We are always a prayer away from help. God’s “throne of grace” is ever open to us in our “time of need” (Hebrews 4:16 KJV). Thrice, God rapidly responds, “I will help thee” (Isaiah 45:10, 13, 14). When our crisis is deepest, His help is closest. He knows we are then most open to a dramatic application of change in our teachable moment. Trust, try, and “prove Me now” (Malachi 3:10) is our Lord’s call to action. What thing in the back of our mind has the Spirit of God been whispering, “Change”? You, fill in the blank. “Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke [of man’s traditions], the putting forth of the finger [in scornfully pointing out those who do not comply with those traditions], and speaking vanity [using those false traditions]” (Isaiah 58:9). When the Spirit of God has sufficiently arrested our attention about whatever change He wants, He then challenges us, “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). The surest path is “straight forward” (Ezekiel 1:9, 12), and we know the outcome will bring us safely Home. LORD, You are our help. Come to our aid. Supply what we have not. Open our eyes to receive the understanding we need. Thank You, and may Your name be praised evermore. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen and amen.
Supernatural Warfare
Be Watchful and Strengthen (Revelation 3:1)
If the Church of Sardis could be compared to the stage of Church History known as the 16th century Protestant Reformation, which ended the Middle Ages, then Christ reproves even those Reformers. “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God” (Revelation 3:1-2 KJV). Sardis must repent of dead orthodoxy to be truly alive. “O LORD, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2 KJV). Amen.
Tribulation Ten Days (Revelation 2:8)
If the Church of Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) was also representative of early Church History immediately after the Apostolic age, then suffering purified Christ’s Church. “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10 KJV). Possibly the Lord giving a specific number of days for Smyrna’s suffering indicates a limit to their suffering, which would give hope. And, just as our Lord “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8), Smyrna was accounted worthy to also suffer shame for His name. LORD, make us to be worthy as Smyrna, and to fear You more than the limited suffering that purifies us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Key to the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:19)
In plain language, Jesus effectively outlined the threefold division of the Book of Revelation. “Write the things which thou hast seen [chapter 1], and the things which are [chapters 2 and 3], and the things which shall be hereafter [chapters 4 through 22]” (Revelation 1:19 KJV). In other words, we can see the entire Book of Revelation as: Jesus Christ the coming glorious king (1:1-20), messages to the seven churches (2:1-3:22), and the bulk of the book to the consummation (4:1-22:21). Prophecy is actually given, as much as it is, figuratively so we can grasp the Spirit’s message all the better. As we would with anyone’s words, take the Book of Revelation as literal as you can, until you can’t. LORD, help us not to attempt to understand Your Revelation of Jesus Christ without the teaching of Your Spirit, so You would get all the credit, when we understand it. In Jesus’ name, we pray it. Amen.
Israel: Pariah of the World
Following the Holocaust of WW2, sympathy for the downtrodden Jew was most prevalent. The modern Jewish state of Israel has repeatedly fought and won wars with neighboring Arab nations since its 1948 reincarnation. With the most recent invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, it was unreasonable for Hamas to defeat and occupy Israel, but Hamas could fight a limited war, sacrificing the lives of an estimated 36,000 Gazan fighters and residents, in exchange for a growing sympathy from the world for the plight of Gaza and an increased hostility toward Israel. Now, Israel is the pariah or outcast for its war in Gaza. Anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment is now acceptable among the liberal establishment that once championed the right of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or age. What has changed? The secular world is governed by satan, “the god of this world” (2Corinthians 4:4 KJV), who hates Israel because Israel is loved by the LORD, who says, “My kindness shall not depart from thee” (Isaiah 54:10). It may take a bizarre, otherworldly change of events for Israel to have friendly relations again with its near neighbors, much less to fulfill the End Times predictions of the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27). But, the Almighty is positioning all things for this certain confrontation. LORD, You are the God who overrules the wicked one. Cause Your Church to be taught about what will come to pass. Help us to understand the capabilities of Your enemy. Cause us not to be blindsided by our foes from the Unseen Realm. Grant to Your Church the ability and the understanding to appreciate what You are about to do. Even so, return quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen and amen.
