PRAYER JOURNEY

February 25, 2023

40 DAY PRAYER JOURNEY
Day Four

My child…you are well pleasing in My sight, not because you are free of sin and failures, but because you have set your heart to trust in Me with an unwavering child-like trust; to depend upon Me with an unreserved child-like dependence; and to obey My will, and accept My will, with an unquestioning child-like obedience. [Father God…Heb 11:5-6]

REFLECTIONS
These are the cardinal truths concerning the life of waiting upon God, and how deep down these truths go to the very root of spiritual life. [Andrew Murray, Waiting on God]

  • The very Nature and Being of God, as the only Possessor and Dispenser of any life there is in the Universe, implies that He must every moment communicate to every creature the power by which it exists, and therefore also much more the power by which it can do that which is good.  That capability for Mankind to do that which is good is solely and only through the Holy Spirit…God’s Eternal Gift given to those who are born-again to dwell within us, never to leave us nor forsake us, to be the source of our strength and the Power of our life.  
  • The very nature and being of a creature, as owing its existence to God alone, and equally owing to Him each moment the continuation of that existence, implies that its happiness can only be found in absolute, unceasing, and continual child-like dependence upon God.
  • The great value and blessing of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, as the fruit of Christ’s Redemption, is that it is now possible for God to take possession of His redeemed children and work in them as He did in Adam before the fall.
  • In the Spiritual life, our great need is the knowledge of two great lessons.
    The one…our entire sinfulness and helplessness…our utter impotence by any effort of our own to do anything towards the maintenance and increase of our inner spiritual life.
    The second…the infinite willingness of God’s Love…which is nothing but a desire to communicate Himself and His blessedness to us to meet our every need, and every moment to work in us by His Son and His Holy Spirit what we need.
  • Therefore, the very essence of true religion, whether in Heaven or upon Earth, consists in an unalterable dependence upon God…an unreserved child-like dependence upon God…because we can give God no other glory than yielding ourselves to His Love, which created us to show forth in us its Glory, that it may now perfect its work in us.

I have been much impressed by the thought of how, in all our religion, personal and public, we need more of God.  I have felt the need for God’s people, in our worship time, to wait on God much more than we do; to make the cultivation of a deeper sense of His Presence, of more direct contact with Him, of entire dependence upon Him, our definite aim and personal goal.

At all our conventions and assemblies, too little time is given to waiting on God.  Is He not willing to put things right in His Own Divine way?  Has the life of God’s people reached the utmost limit of what God is willing to do for them?  Surely not!  We need to wait on Him; to put away our experiences, however blessed they have been; our conceptions of truth, however sound and Scriptural we think they seem; our plans, however needful and suitable they appear; and give God time and place to show us what He could do, what He will do, if we would only just give Him free reign to do with us as He pleases.

The great lack of our religion is…we do not know God.  The answer to every complaint of feebleness and failure, the message to every congregation or convention seeking instruction on holiness, ought to be simply, “What is the matter?  Have you not God?”
If you really believe in God, He will put all right.  God is willing and able by His Holy Spirit.  Cease from expecting the least good from yourself, or the least help from anything there is in man, and just yield yourself unreservedly to God to work in you.  He will most assuredly do all for you.  This is the gospel we so little know.  Would God that we might get some right conception of what the influence would be on a life spent…not in thought, or imagination, or effort…but in the Power of the Holy Spirit, wholly waiting upon God.  He can do new things, unheard of things, hidden things.  Let us enlarge our hearts and not limit Him.  When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy Presence.  For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. [Isa 64:3-4]  

My beloved child…this is indeed the privilege of all My children: “All who are indeed My children are continually led by My indwelling Holy Spirit!”  So I counsel you, walk in My Spirit.  Watch for Him and wait before Him; look off unto Him and listen for His voice.  He will place you where you are to be; He will lead you where you are to go.  He will show you what you are to do to participate together with Me in My work, give you the thoughts you are to think and to present, the words you are to speak or write.

The very essence of a blessed life of deep and intimate personal relationship with God…an abiding life of faith in God…can be summed up in this one, all-encompassing, principle:
WAITING UPON GOD, with and unwavering child-like trust and an unreserved child-like dependence…
FOR GOD TO REVEAL TO ME His plans, His purposes, His will, and a deeper revelation of Who He is…
SO I MAY THEN RESPOND, with an unquestioning child-like obedience, to every leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, cooperating with the Power of His enabling grace Who works in me both to will and to do.

Continually and unceasingly, day and night, my heart needs to breathe in that breath of life that comes from the Holy Spirit and sustains my spiritual life…just the same as my lungs need, continually and unceasingly, to breathe in that breath of life that comes from the outside air and sustains my physical life.  This is the blessed life of deep and intimate personal relationship with God.
Abba Father…since I have been raised with Christ Jesus Your Son into newness of life, I continually set my heart upon the rich eternal treasures that are above, in the Heavenly realms, where Your Divine Son Jesus is seated at Your right hand.  I continually set my mind and my thoughts on the things of Heaven and the spiritual realm, not on the things of Earth and the physical realm.  For I died in union with Christ Your Son, and have been raised up together with Him into newness of life; my new life is hidden now with Christ Jesus in You, Father.  When Christ, Who is my life, appears, then I also shall appear with Him in glory. [Col 3:1-4] 

Confident assurance that it is not in vain:
In the confident assurance in God which faith gives, I am ever to remember one thing above all…to wait upon God.  My chief need in waiting upon God, one of the deepest secrets of its blessedness and blessing, is a quiet, confident persuasion that it is not in vain; courage to believe that God will hear and help.  I am waiting upon a God Who never could disappoint His people!  In the utter insufficiency of all human strength, “Be strong and let thine heart take courage.”  I am to let NOTHING in Heaven or Earth or Hell…let NOTHING keep me from waiting on my God in full assurance that it cannot be in vain! [Andrew Murray]  

My waiting…His revealing…my cooperating and responding:
Think what new meaning and promise this gives to my life of waiting upon God…that Jesus gave His disciples this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about.” [Acts 1:4]  Just as the disciples tarried at the footstool of the Throne waiting upon the Spirit of God, it teaches me ever also to do likewise.  It reminds me that I, too, can only be strong in the life of faith, or the work of love, as I am in direct communication with the Father and Christ Jesus, through the life of the Spirit Who dwells in me.  It is the Spirit of God Who Personally lives out the life of Jesus in me…a life of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial…as I give Him free reign to do so.  And it is the same Holy Spirit Who Personally works out the death of Jesus in me, conforming me ever more deeply into the likeness of His death…death to sin and death to self…in order that I may thereby attain, more and more, to the Power of His resurrection life out from the dead.  It assures me that the Omnipotent God, through the Glorified Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit working in me both to will and to do, will bring to pass things unexpected, things impossible…all to the Glory of God!  My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.  From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, Who works for those who wait for Him. [Ps 62:5; Isa 64:4]  You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; then, you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. [Acts 1:7-8]  

Abba Father, Your Divine Son Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well, “The time is coming, and is already here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” [John 4:23]
True worshipers such as You seek, Father, will worship You in Spirit and Truth.  The only act of true worship is embracing in my heart, and manifesting continually and unceasingly in living out my everyday life: NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL BE DONE…IN EVERYTHING.
And how do I manifest this true worship in living out my life?  By living out my everyday life in a manner that bears witness for all to see to the truth of what I claim to believe…that in everything my life literally expresses an unwavering child-like trust in You, an unreserved child-like dependence upon you, and an unquestioning child-like obedience to do Your will and accept Your will.  The confirmation of Your Holy Spirit within me will be my unruffled child-like rest in You, and an unclouded child-like carefree joy in Your Presence.  

