May 1, 2023

JOURNEY OF FAITH
Day Nine

My child…My house has many homes and resting-places that My Divine Son Jesus has Personally prepared for My children.  It is the birth-right of all of My children to dwell here with Me in My house…to live here…to come home when your day’s responsibilities are finished, and share the evening meal together…to spend the evening hours together in fellowship.  Then as night-time draws nigh, to close your eyes and drift off to sleep in My loving arms, safe and secure…to awaken in the early hours of the morning well before dawn to come to our trysting place here in the Garden, just to be alone together to commune face to Face in sweet, intimate fellowship.  Afterwards we will have breakfast together before your becoming engaged in the work-day of responsibilities and ministries I have given you…My plans, My purposes, My will I Myself have planned in advance for you to do. 

 Yes, beloved child of God…home is where you return to after the day’s work is done, where you spend the night.  Home is a safe-house; no matter what storms of life may be raging…a fierce tempest whipping the waves into a tumultuous, churning turmoil…home is where you come where everything is peaceful and calm, tranquil and unruffled in the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered in your Father’s arms, where your soul rests in an unruffled child-like rest, completely undaunted by the swirling turmoil outside.  Home is where you awaken in the morning just to spend time alone together with Me, just to commune face to Face as a man speaks with his friend.  Home is where you experience unconditional love, where you already have My acceptance, where you already have My approval, where you already have My affirmation, where you already have My  affection.

Brothers and sisters in Christ…

I want to present the following personal testimony of what God has done in anointing my life with the anointing of Promise, that I may dwell with Him in the Holy of Holies continually and unceasingly day and night.  It puts into perspective the intensity of this life-long Journey of Faith, and the magnitude of what God will do for those who hunger and thirst to ever plumb the depths of God.  

Whenever a born-again child of God places their entire life an the altar of sacrifice…wholly surrendered unto God, wholly given for the blessings and salvation of  souls…and walks in the Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit the path that our Blessed Christ Personally walked and dedicated for us…a new and living way to God through the veil, that is to say, through the veil of His flesh…the path of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial, death to sin and death to self…you can be sure you will become a target of Satan’s fury!  All Hell will break loose against you!

During the latter part of June, 2020 and continuing unceasingly to July 23rd, the Lord allowed Hell’s onslaught to take place in my life.  I was tormented and terrorized with overwhelming evil thoughts, images, and imaginations in my heart over continual stretches of time, day and night…beyond anything I had ever experienced before!  It became clear that Satan’s intent was to destroy me!

I had known in my mind, and written about, that in my physical life, maturity is growth from the utter dependence of a baby to the complete independence and self-reliance of an adult.  In my spiritual life, however, maturity is growth from independence and self-reliance to utter dependency upon God.  He is most spiritually mature who lives a life of unreserved child-like dependence upon God.  Just as a baby opens its mouth and cries whenever it has physical needs, so I open my mouth and cry whenever I have spiritual needs.  Just as a baby is utterly and hopelessly helpless to satisfy its physical needs… and will surely physically die if no one hears its cry and comes to satisfy its needs…just so am I utterly and hopelessly helpless to satisfy my spiritual needs…and will surely spiritually die if God my Father does not hear my cry and come to satisfy my spiritual needs.

It is one thing to know this truth in your mind, but it is quite another to know this experientially!  My Father allowed me to experience in my soul the horror of realizing that unless He came to rescue me…I was going to surely spiritually die!  There was absolutely no question, no hope, not the remotest possibility of my being able to do anything about it!  And I was frightened and scared…continually crying out for my Father like a little child…ABBA FATHER…WHERE ARE YOU!!  I was experiencing something of the emotional agony that Jesus Himself experienced in the Garden that night when He began to be deeply distressed and troubled at the prospect of the cross.  The Greek verbs used in the Biblical text described an extremely acute emotion, a compound of bewilderment, fear, uncertainty and anxiety, nowhere else portrayed in such vivid terms as here: shuddering awe; deep distress; overpowering mental distress; full of terror and distress; surprised and terrified; fright and anguish. 

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sin-enslaved human nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I end up doing is not the good deeds I want to do; no, the evil deeds I do not want to do…this I keep on doing!  Now if I so often end up doing what I do not want to do, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is the enslaving power of sin living in my human nature that asserts itself and does it.  So I find this law at work in me: when I want to do what is right and good, evil is right there with me subjecting me to its insistent demands.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s Law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law embraced by my regenerated mind and making me a prisoner of the indwelling principle of sin at work within the members of my body.  So then, to sum up this whole matter, such is the unchanging conflict of these two principles within me as a child of God: I myself in my regenerated mind am a willing bond-slave to God’s Law, but, in the sin-enslaved human nature that still remains a part of me, a wretched slave to the rule and reign of the indwelling principle of sin.  What a wretched man I am!  Who, then, shall deliver me out of bondage to this indwelling law of sin and into moral freedom, where my body shall no longer serve as the seat of this shameful death?  Thanks be to God…He has delivered me and set me free through my living union of oneness with Christ Jesus my Lord! [Rom 7:18-25]

Brethren…it was Thursday evening, July 23, 2020, when the Spirit of God led our weekly Home Bible Meeting Group that I host into a discussion on these verses, and began to illuminate our minds to understand the rich eternal treasures that are above, in the Heavenly realms.  We talked about…

