Like an Ideal in the Night

Last night I had a conversation with Jesus. The conversation was born out of several circumstances with the prominent one being that I was awake attempting to cuddle a baby back to sleep at 3 A.M.  Several memories of my childhood and fears born out of those memories led me to pray for my children, that they would not go through the same things that I did and In my prayer I expressed to Jesus something that is not typical of my prayer life or even my personal inclination. I told Him that the best answer would be His return, His second coming. I immediately was aware of the statement I made and I had a thought flood my mind which was “prepare them”. I believe with certainty this was the voice of God expressing urgency about His return not only to me and my children but to anyone who will listen.

While I was awake I pondered the urgency I felt and several ideas and motivations began to form in my mind. I began to recall stories and parables of Christ that dealt with His return. Specifically the parable of the ten virgins (Matt 25:1-13) and the parable of the wedding banquet (Matt 22:1-14) came to my recollection. I, also, began to sense a general purpose and message for my own life, as a teacher and equipper of the saints, being formulated. The question of my personal message had been on my mind since I shared my teachings on John the Baptist which you can read in earlier posts on this blog.  

So with the Biblical evidences presenting themselves and a personal motivation being fulfilled I began to try to gather a feeling or emotion behind God’s urgency. I began to recall the Apostle Paul admonishing the Thessalonians to expectancy of the return of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:3-5). I believe that God is challenging me to live with the expectancy of His return in the forefront of my life which has not always (or ever) been the case. I have fallen into a trap of complacency, living day to day with a far off hope for the return of Christ or simply the belief that I will live out my life and meet Jesus after death. Living with a new expectancy will change my life and currently, I am not sure how much.  I want to be careful and clear about my experience so far, while I felt urgency, I did not feel condemnation or even correction. I felt that God was replacing one ideal with another.

I don’t know how this will work out or how life will look as this ideal takes root and grows but I do know that I now have a new desire to live with the expectancy of Christ’s return and I know that I was suppose to share my experience and thoughts even as newborn as they are. Hopefully this post resonates with you in your walk with God that we should live with an urgent expectancy of the return of Christ. we can bring His coming to the forefront of our minds and motivations and see how life changes. I am looking forward to continuing to post on this topic as God reveals more about my experience last night and I pray that God will also encourage you through it.