“This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts. The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.” – Zephaniah 2:10-11
God is a defender, a strong tower, a protector, a teacher, and a redeemer. He is patient, not willing that any should pariah, giving space for repentance. Yet will the wicked eventually be punished. He will not be mocked, He can defend His own Name and bring His own fame.
Yet is He not only provoked to anger when the pride of mere men is hurled against Him. But also, and perhaps more so, when it is directed against His people. He does allow hardships to come to teach them, to drive them to repentance, or to position them for a miraculous deliverance. Yet even when they are in need of a humbling, once it has come will He still rise up to defend them. What He once allowed in order to correct them, He will step in and remove it. He is not cruel, everything that He does (or doesn’t do) has a purpose. He will defend His people, and His covenant promises.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” – Jeremiah 29:11-14
“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. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17
We can argue all the things that we want to believe, but in the end, it’s what Jesus said, that our life’s actions will be measured against.
“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.” – John 12:48-49
Jesus said many times that only those who do the will of God will make it to heaven.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” – Matthew 7:21
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” – Luke 6:46
You cannot serve two masters. Until you give up your own will, you cannot walk in His. Only those who lived His will, will get in to heaven in the end. This was Jesus final lesson and message; given through Gethsemane and the crucifixion. To trust (or put your “faith” in) God, no matter what He ask of us. To trust (have faith) in Him enough to put to death your own will so that Jesus’s can live and be fulfilled through your every action. Just as Jesus showed us when He laid down His will to live out the Father’s.
“I (Paul) am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
Jesus said that if we love Him, we will obey Him. Paul said that if we trust God, then it will not be grievous to us. This is where the problem is. We often trust ourselves more than Him, or else we love unrighteousness more than we love Him. Both are idolatry. Both are sin. Jesus came to show us that trusting and loving God will always bring the best outcome. Even if it brings tribulations that last a moment. The end will be eternal glory, and that’s more important. That’s what faith is.
“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” – Hebrews 3:19
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:9-10
“but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;” – Romans 2:8-9
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” – Romans 1:18-19
“and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
”Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.“ – Matthew 12:13
In the early verses of Matthew chapter 12, we see a contrast between the character of Jesus and of the Pharisees that were present. The Pharisees wanted to be seen and believed in by men, Jesus wanted men too see and believe in God through His actions.
Jesus heals a man and the others are envious and seek for a means to attack Him. They accuse him of healing on the Sabboth when doing good was never prohibited. They imposed their own opinions and conditions that were birthed from their own emotions and motives and not from the scriptures.
What did Jesus do about this? He kept demonstrating and teaching with meekness and patience. Then he withdrew Himself and did it unseen by the masses. The passage says that He did not fight or shout. He just left and went healing elsewhere, while telling people not to speak of it. Further proving His motive against that of the pharisees.
Do you desire to release a word of revelation from Heaven? Do you pray for a gift of healing? Do you long to cast out demons? That’s great, but check your motive today. Is it to help someone get saved? To help them to believe in God and follow Him? Or is it to make them believe in you and follow you? Be careful of selfish ambitions. Remember what Jesus did. He taught and healed with no recognition. He pointed men to God, He led them to heaven. The pharisees just wanted preeminence and attention, so the anointing was not with them, and it made them envious that it was, with Jesus. And that envy drove them to madness. So be cautious.
”For Pilate knew that for envy the pharisees had delivered Jesus unto him.“ – Matthew 27:18
Remember, it’s about saving the lost, not building your audience.
”Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; and charged them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, And he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive (fight), nor cry (shout); Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, And smoking flax shall he not quench, Till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles (the lost) trust.“ – Matthew 12:14-21
”For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:“ – 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8
Paul gives us some important insight into the workings of the spirit of antichrist. He tells us that there will eventually be a man manifested which will be the full embodiment of this spirit, but that until then it would work in part through those who welcomed it.
An easier way to understand this is to look at how the Holy Spirit worked in the earth through those who welcomed it, through priest and prophets for all those years until it was fully manifested in the man Jesus, the Christ!
“Christ” means “the chosen or the anointed one.” The antichrist is the one that is not chosen or anointed by God. He is self appointed and empowered by Satan through control, manipulation, divination, and witchcraft.
”O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you… ?“
Galatians 3:1
”And through his (the antichrist) policy also he shall cause (witch)craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace (manipulation and deception) shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes (the real anointing/chosen one); but he shall be broken without hand (will not reveal against the chosen one).“
Daniel 8:25
Our opening passage tells us that the spirit of antichrist was already in operation. Yet while the power of the Holy Spirit was thriving in abundance, the antichrist spirit was hiding. It was showing opposition to the will and word of God in secret cunning crafty flattery and manipulative deception.
Yet the Holy Spirit keeps it in check, not allowing its efforts to take full effect. Messing up it’s plans, time and time again. However, when the time comes to deal with it, to draw it out into the open, to expose and to dethrone it. There is a falling away, a disconnect, weakening, or removal of those who resisted it in past seasons. It thinks that it is finally succeeding. The Holy Spirit stops restraining it. He allows it to build it’s pride. To think that it is winning for a short time. To let it lead, even. To show those who were deceived by it what they are really dealing with, and to give space for repentance.
Yet in the end, it is Jesus Himself that will fight against this Spirit with the sword of His mouth. The real anointing, the real chosen one will always triumph. God will not be mocked. When the devil seems to be winning, really God is only using his pride against him, and setting him up. So take heart dear servants of the Lord, satan’s time is short.
”Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall.“
Proverbs 16:18
Jesus said that you will know the tree by the fruit. That means that there are seasons when you can’t tell one tree from an other, but with a little time and some fertilizer, all will be revealed and the bad trees will be cut down and cast into the fire. While the good ones are pruned and prepared for the harvest!
So keep your sweetness, bear good fruit (one of which is patience) trust God, and trust His process. He is not always fast, and it doesn’t always makes since or feel good in the moment, but it’s always for the best, and He is always victorious!
”Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits…“
Matthew 7:15-16
”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.“
Galatians 5:22-23
”And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND Lord OF LORDS.“
”Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.“ – 1 John 2:15-17
This world is not our home. The things of this world are but dust in the scope of eternity. Don’t waste time worrying about temporary things when we were created for a heavenly purpose and destination. If you “settle in the wilderness”, you will miss the promise land. It’s serious. Break the affection and attraction to anything temporary.
If the love of food keeps you from fasting, if the love of entertainment keeps you from praying, if the love of money keeps you too busy to do the work of the Kingdom, if the love of stuff keeps you to occupied to pursue the presence and will of God, then you are trading the eternal streets of gold for hay that will burn up. You are trading your potential inherence for soup, like Esau.
Lust is a desire that is very shortsighted. Faith looks to the destination. Wisdom says, “I will live for what’s coming and not for the moment”. Discipline does it!Love for God drives it! The grace of God empowers it! Nothing is impossible for God, or for those who believe in Him, because He will empower them! If you ask and then take action.
So petition the King today for the impossible things. Then walk in obedience knowing that He can do what He promises. No matter what!
Surrender your will and watch His be done, and you will see things that are far beyond your imagining. The above mentioned passages warns us not to love the things of this world. Not to be ruled by lust. That’s not just sexual, but anything that pulls at your affections, attention, appetite, desires, and wants. Then it warns that there is an “antichrist spirit” at work in the earth. Why?
Anti-Christ is the opposite of Christ. Christ taught us by His own demonstration that we are to give up our own will for God’s.
”saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.“
Luke 22:42
The “will” is, “what I want, what I think, and what I feel.” That is what has to be crucified in order for us to be revived into newness of life. We let ours died and receive the spirit of Jesus to empower us to walk in His will and see the miraculous fulfilled!