Absolute Surrender:

Are you prepared to go into the Garden that Jesus went to that night of His betrayal, and to walk along the path He was called to walk in demonstration of His love for the Father?  Our Lord Jesus asks of me…of each one of us…“Do you love Me with an agape love?”  Have you set your heart to walk along the path of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial, death to sin and death to self?  It is the path Jesus walked and the way which He Personally dedicated for us…a new and living way to God, through the veil, that is to say, through the veil of the flesh…my sin-enslaved human nature.  It is not humanly possible to walk that path; only the Holy Spirit can set you free to walk that path, in His Power and in reliance upon His strength.  You can’t do it apart from Him.  It is the ONLY path that leads up to the Gate that opens into the Heavenly Sanctuary and into the Holy of Holies…into the inaccessible Light of the Glory of our Father’s unclouded Presence.  The Gate bears on its header the inscription “THY WILL BE DONE.”  No one  can walk through that Gate without first checking his/her own will there with the gatekeeper in absolute and unconditional surrender.

Blessed Holy Spirit…I freely lay my life on the altar of sacrifice, giving You free reign over the course and direction of my life on Earth.  As such…
I have  no possessions any longer of my own; all that I have belongs to You. 
I have no plans of my own; I am here solely and only, wholly and always, to do Your will. 
I have no privileges, no expectations, no rights, no honor; I am Your bond-slave. 
I have no time of my own; it all belongs entirely to You;
I have no desires of my own heart, 
no purposes of my own for my life.  You are Lord of my life, and I live wholly surrendered to Your plans, Your purposes, Your will. 
All of my motives, my attitudes, my dispositions are subservient to You.  Blessed Jesus…I have no attractions to the people of this world, nor the things this world has to offer, that compete with my attraction to You.  You are the choicest, most precious treasure of my heart. 
I have no affections for the people of this world, nor the things this world has to offer, that compete with my affections for You.  I have reserved for You alone my sweetest, most tender affections.  
I am wholly Yours, and You are wholly mine…wholly surrendered unto God, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls.  My heart longs to be inflamed with yearning for God alone…to pour out my soul, my life, my all for You!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let this cry of your heart echo through the depths of your soul:
Let the Earth, and all that’s in it, Shout for joy to the LORD!  I worship You, LORD, with gladness; I come before You with joyful songs!  I Know that You alone, LORD, are God!  You are the One Who made me, and I am Yours; we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture.  I enter Your gates with thanksgiving, Lord; I come into Your courts with praise!  I thank You, and I praise Your Holy Name!  For You, O LORD, are Good, and Your love endures forever; Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations. [Ps 100]  Hallelujah! 
FIRST OF ALL, before all else: Enter His gates with thanksgiving; come into His courts with praise!:

WITH THE HEART

Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD! [Ps 31:24]  

The much needed lesson for all who desire to learn truly and fully what waiting on God is: It is with my heart I must wait upon God.  “As a man’s heart is, so he is before God.”  All of my waiting depends upon the state of my heart.  I can advance no further or deeper into the Holy Place of God’s Presence to wait on Him there, than my heart is prepared for it by the Holy Spirit.  It is in this that one of the chief causes must be sought of the feebleness of a Christian’s life.  Many Christians have no sense of the great difference between the religion of the mind and the religion of the heart, and the former is far more diligently cultivated than the latter.  They know not how infinitely greater the heart is than the mind.  Scripture tells me: Prov 3:5-6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.  True…my mind has to gather knowledge from God’s Word, and prepare the food by which my heart with its inner life is to be nourished.  But here comes in a terrible danger, of my leaning to my own human understanding, and trusting in my human apprehension of Divine things.  The understanding deals with conceptions and images of Divine things…only images and shadows…but it cannot reach the real life of my soul.  It is with my heart I am to believe, and come in touch with God.  It is in my heart God has given His Spirit, to be there to me the Presence and the Power of God working in me.  In all my religion it is my heart that must trust and love and worship and obey.  My mind is utterly impotent in creating or maintaining spiritual life within me…my heart must wait in faith and trust upon God for Him to work it in me.  Reason may tell me what God’s Word says, but it can do nothing to the feeding of my soul on the Bread of Life…this my heart alone can do by its faith and trust in God…an unwavering child-like trust and an unreserved child-like dependence upon God.    

My deepest need then, when I have studied or heard God’s Word, is to cease from my thoughts, to put no trust in them, and to waken my heart to open itself before God, and seek living fellowship with Him.  I am to believe in my heart through faith what I can never know with my mind…and seek living fellowship with Him.  Faith is a living relationship with God…not merely thoughts about Him, or studying about Him, or hearing about Him.  My soul, with its powers and capabilities of the human mind, can only learn about God…from the information it gathers, processes, and then forms conclusions.  My soul is not capable of having any personal contact with God.  Only my spirit, where in my heart God has given His Holy Spirit, is capable of having personal contact with God…to commune with Him and experience Him and come to personally know Him.  Faith is not just knowing about Him…it is knowing Him, personally and intimately, by spending time being together with Him and experiencing Him, one to one, heart to heart.  There is an Eternal separation between knowing God by experiencing Him in a deep and intimate personal relationship, and knowledge about God through reading and study…like an historian would do in reading and studying about George Washington.  The personal experience of God is what deepens my knowing God, and separates from mere knowledge about God: Formerly, my ears had only heard of You, but now my (spiritual) eyes have seen You and have seen Your Glory. [Job 42:5].

This is now the blessedness of waiting upon God…that I confess the impotence of all my thoughts and efforts, and set myself still to bow my heart before Him in holy silence, and to trust Him to renew and strengthen His Own work in me.  Remember always the great difference between knowing with my mind and believing with my heart: I need only present my heart before Him as that wonderful part of my spirit in which God reveals Himself to me through His Holy Spirit, and where I can personally, intimately, know Him.  I need only just let my heart wait at times in perfect silence and quiet; in its hidden depths God will work.  I can be sure of this, and just wait on Him.  When once living faith has been awakened, it then watches for every appearing of the Divine Will; it listens for and accepts every indication of the Divine Presence; it looks for and expects the fulfillment of every Divine Promise.  I need only give my whole heart, with its secret workings, into God’s hands continually.  He wants my heart, and takes it, and as God dwells in it.  Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!

This is the blessed life of deep and intimate personal relationship with God: my waiting upon God…watching and waiting, looking off unto Him and listening for His voice…with an unwavering child-like trust and an unreserved child-like dependence, with a joyful expectation and an excited anticipation, for God to reveal to me His plans, His purposes, His will, a deeper revelation of Who He is, 
SO I MAY THEN RESPOND with an unquestioning child-like obedience to every leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, cooperating with the power of His enabling grace Who works in me both to will and to do.
My soul, wait thou only upon God!  

40 DAY PRAYER JOURNEY

What is it that you are asking the Lord to do for you during this 40 day Prayer Journey?  What are the specific blessings you are praying for?

Personal revival.  Revival begins in one’s own heart.  The prayer journey is a consecration of my heart to God, pleading with Him to bring revival, and to begin with me:

  • Longing for God…an ever deeper, ever more intimate, personal  relationship with Him.
  • Hunger and thirst for personal holiness in my heart, manifested in living out my everyday life.
  • Seeking to keep on being continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is the entire focus for the prayer journey over these forty days.  It is intensely personal in nature, a heart-cry to God to touch my life by His Spirit, and work a deep change in me.  You may have this blessed assurance: you will never be the same again!

The hour in worship and prayer each day is not a time for intercession for family members, friends, co-workers, or church family.  Do that at another time.  If you get lost in intercession for others during this hour of prayer, you will have lost the reason for, and purpose of, this Prayer Journey.  My heart longs to be inflamed with yearning for God alone…to pour out my soul, my life, my all for Him!

PRAYER JOURNEY
February 22 through April 2

Preparation: Following is an example of a format for the daily hour of prayer during the Prayer Journey, to provide guidance on how a participant might effectively approach it.  The prayer journey is so intensely personal, however, that within this framework each individual will need to give the Holy Spirit free reign to lead and guide you in the way He alone knows is best for you.  Become familiar with the following referenced Scriptures and Links; they will be a great help to you.   

SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER

Heart preparation: Longing For God [link];
My House Shall Be Called A House of Prayer Video:
https://vimeo.com/132887856/
Link: For everything marked [link], go to:  https://preservechristianfamily.org/category/prayer-journey/

A]        15 min            Worship and Praise: [Ps 100]

  • First, before all else: Begin with a Worship & Praise song [link]
  • Worship His Majesty [link]
  • Worship Scriptures: Psalms; other Scriptures.

B]        30 min            Personal Holiness: [Mt 5:6, 8; Heb 12:14]

  • Purity and holiness [2 Cor 7:1; Mt 5:48]; Purity [link] 
  • Confession of sin and repentance: [1 John 1:9]; Repentance [link]
         * visible physical life     [Mt 5:14-16]
         * unseen physical life [Ps 139:1-12]
         * hidden life in my heart [Mt 5:21-22, 27-28]
         *Spiritual realm [Heb 3:7-4:11]
  • Blood of Christ [link]
  • Bride of Christ [link]  
  • You will find all items marked with [link] above at…  https://preservechristianfamily.org/category/prayer-journey/

C]        15 min      Outpouring of the Holy Spirit: [Eph 5:18; Acts 1:8, 12-14]

Counseling and Encouragement:
Michael: mihkail43@comcast.net

REVIVAL

Revival begins in one’s heart.  The 40 day prayer Journey [February 22 through April 2] is a consecration of my heart to God, pleading with Him to bring revival, and to begin with me. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ…living in the Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the entire focus of our life-long Journey of Faith into the Holy of Holies.  It is intensely personal in nature…a heart-cry to God to touch my life by His Spirit and work a deep change in me.  Revival begins in my own heart.  Our Journey of Faith as resident aliens on this Earth [we are citizens of Heaven] demands a consecration of my heart to God, pleading with Him to bring revival, and to begin with me.   

  • What is it that I am actually calling on God to do when I ask, “Lord, send revival?”  I am pleading with Him to pour out His Holy Spirit upon me…
    to bring a deep conviction of sin and to make me painfully and consciously aware of sin in my life.
    I am crying out for Him to impress me with a deep need for Godly sorrow,  confession of sin, and repentance.
    I am asking from the depths of my soul that He create a pure heart within me…a heart that is inflamed with yearning to live out my everyday life in a purity, holiness, and righteousness of my own that comes from obedience to His Law…in every thought I think, every word I speak, in everything I do.
    I am telling Him that the deepest desire of my heart is to be holy as He is Holy; to be perfect as my Heavenly Father is perfect…just as He exhorts His children to be.
    And I am asking to be filled with His Holy Spirit…that His Spirit would become a fountain within me, welling up, flooding my soul with torrents of Living water…ever flowing, continually overflowing, spilling over, touching the lives of everyone with whom I come into contact…that the Name of Jesus would be glorified through me, with me, and in me…to the praise of His glorious grace!   
  • What can you fully expect God to do for you in answer to this cry of your heart?  He will make you miserable over sin in your life that you have heretofore been careless, complacent, and indifferent about, and He will make you painfully and consciously aware of sins that your heart…being deceitful and desperately wicked that it is…has hidden from you.  He will reprove His children, “Wash your hands, you sinners, and  purify your hearts, you double-minded!”  He will cause you to “Grieve, mourn and wail over your sins, and in true repentance change your laughter to tears of sorrow and your mirth to deep sadness as you grieve over your disloyalty!”  And He will lovingly urge you, “Humble yourself  before Me, and I will lift you up, encourage you, and help you!” [James 4:8-10]  
    He will lead you to confession of sin and true repentance, and to have the same desire for purity, holiness, and righteousness in your life that He desires for all His children: “As the One Who called you is Holy, you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living.  For  it is  written, ‘You  shall  be holy, for I am Holy;’” and, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [1 Peter 1:15-16; Mt 5:48]  He will grant you the desire of your heart for purity, holiness, and righteousness, because Christ Jesus assured you, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” [Mt 5:6]  He has assured me that my longing will be completely satisfied, and I will be filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God…to the richest measure of His unclouded Presence, a soul wholly filled and flooded with God Himself! 
  • There will be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon your life, according to His command, “Keep on continually being filled with the Spirit.” [Eph 5:18]
    You will experience the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in your  life…singing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs and making melody within your heart to God [v. 19].
    You will experience prayer, in accordance with God’s will, moving the hand of God,
    and you will experience the blessings that come from obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.
    God will show you His Glory; you will see it with your own eyes, and you will thereby have occasion to testify to His great Name and mighty Power!  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God! [Mt 5:8]  Hallelujah! 
  • Here is a link to the full presentation of Revival and the intense focus on Purity and Holiness: https://preservechristianfamily.org/2019/01/25/revival/
  • Wherefore brethren, having now boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the Blood of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for us…a new and living way to God through the veil, that is to say, through the veil of His flesh…let us then without further hesitation or delay draw nigh in fullness of faith; here let us continually abide in the fullness of faith. [Heb 10:19-20, 22]  Those who abide in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [PS 91:1]  Hallelujah! 

Brothers and sisters in Christ…

Just as God raised up a remnant of just 1% of all the men Gideon had marshaled to fight against the Midianites, even so there is a holy remnant whom God is raising up for Himself in these Last Days…a Godly remnant of the 1% of His children who will not bow down, who will not shrink back, who will not compromise, who will remain steadfast and immovable in their commitment to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes.  God’s holy remnant is called to a life of self-sacrifice and self-denial.  You cannot become My holy remnant without being willing to sacrifice your desire for anything and everything you own.  Obedience is what characterizes the life of My child…obedience continually and unceasingly day and night.  You are called to a life of obedience.   Obedience is better than sacrifice; rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as evil as worshiping idols. [1 Sam 15:22,23]

God is calling you, and desires to anoint you, to be part of His holy remnant.  Whether you are a pastor, a Christian leader, or a member of the congregation…this is what the Lord says: To the pastors I have placed in charge of My churches concerning your congregation and each individual member, write: This is the last call.  I have wooed you so many times.  This time, I say to you, in great love…there is a cost to an anointing; this is not a light, frivolous matter.  The anointing is not cheap.  If you say in your heart, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it,” if you pay the cost of the anointing, I’ll open doors for you, I’ll speak through you, and I’ll use you again like you have never conceived.  The church and any members of the congregation embracing My call will move in the Power of My Holy Spirit, and bring great glory to God!  The time of being pumped up is over.  I am tired of your solemn assembly’s, I’m tired of your sacrifices…they’re not from the heart.  Don’t miss what God is about to do.  The time has come; I need you, and I love you…but if you ignore this trumpet call…if you say in your heart, “We will not listen,” I am going to remove your anointing.  You’re not going to have anything to say to anybody; you’re going to be dry.  You are going into the desert…I will love you there, and I will keep you in My care, but you can’t go with Me, and I won’t go with you. 
Beloved child of God…let My Holy Spirit open your heart, and say from the depths of your being, “God, once again, use Your church; use Your child.  Now…not another time…tonight, let something in my heart respond to Your call.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vmE2nbVctE  [Note: this video opens in the middle of a worship song, which continues to the 2:15 minute mark before Pastor Wilkerson is introduced as the speaker]  

LONGING FOR GOD

  • Is your soul longing to experience real joy, real peace, real comfort?
  • Does your soul thirst for the felt-sense of the Presence of God?
  • Do you long for this deeper, more intimate personal relationship with the Lord…and His promise to pour all of His Blessedness and Goodness into you, to have deep and intimate fellowship with you, to become ever more one with you?
  • Well then, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me!  Let him drink who believes in Me…ever coming, ever drinking, continually satisfied!  The Water I give will become a fountain within you, welling up, flooding your soul with torrents of Living Water…ever flowing, continually  overflowing!  No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry!  No one who believes and trusts in Me shall ever again thirst!  Your soul shall forever be satisfied, as with the richest of foods!  You will feast on the abundance of My House, and I will give you drink from My River of Delights!  Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the Waters; and you who have no money…come, buy, and eat!  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!”  Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life!

