“Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people” (Jeremiah 7:23 KJV). Sure, we must first choose God to obey Him, but by our outward obedience, God understands, if “there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2Corinthians 8:12). Likewise, holiness is separating ourself to Him, and worship is our acknowledgment of who He is to us. “Be ye holy” (Leviticus 20:7; 1Peter 1:15, 16) is a command to be obeyed; and, “worship God” (Revelation 19:10; 22:9) is likewise a command to be obeyed. Obedience is the essential act of exercising our Moral Agency of doing what God created us to do — obeying Him. Lest we think obedience is the grudging relationship of tyrant to slave; this is altogether contrary to what God originally envisioned. “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33). God is not our overbearing Master, but our protective Husband. “And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call Me Ishi [my husband]; and shalt call Me no more Baali [my lord]” (Hosea 2:16). Yahweh has always had much higher and deeper intentions for us from the beginning. LORD, bring about Your designs for us. Glorify Your name. And, do return quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Promises
Come Out of Her (Revelation 18:4)
Babylon the Great’s upcoming judgment is certain, but God’s deliverance of His people is just as certain. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15 KJV). Even those who will come to faith in the midst of BABYLON THE GREAT, Jehovah delivers, as witnessed by His audible warning to them, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4). God delivered or will deliver: (1) Noah and family from the judgment of the Flood (Genesis 6), (2) Lot from the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), (3) the OT Jewish captives in Babylon, by warning them to flee Babylon’s coming judgment, i.e., “My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD” (Jeremiah 51:45), (4) all the Christians residing in Jerusalem, who escaped the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem by Vespasian’s Tenth Roman Legion, i.e., “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto” (Luke 21:20-21).
And, (5) all future faithful watchers, i.e., “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). “There is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (Daniel 3:29), and He will deliver now and forever. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1Corinthians 10:13).
Father, Your deliverance of Your people from Your judgments upon this world is a trademark of Your continual faithfulness to those who are faithful to You. Magnify Yourself in the upcoming Rapture of Your Church. May these words be a small testimony to Your enduring faithfulness. Lord Jesus, return quickly. In Your name, we pray. Amen and amen.
The Godly Will Be Victorious
“I will bring down all the power of the wicked; the godly will be victorious” (Psalms 75:10 NET). How do you want to internalize this promise of God? For what is the Spirit of God leading you to pray? Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29 KJV). You’ll notice, Jesus had just asked the blind man, “Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord” (9:28). And, once He healed the blind man, He warned him, “See that no man know it” (9:30). Why? He didn’t need the publicity, which would only hinder His free movement (Mark 1:45). Back to the “power of the wicked” one (Psalm 75:10). Jehovah will absolutely remove all power from the Wicked One. The Antichrist, the False Prophet, the Devil, and “whosoever was not found written in the book of life [were] cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15), where all their power is brought to nothing. If you can claim this promise in faith for your peculiar situation, do so! It’s not even necessary to publicize your prayer request. “The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed” (Acts 14:9). You, give God the praise!
Seven Heads Are Seven Mountains (Revelation 17:9)
Revelation is an understandable story, where the angel explains the vision of the woman sitting upon the beast (Revelation 17:7 KJV). The following only highlights aspects of the description of the Whore, who represents the False Prophet, and the Beast, who represents the Antichrist. “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth” (17:9). The mountains represent kingdoms, i.e., like the “great mountain” (Daniel 2:35) of Daniel’s vision. “And there are seven kings: five are fallen [Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece] and one is [the Rome of John’s day], and the other is not yet come [Revived Roman Empire]; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space” (Revelation 17:10). “And the beast [Antichrist] that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (17:11). The Antichrist political system existed at one time, disappeared, and reemerged. “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings [Ten regions of the world, not just the European Union], which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive no power as kings one hour [possibly only 15 days] with the beast [Antichrist]” (17:12). “These shall make war with the Lamb [Battle of Armageddon at the end of the Seventieth Week of Daniel], and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (17:14). “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire [the religious system of the Great Whore will be destroyed by the Antichrist, who got tired of taking directions from the Great Whore]” (17:16). The chapter ends identifying the whore with Rome. “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (17:18).