Scripture tells us that the antichrist and his followers will be “self willed.” Therefore, any doctrine that makes you feel comfortable being driven by what you want, what you think, and what you feel (your own will) is antichrist.
Jesus taught us to lay down our lives, to surrender to God, to seek a deeper and deeper dependency and relationship with Him. To be in covenant is to no longer be independent. To make no decisions in your own interest. To serve the good of the other. To be selfless. To have complete confidence that when you choose this kind of a relationship with Jesus, that it will always lead to what is best for you regardless of how it looks or feels in the moment. Because He loves you and knows what is truly good for you.
You serve Him with selfless abandon, and He will tend to you by way of the miraculous! Give up your will and watch what happens. God’s will is perfection. The enemy will fight it, but will never prevail against it. When God’s will is done on earth, you get a little glimpse of heaven.
”Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.“
Matthew 6:10
Trust God’s will and live in it every single moment. When you fail too, and you realize it, repent and get back in alignment as quick as you can. The longer you run in the other direction the farther you get from wisdom, protection, perfection, the goodness of God, the power, and the provision of heaven.
It’s not complicated, really. Stop running in the flesh, in your own strength, power, ability, and wisdom, in self-willedness, under the influence of the antichrist spirit. Pray, seeks, listen, believe, and be obedient. When the word of God comes, believe it, then the grace of God will come to empower it, then the work of God will be done and goodness will come from it. As well as eternal rewards in heaven. Anything else is unbelief and will lead to eternal damnation.
”Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.“
”Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.“ – Matthew 24:45-46
In Matthew 24, Jesus gives a parable of a servant (minister) who was given charge over his master’s (God) house (the church/people of God) while he was away. The servant stopped expecting the master to return and stopped serving and started expecting and demanding to be served.
He began to control and abuse the other servants. To use them and to live selfishly and excessively. He began to think himself the leader, rather than a fellow servant. The head and not a part of the body like all the others. He began to indulge and be harsh and brash and a bad steward of what really was not his to begin with. All because he stopped expected the sudden return of the lord and true master of the house. He began to act like the house was his, when it really wasn’t, yet he had forgotten that, because he thought the master was not soon coming.
This is why the modern church is so messed up. This is why it so often preaches a selfish message. This is why it is full of selfish, controlling, or complacent shepherds. Because at large, they have forgotten that the master is coming! That His returning will be sudden. That He is still watching and taking account of the actions of those that are in charge of His houses.
We don’t preach for money, for control, for attention, preeminence, or for praises. We preach because we want to see others saved! To relay His messages. To be a good servant to Him who has appointed us, because we love our master who has entrusted us with His words and commissions. Woe unto us, if we don’t do it.
I have preached my whole life with no financial compensation and very little thanks for it from men. My reward is to know that I have done the will of my Father which is in heaven. I say it, not as a boast or to complain, but as a demonstration that removed the excuses that the enemy may be planting in some. It can be done. Seek God, get a word, and release it however you can. In a pulpit, a street corner, to family or friends, on the internet. Preach to the trees if that is your only audience. God hears it and will pour increase upon your obedience.
Jesus said to Peter, “if you love me, feed my lambs.” In our opening passage He said to “give his people meat when they need it.” Paul said, that it was not an option, but “a necessity” for Him to keep preaching (feeding spiritually) the flocks of God. It’s a calling, it’s not a job.
If there is no money, no platform, no thanks, nothing but battles, labors, sacrifices, and opposition, will you keep preaching? If you have to live like the apostles and the greats of histories ministries will you endure it? My friend, we must. Because the master of the house will soon come and we will have to given an account, and He is the one who will pay us. For good or for bad we will be held accountable for whether or not we fed His lambs.
So seek the Lord early while He may be found. Speak, teach, preach, or write what he says down. He will provide what is needed to be able to release it. Even if you have to sit on a street corner to do it. Even if it’s only for one person. God will use you if you let him. So don’t get discouraged, lazy, complacent, entitled, self willed, or lethargic. Be a faithful and vigilant servant. Get a word from Heaven and deliver it. Rather that is to your church, you friends, your co workers, or just your own children. We all have some area of influence. Use it. Even if you get nothing for it. We are not working for men, we are working for the one who is soon coming. Be vigilant. Be a good steward. The master of the house is approaching.
”For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.“ –
”Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?“ – James 2:19-21
Well isn’t this an uncomfortable passage. Can we just ignore it so that we can keep our wrong doctrines and bad habits? Can we just pretend that this is not in the Bible? Can we overlook that this was preached by James, the son of Joseph and Mary, the physical brother of Jesus who spent his life listening to His sermons?
That it is gain to say that you are saved by faith when your works don’t reflect what you say? That Abraham (the father of our faith) was “justified by works”? How can this be? Is this a contradiction of other scriptures? No, not at all. It’s a completion of other scriptures. It’s “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) as we are commanded to do. It’s the “full council of God’s Word” (Acts 20:27) and not just part. It’s “the conclusion of the matter” (Ecclesiastics 12:13), the fruit that is produced by the root! (Mathew 7:16) The truth that real faith will produce, real works. There will be an evidence, or a byproduct of trusting (putting your faith in) God in your life that goes beyond words; or else it’s just vanity and outright lies. You deceive yourself when you think you can speak words that are not backed up with actions that are backed up with the power (grace) of heaven.
The truth is this, that it takes all of it, faith, grace, and works working together in the proper order, and the Bible is clear on that. It starts with a seed of faith, which then is rained upon by God’s grace, so that it can germinate into good works; or perhaps I should say “God works.”
”For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.“
Ephesians 2:8-10
You see the problem here is not works, works are important. It’s the order in which we put them and the source of them that can be the problem. We cannot work out way into salvation. The fruit cannot come before the seed is even planted or else it’s nothing but a weed. Faith comes by hearing the word of God and believing it. Then when we have believed what God has spoken, He sends His grace to empower it to walk in alignment with what He has asked and promised. He will fulfill His covenants but we have to trust Him enough to do the little things as He ask us too.
Covenant means “partnership.” We are in marriage covenant with Jesus. We are His bride, His “helpmate”. Created by God with a function and a purpose. To seek, submit, and partner with Jesus. To be His helper as He helps the Father. Does He need us? Did Adam “need” Eve? Not really? But God did not want the first Adam to have to work alone so He made him a wife. God did not want the second Adam (His son) to have to work alone either, so He made Him a wife. We have been offered this gift and the authority of our husband to back and empower it, if we except the proposal and take the position serious.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.“
Revelation 19:7-8
So according to the Bible, the wife “makes herself ready”? How can she do that? Why would it say that? Because the responsibility of receipt, belief, and action lies on you. Jesus paid the price to purchase us. He has proposed to us. He has given instruction in how to prepare for His returning. It’s up to us to receive this great gift from Him, to believe Him, and to live in preparation for it. Real faith will produce real action and there’s no getting around that. So let’s go back to our opening passage and read a little further for more context.
”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. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.“
”But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your servant; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.“ – Matthew 20:25-28
We understand that Jesus taught us to never desire to have preeminence over others. To not want to have authority over with surfs under, but rather to serve each other. Each part supplying what the other lacks so that the whole will work together to do the will of the Father. A family, a body, selflessness, humility.
Jesus plainly tells us that the greatest in the kingdom is the servant of them all, but what exactly does it mean to be the servant of them all? The one who serves all the other parts will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. So what are all the parts?
1 Corinthians, chapter 12 answers that. It list out all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the offices that will use them. We all have a calling that will fall into one of these offices, and gifts that are given by the Holy Spirit to help us to fulfill them.