Following is a prayer entitled Longing For God.  You will be greatly blessed in embracing this as your own prayer!   https://preservechristianfamily.org/2019/01/22/longing/

WORSHIP YOUR MAJESTY

Lord God Almighty…I worship Your majesty; Your Name is majestic in all the Earth.  You are glorious in Your Majesty, majestic in Holiness, awesome in Power, You are our wonder-working God.  You do whatsoever You will with the powers of Heaven and Earth.  You call the things that are not just as though they are.  You merely speak, and it is done; the very words You speak carry within themselves the power to effect what You have spoken…immediately, completely, continually.  The mountains quake before You, and the hills melt away.  The very mountains melt like wax in Your Presence!  The Earth trembles at Your Presence…the world and all who live in it.  Heaven and Earth flee from the Almightiness of Your Presence!  https://preservechristianfamily.org/2019/01/25/worship/

PERSONAL HOLINESS

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.  Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
https://preservechristianfamily.org/2019/01/23/repentance/

PURITY, HOLINESS, AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

Purity, holiness, and righteousness…first of all and above all…is a matter of the heart.  It is in my hidden life within my heart…in my mind, my thoughts, my imagination…where a pure, holy, and righteous life has its roots.  The only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart.  Without that purity, the outward physical life makes no difference.  God’s Divine evaluation takes place in the heart.  He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation.

If the purity, holiness, and righteousness that people see in your everyday visible physical life is not a true reflection of an inner purity deep within your heart, then either you do not belong to Christ or you are living a double life in disobedience to Him.  Obedience begins in your heart.  Many would abhor to commit one sinful external act before the eyes of men in a temple of stone; and yet they are not afraid to commit a multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in the sight of God!  If, for example, voluntary and deliberate looks and desires make adulterers and adulteresses, how many persons are there whose whole life is one continued crime!  Many men and women go to hell forever because of the deception of outwardly-seen self-righteous religion.  The illusion that sin is only an external issue is damning.  Heinous in His sight are sinful thoughts and feelings which may be forever concealed from the world!  

True Christianity lies in the heart, in the purity of heart; the washing of the heart from wickedness.  Those who truly belong to God will be motivated to purity.  The deepest desire of the redeemed is for holiness, even when sin hinders the perfect fulfillment of that desire.  Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. [Rom 6:19] Intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God is reserved for the pure in heart.  

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart.  Therefore, brethren…Come near to God and He will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded!  Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.  Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. [Matt 5:8; Ps 24:3-4; James 4:8; 2 Cor 7:1; Heb 12:14; Matt 5:6]

Matt 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God

Here is one of those passages of Scripture whose depths are immeasurable and whose breadth is impossible to encompass.  This incredible statement of Jesus is among the greatest utterances in all of the Bible.  The subject of holiness, of purity of heart, can be traced from Genesis to Revelation.  The theme is infinitely vast and touches on virtually every other biblical truth; it is impossible to exhaust its meaning or significance!

Excerpts From Matthew Henry’s Commentary

The pure in heart are happy; Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  This is the most comprehensive of all the beatitudes; here holiness and happiness are fully described and put together.  

Here is the most comprehensive character of the blessed: they are pure in heart.  Note, True religion consists in heart-purity.  Those who are inwardly pure, show themselves to be under the power of pure and undefiled religion.  True Christianity lies in the heart, in the purity of heart; the washing of that from wickedness: Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved.  How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? [Jer 4:14]  We must lift up to God, not only clean hands, but a pure heart: Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?  Or who shall stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up to falsehood or to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully.  He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. [Ps 24:4-5]  The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. [1 Tim 1:5]  The heart must be purified by faith, and entire for God; must be presented and preserved a chaste virgin to Christ.  Create in me such a clean heart, O God! [Ps 51:10]

Here is the most comprehensive comfort of the blessed; they shall see God.  It is the perfection of the soul’s happiness to see God; to see Him as mine, and to see Him and enjoy Him; to see Him and be like Him, and be satisfied with that likeness, and to see Him for ever, and never lose the sight of Him; this is Heaven’s happiness.  As for me, I will continue beholding Your face in righteousness (rightness, justice, and right standing with You); I shall be fully satisfied when I awaken to find myself beholding Your form and having sweet communion with You. [Ps 17:15]  

The happiness of seeing God is promised to those, and those only, who are pure in heart.

Excerpts From The MacArthur New Testament Commentary

The Meaning of Holiness:

  • Blessed: The word blessed implies the condition of well-being that results from salvation, the status of one who has a right relation to God. Being accepted by Him is a matter of internal transformation.
  • Heart: used metaphorically to represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality; much more than emotion or feelings, it also includes the thinking process and particularly the will.  The heart is the control center of mind and will as well as emotion.  As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. [Prov 23:7]  Knowing their thoughts, Jesus asked a group of Scribes, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?”  He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’  For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” [Matt 9:4; Mark 7:20-23]

It is in the inner man, in the core of his very being, that God requires purity.  “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” [Prov 4:23]  The problem that caused God to destroy the Earth in the Flood was a heart problem: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the Earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” [Gen 6:5]  God has always been concerned above all else with the inside of man, with the condition of his heart.  Evil ways and deeds begin in the heart and mind, which are here used synonymously.  Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.  These are the things which defile the man.” [Matt 15:19]

David acknowledged before the Lord, “Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part Thou wilt make me know wisdom;” and then he prayed “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” [Ps 51:6,10]  Asaph wrote, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!” [Ps 73:1]  Jeremiah declared, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” [Jer 17:9-10]  

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. [1 Sam 16:7]  It was said of David’s leadership over Israel, “He shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart. [Ps 78:72]

  • Pure: to make pure by cleansing from dirt, filth, and contamination. Applied to the heart, the idea is that of pure motive…of single-mindedness, undivided devotion, spiritual integrity, and true righteousness.  Double-mindedness has always been one of the great plagues of the church.  “Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” [James 4:4] “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” [v. 8]

Those who truly belong to God will be motivated to purity.  The deepest desire of the redeemed is for holiness, even when sin halts the fulfillment of that desire.  Though we may be extremely religious and constantly engaged in doing good things, we cannot please God unless our hearts are right with Him.  The ultimate standard for purity of heart is perfection of heart.  In the same sermon in which He gave the Beatitudes Jesus said, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [Matt 5:48]  Only those who are pure in heart may enter the Kingdom.  “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?”  David asks, “and who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” [Ps 24:3-4] 

The only true religion is heart religion, which is based on God’s implanted purity.  By faith in what God has done through His Son, Jesus Christ, “We have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” [Eph 1:7]  When God imputes His righteousness to us [the Eternal Power and the Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured my Judicial Status of Eternal Righteousness before God as an accomplished and finished fact] He imputes His purity to us [we are dressed in the white robes of the righteousness of Christ].  

As we look at Scripture we discover six kinds of purity:

  • Primal purity…the kind that exists only in God;
  • Created purity…the purity that existed in God’s Creation before it was corrupted by the Fall;
  • Positional purity…the purity we are given the moment we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior: The Eternal Power and Worth of the Blood of Jesus has conferred upon us the judicial status of Eternal righteousness before God;
  • Imputed purity…God grants actual purity in the new nature of the believer [we are pure and holy and righteous in His sight, without spot or wrinkle or blemish; holy and blameless] [Rom 6:4-5; 8:5-11; Col 3:9-10; 2 Peter 1:3]: every believer is a new creation [2 Cor 5:17];
  • Practical purity…demands our participation in a way that the other kinds of purity do not.  “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One Who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” [1 Peter 1:14-16] [Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for a purity, holiness, and righteousness of their own that comes from obedience to the Law.  You assured me that my longing will be completely satisfied, and I will be filled up to the measure of all the fullness of God…to the richest measure of Your unclouded Presence, a soul wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!]  Cooperate with the power of His enabling grace Who is the One in me Who works in me both to will and to do.  It is His work, not mine.  We are not saved just for future Heavenly purity but also for present Earthly purity.  If purity does not characterize our living, we either do not belong to Christ, or we are disobedient to Him;
  • Ultimate purity…the perfected purity that God’s redeemed people will experience when they are glorified in His Presence.  

