The Go Bag - Lynne Phipps

Help me welcome my good friend, Lynne Phipps, as a new writer for Love Lines from God. 

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2 Peter 3:10 NIV

When a friend of mine was evacuated from his home and then town because of a wildfire, I asked him if he had taken all his important legal papers, identification, and medical files with him. He told me he had not. He had simply left quickly. My friend did not have what has come to be known as “a go bag.”

One keeps a go bag ready in case of an emergency evacuation notice, something that is happening frequently due to the shift in weather patterns our world is experiencing. Fires, floods, landslides, hurricanes, tornados, and the like can come on us with little or sometimes no warning. Having a go bag ready and waiting can make a huge difference when dealing with long-term evacuations or the possible loss of our home and property.

Similarly, the Scriptures remind us that the day of the Lord’s return will also come upon us when we least expect it. When that day comes, we will not have time to prepare to meet our heavenly Father. The time will have passed to ready our spiritual go bag. We will be evacuated to an eternity spent with or without God.

John writes, “And this is the testimony (statement or proof): God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11,12 NIV).

Jesus, the Son of God, offers us our spiritual go bag for free. It is known as salvation. Knowing him as our personal Lord and Saviour and trusting him for the forgiveness of our sins, which makes us holy and acceptable to God, assures us that our name is written in God’s Book of Life. Not knowing Christ, however, condemns us to judgment and eternal death in the lake of fire known as Hades. 

Each one of us is going to be evacuated from this earth, whether by death or through the return of Jesus. This is a fact, a given. The question is whether we are ready. 

Is the Spirit of Jesus residing within your heart through accepting the gift of salvation? Make sure your go bag is ready.

Lord God, may my eyes be opened to see the need of the peoples of the world for salvation so that I can help them prepare their spiritual go bag. In Christ’s name, amen.

Tweetable: Do you have your go bag ready? 

Lynne Phipps and her family live on a small hobby farm in the heart of Alberta, Canada’s farming country. She has been writing devotions for forty years and never tires of the spiritual correlation the Holy Spirit blesses her with. He uses normal everyday events and the behaviors of the multitude of glorious creatures He has brought across her path to point her to the truths of God. Lynne is a devotion writer for VineWords: Devotions and More.

I invite you to try my newest book, Grits, Grace, and Grands, in eBook or paperback. If you are an editor who wants to hone your grammar skills or someone who just wants to improve your writing or speaking, this is the book for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.