Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer reflects exactly what Jesus urged when He said to stay alert at all times and pray for strength to escape what is coming and to stand before the Son of Man, Luke 21:36. You are taking His words seriously, that heaven and earth will pass away but His words will not, Luke 21:33, and that wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes are only the beginning of birth pangs, Matthew 24:8. That watchfulness is right, and it is also right to ask how we can actually have that strength to stand.
Scripture makes clear that this standing is not achieved by our own effort or by trying to keep the law. The law shows us where we have failed and brings the knowledge of sin, and it was never given to make a person righteous. If righteousness could come that way, Christ would not have needed to die. Your standing before God does not rest on your own righteousness at all. It rests on grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God imputes to you the righteousness of Christ, He sees you in Christ, and that is your standing. You become one with God through Jesus, reconciled by His death and saved by His risen life, restored toward the image of God as He lives in you.
That is why there is no other escape. God has spoken finally through His Son, and we are to give earnest heed to what we have heard. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, and access to God is only through Him. No created thing can separate you from the uncreated love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8:38-39, and thanks be to God who gives victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The strength you are asking for to escape and to stand is the strength God provides within. You need to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may settle down and make Himself at home in your heart through faith. When you abide in Him as a branch abides in the vine, John 15:1-5, you remain connected to Him and you bear fruit that remains, John 15:7-8. That abiding is also how God conforms you to the image of Christ. He expresses His love and grace through you, and as He does He gently removes rough edges. That shaping can feel painful, but it is purposeful, and it is part of how you are prepared to endure.
In the new covenant you are not free to live for yourself. You are bound by a greater law, the law of love for Christ. The love of Christ constrains you to live for Him and not for yourself, and that love produces fruit for Him and keeps you from causing others to stumble. It keeps you from being weighed down with dissipation and the worries of life that Jesus warned would make that day come like a trap, Luke 21:34. It also keeps you from being deceived when many claim to speak for Christ and when lawlessness increases and the love of many grows cold, Matthew 24:4,12. The one who endures to the end will be saved, Matthew 24:13, not by holding on in human willpower, but by remaining in the One who holds you.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, heaven and earth and sea and dry land and all nations, Haggai 2:6-7, so that what cannot be shaken may remain, Hebrews 12:27. You are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, Hebrews 12:28, so the right response is gratitude and worship with reverence. That does not mean trials, persecutions, famines, perils, or storms will not touch you, but that you can overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved you as you ask for daily bread, Matthew 6:11, stay connected to your Beloved, and let the peace of God guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, Philippians 4:7.
So I join you in prayer that the Father will strengthen you by His Spirit in your inner being, that Christ will dwell richly in your heart through faith, that you will continue to abide in Him and bear much fruit, and that you will be found standing before the Son of Man not in your own goodness but clothed in the righteousness of Christ. May He keep you from deception, keep your love from growing cold, and use you to strengthen others and to make His reconciliation known as an ambassador of the new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, until the gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed as a testimony to all peoples and the Lord brings all things together in Christ.
Scripture makes clear that this standing is not achieved by our own effort or by trying to keep the law. The law shows us where we have failed and brings the knowledge of sin, and it was never given to make a person righteous. If righteousness could come that way, Christ would not have needed to die. Your standing before God does not rest on your own righteousness at all. It rests on grace through faith in Jesus Christ. God imputes to you the righteousness of Christ, He sees you in Christ, and that is your standing. You become one with God through Jesus, reconciled by His death and saved by His risen life, restored toward the image of God as He lives in you.
That is why there is no other escape. God has spoken finally through His Son, and we are to give earnest heed to what we have heard. There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, and access to God is only through Him. No created thing can separate you from the uncreated love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8:38-39, and thanks be to God who gives victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The strength you are asking for to escape and to stand is the strength God provides within. You need to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may settle down and make Himself at home in your heart through faith. When you abide in Him as a branch abides in the vine, John 15:1-5, you remain connected to Him and you bear fruit that remains, John 15:7-8. That abiding is also how God conforms you to the image of Christ. He expresses His love and grace through you, and as He does He gently removes rough edges. That shaping can feel painful, but it is purposeful, and it is part of how you are prepared to endure.
In the new covenant you are not free to live for yourself. You are bound by a greater law, the law of love for Christ. The love of Christ constrains you to live for Him and not for yourself, and that love produces fruit for Him and keeps you from causing others to stumble. It keeps you from being weighed down with dissipation and the worries of life that Jesus warned would make that day come like a trap, Luke 21:34. It also keeps you from being deceived when many claim to speak for Christ and when lawlessness increases and the love of many grows cold, Matthew 24:4,12. The one who endures to the end will be saved, Matthew 24:13, not by holding on in human willpower, but by remaining in the One who holds you.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, heaven and earth and sea and dry land and all nations, Haggai 2:6-7, so that what cannot be shaken may remain, Hebrews 12:27. You are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, Hebrews 12:28, so the right response is gratitude and worship with reverence. That does not mean trials, persecutions, famines, perils, or storms will not touch you, but that you can overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved you as you ask for daily bread, Matthew 6:11, stay connected to your Beloved, and let the peace of God guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, Philippians 4:7.
So I join you in prayer that the Father will strengthen you by His Spirit in your inner being, that Christ will dwell richly in your heart through faith, that you will continue to abide in Him and bear much fruit, and that you will be found standing before the Son of Man not in your own goodness but clothed in the righteousness of Christ. May He keep you from deception, keep your love from growing cold, and use you to strengthen others and to make His reconciliation known as an ambassador of the new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, until the gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed as a testimony to all peoples and the Lord brings all things together in Christ.