• It wasn’t this way in the very beginning, Abba Father, when You first created Mankind in the person of Adam, to be the father of the human race.  He had the capability and capacity to bring great glory to Your name…far greater glory than all else in the Created universe…by using his free will to freely choose to be what You created him to be, rather than to be something other than what You created him to be.  And what did You create him to be… what did You create Mankind to be?  A being that would freely choose to do Your will rather than its own will…a being that would live in absolute obedience to Your will, by choice.  And so Adam was given the opportunity to bring great glory to Your name through the exercise of his free will to freely choose to obey Your one command…Your one and only restriction placed on his life.  Unfortunately, he chose to exercise the free will You had given him to do what seemed best to him…to do what he wanted…rather than to obey Your will through obedience to Your one command clearly outlined in the Garden to him.  As a result, the pure and holy human nature he was created with became tainted by sin, and would forevermore be enslaved by sin…human nature now a prisoner held captive by sin.  Through Adam, all of Mankind has now inherited a sin-enslaved human nature…and I have no power whatsoever of my own to set myself free.  I am hopelessly powerless, hopelessly impotent, hopelessly helpless to do so. 
• My human nature is enslaved by sin.  I have a sin-enslaved human nature that is a prisoner of sin, held captive by sin, in bondage to sin, enslaved by sin…and has no power whatsoever to free itself from sin.  Nor does it even want to!  I am hopelessly powerless, hopelessly impotent, hopelessly helpless to free myself from sin.  I have no power to stand against temptations and sins in the power of my sin-enslaved human nature; it loves sin and desires to satisfy its own self-life and self-interests.  Why, then, would I ever think that in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts and strength, I can free myself from sin?  The overriding characteristic of my sin-enslaved human nature is that it is enslaved by sin.  If I had the power to be free, then it would not be a sin-enslaved human nature in the first place, and I would not be a prisoner.  I could free myself and walk away from sin.  But that is obviously not the case; my sin-enslaved human nature has no power to do so.  It has no power to free itself from sin, and no desire to do so.  For my sin-enslaved human nature has a strong desire to suppress the Holy Spirit Who dwells in me as a born-again child of God, and the Spirit constantly has a strong desire 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] 
• Life in the power of the flesh is characterized by trying rather than by trusting.  It is a life requiring my continual striving and struggling; all of my efforts, redoubled efforts, and strength; all my commitments and resolutions; all my pledges and promises.  Even then…the absolute weakness of my sin-enslaved human nature guarantees I will utterly fail, because by doing so I will have blocked the Holy Spirit and His Power from working through me, with me, in me.  Beloved child…a life of trying in the power of your flesh ignores My Eternal provision for your living a holy and righteous life: the gift of My Holy Spirit given to dwell in you, and His eternal Power made available to you.  It disregards My command to keep on being continually filled with My Holy Spirit, giving Him free reign over the conduct of your everyday life.  Even just trying by your own efforts and in your own strength to live a holy and righteous life is in itself presumptuous…it presumes that you are fully capable of doing so, and do not need Me.  It presumes that you can be well-pleasing in My sight in the power of your sin-enslaved human nature.  It is an assertion of your self-reliance and self-sufficiency, and that you have no need for dependence upon My Holy Spirit.  It is not well-pleasing to Me; it is a life of utter failure and spiritual bankruptcy!  The truth of the matter is…apart from Me you can do nothing that is good, or pleasing, or acceptable to God!  You can only live your life either in the Power of the Spirit or in the power of the flesh.  You cannot live in both at the same time; it is either one or the other.  You cannot serve 2 masters.  So I say, live out each day in accordance with your new life in the Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.  Since you are now living by the Spirit, follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of your life.  Always remember: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD Almighty. [Gal 5:16, 24-25; Zech 4:6] 

As our discussion continued along that evening under the guidance of the Holy Spirit’s leading, we were discussing Scriptures concerning how the Lord Jesus sets a believer free from the bondage of sin…that all human beings by nature have a sin-enslaved human nature…and can only be set free by Christ through His atonement for sin by virtue of His death on a cross on our behalf.  When I am born again, it is as literal and real a birth as was my physical birth…and I become a new creation…a new person, whereby my former moral and spiritual condition has passed away, and all things have become new.  I no longer live my life out of my sin-enslaved human nature, but now live my new life out of the Divine nature of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within me by virtue of being born again.  That is why only those born-again can know, and have, and experience, the indwelling Holy Spirit.

During our discussion, the Holy Spirit swept over one of our group members and so opened up his mind and heart to this truth…in a depth he had never seen before… that he literally, visibly, was filled with a fullness of joy!  He could hardly contain himself!  He was wired in the Spirit, and began to testify with power about what God had done, and was continually doing, in his life!  He testified that when he is tormented and terrorized with overwhelming evil thoughts, images, and imaginations in his heart [and he knew nothing about what I was going through], his God and Father reaches down and plucks His child out of Satan’s grasp and into safety, declaring with determined purpose, No!  You can’t have My child; he belongs to Me!  He was anointed…and continued to testify about the utter weakness of his flesh and how helpless he was to resist by his own efforts and strength, and that if he tried to do so it would only guarantee his failure!  He testified how the Power of the Holy Spirit in his life was the source of his strength, and apart from Him he could do nothing!  He just went on and on, carried away in the Spirit into the heavenly realms for the remainder of our meeting, continually praising God, proclaiming the Word of God with boldness and power!  I just sat there and listened, thanking God for how He was touching this brother whom He was calling, and using, as the “pastor of Walmart!”  And it brought to his mind a song that had so touched him…a powerful song with a powerful message…so he pulled it up on his phone and played it for us.  The link is below, if you want to hear it.  It is not my particular choice in Christian music…but I put myself in his place, and could embrace its powerful message as we all listened to it!  The song is by CASTING CROWNS, entitled SET ME FREE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2HwtWLokSc

