The Urgency of Intercessory Prayer - By Jim Tharp, 2014

For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us.

Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities:

transgressing and denying the Lord, and turning away from following our God,

talking oppression and revolt, conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance;

for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter.

Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one,

and was appalled that there was no one to intervene . . . .

(Isaiah 59:12-16, NRSV).


The prophet Isaiah allowed God to stir his heart over the lostness of His chosen nation so that he understood the Creator’s grief over the apostasy that demanded divine judgment. What must have really awakened the prophet was that God was appalled that there was no one to intervene.

A global fire is raging. The times that Jesus foretold are upon us. He said, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you . . . . You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death . . . . When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near . . . . Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:10-12, 16, 20, 34-36, NIV).

Millions of professing evangelicals in America are caught up in shocking fear, wondering what happened to their faith. Too many have ignored Christ’s instruction as to our orders for the last days. Franklin Graham writes, “Before one crisis can be calmed, another rains down. From coast to coast, continent to continent, terror strikes the nations. News anchors and political personalities often shake their heads and ask, ‘What in the world is going on?’”

It must grieve our God that at this critical hour our church’s prayer rooms are nearly empty, family altars are broken down, and no solemn assemblies are being called. Surely the God who wants to save us must be appalled that there is no one to intervene. How can we American believers ignore our responsibility for complying with God’s sure solution to our coming implosion? The call is going out to Christians: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (II Chronicles 7:14, NIV).

One has to wonder just how dead—deaf, disinterested, paralyzed, indifferent—the body of Christ across America has become! Instead of a marching army ready for battle, have we become one of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones?

Then, let us pray for an ear to hear God’s voice telling us to Prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones; I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ (Ezekiel 37:4-6, NIV).

Then the Lord told the prophet, Prophesy to the breath—this is tantamount to the New Testament believer praying to the Holy Spirit— . . . and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ (Ezekiel 37:9, NIV)

Such obedience—sacrificial praying, burdensome intercession, groaning in sync with the Spirit’s passion for renewal—had great results: So I prophesied as he commanded, said the prophet, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army (Ezekiel 37:10, NIV).

Fighting The Good Fight - by Jim Tharp 1997

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, ... And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
(Eph. 6:10-13, 18)

I still find it shocking that most of our pastors and lay leaders are uncomfortable and unwilling to discuss the subjects of Satan and spiritual warfare. As my friend Jack Taylor says, "Most of the Christian world seems to have taken a vow of silence on these matters." What else can explain the paralysis of spiritual death that grips so many congregations, despite well-educated and well-organized pastors, trained staff, attractive buildings, the latest in technology and a commitment to building a sound spiritual body?

Why is there in so many of our churches a numbness and drowsiness concerning what we are about, where we should go and how we are to get there? And when someone tries to focus, there come a dozen differing responses that send the leaders into confusion and often division. In such a vacuum it is easy for rifts to take place, strong-willed leaders to get into power and church politics to become an offensive odor throughout the whole community. In such discouraging circumstances, the tendency on the part of the leadership is to rally their natural strengths to fight against "flesh and blood." Satan will do almost anything to keep pastors and teachers and evangelists and prophets from discovering the need for true spiritual warfare. One of his most effective strategies is to keep them preoccupied with administration, counseling, meetings, visitation and putting out the fires of opposition so that every day is almost prayerless. Such otherwise intelligent leaders never dream that they are themselves already casualties in a spiritual war.

Someone has got to sound the word that the Church of Jesus Christ is called to enforce the mighty victory that Christ won over Satan and his kingdom of evil at Calvary. Until Jesus returns to actually destroy Satan, the Church is given authority to discern his strategies, disclose his purposes, deny his power, defeat his operations and deliver his captives. Let the followers of Christ realize that since Calvary and the Empty Tomb, Satan does not have unlimited power on planet earth. We who are filled with the Holy Spirit, clad in His armor and given to a ministry of intercessory prayer are called to resist the Evil One, tear down his strongholds and order his retreat. Otherwise, it is the nature of Satan to impose, intrude and usurp until confronted by true representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ who know the power of that Strong Name and will not hesitate to invoke it.

The Early Church received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and took authority to resist and overcome the Evil One. Throughout the book of Acts we see Spirit-filled apostles and deacons and evangelists operating against Satanic forces just as Jesus had done before them, and with the same results.

The Church is called to do battle against the Evil One and his forces today. Because he is invisible, prayerful attention and discernment is required on the part of those who wage spiritual warfare. Otherwise, we will soon be thinking and acting as though our struggle is with flesh and blood (people, institutions, visible entities), and we will then resort to carnal weapons used by the world. When this happens, the Church ceases to be the Church, and becomes as any other natural organization -- and the Evil One wins.

