Since late last year, I have sensed that this decade will be different. That life as we have known it in America will never be quite the same.
As Charles Dickens stated in A Tale of Two Cities—“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”—this decade will be challenging and glorious at the same time.
In January, my son Bryan preached a message titled A Decade of Decades. In it, he spoke of the 2020s being a difficult decade in many ways but also a time for the Lord’s people to shine. Though this decade will be challenging, it’s the church’s finest hour. This message captures what I think the coming decade will be like.
The 2020s will certainly test us in ways that we have never experienced. The current Coronavirus pandemic is certainly one example.
But it will also be a decade of glorious experiences with the Lord that are unprecedented.
This current crisis offers us an unparalleled opportunity to be prepared for the Lord Himself, the coming pressures of the end times, and His glorious return.
This global pandemic is waking up the church, alerting us to the urgent need to be ready for the end times and eternity.
Being Ready Is More Than Salvation
I have been talking about the need to be prepared for the Lord and the end times for over 20 years. One thing I have learned is that many believers have a false idea of what it means to be ready. Let me explain.
Years ago, when I was on the staff of a traditional denominational church, I had to make weekly hospital visits. I would often check on church members who had not attended in years.
I would usually share the gospel with them, asking if they had a relationship with the Lord. Almost everyone said they were ready to meet Jesus because they had prayed “the sinner’s prayer” during an altar call.
Though many had not darkened the door of a church in twenty to thirty years, they falsely assumed they were ready to meet the Lord. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Over the years, I have observed a misguided belief that deceives many. Numerous believers think that being justified by the blood of Christ and being born of the Spirit automatically makes them ready as the bride of Christ. This faulty mindset keeps multitudes of believers in a perpetual state of immaturity.
Since the early 1990s, my burden and ministry call has been to get ready to meet the Lord myself and to also help make God’s people ready.
A Scripture that has defined my life calling is Luke 1:17. It states, “It is he [speaking of John the Baptist] who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Lk. 1:17).
Looking back at my twenty-five-year pursuit of this call, I have learned so many crucial lessons, often the hard way. To hopefully make your journey easier, I want to share what I’ve learned with you over the next several months.
The Scriptures are clear: The bride of Christ must make herself ready (Rev. 19:7). But what does this look like and how do we do it?
Here’s the short answer: Believers must be conformed into the image of Christ by the indwelling Spirit as they develop a joyful, intimate relationship with Jesus. For more in-depth teaching, see my free online class Understanding the Bride of Christ.
Making ourselves ready is mostly about inward transformation—not external works of service.
Making ourselves ready for the Lord has monumental eternal consequences and demands our full devotion.
Stay tuned for more lessons that I’ve learned about being made ready.
Note: If you are interested in going deeper, please check out our Forerunner School.
