2022

It is hard for me to believe, but it’s been a year since I updated this blog. Wow. So much has happened, both personally and in our collective world. Before I get into what I want to share with regard to 2022, I feel I need to update you on 2021:

Last December, I felt compelled, for the first time, to ask the Lord for a Scripture for the coming year. This is how it came about: Upon purchasing my new datebook, and prior to even writing my name in it, I said to the Lord, “I am not going to write anything in this book until You give me a Scripture for the year.” I don’t know why I felt so strongly for the first time in my life, to do this, but nevertheless, I did. I set my book aside and just went about my normal study/prayer practice. It was about a week later that I was reading in Luke. When I read Luke 12:35 the verse leapt out at me and the Holy Spirit grabbed me. THIS was the verse! My normal Bible is NASB, and it reads, “Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps lit.”. I looked it up in several other translations, wrote it out and began praying into it as well as looking up all the words in the Greek, and studying the context and the cultural/historical references (as is my normal way to study).

My question then became, “Why, Lord?” “Why do we need to be dressed in readiness and keep our lamps lit?” I did not receive an immediate answer. However, shortly thereafter, I was typing the reference (Luke 12:35) into BibleGateway.com in order to re-visit some of the other translations, but the verse that came up was NOT Luke 12:35, but rather Luke 21:35: “For it will come upon all who live upon the face of the earth”. Did I miss-type it? Or did the Lord sovereignly change it? I don’t know. Regardless of how it happened, this was my answer. … We are to be dressed in readiness, with our lamps lit because “it” will come upon ALL who live on the face of the earth.

In reading the surrounding verses, it became clear that verses 34-36 were to be considered together: 4 “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; 35 for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Of course I do realize that the context of both of these verses is the return of Jesus and the Day of the Lord. And even though time has clearly accelerated, it seems to me from the two years that I spent studying Revelation (and Daniel, and Ezekiel and Thessalonians, and…!) that there are many things that must happen before this takes place (but I may be wrong!). Regardless, I do feel that the Lord is addressing a larger context at this time. We are clearly in very perilous times, and it is absolutely world-wide. But in late December of 2020, when the Lord gave me these verses, although we were undergoing turmoil and uncertainty on seemingly every front, I had NO idea (nor, I’m sure did most of us) what was to befall us, and indeed the entire world, in the months to come.

But nevertheless, here we are. And I believe the “it” which has come upon all who dwell on the face of the earth is a demonic cocktail of fear, delusion, division, and tyranny. Political, medical, economic and social tyranny. It is as if we are living in a bad science fiction movie. I so wish that were the case. I will not go into the entire teaching on this that I shared with the church we were in at the time, but I wanted you to have the background for the verses I believe the Lord gave me for 2022: Jude 20,21. I will share several translations.

Jude 20,21: 20 But you, dear friends, must build up your lives ever more strongly upon the foundation of our holy faith, learning to pray in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit. 21 Stay always within the boundaries where God’s love can reach and bless you.Wait patiently for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you. (TLB)

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. (NASB)

20 But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit. 21 Fasten your hearts to the love of God and receive the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us eternal life. (Passion Translation)

20 But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life. (Berean Study Bible)

I urge you to read this entire short book for the context, but he is contrasting the evil vs those who belong to God (hence the ‘but’).

So, going forward this year, there are four instructions from this passage:

1) "build yourself up on the foundation of your faith". (Notice it doesn’t say, ‘expect your pastor to build your faith – it says YOU do it!). So how do we do this? Remember, faith works by love (Galatians 5:6), so that’s a whole ‘nother teaching! And Romans 10:17 tells us “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”, thus the importance of our personal time in the Word. And then also the next point:

2) “praying in the Holy Spirit” is both a ‘how’ to the first point, and a point in and of itself: I say this is a ‘how’ because of the grammatical construction of most translations – only a few add an ‘and’ between ‘build yourself up in your faith’ and ‘praying in the Holy Spirit’. Also because other passages, such as 1 Corinthians 14:4 tell us, “One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.” So we see that praying in the Holy Spirit is an important component of building our faith. (There is much more to this discussion, but we will leave that for a later time);

3) “keep yourself in the love of God” – this one was challenging for me, as so many Scriptures clearly teach that we can never remove ourselves from God’s love …the strongest being Romans 8:38-39 “38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Can we separate ourselves from His will? Yes. From His blessing? Yes. But from His love? Never. Don’t forget Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I could go on for many pages regarding God’s everlasting love for us. So, obviously this verse is not saying that there is something I must DO to keep God loving me --- because all of Scripture clearly teaches that there is absolutely nothing I CAN do to earn God’s love. So part of my assignment this year is to study and seek the Lord for the meaning of this instruction. You are most welcome to join me. At this point I do favor the Living Bible’s translation (above), but we shall see!

4) The fourth instruction to me speaks of attitude: looking forward to, waiting expectantly for the mercy of Jesus, and eternal life. But wait, I thought we already HAVE eternal life the minute we receive Christ as our Savior and Lord? (John 5:24; 17:3 and other Scriptures). Yes, that is completely true. And yet, there is also a sense of the eternal life that awaits us when we leave this earth which is, of course, future (Matthew 5:46). At this point in my study,and considering the context and message of this entire letter, it seems to me he is talking about the return of Jesus. Plain and simple. Titus 2:13 calls this ‘the blessed hope’. 1 John 3:2-3 tells us “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” So, fix our hope on His return, and in light of that, take steps to purify the way we live.

In 2022, whatever comes our way, we must prepare ourselves by building up our faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God with an attitude of expectancy for the return of Jesus Christ which will give us hope and also cause us to purify our lives. I will be unpacking this for the next 12 months and sharing as I feel led.

Do I know what is coming? No. But I do know two things:

1) in the midst of this darkness, we are to shine. I love Isaiah 60:2 “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” Jesus tells us that we are to be the light that draws the lost to Himself (Matthew 5:14-16) and,

2) we are to be intentional and faithful about meeting with believers to strengthen one another as we see the day approaching (Hebrews 10:24-25). The persecuted church in China, North Korea, Eritrea, India, and many other countries around the world knows how to live in the midst of great peril and darkness. We in this country need not only to pray for them and support them as we are able to, but we need to learn from them. www.persecution.com and www.opendoors.org are excellent places to start.