JOURNEY OF FAITH
Day Eleven
From the depths of my heart, from the deepest recesses of my being, thank You, Abba Father! I call on Your Holy Name! I make known among the peoples what You have done! I sing to You, I sing praise to You! I tell of all Your wonderful acts! Glory to Your Holy Name; let the hearts of those who seek You rejoice, Father! I look to You and to Your strength, Father! I seek Your face always! Sing to my Father, all the Earth; I proclaim Your salvation day after day! I declare Your Glory among the nations, Your marvelous deeds among all peoples! For You are great and most worthy of praise, Father! You are to be revered above all “gods!” For all the “gods” of the nations are merely idols, but You made the heavens, Father! Splendor and majesty are before You! Strength and joy are in Your dwelling place! Give recognition to my Father, O nations of the world; openly acknowledge my Father’s Glory and Strength! I acknowledge before all the Glory due Your Holy Name, Father! Bring an offering and come into His Presence to worship Him! I worship You in the splendor of Your holiness, Father! Tremble in His Presence with an awe-filled regard and the utmost reverence and respect, everyone on Earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved! Let the heavens rejoice, let the Earth be glad! Let them say among the nations, “My God reigns!” Thank You, Father, for You are good; Your love endures forever! I cry out, “Save me, O God, my Savior! Deliver me, that I may give thanks to Your Holy Name, that I may glory in Your praise!” I praise You, Father, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!
Revelation 11:1-19 [NIV; amplification in italics]
Now was to begin the processes of the actual taking possession of the Earth by our triumphant Redeemer, and the active participation of the now glorified saints in these forthcoming administrations: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” I was given a reed…like a judicial measuring rod, but also like a rod of chastisement…and was told by the Angel of Yahweh, “Go (as the representative of what each and every raptured and glorified saint now in Heaven is likewise commanded) into the Holy City Jerusalem and apply the rod in measure of the temple of God and the altar, and measure (“count” in the NIV) the worshipers there, purging them according to a new canon of regulations, laws, and boundaries. These People, the Jewish Nation, I once again acknowledge and claim as My possession, and they shall be set apart once again and marked off as My chosen people. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. But exclude the outer court…the court of the Gentiles. Do not measure it, because I have rejected it; it has been given over to the Gentiles. They will then be used as an instrument of God’s chastisement and purging of His chosen people, and will trample on the Holy City for 42 months, persecuting the measured worshipers there, desecrating the measured altar, and setting up an idol in the very marked place of Yahweh! And so shall it be that I will then give great and extraordinary power to My two witnesses, chosen from among the raptured and glorified saints now in Heaven…Enoch and Elijah, the Tishbite: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord.” And they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth befitting those terrible judgment times when they shall torment them that dwell upon the Earth…times of relentless calamity and unimaginable burdens of woe! These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands…they themselves both the oil and the source of light, the sole lightbearers to a world on the eve of that Day of Judgment in which the Earth will burn as an oven. They are the ones that had been translated to the presence of Jesus in the heavenly spaces without the intervention of death, and thereby are the anointed who stand before the Lord of the Earth in the present administration of His role and reign as the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. For it is ‘not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit’, says the Lord of Hosts, working through My two witnesses, that the final restitution of Jerusalem, its temple, its worship, and its system of ordinances will be accomplished, according as I have measured.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the entire 42 months time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Thus were they given power to exercise judgment wrath against the great prevailing sin of idol worship, trust in false gods, and sacrilegious desecration of God’s temple, and to rebuke the blasphemies of unprincipled government, attesting by the nature of their afflictions the near coming of the Almighty to overwhelm forever these bloody tyrants and all their hosts. To smite the Earth with every plague, as often as they will, and to devour by fire from the breath of their mouth, is the entrusted prerogative of these two witnesses, giving proof to the doomed world by the very breath of their mouth that the devouring wrath of the Almighty is fully kindled, ready to break forth in fiery destruction to all who stand out against His messengers, and is even now ready to be turned into enginery of irresistible destruction to those who still persist in their impieties.
Now when they have finished their assigned period of testimony to the Truth of God and His purposes, resisting the gigantic blasphemies of the final Antichrist, giving to the infatuated world its last awful warning for repentance before the oncoming avalanche of destruction, and maintaining righteousness over and against apostasy and abounding wickedness, the Beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great City, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial, in an extraordinary display of fiendishness and resentment so monstrous and unrelenting that it could not be placated even by their death. The inhabitants of the Earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had so tormented those who live on the Earth with the revolting and distressing judgment plagues they were licensed to inflict upon these worshipers of the Beast.
But after the three and a half days of death, a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, resurrected by the power of God, and overwhelming terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to Heaven in a cloud, in the same manner as the ascension of their Lord before them, while their enemies looked on in horror and dismay. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the stunned and deeply convicted survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of Heaven. The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming very soon!
