Given the choice between a miracle and obedience, would we choose obedience? Remember, a “wicked generation; it looks for a sign” (Luke 11:29 NET). Miracles are the supernatural setting aside of the natural, while obedience is simply doing as we were told. If humanity’s original relationship with Yahweh was a communion between creature and Creator, then obedience is God’s expected normal for humanity. Despite humanity’s dismal record of disobedience, the “gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38 KJV) was intended to further establish loving obedience as our proper relationship to God. After all, humanity was never created to live apart from God, but to walk with Him. “And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27). “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth” (Psalm 8:9). May we seek Thee in loving obedience as our highest good, and may our desire for Thee be greater than miracles. Do return quickly, and accomplish all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.
Promises
We Be Brethren
Ever been around someone hard to get along with? No matter what you do or say, they are contrary? Or, they continually must show you what they know? They are right, and you must be mistaken? Welcome to life! This could happen in extended family circles, church family circles, work, society in general, national, and international. “And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren” (Genesis 13:8 KJV). Jesus blessed the peacemakers. Is everyone going to heaven as brothers? No, but in a larger sense, every man is a brother. Every woman is a sister. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (1John 4:7). John continues the power and simplicity of the thought. If you cannot love someone who is present that you can see, then how could you love God whom you cannot see? “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (4:20). Check your religion with the reality of the Holy Spirit’s testimony. Father, remove the blinders from our interpretation of Your Word. Help us to practically grasp the obvious, yet not become universalists. Draw Your Church together. Cast the wicked one out of family circles. Bind up the wounds of our nation. May Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus’ name, we petition it in the Courts of Heaven. Amen and amen.
Secret of Our Obedience
The Spirit of God is the secret of our obedience. “And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27 KJV). In the action movie, “Shoot to Kill” (1988), Sidney Poitier portrays an FBI agent aided by an outdoorsman, Tom Berenger, who both pursue a murderous, diamond thief in the Pacific Northwest. At one point, Berenger (up above) has instructed Poitier stuck (down below) to fasten himself to a rope to assist him climbing up a crevice. Poitier fastens the rope around his waist and holds open his hands, informing Berenger, “Ready!” Berenger, in anger and frustration shouts, “You’ve got to climb, too! I’m not going to do all the work!” Crudely, this illustrates the importance of the Holy Spirit’s assistance and empowerment, while emphasizing our need of cooperation. He is working obedience in us. We understand our necessity to obey, but concede our pathetic tendency not to conform. To be sure, God has given us the capacity for obedience, but we are prone not to comply. The reception of God’s Spirit (Acts 2:38) causes us to keep His commandments, while not forcing us. God remains sovereign, yet we still possess free will. Priceless! Or, as Jesus put it, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17).
Demonic Horsemen Kill 1/3 of Humanity (Revelation 9:13-21)
Every third person in the world will be burned alive in the Fifth Trumpet Judgment. “By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths” (Revelation 9:18 KJV). The “brimstone” is the fuel, the “fire” is the combustion process, and the “smoke” is the exhaust; but, wicked men are the targets of the flame. The LORD is the Righteous Judge. Satan is the villain. The enemy executes a burning, which makes insignificant the six million murdered in the Holocaust. Yet, the survivors “repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk” (9:20). Insanity! O the depths of the depravity of the human heart! Will any finally repent to enter physically into the Millennial Reign of Christ? Yes. Will Israel finally be saved? Yes. “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:8). Everything that happens during this seven year Tribulation Week, must happen, for they “are determined upon thy [Daniel’s] people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy” (Daniel 9:24). LORD, You alone have clean hands. You have pleaded by the prophets with Your prophecies, and the unrighteous would not repent. Why do they cling to the one murdering them? Insane! Continue Your righteous and mysterious work of judgment. Secure for Yourself a people. Reclaim Israel. In Jesus’ reconciling name, we pray. Amen.
