“We won’t melt,” I said to my daughter as the sprinkling rain came. The overcast sky had been threatening all day but we’d finally pulled our chairs outside along with the sand box and the water table. Thomas’s front was already soaked from play so we sat, half an hour or more, in the drizzle, her feeding the baby. The raindrops splatter painted the driveway but never enough to make it worth our while to drag everything back inside. The concrete was dry before the next round started. It was refreshing in a way, not at all worrisome.
On a different day, we took cover underneath the playground when a sudden downpour that started across the lake reached us on the opposite bank almost instantaneously. Same gray skies. Same humid air. Same acre of turf. The signs were all the same but that time we got drenched. I thought April showers bring May flowers?
”Jesus gave his disciples this parable: “Haven’t you observed that when the fig tree, or any tree, buds and blooms, the season is changing and summer is near?
In the same way, when you see these prophetic signs occurring, you realize the earth is yielding to the fullness of God’s kingdom.
I assure you, the end of this age will not come until all I have spoken has come to pass.
Earth and sky will wear out and fade away before one word I speak loses its power or fails to accomplish its purpose.
Be careful that you never allow your hearts to grow cold. Be careful that you are not caught off guard, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, and that day will come upon you suddenly like a trap.
Don’t let me come and find you drunk or living carelessly like everyone else. For that day will come as a shocking surprise to all.
Keep a constant watch over your soul, and pray for the courage and grace to prevail over these things that are destined to occur and that you will stand before the presence of the Son of Man with a clear conscience.”“
Luke 21:29-36 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/luk.21.29-36.TPT
Jesus spent the days leading up to His arrest and crucifixion teaching in the Temple and in quiet prayer on the Mount of Olives. His schedule and His whereabouts were well known to all who followed Him, but one would betray Him to the religious leaders who plotted to kill Him. They only hesitated because they were afraid of the people’s reaction. (Luke 22:2) The Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world knew Passover was His moment. (John 1:29) It had been so since before time began. (Revelation 13:8, (Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22) He let nothing distract Him from departing for Jerusalem on the appointed day as the time for Him to be lifted up drew near because He was full of passion to complete His mission there. (Luke 9:51)
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10) He never hesitated or flinched. He shed tears, zealously raged, and sweated drops of blood but He did not swerve from His purpose. (John 11:35, 2:17, Luke 19:45, 22:44) He was never blindsided, never flummoxed, never caught off His guard. He came, God in the flesh, Creator willingly confined to His creation for a time to set it free from sin and death.
“God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.”
1 Peter 1:20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.1.20.NLT
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.”
Colossians 1:15-17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/col.1.15-17.NLT
“Everything God created looks forward to the future. That will be the time when his children appear in their full and final glory.
The created world was held back from fulfilling its purpose. But this was not the result of its own choice. It was planned that way by the one who held it back.
God planned to set the created world free. He didn’t want it to rot away.
Instead, God wanted it to have the same freedom and glory that his children have.
We know that all that God created has been groaning. It is in pain as if it were giving birth to a child.
The created world continues to groan even now. And that’s not all.
We have the Holy Spirit as the promise of future blessing. But we also groan inside ourselves.
We do this as we look forward to the time when God adopts us as full members of his family.
Then he will give us everything he has for us. He will raise our bodies and give glory to them.
That’s the hope we had when we were saved. But hope that can be seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?
We hope for what we don’t have yet. So we are patient as we wait for it.”
Romans 8:19-25 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/rom.8.19-25.NIRV
The earth is yielding to the fullness of God’s kingdom.
““The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.
It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.55.10-11.NLT
Keep a constant watch over your soul, and pray for the courage and grace to prevail over these things that are destined to occur and that you will stand before the presence of the Son of Man with a clear conscience.”“
Luke 21:36 TPT
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