Hi Everyone,
It was the school holidays, again, and we were looking after a few of our grandchildren. I had asked my dear husband to watch the children while I put away some washing at the other end of the house. Suddenly I hear “Wake up Nonno!”, I quickly walked back into the backroom to find my husband fast asleep and the children all gone! Oh no! There was a 2-year-old among them which I was mainly worried about. “Where are the children?” I yelled as I shook my husband out of his grandpa nap, “um, um, ah…” was his reply. “Couldn’t you watch them for 15mins?” I said quite annoyed. We later had a laugh about this, and yes, the children were fine playing in the backyard and had been from the moment I’d left the room, it had been the little one that had yelled out as she ran past the backdoor! Dear Nonno still denies that he was asleep but I have witnesses.
As I thought about this it reminded me of when Jesus said to Peter “Couldn’t you watch with Me even one hour? Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation…”
Read Matthew 26:36-46, here we read about how Jesus had taken Peter, James and John with Him to the garden of Gethsemane. He had said to them, “stay here and keep watch…” but they kept falling asleep. Jesus knew His time had come to give up His life and He was fighting the powers of darkness which were trying to stop Him, but He had come to redeem mankind and He could only do it by giving up His life so that we could have life, He did it for you and me! He had asked them to watch and pray for their own benefit, so they would be strong enough to get through what was about to happen, but they couldn’t stay awake! We later read that they all fled and Peter denied Jesus three times!
In these end times, we as God’s people need to be awake and alert to the enemy’s schemes or we too will fall into the trap of giving up, being deceived and going with the flow of the rest of the world which is full of fear, darkness and lost hope!
1 Thessalonians 5:6 says
“So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded.”
Matthew 24:42 says
“So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your LORD is coming”.
We don’t know when Jesus will return but we can see it drawing closer as we see and hear what is going on in the world these days. Remember how Nonno fell asleep and lost the children? Well don’t lose your children and others around you but make every effort to reach them and draw them into the Kingdom of God.
So don’t let Jesus find you sleeping when He returns! Draw closer to God and spend time in His Presence. Allow His beautiful Holy Spirit to guide and lead you. He will give you discernment of what is God and what is not. And let us keep watch looking forward to our Lord’s return!
“And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on your guard! Stay alert!... Don’t let Him find you sleeping when He arrives without warning.” (Mark 13:33 + 36)
More Scriptures – 1 Corinthians 1:7, 16:13, Ephesians 6:18, Matthew 25:13, 1 Peter 4:7, Revelation 3:3, Luke 21:5-36.
God Bless you all and have a great week!
Love Giovanna!