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Luke 21 10-19 WATCH AND PRAY II 01 Luke 21 10-11 Call on the name of the Lord
📖 Luke 21:10-19
11May2021 - *Call on the name of the Lord* - _Luke 21:10-19_ - WATCH AND PRAY II (2) – Bible reading: _Haggai 2:21-22_
The Lord is showing us what is awaiting the human race at this time. There will be a continuous increase in turmoil and chaos all across our world. The Lord is giving humanity, opportunity upon opportunity to repent and return to Him.
God is giving the church the opportunity to repent from its self-obsessed Christianity that we have been fed on and which we have embraced. We must turn to the Lord and be one with Him in His pain for a hurting world, which must turn to Him before the final judgment takes place, after which there will be no option for man to return to God.
We pray that the hearts of many in the world will be open to God and people will see visions and dreams and return to God.
_Luke 21:10-11 Then He said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (11) And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven._
This is what the Lord said would happen and this He said 2000 years ago. These events given in these two verses have been happening in our times and we have been seeing an increase in the intensity and frequency of these catastrophes in recent years.
This was not just what Jesus prophesied but it was prophecies given even earlier by other prophets.
This was a prophecy by the prophet Azariah to King Asa. How amazing that this prophecy spoken by the prophet Azariah, approximately 2900 years ago, is so relevant now.
_II Chronicles 15:5-6 And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. (6) So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for *God troubled them with every adversity*._
Why is God troubling people with adversity?
It is because of the love of God, who is calling man to repent of his ways and surrender to Him and have the fullness of life. If man does not return to God now, once the judgment begins, there will be no occasion left for man to repent and return to God.
God has been warning the nations for centuries to return to Him and God has been giving people a long rope. This is because of the love of God, who does not anyone to perish. When we refer to the matter of ‘perishing’, we are referring to the eternal wrath of God, which will fall on all those who do not belong to Jesus, by the fire of hell.
These times of disasters and calamities are the last effort of God to bring man to repentance but if man refuses to repent at this time and return to God, then man will not be able to repent once man is cast into the lake of fire.
King Asa returned to the Lord and the Lord blessed them at that time.
God's word came through prophet Haggai, approximately, 2600 years ago. _Haggai 2:21-22 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: 'I will shake heaven and earth. (22) I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots And those who ride in them; The horses and their riders shall come down, Every one by the sword of his brother._
These are not the prophecies of Jesus but prophecies that were prophesied many years before Jesus.
Prophet Joel prophesied 2500 years ago. This is being quoted by Peter
_Acts 2:16-21 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: (17)
'AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS. (18) AND ON MY MENSERVANTS AND ON MY MAIDSERVANTS I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT IN THOSE DAYS; AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY. (19) I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH BENEATH: BLOOD AND FIRE AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. (20) THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD. (21) AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT *WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED*.'_
This is the concern of God. All of these calamities are allowed by God because of the hardheartedness and the stiff neckedness of man. God is having to jolt man forcefully to make man listen to Him. Man is not paying attention in any other way. These are the last efforts of God for man to repent and return to Him.
Whoever, at these times of great calamities, will call on the name of the Lord, will be saved.
This is the task of the church, which is to get people, at least at this time of severe tragedies, to call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Saved from the eternal punishment, saved from the lake of fire, the second death.
*Thought to ponder*
```The greatest tragedy is of Christians, who do not yet identify themselves with the pain of God’s heart.```