Robbing God
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8 KJV). But, you say, “We’re not under OT Mosaic law, requiring the paying of tithes (Leviticus 27:30).” And, you’d be correct. But, the concept of tithing was long before the OT Mosaic law, going back to Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20), and Jacob vowing to pay a tenth or tithe of all that God gave him (Genesis 28:22), because tithing represents, God takes care of my business, while I take care of His business. Tithing is not even mentioned in the NT, but the concept remains. I take care of God’s business, while He takes care of my business. On the other hand, offerings are different from the tithing a tenth of one’s income to those who labor for the benefit of God’s Church.
In particular, the First Fruits Offering (Leviticus 23:10) was a dedication of a portion of the beginning of the farmer’s harvest or income flow, and not the net result of income or harvest after all expenses had been paid, requiring an act of faith for the farmer to pay the First Fruits Offering. “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10 KJV).
LORD, teach Your NT Church the power of blessing You’ve promised to unleash upon Your Church, when we grasp how magnanimous a God You are when we give our tithes and offerings to support Your Church and advance Your kingdom on earth. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10). In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Preparing for His Appearing: Ministering to the Least
Our treatment of the least of Christ’s family of humanity gauges our treatment of Christ Himself. Though all of the human family will not finally be found in the Kingdom of Heaven, still all people are considered objects of His compassion (John 3:16). Better yet, it measures our concern beyond ourself. The Final Judgment of Christ separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). The Grand Truth of God’s Final Judgment is our treatment of humanity — not just our treatment of the Church — is our treatment of the LORD. The LORD is our first and highest love (Matthew 22:37); but, when did the LORD exclude all of Lost Humanity, even those who finally reject the Lord Jesus Christ, from being our neighbor? “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39 KJV). Again, notice our treatment of our neighbor is to be equal to our treatment of ourselves. By the way, this is not to say we do not have a special obligation to the faithful. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). But, God’s Final Judgment will reveal the Church understood the Grand Truth and the World did not. The Church ministered to the World, as unto the Lord; while the World did not minister unto the “least of these” (Matthew 25:45), as unto the Lord.
The Final Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46)
“31 When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: 32 And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink? 38 When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? 39 Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. 41 Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: 43 I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not. 44 Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? 45 Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:31-46 KJV).
LORD, may Your Spirit direct our actions in these Last Days that we may not squander our activities on self seeking actions, but may our efforts be placed, where You see fit. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Preparing for His Appearing: Parable of the Talents
Stewardship of the goods entrusted to us by God is preparing for His appearing because it requires our trust in Him to comprehend, plan, execute, administrate, and maintain whatever undertaking God has delegated to us, until He returns. Immediately after His disclosure to His disciples about the nature of His Second Coming in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24), Jesus outlined thoroughly His expectations of how we are to prepare for His appearing in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) through our stewardship of His goods.
First, faithfulness to Him is the primary thing our Divine Master expects from us, unlike the world’s preconceived expectations of monetary gain. “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1Corinthians 4:2 KJV).
Second, He gives to each of us goods to steward “every man according to his several ability” (Matthew 25:15).
Third, He mandates our trading with His property, i.e., “he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same” (25:16) and “likewise he that had received two” (25:17).
Fourth, He considers it a Faithful Return On Investment (FROI) to receive back a doubling of His investment, e.g., five talents “made them other five talents” (25:16) and two talents “gained other two” (25:17).
Fifth, His commendation is the same, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (25:21, 23).
Sixth, He angrily regards us, if we wickedly have a low esteem of Him, feel Him to be unjust, unworthy of our labor, undeserving of our trust, and beneath our dignity to stoop. “24 Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26 Thou wicked and slothful servant” (25:24-25, 26).