Far too long the Church has cut itself off from its true source of wisdom and power and has been content with its sorry substitutes. This accounts for the spirit of apathy instead of a spirit of authority. This accounts for so many losses and almost no gains in the salvation of the lost, the making of strong disciples, the powerful, drawing, caring fellowship of the saints, and the lack of revival in general.

But hear me, dear people: Any congregation in America can know a Christ-exalting breakthrough of Spirit-anointed worship services, new people and entire families being won to Christ and the church, believers being sanctified holy, the healing of marriages and family relationships, the destruction of Satanic strongholds, vision and direction for the church, the availability of gifted and dedicated leaders, the coming forth of laborers to be trained for need-meeting ministries and the release of needed funds for financing God's Kingdom through ministries and programs inspired by the Spirit -- if only the leaders will lead the way in prayer!

All of the above can be true if pastor and leaders will devote themselves to prayer. Others will follow. It does not require a praying majority; a powerful minority can turn the tide and see revival. Dear ones, the hour is too late and too dark and too dangerous for just more trivial and timid experiments. We must return to the divinely-ordained, time-tested Upper Room means of releasing God's power on His Church for healing her diseases and removing her reproaches. As congregational leaders throw themselves into the ministry of prayer and fasting, God will through a mighty minority begin His outpourings of the Spirit and will not stop until the congregation has experienced a mighty New Testament spiritual awakening and a great increase in the harvest of souls.

Our Holy God of Judgment - by Jim Tharp, 2015

Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.

He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject” (Acts 17:29-32).

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:27-28).

For we (Christian believers) must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (II Corinthians 5:10).

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead (unbelievers), great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).


Our Western mentality is such today that most of our minds immediately throw out red flags against any biblical mention of divine judgment. Even when evangelical messengers include the divine attribute of grace along with our preaching on divine judgment, we are often tuned out, turned off, and rejected. Still, we who are called of God are not excused from our assignment to remind both Christians and unbelievers that we shall all appear before God to give an account of our lives on earth.

Christians—all who have repented of sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord—will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We who have been saved by faith shall be judged by our works. Rewards will be given for faithful service and for hardships suffered for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s—the greater the suffering, the greater the rewards.

Unbelievers—those who have not believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God sent to atone for their sins by a traumatic death on the cross—will be judged justly for their rejection of their only hope of salvation and punished according to the sins they have committed over a lifetime. Not believing in Jesus Christ will turn out to be the greatest sin. Eternal punishment will be their judgment, and they’ll know it comes from a just God who loved them enough to pay off their debt of sin had they only believed.

The apostle Peter assures us that our God judges each man’s work impartially (I Peter 1:17), meaning that He is absolutely just in every individual’s case and shows, no favoritism. At the great white throne judgment, lost souls will at long last discover within themselves a fear of this absolutely Holy One, an amazement at His Presence, even a respect for this Glorious One who judges them. They’ll have no defense, no argument, only the realization that they’re getting what they deserve for their final unforgivable sin of rejecting the Almighty God’s one and only Son who paid for their sins so that they might believe in him and receive eternal life.

A Word to Believers

In 21st century America’s secular mindset, Christians are being tempted to lose their sense of the holiness of God and begin morphing into the worldly values and styles of a pagan world. But we are called to be light in a dark world and to be salt in a decadent society. God’s Word warns us that when our lights go out the darkness becomes great, and when the salt loses its strength and taste corruption is the result.

As we near the closing out of our year and the approach of 2015, I confess a foreboding that increases as I move deeper into intercession for our beloved America. I do believe that God raised up our nation to be a powerful witness to all the other nations on planet Earth. He brought about the American experiment to prove His great love, power, and grace. We were meant to be a people who would glorify Him by taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, by meeting the needs of suffering humanity at home and abroad, by experiencing the outpourings of the Holy Spirit in periodic spiritual awakenings, and by rekindling revival fires throughout the earth.

But who will deny that we have lost our way, our purpose, our vision, our message, our freedom? So much of our nation is in slavery today—in bondage to debt, having mortgaged our future and that of future generations; and enslaved by drugs, unbridled sexual passions, and materialism. And worse, we seem bent on dismissing God from the public square.

Our gracious and loving God has clearly marked out the only solution, but it has to begin with the millions of us who claim to be followers of His Son. He challenges us:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (II Chronicles 7:14).

A Word to Unbelievers

In love and concern for all who have not trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, I beg you to hear a word from the inspired King Solomon: I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11). This wise man is referring to the awesome responsibility the Creator has placed upon mankind as free moral agents to choose their course in life. But when he writes that God has also set eternity in the hearts of men, he is referring to our God-given innate sense of life beyond death. Anthropologists report that in nearly all cultures there exists a haunting belief that death does not end human consciousness. Mexicans, Peruvians, and Polynesians believed they’d go to the moon when they died. Our native Americans believed they’d go to their happy hunting grounds. The sense that death is not the end has shaped nearly every civilization—that is, until recent times among Western civilizations. What the anthropologists have not told us about these civilizations is the various moral guidelines they followed to prepare them for life after death.