”And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.“
1 Corinthians 12:28
Apostles plant churches, train up the pastors and leaders, and check in on them to make sure that they are staying in good standing.
Prophets pray, seeks, and speak on occasion when the Lord makes them, proclaiming the spiritual times and seasons, giving warning, correction, encouragement, and direction.
Teachers study and teach us the scripture making the text easy to understand and come alive to us in our everyday lives.
Miracle workers are those whose ministries are drenched in Miracles! Those prayer warriors that stir our faith and show us the impossible power and reach of our God and King. We run to them for prayer when we face difficulties. Knowing that miracles and victories happen around them continually.
Healers are those whose ministry is marked by an abundance of healings. They show God’s compassion, mercy, and care to the unbelieving. They build faith that draws the lost to put their trust in Jesus. They are typically a type of evangelist
Governments, or “administration” are those who help with the administrative works of running churches and ministers. The accountant, the secretary, the legal work, the inventory, the less seen but necessary things. Yes, that is a calling. To use you business and administrative skills for God’s Kingdom so that the ministers can keep to their ministering.
Diversities of tongues. Within the church, these are the prayer warriors that commune with the Lord in heavenly converse. Outside the church, these are the missionaries that God chooses to speak through to those of other tribes, tongues, and nations! God gifts them with diversities of prayer languages.
There is one office, or calling left. One that I failed to mention because it is the least desired and the most neglected. It is seen by men to be the “least of them”. That is the “Ministry of Helps”. The simplest way to describe this ministry, is that it’s someone who is called to help all the other offices. In other words, it is the “servant of them all.”
Could is be that this is what Jesus meant when He said that the pagans desire to be the one with the most perceived power, but not with us because the greatest in the Kingdom will actually be the ones previewed as the least among us, the “servant of them all”?
I believe so, because Jesus also told us that if we help a prophet we will receive a prophets reward. The prophet himself will only receive a prophets reward. Just as a pastor will receive a pastors reward and a teacher will receive a teachers reward. Yet the ministry of helps can help then all so that in heaven, they will receive the prophet, pastor, and teacher’s reward and all the other offices that they helped!
In this done seen that God has set it up that upon the seemingly less desirable part of the body, God has bestowed more honor. That’s the beautiful of our King, who works in mysteries, cherishes the unseen, and honors humility.
”and those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.“
1 Corinthians 12:23
”But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.“
Matthew 19:30
”And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.“
Mark 9:35
”But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.“
”And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinancefor ever.“ - Exodus 12:17
Passover starts tonight at 6pm. But what exactly is Passover? Should Christians observe it? And if so, how? This is a very easy to understand breakdown.
Passover is when death passed over Egypt and Moses and the Israelites applied the blood of the lamb to their door and each family shut themselves in their homes, had a meal and prayed, and the curse of death passed over them.
It is also when Jesus and His disciples had the last supper, and then He was killed as our Lamb so that judgment would Passover us.
The day that both those things happened is from 6pm tonight until 6pm tomorrow night.
If you want to observe it, you can get shut in with your family, pray and take communion at 6pm tonight.
If you want to do the full Passover meal instead of just communion (communion symbolizes this meal), it consist of:
Lamb or chicken: represents the sacrifice / the shedding of blood. (Jesus) It reminds us that sin cost something. It brought death. Others suffer when we sin and Jesus had to die to that we could live and be redeemed.
Boiled egg: the ending of a time of grieving (Egypt, bondage, plagues, curses) and a new beginning/journey (following God into the new as the bride of Christ)
Parsley: hope and redemption dipped in salt water to represent that it came mixed with tears (the curse of death fell on the first born sons in Egypt, and it fell on God’s first (only) born Son (who was shielding us from it) at Calvary.
Horseradish: reminds of the bitterness of slavery and bondage (to Egypt or to sin/satan) Horseradish makes you tear up with you eat it.
Bitter herb (lettuce): simplicity of what they had to eat in the wilderness. Reminds us that whatever you have to give up to follow God is worth it!
Charoset (smashed apples, nuts, and cinnamon): reminds you of the mortar used by Jewish slaves to building for Pharaoh
Matzoh (unleaded bread): yeast represented sin so it is an abandonment or repentance of sin. Leaving it behind in Egypt and only going with the pure bread (Jesus) into your new journey. No more puffed up counterfeits! It also reminds us that they left Egypt so quickly that they didn’t wait around for bread to rise.
Grape juice: 4 cups (or drinks) of blessing covenants (promises/commitments from God). There is a 5th cup of wrath but Jesus drank that one for us in Gethsemane. So we don’t worry about that one, but it is good to take the time to thank him for doing it.
God commanded that the Passover remembrance be kept for all generations. At the last supper (the Passover meal), Jesus said that from that point on, when we did it, to do it in remembrance of Him. Of what He did as our Passover Lamb. That His blood was shed for the remission of our sins. That we might be protected from the judgment and the curse of sin and death.
So however you choose to observe Passover, just remember that God is a deliverer! Always has been, and still is! That He did miracles to save Israel from Egypt, and He stopped at nothing to save us through Jesus. So remember it, thank Him for it, and teach your children.
”Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.“
Isaiah 26:20
”For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.“
Exodus 12:12-14
”And Jesus took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.“
This morning in prayer the Lord instructed me to pray for an outpouring of His Spirit, to come and water the seeds of faith that have already been planted, that a harvest might come to life from what now seems baron.
As I did I was reminded that while I can go to the well that never runs dry, even in times of spiritual drought, to keep my garden alive. It would be better for all, for me to pray for rain (an outpouring of God’s Spirit) to water all of the dry and thirsty of the land that are beyond the reach of my two hands. Better for all to get water, and not just my garden!
I’m speaking in parables here so bear with me. I’m not talking about physical rain, or gardens, or harvest.
After praying for rain, I did some work on HT and ran across an old video of me in the woods (wilderness) with my dad. He was explaining to us how dangerous the drought was because it made it easier for the alligators to attack the desperately thirsty.
There were only a few pools of water left, and the thirsty had no choice but to be attracted to them. So the alligators would hide in them and wait to attack.
As I watched it, knowing that we are in a spiritual drought and there are only a few pools of water left (good churches) I began to see the tactic. The enemy is drawn to them because he knows the thirsty are coming. He hides and lies in wait. He attacks and devours as soon as they drink.
So what is the solution? Pray for rain! Give the thirsty so much water that no matter where they are they can drink freely! Pray for an outpouring. Not pools of water that can be infiltrated, but a total saturation of the land that is too abundant for the enemy to use to his advantage!
So today ask for living water and we shall receive it; as Jesus promised! Only don’t ask for it only in your own little pool (ministry or churches). That will only attract the enemy. Instead, ask bigger! Ask for it upon all the land! Ask for so much of it to fall on so many, in so many places, that it will thwart all the plans of the enemy!
Satan is not omnipotent or omnipresent, only God is. The devil benefits from lack, from dryness, from pools and pockets. So pray for rain, and omnipresent outpouring of God’s spirit manifested ministering to all men what is needed bringing living water to the thirsty, and life to dead promises in such abundance that the devil can’t even infiltrate it with his limited resources!
Prayer:
Lord send the rain of your Spirit, an out pouring of Your word and truth! Fill the land with living water again. Water moving under Your control and not just pools of truth that can be so easily infiltrated by Leviathan (Antichrist spirits) or controlled by man. Lord pour Your Spirit out in mass revelation, repentance, salvation, and deliverance. Let all feel the refreshing of the latter rains that You have promised were coming. You said you would give us living waters…. If we asked for them. So we are asking… send the rain and make useless, every tactic of Satan! In Jesus mighty name! Amen
”Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.“
Hosea 6:3
Video of wilderness drought lesson mentioned in this manna can be viewed below.
