Jesus Speaks About The Future: LUKE 21

With all that is happening around the world, the only thing that matters is what Jesus has to say about the future. Worries, doubts, and anxieties are on the rise, and most of us are seeking Godly wisdom all the more each and every single day and asking for discernment about the things that we should all know.

About The Future: What It Holds

Last night, I was conducting research on the looming food crisis that the entire world may experience 3 decades from now. I found one article from the New York Times, which stated this:

“The report, prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and released in summary form in Geneva on Thursday, found that the window to address the threat is closing rapidly. A half-billion people already live in places turning into desert, and soil is being lost between 10 and 100 times faster than it is forming, according to the report.

Climate change will make those threats even worse, as floods, drought, storms and other types of extreme weather threaten to disrupt, and over time shrink, the global food supply. Already, more than 10 percent of the world’s population remains undernourished, and some authors of the report warned in interviews that food shortages could lead to an increase in cross-border migration.

A particular danger is that food crises could develop on several continents at once, said Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the lead authors of the report. “The potential risk of multi-breadbasket failure is increasing,” she said. “All of these things are happening at the same time.”

I’ll be sharing more about this topic in my upcoming articles. But just a heads up, I have been sharing opportunities in the local agribusiness sector on social media. They include the recent programs that the Department of Agriculture launched to entice millennials to venture into farming.

‘No Money In Farming’

As expected, this was received with mixed reactions. A majority of social media users, however, are against the idea with only one reason rising above their comments – there is no money in agriculture. I felt it in my heart to disagree since money is no longer the main concern here. It is about sustaining this world and its inhabitants in the coming decades.

Countless research conducted by different agencies all over the world all boils down to one result – earth’s resources are depleting at an alarming rate. I believe it already signals the time to shift our focus if we want to leave behind a better world for future generations to live in.

Farming As A Profession

Farming, according to studies, is a declining profession, and yet I believe it will become a career superior to all other jobs in the coming decades. Why? Its by-product involves food, which is an essential commodity and included in the 3 basic needs required for mankind to survive – food, clothing, and shelter.

Let’s just put it this way. Even if we have millions of money, if there’s no food available to consume, our millions will be worthless and useless. This issue of declining food supplies is not a minor problem. It affects everyone on a global scale. I searched for “global food crisis” and one word stood out – “famine.”

What The Bible Says About Famines

I continued my search by typing “famine” and included the word “Bible” along with it. One of the results that popped up and caught my attention was LUKE 21. I ended up reading the entire chapter, and I’ll share the verses here as well.

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This chapter pretty much sums up everything that the world is going through now. Here’s how we can interpret some of the things mentioned in the Bible to what is currently happening around us:

EARTHQUAKES: volcanic eruptions, tsunamis

FAMINE: climate change, drought, super typhoons, food shortage

PLAGUE: sars, mers, corona virus

WAR – ongoing armed conflicts: Afghanistan Conflict, Mexican Drug War, Yemeni Crisis, Kurdish-Turkish Conflict, Somali Civil War, Iraq Conflict (Source: Wikipedia)

Luke 21:21 also has a personal calling, and I interpreted it as one of the reasons why I have this strong desire to go back to the province and live there. Each day I would claim the country lifestyle for me and my husband and our families. It is also the answer to the global food crisis that will take place decades from now since the city is just getting too congested day by day.

“Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.” – Luke 21:21

This verse that stood out after hubby and I witnessed a perfect rainbow also seems to have a deeper meaning now:

And yet farming is not enough as a solution. It needs to be traditional farming that will limit the carbon released and any other environmental footprint we leave in the atmosphere. Indeed, the “farm-to-table” concept is just what we all need – go back to how things started similar to the Garden of Eden. The only difference is that there’s no hard labor in the Garden of Eden.

But the question still remains, “Is it already too late?”

Wisdom To Give Hope

It is my prayer that by reading this chapter about the future, everyone will be given hope that salvation, per se, is not about being kept alive from the dangers that are about to come.

As Jesus had said it, Himself, this world and the heavens will disappear. And yet, He also assures us that there is nothing to fear because salvation, which is life in eternity with our God, will be given to those who believe in Him.

Fear can never be our answer to escape the tragedies that will befall on us. They are inevitable, and they are bound to happen. But what God is asking from us is to be BRAVE and STRONG enough to face these trials until the time comes when we see Him face to face.

My Latest Convo With God

Just a few nights ago, I was having this unusual conversation with God. In fact, my prayer nights aren’t all the same. I pray about different things each night although there are particular prayer points that always pop up on some nights.

Sometimes I only pray a one-liner. Sometimes my prayer takes about an hour. These quiet times vary depending on how I felt and what I went through during the day. But oftentimes, they are all typical conversations you would have with an ordinary person.

My Prayer Life

How do I pray? No, I don’t usually utter my prayer. They are all just thoughts. Because my mind “talks” faster than my tongue. 😀

I also do this when I am about to sleep and when everything else around me is quiet. I could remember this one prayer night when I was seated on the bed, and my husband was sleeping soundly beside me.

I didn’t notice that my husband stirred and was startled when he saw me gazing towards the window, seated with my legs crossed, and with palms open. He asked me if I am okay. That was the time when we were just a newly married couple.