 

But thank God for the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ; and thank God for the written Word of God, the Bible. I can write down for you the eternal truth about our need for preparing for the next life, not because I figured it out myself and not because I heard it from a philosopher. But I can assure you of the true way because I’ve tried and tested it, and it works. It comes from the Holy Book, the Bible, and it tells me that a loving God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

What The Spirit Is Saying To The Church - by Jim Tharp 1997

At the close of His message to each of the seven churches in the book of Revelation, our Lord warns each church, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

The good news is that our God is speaking today. He spoke in times past through the prophets. He speaks today through His Son, Jesus Christ. He also speaks through the Holy Spirit and His messengers. "The words that I speak to you," says Christ, "are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Oh, dear friends, the greatest force in the universe today is the Word of God! But the sad news is that the American church for so long has not had an ear to hear the voice of God. There has been a dullness of hearing. We have listened to siren voices distracting from the voice of our Good Shepherd.

Could it be that now for the past ten or fifteen years American Christians have been coming out of their slumber enough to start hearing what God is saying? But let's be realistic: we have not been fully awakened as yet. We have not seen full-scale revival in our land. There is still complacency, division, prejudice, materialism, cynicism, arrogance and carnality in most of the body of Christ. No, we have not come to revival -- not yet.

But -- praise God! -- something is happening. Even though most American evangelicals are still asleep, some are waking up. Most of us are still in our nightclothes, even still in our bedrooms. But we do hear something and we're afraid to go back to sleep, knowing that we'll miss the mighty call of the Spirit.

We now have an awareness to some degree of the spiritual stupor from which we are emerging. We are developing an ear for the Spirit's startling revelation that we have been infected with the Laodicean Syndrome. We are ashamed that we have invested so heavily in false values, that we have boasted of being whole and having need of nothing, when Christ has seen us as wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked (Rev. 3:17).

We've mistaken our material prosperity for divine approval. We've grown blind to our self-righteousness, pride, prejudices and conceit. We've been insensitive to the movements of God and to the lateness of the hour. We've been so far from God, and so taken up with ourselves, that we have not discerned His voice and we've tried to write off His messengers while ignoring His message.

But we are now at the critical point -- will we humble ourselves and let the Lord touch our ears to hear? Will we receive from the Lord the true wealth, the gold refined in the fire? Oh, dear ones, let us reach for the garments that He offers, while we rend our old ones -- let us cherish the white robe from Him, the only covering for the shame of our nakedness! Let's submit to His ministry to our eyes -- we need His eyesalve to anoint our eyes that we may see. Let us tune out all distracting voices and beg for an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches at this hour.

I'm convinced that God is saying at least three things to His Church as we close out the twentieth century. Consider these three urgent calls prayerfully and seriously, and see if you agree, and then act accordingly.

Wake Up!

I believe that God is saying, Wake up and prepare for the great revival that I am going to give. The most crucial time in revival is at the earliest stage when the Spirit is rousing a Christian or a congregation to its slumber and penetrates just enough to bring about an awareness of their plight of deadness. A critical decision has to be made about waking up, coming fully awake and receiving the whole truth about our undoneness and desperate need as God will reveal it. This is what we say that revival is first a rude awakening before it is a great awakening.

Preparation includes humility, repentance and prayer (II Chron. 7:14). Have you ever noticed how frequently God's Word calls attention to the need of humility on the part of God's people? "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. ... Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up" (James 4:6, 10). The angel Gabriel told Daniel, whose prayers initiated a great war in the heavenlies, that it was when he began to humble himself before the Lord that his prayers were heard (Dan. 10:12). Even our Lord humbled himself before the Father in prayer, before John the Baptist in baptism, and submitted Himself to the humiliating attacks of Satan. But the consequences are reported: "Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region" (Luke 4:14). In Capernaum "they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority" (Luke 4:32).

If we'll humble ourselves, God will continue to speak to us and show us what we need to repent of and how we can more completely prepare for the revival He wants to give.

End-times Spiritual Warfare - by Jim Tharp, 2015

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18, NIV)

* * * * *

The apostle Paul closed his epistle to the Ephesians by calling on believers of all the Church age to be armed for battle. The same Mighty Warrior, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who has led His warriors to victory across the centuries will lead His saints to victory in these last days if we arm ourselves in His armor prepared for us, if we are cleansed and filled with His Spirit of power, and if we will obey His orders. If we follow our Mighty Warrior, our King of glory, into battle we shall overcome!

We who live in the 21st century must realize that the same battle plan God gave the apostle to give to early Christians is the same plan for us who follow in the end times.

While the god of this world has been training his hierarchy of evil to adapt strategies for every period in the history of the Church, he no doubt has reserved his harshest, most atrocious attacks for his grand finale.

