Stay Ready... Stay Awake

Long time no see! Can't believe time has flown by like this lol.. but neverthelessless.. I hope and pray this video encourages and reaches whoever it needs to in Jesus name! ❤️

Transcript

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What's up you guys? Welcome back to another episode of Image Bears. Y'all, it's been a little minute. It has, it has. I've filmed a couple episodes before I'm filming this episode, but honestly, I don't know what's gonna go out first. So welcome back. It's been a hot minute. Either way, even if I post this one first, it's still been like six months. So yeah. In one of the other episodes, I kind of like explain like everything that I've been up to. But yeah, let's just get like right into it. Y'all have my coffee. My mom got me this coffee mug, isn't it? So cutesy. Literally has my name on it. It says, like, God says I am Rachel. R for redeemed, A for abundant, C for called, H for healed, A for adored, E for empowered, L for light. Praise God, praise God. I don't know what it is about Christians and coffee. I don't know what it is, but yeah, there's just something about coffee that I just I adore. I truly do. Y'all, so I kind of wanted to get into this. First of all, look at my new Bible. It's an amplified. Love it. I love the amplified. Um, normally the amplified I've seen are not cute. Like I have one up there, it's just like not cute. It gives textbook, but this one gives beautiful. If you know, then you know I love brown. I just love brown Bibles. There's something that's like vintage about them. But anywho, enough chit chat. Um, yeah. Lord, I just pray that you would have your way. Um, Father, and I pray that you would just speak whatever you desire to speak in Jesus' name. So, something that I really wanted to talk about, which I kind of talked about in the last video, but I don't know, this morning the Lord really hammered that home um to me. And it's something that I've really been meditating on is staying awake, staying vigilant. I think you guys, you know, that is so important, especially in this last hour. We're living in the last hours. You might be like, oh my gosh, she's always bringing up the end times. Well, guess what? I can't wait to see my Lord and Savior. That's why I always bring it up. But uh, I'm reading through Mark with the sister right now, and I'm currently at Mark 14. And Mark 14 is uh the Garden of Gethsemane when you know Jesus is in utter turmoil, he's just feeling the weight of he's about to take on all the sin of the world, God's judgment, he's about to die and be literally like he's he's gonna go through it. And something I think is so insane is like he does it by himself. As I was just reading, it really just hit home that like there's the differences between the disciples, right? Like he tells the majority of the disciples, hey, y'all sit here and wait till I'm done praying. And he brings James, John, and Peter into like the entrance of the garden, yet he still has to go into the garden alone, he has to go through the crushing alone. Um, and we see that uh Peter, James, and John they all fall asleep, and Jesus comes back three times and sees them falling asleep. And I don't think it's a coincidence when we look at even in the scripture. I'm gonna go there in verse 37 in the Amplified, he goes and begins to start calling Peter Simon. This is after the first time that Jesus comes back and sees that they've been falling asleep. Also, y'all don't mind this. I just think this is wise because I find when I put it on my shirt, it just sounds kind of crazy and it gets muffled. So I and I don't want to hold it respectfully. So if I look cuckoo bananas, then it is what it is. But he comes back and sees them all sleeping. And I think it's interesting that Jesus goes from calling him Peter to Simon, almost as if Simon, Simon Peter was reverting back to the old ways of the flesh. Why? Because he was feeding his flesh over the spirit, and that's why we go on to see that Jesus literally says in verse 38, keep actively watching and praying so that you do not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Jesus came back three times and they were sleeping, and then literally later on, Peter denies him three times, right? And so there's this correlation between falling asleep, feeding your flesh, over feeding the spirit. And so when you feed your flesh over feeding the spirit, when your flesh is stronger than your spirit, more than likely you're gonna fall to your flesh because you haven't been awake, you haven't been diligent in staying awake and keeping watch, forgetting that the spirit is dealing with the flesh is weak. And I love this story because it also shows the humanity of the apostles, of the disciples. And the reality is we need Jesus to stay awake. I believe they weren't able to stay awake yes, because they were actually tired, you know, they had just had their Passover meal and things of that nature. But in our own strength, in our own flesh, we cannot remain awake, we cannot remain ready. The bride cannot get herself ready in her own strength. And a sister and I were talking, and this is like such a beautiful reveal that the Holy Spirit dropped last night when we were talking about the word. We were in Colossians, and we were talking about how we'll see language in the New Testament that talks about put off the old man, put on the new man, um, clothe yourself in humility. And we see that the bride's clothed in white linen, right? And linen is so easily wrinkled. But the Holy Spirit gave this download of like, we are to put these things on, and the only time we take them off is between us and Jesus when we're literally uncovered and naked before him, and he's ironing out the wrinkles for us to put it back on. And so there still is this humility of like, Lord, like I need you to keep this wrinkle free. I can't keep this wrinkle free in my own strength. And so I come into the secret place to be uncovered before you for you to reveal like my own heart to me. And we bless the Lord for the gift of repentance. See, repentance is not just a one-time thing. Surrender is not just a one-time thing. To remain awake is not just a one-time thing. It's not just yes, Lord, I remain awake. And I'm speaking in terms of, I think it's so amazing that God chose you and I to be alive at such a time as this. Like, think about it. He could have placed us in every any other moment of time. Yet he said no. I want them to be end times warriors for my kingdom to spread my gospel to the nations, right? That is not something I take lightly. I'm like, wow, Lord. And I thank God for these past couple of months I had at CR that I realized I don't have to keep up the call in my own strength. I simply just say yes every day and I ask the Lord for a grace to say yes, right? Um, and so the Lord is really just hammering that home. I think in places where we don't deal with a lot of persecution, right? Like we're not dealing with a lot of persecution as Christians compared to those that are getting beheaded in other nations and other countries. We don't deal with a lot of persecution. And