In the article before this, I mentioned seeing the name Amos often. I realized that I’ve been a born-again Christian for 13 years, and yet I still have a lot to learn about the Bible.
One of them is about the prophet Amos. I did a little bit of digging on the internet, and this is what I’ve got:
It looks like God is calling us out to be an “Amos” in our own circles of influence. If we are experiencing the birth pains already, that means this is now the time for us to “double” the harvest. All the more that we have to be praying harder and proclaiming the Gospel without hesitation and with much conviction while dealing with and defeating our own demons.
I think it isn’t a coincidence that the word “remnant” keeps on appearing in my random Bible reading, too. I did my research again, and this is what I found:
I believe now is also the perfect time to have those hard conversations with your kids. Help them understand everything “bad” that they see on the news and on the internet, in light of the Scripture and who Jesus Christ is, what is salvation through Him, and the Second Coming. On our end, our goal is to plant the seed; it will be God who will let it grow.
Being a parent is a calling. Some parents might think that it is very difficult to be a parent nowadays. But take heart that God has equipped you with everything that you need to raise your children well, despite the uncertainties of the future and the chaos of the present.
Since we are also in a season of preparing for future calamities and other disasters, I think most of us have been forgetting one essential item in our Emergency Go Bags – a mini Bible. I almost forgot actually. 😀
My late maternal grandma had a lot of Bibles in the cabinets of the room where she used to stay, which I am occupying now. I was able to sequester an old copy (even older than me) of the New Testament Bible before we cleaned up the cabinets (sorry, Mama, I badly need the space for my stuff, too; I hope you understand ❤ ).
I read in a survival manual that even if you are trained with all the right survival skills, if your willpower wanes, these skills will become useless, and you have a very slim chance of surviving alone in the wild. Yes, it’s good that we are equipped with the right survival skills and tools, but Scripture says spiritual training is even better.
“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:8
Right now, I am seeing the enemy attacking what is very close to us and to our hearts – loved ones and families. And he will use our greatest weakness.
All the more that we have to make a public declaration of our faith again and again, because we just refuse to be silenced. Now is definitely not the right time to go quiet when persecution becomes louder and tougher.
Even if the enemy uses those that we value so much, we won’t turn back on our faith until it is God’s time for us to go. And our ultimate goal is for loved ones and for more families to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Nothing else matters except that. And yet, we do everything with love (a powerful reminder to me).
The Hill (2023)
I guess it isn’t a coincidence that all the recent events that took place are all pointing to the family, which also includes this movie that I stumbled upon on Netflix. I was browsing on Netflix a couple of days ago, just skimming through the one-line synopses of several movies for how many minutes already.
I couldn’t decide what to watch until I was led to this movie. This is a highly recommended movie, by the way, perfect for a family’s bonding moment over the weekend. ❤
After watching it, I had 2 questions regarding the movie:
1. Is Pastor Hill the one who is preventing God’s will from being fulfilled in Rickey’s life?
2. Or is it all part of God’s plans, sort of God’s protection and way of refining characters, so Rickey can accomplish his God-given mission?
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-5
It looks like there is only one thing God is asking us to do, even if things around us worsen: persevere. And that we must do. Even if I lose a lot here on earth, and I am not expecting they will be restored in my lifetime either, it’s okay. Because what I have lost and will be losing here is nothing compared to what I will gain in Heaven. I pray this is the hope that you cling to every day, too. 🙂
“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” – Acts 20:24
The Journeyman's Moments 