What Are You Doing to Prepare For the Last Days?

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Some of you may recall 22 years ago when the world was preparing for what would potentially be a cataclysmic event called Y2K.

The year 2,000.

I was working as a bank teller at the time, and we were not sure what would happen at that fateful moment: midnight – 00:00 January 1, 2000.

Would the computers roll over to the new millennium or would all of our information be lost?

No one knew.

People were stockpiling food and water, because they were not sure what would happen to our water and food supplies.

We were preparing for a potential disaster.

Well, January 1, 2,000 came, as did January 2, 2,000, and nothing happened. January 1 was like every other day – and here were are 21 years later and nothing cataclysmic has happened yet.

But when we read our Bibles and compare the prophesied events to what is going on in the world right now, we can discern that what we refer to as the last days are indeed just around the corner.

The question is: What are you doing to prepare for them?

As we move on in our study through the Book of Isaiah, we read more about the impending attack of the Assyrians on Judah.

And as we looked at in our study of Isaiah 1-23, we learned that the Assyrians were the terror of the world. They wouldn’t just conquer nations, they would conquer them and then enact upon them the worst kind of human torture imaginable.

Many nations would either voluntarily surrender before the Assyrian army even reached their city gates, promising total submission to Assyria in exchange for their life, or would commit mass suicide – knowing that it was a more favorable end than the one awaiting them.

And now Assyria has Judah in it’s sites, and Isaiah is warning King Hezekiah to not turn to Egypt for safety and shelter – but to trust in God, their Rock and Fortress.

A look at history will show you that not only was Egypt conquered by the Assyrians, but God sent an angel to wipe out the Assyrian army of 185,000 in one night!

But what does this speak to us right now – at this time in history?

A lot!

What Are You Doing to Prepare For the Last Days?

One thing we need to realize about these prophetic books of the Bible is that very often – most times – they had a “near fulfillment” and a “later fulfillment”.

This means that the prophets foretold an event that has already happened – perhaps even while the Bible was being written, but that there is a fulfillment that happened later (after the Cannon was closed), or is yet to happen.

A lot of is foretold in these chapters about the last days: about Christ’s millennial reign, the Great Tribulation, and the events we read about in the book of Revelation.

In the months leading up to Y2K, no one knew what would happen. Things could go one of two ways: either total chaos would ensue when all of the computers in the world melted down because they couldn’t roll over or they would roll over and things would continue on as they always had.

But God hasn’t left us in the dark as to what lies ahead!

His Word gives us insight and direction for how to discern the times and seasons leading up to the rapture of the church and His second coming — and what lies beyond that.

Jesus said, ““When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:2-3

So the question is: Are we actively discerning the signs of the times, or are we choosing to do as Isaiah says in Isaiah 29:8-13.

In these verses, he describes those who dream of eating food and drinking water, and yet wake up hungry and thirsty.

They are asleep, when they should be awake and alert.

He describes those who are spiritually lethargic. They have rejected God’s counsel, so he has blinded their eyes and dulled their spiritual senses. He has sealed the Scripture to them so that they are unable to read it and has caused spiritual illiteracy to come upon them so that they cannot understand it.

Then he goes on to describe how, despite their spiritual lethargy and inability to understand the Word, they still carry on with religious duty.

They honor Him with their words, but their hearts are distant.

1. Cry out for a spiritual awakening

If you are feeling spiritually lethargic; if your spiritual senses feel dull and lazy; if you read God’s Word and fail to truly understand what you are reading, cry out for a spiritual awakening.

Pray. Fast. Wait on God. He promises that He will hear and answer our prayers when we earnestly seek Him with sincerity and a pure heart.

We must not become like those we read about in these verses; carrying on with spiritual duty unware that we are in a spiritual stupor – unable to read or understand God’s Word.

2. Purpose to trust God, no matter what happens

Judah was gearing up for an attack by an army that had terrorized the entire world at that time.

King Hezekiah did not know what to expect, he just knew whatever it was, it was going to be bad. Very bad.

But God, speaking through the Prophet Isaiah, assured him that He would defend them. They did not need to fear, and they certainly should not seek to form alliances with other nations to gain a sense of security and stability.

Their security and stability was in God alone.

And just like King Hezekiah, God is sending us a warning to not form alliances with the world.

