To subdue our iniquities before entering Heaven is a metaphysical feat worthy of God Only Wise. “He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19 KJV). Subduing means conquering or overpowering but not removing the capacity or ability to produce the iniquity. In other words, God does not remove our moral ability to choose or reject iniquity; rather, He divinely manages or shepherds us so as to cause us to reject iniquity. Why would the Almighty bother with such a delicate distinction, if He could overpower all of His creation and force His will upon all? Because He created us in His image, so He could commune with us. LORD, may we treasure You, as much as You treasure us. May we give our utmost to You in response to the utmost You have given to us. And, may we hate and reject iniquity as much as You do. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Supernatural Warfare
Woman Clothed With the Sun (Revelation 12:1)
The nation of Israel is portrayed as the “woman clothed with the sun” (Revelation 12:1 KJV), which is the first of seven main characters of this parenthetical section of the Book of Revelation 12-14. Like identifying constellation pictures in the night sky, we won’t be able to understand God’s narrative of future history, which is prophecy, unless we can appreciate the plot’s characters in this meant-to-be-understood story. The “woman clothed with the sun” (12:1) alludes to Joseph’s dream: “Behold, the sun [Jacob] and the moon [Rachel] and the eleven stars [heads of the tribes of Israel] made obeisance to me” (Genesis 37:9). Israel is there depicted. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (12:1). The second two main characters now appear, Christ, who is the “child” (12:2) to be delivered; and a “great red dragon” (12:3), our adversary. “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads” (12:2-3). LORD, may we be among those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Help us to understand the story of the Book of Revelation. May it not be as words wasted upon us. Help us to intelligibly pray for the fulfillment of prophecy that we may be co-workers with You, if we could aspire to such a position. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Would We Rather Have Miracles Than Obedience?
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.
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.
Measure the Temple of God (Revelation 11:1)
John the Beloved may return to administrate the Seven Thunders (Revelation 10:3-4). What? That’s crazy. No more than you judging angels (1Corinthians 6:3). The Almighty directed John: “Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not” (Revelation 10:4). Then, he directed John to eat the “little book” (10:10), which was sweet in the mouth and bitter in the stomach. John was next given a cryptic promise, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (10:11). Thereafter, he was directed, “Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein” (11:1). What the Almighty measured, did He not exercise dominion over (Isaiah 40:12)? Temple worshippers during this time worship Antichrist. Whatever surprise the LORD delivers with the Seven Thunders, it may become significant for John, just as Malachi projected for Elijah. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD” (Malachi 4:5). Who would ever see this coming? LORD, fulfill Your prophecies that You may be justified, whatever we may predict. Return quickly, Lord Jesus. 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).
Practice the Presence of God
When sin is cast out of our lives, it must be replaced with the holiness of God, which is another way of saying, ‘We must practice the presence of God.’ “Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11 KJV). Nature abhors a vacuum, and so our heart finds necessary the presence of God. Humanity was never created to exist apart from God. Our greatest liberty is to dwell with God. In past, this has often been called simply the ‘Providence of God’ or ‘walking in the Spirit’ (Romans 8:1; Galatians 5:16), but is now referred to as “keeping in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 NIV). Elementary Christianity deals with the first “principles of the doctrine of Christ” (Hebrews 6:1 KJV) of repenting of the “dead works” (6:1) of self-trust, returning to confidence or “faith toward God” (6:1), “baptisms” (6:2) to confess our repentance and to oath our loyalty to Christ, “laying on of hands” (6:2) to give and affirm the presence of the Holy Spirit and His gifts, teaching our hope of the “resurrection of the dead” (6:2), and certainty of “eternal judgment” (6:2) of reward for the righteous and punishment for the damned. But, we are commanded, “Let us go on unto perfection” (6:1). And, who is the Perfect One, but God? We are commanded to go on unto the maturity of practicing the presence of God, and “this will we do, if God permit” (6:3). Father, let us elevate our thinking in returning to practicing the presence of God. In Jesus’ name, we pray, return quickly, amen.
