In The Last Days
by James Robison
Words of LIFE Weekly Devotional
With
all that’s going on in our nation, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind
that we must have a great spiritual awakening. We know who ultimately
wins and we know that God is building a kingdom that cannot be shaken. As
believers and followers of Christ, we have been commissioned and commanded to
support kingdom purpose with every fiber of our being as long as we live on
this earth.
Many are convinced we are living in the “last days.” When Jesus was asked about prophetic timing, He replied, “Do not be unduly concerned about the times or the seasons. You are to be my witnesses beginning here at home in Jerusalem, in the neighboring communities and ultimately to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8 paraphrased). In the Great Commission, He said we are to go into all the world and make disciples of the nations. We have been left here on earth as witnesses, not to be caught up in foolish, fatalistic apathy or fixated on a specific date related to the return of Christ.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, “In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving…malicious gossips, without self-control…haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” In the next chapter, Paul made it very clear that in light of the times, we are to preach the Word and not just with our mouths, but with our actions. We are not to change the Word, alter it, or explain it away. We are to preach it, believe it, and through the grace available in Christ, seek diligently to obey it.
We are never to change God’s truth into a lie in an attempt to justify particular practices, tendencies, or failures. Romans 1 clearly teaches that when we don’t glorify God as God and put something else before Him, then we begin to worship something He created rather than the Creator Himself. We can even worship our point of view, our particular personal practices, or weaknesses. When you change the truth of God into a lie in order to justify certain actions, you are then given over to the control of what you have put before God. Your ungodly appetites and attitudes prevail to the point of bringing you into bondage. This, in fact, is the judgment and wrath of God against sin for changing His truth into a lie and accepting an idol. It reaches a point that a person is not simply out of control, but under the control of another power, spirit, practice, compulsion or addiction. It becomes totally unnatural – against nature. God specifically says as an example “men will burn in their lust for men and women will burn in their lust for women.” There is no way to deny that reality. There is nothing natural about such sexual practices. All compulsive behavior is the result of not keeping God, His Word, and His truth in first place.
The next step is that people are given over to foolish, depraved thinking, doing things that should never be done and controlled by what Paul referenced as “last days manifestation – people controlled by wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, gossip, backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud and boastful, inventing new ways of sinning, disobeying their parents, refusing to understand, breaking their promises, heartless and without mercy” (Romans 1:29-30). Even knowing the judgment of God on these things, people participate in these activities and give wholehearted approval to them. This is precisely what is happening in America!
Those who don’t necessarily practice those specific deeds are yet giving approval to them. They vote these practices into a place of acceptance and even safeguard those practices against nature, against God, and against His Word. They protect such activities through the laws of the land and those laws established by the leadership the voters put in place. Thinking becomes so depraved that the individual population is void of wisdom and understanding; they are unable to see things from God’s point of view. “Professing themselves to be wise, they have proved to be fools!” (Romans 1:22)
The only way you can change the practices of a person addicted to compulsive behavior or who is worshipping idols is through the power of the cross of Christ and the transforming power of that love. Unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He or she will not know heaven, will not know abundant life, will not have eternal life in Christ or experience the power of the cross to cover sins, find forgiveness, and receive new life.
It is through the precious blood of the Lamb as the sacrificial atonement and substitute for our sins we are saved by grace and grace alone, not by works of righteousness which anyone has done, but by His blood. None of us should ever boast except in the grace and mercy of our Almighty God and loving Father. We walk in the light as He is in the light and we have fellowship one with the other. By confessing our sins, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
We have been given a divine assignment to fulfill the Great Commission. We are not to merely make “church folks” or religious traditionalists, but sold-out, Spirit-filled followers of Christ. We are here to fulfill God’s Kingdom purpose as children of light, revealing the light set visibly on a lamp stand, never covered by anything that diminishes the glory of His light. We do it in supernatural unity, becoming the shining city set on a hill that cannot, will not, and must not be hidden. That’s how the world will know we are His disciples - by our love for Him, our love for one another, and our love for those outside the family circle of faith.
We are here to do battle as good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, never entangled or distracted by the things of this world. We are not to love the world or the things in the world, because if we love the world, then the love of the Father is not in us. If we say that we love Him and do not love one another, we walk in darkness and do not know the truth. We have been left here to battle the spiritual powers of darkness and we do so by putting on the whole armor of God, standing against the schemes of the devil, the great deceiver and father of all lies because our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities in the realm of darkness. We understand that unredeemed men do not comprehend the things of the Spirit because their understanding has been darkened. People love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Satan fiercely assaults the family of God and His kingdom purpose through us. He works against those who have been born from above through faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross who is the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. Satan wars against God’s kingdom purpose. He is against life, light, liberty, and the freedom that can only be known and experienced through the truth that sets us free and is essential to keep us free. Jesus said, “I am the Truth and you shall know the Truth and the truth shall set you free! Abide in Me and you will know the truth. I am sending the Holy Spirit to abide in you and to guide you to all truth and keep you free, not from the fight, but in the fight to finish and win as overcomers in this life!”