The prince of darkness knows that the Invincible Eternal One has already decreed his destiny to be the lake of fire forever. Therefore his last-days strategies will be the most brutal and ominous attacks of all the ages. As Jesus Christ warned all living in the end times through His apostle John: Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time (Revelation 12:12, NKJV).

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, the writer orders. The forces we are coming against are not visible; they are not flesh and blood. Therefore, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (II Corinthians 10:3-5, NIV). As Spirit-filled Christians, we have the Spirit’s power to enable us to overcome our own weaknesses and fears and come through the temptations so as not to react as the world, the flesh, or the devil would have us react. In the full armor of God, we are enabled to be strong in the Lord.

• The belt of truth. Truth is the girdle holding the uniform tight, enabling the soldier to be free in all his movements. As it is in Jesus, the imagery affirms that truth holds together all other virtues to maintain the freedom of the Spirit within us to take us to the promised victory in battle.

Revival In Three Dimensions - By Jim Tharp - 1997

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs -- we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."'

(Acts 2:1-21)

The Feast of Pentecost followed the Feast of Passover by a week of weeks. Even as the Harvest of Firstfruits was a natural sequel to the celebration of the exodus from Egyptian bondage, so in Christian experience Pentecostal fullness must follow a Calvary of repentance.

On an historic day when devout Jews from all over the Mediterranean world had gathered in Jerusalem to observe a ritual at the temple, 120 believers who had been to Calvary assembled in an upper room across town to wait for "the promise of the Father."

No one but the Lord Himself knows all that happened on that memorable morning, but to study the account as given by Luke the historian, and then to gather the testimonies of those who were present, is to be able to discern the dimensions of true revival as they began in the Church of Jesus Christ on the Day of Pentecost. We can see at least three dimensions: (1) The Down-pouring of the Spirit; (2) The Inward-sweeping of the Spirit; and (3) The Out-flowing of the Spirit.

The Downpouring

Peter quoted Joel in explaining the Pentecostal phenomena: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people." The apostle wants his hearers to understand that they had just witnessed a sovereign move of the Holy Spirit. It was an undeniable manifestation of God's Presence. It was not the imagination of Christians; it was the mighty Presence of God in power. Up to this time, nothing had been experienced on this scale. In studying the prophecy of Joel (2:28-32), it should be noted that the vision begins with a manifestation of God's Presence on His people that will impact all classes of people the world over. There is reason to believe that just as the Church age began in a mighty outpouring of the Spirit, so it will end likewise.

It should not seem strange to us that countless millions of Christians are at this very hour devoted to intercessory prayer for the kind of revival that will sweep the globe. Since nothing is impossible with God, they cry, why not believe Him for an outpouring of His Spirit of love and power that will sweep all nations, engulfing the whole Church in a mighty witness to the nations in this the most dangerous time in human history! I think Joel's prophecy does point to the kind of a climactic downpouring that assures us the Church age shall not end in a whimper but in a bang.

Thank God for the increasing reports of the outpourings of His Spirit on His people in nearly all parts of the world. We simply need to get ready and expect such glorious things. It appears that we are now entering that period of history when the universal dimension of Joel's prophecy shall be fulfilled.

The Insweeping

Before the Council at Jerusalem the apostle Peter testified to the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of both the apostles in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost and the household of Cornelius at Caesarea: "He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:7). John the Baptist had prophesied just such a purification: "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and He will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Matt. 3:11-12).

The most unhappy Christians in the Church today are those who have stopped short of surrendering their all to the Lord Jesus Christ and inviting His Holy Spirit to come in cleansing power. This is a humbling, drastic, subjective experience. But it has to happen before the Holy Spirit can fill us. Thousands are deceived about being filled with the Spirit, because they have been blessed by the Spirit in some marvelous way. But remember this: cleansing precedes filling. God does not fill a carnal vessel. He first sanctifies, and then He fills. We were born again in order that we might be filled with the Spirit. This is God's purpose. Our brain was designed to think the thoughts of God. Our spirit was created to be quickened by the Holy Spirit. Our life was planned to be fulfilled through the indwelling, infillingHoly Spirit. But, oh, the blindness without His light! Oh, the deadness without His life! Oh, the hardness of religion without His love! Christian friend, the Lord is waiting to cleanse your heart from all unrighteousness and begin the glorious process of making you into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29; II Thes. 2:13-14).

The Outflowing

What happened to 120 believers in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost was not contained there. What had been subjective and experiential turned objective and redemptive. Their self-consciousness soon changed into an others-consciousness. After a time they descended from the Upper Room to street level to answer the inquiries and meet the needs of hungering multitudes by preaching Jesus and loving and accepting people just as Jesus had done.

