People Get Ready
“Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, ‘Master, we’re here. Let us in.’ “He answered, ‘Do I know you? I don’t think I know you.’ “So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.” Matthew 25:11-13, THE MESSAGE
Years ago, on Aug. 16, 2017, in fact, I wrote a message in my Now Think On This series, entitled, “Another Chicken Little”. I reprinted it again at the end of this message if you care to read it. It spoke of these times we are living in. Most of you can recall the story of the little chicken running around and crying out, “The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” No one paid attention to him. Until it was too late. (You can see the original story here Chicken Little (*Henny Penny, 1823) and the 1943 film that was made about Nazi Germany. See here: Chicken Little)
Another childhood story, an Aesop Fairy tale written in 1867, meant for even grownups, was written entitled, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf“. It has similar connotations as the original Chicken Little. Both stories were meant to be warnings, which a few, if any, heeded. In the end, they themselves found out it was too late to act as they could have and should have.
As I wrote in my message earlier, few people are acting on the word that has gone forth repeatedly in our day, to prepare. It seems they have “heard it all before” and say, as they have repeatedly said, “It will not happen in my time.” And yet it is. And as expected, they are not prepared.
Yeshua (Jesus) told the parable (story) of the ten virgins, who all were told to be ready before the bridegroom came. Five were wise and believed it when they were told to be ready and acted appropriately. The other five were not prepared and did nothing. They thought unwisely to themselves that the day wouldn’t really come, or when it did, that they could still do what was necessary to protect themselves, provide as necessary, and participate with those who had been prepared.
As Yeshua told it to those who would listen, “The Kingdom of Heaven at that time will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible. The foolish ones took lamps with them but no oil, whereas the others took flasks of oil with their lamps.
Now the bridegroom was late, so they all went to sleep. It was the middle of the night when the cry rang out, ‘The bridegroom is here! Go out to meet him!’ The girls all woke up and prepared their lamps for lighting. The foolish ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’
‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both you and us. Go to the oil dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ But as they were going off to buy, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Later, the other bridesmaids came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they cried, ‘Let us in!’ But he answered, ‘Indeed! I tell you, I don’t know you!’ So stay alert, because you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:1-13, Complete Jewish Bible
Even as many wise ones are crying out, “Wolf, wolf!” in our days, just as many, if not more, will be saying, “All is well. All is well.”
As for me and my house, I know whom we are listening to. Being prepared is not something you do after the time you should have done it. It is not a lack of faith. It is discerning the times, heeding the Lord’s Word that He spoke centuries ago, and now knowing that we are in those times.
Get out of bed. Open your eyes. Do it now before you no longer can.
“People get ready, for the train is coming…” Guys like Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart (not my favorites but the Lord will use anyone who is willing!) sang of such. Listen here: People Get Ready
Get ready. These are those times. Don’t put off for tomorrow what needs to be done today.
Ahava and shalom, Steve Martin
Love For His PeopleFounder
Message #111 in this series – in the year of our Lord 09.22.2022 – “People Get Ready”, Thursday, 7:22 am in Charlotte, North Carolina
And from over five years ago…on Aug. 16, 2017…
Another Chicken Little? Now Think On This, Steve Martin
“There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves…” (Luke 21:25, NAS)
Back in the day, and maybe even today, there was a cute children’s story we learned as little kids. You may remember it. Chicken Little (*Henny Penny, 1823). If my memory banks serve me right, Chicken Little went around saying the sky was falling. Wherever he went, he told people, “The sky is falling.” He was wanting them to be ready, but when it didn’t fall, he became the laughing stock.
All around us in these days, particularly in Christian circles, there are many declaring that the sky is falling, and we better be prepared for the times we are living in. Some laugh and call them crazy; others would fault them for being over spiritual, for after all, these aren’t the only times “the sky has been falling.”
You know, I for one believe them. I am taking heed to the ones who are saying to look up, to get ready, for these are the times when the signs in the heavens are telling us the sky is falling. Maybe not literally, but maybe so. Men of integrity and prophetic insight, such as Jim Bakker, Jonathan Cahn, Jesus, Mark Biltz, Perry Stone, and Michael Snyder, to name a few, aren’t to be scoffed at. The Lord has given them a word of warning, and we are the foolish ones if we think they are nuts.
Again, I for one am eating those words they speak forth. Based on their past history in prophetic understanding, I suggest you might too. (That is why I regularly post their messages on our Love For His People website.) Personally, I get the weird look from the other’s eye when I tell people I have food stored up in my closet. (After all, North Carolina has had hurricanes before.)
“You lack faith if you do that,” was one comment many people will profess. Oh really? Did Noah lack faith when he was told by Someone not seen to build a big, big boat in the middle of a dry, dry desert, for a worldwide flooding rain storm that he didn’t even know would really come? But he did. And it did. 120 years later – after he was first told.
It took him between 55-75 years to actually accomplish the immense task, trusting and obeying all along the way. (You have to keep doing it, from start to finish!) But he did obey in faith, and thus he was ready.
Did Joseph lack faith when the Lord God of the Hebrews (Israel) told him how to prepare for the coming seven years? Where did Jesus keep His bank account, other than in Judas’s back pocket, whom He knew would do what he would actually do with the money.
Yeshua wasn’t putting His trust in that back pocket, nor did He have a 401(k) to live off when He retired. “We must save for the rainy day?” Where in the Bible does it say to do that? Not in my Bible – the Complete Jewish Bible, New American Standard, New King James, The Tree of Life, and others I read and quote from daily. That is truly a European/American financial concept, because people quit believing in the Lord of All, Jehovah Jireh as their provider, and thus had (have) to trust in their money.
What happens when the money is not there the day you are going to need it? Then whose god are you going to trust in? Wall Street’s, or the friendly banker supposedly holding your cash in their vaults? It won’t be there anymore when you really want it. Ever try getting a few thousand in cash out of your bank account today, if you have that much? The majority of people don’t even have a few hundred to draw on.
The worldwide financial system is making it more difficult every day to handle your own money. They really don’t want you to have it, as they make their wealth off of you. This I know, for the bank tells me so. I work in accounting/finance.
Chicken Little may have a good point if the story was to be rewritten today. The sky may not be literally falling, but the sun, the moon, the stars – put in place at the very beginning of creation, literally, by the Creator Himself, are there for a purpose other than just light. God the Father, and His Only Son Jesus Christ, gave them to us, to speak to us, so that we would not be unaware of the times and the seasons.
“Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19
“He himself existed before anything else did, and he holds all things together.” Colossians 1:17
“Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” John 8:58
“I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke.” Joel 2:30.
Today may not be the day the Lord Jesus returns in glory and power, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, but it might be. It certainly is closer today than when He left the first time, promising to return. Among all the prophets of the Jews (who through the Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh) gave us the full Bible, Yeshua was among the chief prophets. Yeshua (Jesus) said He would be crucified, die, and would rise on the third day. It happened. He did. Just as He said it would.
And that which He prophesied about the End of Days, the times which I firmly believe began moving forward in the fast lane, is ticking majorly on. That historically and spiritually eternal timepiece started the fast track in 1948 when the Jews got their Promised Land back and Israel became a nation again. The fig tree burst forth and is growing rapidly. Have you considered the reality of Israel lately, and the ingathering of the Jewish people?
I highly suggest you do. You have the choice to believe or not what the Lord is clearly displaying in the heavens. How you act upon it is your choice.
Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).
Now think on this, Steve Martin, Founder, Love For His People Ministry |