A few days ago was the first of Nissan. The first month of the Jewish calendar. Scripture tells us that the latter rain will begin in the first month. The former rain in Isreal (in the physical) is to prepare the land for planting (in the spiritual, that was pentecost). The latter rain (in the physical) is to prepare the land for harvest (in the spiritual that is both tribulous times mixed with an outpouring of the power of God).
The Bible also tells us to pray for rain in the time of rain. (Remember that before the former rain the disciples prayed for days and asked for it.) In other words, there are times and seasons for things to happen, but we are still required to ask for them in order to activate them. God may choose to withhold until we ask so that we know that it was Him that did it, and not just chance or circumstance.
Why would we pray for rain? Because in both the physical and in the spiritual, we need a harvest. So we prayed for rain, and a storm came. A storm so intense and dangerous that tornadoes came with it. Lightining and thundering, rain and some flooding. Yet we’re were protected. There was some physical damage (not to us but to some) but many drew close to God in those moments, and not a soul was lost. This happened in the physical, but it is a parallel for the physical.
After asking for rain and then seeing the awesome power of the storm when it came. We might begin to fell guilty or be afraid. It then the Holy Spirit calls us to remember the last 2 summers wherein there was no rain. Everything dried and died. The fields withered away, a famine gripped the land, and even the wild life perished in a hopeless thirst. So as shaking as the storm may make us for the moment. It is needed, and God knows it.
You cannot have a harvest without rain, and sometimes that comes as a storm. After the storm had passed the air was clear and clean, water filled the reservoirs and watered the fields again. The birds sang and the sun shone. The storm didn’t last all that long.
Prior to it the Holy Spirit had called me to pray and to praise. So I did, all night and all day. Moments before it hit, He told me what to do to prepare for it. When the storm came I sat inside and sang. The tornados passed right over the top of me, but I had a covering. We were not moved, not shaken, not forsaken, not damaged in any way. We were safe, and all that we prayed for. God was faithful.
I tell you this because a storm is coming. A national and even global one. It will be scary for a moment but it is necessary to bring in a harvest. Pray in advance of it, He will tell you how to prepare for it, He will be a covering during it. Know that there is purpose in it, and praise Him through it.
Most of all, when you see the destructive power of this storm the enemy will remind you that you prayed for change to come. He will bring guilt, fear, and condemnation. When that happens, remember the years of baroness. The spiritual drought, the lack of harvest, and know that it is needed. What may not be easy for us in the moment will be good for all in the long run. So get under His covering, and trust Him. There is protection and there is purpose in the storm that is coming.
”Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.“(no one to lead them through the storms, they were not told that there was a rainy season coming. So God pronounced judgment on the shepherds who did not prepare His flock for the intensity of the latter rain and those who failed to pray for it to come. Yet those who did were blessed by it in the end. Read the whole chapter of Zechariah 10. It’s important)
In the time of Noah, God carried the ark upon the waters and caused it to rest where He wanted it. He brought it to its destination with safety. As impossible as it was to even survive the flood, God saw to it that His righteous remnant was protected. He had a covenant with man and with beast and He would do the miraculous if He needed to, in order to fulfill it.
In the time of the prophet Samuel, the Ark of the Covenant made through Moses was in the hands of the unbelieving. It was not in the right condition or position to fulfill God’s purposes. So curses were released and things got very crazy until those who tried to contain it for their own gain, released it.
They put it on a cart and hitch oxen to it that had never been bridled, who had calves. They locked the calves away knowing that it was impossible by nature for a mother ox to leave her calves much less to pull a cart having never been trained or taught to take a yoke. Yet God led them and they went straight way with the ark of the Covenant to the field of Joshua. Whose name means, “Jehovah is salvation.”
In the time of Jesus, when it was time for Him to be carried into Jerusalem leading up to the crucifixion. He called for a donkey that had never been ridden. Untrained, unbroken, unconditioned. It would have to move under the leading of the Holy Spirit and do the impossible thing. It would carry the King, the ark of the New Covenant to His destination. This was crazy. Of all the colts in Israel, why one who was not broken? Because only God could do this. He could lead it, He could bring about His Covenant.
God carried the Ark of Noah upon the floods of judgment and brought it to its desired destination.
Oxen that had never been bridled obeyed God and carried the ark of the old covenant to the field of Joshua.
A colt that had never been ridden obeyed God and carried the ark of the new covenant into Jerusalem.
Jesus’ name in Hebrew was Yeshua. It’s a variant of Joshua, meaning “salvation”.
When God promises to save, He will fulfill His promises…. No matter what miracle it takes to accomplish it. He keeps His covenants in spite of the condition available. He doesn’t wait for things to become perfect and able, He waits for it to become absolutely impossible.
So choose to stand in faith on the words, promises, and covenants of God. Don’t waver, keep believing. He loves to use the unqualified ones, the least expected, to fulfill His will, so that in the end, all will know that only God could have done this.
It doesn’t have to make since, we just have to seek, listen, hear, and obey Him. Trust is faith. He knows what He is doing. Stand with Him and believe in His Covenants. That His judgments are for the best, and that He will fulfill them. Impossible is not an obstacle for the God of all that is. He will carry His promises to their destination by way of the miraculous.
”and saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him to me.“
At sunset (6pm) today we will enter the first day or the first month of the Jewish calendar.
The eclipse happening on this day, is significant and representing the death or closing of something old and the beginning of something new.
There are many warnings and worries connected with this event that are not entirely unwarranted. But the Bible does tell us this, that the latter rain outpouring will beginning in the first month. (Which starts today)
So let’s pray for that as we watch and wait. We know that changes are coming. We know that God is warning. But the darker the night the brighter the light and man’s darkest hour is God’s hour of power. So people of God, an outpouring is coming but God is calling you of faith to “pray for rain in the time of rain.” Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. If you want the mountain to move, you need to tell it to…
”Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.“
Joel 2:23
”Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.“
Zechariah 10:1
”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.“
”Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: and the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.“ – Amos 7:14-15
Amos was a simple farmer who God called to release His warnings of impending judgment upon the nation, and call them to repentance. He sent him to the temples of Bethel where his message was ridiculed and rejected.
They told him to go back to his farm and prophesy there. He wasn’t prestigious enough to be taken serious here in their large and important palaces.
The Lord decrees a judgment of locus upon the land, Amos intercedes, and God relents. The Lord decrees a judgment of fire upon the people, Amos intercedes and the Lord tarries. Finally the Lord decrees a judgement of war and economic collapse against the leaders for their selfish wickedness and tells Amos that it will surely come to pass.
God tells Amos that He will give a sign in the skies that this will happen, becuase that the words of God through the mouth of His prophet was not taken serious. What is the sign that God decides to give them of this impending judgment? God says that He will cause the sun to go black in the middle of the day and a darkness to come upon the land. In other words… an eclipse. It’s surely a story worth reading. Know the times and the season.
”And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.“
”that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.“ – Philippians 3:10-11
Paul tells us that he had all earthly reason to have confidence in his being somebody in God’s kingdom. He had pedigree, title, prestige, position, he kept the commandments in the best of his own understanding. Yet when he came to know Christ, he realized that we really do have very limited and screwed perceptions and understandings of what is truly right in God’s eyes. To see our own smallness is to respect God’s greatness. To know that we don’t know what we think we know is to begin to seek and walk in the greater wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
Paul laid aside his own righteousness, what he thought was right and followed after Christ. Counting all that he was, and had, and had taught and had thought as lost, that he might attain the truth in His pursuit of Jesus and the promise of His eternal Kingdom, the promise given to Abraham; the resurrection of the dead and New Jerusalem.