The Way to Holiness: 
God always provides for what He demands, and He has provided ways for us to live purely:

  • First, we must realize our hopeless helplessness, and utter dependence upon God…that we are unable to live a single holy moment without the Lord’s guidance and power.  Cleansing begins with a recognition of weakness.  Weakness then reaches out for the strength of God.
  • Second, we must stay in God’s Word.  Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you.” [John 15:3]
  • Third, it is essential to be controlled by and walking in the will and way of the Holy Spirit: Walk in the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. [Gal 5:16]
  • Fourth, we must pray.  We cannot stay in God’s will or understand and obey His Word unless we stay near Him: With all prayer and petition we are to pray at all times in the Spirit [Eph 6:18]  With David we cry, Create in me a clean heart, O God. [Ps 51:10]  

The Result of Holiness:

  • The great blessing of those who are pure in heart is that they be continuously seeing God.  Intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God is reserved for the pure.  To see God was the greatest hope of Old Testament saints.  Like Moses, David wanted to see more of God: As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before Him? [Ps 42:1]
  • F.F. Bullard wrote:
    When I in righteousness at last Thy glorious Face shall see;
    When all the weary night has passed, and I awake with Thee;
    To view the glories that abide, then and only then will I be satisfied.

Matt 5:27-28: You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery.”  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

From the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus focuses on the internal, on what men are like in their minds and hearts. That is the primary thrust of Matt 5:21-48, as the Lord reemphasizes the Divine standards for living in His Kingdom, the Divine standards already given in the Law of the Old Testament, in contrast to Jewish tradition.  The only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart.  Without that purity, the outward physical life makes no difference.  God’s divine evaluation takes place in the heart.  He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation.

Excerpts From The Bible Exposition Commentary

In Matt 5:27-30, Jesus affirmed God’s law of purity, and then explained that the intent of this law was to reveal the sanctity of sex and the sinfulness of the human heart.  God created sex, and God protects sex.  He has the authority to regulate it and to punish those who rebel against His laws.  Sexual impurity begins in the desires of the heart.  Again, Jesus is not saying that lustful desires are identical to lustful deeds, and therefore a person having already sinned in lustful desires might just as well go ahead and commit the physical act of adultery.  The desire and the deed are not identical, but, spiritually speaking, they are equivalent.  The “look” that Jesus mentioned was not a casual glance, but a constant stare with the purpose of lusting.  It is certainly possible for a man to glance at a beautiful woman and know that she is beautiful, but not lust after her.  The man Jesus described looked at the woman for the purpose of feeding his inner sensual appetites as a substitute for the act.  It was not accidental; it was planned.

Excerpts From Adam Clarke’s Commentary

It is the earnest wish or desire of the soul, which, in a variety of cases, constitutes the good or evil of an act.  If a man earnestly wish to commit an evil, but cannot, because God puts time, place, and opportunity out of his power, he is fully chargeable with the iniquity of the act by that God who searches and judges the heart.  So also, if a man earnestly wish to do some righteous act…some loving kindness or goodness…which it is out of his power to perform, the act is considered as his; because God, in this case as in that above, takes the will for the deed.  If voluntary and deliberate looks and desires make adulterers and adulteresses, how many persons are there whose whole life is one continued crime!  “Whose eyes being full of adultery, they cannot cease from sin” [2 Peter 2:14]  Many would abhor to commit one impure, unholy external act before the eyes of men in a temple of stone; and yet they are not afraid to commit a multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in the sight of God!  

Excerpts From Barnes’ Notes

Our Saviour in these verses explains the seventh commandment.  It is probable that the Pharisees had explained this commandment, as they had the sixth, as extending only to the external act; and that they regarded evil thoughts and a wanton imagination as of little consequence, or as not forbidden by the Law.  Our Saviour assures them that the commandment did not regard the external act merely, but the secrets of the heart, and the movements of the eye.  He declares that they who indulge a wanton desire, that they who look on a woman to increase their lust, have already, in the sight of God, violated the commandment, and committed adultery in the heart.  Such was the guilt of David, whose deep and awful crime fully shows the danger of indulging in evil desires, and in the rovings of a wanton eye.  So exceeding strict and broad is the Law of God!  And so heinous in His sight are thoughts and feelings which may be forever concealed from the world!

Excerpts From Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary

But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a women to lust after her…with the intent to do so…with the full consent of his will, to feed thereby his unholy desires…hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.  We are not to suppose, from the word here used …“adultery”…that our Lord means to restrict the breach of this commandment to married persons only, or to criminal sexual intercourse with such.  The expressions, “whosoever looketh,” and “looketh upon a woman,” seem clearly to extend the range of this commandment to all forms of impurity, and the counsels which follow…as they most certainly were intended for all, whether married or unmarried…seem to confirm this.  

Excerpts From Matthew Henry’s Commentary

The command is here laid down (v. 27), “Thou shalt not commit adultery;” which includes a prohibition of all other acts of uncleanness, and the desire of them: but the Pharisees, in their expositions of this command, made it to extend no further than the physical act of adultery.  We are here taught, that there is such a thing as heart-adultery, adulterous thoughts and dispositions, which never proceed to the physical act of adultery or fornication.  This command forbids not only the acts of fornication and adultery, but all appetites to them, all lusting after the forbidden object; this is the beginning of the sin, lust conceiving [James 1:15]; it is a bad step towards the sin; and where the lust is dwelt upon and approved, and the wanton desire is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, it is the commission of sin, as far as the heart can do it; there wants nothing but convenient opportunity for the sin itself…as was with David.  All approaches toward them; feeding the eye with the sight of the forbidden fruit; not only looking for that end, that I may lust; but looking till I do lust, or looking to gratify the lust, where further satisfaction cannot be obtained.  This forbids also the using of any other of our senses to stir up lust.  If ensnaring looks are forbidden fruit, much more unclean discourses, and wanton dalliances, the fuel and bellows of this hellish fire.  And if looking be lust, they who dress and deck, and expose themselves, with design to be looked at and lusted after [like Jezebel, that painted her face and tired her head, and looked out at the window] are no less guilty.  Men sin, but devils tempt to sin. 

Excerpts From The MacArthur New Testament Commentary

Matt 5:28: But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  Jesus continues to unmask the self-righteous externalism typified by the scribes and Pharisees by showing that the only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart.  Without that purity, the outward life makes no difference.  God’s divine evaluation takes place in the heart. He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation.  As a person thinks within himself, so he is [Prov 23:7], and so he is judged by God [1 Sam 16:7].

The Deed:

  • You shall not murder.  You shall not commit adultery. [Ex 20:13-14]  Those who rely only on external righteousness and disregard inner righteousness break both of those commandments, because in their hearts they attack the sanctity of life [murder] and the sanctity of marriage [adultery]…whether you do so outwardly in the physical realm or not.  When you are angry or hate, you commit murder.  When you lust sexually, you commit adultery.  And when you do either of those things, you choose to despise God’s Law and God’s Name.  Physical infidelity is first of all a matter of the heart; lusting is just as sinful in God’s eyes as the actual physical act of adultery.
  • The moral and spiritual fabric of our Nation has been disintegrating at warp speed.  We are preoccupied with sex to a degree perhaps never before seen in a civilized culture.  Yet the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. [1 Cor 6:13]  The body is more than biological, as Divine judgment will reveal.  For Christians it is a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit, and belongs to the Lord rather than to us: Flee from sexual immorality.  All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.  Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in you, Whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price…the precious and priceless Blood of Christ Jesus the Son. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to Him. [1 Cor 6:18-20]  It is therefore never to be used for any purpose that dishonors the God Who made it and indwells it.  Christians should have but one response to sexual temptation…running away from it: She came and grabbed Joseph by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!”  Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house. [Gen 39:12]
  • Throughout the New Testament, prohibitions against sexual immorality are every bit as clear as those of the Old.  “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals” will inherit the Kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9; cf. Gal 5:19-21; Rev 2:22)  “Fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Heb 13:4)  Regardless of how much a couple may care for each other and be deeply in love, sexual relations outside of marriage are forbidden.  In every case, without exception, it is a heinous sin against God.
  • In both the Old and New Testaments the word “adultery” relates to sexual intercourse with anyone other than one’s marriage partner.  That Jesus here implies that the principle of sexual purity can be seen in a wider sense than adultery (though adultery is His point here) seems clear from the fact that both “everyone” and “a woman” are comprehensive terms that could also apply to the unmarried.  

