The Shift and the Sift

My heart hurts... This past week, I pondered what to think, how to feel, what to do, and I found myself in this place of feeling hurt.. I said God, I just need to listen to you.. And He spoke.. He reminded me of a Word He gave me two years ago.. A word for a man I didn't know, but I gave it to him.. But this word made me cry.. I was scared because it was about the future.. I didn't realize exactly what it meant til this week.. Until God reminded me of it.. God prepares His children for the future. He prepares them for the hurt they will feel.. I said to HIM! You Know.. YOU Knew.. You give me peace at knowing You know all things.. You know the way the world will turn because You know the beginning to the End.. You are the creator of All things..

But I still will cry because we are stepping into the next phase of God's plan.. I do not cry because of the world.. I am an alien in this place. I don't belong here. I never have.. I cry because of  His sovereignty.. Because His reign Is perfect, and so is His judgement. I cry because His plan includes a curse and blessing.. I cry because I love His creation even though I wish I didn't have to witness it..

And on the my 24 hour drive home, I prayed and God reminded me of Mark 10.. The rich man who Jesus genuinely loved.. And I felt that love that Jesus felt for Him.. He loved this rich man unconditionally. And the rich man asked Jesus, how does one inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus said you must Obey God, and Give up everything in order to Follow Me.. And the rich man was saddened because even though he obeyed God commands, and "did the right things" he still couldn't give up parts of himself.. So the rich man left, and went back to his old life, still doing "the right things"  but never taking up his cross, giving it all up, and following Jesus to death so that he will have life..

And I thought wow.. Jesus, you are so amazing.. You love unconditionally.. I knew that, but this was just what I needed to have the right mindset.. But I still will cry.. Because I can see the shift and that there will be a sifting in the church.. There will be many "rich men" in our churches who "do the right things, and obey the commands but wont be able to stand because they never gave it all up, and will be sifted out and return home never bearing their cross to death completely so that they will have life..The world has a better grip on these men with what they can see..A seed doesn't become a plant until it dies after being put in the ground..

His Love IS and Will always be unconditional, but salvation is a different story.. I do not believe in the "once saved, always saved method" that men have come up with..

"Dear children, it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of God.  In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said. ²⁹ “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, ³⁰ will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. ³¹ But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”
 

Are you ready?  Be prepared because this shift will cause a sift in our churches.. Many will return home, but many will turn to persecution..

You must be ready to bear your cross to death, to bear persecution, to bear the hurt, so that you can ascend just as Jesus did!

 "But the one who endures to the end will be saved"