Whatever it cost you in this life, it’s a worthwhile sacrifice because this is all so temporary and fleeting. Like a flower in the field, here today and gone tomorrow. So that even if we have to join Christ in a life of trial and sorrow, it’s more than worth it for the promise of eternal glory and sonship. We are not living for this moment, we are not working towards retirement. We are living for the resurrection that is coming on the other side of death. We aim for eternal things and lay aside the distractions and temptations of the temporary carnal earthly things that rot and decay away.
Prayer:
Lord help us to remember this, each and every day. May we have a clear vision of Your coming Kingdom and a drive to obtain our ordained place in it. Let us not lay aside our crowns for an other to pick up because we put it down to grab at temporary stuff.
”For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.“
”Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.“ – Joel 3:13-16
The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. For those who are spiritually asleep, they will not see it coming. They will think that everything will continue as it always has, just like they did in the days of Noah.
The scriptures, however are clear, Jesus Himself warned us. The signs are everywhere, because He is full of mercy, offering space for repentance. Yet it will still come, because He is also full of justice and to leave the wicked to crush the innocent indefinitely is not just. There is a judgment coming for sin. Repent and get into right standing while you still can.
”And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.“ – Revelation 14:17-20
”For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.“ – 1 Thessalonians 5:2-11
”Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.“ – Malachi 3:13-18
This passage warns us not to judge God’s goodness in short term experiences. Often times the devil baits with quick reward, followed by eternal damnation. While God often test with quick trials followed, by eternal rewards.
Things may not be easy in the moment, but maintain a fear of straying from under God’s covering and it will be well with you when the real dangers come. When it is no longer the enemy tormenting you with his very limited ability, but when the judgment comes from the Lord God almighty himself. He will spare and exult His faithful ones while humbling, the prideful, selfish, greedy, and unbelieving.
In the moment it may seem like those who chose to serve their own interest are set up with fame, finances and all manner of material blessings. But those things are so very temporary and very deceiving. They don’t bring joy are fulfillment, not even in the short term. We can see this in the countless lives of well known celebrities who ended their own lives in absolute misery, despite having fame, accolade, excess, and abundant finances.
We also see how quickly all that has been gained can be taken away in sudden bouts of financial decay. Yet even in times of physical lack, those who fear the Lord will not be shaken, knowing that they will never be forsaken. They have a covering, a hope, and a help in times of trouble. A good Father who will protect and provide for them.
In the times of plenty, while the judgments of God tarry as He extends mercy, giving space for repentance, it’s sometimes hard to see past the fact that it looks like the wicked are getting away with their sins. Their arrogance builds and the righteous become disheartened. But eventually judgments do come and when things shift in a sudden moment, and times get hard. It is then that God’s chosen and faithful ones are exulted.
They are tended to personally by majesty. Miracles follow after them, as their Father in heaven takes care of them. In the hard times it is much easier to see who God is far and who He isn’t. The desperation of the situation makes them walk in the miraculous in ways that become more evident to those around them. In this is God glorified, and they are validated. And even if we never see this kind of victory this side of heaven (though we do, and we do often), yet still in the end we will be validated at the Great White Throne Judgment. When all the selfish gains and material things will mean nothing, and a life lived in faith will be rewarded eternally with Sonship and placement in God’s everlasting Kingdom.
So no matter what it looks like in the moment. Keep believing. Keep praying. Keep enduring. Keep waiting. Keep praising. The King is coming.
”Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.“
Ecclesiastes 8:11-13
”But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.“
”I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.“ – Hosea 12:10
God does nothing except that He first declares it to His servants the prophets. God desires repentance, He delights in mercy, He looks for the intercessor, He wants to stay judgments. He loves to reward and give good gifts to His children. Yet is He obligated to justice, and there are laws against wickedness.
There comes a time when a sentence against sin must be enacted, though He terry, giving space for repentance. Nevertheless, there is an end to all things. Make sure that you are on the Judge’s side when it happens. He has warned, He has delayed, He has spared, and He has made a way of escape, so that there is no excuse to not be prepared. Take heed, today is the day of salvation and now if the appointed time. Get right with God.
”Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days may seem to be prolonged, yet surely I know that (in the end) it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he actually prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.“
”(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” – Ephesians 4:9-10
This passage tells us that after the crucifixion, the first thing Jesus did was to go down into the pit to deliver the saints of old from their holding place and bring them to heaven with Him, by the power of His grace!
He declared to hell, His victory and took the keys (or authority) from the enemy! Then He ascended up to take His place on the thrown of grace in the Holy of Holies and to prepare a place for us one day to join Him in His Father’s Kingsom!
So in short, He went to the pit before He went to the palace. So don’t be surprised if your Christian life, experience, and journey is no different. Are you willing to pay the price to go low in order to pull others from the pit that they are in, because God does have a good end planned for us. We do have a palace season. But it’s not solely for us, nor is it all about us.
The palace (mansion/heavenly tabernacle) that Jesus went to, was His Father’s. He went to bring people there with Him. Yes, there was a place in it prepared for Him, but the work was to bring others in, and He is still doing it.
Therefore, the work is the same for us, as we are but His earthly vessels (temples/tabernacles) in which His Spirt can inhabit to continue that mission until His returning. Therefore, if He is doing a work through us, then it will reflect His mission and purpose.
So again, don’t be surprised when following His Spirit leads you into a wilderness. When it sends you down into a pit to get God’s children and bring them back to Him. When He uses you to fulfill impossible promises and covenants. Yet when He then brings you out of the pit and into the palace, and others following after you, remember this. It’s not you. It never was you. It was Jesus in you, working through you. So give Him the glory and keep letting Him use you, He doesn’t mess up. His ways are not our ways, they don’t make since to us, but they are perfect. It’s not the way we would choose to do things, but His wisdom is greater than ours. He knows what will bring in the better harvest. He knows who can be reached and how to get to them. You just keep loving and following His leading into those low places to reach those waiting souls whom He has not forsaken, though their circumstances may make it seem so. He is our redeemer and wants to be theirs also.
Prayer:
So here we are Lord. Use us. We are Your humble servants. Lead us in the way everlasting. Let Your will be done in and through us daily. Save the lost, redeem the fallen, pull the sheep from the pit and convert the wolves that desired to devour them. We don’t only desire to make it to heaven, we desire to rob hell of its captives before we do that. By Your grace, let it be done. In Jesus Mighty Name we pray. Amen
”Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
1 Peter 5:6-7
”Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.“
1 Peter 4:12-13
”and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.“
”The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands. Day after day pours forth speech, And night after night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars]; Their voice is not heard. Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth, Their words to the end of the world…“ – Psalms 19:1-4
In the beginning, when God created the sun, moon, and stars, he said that they were for signs and for seasons (Genesis 1:18) In the psalms above, David states that no matter what language or nation you are from, you can look up and know what the sun, moon, and stars are telling you. The signs and seasons they speak of, are understood by all nations and tounges.
Many times in scripture we see God using things like the Sun to convey messages to both Israel and to their enemies. When God wants to deliver a message that is important and transcends languages, He has historically been willing to do so using the most steadfast thing that people know. The very heavens above them. The thing they perceive to be the most “unchanging”, is changed by God in order to get the attention of nations.
Fast forward to the time of Jesus and we see 3 wisemen, magi, traveling from afar. They came from the far east to Israel. These were not Jews but well learned men of other nations who had seen a sign in the heavens. The star of Bethlehem that had been prophesied from ancient times that would harold the coming of the King of the world.
When Jesus returns so will this sign proceed Him, and all the nations of the world will see it. We are told that “the sign of the son of man will be seen in the sky, and it will bring great fear to the wicked who do not want to loose their perceived places of power, just as the star of Bethlehem had done to Herod.
