Non-stop Prayer!

Sometimes, I become nauseous when I read Scripture. The predictions about end-times are almost too horrid to believe!

In Mark 13:9-13 Jesus is telling Peter, James, John, and Andrew what to look for as the end of the age approaches. Take off your blinders and read this—twice if you need to.

“But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his children; and the children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” (NKJV)

First of all, the spread of the Gospel will be rampant, that’s why the persecution will be so intense. Christians will suffer in ways we do not want to believe. Brothers will betray brothers by having them executed for being believers. Fathers will betray their own children and allow their sacrifice for the sake of saving themselves. Children will also not be missed on the betrayal trail. They will go against their parents and, it says, cause them to be put to death.

Since my parents recently passed away, I cannot even fathom what it would be like to cause their deaths—to be the one who gives them up to their killers!

I don’t ever want to be the cause of my grown children’s deaths by betraying them either. And yet, sin can cause us to do things we would never believe possible. It happens every day when a child decides to steal or a teen decides to take drugs and then gets addicted to a costly habit. Sin can cause a Bible-believing pastor to fall into pornography or a wife to be pulled into fornication. It can cause me to go to depths I never thought possible.

Never think that just because you are a believer you are exempt from big or small sins. Get your head and heart into the Word of God every single day to thwart the seductive ploys of sin. They are not only around us but inside us on a daily basis; it is a continual fight to keep them at bay.

Pray for God’s protection for yourself, your family, and your pastor and his family. Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ that they will not succumb to anything today that has the appearance of evil. Whenever the talons of sin temp, you grab on to the Holy Spirit and PRAY—all day, every day! It is the only way to stop sin from creeping into your life and the lives of those you love. PRAY!