Monthly Archives: December 2018

Persevering

I’m with them!…The church in Philadelphia in the endtimes.

Revelations 3:

7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

This is the message from the one who is holy and true,
    the one who has the key of David.
What he opens, no one can close;
    and what he closes, no one can open:

8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. 9 Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.

10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

13 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

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For

God forgives our sin as far as the east is from the west and that is an unending trek. God forgives sin. When we acknowledge our own sin to Him we become better. His love for His followers today is as great and unfailing as it was for His people Israel.

Psalm 130:

From the depths of despair, O Lord,
    I call for your help.
2 Hear my cry, O Lord.
    Pay attention to my prayer.

3 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O Lord, could ever survive?
4 But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you.

5 I am counting on the Lord;
    yes, I am counting on him.
    I have put my hope in his word.
6 I long for the Lord
    more than sentries long for the dawn,
    yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord;
    for with the Lord there is unfailing love.
    His redemption overflows.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
    from every kind of sin.

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End Times Church

In Revelation 2, it tells about seven churches in the endtimes. These intrigue me. It describes the churches of today. I look at the culture or personality of the church I attend today and in past years. I look at their strengths and weaknesses and then compare them to the seven churches discussed. John the Apostle wrote the book of Revelation while he was in prison for preaching on the Island of Patmos. He wrote down these end time prophecies as Jesus spoke to him.

The first one is Ephesus. There is also the book of Ephesians in which Paul wrote a letter to this church at Ephesus. As I said earlier, It’s culture  still exists today so do the other six churches. Together we are the existence (or body) of Jesus on this earth to do His good works.

Revelation 2:

2 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:

2 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. 3 You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

4 “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. 6 But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do.

7 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.

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Always The Same

In my recent readings in the Bible I found three verses that repeat the truth, throughout eternity and outside of time, Jesus is.

Revelation 1:

4This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia.

Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne;

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Joel 1:

25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

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With Jesus

Jesus will return. I just started reading Revelation. In Revelation 1:3 it says those are blessed who read this.

So…be blessed with me. Respect Jesus as the King of kings because one day, everyone will humbly bow to Him and say, Yes, Jesus is the King of all kings. We do it now, as He is the ruler of our lives as Christians. Even our greatest enemy, the devil and his followers will humbly bow to confess the ultimate power of Jesus!

Revelation 1:

4 This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia.

Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. 6 He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

7 Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven.
    And everyone will see him—
    even those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the world
    will mourn for him.
Yes! Amen!

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

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Go To God

God would care for His people, Israel, then they would forget Him and choose to worship idols and to do wrong. God told them often to turn from wrong or they would need to be corrected from going down the wrong path. They wouldn’t listen very well to God’s warnings. God desired to heal their lives and show them His love that has no bounds.

But, Christians, like myself, can choose God. We can allow Him, like He so greatly desires, to let Him be our God, in this and every day, and we will be His people. We intentionally choose to obey God and say no to the pleasurable temptations of wrong that we face.

Hosea 14:

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
    for your sins have brought you down.
2 Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.
    Say to him,
“Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,
    so that we may offer you our praises.
3 Assyria cannot save us,
    nor can our warhorses.
Never again will we say to the idols we have made,
    ‘You are our gods.’
No, in you alone
    do the orphans find mercy.”

4 The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
    my love will know no bounds,
    for my anger will be gone forever.
5 I will be to Israel
    like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
    it will send roots deep into the soil
    like the cedars in Lebanon.
6 Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
    as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
7 My people will again live under my shade.
    They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines.
    They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.

8 “O Israel, stay away from idols!
    I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you.
I am like a tree that is always green;
    all your fruit comes from me.”

9 Let those who are wise understand these things.
    Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the Lord are true and right,
    and righteous people live by walking in them.
    But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.

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Better Days

Just recently I heard of a middle aged woman who was cutting down Christmas trees with her husband then suddenly he had chest pains. She rushed him to the ER but it didn’t help. He died in his mid-thirties. He was a good man and his two children are in the middle of growing up. They were a couple that worked well together. My heart goes out to this family. She is a cake decorator and they rented a farm. When I was reading in Psalm 126 this morning I thought of them and the tough life decisions, financial and otherwise, she must now make on her own. I truly pray she will see God helping her everyday. I know she’s cried from a broken and God is aware of every tear that each member of this family has cried. He knows their painful hurt and their needs.

Dear God, may this family lean on Your strength and see better days as they work through their grief.

 

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Commanded Love

God commands those who follow Him to love others. The Bible also says that God is love.

2 John 1:
5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

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Hosea’s Cheating Wife

 

The story of Hosea, a minor prophet of the Bible, is a bazaar story to me. Hosea followed God but God had an unusual plan for his life. Anyone that truly wants to obey God will seek out to do right. God straight out told Hosea to marry a practicing prostitute. Imagine today, if some young man, going to seminary and planning to be a preacher, was convinced that it was God’s will that he go out and marry a prostitute and have children with her while she continued her ungodly lifestyle. No one would believe or trust him! Yet that was what God had Hosea do! God wanted to use Hosea to stress to Isreal their actions were like that of Hosea’s wife, Gomer. Hosea obeyed God and had a family. God loved Isreal so much that He used His faithful servant to show His people that His love toward them is unfailing even though they deeply hurt him again and again as they choose to worship false gods and stay addicted to sin. God said to them again and again that He wanted to be their God and that they would be His people.

Today, in my life and in many of those around me, I want God to truly know, I want God to know that as Christians, Yes, He is our God and we are His people and we will work to bring others to Him!

Hosea 3:

3 Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.”

2 So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine.  3 Then I said to her, “You must live in my house for many days and stop your prostitution. During this time, you will not have sexual relations with anyone, not even with me.”

4 This shows that Israel will go a long time without a king or prince, and without sacrifices, sacred pillars, priests, or even idols! 5 But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the Lord their God and to David’s descendant, their king.   In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the Lord and of his goodness.

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Prophecy Realized

 

I find the words found in Daniel 12:1-4 intriguing. In my mind they don’t all flow together but interesting facts are told. I trust God’s perfect intention for this passage. Here’s what stands out to me as I read it:

1) Micheal, the archangel guards Israel.

2)Hard times will come but those who truly belong to God will be rescued.

3)Wise people who follow God will shine and bring many others to Him.

4)In the end times, travel will be great and so will knowledge.

So, I use God’s Word here, and turn it into a prayer!

Dear Heavenly Father, Use us! In these end times, where technology and knowledge has increased greatly, help us each day to greatly share Your Gospel. Use us to take it to our neighbors and to all people even in the most remote places. Soften their hearts even now and let them understand Your love and change them forever! Together with Jesus we cry out to You! Amen!

Daniel 12:

12 “At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. 2 Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. 3 Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. 4 But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”

 

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