told us in advance that a person’s enemies would even be members of his own household (Matthew 10:34-36). Jesus was speaking about this “separation.”
Probably the most difficult issue many Christians have to face concerning Jesus’ statement about not bringing peace but a sword has to do with whom or what they will choose to love more. Jesus said that he who loves his family more than Him, does not deserve Him (Matthew 10:37). I believe that Jesus is ultimately saying that the only way to see your loved ones saved when they refuse to hear God’s truth is actually to let them go. Placing our trust in God concerning such issues is very difficult, for we desire to force them to cross over to our side if necessary, but one cannot come against another’s will. Our mandate should always be to stay on the righteous side of that line.
I love my wife and children more than life itself, for instance, but if Jesus were to come this instant, I would not hesitate to go with Him nor would I have any inclination to look back. My faith in God is that I will spend all of eternity with them in His kingdom, for we served the Lord in our home while on earth. They cannot save me and I cannot save them.
“But Jesus told him, ‘Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God’” (Luke 9:62).
Jesus beckoned men to follow Him as disciples and one asked if he could first bury his father. Because not everyone knows the “exact” hour of His coming, we must be willing to depart at any moment even without prior notice. Jesus commanded us to come out and be separate from the people of the world (2 Corinthians 6:17). Thus, this “detachment” from the world must exist in us now. This detachment is not about neglecting to love others. A Christian seeking the heart of God literally feels his heart breaking for others because he knows the destination of those who have rejected Christ. His prayers are that they become inclined to hear truth.
The moment Jesus comes, we must be willing to go with Him at that moment. In order to do that, our hearts must be prepared now. If the preparedness of your heart is only predicated upon what you have heard others say, whether they were right or wrong, then I have bad news for you. Your heart may not be as prepared as you would like to think. You are only one who hangs around the kingdom, but are not necessarily a citizen of it. People, we must understand the difference. Believers tend to get so “busy” in their devotion to Christ concerning works, deeds, ministry, and even God’s second commandment, which says to love your neighbor, yet they ignore His first commandment. First, we must love God; that is to say that we must be willing to surrender ourselves entirely to him unconditionally. People who jump on the bandwagons and coattails of others believing in the other’s relationship with Christ, yet not actually having their own, are not following the Lord’s first commandment. Concerning the line drawn by God, I believe that God is proving (testing) many professed Christians today so that they may know where they stand. Many believe that they are precisely where God desires them to be, but Jesus warned us that this is not necessarily so (Matthew 7:21-23). There are many who desire to believe so badly and they do through man, but God wants them to have understanding through Him. Listen to the man of God, but understand that if you refuse to have a relationship with Christ yourself, you may as well ignore the man of God. His Words will not affect your outcome regardless of your excitement for what he says.
If Jesus did not come for another five months, where would the hearts of most of those who think they believe today be? Would they have cast down their confidence in God’s Word? Would anything at all have changed concerning their focus on Christ? Perhaps the Lord chooses to delay His return because He is weeding such people out. They latch on to others, but not necessarily Jesus. Perhaps Jesus is showing them where they truly are concerning their relationship with Him. As God will prove everyone belonging to Him, He is preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. People, the Lord’s return is a very serious thing. I pray that He comes today, yet I pray that people’s hearts are truly ready. If others and I would pray about such a thing, then surely the Lords sees that many hearts are not ready though perhaps one could not even convince another of this. Never mind what you think about your heart, what does God think about it? Everyday the Lord does not come we should be concerned about the pureness of our hearts, especially when we cannot ascertain any reason according to scripture why He hasn’t returned.
When the man agreed to follow Jesus in discipleship but asked if he could first bury his father, Jesus’ reply was significant to that of an unconditional surrender to God. He said,
“Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead” (Matthew 8:22).
