I guess it would be irresponsible of me to warn you that you'll be going through the Tribulation and then not tell you exactly how to prepare for it. Right?
If you are a "born-again" believer in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and you do not die beforehand, you should prepare yourself psychologically, mentally, physically and spiritually to face THE biggest persecution of Christians that has ever come on the earth!
What? How can I say that?
I'm not saying it. God's Word says it. Don't look at me. Look in the Word. Read your Bible.
If you don't have a Bible, I suggest you get a King James Version of the English Bible. You should also get one in your own language, if English is not your first language, but you could try learning some English. That brings about a unity of beliefs and understanding.
So, how should we prepare for persecution, imprisonment, torture, starvation, martyrdom and death?
Seven Christians were recently martyred in Libya. They were taken from their homes. Why?
Apparently, their murderers had gone door-to-door, asking residents,
"Are you Muslim or Christian?"
Those who confessed to being Muslim were spared. Those who confessed to being Christian were taken. The seven that were taken were shot in the head. Imagine that; seven (God's number). The Bible says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15.
I think one of the best things you can do to prepare yourself is to change your view of death. Death is sweet. It's a sweet release. Listen to some of the accounts of people who have died and come back to talk about it. Every one of them talks about "perfect peace". We will see the face of Jesus.
Don't you want to hear Jesus say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"?
Don't we all love to go home? After a long, tiring journey, don't you love to get inside of your home, take your shoes off and throw yourself into your favourite chair? Or, after work? Don't you look forward to finally getting off the highway and having a nice hot drink in your living room? I mean, isn't "home" the place where you can be yourself, relax, chill out and take a load off?
So, our heavenly home will be all that and more. Personally, I just can't wait! I'm looking forward to it, Just like the Apostle Paul did.
How do we prepare ourselves for death? Jesus tells us right in Revelations 12:11:
"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."
They did not love their own lives. Wow. This is a result of putting your life into God's hands. You don't do your own thing, go your own way, make your own decisions, but you ask God what to do, you follow and obey what He tells you to do and make decisions based on what God shows you. It's so exciting.
If we do this --practice hearing from God and obeying Him to the best of our ability, that's probably the best preparation we can make for facing ANYTHING that comes into our lives.
You want to make sure you're in God's will, don't you? Don't you want to be in God's will all the time so that when/if something happens, you won't say, "Uh, oh, I blew it! I disobeyed God so now God is punishing me."
You don't want to be in a situation where you don't KNOW for sure that you are in God's perfect will. Especially during this time on the world scene when things are heating up. Make sure you are where God wants you to be and doing what God wants you to be doing.
So, to prepare ourselves for the Tribulation, we need to work on our relationship with Jesus. I would say that that needs to be first and foremost. We need to be able to discern the voice of God. We need to be able to hear God's messages to us. We need to be able to jump when He says jump and stop when He says to stop.
And, that means studying the Word of God more intensely than we have ever studied it before. The Word is our map, our guide and our war manual. And it will teach us how to hear from our Commander in Chief.
He has already told us what our tactics look like. He has instructed us on exactly how to treat the enemy.
"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." That's Matthew 5:44.
And be happy when they persecute you!
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Matthew 5:11 and 12.
We are supposed to count it a privilege to be persecuted for the sake of the Gospel. That shows that we are getting the job done! The book of Acts gives several accounts of persecution. The first martyr, Stephen died preaching the Gospel (two whole chapters full of his preaching) and before they stoned him, told his persecutors,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." (Acts 7:56)
"And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:59 - 60.
Can you imagine? He was so full of the Holy Spirit and was so focused on winning souls to the Lord and preaching to the lost that he probably didn't even feel the rocks. What a testimony to those who were throwing the rocks! He asked God to forgive them! That's the kind of martyrs God wants us to be.
Now, we can't practice getting rocks thrown at us. It would be crazy to practice using thumb screws or shoving needles under our finger nails. But, we can practice preaching the Gospel. We can be so full of the knowledge of God's Word and so full of the Holy Spirit that we don't "love our lives".
If we're so focused on the spiritual and on imparting the truth of salvation to others, God will be obligated to pour out His Spirit on us!
Stephen was so full of Jesus that his persecutors saw his face as if it had been an angel! Acts 6:15.
So, the things we can practice are:
1. Prayer
2. Developing a deeper relationship with Jesus
3. Preaching the Gospel
4. Reading, Studying and Memorizing the Word
5. Loving our Enemies
What was Jesus saying when He said, "Love your enemies"?
One way I see that is that Jesus was telling us, "Christians don't have enemies." It's almost like a law. It is the Law of Love!
When Corrie ten Boom was in the Nazi prison camp and saw the prison guards treating her sister roughly, her sister told her,
"Don't hate."
As a rule of thumb, we are just not permitted to hate. We are permitted, as Christians to love and forgive. Yes, even our enemies.
Hate is not a luxury permitted by Christians. Well, hate's not a luxury, anyway. It's a burdensome, acidic and destructive device of the Devil. Isn't it?
Ok. So, don't hate. And, don't FEAR.
Fear is a killer. Worry and fear weaken us. Joy and love strengthen us.
One of the best things you can do for yourself is to memorize verses on fear. You'll be surprised how many verses there are that deal with that subject.
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