Do Not Fear the End Times Part 38: A Prayer for the End, Revisited

So when I pray for His return, it’s because I’m asking for relief. Relief, from everything. Relief from this fallen world!

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Previous End Times Post

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Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Time for another Friday End Times post.

Today I’ll be revisiting the topic of an earlier post—Part 23. Praying for Jesus Christ to return, is that the right thing to do?

Careful what You Pray for

We need to be careful what we pray for, because God is always listening. We need to think carefully about what we ask of God, because we might not understand the consequences of what we’re asking for. God just might give us what we’re asking for, in that case, using consequences to teach us to be careful what we pray for.

Prayer is a good thing, but not all prayers are necessarily good. There are ways for us to sin through prayer. If we pray misfortune or judgment on others, for example, that would be wrong. Judge not lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1) applies to all aspects of our life, including our prayers. Judgment is not our right, it belongs to the LORD. He is the only one who can judge. So we shouldn’t be praying for judgments on anyone in our prayers, as we’re only humans with a limited perspective of the whole situation. We should only pray forgiveness on others.

Same thing with praying for misfortune and harm for others. We’re supposed to bless those who curse us, and turn the other cheek (Luke 6:28-29). That applies to our prayers as well. When we pray, we have a direct connection to the highest power of all—the LORD Jesus Christ. If we then use that connection with the all-powerful LORD to pray for harm on others, then what makes our prayer any different from a vile witchcraft curse uttered by a witch? Witchcraft works by Satan’s power, hence why Satan is willing to carry out the vile, harmful acts of curses. But at the same time, it’s also why curses can be blocked and nullified by the superior power of the LORD.

If we pray harm on others, we’re abusing our prayer connection with the LORD to curse people. The LORD will not carry out such prayers, and will instead be angered with us. Remember, He searches our hearts and minds and will judge us accordingly (Revelation 2:23). If we curse people through prayer, we’re revealing to Him our anger, hatred, and unforgiveness, all qualities He detests.

So, we’ve got to be careful what we pray for, since not all prayers are good. Jesus’s teachings apply to our prayer lives as well. It doesn’t matter that our prayers are private, and said when we’re alone. What matters is what’s in our hearts. We need to always turn the other cheek and bless those who curse us. We need to always refrain from judgment, and pray forgiveness for others instead.

All that should be clear enough, right? Now how does this apply to the End Times?

Do not Desire that Day

In Part 23, I wrote up a prayer for the End Times. A prayer asking for the return of our LORD Jesus Christ. In other words, yes, a prayer asking for the end of this fallen world—but also asking for the beginning of God’s new world.

I understand that when I pray for the Second Coming of Christ, I’m praying for the end of the world. I know there will be much death, destruction, and horror on that day. That’s why when I was reading through the Book of Amos later on, a passage from chapter 5 hit me especially hard:

(18) Doom to those who desire the day of the LORD!
Why do you want the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, not light;
(19) as if someone fled from a lion,
and was met by a bear;
or sought refuge in a house,
rested a hand against the wall,
and was bitten by a snake.
(20) Isn’t the day of the LORD darkness, not light;
all dark with no brightness in it?

Amos 5:18-20 (CEB)

So I wrote a quick post about this during my vacation last month, entitled Whoops! In that post I wrote about Amos 5 and said I would be thinking further about this issue. I would pray on the topic, and for the time being, I would drop my End Time prayer from Part 23.

I also made this distinction:

Well, I think the important thing is that we should not desire the day of the LORD, as verse 18 says. There will be much death, destruction, terror, and suffering on that day. We should never look forward to that part, though in my defense, I don’t believe that I desire that day to come. […] Does all this add up to desiring the day of the LORD? I don’t know. I’m inclined to say no, but it’s not what I say that’s important, it’s what God thinks.

OK, so verse 18 says “Doom to those who DESIRE the day of the LORD!” Yes, that’s an important distinction and it’s easy to understand. It goes back to what I was saying, above, about praying for harm on others.

We should never, ever be happy about the sinners who will not be saved at the Second Coming. We should never, ever be happy that they will be damned for eternity. It doesn’t matter at all what we think of these sinners or what they do. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done to us, either. Every human was made in God’s image, and God loves every human. Every human is worth saving, to God. Every human deserves another chance with Jesus Christ. Each sinner who isn’t saved is a great loss.

We should look at the judgment of sinners with a matter-of-fact type attitude. Acknowledge it as something that will happen. Warn people about it, encourage them to REPENT. But we should never, ever be happy that people will not be saved. If we do, we’re walking straight into the evil sins of judgment and pride. We’re at risk of feeling ourselves to be better than others, which is a sin, when we should be doing our best to get people into the “saved” category.

