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Luke 21 34-38 WATCH AND PRAY VI 01 Luke 21 34 Prepared and ready
📖 Luke 21:34-38
*FRIEND OF GOD*
21Jun2021 -*Prepared and ready* - _Luke 21:34-38_ - WATCH AND PRAY VI (01) – Bible reading: _Mark 13:35-37_
We are to be set apart for Jesus. This is not something beyond our reach because this is not about our effort, commitment or our willpower. None of us can please God by our flesh.
Our body must be offered to the control and leading of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and enables us to live a life of holiness, pleasing to the Lord. The Holy Spirit makes us be people of righteousness, ready and prepared to meet our Master when He returns.
The Holy Spirit gives us the assurance and guarantees that we are ready to meet our Master or else we will be anxious, as we await the return of our Judge and King.
_Luke 21:34 “But *take heed to yourselves*, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, *and that Day come on you unexpectedly*._
We ought not to be taken by surprise and be in a state where we are not prepared and ready for the coming of our Lord. We must have the confidence and assurance that when the Lord returns, we are ready for Him, to meet Him.
We can have the confidence to meet the Lord when we are living in obedience and closeness with our Lord because it is the Holy Spirit, who directs our lives. We are giving our lives, entirely, into His control and the Holy Spirit drives our lives.
_Mark 13:35-37 *Watch therefore*, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— (36) lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. (37) *And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch*!"_
*This is the theme of our study, which is to watch and pray*. It is about being ready at any time to meet the Lord and not be caught unawares. If we have given in to the indulgences of the body, to our fleshly appetites, then the coming of the Lord will be a terrible day for us.
_Luke 12:45-47 But if that servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, (46) *the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware*, and will cut him in two *and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers*. (47) And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes._
This is a solemn and grave warning that is being given to those who have been appointed as God’s servants and God’s under-shepherds.
*We are here to be committed and fulfilling our God-given responsibility and task* and not wasting our time to the leniencies of our flesh. *All of us*, as His people, have each been given a specific task by our Lord and Master and He is expecting each of us to be fully given to the work at hand.
The warning that is given here is to those who have not fulfilled the task that God has given. Instead, if they have given in to the desires of the flesh, they will have to face severe punishment from the Master.
This is why it is absolutely essential for us to be carried by the Holy Spirit. If we were to try to meet the righteousness of God, by our own effort, then we have gone back to the bondage of the law. We have been set free, but our freedom needs to be carried by the Holy Spirit, for in the Holy Spirit, we will meet the righteousness of God.
_Mark 4:18-20 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, (19) and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (20) But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."_
The soil of our heart needs to be soil that bears yield and results for God. We must cultivate the soil of our heart to make sure it is the good soil for the danger is that if we do not do so, thorns will grow in the soil of our hearts and we will be barren before God.
*The thorns represent the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things*. These thorns need to be rooted out, ruthlessly from our hearts, by the power of His Holy Spirit.
Let us be cautioned that the tree that does not bear good fruit, will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
_Hebrews 12:12-15 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, (13) and *make straight paths for your feet* so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. (14) Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: (15) looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;_
We can be strong, we can be those who are producing results for the glory of God and we can be fully ready for the return of our Master for we are fulfilling all righteousness by the enablement of His Holy Spirit.
*Thought to ponder*
```We have much to do, in a time such as this… so, stop giving in to weaknesses```