The power of any revival can be measured by the extent of its outward reach. We've been hearing of the unusual moving of God's Spirit in Pensacola, Florida, in the Brownsville Assembly of God Church. It's very exciting to hear the reports of the amazing displays of divine power, but the report that 55,000 people have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior over the last 18 months as the revival continues gives credibility that this is truly a move of God. The citizens of Greater Pensacola are aware that God is at work. The crime rate has dropped, and people who once had no hope now have it.

PENTECOSTAL PRAYING - By Jim Tharp, 2015

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you;
but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are
endued with power from upon high.

(Luke 24:49)


During Jesus’ last months of training His disciples He spent time explaining their coming critical relationship with the Holy Spirit. In John, chapters 14-16, He clearly described the role of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you, Jesus said (John 16:7). However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth . . . and He will tell you things to come (John 16:13).

Jesus repeatedly emphasized the urgency of His followers to proclaim the Gospel to a lost world – in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).

And yet Jesus in great authority ordered the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. His apostles understood His meaning of the word tarry – wait before the Lord, pray earnestly, and tarry for the power! For you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses . . . (Acts 1:8).

The Coming Spiritual Awakening - by Jim Tharp

As we move deeper in the year of 2021, it becomes evident that the church of Jesus Christ is closer than ever to a marvelous spiritual awakening. Included in this unusual revival will be an evangelistic harvest of souls on a scale unknown in church history. In Matthew 13:39, Jesus spoke of the harvest at the end of the age. Yes, Jesus said the age would end in harvest. So, we are not operating on wild imagination when we share our vision of a supernatural outpouring of the Holy Spirit and an abundant harvest.

Just how close are we to this final harvest and the end of the age that Jesus spoke of? Well, I do not believe that has been revealed to anyone on earth. It is not a time for speculation. We have had enough false prophets adding confusion to the church with their sensational date-setting! However, our Lord did mention some signs that would indicate the lateness of the hour. His apostles were faithful in their writing of the New Testament to tell us what to expect socially, morally, economically, politically, and spiritually as we draw nearer to the end of the age.

History seems to be on fast forward now, hurling us into the moral darkness, social chaos, and spiritual confusion foretold in the scriptures. What we Christians must remember throughout this waiting period is that our Sovereign God reigns. He is in control of history. There will come a shaking of the heavens and the earth—and we are very likely in the countdown right now. According to the inspired writer of Hebrews 12, there will be a removal of all things that can be shaken—the works of Satan and fallen man—so that what cannot be shaken may come into view and become established. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

CLOTHED WITH POWER - by Jim Tharp

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me . . . to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8, NKJV

At this late hour in church history Christian prayer warriors must take seriously what Jesus told His disciples after He was resurrected following his crucifixion. He emphasized the importance of the power of the Holy Spirit who would be a gift to those who had repented of sin, experienced divine forgiveness, and asked God to fill them with the Holy Spirit. Jesus warned His followers against grieving, ignoring, and disobeying the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus was Himself a model for us in living and praying in the Spirit. Before Jesus began His ministry of preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, and raising the dead, He was filled with the Holy Spirit! Yes, He was the Son of God and the only human who never committed sin. But He, as a human, needed the power of the Holy Spirit.

NEEDED: MIDNIGHT MEDIATORS - by Jim Tharp

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:9-13, NKJV)

The Church’s Greatest Need - by Jim Tharp

I have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ for 75 years, pastored churches for 42 years, and preached throughout the world for 33 years. I am convinced that the greatest need in the church at this critical hour is to experience the kind of spiritual awakening that will cause the Spirit of God to restore spiritual power to professing Christians and cause unbelievers to feel conviction of sin that will draw them to faith in Jesus Christ!

Let all professing Christians remember that Jesus spent more than three years training His twelve disciples and promising them that after He had finished His mission on earth, He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit to fill them with power for spreading the Gospel to the whole world. Following Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He returned to the disciples for several days. His last words before ascending back to the Father were for His disciples and other believers to go back into the city of Jerusalem and pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We read in chapter 2 of Acts that out of more than 500 believers in Christ, 120 responded to this instruction. The result of their obedience is recorded in Acts 2:1-4. “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Following this experience, the disciples and the other Christians who had been filled with the Holy Spirit left the Upper Room and went down to the crowds on the street in Jerusalem. As a result of the apostle Peter’s preaching, about 3,000 sinners repented of sin on the first day and the Church of Jesus Christ began! Throughout the history of the church, there have been times of great spiritual awakenings that revived the church and convicted unbelievers of their sins, resulting in both their repentance and being added to the church.

I believe that never in the history of our American churches has Christianity been so weak! In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said to His believers, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” When we repent and believe in Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit is given to us. But very few believers realize the requirements for growth in the power of the Spirit. It takes prayer, worship, searching the Scriptures, and loving fellowship with fellow Christians. Neglecting these devotions will grieve the Spirit until the professing believer is empty, cold in heart, and weak in the faith. In Ephesians 5:18 we are commanded to “. . . be filled with the Spirit.”

Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2021 - by Jim Tharp

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4, NKJV)

Before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come after Him. Jesus said: And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you (John 14:16-18).

Jesus remained on earth for 40 days after His resurrection from the dead. Just before He ascended to His Father in heaven, He commanded His apostles and other believers not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father (Acts 1:4). And then in Acts 1:8, He added, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. After Jesus had spoken those words, He ascended to heaven.

About 120 believers, including the apostles, obeyed Jesus’ command, returned to Jerusalem, and went to the upper room where they prayed earnestly with one accord. After 10 days, the Holy Spirit came upon those believers giving them the power to preach the gospel. Chapter 2 of Acts gives the account of the Day of Pentecost.

National Day of Prayer - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - by Jim Tharp

The theme for this year’s National Day of Prayer is “LORD pour out Your LOVE, LIFE, and LIBERTY.” A law proclaiming a day of prayer for our nation was signed in 1952; for 69 years we have observed this special day! Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ considered prayer to be of utmost importance. He was a perfect example of worshiping His Heavenly Father. The twelve disciples whom He chose to train to spread His message realized in their three years under His influence just how important prayer was to our Lord.

Nothing would please God more than for millions of Americans to approach Him in prayer, confess their sins, and surrender their lives to Him. God would have His believers experience a rekindling of the Holy Spirit in their lives and get back to fervent, believing, sacrificial prayer. As stated in James 5:16 (KJV), “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person availeth much.”

Prayer—Your Most Christlike Work - By Jim Tharp

The most Godlike life you can live is one of prayer. The most Christlike activity you can share is to pray for others. The heavenly seraphim around God’s throne never cease praising, adoring, and worshiping God (Revelation 4:8). How wonderful that we can join the heavenly host in praise and worship. But angels do not intercede. The ministry of intercession is, above all else, the ministry of Christ and those saved by Christ.

While here on earth Christ seemed to long for prayer time with His disciples. He sent them to preach, to teach, and to heal. But He took them with Him to pray. This was true on the Mount of Transfiguration. The glory of the transfiguration was God’s extra bonus. They were there to pray.

In Gethsemane, also, Christ longed for the prayer fellowship of His disciples. He repeatedly came to awaken them and plead for their prayer help. His request was for them to “watch with” Him, not to watch Him as He prayed. This is where they failed Him most—and where we fail Him today.

Christ wants your prayer more than He wants any other service or gift. You can do much in addition to prayer, but you can never do anything more Christlike or more spiritually significant. Prayer must accompany all you do and take priority over all else. You mean most to Christ when you join Him in prayer.

Preparing for the Second Coming of Christ - by James Thap

Jesus warned: “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. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

The way to prepare for Christ’s Second Coming, is found in John 3:16-19: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Our Bible reminds us that getting religious does not prepare us for death or for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We also read in chapter 3 of John’s gospel about an especially important religious leader in Jerusalem coming to Jesus one night to question Him about His power to do so many amazing miracles. Jesus sensed the man’s hunger for spiritual truth, so His first words to Nicodemus were, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We cannot earn our salvation by our good works; we are all sinners, but Christ died for our sins. To be “born again” we must ask His forgiveness and turn from our sins—that is called repentance. We are saved by God’s grace when we have faith in Jesus and believe that He is the son of God, who died on the cross to pay our debt of sin, and that He was resurrected and is seated at the right hand of our Heavenly Father hearing our prayers. We are now adopted into God’s redeemed family and ready to live the Christian life. Of course, this includes a life of prayer, reading our Bible, taking time to worship God, growing in faith, and finding a body of believers for fellowship.

TRUE CHRISTIAN LOVE - by Jim Tharp

John 13:34-35

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have

loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you

are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus came to earth in human form and was empowered to demonstrate what came to be known as agape love. Agape love is different from any other kind of love. Jesus longed for the day when His disciples would receive the Holy Spirit of power to love as He loved. This would happen when the Holy Spirit was poured out on 120 believers on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

During the few years of training His disciples He could see their lack of love for one another. A few of them would seek to take authority over the others. They argued about who would be the most powerful. It was at these times of selfish arguments that Jesus would interrupt and remind them of the time after His death, resurrection, and ascension back to Heaven that He and their Heavenly Father would pour out the Holy Spirit upon them. Their praying faithfully for the Holy Spirit and their complete surrender to His will would empower them for ministry. Jesus trained His disciples to share the message of His gospel. But they were not to go out trying to preach the gospel until they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. His final command to them just before His ascension was to go back into the city of Jerusalem and begin praying for the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5).

