#13 Repent

On October 7 of this year, Israel was attacked. One of the most clear end-time events to take place in my life. It was so violent, with men, women, children, both elderly and infants losing their lives in horrific ways. Now the world watches to see how Israel will respond, to see if they will be the ones to commit war crimes. I watch as men of every nation are acting and reacting, trying to make the best decisions possible, thinking that it is them and their counsel that is making these decisions, yet it is God who moves their mouths and their actions like pieces on a Chess board. However, the state of the world is not my greatest concern, God has that and He is not shaken and never will He be, my greatest concern is the reaction of my heart. 

 

Continuing to look for Jesus in the scriptures I have been studying the book of Acts.  Today I’m reading in Acts 17 as Paul comes into Athens and begins to reason with them. He addresses an altar they have created for “The Unknown God.”  The Athenians were very religious, and blindly looking for something to fill that hole inside. So much so that they created an Altar for the God that they could have missed. Is my life and relationship with God a reflection of such ignorance? The greatness of who He truly is remains unknown to me even though He has revealed Himself in such incredible ways. I think the first response to that would be one of reasoning since He is so great, powerful, and awesome, that it is true that my mind could not contain Him. But it is not His greatness that is unknown to me, it is the simple things, the basics of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that remains unknown. In its place, I put things that shouldn’t be there, little trinkets to replace His Majesty. 

 

V. 30 “Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

 

V. 31 “because He has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the Man who He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

 

Is this not the “Appointed day” and should we not“Repent?” My heart does not like that word. To embrace it means once again to give up my rights.  I’m watching myself and this world grapple with the times as the spirit of the Anti-Christ raises up and people embrace the side of evil and death, led astray by good intentions, and choosing to be blind to truth.  Then there is me and those closest to me, we are not shaken, but is that a good thing? The Spirit of God whispers softly to us, and we hear it, “This is serious.” Yet we are spiritually asleep, warm and cozy we are resting while we should be warning others, or maybe we should be warning ourselves. “Wake up Stacy!!! Fall on the rock and be broken, before it falls on you and crushes you to dust” (Matthew 21:44). It’s strange how much I don’t want to be broken. How much I simply want to roll over and go back to sleep in my warm little bed of religion. 

 

Father,

 

Thank You for speaking to me and keeping me. I give You the right to take hold of anything in my life that does not fall in line with You. I long for you to own everything and with great joy I abandon it all to you. Thank You for revealing Your great love for me. Draw me closer and help me to dive deeper into all that You are. 

 

In Jesus name, amen.