One day last fall, I earnestly prayed to the Lord that somehow we could be ready to survive yet another winter in Maine with its onslaught of heavy snow, wind, rain, and ice. We had heard that the upcoming winter would be very severe. The leaves began to fall in late August, and it had rained day after day for months, only leaving a short window of time to accomplish all the outdoor tasks that would have taken all summer to do. I must redeem the time lost. I know that combining my efforts with God’s supervision, I can accomplish much.
This has also reminded me to continue to ask the Lord to help us survive the winter of perilous and overwhelming events of these last days. The end time events are so rapidly unfolding all around us—floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and every manner of turmoil and destruction—that we can scarcely keep up. Inspiration tells us that last day events will happen rapidly. The last hours of Earth’s history are upon us, and the events that are rapidly approaching will try our souls in ways that we cannot even now imagine. We must continue to plead with the Lord, putting all our faith in Him to make us ready to meet every emergency that is to come.
As that old hymn says, “Can we look up and say, this is our Lord? Are we ready for Jesus to come?” We can be, friends, yes, we can be. The Lord presents every possible avenue for heart and soul readiness with Bible study, prayer, and working to save others. Only with our focus continually on Jesus will we make it through to the kingdom. If we do all we can do, and if we will be all that we can be in Jesus, we can know beyond all certainty, Satan will lose the war, and we will win the crown.
“The faith of Asa was put to a severe test when ‘Zerah, the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots,’ invaded his kingdom. 2 Chronicles 14:9. In this crisis, Asa did not put his trust in the ‘fenced cities in Judah’ that he had built with ‘walls, and towers, grates, and bars,’ nor in the ‘mighty men of valor’ in his carefully-trained army. Verses 6–9. The king’s trust was in Jehovah in whose name marvelous deliverances had been wrought in behalf of Israel of old. Setting his forces in battle array, he sought the help of God.
“The opposing armies now stood face to face. It was a time of test and trial to those who served the Lord. Had every sin been confessed? Had the men of Judah placed their full confidence in God’s power to deliver? Such thoughts as these were in the minds of the leaders. From every human viewpoint the vast host of Egypt would sweep everything before it. But in time of peace, Asa had not given himself to amusement and pleasure; he had been preparing for any emergency. He had an army trained for conflict; he had endeavored to lead his people to make their peace with God. And now, although his forces were fewer in number than the enemy, his faith in the One whom he had made his trust did not weaken.
“Having sought the Lord in the days of prosperity, the king could now rely upon Him in the day of adversity. His petitions showed that he was not a stranger to God’s wonderful power. ‘It is nothing with Thee to help,’ he pleaded, ‘whether with many or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name go against this multitude. Oh Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee.’ Verse 11.” Prophets and Kings, 110, 111
There is but one way to face the coming events, for “Satan is constantly alluring away from faithfulness and thoroughness in the essential works of preparedness for the great event that will try every person’s soul. …
“[But] heavenly angels are at work constantly to draw human beings, the living agents, to look to Jesus, to contemplate and meditate upon Jesus, that they may, in viewing the perfection of Christ, be impressed with the imperfections of their characters. …
“Talk as Christ talked. Work as Christ worked. We must look to Christ and live. Catching sight of His loveliness, we long to practice the virtues and righteousness of Christ. It is by beholding Christ that we become changed into His image, and by renouncing self, giving our hearts up wholly to Jesus for His Spirit to refine, ennoble, and elevate, we will be in close connection with the future world, bathed in the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. We rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. …
“… He urges us by the love we bear to Him to keep His commandments. He does this, not to urge us to do impossible things, but because He knows what it means to keep His Father’s commandments. He wants every soul that heareth His invitation to say the same to others, and to receive His richest gifts, for He knows that in keeping the commandments of God, we are not brought into servile bondage, but are made free through the blood of Jesus Christ.
“Tell it to others with pen and voice, with piety, with humility, with love, representing the character of Christ.” To Be Like Jesus, 259
This, friends, is how to be ready.