First coming:
”Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child;…
Matthew 2:7-8
Second coming:
”and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.“
Matthew 24:30
At Jesus’s birth the heavens shown a message of a new light shining in the darkness, at Jesus’s crucifixion there was a very different sign present. The heavens once again declared a message that could be understood by those of all languages. No need for interpretation. When Jesus gave up the ghost, and the light of His countenance went out, the sun stopped shining and the earth was darkened and quiet. In that moment, the pagan Roman soldier next to Him looked up and conceded, that this Jesus, surely was the son of God.
So why does God speak through the sun, moon, and stars at times? Because sometimes there are things that are so important that He wants to get the attention of both the learned and of the ignorant, the believer and the pagan, the saved and the sinner, and what do they all see? The heavens!
This darkening of the sun that happened at the crucifixion will also happen again in the end, when Jesus comes back. His return will be proceeded by the star, but when He arrives it will be with a sword in His mouth and fire in His eyes, and the whole world and the heavens also will be shaken this time. The judgement that was postponed by the sacrifice of His crucifixion will then commence to happen, and the sun will once again be blackened.
”And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” – Luke 21:25-26
So yes, God does still use signs in the earth and in the heavens to get our attention, not little frivolous and demonic things like pagan horoscopes or fortune telling, but big undeniable things like eclipses, and comets, and earthquakes and hurricanes. Wars and plagues, and humblings, and shakings.
When God wants to send a big message to all tribes, tongues, kindred, and nations, He has historically, biblically, and prophetically used the heavens. So do not be surprised or unbelieving when He still does these things. Take the warning and prepare your heart and your house for what’s coming. Not in fear, but in thanksgiving and in rejoicing. He has been merciful enough to warn with such magnitude that we could not miss it, because that’s how much He loves us and wants us to be ready for Him. Enough to write it in the heavens; to put it before us so boldly that there is no excuse for rebellion.
God gives us more than enough space for repentance, for preparation, to get shut in with Him and be protected. So when you see signs in the sun, moon, and stars that are strange and obviously from the Lord, take heart. It means that He is coming soon and that He loves you enough to want you to know it, so that you can be ready for Him! Because sadly, many will not be ready, they will miss their time of preparation and be caught unaware at the time of visitation, even though these signs were obviously all around them, even hanging over them. Known the times and the seasons, grab your lamps, prepare your oil, behold the bridegroom is coming for you.
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.“
Luke 21: 28
”Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.“
”And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.“ – Genesis 3:8
Adam and Eve sinned, then they hid, then they were separated from God’s presence. They didn’t listen to God, they failed to trust Him, they were deceived by the serpent. Their eyes were opened and they realized it. They should have run to God and asked Him to fix it. Instead they hid from Him while they tried to fix it in their own understanding. They made coverings of leaves that could not protect them from anything.
Yet even in this, did God still love them. He pursued them, He provided a sacrifice, and He covered them. He set in motion a plan of redemption. A way to restore fellowship.
Where did this account begin to spiral out of control? I think, not so much when they sinned as when they hid. We all fall short of the glory of God. The scriptures tell us that “He knows our frame and remembers that we are but dust.” (Psalms 103:14) The thing that will really cause you to mess things up, is running from God’s presence when it happens. Trying to fix it in your own limited understanding. You will creat a fake covering that will crumble like fig leaves among thorn trees.
So when you fail to listen to the simplest of instructions, when you fail to trust God for the impossible moments, when you are deceived by the enemy who is so very cunning, don’t run from God in shame, don’t try to fix things your own way. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, come before His throne of grace, get on your face at His feet, and worship your good and mighty King. Ask for forgiveness, ask for redemption, ask for His wisdom, and you will get it. Let Him fix it. Stay under His covering and He will turn what the enemy meant to destroy you into a blessing.
He loves you, He intercedes for you. He desires that you make it. He desires fellowship, both now and forever in heaven. So don’t run from His presence, run to it. The very thing that the enemy is convincing you to avoid is what you need to so easily make things right.
”Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.“
There are people who feel “called to control” others. That they can’t make it without them telling them what to do daily. They look for ways to control their actions, decisions, and even thought patterns. Understand this, that a spirit that controls others is demonic.
The fruit (character) of the Holy Spirit is “self control”, it will lead you to control yourself. While the fruit of a Jezebel Spirit is a desire to control others. A Pharisee will be easy on himself and hard on others, while a righteous man will be hard on himself and easy on others.
We should surely desire to see others finish their race well, but it is not our place to make them do it. We can show them the way (Jesus), we can give them the rule book (the Bible), we can cheer them on (encourage), we can help them up when they fall (love and correction), but we cannot control.
Control is witchcraft in scripture, it is a detestable thing, it is a major characteristic of a Jezebel spirit. Be weary of those who control others. Control leads to manipulation, manipulation is faith in self rather than in God. It is soulish and satanic.
A person with faith in God will pray, love, and serve. A person with faith in themself will control, manipulate, and domineer. It is led by the influence of evil spirits, and even with good intentions will always lead the person being manipulated in the opposite direction from what God intended for them.
The adversary and the Holy Spirit will never have the same agenda. So if any other spirit is given place, it will be detrimental to all involved, every time, without fail. It won’t seem that way at first but in the end what is of the Holy Spirit will work for the good and what is of any other spirit will work for evil. It will steal, kill, and destroy. It will do it cunningly and through subtlety. So be wise, be vigilant, watch for those with a controlling spirit, and do not tolerate it.
The Nicolaitans were controlling and Jesus said that He hated it. The Pharisees were controlling and Jesus said they were of Satan. Jezebel was controlling and though God waited, giving her space for repentance, when she didn’t, He eventually dealt with it. God Himself will not control men, what makes you think that you can?
Speak the truth in love and pray they receive it. Be willing to pay the price to personally demonstrate it. Be like Jesus, who did not control anything in the physical. Not even His own will. He trusted and entrusted everything to God. He humbled and submitted and followed God’s leading in every situation and in the end, He was exulted for it. A life of faith is a life without manipulation. It gives up control and God orders all in His great wisdom and puts all the pieces in their perfect position. Because the ironic truth of it all is this, a person who tries to control everything and everyone will always end up with a life that is out of control, because it simply can’t be done. Demons will use you to mess plans and people up, then leave you when they are done in a mess of hurt and confusion. While God will never leave you, He will help you and heal you, and order the steps of the righteous. He will make your crooked way straight. He will take what the enemy meant for harm and use it for the good. He will do what no man could.
So if you have been used by a controlling spirit and things have gotten out of control because of it, there is still space for repentance, God can still fix it. Humble yourself and admit it and ask for deliverance. Give up control, stop manipulating, bow down before God, pick up your cross, and start following in simple, humble, loving, trusting, servanthood. Give it all to God and He will give you peace and teach you to walk in victory.
So examine your heart. If you feel called to control than you probably are, but not by the Holy Spirit for that is the opposite of the fruit of it. You are being called by the enemy of your soul to do great harm when you probably only meant to help. Yet we must humble ourselves and lay our own wisdom down and laying down control (your will) is part of repentance unto salvation as much as laying down unforgiveness, pride, and all wickedness. You cannot be saved your way, nor can any other be saved. It has to be God’s way. Trust in Him, point others to Him, surrender, humble, give up your will, your life, your pride, and repent. Jesus paid the highest price to teach us this by example, when He laid His own will down and trusted the Father in the most impossible situation imaginable. God is good, God is able, give up control, God can do it better. He will work it all for the good if you take your hands off the wheel and stop steering yourself, and for others. You’ve wrecked enough times, it’s time to move over and let God drive.
