Living in a state of expectation.

Living in a state of expectation.


Watching and praying.


Watching is indicative of expectation isn't it? Especially the instruction to watch for a reason.

We aren't told to watch as if we are watching the sunset and noting it's beauty. We are told to watch because we don't know when our Savior is going to return. We are told to watch in order to be LOOKING for Christ when He returns. How many people today do you suppose are actively looking for Christ to come?


The question was- actively. Not how many are looking for Christ to come.


You'll get a lot of people saying they're looking, they're waiting, but what they are really doing is acknowledging that He will return, not actively LOOKING for His return. You can acknowledge something will happen without watching for it, can't you. I acknowledge there will be a football superbowl this coming year- this is a fact. Now if I were an avid football fan I might have it marked on my calendar, I might be counting down the days till it gets here, I might be making preparations for the party I'm going to have that day. I can also acknowledge that it will rain this year, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm avidly watching for that rain to take place. We can acknowledge all sorts of things but it doesn't mean we are WATCHING for them. I can just imagine in the day of Christ's coming people acknowledging they knew He would come, they knew it. But Christ will know they weren't WATCHING even though they acknowledged He would return.


So we have to ask the question are WE actively watching for Christ to return? Or are we acknowledging He will return but making no concerted effort to watch for His return? Are we SLEEPING??????? Remember the 10 virgins waiting for the Bridegroom? ALL of them slept! BUT some prepared for that event. Some were ready, they were prepared, they planned ahead of time. We are to watch but the danger of sleep is upon us all and we MUST be prepared, we must have the knowledge of our Lord's return and our salvation wrought through Him embedded into our lives fully. If we acknowledge our Savior will return and then fall asleep- are we prepared? Have we lived with the expectation of the return of our Savior as a REAL driving force in our daily life, and because of that we know that we must be ready- actively be prepared for Him?


Sleep if you want to! Sleep and don't prepare, that's your choice. Live with the knowledge of your Savior as an abstract thought, believing that you need to do know more and you WILL be caught without extra oil. You will be told that Christ doesn't know you. You will be told you are not wearing the wedding garment provided by Christ but trying to attending the wedding in your own clothing- your own righteousness.


We need to LIVE with EXPECTATION, glorious EXPECTATION! Not just live with acknowledgement.


The KING is COMING! The KING is COMING! This is real, and it is as real today as it was in the days of the Apostles and we need to live with this expectation as a reality, not as something that *might* happen someday and if we're lucky the sooner the better.


So many are waiting for signs before they really grasp the reality. They are saying- well this needs to happen and that needs to happen so there's no way Christ is coming anytime soon- like tomorrow. They say, don't tell me to believe Christ could come tomorrow, because it's not true. It is true that we are given signs to watch for. It is true that we need to watch for these signs. But what isn't true is that we should rely on our very fallible judgment to determine when we should *really* start watching for Christ's return. We know things are supposed to happen first but we also know God does things in His time, in His way and not our time, not our way. We are to be ready ALWAYS. If you are among those who are waiting for such and such to take place before you really get serious about our LORD'S return then you could be among those who die LONG before such and such takes place and you will have died before ever getting serious, without ever truly believing and LIVING in, and for Christ your Savior!


We have to live in a state of expectation, watching.
We must not confusing a state of acknowledgment with a state of active watching, active hoping, active praying.


May the Holy Spirit guide us to all understanding by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior. May we live in EXPECTATION, a real, pure expectation of our Savior's return!


Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.


Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.


Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.


Mar 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.


Mar 13:34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.


Mar 13:35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:


Mar 13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.


Mar 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.


Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.


Act 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.


1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.


Col 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving


1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.


2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.


1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.


Rev 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.



In His most amazing love!


Amen.