The Desire:

  • Jesus is speaking of intentional looking with the purpose of lusting.  He is speaking of the man who looks so that he may satisfy his evil desire.  He is speaking of the man who goes to an X-rated movie, who selects a television program known for its sexual orientation, who goes to a beach known for its scanty swimsuits, or who does any such thing with the expectation and desire of being sexually and sinfully titillated.
  • Looking at a woman lustfully does not cause a man to commit adultery in his thoughts.  He already has committed adultery in his heart.  It is not lustful looking that causes the sin in the heart, but the sin in the heart that causes lustful looking.  The lustful looking is but the expression of a heart that is already immoral and adulterous.  The heart is the soil where the seeds of sin are embedded and begin to grow.
  • It is continuing to look in order to satisfy lustful desires that Jesus condemns, because it evidences a vile, immoral heart.  David was not at fault for seeing Bathsheba bathing.  He could not have helped noticing her, because she was in plain view as he walked on the palace roof.  His sin was in dwelling on the sight…lingering in the evil thought, considering it, dwelling upon it…and in willingly succumbing to the temptation.  He could have looked away and put the experience out of his mind.  The fact that he had her brought to his chambers and committed adultery with her expressed the immoral desire that already existed in his heart. [2 Sam 11:1-4]  
  • A popular proverb goes, “Sow a thought and reap an act.  Sow an act and reap a habit.  Sow a habit and reap a character.  Sow a character and reap a destiny.”  That process perfectly illustrates Jesus’ main thrust in this passage: No matter where it ends, sin always begins when an evil thought is sown in the mind and heart.
  • Just as the adulterous heart plans to expose itself to lust-satisfying situations, the godly heart plans to avoid them whenever possible and to flee from them when unavoidable.  Just as the adulterous heart panders to itself in advance, so the godly heart protects itself in advance, praying with the psalmist, “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Thy ways.  Establish Thy word to Thy servant, as that which produces reverence for Thee.” [Ps 119:37-38]  Paul exhorted Timothy to “flee from youthful lusts” and to cultivate a “pure heart: “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. [2 Tim 2:22]  Like Job, therefore, we must make a covenant with our eyes…and with every other part of our bodies, minds, and spirits…to shun lust and pursue purity.  

The Deliverance:

  • Jesus’ point is that we should be willing to give up whatever is necessary, even the most cherished things we possess, if doing that will help protect us from evil.  Nothing is so valuable as to be worth preserving at the expense of righteousness.
  • The intent of these intense words of Jesus is simply to call for dramatic severing of the sinful impulses in us which push us to evil action (cf. Matt 18:8-9).  The message of this hyperbolic statement of our Lord is clearly that sin must be dealt with radically.  If we do not consciously and purposefully control what is around us, where we go, what we do, what we watch and read, the company we keep, and the conversations we have, then those things will control us.  And what we cannot control we should discard without hesitation.
  • Obviously getting rid of harmful influences will not change a corrupt heart into a pure heart.  Outward acts cannot produce inner benefits.  But just as the outward act of adultery reflects a heart that is already adulterous, the outward act of forsaking whatever is harmful reflects a heart that hungers and thirsts for righteousness.  That outward act is effective protection, because it comes from a heart that seeks to do God’s will instead of its own.
  • Jesus again sets forth the impossible standards of His Kingdom righteousness.  All people are murderers and adulterers.  Many do not realize that they are because of the subtlety of sin and its blinding effect on the mind.  Jesus does not suggest that the scribes and Pharisees, or anyone else, could deliver themselves from the propensity to sin.  As always, the impossibility that He sets forth has a twofold purpose: to make men and women despair of their own righteousness and to seek His.  The Lord’s remedy for a wicked heart is a new heart, and His answer for our helplessness is His sufficiency.  

Writer’s Biblical Conclusion:

  • I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. [Gal 5:16]  It is only the Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit that enables me to abide in the Holy of Holies; He alone gives me the desire to even want to live my everyday life there.  How, then, do I live my life in the Power of the Spirit?  Not by trying, but by trusting.  Living in the Power of the Spirit is entirely a matter of trust…an unwavering child-like trust that He will indeed work in me both to will and to do…both the desire to want to give Him free reign, and the power to actually do so.  If I try to walk in the Spirit…if I am determined to live my life in the Power of the Spirit by my own efforts, resolutions, commitments, re-doubled efforts to do so, I have only guaranteed my failure.  Why would I ever think that the powers of my sin-enslaved human nature would voluntarily choose to deny its own self and put forth effort to give the Spirit free reign over the conduct of my life?  Quite the contrary…for my sin-enslaved human nature has a strong desire for its own will to be done and so to suppress the Spirit, and the Spirit constantly has a strong desire for God’s will to be done and so to suppress my sin-enslaved human nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that I am hindered by my sin-enslaved human nature from freely doing what I desire to do in obedience to God. [Gal 5:17]  Living my life in the Power of the Spirit is solely, wholly, and only the work of the Spirit in me.  It is His work, not mine.  Yet it is ours, because I am one with Him whose work it is.  My place is to respond to every leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, not by my determined efforts to do so but rather by cooperating with the power of His enabling grace to do so.

Purity:

  • Purity, holiness, and righteousness…first of all and above all…is a matter of the heart.  It is in my hidden life within my heart…in my mind, my thoughts, my imagination…where a pure, holy, and righteous life has its roots.  The only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart. Without that purity, the outward physical life makes no difference.  God’s Divine evaluation takes place in the heart.  He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation. 
    True Christianity lies in the heart, in the purity of heart; the washing of the heart from wickedness.  Those who truly belong to God will be motivated to purity.  The deepest desire of the redeemed is for holiness, even when sin hinders the perfect fulfillment of that desire.  Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. [Rom 6:19]  Intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God is reserved for the pure in heart. 
    Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart.  Therefore, brethren…Come near to God and He will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded!  Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that  contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.  Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.      https://preservechristianfamily.org/2019/01/24/purity/

Friends, brothers and sisters…

There is one absolutely necessary preparation for every living soul on the face of this Earth, for the soon coming and imminent return of Jesus Christ…the one preparation that will irrevocably determine in which neighborhood you will spend all eternity, whether in Heaven or in Hell.  You must be a born-again child of God.  I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s Kingdom.  I tell you the truth, no one can ever enter the Kingdom of God unless you are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at My saying you must be born again. [Jesus…John 3:3-7]

If you have never been born again,
or you are not sure whether you have been born again,
or you have been living your life as a lukewarm Christian and would now like to recommit your life and enter into a deep and intimate relationship with Christ Jesus in preparation for the soon coming marriage supper of the Lamb…
then I counsel you to get alone with God, read the solemn marriage vows presented below you must make to become the bride of Christ and thereby be born-again, and with sincerity of heart from within the depths of your being, acknowledge before God, “I DO.”