”For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:“
”Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.“ – Malachi 4:5-6
The Spirit of Elijah is often called the Spirit of Prophecy, seeing as how he was among histories most renowned prophets. The Bible also tells us that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah and that he was the greatest prophet the world has ever known.
”For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist:..“
Luke 7:28
We think of John as a fiery preacher but he was truly a prophet by office. He preach repentance, warned of judgment, and pointed men to Jesus as their source of hope and redemption from it! Scripture tells us that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy. Therefore, John’s preaching was prophetic.
”And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy“
Revelation 19:10
A prophet is not someone who tells your fortune, gives you a psychic reading, or tells the future even. A prophet is someone who helps you to better believe in, and follow Jesus. They help to point you back to Him when you start straying. They call you to trust Him and to be ready for His coming. So yes, future events are part of their message, because the story of Jesus is still in motion. But lay aside this notion that you need someone to tell you what’s to come or what needs to be done in your everyday life, because that is a pagan mindset that will cause you to latch onto false prophets.
What you really need is Jesus, and the true prophet will always tell you that. And when you heed it, curses will be broken, you will be blessed, and it will always produce a fruitful harvest. True Apostles and prophets rarely have public titles. What they do have is fruit, humble disciples, and everyday revival. They lay foundations for others to stand on. They labor in love and in loneliness of mind to do the work of the Kingdom, usually mostly unseen. They raise others up to put their trust in Jesus, not in them. They establish other leaders, not multitudes of followers. Learn the difference between the real and the counterfeits.
Be not deceived, prophets do still exist, but so do the wolves in sheep’s clothing that give a bad name to them. The real prophet will always come when things get serious, when a judgment is imminent, they will turn your heart toward God, and through leading you into repentance, turn His heart to yours. They are a plum line, they bring re-alignment. They help us to stay in position to complete our assignments. They are humble, sacrificial, unassuming, impartial, and selfless. Thank God for true prophets. The body still needs them.
”Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.“
Malachi 4:5-6
”And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.“
Paul tells the Philippian Christians that it is up to them to work out their own salvation in fear and trembling. That we must have a fear of being out of agreement with the Holy Spirit and should tremble at the thought of it. He tells them this as a concluding point after explaining to them how to be more like Jesus.
He tells them that Jesus was God in the flesh, greater than any of us, yet he humbled himself to be but a servant. He did not esteem masses of followers under Him to be His source of validation. As long as He had a few who believed the truth that He was sacrificing His whole life to bring them. Remember that, oh minister (servant) of the gospel.
He lived to put others before Himself at all times. No pride, no agenda, no platform, no self preservation. He was a good shepherd who thought of the sheep before His own well being. Even the lost ones were a concern for Him.
Paul, who had labored and given his all to establish this people in their faith, pleaded with them to honor his labors of love by choosing to be in unity with the Holy Spirit so that they could all be of the same mind and agreement. There is such power in unity, but only in unity with the Holy Spirit as we all follow His leading and instructions rather than our own vain imaginations, emotions, impressions, ambitions, or intentions. Therefore, we must always look to Jesus, who was our example and demonstration, an aspire to be more like Him. Let us search the scriptures daily for ways to achieve this.
”If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: ”that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.“
”Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.“ – 1 John 3:16-19
God is love, and when God lives in us His love will show through us. How will that love show? It will produce the fruits of the spirit. Gifts without fruit are nothing in the kingdom. You can do many things in God’s Name and still go to hell because those things were you own works and doings.
Yet when we let Jesus live through us, His works (which will always be God’s will) will produce good fruits and those works will be rewarded. His Spirit, producing His works, showing His character, through His wisdom, in agreement with His teaching and written instructions. That’s why time in His word is so very important. It is our basis for discernment.
The Bible tells us to test the spirits because there are many spirits in the world. They are great deceivers. They love to counterfeit Jesus and cause people to misrepresent Him. This is what happened to the Pharisees. they forgot the mission. They created a God of their own making. One that was contrary to the will, word, and nature of the true one. This is why Jesus had to come, to be a demonstration of what following God really looks like. That it is selfless sacrificial love. It is putting the sheep first at all cost.
”But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.“
John 10:12-13
”Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.“
John 15:13
God said that David was a man after His own heart when David was but a boy. Why? Because David was a good shepherd who loved his sheep. He was willing to face the enemy to seek and to save them. He was willing to put their needs and wellbeing before his own. When danger came, he didn’t hide or run away, he stood between the enemy and his sheep. Just like Jesus would later do for all of us, the sheep of His pasture. Even though we had all gone astray and walked ourselves into that dangerous place.
”All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.“
Isaiah 53:6
Paul would later say in the book of Romans, that the ministers of the gospel were killed all the day long for the sake of reaching others. Everyone of the apostles except John was martyred for standing in selfless love and spreading the gospel message. As were millions of saints that followed after them. Why? Because they received Jesus’s Spirit and He never changes. He is still willing to lay down His life for His sheep.
This is not something that we can muster up in the flesh. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, of being possessed by Jesus, for lack of a better description. We are His temple, He is the Spirit, love is the fruit/evidence that proves that we have it. It’s as simple as that. Not a selfish, self seeking, self serving demonic love (erros), but a patient, gentle, selfless, sacrificial, unexplainable, fruits of the spirit characteristic producing kind of love. Agape, which is God! And if God (agape) be in us, working through us, then we can have confidence when we stand before Him that we did what He wanted. We did the right thing. We trusted Jesus, His teachings, and demonstration. We didn’t serve a king of our own making. We didn’t forget the mission. We didn’t love ourselves or our own situation, more than the sheep that we’re suppose to be saving.
”And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.“
1 John 4:16-17
”And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death“
”For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.“ – 2 Peter 1:16
In this passage, Peter exhorts his disciples to remember (even after his passing) that the things he spoke were not vain imaginations, conjecture, or opinions. But rather, were the personal witness of the words , actions, and character of Jesus validated as divine by the miraculous! Not the little easily counterfeited performances and gifts that magicians in the antichrist spirit walk in, but the power of resurrection, the disarming, dethroning, in disposing of powers and principalities. The shifting of whole spiritual seasons under the hand of this man they called Jesus! God Himself had validated Him, and Peter had witnessed it.
Therefore did he remind others to trust what he was relaying from those encounters with Jesus and not be deceived by any other spirit, because there are many. Yet there is only one truth, one way, one Jesus, one door that gives you access to the Father. One source of love, mercy, and compassion. One who calls us to forgive and to forgiveness. One that offers life everlasting.
There is only one real Jesus. We must humble ourselves with fear and trembling and receive Him. We must lay down what we think, want, and feel before we can pick up what’s real. The prince of peace, the righteous King, the one true bridegroom, the one that is coming to judge the nations in holiness. Did we believe Him, His words and His teachings.
How will He judge this? By the fruits of the spirit. Did we bare them in ever situation? So it’s better for us to judge ourselves now, that we not be found without when the great and terrible day come.
”For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are corrected of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.“
1 Corinthians 11:31-32
Oh my friend, He pleads with us because He loves us. Don’t be deceived into thinking that gifts alone are proof of who you serve, Jesus greatest demonstration and validation was His love. That He was willing to pour His gifts, his mercy, his prayers, and His blood out for us. The ones who did not deserve it.
Peter did not just witness this from Jesus, but He also received His Holy Spirit, which then empowered Him to become a witness of this same selfless sacrificial love to others. Giving his life also for those who do not deserve it. This is the reason that the Holy Spirit it given, this is why the fruits of the Spirit or the only true evidence of it.