Blessed – how blessed, how happy, how joyful, how to be envied….is the man who does not:

Walk in the counsel of the ungodly (Seek, study, and implement counsel not found in God’s Word – ie. psychology, philosophy, self-help, etc)
Stand in the way of the sinner (Identify with those things the world identifies with. BLM, Me Too, and other identities the world uses to define itself)
Sit in the seat of the scornful (Adopt a secular worldview, while at the same time offering God lip-service; making a mockery of Him to the world)

This progression of alliance with the world is a trap; and very often we don’t realize what is happening while it is happening.

As God’s children, we cannot afford to look to politics and politicians for our security and safety.

When we read God’s Word, we know that in this world we will not always have safety. Jesus promised that in this world we would have trouble.

He also describes a time of great persecution for those who hold to the teachings and principles of His Word. And I believe we have entered such a time.

The question isn’t will we face persecution for our decision to hold to the absolute truth of God’s Word; the question is how are we preparing for such time?

If we continue to look to legislation, court systems, and politics to give us the security and safety we long for, we will fall into this trap described in Psalm 1.

This doesn’t mean we don’t do all we can as citizens to fight for righteousness in our nation – “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Proverbs 14:24 – this simply means that we don’t put our hope and trust in that.

Our hope must be in God’s Word, and we must purpose in our hearts to take refuge in it spiritually, even when we are being persecuted physically.

3. Seek God’s face

In Isaiah 32, he speaks to the women, and he calls them out of their complacency and apathy because troubling times are coming.

It is so easy at this time in history to distract ourselves with toys, digital noise and distraction, and with those teachers and preachers who tell us what we want to hear.

There are self-proclaimed prophets who want us to believe that peace is ahead. But peace is not ahead. We know that because the Bible tells that there is coming a time of great turmoil.

It is very easy to allow these “itching-ear prophets” and the digital distractions to lull us into a spiritual stupor, but if we do, we will be caught like the five foolish virgins who ran out of oil when the Bridegroom came.

We need to seek God’s face.

We must stay consistent in God’s Word and prayer.

We must stay alert and ready – knowing that though great turmoil is ahead, God will give us the grace to endure and he who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22, 24:13)

4. Live righteously

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil: He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, his water will be sure. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will see the land that is very far off.” (Isaiah 33:14-17)

Do you want to endure what is to come and see the King in His beauty and the land that is “very afar off”?

Those who endure are those who:

Walk righteously – walking according to the principles of Scripture and do not try to reinterpret it through cultural norms or rewrite it to be more palatable to our society and generation today.
Speak uprightly – refusing to allow our speech to be corrupted with profanity, pop-psychology, worldly philosophy, political correctness, and pandering to those who seek to intimidate the church.
Are not for sale – refusing to be bought by those who offer safety by oppressing the righteous and who bribe them with wealth and notoriety to perpetuate an anti-biblical narrative
Refuses to be entertained by evil and violence

Dear sisters, we must guard our heart with all diligence.

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

We must protect our heart, we must sharpen our spiritual senses, to be able to properly discern the times in which we are living.

We cannot allow the noise, distraction, entertainment, and manipulation of this world and culture to dull our senses and lull us into a stupor.

Dear sisters – trim your lamps, prepare your oil, seek God’s face, and stay consistent in His Word and in prayer as you prepare for these last days!

A Little More About Good Morning Girls and My Groups

Good Morning Girls is an online Bible study for women. Began by Courtney Joseph in her church, she took the Bible study to the Internet in 2009 and invited ladies all over America to join her in keeping each other accountable to their daily time with the Lord.

Little did she know that this Bible study would extend beyond the borders of America to literally every region of the world!!

In 2014 I joined Courtney, together with my dear friends Misty, Mandy and Bridget, in helping to lead Good Morning Girls. It has been an amazing journey as we’ve watched Good Morning Girls not only grow beyond what we could have dreamed or imagine, but we’ve had the amazing honor to see women’s lives changed by daily digging into God’s Word!

Good Morning Girls is a simple study – we simply read the Bible.

We believe that there is power in the Word of God and the Word of God alone can defeat the enemy. So we read one chapter a day 5 days a week. And we will continue this method until we’ve read through the entire Bible!!

All the materials are free and are available at Women Living Well!

In the summer of 2012 I opened the very first Good Morning Girls group in Croatia.

12 women, all members of my church.

I had no idea where it would lead. But by the following summer it exploded to cover the countries of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia.

You can read the story here