Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.  [Luke 21:36]


This past month has felt unreal, like science-fiction.  The economic shakings in our country have left people dazed, wondering, angry.  America hasn't felt like America.

JoAnn and I spent most of last month in Charlotte, NC, visiting friends and going out to minister elsewhere in the state.  But Charlotte is the headquarters for Wachovia, one of the banks that announced its collapse in the recent economic crisis.  JoAnn prayed with a salesgirl at the mall who couldn't stop weeping about the economy. 

The stock market took its toll.  At a men's breakfast, a show of hands told us that about a third of the people there were facing major hardship because of the downturn.  One couple, a few years older than me, was waiting to find out if they still have any money in their retirement account.

We felt the crunch at the gas stations.  A fuel shortage had spread through the inland areas of several southern states.  The few gas stations that were open had long lines.  Fights broke out; in a few areas the police had to stand guard; travelers were stranded out-of-town while locals couldn't get to work.  We wondered if we would be able to travel to the churches where I was to preach.

Where we once had confidence, we now have uncertainty.  As Jesus said, men's hearts are failing them, for fear.

So with all of this going on around me, I was awakened early one morning and sensed God wanted to speak to me.  My Bible reading took me to Luke 21, and verse 36 arrested my attention.  I got out the Greek New Testament and looked at the key words, and began to realize that Jesus offers us three resources that will help us overcome in troubled and uncertain times.


Resource One:  Awakened Spiritual Senses

Jesus often commanded us to watch and pray, but in Luke 21:36 He used an unusual word for "watch", a word that means "don't sleep."

There has to be more to the word than just staying up all night.  God has designed our bodies to demand sleep.  As I pondered what Jesus might be saying in this verse, I thought of Isaiah 50:4 .

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.

These words came to pass in the life of Jesus, and they can also come to pass in us as we become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

For about a year, I've posted an online school of the Spirit  if you haven't seen it yet, go to www.gospelsmith.com  and part of the monthly assignment is to spend time waiting in God's presence, ten to fifteen times each month.  These soaking times are an opportunity to let God awaken our spiritual ears.

But hearing isn't the only spiritual sense we need.  God also wants to awaken our spiritual eyes.  The anointing was upon Jesus to open the eyes of the blind; Paul's apostolic calling included the commission to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light.

In John 5, Jesus said He did what He saw the Father doing.  He had to see to work.  In John 11 and 12, He often touched on a theme of being able to work by day but not by night.  The issue?  Getting into God's light will open our spiritual eyes, we will see what God is doing, and we will be able to walk with Him.

This will be a key to our escaping the things that cause people's hearts to fail them for fear.

Hebrews 5:14 adds that, as we use our spiritual senses, it will awaken our discernment. We will find that He faithfully warns us when things aren't what they appear to be.

It's not that Jesus is commanding us to stay awake all night.  But if our spiritual senses are awake for even a few minutes every day, we will find ourselves immeasurably better prepared to face challenging times because we will be able to follow His guidance, even when everything around us is perplexing.


Resource Two:  Prayerful Preparation

Jesus said to pray at all times, or as some translators put it, in every season.

He told us what to pray for, but I found that some translations urge us to ask to be counted worthy to escape the things coming on the earth and to stand before the Son of man; others call us to seek to be able.  Will God weigh us in the balance and find us unworthy?  When we need to escape and stand before Jesus, will we be able?

Jesus didn't tell us to leave these questions to chance.  He told us to pray that God will prepare us for the tough days ahead.

Just one example.  As God was pouring the plagues on Egypt, the Israelites who heeded His voice began to escape them.  When He announced the plague of hail, those who feared Him made sure they gathered their cattle into the barn.  The hail came and went, killing all the cattle that were in the fields.  Hearing His word and acting on it empowered them to escape the storm that came upon the earth.
God wants to do the same for all of us.


Resource Three:  Standing Before The Son Of Man

I meet more and more people who are having throne room experiences, the most literal possible interpretation of Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

There are more scriptures about this theme than I can list here.  Romans 5:1-2 says we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Ephesians 1:3 says God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

A throne room experience can be an open vision, or it can happen entirely by faith.  The important ingredient is that we truly do business with Jesus, finding grace and mercy that will make a visible impact in our world.

In my forty years as a Christian, sometimes I have managed to find God's help and sometimes I haven't.  Whenever I have managed to break through, it has always been because I relied on the life of Christ within me to empower me to receive from God.  Victory has never come in my own strength.

Elijah learned to access the throne room. Notice how he introduced himself to King Ahab:  "As the Lord lives, before whom I stand". Elijah had learned to stand in the courts of God, and this is what empowered him to shake his ungodly nation.

Jesus has commanded us to pray that God will equip us to step into the throne room and get the help we need, just as Elijah did.

You may think you don't have it in you to be like Elijah.  Actually, the Bible says Elijah was a lot like you:

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  [James 5:17]

Elijah was ordinary, just like the rest of us.  Because he anchored himself in God, he lived an extraordinary life.  You can do the same, especially since you have a resource Elijah never had:  Christ in you, the hope of glory.


Use The Three Resources

You may be devastated by the events of the past few weeks, or you may be relatively untouched.  Either way, I think we all realize that the world around us is changing even a quick-fix that might seem to work seems more ominous than the problem.  As everyone around us is perplexed, we can be the people who know what our next steps should be.

Pray that God will activate your spiritual senses.  Use them.  Be faithful to act on what God shows you.

Engage in prayerful preparation.  Some of us will need to hear from God so we can find His provision for our own needs  and He is a God who knows how to provide a table in the wilderness.  All of us will have opportunities to minister grace to shaken people all around us.  A few of us will hear something from God that will affect whole regions.

Draw near to Jesus in the throne room.  Access heaven.  Everything you will ever need is there.

Though the hearts of many will fail them for fear, God is calling you to something higher.  Those who know their God will be strong and do exploits.