I myself was so blessed by the manifest Presence of the Holy Spirit in our meeting that evening that I never realized that God had quietly touched and anointed me as well with the “anointing of promise” that I had been desperately crying out to Him for.  Over the past several weeks [actually, for a number of years…but now with an intense desperation] I had been pleading with Him for this anointing that I had been granted once before, in the Fall 1984 when I was just a 3 year old in the Lord child of God, that I had lost because I had carelessly let it slip away, not appreciating in my spiritual babyhood how precious this treasure really was.  I was pleading with my Father…that I could not live without this anointing…that I could not serve as His messenger, His ministering spirit, His watchman with boldness, freedom, and confidence, with spiritual power and authority, unless I had this anointing of promise.  I wasn’t asking for an anointing of privilege; that is God’s prerogative.  No; I was asking for the anointing that was promised…that I had been granted once before.  I knew what it was; and I knew I no longer had it.  The anointing of promise is the full blessing of Pentecost…and it is only granted to those who hunger and thirst for it…to those who are wholly surrendered unto God, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls…to those who by faith abide in the Holy of Holies in the unclouded Presence of the Father.  Blessed Jesus, You assured me: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…a purity, holiness, and righteousness of my own in living out my everyday life.  You assured me that I will be filled…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! [Mt 5:6]  That is the anointing of promise!  And even more beyond that… Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. [Mt 5:8]

On that evening God my Father heard the desperate cry of my heart, and quietly, silently, granted me the anointing of promise.  From that evening forward, the evil thoughts, images, and imaginations in my heart still came a number of times expecting to torment and terrorize me as they had always done… but now they had absolutely no power over me at all, were of none effect, and weren’t even the least bother.  The anointing is not just a greater power than what had been coming to torment and terrorize me; no, the anointing completely neutralizes their power so that they are meaningless and have no affect whatsoever.  The anointing of promise is the second greatest gift granted by God…second only to the gift of eternal life.  No child of God should ever be satisfied without having it; but as you can see from this testimony, there is a cost to the anointing.  Child of God…are you willing to pay the price?

I don’t know whether in the depths of your heart you really believe there is a God in Heaven or not, but this I do know…both Al and Jackie were dead in their trespasses and sins, but the Spirit of God knew what would draw each of them into a saving relationship with Christ Jesus, and He knew that I would follow His leading to participate with Him in that work.  Mine was the blessing of being used as a ministering spirit, sent to serve those who are inheriting salvation!  As a result, both received the eternal gift of salvation…one on his death-bed, the other after being hopelessly lost at the age of 67!
I proclaim to you Christ Jesus…the One Who existed from the beginning, from Eternity Past, Whom I have heard with the ears of my own inner being, and have seen with my own spiritual eyes.  I have gazed upon Him and have spiritually touched Him with my own hands.  He is the Word of Life.  His Life is continually being revealed to me; I have seen it and testify to it, and I proclaim to you that He is the One Who is Eternal Life.  He always existed with the Father, and is now continually being manifested afresh and anew to me.  I proclaim to you what I have personally seen and heard in the depths of my soul, so that you also may enjoy this same fellowship together with us.  The fellowship I continually enjoy is with the Father and with His Son, Christ Jesus.  I am writing these things so that you also may fully share together with me in this fullness of joy! [1 John 1:1-4].  It is our birth-right as a child of the Most High God!

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]  

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]

Brethren…God’s high calling for His royal children is hereby clearly set forth:
The story of my entire every day life…every thought I think, every word I speak, every thing I do…must be WORSHIP in Your eyes.  WORSHIP is not a part of my life; WORSHIP IS my life.  My only true worship is a life wholeheartedly embracing: NOT MY WILL in anything; BUT THY WILL BE DONE in everything…the life of a bond-slave, wholly surrendered unto God, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls…solely, only, and always surrendered unto God.   

My life…my heart, my soul, every fiber of my being…consecrated and set apart to the WORSHIP of God is what glorifies God and fulfills the chief end of Man…which is to glorify God and to enjoy abiding in the Holy of Holies…in the inaccessible Light of the Glory of Your unclouded Presence, Father… continually and unceasingly even now all the days of my life on this Earth, and then throughout the endless unfolding ages of all eternity.
Brethren…this is why my God brought me into existence; there is nothing else.  Period.

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! 

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 me…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 the veil of my flesh that is an impenetrable curtain prohibiting entrance into the Presence of God in the Holy of Holies; it must be rent in two from top to bottom for me to enter in and abide there.    

It is not humanly possible to walk that path; only the Holy Spirit can set me free to walk that path, in His Power and in reliance upon His strength.  I can’t do it apart from Him.  Even so…If only I would just give Him free reign over the living-out of my every day life, He will Personally live out this life of Christ Jesus in me to also walk that same path.  And He will Personally work out the death of Jesus in me…death to sin and death to self…conforming me ever more deeply into the likeness of His death, in order that I may thereby attain, more and more, to the power of His Resurrection life out from the dead…the power to walk through each and every day as more than a conqueror and with overwhelming victory.  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 my 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.

Beloved child of God…The power of My enabling grace can not…can never…be manifested and exercised in you by your sin-enslaved human nature.  Only My Holy Spirit can make My enabling grace effective in you.  Don’t you understand?  It is My work, not your work; your place is to cooperate and to respond. [Father God…1 Cor 12:6-11; Day 217]

JOURNEY OF FAITH
Day Nine

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 dwell within us to those who are born-again, 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 unwavering child-like trust in God,
  an unreserved child-like dependence upon God,
  and an unquestioning child-like obedience to both do and accept the will of 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.