Revelation of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1)
If God were to reveal what He is doing and what must shortly come to pass, would you believe Him? “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John” (Revelation 1:1 KJV). How could such a battlefield plan be revealed to us, without it being available to the eyes of the enemy, who could then effectively use counterintelligence against the Almighty? Simple. God’s plan is encrypted. It requires the Holy Spirit to decode, understand, and put into action the plan revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ. All attempts to understand the Revelation of Jesus Christ by foe or friend will come to nought without the Holy Spirit. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come” (John 16:13). LORD, may all Your friends seek Your Spirit to comprehend Your Revelation of Jesus Christ that You might be magnified. Return quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Center of the Will of God
Standing in the center of the will of God is not an illusion. Epaphras prayed for the Colossians, “That ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12 KJV). “Perfect and complete in all the will of God” (4:12) is not man’s standards, for humanity will always be “accusing or else excusing one another” (Romans 2:15). God alone can declare us “perfect and complete” (Colossians 4:12) in the center of the will of God. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Only the Spirit of the Living God can cause us to be in the center of the will of God. “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). Obedience is not simply deciding to do right, and doing it. Obedience is understanding and purposing to do right, then seeking and trusting the Spirit of God in making us do right, as we actually obey. Meditate on it. LORD, we can of our own self do nothing; and, through Your Spirit, we can do all things. Make us to know and trust You for everything. May You be magnified in all things. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
We Practice What We Believe
In other words, we all demonstrate what we actually believe by the way we act. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew [shō] me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew [shō] thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18 KJV). There is no mystery about our beliefs, just look at how we act. If you wonder why you don’t have certain results from your beliefs, then you are confused about how you believe. Faith is not simply willing yourself to trust God, but “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Faith is not ‘pulling yourself up by your bootstraps’; but, faith is the “gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). And, no, God does not do our believing for us, but He makes our believing “effectual [Greek, energeia, Thayer, in the NT used only of superhuman power, whether of God or the devil]” (3:7), that is, He makes our faith valuable by empowering it. And, you can tell when He is cooperatively empowering us, when the results align with what He reveals in His Word. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). LORD, empower our believing. Make our simple act of intellectual faith powerful and spiritual. Cause us to evaluate our faith by what You represent in Your Word. Cause us to actively hunger for our faith to look like what we read in Your Word. Make it so that what we believe causes us to act like what we know from Your Word. Grant to us the essential working of Your Spirit that You may conform us to Your Word — not just in letter — but in Spirit and in power. Do all of this, in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen.
How to Get the World’s Attention
“Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek Thy name, O LORD” (Psalm 83:16 KJV). How does God accomplish His will in the world? What does filling their “faces with shame” (83:16) mean? In context, the Psalmist referred to “Thine enemies” (83:2), the ones, who said about Israel, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (83:4). For us, shame means a loss of control in protecting our dignity, which is a loss of whatever we confide in to support us, e.g., our world view. This may represent a rearrangement of our circumstances (religious, cultural, political, economic). “Seek Thy name” (83:16) refers to “seek, and ye shall find” (Matthew 7:7). For whom we pray, all may not be subsequently converted; but unquestionably, this must be how some will be converted. The question is not whether Almighty God is capable of answering such a prayer, but whether we have the confidence to pray it. LORD, You deserve the world to seek Your name. We know that there is salvation in no other name than Jesus. Cause Your net to draw in a great harvest for Your kingdom, especially of those, whose purpose is that “Israel may be no more” (Psalm 83:4). Return quickly. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Wrong Side of God
“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3 KJV). An inexplicable truth of history is the relationship of God to Israel. At first glance, Israel is only one of 193 countries of the United Nations; however, it is distinguished as a people scattered by God among all nations in the second century after Christ (Deuteronomy 28:64), only to be reconstituted on May 14, 1948. In actuality, human political mandates accomplished “to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28). Though modern, secular Israel and Zionism are not the OT Israel of King David, Jehovah’s blessing and cursing are still upon those who stand with or against Israel’s right to exist. With American college campus protests against Israel in support of Hamas’ slogan, “From the river to the sea,” Israel is erased from nationhood, which God will not allow. When the Biden administration halted a US heavy munitions shipment to Israel, it impedes a final IDF push to eliminate Hamas (Hebrew, chamas, violence, cruelty) in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza. America is in the dangerous position of being on the wrong side of God. The question is not simply, ‘Will Russia and China view this as weakness for the US lack of support of another ally?’; but, ‘Will God Almighty reciprocate and remove the US from End Times contention as a nation?’ After all, He removed Israel as a nation, in judgment for their treatment of the Messiah. Beware of national policy based solely upon political expediency! LORD, be merciful upon America. Open the eyes of our leaders that You may continue to shed Your grace upon us. Confusion upon Your enemies, and may we be written down as Your friends. Grant Your peace to Jerusalem, and may Your peace also be felt by all our brothers and sisters in Christ in that troubled region. Lord Jesus, return quickly. Amen and amen.
We Need A Miracle 
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