”But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.“
Acts 1:8
So today I remind you as Peter did, don’t be deceived by the cunningness of men, demons, or counterfeit spirits. Come and sit and learn of Jesus. His character, His teachings, His warnings, His promises. Because if we connect to and draw from Him, we will be led by Him, and will act like Him. We will produce the fruits of His Spirit, and in the end, we will be blessed with Him. The bride receives the inheritance with her husband. Don’t miss it, don’t be robbed of it. Don’t trade it for an antichrist spirit. It’s not worth it. Put pride aside and every ambition, sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of Him. He is offering.
”Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.“
Matthew 11:28-30
”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.“
Galatians 5:22-23
”Ye shall know them by their fruits…“
Matthew 7:16
”By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, by your love“
John 13:35
”Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love promotes not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks good of others and does not allow evil thoughts to linger; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. ”But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.“
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
”And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. 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? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.“
1 John 4:16-21
”This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.“
”If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.“ – James 2:145-17
There is a time for prayer, there is a time for faith, and there is a time when God answers by pouring on us the grace to take a step in the direction of being used ourselves to fulfill that prayer request.
What do I mean by this? I mean that I have prayed for people that were unreachable, then God made a way to reach them miraculously. He gave them a need or put them before me. He gave me His truth and gave me a way to release it to them. He set the stage, but I had to walk onto it.
So when James says that faith without works is dead, he means (I think) that God gives life to it, but you can kill it. Abraham believed God, God is the one who fulfills that covenant, but Abraham had to believe enough to do something in order to prove that His faith was genuine. He had to get up and move. He had to walk out the land. He had to take a step in the right direction.
So whatever it is that you have been praying for, don’t be surprised if God makes a way for you to be involved in the answer in some part. Don’t refuse to be used. If it really matters to you, you will step up to the plate.
Now there are those of us who tend to mess things up by taking matters into our own hands before God has called us to do something. Like Abraham later did with the Egyptian servant. God will test our faith in this as well, by asking us to lay something down and walk away in faith. We may birth something in prayer and in action, and then be asked to release it to God in faith that He will finish it. Abraham had to do this with Issac, Moses’s mom had to do this with him, Mary had to do this with Jesus.
We pray, God answers and empowers, His grace flows through us and does the miraculous. Then He ask us to release it. To guard us from believing that “we” did it. He will send it forth to accomplish it’s works. And we go back to praying for it. Like a parent does. Into God’s hands we commend it and trust that He is the one who started it, He will finish it. After all, we would not have even had the heart to pray for it in the first place had the Holy Spirit not drawn us to do it.
So if you have prayed for something, then don’t run from your chance to be part of the answer to that prayer. If you have done your part and see the miraculous work of the Lord, don’t stake claim to what He has done and try to keep it all for your own. Let it go, pray for it, thank God for it, and seek Him for the next prayer assignment. Wait for new instructions, obey with new steps of faith, see new fulfillments, and prepare to release new victories, destinies, and purposes for others to walk in.
Abraham did not see His children take possession of the promised land, or that Jesus would be born in it from him. All he was called to do was to take a step of faith in that direction (one obedient action) and trust God to finish what He had started. That’s all that God ask of any of us. So guard your heart from both inaction and from being over controlling. Find the balance in the prayer closet by seeking, hearing, and obeying. Do no more and no less than God is asking, and He will do the rest in completely impossible ways that are far beyond your hopes or imagining.
”But without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is (God), and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.“
Hebrews 11:6
”But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, Neither have entered into the heart of man, The things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.“
”For He that will love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, And his ears are open unto their prayers: But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.“ – 1 Peter 3:10-12
This passage implies that a righteous man will do what it says, but an evil man will do the opposite, causing the Lord to stand against him. So maybe we should slow down, take a good look, digest it, and do some self reflecting?
The very first thing that it tells us, is to take control of what we say. So stop allowing the devil to us your mouth as his gate. Say nothing that is contrary to the teachings of Jesus or the character of the Holy Spirit. That goes beyond swear words and filthy conversations. That includes lies, deceit, gossip, slander, control, and manipulation. Even if the control is only emotional, if you are directing people to think or feel the way you want, for the sake of having some form of preeminence, or power over them, it is witchcraft, it is guile, it is sin.
The Holy Spirit will speak only to direct men to Jesus, to point them to His words and teachings, and to validate Him as the Holy and Anointed One, their savior and hope, their redeemer, their teacher, their great commander, the Son of God, the heir of Heaven!
Yes your words are important. Yes they can cause you to loose right-standing. Yes you will be held accountable for them. So take your tongue to the prayer closet and let the Holy Spirit give you a new one!
The Bible tells us that no man can tame the tongue, but the Holy Spirit can. With man it is an impossible thing, but nothing is too hard for our King. Ask and you shall receive!
Don’t loss everything over such a small thing. Don’t assume that it isn’t important. What you say matters. Every word is being recorded. Bring it to Jesus, confess, be forgiven, and get back into right standing. He will take the guile away, and replace it with His righteousness.
”But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Matthew 12:36-37
”Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.“
James 3:4-10
”For with God nothing shall be impossible.“
Luke 1:37
”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“
1 John 1:9
”For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.“
2 Corinthians 5:21
”And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.“
Has God given you a vision or promise and immediate the devil rose up to resist it? Don’t get discouraged, this is to be expected! There is no greater endorsement under heaven, than to be hated by hell. The level of resistance is always a direct reflection of the potential that Satan (the adversary) is trying to stop, if you let him. And yes, you have to “let him” because there is no weapon that he can form that can prosper against a child of the Lord! So be encouraged and enlarged by resistant, as you exercise your faith, that it might strength your resolve, deternimation, and expectation.
Make no mistake, God does not loose, nor waver in His faithfulness. He will finish what He started. If you don’t quick. You will win. The end… So make up your mind to be determined and don’t be shaken or surprised by resistance. If the devil didn’t fight it, I would question if God really said it. Resistance that doesn’t prosper will be your greatest confirmation and faith builder. So praise through it and when the devil roars at you, roar louder!
”…the righteous are bold as a lion.” –
Proverbs 28:1
So let us pray now together against the tactics of discouragement, intimidation, and retaliation with all faith and knowledge that our God is stronger!
Prayer:
We stand in agreement against a spirit of retaliation. We thank You Lord for confirmation. If the enemy resist then we can have confidence that we need to persist. He doesn’t fight for no reason. So resistance is a good confirmation. So Lord we ask for persistence and determination. We cancel every plan of Satan. We thank You that the camels are coming with provision for the vision, in the mighty Name of Jesus! We call for the armies of heaven to come and teach the devil a lesson about the consequences of touching God’s anointed! And that it happen swiftly. Please and Thank You. In Jesus Name Amen!
”Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.“
”And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.“
Mark 10:26-27
It is impossible for a man to save anyone from damnation. It is an impossible thing that is beyond human reach or ability. Yet God can do anything. Nothing is too hard for Him. No one is too far gone that He cannot still reach them.
So then what is our part to play in the work of salvation?
The one who can’t must humble himself, acknowledge that, and petition the one who can!
What Jesus did 2,000 years ago, was to redeem and cleanse us. That we might regain access to God’s presence, the very throne room of grace! Not so that we could ignore it and do our own thing and think that it will amount to anything. But so that we could freely access it, where the real power is! So that we could bring our petitions to Him, who lives to make impossible things happen!
We are to speak to men about God, to tell them to go to Him! And we are to speak to God about men, and ask Him to go to them. It is a very simple work, the work of salvation, and most of it is done in the place of intercession.
”Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. He that is our God is the God of salvation; And unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.“
Psalm 68:19-20
”Be still, and know that I am God:..
Psalm 46:10
”and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.“
Daily Manna 