Seventh, gaining from other’s labors is appropriate (25:26); a lawful gain for the use of money or simple bank interest is not unwarranted (25:27); and, the benefitting of the most resourceful from the loss of the least resourceful is also warranted (25:28). “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath” (25:29).
Father, may Your kingdom come and will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Grant Your servants understanding to transact Your business here below, until You take us Home to Heaven. In Jesus’ name, return quickly. Amen.
Preparing for His Appearing: Parable of the Ten Virgins
Ready to meet the Lord means more than having professed Him to be your Savior, but a continual practicing of the presence of God. “And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46 KJV). Christ gave a Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), where the wise ones had prepared enough oil for their lamps to be ready to meet the Bridegroom and enter in at the wedding, while the foolish ones failed to bring enough oil and could not attend the wedding. “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you” (1John 2:27) is the “oil” of the Holy Spirit. The Wise Virgins were the True Believers because they had the presence of the Holy Spirit (oil in their lamps), while the Foolish Virgins were the False Professors without the Holy Spirit (no oil in their lamps).
The difficulty goes back to the Church teaching the free gift of grace for salvation does not require an active but equal “faith which worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6) from us. To be clear, salvation without Christ is impossible. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). God has created us with the capacity to choose or reject Him; and, He has taken special measures to draw us to Himself. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). Our response, sadly, has been to put the blame for our lack of success and perseverance upon Him, by labeling all His Love as Unconditional.
In reality, Unconditional Love is given to all, even if it is rejected, as in, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Conditional Love, on the other hand, is only given to the obedient. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21). Conditional Love occurs only with the obedience that accompanies faith. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Failure to grow and persevere results from failure to teach the difference between Unconditional and Conditional Love.
The Foolish Virgins were counting upon Unconditional Love alone to get them in to the wedding, not realizing Unconditional Love was only enough to get an invitation. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). The Wise Virgins understood Conditional Love requires Faithful Obedience, which secures a seat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
Father, You are the All Wise God, who we love for sending us Your Son. Cause the confusion about Your love to vanish away as You enlighten about Conditional and Unconditional Love. May Your Church answer Your call to Come Up Hither at the Rapture because we kept oil in our lamps. Come quickly, in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Fulness of Time
A cup becomes full of water, and time flows like the Spirit. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4 KJV). Our 21st century mindset demands a digital time stamp. In our western mind, we become agitated, when we do not get what we want, when we want. Are we to conform to the Spirit, or are we expecting the Spirit to conform to us? Did we expect the Gift of the Spirit (Acts 6:38) to be another handy tool in our arsenal, or are we supposed to be made for our Master’s use? We will find peace, when we back down and are “led by the Spirit of God” (Romans 8:14 KJV). Then, we will quit trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. LORD, You are our Master. We are Your servant. Give us the humility and understanding to let You be God. Work through us that we may influence those around us. Make Your peace to be our peace. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.
Finish the Job!
“Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 KJV). God does not expect from us, what He does not expect from Himself — Finish the job! How can we expect to enter into Heaven, if we do not persevere to the end (Matthew 24:13; Romans 2:7; Revelation 3:11)? Do you say, it will happen anyway? But, if it took your cooperation and agreement for Him to begin the good work in you, why wouldn’t it take that cooperation to the end? It was never that we loved Him, but “He first loved us” (1John 4:19). Finishing the job and making it home to Heaven — sure, you must persevere — but, all the credit will be placed at the feet of our Lord, when we come into His heavenly presence. LORD, You were our help in ages past, and are our hope for years to come. Your Spirit working in us caused us to will and to do of Your good pleasure. Magnify Your name for every right hearted action of Your children. And, may every child of Yours justify the wisdom of Your decision to require us to persevere to the end, when we cross the Finish Line into Heaven. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
We Need A Miracle 
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