Close to God, Close to People

“His bride has made herself ready” — Revelation 19:7.

Even in preparing for the Lord’s coming, we can become unhealthily absorbed in ourselves. We remember a time in our lives when we decided to spend a month waiting on the Lord for a baptism in the Holy Spirit. Before the month was over, the Lord shook us out of our seclusion and compelled us to go out and carry His message to others. As we went, He met us in our service.

There is a musty, cloistered way of seeking a blessing. There is also a wholesome, practical holiness that brings us into the company of the Lord Himself, not only in the quiet place of prayer and on the mountaintop, but also among tax collectors and sinners and in the everyday duties of life.

It seems to us that practical preparation for the Lord’s coming begins with entering deeply into fellowship with Him in our own spiritual lives. Let us allow Him not only to cleanse us, but also to perfect us in all the finest details of the Spirit’s deeper work. Then let us move beyond ourselves and live to help others and prepare the world for His appearing.