When those 120 believers were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts, chapters 1-5), they launched their first evangelistic service in Jerusalem where many thousands of people had gathered. That first gospel message preached by the apostle Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, brought conviction of sin and a desire to get right with God to 3,000 penitent sinners on that first day. These thousands were added to the church of 120, and we read about the gatherings of these new Christian believers for worship and fellowship. Those believers full of agape love were soon led of the Spirit to pray with the new Christians, many of whom soon experienced the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

The apostle Paul warned the Corinthian church, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things; endures all things. Love never fails. …” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8}.

As a minister of the Gospel, I am praying for all Christians in our churches to pray for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit that will bring heart-warming love. If we do this, it could allow God to open the heavens and pour out on weak churches and a wicked world the greatest revival in the history of His church!

Preparation for Revival - by Jim Tharp

I believe that God is saying, “Wake up and prepare for the great revival that I am going to give.” It has been said that revival is first a rude awakening before it is a great awakening. 

The most crucial time in revival is at the earliest stage when the Spirit is rousing Christians and congregations from their slumber and bringing about an awareness of their deadness. We must make a critical decision about waking up,coming fully awake, and receiving the whole truth about our undoneness and desperate need as God reveals it.

Clothed with Power - by Jim Tharp

“But you shall receive power when the 

Holy Spirit has come upon you . . ..” (Acts 1:8, NKJV).

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; 

but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are 

endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49, NKJV)

The church of Jesus Christ is filled with powerless Christians, many who are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit who was imparted to them in their experience of receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior. Actually, it is the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and leads us into repentance and then into the faith to place our trust in Jesus. Then, He abides in our hearts to help us live the Christian life—worship God, pray, understand the Scriptures, and seek the fullness of power.

Too many people who decide to trust Christ as Savior seem to think that this is all there is to the Christian life. Also, there is more to getting saved than being baptized and joining the church. We will need power to control our selfish desires, resist Satan’s lies and temptations, and find our place in life. We will need power to pray, power to worship, and power to know the will of God.

The Holy Spirit comes to abide in our hearts when we are saved. But as we begin this journey in faith, we must pray for more of the Holy Spirit. Realizing our weaknesses, we must pray for the Holy Spirit’s fullness. Now this requires us to surrender our hearts to Christ and devote ourselves to His will—not for just an hour or a day but for the rest of our lives.

Surrendering our lives to Christ is the Christian’s most wise and important decision after his or her experience of salvation. Being totally surrendered to Christ means that the Holy Spirit is within us to enlighten us as to who we are, what we are to do with our lives, and how to understand the word of God. He wants to help us grow in grace, turn all our dreams, hopes, ambitions, and strengths over to the Holy Spirit to live a Christ-centered life. This devotion to Christ will not only assure us of a successful life here on earth but also eternal life when we are called home to be with our Lord.

The Sin of Prayerlessness - by Jim Tharp

James 4:17, NKJV 

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” 

There is probably no easier sin to commit than that of prayerlessness. We all need to realize that we can sin not only by doing what is wrong, but we can commit sin by not doing what is right—and certainly when it is something that God’s Word commands us to do. The prayerless man or woman who claims to be a Christian is disobeying our God of love, showing disrespect for the Word of God, and grieving the Holy Spirit who is available to help us and empower us for prayer.

 

Prayerlessness is a sin of neglect. Jesus taught His disciples to pray. They were absolutely amazed at His praying! They soon caught His secret—Jesus’ relationship with the Holy Spirit. He realized the need of getting His disciples prepared for receiving the power of the Holy Spirit after His return to heaven. As His apostles who would be called to spread His gospel to the world, they must learn to pray. Therefore, Jesus took the time to make sure they knew how to pray and how to receive the Holy Spirit. Because they were already believers in Jesus Christ, they could learn to pray. But they would realize the difference in their praying when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Praying for Our Nation in 2021 - by Jim Tharp

I Timothy 2:1-8, NKJV

“Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

Christians are called upon by God to pray for many things—our homes, our churches, and our governments. On January 20, 2021, millions of Americans witnessed by television or in person the inauguration of Mr. Joe Biden as the 46th President of our United States of America. Please notice in the Scripture above how the Apostle Paul appeals to Christian believers to pray for those in authority: We are to offer “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and . . . thanks for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”

Most Americans realize that our nation has experienced more violence, division, and chaos throughout the last 36 years than we have known since the Civil War. I do not believe we can blame any one political party for all this chaos.

I have been a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for 75 years. In 1983, having pastored churches for 43 years, I realized the weakness of the American church. I felt called of the Holy Spirit to travel America and other parts of the world as an evangelist and challenge Christians to take seriously God’s promise in II Chronicles 7:14, NKJV: “If My people who are called My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ poured out the Holy Spirit on the early Church to revive the powerless disciples and other believers. Because they obeyed and fervently prayed for 10 days, there came the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts, chapter 2). Since that first outpouring, God has kept His church alive thorough those who grow hungry to get back to God and begin repenting of sins and praying. 