Many are convinced we are living in the “last days.” When Jesus was asked about prophetic timing, He replied, “Do not be unduly concerned about the times or the seasons. You are to be my witnesses beginning here at home in Jerusalem, in the neighboring communities and ultimately to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8 paraphrased). In the Great Commission, He said we are to go into all the world and make disciples of the nations. We have been left here on earth as witnesses, not to be caught up in foolish, fatalistic apathy or fixated on a specific date related to the return of Christ.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, “In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving…malicious gossips, without self-control…haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” In the next chapter, Paul made it very clear that in light of the times, we are to preach the Word and not just with our mouths, but with our actions. We are not to change the Word, alter it, or explain it away. We are to preach it, believe it, and through the grace available in Christ, seek diligently to obey it.
We are never to change God’s truth into a lie in an attempt to justify particular practices, tendencies, or failures. Romans 1 clearly teaches that when we don’t glorify God as God and put something else before Him, then we begin to worship something He created rather than the Creator Himself. We can even worship our point of view, our particular personal practices, or weaknesses. When you change the truth of God into a lie in order to justify certain actions, you are then given over to the control of what you have put before God. Your ungodly appetites and attitudes prevail to the point of bringing you into bondage. This, in fact, is the judgment and wrath of God against sin for changing His truth into a lie and accepting an idol. It reaches a point that a person is not simply out of control, but under the control of another power, spirit, practice, compulsion or addiction. It becomes totally unnatural – against nature. God specifically says as an example “men will burn in their lust for men and women will burn in their lust for women.” There is no way to deny that reality. There is nothing natural about such sexual practices. All compulsive behavior is the result of not keeping God, His Word, and His truth in first place.
The next step is that people are given over to foolish, depraved thinking, doing things that should never be done and controlled by what Paul referenced as “last days manifestation – people controlled by wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, gossip, backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud and boastful, inventing new ways of sinning, disobeying their parents, refusing to understand, breaking their promises, heartless and without mercy” (Romans 1:29-30). Even knowing the judgment of God on these things, people participate in these activities and give wholehearted approval to them. This is precisely what is happening in America!
Those who don’t necessarily practice those specific deeds are yet giving approval to them. They vote these practices into a place of acceptance and even safeguard those practices against nature, against God, and against His Word. They protect such activities through the laws of the land and those laws established by the leadership the voters put in place. Thinking becomes so depraved that the individual population is void of wisdom and understanding; they are unable to see things from God’s point of view. “Professing themselves to be wise, they have proved to be fools!” (Romans 1:22)
The only way you can change the practices of a person addicted to compulsive behavior or who is worshipping idols is through the power of the cross of Christ and the transforming power of that love. Unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He or she will not know heaven, will not know abundant life, will not have eternal life in Christ or experience the power of the cross to cover sins, find forgiveness, and receive new life.
It is through the precious blood of the Lamb as the sacrificial atonement and substitute for our sins we are saved by grace and grace alone, not by works of righteousness which anyone has done, but by His blood. None of us should ever boast except in the grace and mercy of our Almighty God and loving Father. We walk in the light as He is in the light and we have fellowship one with the other. By confessing our sins, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
We have been given a divine assignment to fulfill the Great Commission. We are not to merely make “church folks” or religious traditionalists, but sold-out, Spirit-filled followers of Christ. We are here to fulfill God’s Kingdom purpose as children of light, revealing the light set visibly on a lamp stand, never covered by anything that diminishes the glory of His light. We do it in supernatural unity, becoming the shining city set on a hill that cannot, will not, and must not be hidden. That’s how the world will know we are His disciples - by our love for Him, our love for one another, and our love for those outside the family circle of faith.
We are here to do battle as good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, never entangled or distracted by the things of this world. We are not to love the world or the things in the world, because if we love the world, then the love of the Father is not in us. If we say that we love Him and do not love one another, we walk in darkness and do not know the truth. We have been left here to battle the spiritual powers of darkness and we do so by putting on the whole armor of God, standing against the schemes of the devil, the great deceiver and father of all lies because our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities in the realm of darkness. We understand that unredeemed men do not comprehend the things of the Spirit because their understanding has been darkened. People love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Satan fiercely assaults the family of God and His kingdom purpose through us. He works against those who have been born from above through faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross who is the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. Satan wars against God’s kingdom purpose. He is against life, light, liberty, and the freedom that can only be known and experienced through the truth that sets us free and is essential to keep us free. Jesus said, “I am the Truth and you shall know the Truth and the truth shall set you free! Abide in Me and you will know the truth. I am sending the Holy Spirit to abide in you and to guide you to all truth and keep you free, not from the fight, but in the fight to finish and win as overcomers in this life!”
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