Brethren…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 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  WHO HE IS and the rich eternal treasures of the Heavenly realms ever more deeply and intimately, and His plans, His purposes, His will for me…
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 and my soul 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 heart, and my soul… my mind with all of its thoughts, my emotions with all of its feelings, my will with all of its inclinations…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 once again upon this Earth…this time in all of His Divine Majesty and Glory and Power…then I also shall appear together with Him in glory. [Col 3:1-4]  Hallelujah! 

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]  

FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF WAITING UPON GOD

I have been writing about how absolutely necessary it is in our spiritual life to wait upon God, how it is the single most important habit of my spiritual life, and the only way I am enabled to live my everyday life in the Power of the Holy Spirit.  Following is an outline of the guiding principles on just how a soul actually goes about waiting upon God.  I am going to present these principles one at a time during this forthcoming week.  I would suggest you diligently review these principles, and wholeheartedly embrace these principles and make them your own.  

Foundational principles of waiting upon God:

A] My waiting upon God:
      1] Quietness.
      2] Heart.
      3] Faith.
      4] Surrender.
      5] Worship.
      6] Prayer.
B] God revealing
C] My cooperating and responding

A1] Quietness

Wait upon God in quietness.  In my life of intimate relationship with God, I must become quiet and still before God, separated from all activities, so that God, as God, can overshadow me with Himself.  In stillness of body, emptiness of soul, and silence of my natural human spirit…I need to prepare myself to enter into the Presence of God with no other object or purpose but simply to wait upon Him, to worship Him for Who He is, and to adore Him in His awesome Majesty and Glory.   Abba Father, I come to our trysting place to meet with You every day, just to be alone together with You and to enjoy spending time alone together with You…just to love You and worship You, to commune with You and wait upon You.  This is my life; I have no other desire.

• I need to bring stillness to my body, separated from all activities… separated from all family and friends, all responsibilities and projects, all the cares, concerns and routines engaging my life, all involvement with the things of the world, all of self and its energy of both mind and body.
• I need to empty my soul of the entirety of the powers of the flesh that reside therein…all the thoughts of my mind, all the feelings of my emotions, all the inclinations of my will.
• I need to silence my natural human spirit with all of its leadings and promptings…all of its affections, attractions, desires and purposes…with all of its controlling desires to determine and direct the selection of my everyday activities, as well as the overriding goals for the course of my life.
• I need to embrace the Word of the Lord, “Be still, and know that I am God.” [Ps 46:10]  The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. [Isa 32:17]  

A2] Heart

Wait upon God with my heart.  Having laid aside the powers of my flesh residing within my body, my soul, my natural human spirit…I need now open my heart before God.

• My soul is not capable of having any personal contact with God.  It is in my heart God has given His Holy Spirit, to be there to me the Presence and the Power of God working in me.  Only in my heart, wherein God has given His Holy Spirit, am I capable of having personal contact with God…to commune with Him, and experience Him, and come to personally know Him.  I need only present my heart before Him, as that wonderful part of my natural human spirit wherein God has placed His Holy Spirit, where God reveals Himself to me through His Indwelling Spirit.  In all my spiritual life, it is my heart that must trust and love and worship and obey.  My soul…wherein resides my mind with its thoughts, my emotions with its feelings, my will with its inclinations…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. [Andrew Murray]
• What does it mean, “to open my heart before God?”  It means to bow my heart before Him in holy silence…yearning for every indication of His Divine Presence, listening for every revelation of His Divine Will, looking for and expecting the fulfillment of every Divine Promise, longing to see His Face and to hear His voice.  It is an attitude within my heart wherein…“My heart yearns to linger in Your Presence, Lord, just sitting at Your feet; as the deer pants for water-brooks, so my soul thirsts for You, O Lord; Whom have I in Heaven but You, Lord, and Earth has nothing I desire besides You.” 
• 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.  Remember always the eternal difference between knowing with my mind and embracing with my heart: I need only give my whole heart, with its secret workings, into God’s hands continually; in its hidden depths God will work.  He wants my heart, and takes it, and as God dwells in it. [Andrew Murray]
• Remember the Lord’s admonition: “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” [Isa 29:13-14]  Therefore, embrace the Word of the Lord, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” [Matt 6:21]  

A3] Faith

Wait upon God in Faith.  Having opened my heart before God…I need now wait before God with a child-like trust in Him, and a child-like dependence upon Him. 