Christ Has Made Us Free
What is freedom? Of course, we want freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of petition, freedom from poverty, freedom of education, freedom from discrimination; but, what a human government gives, it can also take away. Christ clearly defined what freedom is. “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32 KJV). The Jews objected to His reasoning. “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?” (8:33). True freedom is freedom from the bondage of sin — not just the eternal death penalty of sin, but the necessity to have to commit sin. And, sin prevents us from dwelling in God’s house forever. “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (8:34-36). Evidently, we need to continually renew our credentials of freedom by constant reliance on Christ for everything! “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). LORD, may Your Spirit direct us in the way of liberty and freedom. Teach us to discern between the freedom human governments give that may be taken away, and the true freedom that endures as long as You endure. Thank you from liberating us from the necessity to sin! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Great Mountain Burning (Revelation 8:8)
The Second Trumpet Judgment is “as it were a great mountain burning with fire [that] was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood” (Revelation 8:8 KJV). The most likely explanation is a Yucatán type meteor impact on the ocean, or possibly a Krakatoa type eruption of a volcanic mountain ejecting immense debris into the sea. The immediate result is a third of the sea becoming blood, which indicates an impact area the size of a mountain killing and poisoning the “third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (8:9). The scale of death of sea life and destruction of shipping is consistent with impact in an area of major shipping lanes and not in a region of the ocean deserts. Rogue waves or tsunamis are hard to model and predict, except for the Perfect Mind of God. It truly is a “fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Limiting the devastation to a third gives opportunity for reflection and repentance. “When He slew them, then they sought Him: and they returned and enquired early after God” (Psalm 78:34). Devastation has worked before for some. LORD, we know You as a Good God, but we know You can be righteously aroused to be an Angry God. In wrath, remember mercy. Grant some repentance in that Day of Trouble. We claim as intercessors, such a benefit in Your Courts of Heaven. Grant us now peace before the storm. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
We Shall Do Valiantly
“Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Psalm 60:12; 108:13 KJV). Did David speak this way from victory, because arguably he had just seen defeat? “Wilt not Thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and Thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man” (60:10-11). David was affirming confidence that “we shall do valiantly” (60:12) the next time. Should this not be our place before God? Regardless of our past failures, we need to confess our faults, then valiantly go forward. LORD, in the name of Jesus, we claim this ground on which we stand, as Your ground. We claim ourselves as Your Church. And, we claim by Your grace and power that the gates of hell will not prevail against us. Amen and amen.
Are You Fighting A No Win War?
We cannot be fighting a no win war, if ultimately the devil will be “cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:10 KJV), and even “death and hell” (20:14) will meet the same fate. Yes, we are at war, since the enemy of my Friend is my enemy. Satan is the enemy of God, so we are at war, because Yahweh is our Friend. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1Peter 5:8). Daily victory for our LORD’s side is confidence or faith in God’s character. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1John 5:4). We need the mindset of Spiritual Warfare against our adversary the devil. “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1Peter 5:9). LORD, grant us victory day by day until all Your prophecies are fulfilled and You return. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Silence in Heaven (Revelation 8:1)
Heaven must normally be alive with sound and worship, but when the Lamb “opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” (Revelation 8:1 KJV). Everyone’s rapt attention will be centered upon the sounding of the ensuing Seven Trumpet Judgments, which will be punctuated by the Seven Vial or Bowl Judgments at the end of the Tribulation Week. The judgments of the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:27) are a progression of Seven Seal Judgments opening, where the Seventh Seal Judgment opens to reveal Seven Trumpet Judgments, where the Seventh Trumpet Judgment sounds to open the Seven Vial or Bowl Judgments. You are blessed, if you can discern this pattern of God unfolding His judgments upon the earth, which is better than a poor dog running around in fear and confusion, when the fireworks go off on the Fourth of July. If all of the attention of Heaven is upon this, then their holy anticipation is worthy of our prayer, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). Amen and amen.
Harming the Innocents
Since humanity’s original transgression in the Garden, a cascading effect of consequences has unavoidably been unleashed upon the children of our founding parents. Jesus said, “It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!” (Luke 17:1 KJV). Children are those innocents, which Christ warned, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Children won’t believe in Jesus unless taught by their parents. Children of the righteous are especially targets of opportunity and persons of interest to the enemy, for they are the future of either the kingdom of God or the wicked one. Guarding and training our children with God’s promises helps to prepare them for their future. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). LORD, be merciful to Your children by giving to them wise parents and overcoming circumstances to populate Your kingdom. Return quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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