Another also agreed to go with Jesus but wanted first to say good-bye to his family (Luke 9:61). Which side of the line would you say these two individuals stood? They desired to go with Jesus, but not until their conditions were met. What conditions are you giving God today? When Jesus asked Peter to come, he immediately went leaving everything behind even his wife and family. Are we truly ready to depart from this world if the Lord were to come today or would their be things pertaining to this life that we’d rather take care of first? Can we honestly tell God from the heart that we are willing to separate ourselves—right now—from everything concerning this world in order to step into the bride chamber with Christ? God being a respecter of the heart looks into the hearts of people. He is not interested in words spoken from your mouth unless those words came forth from the abundance of your heart.
Many unbelievers are also sensing something coming upon the horizon, but what they sense is rather ominous. They sense something dark and dreadful descending upon the world. What they perhaps feel coming toward them has no glory in it at all. For them, it is more of a sense of hopelessness or “pending doom,” as I heard Oprah Winfrey put it. She undoubtedly has no idea just how right her intuition is. Yet it does not cause her to take even a slight step back. Carnality will allow you to look right into the face of your own evil, yet blind you from the fact that it is evil, even allow you to understand the consequential result, yet will nevertheless propel you to continue walking straight towards that result. Lord knows, this is not the time to depend upon your own thinking, let alone trust in it. Even those who repudiate the Word of God can actually see the catastrophic events of destruction taking place in the world today, which over 2000 years ago Jesus warned would happen.
Folks, what actually makes the perils and destruction of this dispensation of time so much more significant than that of the Noiac age is that in Noah’s day there was no such thing as the sons and daughters of God. Because of Adam’s sin, the spirit of God did not reside in the hearts of people. In order to establish this dispensation, God sent His only Son into the world to die an unfathomable death on the cross in order to save the people. Jesus washed our sins away by His own blood. Through His immaculate blood, we were made righteous in the sight of God who furthermore adopted us as sons and daughters, called us His children, and gave us the right to call Him Father. He made us co-heirs to His very throne. We were no longer servants, but sons and daughters in His house for eternal life. In addition, God put His spirit in His children and they became spiritually alive where for thousands of years they were spiritually dead.
Despite what the Lord has done, the people in the world chose to reject Christ and His Father’s kingdom and instead welcomed Satan—the prince of darkness—and received his filth of death and destruction, which he offered them. Another significant factor has to do with believers today who have at one time received Christ, yet renounced and rejected him to go back into the same world system that conspired to annihilate them—that same world that Jesus the Christ died a brutal death from which to save them. The worst of it is their distorted idea that God is in agreement with them.
The Lord gave us more than we will ever deserve to insure that we would have His gift of salvation. Therefore, there is no excuse for the world having become what it is today. Christ defeated Satan, but the world repeatedly shouts to God that Satan has defeated Christ. Even many professed Christians are shouting this same message to God. When one doubts God in his heart, he is shouting this message to God. When one disobeys God in order to pursue his own purposes and desires in life, he shouts this message to God. When one commits physical or spiritual adultery, he shouts this message to God. When one disrespects and hates his spouse, he shouts this message to God. People who refuse to be doers of the Word of God not only live their lives deceiving themselves, they are also shouting to God that Jesus’ death on the cross was not sufficient to save them.
Patiently, the Lord has waited for these past two thousand years for the world to repent and simply accept His unfailing love, forgiveness and eternal life in His glory. In the day of Noah, the Lord did not send the rain for a hundred and twenty years after He instructed Noah to build the ark. How much more has the Lord’s grace been upon this world, despite the even greater sins? He sent His son to die for us, gave us salvation, His gift of righteousness—without charge, filled us with His spirit, gave us the measure of faith, and promised us that He would give us our heart’s desire if we would only seek Him. Nevertheless, God has been rejected, ridiculed, persecuted, and hated by the very people whom He happens to love so much. How much more grace has God granted this world that He would wait some two thousand years before He would return just for the sake of allowing the world time to repent? How many more thousands of years should He continue waiting before His grace has bottomed out? How could the Lord Jesus Christ be a just God if He were not to come for the sake of those who have been diligent in their lives toward Him, even if there was only one, like Noah in his day? Hold fast, people of God. Know that because God is just, Jesus is coming. Don’t loose heart, your personal Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ is coming!!!
Peace to all and God bless!
Your brother in Christ forever,
Rick Wynn