• Child-like trust is an attitude of my heart wherein I willingly entrust unto God all that I am, all that I have, all that I ever hope to be.  My heart embraces the truth that nothing can touch my life apart from what God Personally  causes or specifically allows to happen…and that He makes all things work together for my good.  And, I willingly give God complete control over my life, to determine and direct the selection of my everyday activities, as well as the overriding goals for the course of my life.  This was the attitude in Christ Jesus, Who said, “I only do what My Father shows Me to do; I only speak the words My Father gives Me to speak.” 
• The Lord is my light and my salvation…whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life…of whom shall I be afraid?  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.  Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!  Precious Lord…I know in Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that You are more than able to keep and to guard that which I have entrusted unto You until that Day! [Ps 27:1; 23:4-6; 2 Tim 1:12b] 
  And so Christ’s steadfast love for me…so amazing, so Divine… constrains me…it constrains me to freely surrender unto You my soul, my life, my all…it beckons my soul, my life, my all…because I am convinced that You died on behalf of every soul who was ever brought into existence, and therefore every soul was included in, and participated together with You in, Your sacrificial death on behalf of Mankind.  And since You died on behalf of every soul, I who now live joined together with You as Your eternal bride…the bride of Christ, sealed with my solemn marriage vows to You in our Sacred Covenant relationship…can no longer live for myself…but wholly surrendered unto You Who died for me…on my behalf and in my place…and Who was raised again to life for my sake, that I may now share together with You Your resurrection life out from the dead.  [2 Cor 5:14-15] 
• I will never know the quality of my trust until I am in the fire, beset by a fiery trial testing my faith.  It’s easy to say that I trust the Lord when all is well…but when I’m in the fire, do I trust Him then?  It is there where I learn, or fail, to embrace the words, “Lord, I don’t understand…but I trust.  I know that You are the Sovereign All-Ruler over all Creation, and that You Personally cause, or specifically, consciously, and deliberately allow all things…all for Your Own good purposes.  All that You do is necessarily the very best, very kindest, most loving thing that can possibly be for me.  And though I don’t understand, even so, I trust You…that You do indeed make all things work together for my good.  I will trust, and not be afraid.  I will be strong and of a good courage; I will not be afraid, neither will I be dismayed.  For the Lord my God is with me whithersoever I goest.” [Jos 1:9] 
• Child-like dependence is an attitude of my heart wherein I look with a confident expectation to the Holy Spirit to BE ALL in me, and to DO ALL in me.  I have ceased trying to conduct my everyday activities in the powers of my flesh…in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts and my own strength, according to my own wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  I look to the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct my use of the powers of the flesh, but put no trust in their conclusions apart from the confirmation of the Spirit.  This attitude embraces the words of the Lord, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing that is good or pleasing or acceptable to God.” [John 15:5] 
• I will never know the quality of my dependence until I refuse to move ahead on a course of action unless my ears hear Your voice behind me, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.“  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] 
• Wherefore, brethren, having now boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the Blood of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for me…a new and living way to God through the veil, that is to say, through the veil of His flesh…I will then without further hesitation or delay draw nigh in fullness of faith; here will I continually abide in the fullness of faith. [Heb 10:19-20, 22]

A4] Surrender

Wait upon God in absolute surrender.  Having awakened my faith in a God Who has never failed me, and never will…I need now surrender to God all that I am, all that I have, all that I ever hope to be.

• Here is where I surrender to God the entirety of the powers of my flesh…all the thoughts of my mind, the feelings of my emotions, the inclinations of my will, all of my human capabilities and capacities, my efforts and strength, my wisdom, knowledge, and understanding…and acknowledge that I put no trust in them.  Here is where I bow before the Spirit of God in acknowledgment that by my own will and in my own strength, I am hopelessly powerless, hopelessly impotent, hopelessly helpless to do anything, or say anything, that is good or pleasing or acceptable to my Father.  In absolute surrender, I wait upon the Holy Spirit to place me where I am to be, lead me where I am to go, show me what I am to do to participate together with Him in His work, give me the thoughts I am to think and present, and the words I am to speak or write.  This is the place where, in every decision I must make, I am determined to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding.  In all my ways, I will acknowledge Him, and He shall direct my paths.” [Prov 3:5]  
• I cannot be more emphatic concerning the following principle; it is absolutely fundamental…the difference between success and failure in hearing the voice of the Lord speaking to me.  Whenever I am faced with making a decision, and I decide that I am going to wait on the Lord for His direction, I always have a preference, in my humanness, as to what I would like His direction to be.  It is something like, “I am waiting to hear from You, Lord…but I hope the answer is such and such.“  It is here that I must pray against my preference…and pray against it, and pray against it… pleading with the Lord to not let me have it if not His will for me.  I need to continue to pray against my preference, until I know in my heart, and can say in all sincerity to the Lord, and know that I mean it, “Lord, it doesn’t matter to me anymore what Your answer is, just show me plainly, clearly, beyond the shadow of any doubt what I am to do.  It no longer matters to me where You place me, or how; whether You place me at all, or when; where you lead me to go or what You show me to do.  That is rather for You to consider than for me.  For in the easiest position, still, You must give me Your grace, and in the most difficult, Your grace is more than sufficient.  It is enough for me, knowing that You know why You place me where I am…whether to do, or to learn, or just, perhaps, to suffer.  It no longer matters to me what I do or what I suffer.  All that matters is that You keep my heart lovingly and joyfully joined with Your will.”  Then I will most assuredly hear the voice of the Lord in my heart, “This is the way; walk ye in it.“  If I don’t get to this place of absolute surrender, and know that I really mean it…that it really doesn’t matter anymore…I will NEVER hear the voice of the Lord.  I will only hear the voice of my own heart giving me my preference, and deceiving me into believing it is the voice of the Lord.

A5] Worship

Wait upon God in worship.  Having now entered the place of humility and stillness and surrender…wholly surrendered unto God, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls…I now wait before God’s Spirit until He has quickened my faith and consciousness that He does indeed dwell in me… does indeed fill me…and that He will indeed perfect His work in me.

• Then, in the Power of the Holy Spirit, I worship God for Who He is; praise Him for all He has done for the souls of Man down through the ages; gratefully acknowledge, with a heart of thanksgiving, for all He has Personally done for me.  I prostrate my inmost being before You, Father.  I behold You with an awe-filled regard and bow before You with the utmost reverence and respect; my soul yearns just to linger in Your Presence, Lord…just sitting at Your feet.  I adore You, Lord, for Your fathomless love You have so graciously lavished upon me.  I admire Your Supreme Excellence and Your Sovereign Majesty.  I offer up unto You my entire being…my body, soul, and spirit…as a living sacrifice, wholly surrendered unto You, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls.  All Glory belongs to You, the One True Living God; You alone are worthy of all blessing and honor; Eternal thanks and unceasing praise are Your rightful due!  Hallelujah!  