Absolute Joy Only From God’s Presence
The world declares their joy of sex, money, and their enjoyment of inflicting pain upon their enemies; but, only the godly have access to absolute joy. “Thou wilt shew [shōw] me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy [Hebrew, simchâh, joy, gladness, mirth, pleasure]; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11 KJV). Our Creator has so constituted us to experience joy in His presence. Have you noticed? Should we not be expecting it? Shouldn’t we be grateful? Joy is the presence of God. Think on these things. “For Thou hast made him most blessed for ever: Thou hast made him exceeding glad [Hebrew, simchâh, joy, gladness, mirth, pleasure] with Thy countenance” (21:6). Just as modern science declares stress adversely affects our physical body, joy strengthens us. “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy [Hebrew, chedvâh, joy, gladness] of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). LORD, may we measure our joy by Your presence. And, may we cultivate Your presence as our most treasured Guest. We look forward to Your soon return and presence. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Day Shone Not for a Third Part (Revelation 8:12)
God’s judgments are apocalyptic and miraculous. Best to ignore them and hope they cannot be as strange and incomprehensible as they sound. God forbid! We rob God of His glory in judgment, when we force His actions to conform to the smallness of our understanding. God smites the sun, moon, and stars, so there is a third less daylight and moonlight, in the Fourth Trumpet Judgment. “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise” (Revelation 8:12 KJV). God miraculously intervenes in the space time continuum, to the chagrin of the enemy.
First, Joshua’s Long Day (Joshua 10:12-14) demonstrated the ability of an omnipotent God to listen to the prayer of a finite Joshua and cause the sun and moon to stand still for about a day to aid Israel in overcoming the Amorites. “And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day” (Joshua 10:13). Only God could supernaturally pause the motion of heavenly bodies for about a day. Who has heard of such a thing?
Second, Jesus’ Mountain Cast Into the Sea (Mark 11:23), as if recalling Joshua’s prayer and predicting our intercession for the fulfillment of the Fourth Trumpet Judgment, Jesus encouraged us to pray for great and mighty things which we know not. “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). Amen. Lord, cause the sunlight and moonlight to be shortened by a third during this Fourth Trumpet Judgment.
Third, Hezekiah’s Sun Dial (2Kings 20:8-11; Isaiah 38:7-8), where a sign was given to Hezekiah that he would be healed, by the LORD causing the movement of the sun upon the sun dial to go backwards ten degrees. “And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz” (2Kings 20:11). This would be as if to reverse the rotation of the earth for a few hours. Not just miraculous, but only possible by an omnipotent, omniscient God.
Fourth, Visit of the Babylonians to Check on Hezekiah (2Kings 20:12-13), to pay their respects to Hezekiah for his recovery from sickness, but also to find out, ‘Did you notice that strange event, where the sun dial seemed to go backwards — about the time you were healed?’ “At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick” (2Kings 20:12). If Hezekiah’s Sun Dial was only God playing tricks with the sunlight on Hezekiah’s sun dial, why did the Babylonian astrologers notice the same thing on their sun dial, unless God performed this miracle on the entire world, because of Hezekiah?
All of this discussion is about God’s ability and willingness to alter the natural progression of time, which will play out in the Fourth Trumpet Judgment toward the latter part of the second half of the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-26).
In my opinion, the Fourth Trumpet Judgment (Revelation 8:12-13) points to a speeding up of the rotation of the planet earth by 50%, where a new Apocalyptic Day would be 16 hours — 1/3 less than the present 24 hour day. This would be 1/3 less light from the sun, shrinking from 12 hours of normal daylight to 8 hours, and 1/3 less light from the moon and stars, shrinking from 12 hours of normal nighttime to 8 hours, for a total of 16 hours for a new Apocalyptic Day.
If the circumference of the earth is approximately 24,901 miles, to complete a single rotation in 24 hours, the earth must be rotating on its axis at about 1,038 miles per hour. That is now a Normal Solar Day. After the Fourth Trumpet Judgment, for the earth to complete a single rotation in 16 hours, the earth will be rotating on its axis at 1,556 miles per hour, a 50% increase in speed, for a new Apocalyptic Day.
Father, this seems like a lot of information and speculation about prophecy, but You are the One who commended the Bereans, because “they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). LORD, I’ve always wanted to pray for a mountain to be cast into the sea. Now, I intercede for that to be so with the Second Trumpet Judgment (Revelation 8:8) and ask for the fulfillment of this Fourth Trumpet Judgment (8:12), where it looks like You may speed up the rotation of the earth. May Your will be done, and may the good be accomplished in the judgment of the earth, the repentance of sinners, and especially the reclamation of Your people Israel. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Blessings and Curses
We like the idea of being blessed, but we are repelled by the concept of being cursed. Esau’s insistence on receiving the family blessing from Isaac was maddening elusive to him though he sought the blessing “carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:17 KJV). What’s so special about blessings and curses, since we bless our food every day before we eat? “I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed” (Numbers 22:6 NET). Do we possess such power with God? The weight of our pronouncements before God may wither in light of our confidence of receiving our own daily blessings, but shouldn’t we aspire great things before Yahweh? LORD, may we be emboldened to bless those who love You and cause curses to come down upon those who oppose You that there may be diamonds in the rough like Saul of Tarsus enlisted in Your cause. Amen.
We Need A Miracle 
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