The end of the year has arrived today. My holiday season began October first. And it all brought honor to God. He deserves much honor.  I celebrated Halloween by volunteering in a Christian scare house that my church puts on. Several thousand individuals prayed for salvation during that time.

When Halloween was over, I celebrated Thanksgiving everyday. I would begin my blog with a thankful statement to God each morning.

And, of course, we celebrated Christmas in honor of Jesus’ humble entrance into humanity. Since Christmas is the season of giving more than it is of getting, I enjoyed opportunities of encouraging and helping people toward God.

Now, the New Year will arrive tomorrow. I look forward to the future trusting God and without fear. In my Bible reading today I read the encouraging words told through the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. Jesus said be encouraged He is coming soon. He may return in 2019! And I gladly say to that, “Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!”

Revelation 22:

⁶ Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.”

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. ⁹ But he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!”

¹⁰ Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. ¹⁵ Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. ¹⁸ And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. ¹⁹ And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.

²⁰ He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people.

The Word of God is trustworthy and true. One day God will make a new Heaven and Earth. He will make all things new.

Revelation 21:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷ All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

King Lemuel’s Mom told her son as a leader he should be careful with women and to not to drink too much alcohol.

Proverbs 31:

1 The sayings of King Lemuel contain this message,^[a] which his mother taught him.

God created everything and He is faithful to keep His promises found in the Bible. So pray the best promises of God’s Word over your family, your friends, your church and yourself.

Psalm 146:

But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God.
⁶ He made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them.
    He keeps every promise forever.

David wrote Psalm 145. In it He thanks God for many blessings in life. He recognizes God for His amazing qualities. All of it can be spoken aloud to thank God for all His goodness.

Psalm 145:

God’s love for His people is consuming, passionate and strong like a new husband who is eagerly awaiting his bride.

God spoke through the prophet Zechariah and told of His great love for His people. They would leave exile in Babylon and return to Jerusalem and build a new Temple. They would be His people and He would be God to them in a strong and close relationship. He would greatly bless them.

Zechariah 8:

8 Then another message came to me from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:² “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: My love for Mount Zion is passionate and strong; I am consumed with passion for Jerusalem!

³ “And now the Lord says: I am returning to Mount Zion, and I will live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.

⁴ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem’s streets with their canes and will sit together in the city squares. ⁵ And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.

⁶ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small remnant of God’s people. But is it impossible for me? says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

⁷ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: You can be sure that I will rescue my people from the east and from the west. ⁸ I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.

⁹ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Be strong and finish the task! Ever since the laying of the foundation of the Temple of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, you have heard what the prophets have been saying about completing the building. ¹⁰ Before the work on the Temple began, there were no jobs and no money to hire people or animals. No traveler was safe from the enemy, for there were enemies on all sides. I had turned everyone against each other.

¹¹ “But now I will not treat the remnant of my people as I treated them before, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.¹² For I am planting seeds of peace and prosperity among you. The grapevines will be heavy with fruit. The earth will produce its crops, and the heavens will release the dew. Once more I will cause the remnant in Judah and Israel to inherit these blessings. ¹³ Among the other nations, Judah and Israel became symbols of a cursed nation. But no longer! Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing. So don’t be afraid. Be strong, and get on with rebuilding the Temple!

¹⁴ “For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: I was determined to punish you when your ancestors angered me, and I did not change my mind, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ¹⁵ But now I am determined to bless Jerusalem and the people of Judah. So don’t be afraid.¹⁶ But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other. Render verdicts in your courts that are just and that lead to peace. ¹⁷ Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the Lord.”

¹⁸ Here is another message that came to me from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ¹⁹ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The traditional fasts and times of mourning you have kept in early summer, midsummer, autumn, and winter^[a] are now ended. They will become festivals of joy and celebration for the people of Judah. So love truth and peace.

²⁰ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. ²¹ The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let’s worship the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’ ²² Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing.

²³ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

David wrote Psalm 143 thousands of years ago. He asked God to deliver him from his enemies. His enemies were people who wanted him dead. Today there is a different enemy in many lives. It is the enemy of addiction. David’s words can be turned into a prayer crying out for God’s  help to win over any kind of addiction that exists.

Psalm 143:

I have seen my nephew struggle with a very hard  disease that came at an unusually early age. And everyone asks why did that happen?

God can powerfully use my humble nephew. The Bible says nothing shall be impossible with God. All power and authority has been given unto Jesus. And as Christians, we walk by faith and not by sight.

God’s love and hope can shine through my nephew more than any other Christian I know if he would allow that.

I love my nephew and I truly know there is a powerful, revival-bringing testimony in him if he would trust God like a child. It’s not easy. Being in his shoes, you would battle constantly the thought that you deserve to be bitter toward toward God because you really didn’t sin so bad that you earned living with such a debilitating disease.

David in the Old Testament had to fight against many enemies before he became king and during his reign. He was also a musician and a song writer so he wrote many Psalms. In Psalm 142, he cries out to God to deliver him from his enemies and from his prison. So I pray his words as a prayer for my nephew who also deals with an enemy and imprisonment.

Psalm 142:

I cry out to the Lord;
    I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
² I pour out my complaints before him
    and tell him all my troubles.
³ When I am overwhelmed,
    you alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go,
    my enemies have set traps for me.
⁴ I look for someone to come and help me,
    but no one gives me a passing thought!
No one will help me;
    no one cares a bit what happens to me.
⁵ Then I pray to you, O Lord.
    I say, “You are my place of refuge.
    You are all I really want in life.
⁶ Hear my cry,
    for I am very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
    for they are too strong for me.
⁷ Bring me out of prison
    so I can thank you.
The godly will crowd around me,
    for you are good to me.”

My daughter called me during my morning time to spend with God. She’s preparing a Christmas dinner at my son’s house. She told me to bring cranberry relish. She can get forceful with her words. She inherited that from her dad’s mom.

She has within her the ability to be a strong leader. She’s got determination to succeed. Like Queen Esther, she was born for such a time as this. On her bedroom wall by the door is a dry erase board with God’s powerful Word written out in her handwriting from 1 Peter 5. So everyday I love to pray her chosen verses for her.

Oh, and I hope my previous words didn’t give you the impression I have a perfect daughter because she’s not. Our personalities can clash. Just between you and me, sometimes I cry from how she rejects me. But God can take the imperfections in all of us and turn them into honor for His great name.

1Peter 5:

⁵ Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, ⁷ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

⁸ Be ^[c]sober, be ^[d]vigilant; ^[e]because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

In the book of Haggai, God told His people to rebuild His temple. He put enthusiasm into the hearts of two people to make this happen.  One was Zerubbabel, the leader of Judah and the other was Jeshua, the high priest. Then God told them just as He had told Joshua (leader of Israel as they fought to take the Promised Land) to be strong and not afraid because God was with them.

Today, we can still have that same peace when we take on new challenges.

Haggai 1:

⁷ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! ⁸ Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. ⁹ You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.¹⁰ It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. ¹¹ I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”

¹² Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the Lord their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the Lord their God had sent, the people feared the Lord. ¹³ Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the people this message from the Lord: “I am with you, says the Lord!”

¹⁴ So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ¹⁵ on September 21 of the second year of King Darius’s reign.

Haggai 2:

1Then on October 17 of that same year, the Lord sent another message through the prophet Haggai. ² “Say this to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of God’s people there in the land: ³ ‘Does anyone remember this house—this Temple—in its former splendor? How, in comparison, does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all! ⁴ But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ⁵ My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’