MARRIAGE VOWS 
SPIRITUAL BRIDE OF CHRIST

  • Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Divine Son in the Triune God, the Lamb of God Who came into this world to become the One only, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice through His death on a cross and subsequent resurrection, thereby securing forgiveness for your sins and restoring your relationship with God that had been severed by sin?
  • Do you now solemnly vow before God to give yourself to be the bride of Christ, receiving Jesus the Christ into your life in a spiritual marriage, promising to honor and obey Him as both Lord over your life and Savior of your soul?
  • To be joined inseparably together with Him in a Sacred Covenant relationship…an Eternal living union of oneness through the new life to be conceived in you by the Holy Spirit…
  • To have and to hold Him, above all others and above all else this world has to offer, as the choicest, most precious treasure of your heart…
  • To love and to cherish Him, above all others and above all else this world has to offer, reserving for Him alone your sweetest, most tender affections…
  • For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life, until death of this body brings you to be together with Him in Heaven for all eternity?

Now this is eternal life: knowing You, Father, the One True Living God, and knowing Jesus Christ Your Son, the Messiah Whom You have sent.  God Himself has given this testimony concerning His Son: I have granted you eternal life, and this life is given through union with My Divine Son Jesus.  Whoever is joined together with My Son in a living union of oneness possesses that life;  whoever is NOT joined together with My Son in a living union of oneness
does NOT possess that life.
I have written this to you so that you who place your trust in Christ My Son will know, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that you do now indeed  have eternal life.  

BLOOD OF CHRIST

I stand in awe of the Sacrificial Lamb of God…You came into this world clothed in meekness, and lowliness and humility.  You loved me with an everlasting love and You voluntarily lay down Your life for me, even unto death.  No one took Your life, Lord; You were free to lay it down, and free to take it up again.  You stretched out Your arms on a cross on my behalf, and declared, “IT IS FINISHED”…for all time, and for all Eternity.

  • IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power and the Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured that the Eternal Purpose for which God created me…to be joined together with the Triune God in a Sacred Covenant relationship…stands eternally fulfilled.
  • IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power and the Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured my Judicial Status of Eternal Righteousness before God as an accomplished and finished fact.
  • IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power and the Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured my Eternal Union with You, Lord…joined inseparably together with You in an Eternal living union of oneness as the bride of Christ in a divine marriage…flesh of Your flesh and bone of Your bones.
  • IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power and the Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured my Eternal Access into the Holy Of Holies, and into the inaccessible Light of the Glory of Your unclouded Presence, Father…as my birth-right.
  • IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Holy Spirit was indeed given as God’s Eternal Gift to dwell in me, never to leave me, never to forsake me…to be the Power in me Who continually guarantees and secures my capability to live my everyday life faithful to my solemn marriage vows as the bride of Christ in our Sacred Covenant relationship.
  • IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit is now made continually available to me, Whose Power in me continually guarantees and secures my capability to live my everyday life faithfully within the Holy Of Holies, in the inaccessible Light of the Glory of Your unclouded Presence, Father, in our Sacred Covenant relationship. 

Revelation 3:1-22 [NIV; amplification in italics]

To the angel (pastor) I have placed in charge of the church in Sardis concerning his congregation and each individual member, write:
“These are the words of Him Who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.  I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent!  But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief in the night, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.  Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.  They will walk with Me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.  I will never erase his name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge his name before My Father and His angels.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and each of their members.”

To the angel (pastor) I have placed in charge of the church in Philadelphia
concerning his congregation and each individual member, write:
“These are the words of Him Who is Holy and True, Who holds the key of David.  What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.  I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.  I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My Word and have not denied My name.  I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars…I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.  Since you have kept My command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the Earth.  I am coming soon!  Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.  Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God.  Never again will he leave it.  I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the City of My God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of Heaven from My God; and I will also write on him My Own new name.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and each of their members.”

To the angel (pastor) I have placed in charge of the church in Laodicea concerning his congregation and each individual member, write:
“These are the words of the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the ruler of God’s Creation.  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot…not willing to give up pretension and claim to My name, yet having too much love for the world to stand steadfast and immovable with Me.  I wish you were either one or the other!  Make up your mind, would you please!  So, because you are lukewarm…neither hot nor cold…I am about to spit you out of My mouth!  You say, `I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked!  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can truly see.  Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.  So be earnest, and repent!  Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My Throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and each of their members.” [Revelation 3:1-22]

End Times Of Biblical Prophesy

Following is a powerful message from the pulpit…6th part of a new weekly 10 sermon series by Dr. David Jeremiah…proving that we are currently living in the End Times prophesied in Scripture.  I will be posting all the messages in this series as they are presented.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND watching these video presentations.
Sunday 10/24: End Times People…A Biological Prophesy: Dr. David Jeremiah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_lylW-GAH4

Brothers and sisters in Christ…

The Bible warns there will be the Anti-christ…a man who proclaims to be God…who will unite the world in a one world government, with a one world financial system, and establish a one world religion.
While we cannot predict “the day or the hour,” when you put all these components together, it’s starting to look even now a lot like the beginnings of the End.
He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead as a visible badge to show their allegiance to their infernal lord, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the Beast or the number of his name! [Revelation 13:16-17] 

  • The vaccine mandate with its “VACCINE PASSPORT/DIGITAL ID,” without which you won’t be able to buy or sell…your kids won’t be able to attend school, you will not be allowed to go to work, or go into any store or facility open to the public, or travel anywhere, or attend any sporting events or live entertainment, or to enter movie theaters, or do anything…is the forerunner of, and preparation for, the mark of the Beast. 
  • The GLOBAL RESET with its one world government and one world financial system…now being ushered in through the on-going destruction of the Constitutional Republic of America which stood in the way of the principles and dictates of the Anti-christ…is the preparation of the way for the coming rule and reign of the Anti-christ. 

1]  Destruction of America: Preparation of the Way For the Anti-christ 

There were 5 chilling prophetic dreams posted by Pastor Dana Cornerstone that portrayed the utter destruction of America.  I have been writing about this nearly every day for 19 months already, and so the dreams are not really prophesy, they are a confirmation of the Holy Spirit of what is already taking place!
I am going to post one dream each day for the next 5 days; following is the 4th & 5th one [two in the one dream].  I urge you to watch them and consider them in light of how events have unfolded even to this very hour.

  • Data Dream: Fried circuits in cities crashing; clouds of smoke…like smoke signals.  Then continuing on East to Philadelphia…
    [4th] under the Liberty bell, and then an explosion.  The Liberty Bell cracked in half, the 2 pieces laying on the rounded side on the ground.  The intense heat began melting them; they could never be put back together again.
    [5th] Circuits reach Capitol Bldg.     explode; Capitol Bldg cracked in half.  Figure in white [Holy Spirit] standing at podium where Presidents give State of Union address: “A house divided against itself SHALL NOT STAND.”  Then He walks to rear exit door, and flips the entire panel of light switches, one by one, until all the lights were out.  https://youtu.be/ydpIwdhnucQ

Lord God Almighty, when Your judgments come upon the Earth…as they are even now…the people of the world learn righteousness.  Though God shows grace to the wicked, even so, they still do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they continue going on doing evil, and regard not the Majesty of the Lord. [Luke 21:26; Isa 26:10]
But if the watchman sees the danger coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes the life of even one of them, that one will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood. [Ezek 33:6]
Lord God Almighty, as Your watchman I have been solemnly fulfilling the responsibility You have given me in sounding the alarm to warn Your people; there will be no blood on my hands.  

