We’re waiting. We’re looking up. Is that all we need to be doing in the meantime, that period of time while we are all awaiting the rapture? Hardly. We have much to do–in the meantime. We have a lost world to reach and a sleeping body of believers to wake. More importantly, we have our own hearts to examine and prepare for the Lord.

It’s easy for us to focus on the externals, telling what’s going on, watching video after video, and reading article after article. Sadly, however, many of us don’t take the time to consider this: We will each be meeting the Lord face to face soon, hopefully very soon. I don’t want to find disappointment in His eyes over how I’ve finished the race. I want to know that I’ve left it all out on the field, given all I have to give for the kingdom’s sake. I also want to ensure I’ve spent just as much time with Him in prayer and the study of Scripture and allowed His Spirit to work on my own deficiencies and doubts.

This isn’t a time for us to stop growing with and learning about Jesus. If there’s ever been a time to lean into Him, it’s now. Throughout the Prepare Your Heart Series, you will be challenged to focus on the “being” of your relationship with God even more than the “doing.” Don’t get me wrong, you still need to “do” since time is of the essence, but that will be an overflow of the being-with-Him part. One of the most crucial elements of being with Jesus is to allow Him to show us our own hearts in light of His truth.

Through our first installments of the Prepare the Heart Series, we have considered the topic of the rapture and where our hearts are in anticipation of it. If you haven’t caught the other installments, there’s no need to have read them prior to this article. But here are some quick links below to the Rapture Ready articles if you’d like to view the topics.

Prepare Your Heart | Daybreaks Are Dwindling – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
This is a brief introduction to the Prepare Your Heart series.

Prepare Your Heart | Prepare Your Home
Watch this quick video to get you started.

Rapture: Why Are You Excited? – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
Asks the probing question: Are you excited over the rapture to get to heaven or to get to Jesus? There’s a vast difference.

Rapture: Why Do Most Fear? – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
Possible reasons for fear are not knowing the promise of the rapture, not knowing what’s waiting for you in heaven (hint: not punishment for sin), and not knowing Who’s coming.

Rapture: Why Do Many Dread? – RaptureReady.com article by Lisa
Dread may be a natural response in our concern for those who will be left behind, or it may stem from holding onto a world that God is asking us to let go of.

Note: Since the last two sessions ran on RaptureReady.com, I’ve considered a category of fear and/or dread that the Lord never brought to mind while I was writing either of the above articles. Some people are afraid of or dread the rapture because they fear they will be left behind. These are believers I’m talking about, so that indicates they fear they may somehow lose their salvation. I don’t fear that–not ever. No matter how wrong I may get things still, I know my Father in heaven will never un-Dad me any more than I would un-mom my prodigal-at-times boys. If this is a topic that often troubles you, or if you need to nail this down, it is my pleasure to pass you on to Pastor JD Farag. The entirety of the message isn’t on this one topic, but it does address the passage in Hebrews 6:1-8 that Pastor JD calls one of Satan’s favorite Scriptures.

Keep Moving Forward July 2021

Excerpt: “And if there’s even just a little bit of doubt, man, Satan is going to exploit that, and all of a sudden, now your whole Christian life is going to be all about striving, working, trying instead of trusting.”

Back to our current topic:

Next, as we move into our “In the Meantime” sessions, we will tackle vital topics for each of us to consider as we make ready a people, ourselves included, prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17).

I’ll admit, some days I just can’t even deal with all this, all this darkness and bad news and rising evil. I want to sleep in, literally and figuratively. I want to leave all the “hey, the world is ending” work to others who are stronger and more capable than myself. I’m just a girl from Nashville. How can I be of use? I do ask that question, but it’s more rhetorical since I already know the answer. Still, I ask in moments of sheer panic when I feel the weight of my for-such-a-time-as-this season weighing me down. I know my call. It’s not so different from my call before I knew Jesus would be coming back sooner rather than later. Your call now, during this end-of-the-world season, isn’t likely too different from what you were doing before, either. We reach people for Jesus using our own unique gifts and talents, and we stay in His presence.

