Are we living in the last days? I don’t know but we are certainly in the 'end times'....a season of extreme violence and international terrorism, corruption and great fear in the hearts of many. But we do not need as believers to live in any fear at all nor to live in ignorance of God's reality. The Bible does give us some information about what will happen “in the last days.”

In 2 Timothy 3:1 Paul says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

We can see that any nation which leaves God out will descend into chaos and futility, which should stir us to live differently, in loving and dynamic relationship with God.  Don’t let the world around you press you into its mould. Our confidence is in Him who never changes nor fails nor stops loving His children....all the time and in every situation.

There is a special provision for us 'in the last days'. In Acts 2:17 is says, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Peter declares that now Jesus has returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit is available to all.  “In the last days” a power has been made available so that we do not have to live out of our own natural ability, but have access to wisdom and power from heaven. Don’t get trapped into living out of your own human resources.

Isaiah 2:2 says, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.”

Daniel 2:44 adds, “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but itself will endure forever.

And..... “In the last days” all people will acknowledge Jesus as “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

As I listen to news of unrelenting gloom day after day, I am glad that I am part of a different kingdom. Halleluyah!

God has not lost control and He is able to care for his people. David writes in Psalm 37:25, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

Don’t live in fear. Live in joy. God is still on the throne.