Obedience and perseverance

Over the last couple of weeks the Lord has been drawing my attention to 'many shall fall away' and 'the lost sheep'  I always go wherever the Lord sends me, and a local church gathering had been coming into my mind for some time. On Saturday night I felt a spiritual battle. My mind was telling me not to go to the church the next day, as I sometimes have difficulty going to a church where I do not know much about, but I felt the Holy Spirit was telling me to go. So I did, and I realised during the time I was there that it was the spiritual enemy using my carnal mind to try to prevent me from going there. The sermon was on the parable of the seeds and about continuing to sow seeds  as a believer.

I do believe the church has no walls and is the body of Christ on earth, but there is a great need to recognise the truth through the mind of Christ and not let the spiritual enemy divert us away from it through the carnal mind.  That is why 'many shall fall away' in these times.  This is prophesied in Matthew ch. 24 vs. 10-13:- 
'At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.'
There can be so many distractions from treading the path the Lord directs us along.  When I look back at how time has flown, I reflect on my near death experience and consider nothing on this earth is worth diverting from the path to eternal life in Jesus our Saviour.  There is a vast difference with God's ways and thoughts and mankind's ways and thoughts.
This is a little prayer I prayed not so long ago which reflects this:-

A New Song

You're full of righteousness
we're full of sin
open up the door to our hearts Lord
let Your light shine in
Unlock the chambers of our minds
release us from our own reasoning
close our ears Lord to our own melody
and then a new song we shall sing

When I got home from the church I looked at the summery of what was on next week, and was amazed when I found that the sermon next Sunday is regarding 'The lost sheep', and I feel that this confirms what has been revealed to me already. He confirms His Word to  us through various happenings in our life as well, and two things that have happened in my life have come into my mind at this time:-

A few years ago my sister bought me a clock for my birthday.  It was black, wrought iron and matched the curtain pole and the light shade in our bedroom.  I loved it and wanted it on my bedside cabinet.  The trouble was, we already had and still have a clock there, a radio clock with an alarm.  This clock is digital and the time shines red in the dark.  I like to see the time during the night so I  kept it where it was.  I then had two clocks on my bedside cabinet. 

As I looked at them they emphasised to me life, and the choices of how I fill the time spent in it.  One was decorative, cannot be seen in the dark, and had no alarm.  The other can be seen shining brightly in the dark and has an alarm that is able to tell all who hear it that the dawn is coming.  I have a choice, as a Christian, whether I carry on as a person who knows Jesus as my saviour but does not share the good news of the gospel, or whether I shine that light that has come into my life in this dark world, and contribute to the salvation of others .

One day some time ago I noticed that all the soaps I was using seemed to be 'mushy'.  I then bought a pack of two soaps called 'Simple', which I found better than all the others. There are two in a pack and I thought 'I will give my husband one', as he uses the en suite and I use the bathroom. Then I thought 'No, I will keep them for myself, he can use the other soaps'.
I then noticed that on the pack it read 'pure soap'. I saw a metaphor here. Do we keep the pure Word of God given to us to ourselves , or do we share it - as we are meant to do? We all have different experiences in the Lord and different gifts, but we are one body.  

(You are not going to believe this, but as I am typing this post I heard a strange loud noise. I have just gone into our bedroom and seen that this loud noise is coming from the clock I have just written about with the alarm. I was afraid in case there was an electrical fault so I called my husband up. He  came up and said, 'It is the alarm, I must have pushed the button when I wiped it with a cloth yesterday.') We have not used the alarm for years so I did not remember it - is this coincidence - or a sign that this has happened just as I am posting this? I believe absolutely that the alarm going off was a sign accompanying the warning in Matthew ch. 24 v.13 for us to stand firm in the truth of the Word of God spoken to us until the end. 

I do believe that I am being warned that we are in the times of the prophesy of Matthew 24 vs. 10-13. May we all endeavour to be obedient to the Word of God spoken to us by the Holy Spirit, and not be diverted away from the truth by false doctrine, and may we persevere in our trials through the strength of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Psalm 18 v.1