LEST YOU FORGET . . . by Jeff Armstrong, June 1992
"Behold I am coming soon." Revelation 22:7
"When I come back, will I find faith" Luke 18:8
Will anyone be looking for my return? Will anyone have their hope in me and my coming kingdom? I am coming back soon to save you from the coming wrath and to bring you into an everlasting, joyous inheritance with my Father and I. You know I love you dearly and have sacrificed my own life on the cross for you. Believe in that with all your heart, because it is true. But don't stop there. I died for you so that you could be with me for eternal life. Do you see it? Isn't that exciting? I will be your husband and we will love each other for eternity. I love you. I love you.
Do you see where I am drawing your attention? I want you to be with me. I want you to want to be with me. You should be eagerly waiting that Day. The fulfillment of your faith is to be with me. That is why you are believing in me, because I am going to rescue you and give you the promise of eternal life - to be with me. But many are forgetting that I am coming back. They have turned aside to other hopes. There hearts are filled with things of this world. They are not awake or ready to be with me. Their hearts are elsewhere. They have other lovers. Please purify yourself only for me. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when I am revealed. Look for me, long for me, see me and seek to be with me by faith. If you seek a better country, a heavenly one, then you will be seeking me. And if you are seeking to be with me, you will be ready and my Father will not be ashamed to be called your God, and He will have a city prepared for you. But if you are not ready, I will tell you, "I don't know you."
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere [you need to keep looking] so that when you have done the will of God, you will recieve what He has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith [assurance of things hoped for]." Hebrews 10:35-38a
But by faith we eagerly wait through the spirit the righteousness for which we hope. Galatians 5:5
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body [that's some hope!] Philippians 3:20-21
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. Romans 2:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing [Are you longing for Him to come? Are you awake and ready?] 2Timothy 4:7-8
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who has promised is faithful [so your hope should be that you are holding on to His return to bring you into eternal life with Him]. Hebrews 10:23
We know that the whole creation has been growning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is not seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:22-25
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 3:14
All Scripture quotations from the New International Version.