If you’re following along with the videos and articles of interest I share, you will find them here: Week in Review
Welcome to the official kickoff of the Prepare Your Heart Series. Below is an advance copy of my Rapture Ready article for next week. Feel free to share.
Rapture: Why Are You Excited? – by Lisa Heaton
Watch this 10-minute video introduction to get you started.
Is your heart prepared for the coming King? In the Prepare Your Heart Series, that will be our focus, to be a people made ready for the return of Jesus for His bride. Our earliest topics will cover the rapture to see where we currently stand in our view of it, a heart check of sorts.
Most pre-trib-rapture believers fall into one of these three categories: excited for, afraid of, or in dread of the coming of Jesus for the church. Which are you? We should all be on the alert, guarding our homes (hearts) and taking inventory of our feelings and motivations.
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” (Matthew 24:42-44)
If you’re excited over the rapture and hope it happens before you finish this article, then I’m with you! But please continue on with the series after this “Excited” session since the information that follows will still likely be beneficial for you. In order to have productive conversations with others who fear or are in dread of the rapture, you need to get inside their heads and see where they’re coming from.
I’m so excited over the rapture that I sometimes find myself feeling guilty when considering the ones who will be left behind when we’re gone. I realize the sooner it comes, the sooner they’re left to face a certain, horrific future. More than once, I’ve had to remind myself it’s more than okay to be excited. No bride should feel guilty over her eager anticipation of her wedding day, even if she’s troubled over others refusing the invitation. We, the bride of Christ, rightly feel ever-growing excitement with each passing day. The more we see the rise of darkness, the closer we know our Groom’s arrival is. Jesus coming sooner rather than later may very well be God’s grace and mercy for those who would only fall for greater deception in a world where good is increasingly being called evil and evil good. In that case and with that perspective, I feel way less selfish for saying, “Come!”.
May I do a little meddling? Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what drives your excitement? Of course, we all want to get off this spinning ball of wickedness and go to heaven, but is that your only motivation? Do you merely want to escape here and go to heaven, or do you long to be with Jesus? Out loud, I think we would all answer “Jesus” since that’s the answer to every Sunday school question. But deep down, in that place where no one else can hear your answer, are you more excited about the place–heaven, and all that entails–or are you more excited about stepping into the arms of Jesus? Continue reading on RaptureReady.com…