Brothers and sisters in Christ…

I love my Country; I grew up here, and worked here, and enjoyed the freedoms we were given here.  Even so…this Country is no longer the Country I grew up in.  It has become something else…something totally different, something strange and foreign to me.  We are a Nation no longer under the rule and Authority of God, and as a result so horribly transformed from what our Founding Fathers envisioned and birthed.  Once a great and respected Christian Nation, God has made us the laughingstock of the world.  This is what the Sovereign Lord said to Moses concerning the Israelites, and our Nation’s founding fathers warned it would apply to America as well: If you disobey the Lord your God and do not faithfully keep all His commands and laws that I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you in accordance with God’s solemn resolve to punish you as you deserve for disobeying Him. 
Cursed shall you be in the city and
cursed shall you be in the field.
Cursed shall you be when you come in and
cursed shall you be when you go out.
The Lord will send upon you curses…calamitous events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, or pestilence that happen suddenly with a huge loss of life.
He will bring confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking Him. [Deut 15-16, 19-20]
Presented below is what it looks like…utter chaos…when God has determined by His Own Divine Decree to destroy a Nation, as He has America.  Here is what a Fascist Totalitarian Dictatorship looks like as it continues to unilaterally shut down, trample over, and shred our every constitutional right that stands in its way.
Make no mistake about it…God Himself has Personally judged our Nation with utter destruction, by His Own Divine Decree.  Man did not do this; God didn’t just allow this to happen, He determined it to happen.  Just as He did not allow Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed, or allow the world to be destroyed by a Great Flood…He Personally caused it.
We are plunging into a deep and very dark abyss in American history, at warp speed!  A new Democrat reign of terror is upon us, utterly obliterating our Constitutional Republic, free speech, free press, political playing field, and our personal liberty!  We need to be fully aware of what is taking place in our Nation in order to know how to be prepared as ministers of the Lord during these End Times.
God has determined by Divine decree that our Nation will be destroyed.  “Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat!  Those whom God is determined to destroy, He first infatuates.”  God has Personally stricken the minds of our Nation’s leaders with idiocy, so that professing to be wise, they have become fools…utter morons! [Rom 1:22]  He has caused their thinking to become utterly confused…just as He had warned…so that they actually believe they are acting in wisdom while they are in reality literally destroying the Nation!  You see it unfolding before your very eyes every day!  The Lord will cause you to lose your mind in idiocy, and strike you with wild and helpless fear and panic; He will make you become blind and cause your minds and hearts to be confused. [Deut 28:28]  

Destruction of America

  • Brethren…you need to watch this Pastor Dana prophetic dream concerning ominous events that will take place…perhaps during December, and January.  We see all of these things being foreshadowed even now in our everyday news…
    Baltic Dry Index dead…no movement of goods, no global trade; ships anchored in ports, nothing moving at sea;
    people standing for hours on long food lines;
    Nationwide power outages;
    people being housed in shelters;
    market crashes and yields lost;
    Great sadness throughout the land; people seemed very dazed and very confused;
    Depression as a creature, choking people, pushing them down;
    God’s holy remnant shining like little beacons of light and hope in neighborhoods throughout the Nation:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEMpDDLFvVE
  • Perhaps God is now forewarning of something worse yet to come, even Nationwide…a cyber attack shutting down our electric grid, or severe food shortages resulting from cargo ships stranded unloaded in our harbors…I don’t know; I can’t answer that.  Even so…This is where I continue to stand.  I don’t know why God has been exhorting me to continually warn the brethren to be prepared with a supply of food and necessities…but I am not giving up my own provisions at this point in time.  I am holding on, and I will wait and see what takes place.
    And so I continue to encourage you…Make provision for the physical sustenance of your family and yourself [refer to  https://preservechristianfamily.org/2017/02/26/brace-yourself-prepare/
    A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep on going, and suffer for it. [Proverbs 22:3] 
    The Lord always warns His holy remnant beforehand, so that they will always be prepared and never taken by surprise like the unbelievers and the lukewarm.  Make provision for yourself and your family materially, spiritually, and emotionally NOW for what the Lord is warning will take place so as to not be overwhelmed by a severe scarcity of goods, and thereby spiral into debilitating emotional depression!
    You need to be prepared and available as a minister of the Lord to a dying world: Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the Word of life. [Phil 2:14-16]  We have been raised up by the Lord for such a time as this!  

But if the watchman sees the danger coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes the life of even one of them, that one will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood. [Ezek 33:6]
Lord God Almighty, as Your watchman I have been solemnly fulfilling the responsibility You have given me in sounding the alarm to warn Your people; there will be no blood on my hands. 

Beloved…I still hold to these words of warning from the Holy Spirit:  “Brace yourself, and tell others that I have warned them to brace themselves, for they are about to see even more shocking things.  Ready or not, Nation, here it comes!  Brace yourself on My Word and on My promises, and do not rely on your own strength.  Do not stop bracing yourselves, and don’t look back; the storm will not pass until I, the Lord, stop the storm!  Those who refuse to get ready will be wanting in the end.”

All who take refuge in the shelter of the Most High are filled with gladness; I shall ever sing and shout for joy!  You spread Your protection over me, that I who love Your Name may continually rejoice in Your Presence!  For surely, O Lord, You pour out blessings upon the righteous; You surround me with Your unfailing Love as with a shield! [Ps 5:11-12]

Lord God Almighty…even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are always with me; Your rod and Your staff protect, guide, and comfort me.  You prepare a banquet before me in the presence of my enemies!  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows with blessings!  Surely Your Goodness and Love accompanies me all the days of my life, and I shall abide in Your house forever! [Ps 23:4-6]

This is what the Most Holy, Most High, Triune God declares:
The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  The heavens will  disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire.  Since everything on the Earth will be destroyed in this way, you ought to live a holy and godly life as you look forward to the coming Day of the Lord!  Everyone who has this hope purifies himself, just as He is pure.  So, beloved, since you are expecting these things to happen, be eager to be found by Him at His coming living a pure and blameless life and at peace…in serene confidence, free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts.  Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked persons.  I don’t want you to lose your own secure footing.  But grow in the special favor and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as He Who called you is Holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am Holy.” [2 Peter 3:3-4, 10-12, 14, 17; 1 John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:14-16; Ezek 12:22-23] 

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him. [Matt 24:36-39, 42-44]   

“Behold”, says the Lord Jesus in His last warning for the last opportunity offered to mankind to be among His redeemed, “I come for the last time like a thief in the night to gather those who would be among the elect!  Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, in watchfulness, prayer and readiness for the summons when it comes, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed, eternally without remedy.” 

Friends, brothers and sisters, this is our Lord’s exhortation…
Arise My bride, and prepare to see My Face

Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
Then the angel said to me, “Write this down: Blessed are those summoned to the marriage banquet of the Lamb…all true believers who are members of His Universal Church.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with Power and great Glory.  And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect…God’s holy people…from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”  And he said to me further, “These are the True Words of God.” [Rev 19:9]

Blessed Jesus…I rejoice and shout triumphantly for joy!  I celebrate and ascribe to You glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb draws near, and Your bride, the Universal Church and each of her members, has been preparing herself and has made herself ready! [Rev 19:7]  Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!  For our Lord God, Sovereign All-Ruler, reigns!  Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him Glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.  The finest linen, dazzling and white, was given her to wear.  Then the angel said to me, “Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage banquet of the Lamb!” [John…Rev 19:6-9; Luke 14:15-23]

The washing of one’s robes and the keeping of one’s garments relates to this very attitude and habit of looking for the return of Christ as an imminent event.    Brethren, as you hope to walk those golden streets, and eat of those immortal fruits, see to it that you have your garments clean and your loins girded about like unto men waiting for their Lord. [Seiss…Rev 21:9-22:5]

Then the king said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.  Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.”  So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding garment.  “Friend,” he asked, “How did you come in here without putting on the appropriate wedding garment?” The man was speechless.  Then the king told the attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are invited and summoned, but few are chosen.” [Matt 22:8-14]

ENDURE TO THE END

Behold, I am coming quickly.  Hold on to what you have, so that no one will deprive you of your crown.  Everyone who overcomes by means of their faith…I will make a pillar in the Sanctuary of My God.  Never again will you leave it.  I will write on you the name of My God and you will be a citizen in the city of My God…the new Jerusalem…which will come down out of Heaven from My God; I will also write on you My Own new name.

Holy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcx2O9WXvn8&feature=youtu.be

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