I hear the call. The way You’re whispering my name, I know to follow.

The words above came to me several years ago and led to what was my first full song beyond my early dabbling with lyrics. How could I have known then the massive implications they would eventually have on my life in this final-hours season? I’ve always known I was to be a discipler, to feed His sheep, but I never anticipated the urgency I would feel to help transform grazing sheep into occupying soldiers. The song goes on to say, “I stand in awe that You would choose to use the weakest, but I know: I hear the call; I stand in awe.”

I still hear His call to me as a gentle whisper and some days as a mighty roar. Each day, each new Daybreak I’m given, I’m reminded it could be my last to help make an impact on this world. I have my job to do. And so do you. You’ve likely heard His whisper for many years telling you your call, at least in part. This is your unique-to-you call, how you function in the body of Christ and how you relate to the people God places in your life. I’ve covered the topic to a greater degree here in the Rapture Ready article: My Design: How Do I Share What I Know?. I hope you’ll take the time to seek God and ask how He might realign His call on your life to use your gifts to share the nearness of the rapture and encourage others to lean into Jesus.

I won’t bore you with all the lyrics, but I will share the chorus of the song:

I will sing Your Name
I will stand and claim
I will tell the world, lean into Jesus
Glory on display
Lift my voice and raise
Shout, and I proclaim the name of Jesus.

In the meantime, we do that: We sing His name. We stand and claim. We tell the world to lean into Jesus. In doing that, we’ll show His glory to a world that doesn’t even know they’re longing for a Savior. That’s our outward-facing call.

The ongoing “In the Meantime” sessions will challenge you to listen more intently and respond to His inward call to draw closer to Him in intimate relationship and to grow into a bold, mature soldier, one who will take their rightful place on the battlefield of this darkening world.

A few topics I hope to cover if the Lord tarries are below. If you would like to receive an email to notify you of when a new session topic is available, please feel free to subscribe for that here: Updates.

Leaning into Jesus

There’s no more urgent call for the believer than to press into Jesus each day, each moment while we wait, so that’s where we’ll begin in the next session. Much will likely come our way in the meantime, decisions to make and stands to take. If you’re not leaning into Jesus, the days to come will be a time of unprecedented fear for you. That’s not supposed to be the case. God did not give you a spirit of fear (‘timidity’ in the NASB), but one of power and love and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). If you’re walking closely with Jesus, leaning into Him in intimate relationship, you will not walk out a life of fear but one of peace–and even joy if you can imagine that–until He comes.

Rattle the Gates

The concept of the making of a soldier, the making of you as a soldier, is monumental. We must become emboldened, solid-in-our-walk-with-Jesus believers who are willing to occupy until He comes. We should take up so much space in our individual worlds and shine such light that those in our near surroundings will see Him through us.

Prepare for the Unprepared: Now

Many are preparing for food shortages and what appears to be an inevitable financial collapse. What do we do when the people in our lives who’ve refused to listen to our warnings come knocking, asking to dip into our storehouses? You can bet they will.

Prepare for the Unprepared: Then

If we truly believe Jesus could come at any moment, are we living like we believe it and preparing our homes as a sanctuary for the unborn-again sheep, those yet-to-be-born-again people who will come to faith in Jesus after our exit from this world? What if our actions now demonstrate the love of God to them while they’re living in the worst times of human history?

I have a few other ideas, but I tend to get ahead of myself, so I’ll stop here.

As we close, I’ll add the video link to The Call. This amazingly talented young man singing the song is my son Zack. He was only nineteen at the time, four years ago. It’s painfully ironic that he chose to forfeit his call and step down from the worship team only a few months after singing this song. Pray with me that he will return and use the talents God has given him for His glory once again. I’ll never give up. Fortunately, I know I will get to hear this voice praising Jesus again for a thousand years plus all eternity. That helps a mom hold on.