so it's so much easier to fall asleep. It's so much easier to grow apathetic, it's so much easier to grow complacent, it's so much easier to treat the things of God as common. And this is where our hearts kind of needs to be, Lord. I know I can't stay awake in my own strength. I know that I can't, but I need you desperately. May our prayer be to stay awake. May our prayer be to not get distracted by all the noise. Y'all, the noise externally in the world is gonna get louder and louder. The world's gonna get darker and darker. But the beautiful thing is the true bride is going to arise brighter and brighter, burning in first love flame for him. And as we continue to be pressed and pruned, right? As we continue to have our own Garden of Gethsemane moments where we're uncovered before the Father, like, Lord, like I don't want to do this, but I love you so much. Like you are my Lord and my savior. And I want you over all of these things. I promise you, y'all. It's gonna be so worth it. It is so worth it because we get to know him in the process. But I wanted to encourage us not to grow apathetic, not for us to grow passive. And again, it's walking in spirit and in truth. The truth is that you were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. You don't have to work for intimacy, you don't have to work for love. You already have these things. These things are accessible to you because of the broken body and the poured out blood of Jesus Christ. Yet there is this spirit component when the Holy Spirit begins to wake you up in the late night hours, like, hey, pray, hey, fast, hey, read the word. It's not from a place of striving, but our outward obedience shows our love that we have for the Lord. And as we freely receive, we can now freely give out. And he gives us the grace to carry it out. Um, and so I say this not to throw fear your way, because the book of Philippians, chapter one, verse six says, What? He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it until the day of the return of Jesus Christ, right? But I think of all these scriptures, like 1 Thessalonians, stay sober, stay watchful, right? Uh, 1 Peter 5, stay sober, stay watchful, for your enemy is like a roaring lion, seeing whom he may devour. May we not fall into pride, right? We talked about this in the last video. Again, I don't, I think I'm gonna post this video first. But in 1 Peter 5, when we look at that context, the context is humility versus pride. And so, yeah, there's so many scriptures, you guys, where it says to stay awake. Stay awake. You know what I mean. Um, and as we are awake, what are we doing? We're storing up oil in our lamps. We're storing up oil in our lamps. Stay awake essentially means to stay ready, be watchful. Reminds me of the 10 virgins, right? They were all asleep, but only some had oil in their lamps, right? Some were prepared for the return of the bridegroom. And so simply to stay awake means to know yourself, to know that we are still in these fleshly bodies, that we need him to stay awake, we need him to stay pure, we need him to stay righteous. It's literally only because of who he is and by his precious Holy Spirit that he empowers us and graces us to continue on the narrow way. None of us have arrived. That's why Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, I have not yet attained, but I push forward towards the high mark of God, leaving the things in the past behind me. I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist. Um, and so yeah, I really felt that strongly this morning. Like, y'all, we need to stay awake, we need to stay diligent. I'm so excited for all that God is doing and he's getting ready to do. And it's my prayer, and I pray that it's all of our prayer that the body would be on one accord, that we would be in unity. Um, because I heard a gem, I heard a gem in school when I was in uh discipleship training school. It's like we're crying out for revival, revival, but when we look at when revival hit in the book of Acts, guess what? They were on one accord, they weren't beefing, they weren't arguing, they weren't calling each other's foolishness out. No, they were on one accord seeking the face of God. And so it's my prayer that the body is also on that type timing. Because if revival was to pour out, can we even steward the move of God if we're in disunity? No, a house divided against itself cannot stand, but at the same time, we see what the Lord is doing. The Lord is allowing judgment to hit the house of God, and he is separating the sheep from the goats. So there is that aspect as well. Um, but yeah, my prayer is that we would never grow weary of well-doing, for in due season we know that we will reap what we've sown by his grace and his grace alone. Um, and that we would remain awake, not passive, not apathetic, but awake and sensitive to his touch and presence in Jesus' name. Um, and so yeah, I'll catch you guys later. God bless you guys. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for flowing. We love you, Lord. We bless you, and I pray that this would bless whoever needs to bless in Jesus' name. Quick a little announcement. I really uh want to encourage you guys to join the community on the Image Bearers website. Uh by God's grace, I did a whole revamp, so it looks so much better. But there's actually a community section. Um, I'm a firm believer that we need the local church and we need the local body, but there's some of us that like don't have a home church and we need community. Um, I talked about this in the video that I posted on like reels, but the wolf always goes for that sheet that's wandered away from the flock. So we need each other, we need to hold each other accountable, we need to be praying for each other, um, bearing each other's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. Um, and so I want you guys to join. It's completely free. You guys just sign up, and when you sign up, you'll sign up for notifications for the words that go out, the newsletter, um, and you'll be able to post prayer requests, revelations, questions, Bible studies. Um, there's some resources and tools on there. And yeah, uh, so yeah, I wanted to encourage you guys to join the Image Bears community online. Um, it's Lily at image bearers.ca. And you guys can also feel free to show seeds there if you guys want to support the mission. Um, if you don't know, I'm going to Mexico and Guatemala for two months. So excited um for what God wants to do. And so I literally leave next week. So crazy, crazy, crazy stuff. But God is good. And I know some of you guys that are watching that like only have YouTube and don't follow me on social media are like, girl, where have you been? I've been. I've been, I've been. That's all I can say. I've been. But by God's grace, I'm still standing. And so yeah, I will talk to you guys later. I pray that like this isn't throw people off for real. But I think it looks great. So, anywho, I love you guys. I'll see you guys next time. Me and my new Bible say um, how do you say it in Spanish? Adios. I don't know why that took me so long to think of, but adios. I'll see y'all in Jesus' name.