Temple of God, March 14, 2008

Temple of God, March 14, 2008

...God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

1Thessalonians 5:9-10, www.solascriptura.com

Father, indeed, we who love You with all our heart, mind and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves, are not appointed to Your wrath. We know that does not mean that we are protected from the wrath of mankind, where people are capable of heinous crime.

We are protected from Your wrath and most theologians take that to mean we will not endure Armageddon, because we will have been caught up in the clouds, either before the 7 years of tribulation, in the middle of the 7 years or at the end of the 7 years. You have chosen to not make it perfectly clear whether we should hold a pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib view but You have made it clear we should be "ready." If we are ready we will be taken to Your side and we will not endure the trials that will occur.

You have appointed us to salvation. Your grace called us and Your Son took away our sin. Help us, today, to respond to Your love and mercy. Being protected by You, for eternity, is Your promise.

When we do experience the wrath of man, help us to know that the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to what You have prepared for us. We are Yours, forever, not just for this extremely brief moment of time but for eternity. If we live less than three score and ten, we graduate early (to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord) and if we live longer we get to serve longer. Bless us this day, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Bruce Caldwell