I hope you’ve found the “Rapture” portion of the Prepare Your Heart Series helpful.

Blessings,

Lisa

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Free Resources:

Daybreak, Last Days of Light – Free book download

How Do I Share What I Know? (Lisa’s Rapture Ready Series)

Prepare Your Heart – Rapture Ready series in process

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About Daybreak with Lisa:

Daybreak is a way of life, one of exposing the rising darkness and telling of the soon-coming Light. We only have so many daybreaks remaining before that final sunset when we, as believers, are caught up in the air to meet Jesus.

As an author, Lisa Heaton is a storyteller with a heart for truth. Her greatest desire in her fiction and nonfiction work is to challenge the reader to discover the truth of who Jesus is and who they are to Him. Now, here as we wait for the any-minute arrival of Jesus for His church in the rapture, Lisa’s latest mission is to warn the lost and wake the found and to help others discover their unique voice to share the truth of our times. More at DaybreakWithLisa.com.

In a changing world where people are becoming more and more unfriendly, unkind, and just plain downright rude, it is pretty rare to find a person who will leave mainly positive impressions and memories behind. Throughout my lifetime, only about a dozen or so people have left such a fond imprint, which is why I would like to introduce this ‘special someone’ today.

Proverbs 31:28-30 “Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.”

Out of all of the Pastor’s Wives I have ever met and/or known, there is one that stands out to me, hands down, above them all. For this piece, we will call this exceptional lady ‘Mrs. Gem.’ As an impressionable 12-year-old at a small Southern Baptist Church back in the late 80s is when I first met Mrs. Gem. From what I came to learn about her was that she had 4 children (3 boys and 1 girl), all older than me, but 2 of them were closer to my age range.

In a household of mainly males, Mrs. Gem and her daughter had a very special bond seeing how they were always very close, inseparable even, like two very best friends. Mrs. Gem was witty, kind, thoughtful, and generous. Sunday mornings at church, she would offer everyone coming in to breakfast drinks and donuts that she had brought. Mrs. Gem was someone who would go out of her way to make sure everyone felt comfortable and content.

By the time I was in my 20s, it was made known that Mrs. Gem had a breast cancer battle on her hands, but by God’s Providential Hand, she far outlived the doctor’s timeline and prognosis. Her testimony concerning the ‘lowest point in her cancer battle’ went (to the best of my memory) something like this: On one particularly gloomy winter day when all seemed unhopefully grim, she sat prayerfully and tearfully by her living room window asking God for some sort of ‘sign’ that she would have even just a little more time to live.

Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a beautiful red Cardinal landed on her windowsill and seemed to just stay there and look at her. From that moment on, she took that red bird as a sign that God had answered her prayer! Mrs. Gem came to adore Cardinals, so much so that she decorated most of her house with these beautiful Hallmark Brand red birds complete with the greenery, frost, and winter berries as a ‘constant reminder’ that God had spoken to her that day.

Matthew 6:26 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”

During her years of experiential medical trials, hair loss, wigs, chemo, debilitating sickness, and extended remission, Mrs. Gem remained her ‘kind and beautiful self.’ For example, before our wedding, she went out of her way to spend time at the church to decorate for us — with large and small details such as a huge white heart arch on the altar, to putting our names and date on the wall in the reception hall in red (which matched my red rose bouquet color theme). All these years later, her thoughtfulness and generosity are still fondly remembered and appreciated.

Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Throughout my 20s and until my mid-30s, I was a Sign Language Interpreter off and on for several years at her husband’s church. One Sunday, after a particular song special in sign language, Mrs. Gem made a point to tell me with a tear in her eye, “Girl, I want you to perform at my funeral.” I replied by saying that I hoped it would ‘not be for a very long time because we still want you around.’