A6] Prayer

Wait upon God in prayer.  Worship is always first, before anything else.  I am always to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and come into His courts with praise!” [Ps 100:4]
When I come to my Lord’s Throne of Grace, I am first of all to worship Him there, then call on His great Name and mighty Power in prayer.

• I need to pray in the Spirit, in faith, for His Mighty Power to come down to bear upon the concerns I am bringing before Him.  Call on His Great Name and Mighty Power “on all occasions with every and all kinds of prayers and requests.” [Eph 6:18]  Embrace His mighty working in my inner man, that I may be filled to overflowing with the abiding Presence of Christ Jesus.  Then wait in stillness of soul for God to reveal Himself, His plans, His purposes, His will, concerning the matters I have brought before Him.  Wait before the Spirit of God…to place me where I am to be, lead me where I am to go, show me what I am to do to participate together with Him in His work, give me the thoughts I am to think and present, and the words I am to speak or write.  Be careful not to proceed without His leading, and be prepared to respond with an unquestioning child-like obedience to His every leading and prompting.  My soul, wait thou only upon God! 

B) God revealing

What wait I for?
I am waiting to hear from God…for Him to reveal to me His plans, His purposes, His will concerning the matters I have brought before Him, and a deeper revelation of Who He is.
I am waiting on the Holy Spirit to illuminate my mind to spiritual things…to open the Scriptures to my understanding.
I am waiting on the Spirit to worship through me, to pray through me.
I am waiting for the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit…in every activity of my life.  I am not to proceed with any course for my life in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts or in my own strength, according to my own wisdom or knowledge or understanding.  It is the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in me, Who is to BE ALL and DO ALL through me, with me, in me.
I am to walk in the Spirit…He is the One Who rules and reigns on the throne of my heart, Personally living out the life of Christ Jesus in me…a life of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial.  And He 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…the power to walk through each and every day as more than a conqueror and with overwhelming victory.

• The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.  For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s own spirit within him?  In the same way, no one knows the mind and thoughts of God…only the Spirit of God. [1 Cor 2:10-12]
• This is what the Lord says…your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way you should go.  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk ye in it'”  The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail! [Isa 48:17; Ps 32:8; Isa 30:21-22, 58:11]
• I will praise the Lord, Who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  My soul waits for the Lord…more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning!  Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.  Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. [Ps 16:7; 130:6; 143:8]
• “For I [Jesus] have come down from Heaven not to do My Own will and purpose, but to do the will and purpose of Him Who sent Me.” [John 6:38] 

C) My cooperating and responding

What is the reason why I am waiting upon God?  What is the purpose of my waiting upon God?  Here is the consummation of all this watching and waiting and listening…the fulfillment of my waiting upon God and His revealing to me is…SO I MAY THEN RESPOND.
All is for naught if I fail to 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.  It is not necessary for me to understand; I am to respond with an unquestioning child-like obedience.  And, it is absolutely fundamental…the difference between success and failure…that I do not try to respond in the power of my flesh…which is in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts or in my own strength, according to my own wisdom or knowledge or understanding.  I am to respond in the Power of the Spirit, cooperating with His enabling grace as He Himself works in me both to will and to do…both the desire to obey my Father’s will, and the power to do His will.

• Jesus saith to them, “My food is, that I may do the will of Him Who sent Me, and may finish His work.” [John 4:34]
• “I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father and that I do only what the Father has instructed Me to do. [I act in full agreement with His orders.]” [John 14:31]
• “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” [John 14:26]
• Not in your own strength…for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you, energizing and creating in you the power and desire, both to will and to do for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. [Phil 2:13]  

BLESSINGS OF FAITH

Everyone who overcomes by means of their faith…

• I will give the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life that grows in the Garden paradise of God.
• will in no way be harmed by the second death.  Therefore, remain faithful, even to the point of death, and I will reward you with the crown of life.
• I will give to eat some of the hidden manna of Heaven.  I will also give you a white stone with a new name engraved on it, known only to the one who receives it.
• those who remain obedient to My will to the very end, I will give authority and power over the nations.  Your authority and power over them shall be like that which I Myself have received from My Father.
• will walk in fellowship with Me, arrayed in garments dazzling and white.  I will never blot out your name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge you as Mine, and openly confess your name in the Presence of My Father and His angels.
• 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.
• I will give the privilege to sit beside Me on My Throne, just as I Myself overcame and am now seated beside My Father on His Throne.

My soul, wait thou only upon God!

LONGING FOR GOD

Brethren…

• 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!

O Lord, You are my God…I yearn for You with all my heart!  Even as the deer, in the heat of summer, pants for water-brooks, so my soul thirsts for You!  My soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You…as for streams of water in a dry sun-scorched land where there is no water!  My soul thirsts for You, Lord…for the One True Living God!  Blessed Jesus…I have come into Your Presence to behold Your Face, the Face of my God.  Abba Father…I’ve come into Your Presence to commune with You face to Face, as a man speaks with his friend.  Blessed Holy Spirit, sweep over my soul and carry me off into the Heavenly realms…where Your Divine Son Jesus is seated at Your right hand, Father…high and exalted.  O my Beloved…in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see Your face, Lord, let me hear Your voice; for Your voice is sweet, and Your face is altogether lovely!  All Your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; pleasing is the fragrance of Your perfumes!  Your Name, O Lord, is like…perfume poured out!