I want to close this message by urging my readers to seriously consider taking more time each day for prayer. If you are an unbeliever, ask God to forgive your sins, and then place your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord; begin living the life of prayer, worship, and studying the Bible—especially the Gospels.

The Christian’s Way to Pray - by Jim Tharp

Pray like this: 

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 

May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us today the food we need,

and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. 

Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT) 

Prayer was in the life of Jesus when He came to earth to die on the cross to suffer and pay for the sins of anyone who would repent of his or her sin and trust in Him as Savior. Jesus was the model for His disciples, and He is still the model for all of us today. So, I wish to call attention to “The Lord’s Prayer” as quoted above. 

We have many prayers in our Bible in both the Old and the New Testaments. But, certainly, no prayer measures up to what Jesus taught His disciples (and us today) to pray. Regardless of our language or our location, no prayer can surpass “The Lord’s Prayer!” May we seek the Holy Spirit’s help in our praying! 

“Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.” We are addressing our Father in heaven with worship and love, being reminded of the price He paid in sacrificing His only Son Jesus Christ, the star of heaven, who shared His Father’s omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. Yet Jesus was willing to obey His Heavenly Father; the Son of God would be willing to become the Son of Man, be born of a woman, and suffer rejection, persecution, and crucifixion. But then came His resurrection, followed by 40 days on earth giving instructions to His disciples and other followers on how to prepare in prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Yes, those 120 believers fasted and prayed for ten days, and the Holy Spirit came falling on them, and we read that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:4, NKJV) This was the beginning of the Church age! 

Our Bible teaches us to honor, respect. and obey our fathers and mothers on earth, but we are not called to worship them. But a Christian believer should feel the need of a lifetime of praise and thanksgiving to the entire Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It was God the Father who planned for our salvation; it was God the Son who suffered and died, paying the price for our salvation; and it was God the Holy Spirit who convicted us of our sins and enabled us to repent. The Spirit cleanses and indwell us and gives us the power to pray, worship, find our place in the will of God, and live out our salvation throughout our lifetime on earth.

 

“May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Jesus is telling His believers here that our greatest interest in life should be the Kingdom of God rather than our own personal interests. He is assuring us that God is interested in our personal needs. But we are called upon to trust God to have priority and rule, manifesting His kingly power over the righteous and the unrighteous and over the church and the world. But I believe we should sense that in this verse of scripture we as believers are to understand that our prayers should include the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for reaching lost souls to be brought into His redeemed family. Throughout all the history of the church, believers have been called to pray for the renewing of the church. Revivals have been God’s answer to strengthening His church. Never in its history has the church been so weak in holy living and its influence on the world. Millions of believers are hearing the call of the Holy Spirit to begin fasting and praying for the greatest outpouring of revival the church has ever known. 

“Give us today the food we need.” We should be thankful that God is interested in our personal needs. Jesus reminds us that we are free to ask God to help us have the provisions we need for the kind of life He would be pleased with. We are assured that if we put His Kingdom first, He will supply our needs. 

Preparing for Our Appointment with Death - by Jim Tharp

Hebrews 9:27-28 (NKJV): “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

The greatest tragedy that any mortal soul will ever suffer is to meet Almighty God at death unprepared. Divine judgment will await the soul that never trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. As exclusive as it may sound, Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Religion does not qualify us for heaven. And our Bible warns that honorable deeds or good reputations will not prepare us for going to Heaven. Only by repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died to pay our sin debt and arose from the dead assures us that we are prepared to meet our Maker at death. When we make this commitment, our sins are forgiven, our names are written in heaven, and we are adopted into our Heavenly Father’s redeemed family. This means that we have been born again—not by the flesh but by the Holy Spirit. It also means that we have been resurrected from the grave of sin to walk in a new way of life. All believers are called to grow in grace by praying, studying their Bible, worshiping, and becoming part of a Bible-preaching church.

I want to remind us that our God of love does not want to send anyone to hell. We read in II Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Too many people who hear the Gospel and realize their need to give their hearts to Christ make a terrible mistake by delaying. After so much procrastination, so many never get around to making the decision. So, the answer is found to this in II Corinthians 6:2: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

None of us knows when or how we will die. But the scriptures I have shared with our readers today warn us to be prepared for that appointment. It is my prayer that unprepared readers will soon allow the Holy Spirit to draw their hearts in such a way that they will feel God’s love causing them to humble themselves, confess their sins, place their faith in Jesus, and believe His Word that they are saved. They should take time to pray daily, study their Bible, and attend a church where the Word of God is proclaimed boldly and where they can have fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ. When the Holy Spirit leads them, they should share their faith by testifying to unsaved family members or friends and be willing to help win them to Christ. When they feel the need of more spiritual power, they should pray and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which will allow them to pray with the Spirit’s inspiration, direction, and power.