Matthew 24:44<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTherefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because we do not know the time or the hour the Father has ordained for the return of our Lord (even the Angels in heaven don\u2019t know the time or the hour), we must live in constant 24-hour watchfulness. There must never be a time we are so relaxed that we stop being watchful and vigilant. Jesus was not suggesting constant readiness; Jesus was commanding it. \u201cTherefore, you also be ready\u201d is an imperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I go through the good times and the bad times of this life, I must never be so caught up in the issues of this life that I forget my need to stay alert and ready for the return of Jesus. He\u2019s coming back for those who expect Him and wait for Him. He\u2019s waiting for those who have made themselves ready for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Don\u2019t be distracted by the earthly mirage of frenzied living. It\u2019s all a mirage to keep your spirit tranquilized and neutralized. I will never let that happen to me. Irrespective of what keeps me busy here, my level of spiritual alertness shall never diminish by the grace of God. Jesus will not catch me distracted and consumed by the superficiality of human living. No way. I will be ready for my Lord when He comes knocking. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJesus, I depend on Your grace to keep me sharp and alert. Of course, I can do nothing without You so I desperately need Your constant sensitization and awakening so that I never fall into the hazy sleep of the unprepared soul. Jesus, keep my lamp burning even into the midnight hour. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 24:44 \u201cTherefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.\u201d Because we do not know the time or the hour the Father has ordained for the return of our Lord (even the Angels in heaven don\u2019t know the time or the hour), we must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Reflections-from-Matthew.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4432"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4433,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4432\/revisions\/4433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}