O my Beloved, I am Yours, and You are mine!  I have sought Your Face with all my heart, Lord; be gracious to me according to Your promise!  Father…show me Your Glory!  Stretch out Your hand to heal, to restore, to deliver, to save, to perform miraculous signs and wonders through the Name of Your Divine Son Jesus!  Bring Glory to Your Name, and bring Your blessings and Your salvation before the souls of Men!  In the presence of the congregation, I will proclaim Your Great Name and Your Mighty Power according to all that my eyes shall see! Surely, I will enter Your gates with thanksgiving, I will come into Your courts with praise!  I love the house where You live, O Lord…the place where Your Glory dwells.  How lovely is Your dwelling place, Lord God Almighty!  My soul yearns… even pines away and is homesick…for Your courts.  My heart and my flesh cry out and sing for joy to You, the One True Living God!  I find my home and my resting place in the shadow of the Almighty, sheltered in the arms of my God.  Whom have I in Heaven but You, Father?  And Earth has nothing I desire besides You.

I have gazed attentively upon You in the sanctuary and I have beheld Your Power and Your Glory.  Formerly, my ears had only heard of You; but now my eyes have seen You and have seen Your Glory.  Because Your steadfast Love for me is better than life, my lips continually proclaim Your Glory!  My lips shout for joy as I sing praises to You…I, whom You have redeemed!  You turned my wailing to dancing!  You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy…that my heart may sing to You and not be silent!  It is only the dead who who do not praise You, O Lord…neither the physically dead nor the spiritually dead…not by any who go down into the land of silence.  O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever and ever, throughout the eternal ages!  I will praise You as long as I have life, and in honor to Your Name, I lift my hands and worship You!  Every day I will bless You and adore You, Precious Lord; yes, I will praise Your wonderful Name forever and ever!  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praises; with singing lips my mouth overflows with Your praises!  I will open my mouth and offer up unto You a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of my lips, worshiping You for Who You are…the One True Living God; praising You for all You have done for the souls of Men down through the ages; gratefully acknowledging, with a heart of  thanksgiving, all You have Personally done for me.  My soul shall forever be satisfied, as with the richest of foods!  I feast on the abundance of Your house, Lord; You give me drink from Your River of delights!

Day after day You pour out Your steadfast Love upon me; night after night Your song is ever with me…a prayer to the God of my life.  You are my strength and my song of unceasing praise; You are indeed my salvation!  On my bed I remember You, Father; my thoughts linger with You through the watches of the night.  My soul yearns for You in the night, my soul thirsts for You through the watches of the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You.
I spread out my hands to You, Father; my soul thirsts for You…like a parched land for just only a few drops of water!  My soul waits before You, with a joyful expectation, an excited anticipation…more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen who wait for the morning!  Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of Your wings!  You cover me with Your feathers, and under Your wings I find refuge; Your faithfulness, O Lord, is my Shield and my Protector!  My flesh and my heart may fail…often do…but You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever!  My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing Love, for You are my Refuge and my Fortress…my God, in whom I trust!  For have You not promised?  I will never, never, leave you; I will never, ever, forsake you!  Assuredly not!  O Lord, You are my Help; of whom shall I be afraid?  What can man do to me?  Who, or what, shall ever be able to separate me from Your Love, precious Lord?  Shall trouble or hardship, distress or persecution…famine, nakedness, danger or sword?  No…in all these things I am more than a conqueror through You, Lord…the One Who loves me!  For I am persuaded, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that neither death, nor life; nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers; nor things present, nor things to come; nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all Creation, shall ever be able to separate me from the Love of God my Father, which flows unceasingly through You, Precious Lord…my Redeemer and my King! 
Following is a link to a prayer entitled Longing For God: 
https://preservechristianfamily.org/2019/01/22/longing/ 

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]

The truth is that there are just 5 foundational principles underlying human existence…5 principles determined and ordained by God that are the framework for human existence.

God’s framework in creating Mankind:

1. ETERNAL REASON for my existence: Love.
2. ETERNAL PROVISION for my existence:
   Gift of My Son
   Gift of My Holy Spirit
3. ETERNAL PURPOSE for my existence: Relationship.
4. ETERNAL PLAN for my existence: I know the plans I have for you.
5. ETERNAL PROMISE for my existence: A promised rest for My children.

The Gift of My Son makes it possible for you to appropriate My Eternal Purpose for creating you and bringing you into existence…Relationship… through becoming His bride, the bride of Christ.  
The Gift of My Holy Spirit makes it possible for you to embrace and be engaged in My Eternal Plans specifically and personally ordained for you in bringing you into existence…I know the plans I have for you.
Entrance into the Eternal Blessings I have for Mankind…a promised rest for My children…BEGINS with your solemn vow before me to become the bride of Christ My Son in a divine spiritual marriage. 

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 laid aside Your Divine  Majesty, Glory, and Almighty consuming Power, and came into this world clothed in meekness, 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…available to any soul who would freely and wholeheartedly choose to appropriate as their own the rich eternal blessings of the finished work of Christ on that cross at Calvary, through their solemn marriage vows to become Your eternal bride, Blessed Jesus…the bride of Christ.  

• IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power and Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has forever freed me from my sins, and 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 Eternal Worth of the Blood of Christ has guaranteed and secured my Eternal Union with You, Lord…now joined inseparably together with You in an Eternal living union of oneness as the bride of Christ in a divine spiritual marriage…flesh of Your flesh and bone of Your bones.
• IT IS FINISHED…The Eternal Power and 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 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. 

