Hosanna Restoration Church

I once wrote a song that said, “Are you ready for the coming of the Lord, are you ready for the fulfillment of His word, Judgment day is coming, soon as everybody’s heard. Are you ready for the coming of the Lord.” At the time I wrote it, I had just come to know the Lord and I was very aware of the fact that I had escaped a terrible judgment. I am still grateful after 15 years, and I will be for eternity.

As I read this today, I am not only reminded to be ready for His return at the end of the age, but also I am reminded to be ready for Him in every situation of life. The verse in Luke ends saying, “at an hour you do not expect.” I believe the Lord has encouraged us in His word to be always expecting Him, and yet not to base our faith on any particular timing, whether it be for a present need or eternity. He assures us that He does everything at just the right time.

I have heard people try to get the Lord to meet their time frame. Like they think they will wait a week, and if God has not done something, then they will try something else. If God tells us to try something else, then we should, but to try and get God to fit into our box, just will not work. After all, He is the potter and we are the clay.

When we pray, we are to pray believing. If we are believing, then we can live expecting. We know our expectations will not be in vain, because we have the Lords assurance that those who wait on the Lord will not be ashamed or disappointed or stood up or what ever you prefer to call it.

I know that we all have prayed and not had everything go our way. I can not explain that, and to be honest, right now, I do not want to try to go through the verses that we might use attempting to figure it out. I only know, that Jesus commanded us to ask, seek, and knock. He assured us that if we did, we would receive, find, and doors would open.

We all have a concept of the eternal rewards of being ready when the Lord returns. We know that heaven will be a wonderful place. But what about the present day benefits of living in a state of readiness and expectation, Knowing that the Lord has heard us, and that He is fulfilling His good plans for us. He said, “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It will change our lives if we live with the same confidence and joyful expectation of answered prayers, as we do of His return to take us home.

So many people pray without really being ready for the answer. Not because they do not want it, but because they don’t really believe God wants to bless them. The truth is, God is more prepared to answer our prayers than we are to pray them. Some people are even afraid to pray, because they do not know what they will do if God does not answer. But I believe that Jesus would say to us, “pray, and then be ready!!”