Are
You Listening?
“He who has
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:7
When I was about ten years old, I went to visit my
grandmother who was a strong Christian.
While I was there I played with a girl across the street and one day
Grandma came outside where we were sitting on a blanket. She brought her Bible and said, “While you
girls are playing I want you to each pick a Bible verse and memorize it by the
end of the week. I didn’t know much about the Bible, but my girlfriend thought
it would be fun.
My girlfriend was about 12 and belonged to a church
where she learned many verses, while I also went to our Presbyterian church in
my home town. I attended Sunday school there,
but it wasn’t like my grandma’s Baptist church where they prayed a lot, or my friend’s
church where they said “AMEN” out loud and raised their hands. However, my
friend wanted to do it so I pretended I did, too. I opened the Bible and put my
finger on a verse in Revelation 2:7. I
didn’t know what it meant, but I memorized it and never forgot it to this day.
The other day I was studying in Revelation and read
this verse and suddenly my brain downloaded the memory. Inside of my spirit I heard, “This is why you
memorized this so long ago – you must keep listening to my Word”. Now after these many, many years I finally
understood. I have studied and taught from the Bible for over 30 years and no
matter what I studied I always came back to ‘end times’. Now I see that ‘If we listen for the voice of
God, by whatever means He chooses to enlighten us, we will understand so much
more”. Without the Word of God we are
like blind people stumbling around in the darkness.
When Jesus spoke to the seven churches, he was also
speaking to all of us at the end of the ages.
There is a personal message to each of these that I want to share with
you. The first message was to
Ephesus. Beginning with Rev. 2:5, He has
a one-word warning: “Repent”! You hear it everywhere; ‘the time is short’ so
if you listen you’ll get the message.
Then at the end of vs.7, he gives you a reason to repent, “To him who overcomes I will give to
eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
The next is
to Smyrna. In verse 10, this warning stands out, “Be Faithful”! If you are serving God to best of your ability,
don’t compromise, but stand strong and be firm in your faith. What is the reason for this? Jesus promises that he will give you the ‘Crown
of Life’ which means you will spend eternity in heaven.
Thirdly, he
spoke to Pergamos. In verse 17, his
message to us is this: “To him who overcomes”. We must be
Overcomers. In today’s times this isn’t
as easy as it sounds. Not only we must
be overcomers, but our children and grandchildren may find this even more
difficult. The only way is for families to attend church, children need to go
to classes and youth to youth groups.
The more they join with other Believers, the stronger they become. What
does this mean? “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And
I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one
knows except him who receives it.” No one really knows what this means, but
only these who overcome will enter heaven.
To the
church of Thyatira, found in verses 18-25, Jesus explains that you can’t really
hide anything from him because he sees your hearts and minds. He tells us in vs. 25 that whatever faith you
have to, “Hold fast what you have
till I come”. If we keep doing what the Lord requires of
us, “He
will give us power over the nations.”
To understand this we must know that Jesus has made us kings and
priests. See Revelation 5:10 (“And
(He) has made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the
earth.")
In Rev. 3:13, the Lord
rebukes the church at Sardis, for they think they are alive but the fact is
there is only a few who have not soiled themselves with sin. He tells them to
hold on to what little faith they have and to “Return to what they first heard and believed.” Those that do that will walk in white with
the Lord. That means in ‘Purity’. There reward is that “I will not blot out his
name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and
before His angels.”
Now we go to Rev. 3:8 where
Jesus centered on the church at Philadelphia.
Listen to these powerful words and understand.
“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one
can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept my word, and have not
denied my name.” If we are
obedient to our Lord, we will be lifted up, but he does give us this word. “Hold
fast what you have, that no one may take your crown”. (vs.11) Now look at his promise for you faithful
believer, “Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you
from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who
dwell on the earth. Behold, I am
coming quickly!”
Lastly, in
Rev. 15-16, Jesus says a terrifying thing to the Laodiceans, “I
know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold
or hot. So then,
because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My
mouth.” He will cast out all those who are just
playing around with being a true Christian.
(read vs. 14-22) These people
don’t even know what horrible condition they are in. They are having fun and making money, but
don’t think about God or heaven or hell.
In verse 20 he says
He is knocking at the
door of your heart and if you open that door to him, he will come in and be
with you. He promises this: “To
him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame
and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
Are you listening yet?
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches.” Don’t plug your ears; He is calling you,
just like he did me so many years ago.
The difference is, we have so little time left to answer his call. For all my loved ones, family and friends,
please listen. Read this again and ask
yourself where am I in each of these seven warnings from God? Then make a decision where you want to spend
eternity. If you open your heart’s door
to Jesus; you are on your way to Heaven; if not, you are on your way to
Hell. I speak truth, the truth of the
Bible, to you and you know it.
Because I care what
happens to you.
With
Love, Wanda
Ritter
A week started great to have!
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