Matthew 25: 1-2 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”

I am telling you that this is the hour to have “oil” in reserve and be watching. There are two different directions that people in churches today are heading:

There are people in church today that are hungry, desperate for God, willing to lay down their DAILY lives for Jesus, living free from offense, staying connected to Jesus. Ps. 63 and Ps. 27:4 passion.

They want to serve.

They want to love as Jesus has loved them.

They have such desire to live pure and holy before God without being bound up in the rhetoric of legalism.

They have been broken and restored.

Wounded and healed.

They have lived in the valley of shadow of death for years and now they have had an encounter with God and instead of staying on the mountain, they travel back to the valley to help those who are dying there as they once were.

They don’t care about ministry titles, ministry names, networking to build their ministry. They would rather know the gift GIVER greater than the desire to be used in the gifts.

These people that I am talking about love to pray, love to worship, love to spend ordinary moments with Jesus.

They are givers and not takers.

They are determined and not demanding.

They are the ones that have overcome sadness, sorrow and grief and have an internal joy that cannot be shaken.

This group of people that I am talking about have exchanged beauty for ashes.

They look at their internal (and external) reflection and they no longer see pain, shame, condemnation, rejection, depression and the like but they see the love of the Father.

They are dangerous, fearless, bold and confident in the face of adversity.

These are the ones that have discerned that their present current struggles and afflictions–whatever those may be–are for but a moment and is working for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

These people love the lost, the hurting, the dying and the broken. Why? Because they have been there and met the Savior, the Healer, the Deliver, the love of the Father.

They would rather take personal communion with Jesus than to have everyone in the room like them, understand them and appreciate them.

These are the ones that are giving when no one is looking.

These are the people that are saying, Here I am, send me.

It’s those who laugh at trials and temptations and find the joy of the Lord in even the little things.

These are warriors and not wimps.

They are fierce and not faithless.

They are passionate, they are dreamers, they are visionaries.

They live in Divine order: God, family and THEN ministry.

They are hard workers–in the Spirit.

These are the ones that are living for eternal rewards and honestly don’t care what you think about them.

They are free from judging. They leave that to God. They would rather love.

They open the Bible and hear the voice of God and it challenges and changes them.

They walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

They desperately want the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit that remains.

They are watchful discerners of what is taking place around them. Like the sons of Issachar, they are learning to discern the times and seasons.

They have learned the secrets of King David. They are warriors and lovers.

They do not have the words pretenders, fakes and hypocrites in their vocabulary.

They are just as real on Sunday morning as they are on Friday night.

They get their peace, joy and comfort from the Holy Spirit and not by escaping into alcohol, television, pornography, hiding or any other temporary inferior pleasures.

They live to please Jesus and to love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

These are the ones that will change the world around them.

There are also many, many people that call themselves Christians that are moving in the opposite direction of what I just described. They are not watchful and not keeping an abundance of oil. They have lost heart, direction, faith and confidence. They are basically watching the world go by and judging others that are making a difference. They are born-again. But it will be a life wasted. Saved on that day, but a life squandered and fruitless. All because they did not keep their oil. They were not wise but foolish.

Matthew 25:1-13