Following are several portions of Scripture dealing with the Mark of the Beast:

• Revelation 13:16-20
  He [the False Prophet] was given power to give breath to the image of the first Beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.  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.The mark of the Beast consisted of the two Greek characters that stand for the name of Christ, with a third, the figure of a crooked serpent, put between them (CHXS)…the very name of God’s Messiah transformed into a devil sacrament, which is the name of the Beast or the number of his name!
  This calls for wisdom, so as to detect and discern the moral degradation and anti-Christian principles characterizing the spirit of the Anti-christ which lay people open to his power, and the subtle atheism and unfaith by which people are betrayed into his hands, already working so powerfully in so many deceptive forms about us.  If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the Beast, for it is man’s number denoting evil in its greatest intensity and most disastrous manifestations.  His number is 666.
  Thus we have the full embodiment of all evil now revealed and operative on the Earth, manifested in an infernal trinity, the mimicry of eternal realities.
  First, is the unseen and hidden father, the Dragon, that old serpent, the Devil.
  The next is the seven-headed and ten-horned Beast from the sea, “the Son of Perdition,” begotten of the Devil, his Earthly manifestation, who dies, and revives again, and reappears on Earth after having been in the invisible world, as Christ, and is awarded the power and throne of his father the Devil.
  And to this comes a third, the two-horned Beast from the Earth, who proceeds from the Dragon father and Dragon son, for his speech is the Dragon’s speech, and “he exercises all the authority of the first Beast in his presence,” carrying into living effect the Satanic will of both the father and the son.
  Thus, we perceive three distinct personalities…the Devil, the Anti-christ, and “The False Prophet;” and these three are one…one vital essence, one economy, and one administration.  The Dragon sets up as the anti-God; the ten-horned Beast, his son, is the anti-Christ; and the two-horned Beast, proceeding from and operating in the interest of both, is the anti-Holy Spirit.  And these three together are Hell’s trinity in unity, the Devil’s unity in trinity!  
• Revelation 14:9-12
  A third angel followed them…preaching and crying a most intense and solemn warning with all the power and eloquence of angels…and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the Beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath!He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb!  And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever!  There is no rest day or night for those who worship the Beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name!”This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus, refusing to worship the Beast or to accept his mark upon themselves. 
• Revelation 14:17-20
  Another Angel came out of the Temple, the Temple in Heaven, this being the Angel of Yahweh Himself, and in His capacity as the Angel of the Temple…the Great High Priest…He too had a sharp sickle.  Still another angel, who had charge of the altar-fire…that fire of Divine justice which ever burns against sin and sinners…came forth from the altar of Yahweh’s temple on the Earth, and he alsocalled in a loud voice to Him who had the sharp sickle, likewise crying out for vengeance against the Anti-christ as did the first angel from the temple,“Take Your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the Earth’s vine, because its grapes of wickedness are ripe to the full for judgment.”  The Angel swung His sickle on the Earth, gathered the vine of the Earth rooted in the Anti-christ that stands in opposition to the vine of Christ, laden with its grapes that are the children of wickedness, and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.  They were trampled in the winepress outside the now consecrated and Holy City Jerusalem, in the Valley of Megiddo… Armageddon.  The kings of the Earth and of the whole world, and their armies, are utterly consumed…and a river of human blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (160 miles)!  Thus was brought to a conclusion the great and terrible Day of the Lord, in which God fulfilled His intention to consume all opposition and to take vengeance upon the enemies and usurpers who occupy the Earth…a more detailed account of which is now to follow.   

End Times Of Biblical Prophesy

Following is a powerful message from the pulpit…7th 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 10/31: Cancel Culture…A Political Prophesy: Dr. David Jeremiah.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kug-AJvsMwg

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 Times.
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. 

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 18 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 2nd one.  I urge you to watch them and consider them in light of how events have unfolded even to this very hour. 

• Franklin Dream: Ben Franklin, speaking to God the Father: “I guess we are no longer a Republic.”  God the Father replied, “No, it’s Mine now, as is the whole Earth.”
  Great Reset.  If you don’t get a vaccine, you can’t work.  That is the spirit of Anti-christ in our Country right now.  https://youtu.be/RaElA7f9bWw

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 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.”

In that glorious coming Day of the Lord I will proclaim, Surely You are my God; I trusted in You, and You saved me!  You are my Lord; I trust You with an unwavering child-like trust!  I rejoice and am filled with gladness in Your salvation!  Come, children of God…let us sing joyously to our Lord; let us shout aloud to the mighty Rock of our salvation! [Isa 25:9; Ps 95:1]

When our God shall come, even Christ, to set up His Kingdom on the Earth…a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.  Only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return.  We will enter Zion with singing, our heads crowned with everlasting joy!  Gladness and joy will overtake me, forever free from sorrow and grief! [Isa 35:8-10]

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.” 

PREPARE YOURSELF

We are in the Last Days; time is moving very quickly, and we are drawing near!  And so, my brothers and sisters, first of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ He promised?  Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of Creation.”
Son of man, you’ve heard that proverb they quote in Israel: Time passes, and prophecies come to nothing.  Tell the people, This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will put an end to this proverb, and you will soon stop quoting it.  Now give them this new proverb to replace the old one: The time has come for every prophecy of Mine to be fulfilled!  [2 Peter 3:3-4, 10-12, 14, 17; 1 John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:14-16; Ezek 12:22-23]
God is calling a holy remnant to Himself…to personal revival…a holy remnant 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 obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial…to walk along the path that Christ Jesus dedicated for us, and to follow in His footsteps as our Forerunner.  You cannot become part of My holy remnant without being willing to sacrifice your desire for anyone & all others, and for anything & all else this world has to offer.  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]
Wherefore brethren, having now boldness to enter into the Holiest 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]

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