Well, remember this distinction. Never DESIRE the day of the LORD. That day will be darkness, suffering, and pain, like Amos 5 says. We should never wish that on others.

But how about the other part of verse 18, “Why do you want the day of the LORD?” This is translated in other versions as “To what end is the day of the LORD to you?”

A World at the End of its Rope

I’ll be honest when I tell you why I pray for the return of Jesus Christ. This world is at the end of its rope. We can’t take any more torture, disaster, hatred, and evil. We just can’t take it anymore. So when I pray for His return, it’s because I’m asking for relief. Relief, from everything. Relief from this fallen world!

I see many Christians expressing the same sentiment online. That doesn’t justify praying for The End if doing so is wrong, but I point it out to show that many Christians are feeling at the end of their rope too. Sometimes these are the exact words they use. It could be due to the ugliness and hatred in our world today, or it could be due to despair in their own battle against sin. It could be due to all kinds of things.

Are we all wrong? Is it so wrong to desire relief? Permanent, eternal relief? I’ll be blunt with you—I don’t see anything wrong with this. I pray for the return of LORD Jesus Christ because this fallen world has had it, and sometimes so have I. What’s wrong with me wanting permanent relief from the cycle of ups and downs, highs and lows that is this life? I know this life is only a precursor to our real life in heaven. What’s wrong with wanting relief from it, forever? And what’s wrong with me praying for the end of a fallen, corrupted world? I’m not happy about the destruction part, but why shouldn’t I be happy for the coming of God’s new world?

Recently, I saw a Christian on r/Christian on Reddit describing his various sufferings, and he said he wished he would either die or that Christ would come back. His suffering was so hard for him, all he had to hang onto was his faith. He wanted Christ to come back to prove his faith true. This is how bad it is, in these End Times. We have Christians out there who are wishing for death and praying for LORD Jesus’s return.

Then it’s not only my own relief I’m praying for when I pray for His return, now is it? I’m praying for relief for them too—everyone who feels at the end of their rope, like this anonymous Christian on Reddit. I’ve felt exactly the same way he has before, so I know his story is real. People are really reaching the end of their rope. The whole world is. What else can I say?

And so, I continue to pray my prayer for The End. I continue to pray for the return of Jesus Christ. If I’m wrong, I pray the LORD will tell me so by convicting my conscience through His Holy Spirit. But, as before, I of course welcome any comments on this or any other prayer I post on my blog. Here’s a slightly updated version of my prayer for The End.

LORD,

Thank You that The End is near!

You said that when we see these signs, we know that You are coming soon. I know in my heart You are coming soon!

Thank You that this fallen world will soon be destroyed!

Thank You that we will soon see God’s true vision for the world!

This world is at the end of its rope, it can’t go on anymore. It’s dying, physically and spiritually.

But the end of this fallen world is the beginning of the LORD’s new world.

Thank You that Your final mercy is on its way.

And please have mercy on me, a sinner. I put my faith in You, LORD Jesus, and I REPENT of all my sins, known and unknown.

Please grant me the spiritual fortitude I need to endure till the end, and to suffer what torments I must.

I know You are holding back so more people can come to You.

I pray that as many people turn to You, LORD, as possible while there’s still time.

Please grant me the right words and wisdom to win people over to You, if it’s Your will that I can.

Please grant me the restraint not to judge anyone, and the strength to forgive those who trespass against me.

Please grant me the fortitude to give up vengeance. Please grant me the fortitude to move on, with You, from all wounds and trauma.

Please grant me the fortitude to love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me.

With the time that’s left, please grant me the wisdom to see my sinful failings, and the strength to correct them.

I know I’m filthy with sins, but I seek to do the best I can. And I have faith that Your sacrifice on the cross is more powerful than any sin.

Please save us, LORD Jesus, and deliver us from these End Times.

Please come back and end this world soon. Please come back!

Amen!

And that’s it. I welcome comments on this second version of the prayer (though it isn’t too different from the first). I also welcome all comments on the question of this post—is it right to pray this?

The end of this fallen world is a good thing! We want to see God’s new world! So let’s all make sure that we get there. Let’s turn to Jesus now and REPENT of our sins! And pray that He may grant us the fortitude we need to endure till The End.

These End Times are difficult to live through. We need fortitude to make it all the way. Pray to Jesus for the fortitude we need—spiritual fortitude. Take heart, and remember: Every day that goes by, we have one less day to suffer. Every day gets us one day closer to The End.

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Until next time, be strong and do good!

Your new best friend in Christ,

99:9

<<<EXALT THE LORD OUR GOD AND WORSHIP AT HIS HOLY HILL; FOR THE LORD OUR GOD IS HOLY>>>

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