Pursuit Of His Presence

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 

13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.  

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 

1Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

4But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 

 

 

Devotional

Sitting on the Edge of His Seat

by Kenneth Copeland

“And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.” Acts 2:19-20
All my adult life Mama used to say, “Kenneth, Jesus is coming this year.”
I would say, “Is that right, Mama?”
“Yes,” she’d say, “He’s coming this year. And you had better get yourself straightened out!”
Even though Jesus didn’t come when Mama said, she was right—Jesus is coming! I don’t know if it’s this year. I don’t know if it’s next year. I don’t know if it’s next week. But I do know He’s coming and it’s a whole lot sooner than most people really think.
Just take a good look around you. It doesn’t matter where on this planet you live—there is more glory, more outpouring, more preaching, more Word, more believers, and even more hell on this earth than there has ever been before. It’s nothing like mankind has ever seen.
You and I are now living and operating in a whole new time frame. When we made Jesus the Lord of our lives, we moved over into His time schedule and He came into ours. But what I really want you to grasp is that Jesus’ time frame and the world’s time frame do not function the same. Oh, we’re in the same space as the rest of the world, but we’re not functioning on the same schedule.
From the very beginning, God has given us the time frame in which He will work with mankind. It is a seven-day time frame—and a day is as a thousand years. For example, we see in Genesis that God created the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh. Then He gave mankind a 6,000-year lease on the earth. Jesus was born 4,000 years into that time frame—or on the fourth day. For all practical purposes, 2,000 years have come and gone since Jesus’ birth and ministry—which is 6,000 years since Adam was created.
Where does that put us on our spiritual clock? We have entered that little sliver of time between Adam’s lease on earth—and Satan’s dominion in this earth as a consequence of Adam’s Fall—and the period of time we read about in Acts 2:19-20. You and I are being squeezed between 6,000 years of time behind us and another 1,000 years ahead of us. The 1,000 years facing us is the millennial reign of Jesus of Nazareth, which is the first time in human existence since the Fall of Adam that humanity will be totally and completely out of contact with Satan.
I’m telling you, Jesus is coming! He’s about to arise from His heavenly throne and return to earth. He may not have stood up yet, but I guarantee you He is out on the edge of His seat!
Speak the Word
“The day of the Lord is coming soon. He will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath. I prepare myself for that great and notable day.“ —Acts 2:19-20
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