The Present World Situation – 6 Ways for a Christian to Respond

How should a Christian respond to the present world situation?

As a believer in Christ, have you experienced inner turmoil in knowing how to face the present environment in the world around you?  I know I have.  It is easy to lose sleep over it.

Have you had the feeling that the crisis in the world is an indicator of the Lord’s coming and of the end of this age? I believe that many of us have.

But how should we respond to the present world situation such that we align ourselves with God’s purpose?

6 ways for a Christian to respond to the present world situation

1. Take the right position—in your spirit

We need to be in our spirit if we are going to see things the way God does.

Revelation 4:2 says,

Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting.

Only in our spirit can we have the right position to see the divine things.

To see each of the four great visions in the book of Revelation, the apostle John was in his spirit (Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). That is because our human spirit is the organ for spiritual vision, the organ for us to receive God’s revelation (Eph. 1:17).

Take the divine elevator—your spirit—to rise above the earth, so you can look down on the world situation from God’s transcendent view.

You can get into your spirit by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus and praying to Him (1 Cor. 12:3; Eph. 6:18).

Simply ask the Lord to grant you such spirit of revelation to see the world situation as He does.

2. See from God’s perspective—read the biblical prophecies concerning the world situation

Lay hold of the biblical prophecies concerning the world situation and of Christ’s coming.

The prophet Daniel did exactly that. From Daniel 9:2-3, we can see that he read from Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer. 25:11-12) that God would return His people to the land after seventy years. But, Daniel didn’t just take it for granted, he prayed earnestly.

It should be the same with us. The prophecies in the Bible give us God’s perspective of where we are and where we are going.

Read the prophetic writings. especially in the books of Daniel, Matthew, 2 Thessalonians, and Revelation. Doing this will give you a proper perspective with a solid direction.

If you would like help in understanding the meaning of these prophecies, I recommend reading the Life-study of the Bible  by Witness Lee. You can read enlightening messages on all of these books for free at ministrybooks.org or listen to the podcasts on these Life-studies.

Prayerfully reading the following passages of Scripture with the help of the related life-study messages will equip you with proper perspective on the world situation:

Daniel 2, 7, and 9 concern the things that are going to take place at the end of this age. Daniel 2 addresses a “vision of what we happen in the last days” and Daniel 9 speaks of the “seventy weeks” apportioned for God’s people.

Matthew 24 and 25, cover the Lord’s word concerning the signs of the end of the age and two parables on the way to be prepared.

Second Thessalonians 2:3-10, cover the apostle Paul’s warning to the believers about the things that are about to take place.

Finally, Revelation, presents four great visions to the apostle John covering the things that are about to take place.

3. Participate in the Lord’s commission—preach the gospel

We have the good news that this world needs! But are we willing to share it? 

It is not enough to just be watchful for the Lord’s coming ourselves. We need to be one with Christ in carrying out His commission to consummate this age. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus said,

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

This word of the Lord Jesus is not only a prophecy, but a commission to us, His believers.  It applies to every one of us today.

We need to speak the good news of Christ to our relatives, neighbors, colleagues, classmates and friends. Here are some digital gospel tracts,videos, and posts that you share with them virtually.

Revelation 6:1-8, show us that after Christ’s ascension until He returns there is four horse race—four personified things running side by side as four horses with their riders. These four personified things are gospel preaching, war, famine and death. The first horse, the white horse, is preaching of the gospel.

We need to be one with the rider of this white horse today (v. 2). Don’t be consumed by anxiety over war, famine and death. Be one with the rider of the white horse to bring the gospel to the troubled world around you!

The final chapter of the Bible ends with a call. It is not only a call for the Lord Jesus to return. It is also a call for the thirsty ones to take the water of life freely. Remember the call of the gospel should always accompany our call for the Lord’s return (Rev. 22:17).

4. Prepare for the Lord’s return—spread the divine truths  

In 1 Timothy 2:4 Paul expresses the desire of the Savior God,

Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

Later Paul told his younger coworker, Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2,

The things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also.

For Timothy to “commit to faithful men” the things he heard from the apostle Paul was to spread the divine truths that he had received. In order to spread these divine truths like Timothy, we first need to diligently learn them ourselves (2 Tim. 2:15).

We need to prepare ourselves by spending daily times with the Lord in His word—reading the Word, praying over the Word, and studying the Word. Again, the best opener I’ve found for my serious Bible study is the Recovery Version with its companion commentary, the Life-study of the Bible.

By learning the truths and experiencing them in your Christian life, you will be equipped to spread these divine truths wherever the Lord sends you (Acts 8:4, 29-35).

5. Persevere in prayer—pray toward the interests of God

When Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, he prayed that God would hear the prayer of whoever would pray toward that land, the city (Jerusalem), and the house (the temple) which he had built for God’s name (1 Kings 8:48-49).

Daniel did this. Three times a day, he opened the windows in his upper chamber and prayed toward Jerusalem (Dan. 6:10). God intended to return His people to the holy land so Christ could be born there. Daniel did not take Jeremiah’s prophecy for granted (Jer. 25:11), he joined himself to it in prayer.

By reading God’s word we may realize what He desires to do to carry out His divine economy in this present world situation. Then we need to pray. This is not an anxious reaction to present environment.

Rather, our prayers should be toward the land, the city and temple. Spiritually, this means that all our prayers should be focused on Christ (our good land), God’s kingdom (the city), and the church (God’s temple today—Eph. 2:21).

We should never take God’s word for granted but join ourselves to it through prayer (Eph. 6:17-18). This is our most effective work. We need to persevere in prayer. As Paul said in Colossians 4:2 says,

Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving.

Here are more posts to strengthen your prayer life.

We need to persevere in prayer so that Christ can come the second time. Our prayer should echo the Spirit’s cry in Revelation 22:

“Come, Lord Jesus!”

6. Perfect younger believers—equip them to build up Christ’s Body that our Lord may come back

Our labor for the Lord is inadequate if we do not reproduce ourselves in younger believers.

Although we see increasing signs of the Lord’s soon coming, we still do not know how long it will be until He returns. However, we do know that He will not return without His Body being built up, and His bride being prepared (Eph. 4:16; 5:27).

Until that day, Christ needs a people preparing for His coming—maturing in Christ (Col. 1:27-28) and perfected and equipped to building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12).

In Ephesians  4:12 Paul said,

For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

May we who love the Lord’s appearing ourselves, pray for and feed the Lord’s lambs and sheep as the Lord charged Peter to do (Col. 1:9; John 21:15-17).

If you have been helped by this post, please take a moment to leave a comment.

References and Further Reading:

The first message from a conference on “A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery” was the inspiration for me to write this post.

Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The New Testament of this Bible, with its outlines, is at online.recoveryversion.org; this too is © by LSM.