A Devotional Message from Pastor Anand

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Topic: Watch and Pray

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Prayer gives us the strength to face the challenges of life in the last days. It is our reliance on God that grants the victory. We need that resolve today.

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• 1 Peter 4:7 says, The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

 

There is an end to this world. And we are now nearer its end than before.

And therefore, Peter says, there are some important things we need to be doing.

The number one thing he mentions here is prayer.

 

     - He says, be clear-minded (understand what time it is) and watchful in prayer.

     - Peter connects the nearness of the end with the need for prayer.

 

• Jesus did the same thing in Luke 21

 

He was telling the disciples the signs of the end times

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Luke 21:34-36, “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. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be 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.”

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The point of praying is so that we may be able to stand before Jesus.

We are to pray for strength, so that we can stand strong in the difficult end times.

If we are not careful, verse 34 says we can be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life.

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Jesus says they will come on us like a trap. These are end-time traps. The whole world is suffering by Covid -19, and the situation is not good for anyone. Day by day it worsens. The end is at hand and  that’s why Jesus always says watch and pray!

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And He says, pray that you would be able to escape and not be trapped by them.

Prayer gives us the strength to stay righteous and not be spiritually and morally corrupted by these end-time stresses.

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Jesus said to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation….” (Matt 26:41)

 

So both Jesus and Peter connect prayer with drawing near to the end times.

 Unless we are praying, we will find it hard to stand strong in the last days.

In this last days, it will be very difficult to stay in faith because we have to go through many trials, and temptations. I think signs of the last days approaching are here. We are seeing them as the Corona virus attacks all over the world with death, pain, suffering, economic and societal collapses.

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• The temptations are great, the distractions are many. Unless you are praying regularly, you will find it hard to stay faithful to God.

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So be safe and watch and pray, very soon Jesus Christ is going to come to take the church Home!

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Jesus will return at the
End of time, and we will
See his face and enter Heaven
Undefiled, cleansed by his Blood,
Saved by his Grace.

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