One Day At A Time
One Day At A Time
By Dennis Huebshman
Prelude: For the person that emailed, and said this song is one of her favorites, this message is especially for you. Also, this is for everyone who is anticipating the soon return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ; Yeshua; Our Messiah.
Songwriters Marijohn Wilkin and Kris Kristofferson wrote One Day At A Time, and is was first released in 1974. The version I most identify with was the one by Elanor Johnston, better known as Christy Lane, in 1980. Wikipedia states it has been recorded by over 200 artists to date.
The Song: One Day at a time, Sweet Jesus
(1) I’m only Human, I’m just a woman (man). Help me believe in what I could be, and all that I am. Show me the stairway, I have to climb. Lord for my sake, teach me to take, One Day At A Time.
(chorus) One Day At A Time, Sweet Jesus! That’s all I’m asking of you. Just give me the strength, to do every day, what I have to do. Yesterday’s gone, Sweet Jesus; and tomorrow may never be mine. Lord help me today, show me the way; One Day At A Time.
(2) Do you remember, when you walked among men? Well Jesus, you know, if you’re looking below; it’s worse now than then. Cheating and stealing; violence and crime. So for my sake, teach me to take, One Day At A Time.
(chorus, then) Yes, for my sake, teach me to take; One Day At A Time. (any emphasis mine)
One of the hardest things to do today, is to “patiently” wait for the call from Jesus, to meet Him “in the air”, and be free from all the evil of this world. (1 Thessalonians 4:17) No more pain, suffering, death, or evil of any kind, will ever again be part of our lives.
At the instant – twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52) – that we are called, we will receive immortal “forever” bodies, designed to live forever with our Savior and all the Saints that will call Heaven our Home. Paul says, the “dead in Christ” will rise first. These are all those who received Jesus from the day of Calvary, to the present time; but died prior to the Rapture. The thief on the cross next to Jesus will have been the first to receive this new Covenant. Their souls will return with the Savior to be reunited with their earthly bodies, no matter what is left of them. All who rise up to meet Jesus will be converted into their “forever” bodies.
Paul makes it clear, the dead will be raised up first, followed by those of us still alive at the calling. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).Once we’re removed, the restrainer that is keeping the antichrist from appearing (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7), will be removed as well, and this earth will suffer a 7-year period of time like no other. It’s getting worse every day now, but that time will be absolutely horrible. At the very least, 2/3 of the world population will perish, and this will include God’s chosen; the Jews. Anyone seeking Jesus during those days will be subject to martyrdom.
At the end of this time, the touch-earth coming of Jesus will take place, and He will rule from Jerusalem for one thousand years. As impossible as it may seem, there will still be sin on earth until the end of that millennial period. When that time ends, Jesus will hold a judgment, and separate the faithful (sheep) from the lost (goats). The faithful will be with Jesus forever, and will witness the new heaven and earth, and the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven. (Revelation 21)
All who rejected God prior to Calvary; and all who rejected Jesus from Calvary to the end of the Millennium, will be gathered at one time for one final judgment. The antichrist and false prophet will have been the first occupants in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20) that was created specifically for the devil and all his demons (Matthew 25:41). They will be the only two occupants from the end of the 7-year Tribulation until the end of the Millennium. Then, satan will be the next to enter (Revelation 20:10), followed by All the rest of the lost who will stand before God at the Great White Throne. (Revelation 20:11-15) Each will be given their own personal degree of punishment that will last forever. There is no pardon from Hell as some false prophets are saying today.
One Day At A Time is a call to the Father to give us what we need to make it day by day, and to please give it today. We ask for the strength and resolve to make it here every day. We ask for enlightenment to guide us as to the way He would have us live. The past is gone, and except for asking forgiveness for our sins, we are not to dwell on that time.
We are all sinners (Romans 3:23), and God knows we are weak. Those who have truly accepted Jesus as Savior, have a pathway to forgiveness when we do slip and fall. (1 John 1:8-10) The song reminds us to live our best today, as tomorrow may not be there for us. I have told of my experiences while working in Hospital settings, where I have witnessed people die that thought they had more time.
If we have lived for Christ up to that moment, Paul says in Philippians 1:23, we will depart and be with Jesus. By the example Jesus gave in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), the body dies, but the soul, that part of us that is our true being, will be aware of all that is happening instantly. Those in Christ will be in paradise; those who do not have Jesus will start their torment while waiting for the White Throne.
This world is getting worse by the day. What God called abominations are flourishing, and even in ways I never thought I would witness in my lifetime. Jesus said there would be a turning away from the faith, and that is so evident today. False prophets are entrenched throughout the evangelical world, and are proclaiming we all worship the same “god”; there’s many ways to Heaven besides Jesus; what the Father “hated” before is now okay; and so on and so forth. Children are being exploited and even worse. Yet the outcry is not there against all of this. Anyone who tries to speak out is called a “hater”. The main thought that is with me constantly is, “How much more will you tolerate, Father?” “Today would not be too early to take us Home!”
Only God knows the answer to this, so I say, “Yes, for my sake (and all our loved ones), teach me to take, One Day At A Time.
Abba, Father, please hear our call!
Shalom – Come Lord Jesus!