Thank the Lord, we had a few more years with Mrs. Gem, such as the memory of one of the last Fall mornings we spent at her house where she held a Ladies’ Bruncheon. Even though the delicious fare was sprawled out all along her beautifully decorated dining table, this event was a ‘particularly emotional’ one.

Especially after hearing Mrs. Gem gently lay out that she was beginning to get weaker and frailer at that point, some of us around the table felt led then to share our thoughts, feelings, and prayers. Some ladies quietly sat and listened, while some others tearfully relayed how grateful they were to be there that day, how evidently God had taken care of her, and how much we would miss her. Even during a somber time like that, Mrs. Gem had such a joy and a love for the Lord that one couldn’t help but tell it just by watching the way she smiled and in listening to the way she spoke about our Lord and His care.

Twelve extra years of life after Abba Father responded to Mrs. Gem by sending that red Cardinal to her windowsill, the time came for Him to call her home. Even still, it was a shock to get the call that Mrs. Gem had passed away. While her husband (the Pastor), the church, and her 4 children were making preparations for Mrs. Gem’s funeral, I relayed to them how she wanted me to perform a song in sign language for her service. They agreed (especially her daughter) that it would be a touching way to portray her favorite song.

Here is Mrs. Gem’s favorite song (His Eye is on the Sparrow):

His Eye Is On The Sparrow – Sandi Patty (with Lyrics)

Why should I feel discouraged
Why should the shadows come
Why should my heart feel lonely
And long for heaven and home
When Jesus is my portion
My constant friend is He
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me

Whenever I am tempted
Whenever clouds arise
When songs give way to sighing
And hope within me dies
I draw closer to Him
From care He sets me free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me

I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches
Yes, I know He watches
I know He’s watching over me

At the funeral, there was nothing but fond words, scripture, humorous gestures, precious memories, and remembrance of Mrs. Gem serving the Lord and others during her lifetime. It is safe to say that there was not a dry eye in the whole congregation. It was an honor to get on that platform, albeit nervously, and perform this beautiful song in sign language for Mrs. Gem as her body lay in the casket below during this large church gathering.

She is someone I will never forget, and I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to learn what a ‘Proverbs 31 Woman’ looked like in real life from the time I met her as an impressionable 12-year-old. She no doubt touched so many lives, and the ripple effects of her generosity, warmth, and kindness continue on, even to this day.

2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Like one of her sons, who also went on to become a Pastor, said during the funeral preparations, “Mom is now absent from the body and now present with the Lord.” For sure, it was an ‘awesome homecoming’ for Mrs. Gem!

What does it mean to be absent from the body? | GotQuestions.org

The phrase “absent from the body” is found in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8. Paul states that he is confident in his eternal destiny and longs for the day when he can be “absent from the body” and be present with the Lord he loves and serves. To be “absent” from one’s body simply means to die because, at death, the spirit is separated from the body and moves into its eternal abode—either heaven with the Lord or hell, separated from God for eternity.

In the same way, Christians are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the presence of God. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. When a born-again believer dies, his soul goes immediately into the presence of the Lord. There, the soul consciously awaits the resurrection of the body. To the church at Philippi, Paul wrote from a Roman prison:

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:21-24).

Paul’s desire in life was to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. If he lived, he could continue to labor for the Lord. If he faced execution, he would depart this life and be with Christ. He desired to be with his Savior, but if he remained on earth, he could continue to minister to others.

There are some who believe in soul sleep, meaning that when a person dies, his body and soul sleep in the grave, awaiting the resurrection. But if this were true, why would Paul not want to live to minister as long as possible rather than sleep in a grave? And if it were true that the body and soul are never separated, it would be impossible to ever be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

We conclude, then, that believers who die are indeed absent from their physical bodies and present with the Lord in conscious bliss, awaiting that grand resurrection day! – End Source

Until we meet again, Maranatha!

Sincerely & In Christ,

Candy Austin