I think he was terrified I was doing “voodoo” or something on him. lol So I assured him that I was just praying. I can actually pray anywhere in the house with nobody disrupting me. But the thing is, I also pray over my husband each night. To be able to do this, I need to be beside him during my quiet time.

Eager Like A Child

Going back to the latest convo with God, I actually told Him I would love to see Him face to face. I am excited about how He would look like. My imagination was going out of bounds.

Will He be like a strong force of wind or blinding light? Will He be wearing golden robes flowing around? Will He be tall, small, huge, without a face, or with a face? And these questions just seem to go on and on.

Then later on, after realizing I might be asking too much, I just settle with I just want to hear His voice. Would it be a loud booming voice like a rumble of thunder? Or will it be a soft whisper?

When You Seek Him With All Your Heart

Sometimes I come to a point that I desperately ask God to answer and reveal Himself to me like how we expect humans to answer – hear a voice loud and clear with words that you can fully make out.

And when this doesn’t happen, I would just sigh with resignation knowing that God never acts in ways that we always imagine. But the never-ending questions of mine won’t stop there.

I’d still ask Him why it can’t be that way. I would realize then again that what I am insisting is my way and never about God’s ways. This is what I would tell Him in the end,

“Okay, Lord. That is all that I just want to say tonight. I just want to let you know what is going on in my mind and in my heart. I know you already know what they are even before I come before you and pray.

But somehow, when I let them be known to you by praying, the act, itself, gives me a comforting feeling. That there is this special dimension I am entering every time I have this quiet time with you, a very special place where I can just be myself and think about a lot of things so differently than how I think during the day.”

When Prayer Is The Only Weapon You Have

And this is the part where I will end this article. Because the Bible verse that created such a strong impact on me was Luke 21:36. God knows how much fear we would have to go through in this world as we face troubles of all kinds. And the first thing He said was to “PRAY.”

Are you afraid for your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, and all the people you care about? PRAY. Are you going through extreme trials now? PRAY. Are you afraid of what will happen to this world decades or centuries from now? PRAY. 

These are the only things that God asked us to do when judgment day comes – PRAY and be STRONG. Why? It only means leaving everything else in His hands because HE IS IN CONTROL, and that He SAVES those who BELIEVES in His Name. ❤

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Believing that God is always MIGHTY to SAVE,

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P.S. Here’s the song that’s been running on my head for the past weeks now. I’m sharing this here because I want you to know that you are a Child of God, and God has CHOSEN you. ❤

Claim it because you have nothing to lose but MORE TO GAIN when you declare it. 🙂

What Are You Striving For?

I have long given up this thing called “race in life”  – to earn more in this world i.e. higher education, promotions, accumulation of possessions, bigger titles, etc. If it comes to a point that I acknowledge such achievement or honor, that is not for my glory but for God’s glory and to thank the people responsible in making that achievement happen.

Why give up the race in the worldly life and focus more in running the race towards the eternal life? They can become a “leech”  to our souls – the worldly things. It spurs greed, envy, and discontentment leading to an unsatisfied, unhappy and tired soul.

If I have decided to pursue my graduate study, it is not for my glory but because it is a commitment I made to my family years ago even before I got saved – a way to honor them and a responsibility that I had to fulfill as a sister and a daughter. Honoring them will honor God too.

If I decide to work, that is because I need to earn money not to get rich but to survive and serve others including my future family.

I’d rather learn how to live righteously devoid of all these worldly things than to live with them but live a corrupted life. It isn’t easy though, this thing called living life righteously. For we are in a world with its double standards where sin and corruption of the soul are everywhere. They are a black hole which consumes us if we allow ourselves to even get near it.

God never called us to live a life of fame and fortune but He called us to live otherwise. As it was written:

  “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

We will never have a need for God if we are getting everything according to the worldly standards. Though we get everything that this world offers but not have God as the number 1 priority in this life, we’ll still end up unhappy, discontented and unsatisfied.

For we all know that though we may have everything except God, then we really have nothing. And yes we have all that we needed in this Earthly world, now what? What will we do with all the fame, with all our money, with all our possessions, with all our titles? Do you think it will please God when we have all those? 🙂

If we are all laboriously working in preparation for our future, who are we to say what our future holds? Did not God say this:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” – Matthew 6:25

Where is our faith?

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” – John 20:29

As it is said, “Faith is not achieved by good deeds coming from our own efforts but by trusting God that He is completely in charge with everything.”  It isn’t easy to have blind faith and yet God made it possible through the Cross. 🙂

How To Kill The Worldly

Tin Ginete

Even the tree bleeds.

Do not count the blessings of others, make it a habit to count your own. Do not focus on how others have improved, focus on how you can improve yourself. Do not search for what you’re lacking, use wisely what you have. Do not judge others, for God did not judge and compare you to His other creations. He made you and loved you as unique and as imperfect as you are and blessed you EQUALLY.

People who lived happy lives focused not on the people around them but on how they can maximize the blessings that God gave them, big and small, and be a blessing to others as well. God gave us a free will. Use it to have a renewed self by choosing God to lead and purify the intentions of your heart, of your words and your actions. Then you will know what life is without those seven deadly sins (envy, wrath, greed, laziness, pride, lust, and gluttony) creeping on every bone, every tissue of your individuality killing you deep inside.

Choose to be free of them by having God as the center of your life and be able to enjoy what God has in store for you. It is not about you or them. It is about Him. 🙂