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in Heaven, a tumultuous outcry of adoring rapture ringing out from the inhabitants of glory, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces in overwhelming praise and adoration as their soul-dissolving joy breaks like a sea of thankfulness against the Throne, and they worshiped God, saying: “We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One Who is and Who was, and Who is now come, because You have taken Your great Power and have now begun to reign, and your kingdom shall never end! The nations were angry; and Your wrath has come. The time has come for judging each and every one of the dead, and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and Your saints and those who reverence Your Holy Name, both small and great…and for destroying those who destroy the Earth.” As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then God’s Temple in Heaven was opened, and within His Temple was seen the ark of His covenant, all the covenants of God with His people and all His solemn promises to them treasured away there, setting forth still further the glory of this momentous occasion. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm, heralding the impending breaking forth upon the wicked dwellers of the Earth terrible days of sore scourgings, and afflictions, and unutterable sorrows without end. [Revelation 11:1-19]
WHY DO I EXIST
CHAPTER 7
SUFFERING: GOD’S PATHWAY TO GLORY
ANECDOTES
Child of God! My Divine Son Jesus, being consecrated and perfected through suffering, has consecrated the way of suffering for all My children to pass through unto Glory!
My beloved child…it is fitting that My children must follow the same route and receive the same reward that My Divine Son Jesus did.
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Me.
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Friends & neighbors; brothers and sisters…
If you remember nothing else from the pages of “WHY DO I EXIST”… never forget this: GOD LOVES YOU.
God’s Love 4 U is…
Unconditional
Unfailing
Unchanging
Unending
Beloved…I love you because of Who I am…not as a response to who you are, or what you do, or what you refrain from doing.
If only you would know in the depths of your soul, if only you would just fully embrace, the greatness of My Love I have lavished upon you…that the most intense desire of My heart is to gather you to Myself as one of My Own children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. That is the depth of My love for you.
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SUFFERING: PATHWAY TO GLORY
Child of God! My Divine Son Jesus, being consecrated and perfected through suffering, has consecrated the way of suffering for all My children to pass through unto Glory!
My beloved child…it is fitting that My children must follow the same route and receive the same reward that My Divine Son Jesus did.
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Me.
THE PATH JESUS WALKED: OUR EXAMPLE
My beloved child…are you sorely troubled and vexed by various pressures, trials and afflictions that worry and weary a human soul? You must follow the example of Christ My Son and go into the Garden, there to walk along the same Path that He walked…the Path of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial, death to sin and death to self.
ADVERSITY COMES FROM MY LOVING HAND
Whenever an adversity touches your life, the first thing you need to acknowledge, and embrace in your heart, is that it comes from My loving hand. Nothing can touch your life apart from My having either Personally allowed it to happen, or having caused it to do so…and all to accomplish My Own good purpose.
When I allow an adversity to touch your life, it is because I have a special blessing laid aside for you I want you to have…a blessing that can only be appropriated by your patiently enduring the particular adversity I have allowed to touch your life.
I assure you…My blessings that come through suffering are the richest of rewards your faith can win!
MADE PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERING
Have you considered My Divine Son Jesus? Although He was a Son, in the character of His human nature He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.
In bringing My many sons and daughters into their glorious inheritance, it was appropriate for Me…for Whom and through Whom all Creation exists…to make My Divine Son Jesus, the Author of your salvation, perfect through suffering.
Christ Jesus My Son was totally obedient to God His Father…the very point of Adam’s failure and sin…even unto death, a death on the cross! And having taken upon Himself a human nature, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death…even death on a cross!
AUTHOR AND PERFECTER OF MY FAITH
My beloved child…consider My Divine Son Jesus, the Author and perfecter of your faith, Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, heedless of its shame. He is your preeminent example of faith; He lived the supreme life of faith. He was tempted in all things as you are, yet endured without sin.
When Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, Jesus’ reply each time was the expression of trust in His Father and My Word. Jesus would not bypass My will just to get food, or to test My protection or Lordship. He waited until I Myself supplied or protected or directed. He trusted Me implicitly, for everything and in everything.
OUR EXAMPLE IN SUFFERING
He also set for you the pattern for suffering…and to this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.
Therefore, precious child, since Christ My Son has suffered in the flesh, arm yourself also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has turned his back on sin, and no longer has any desire to keep on sinning. From now on then, you must live the rest of your Earthly life controlled by God’s will and not by your human desires.
CHRIST’S AGONY IN THE GARDEN
In the Garden of Gethsemane that night, Christ My Son was filled with terror and shuddering awe. He took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is crushed with anguish and dread to the point of death,” He said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
The two Greek verbs [ekthambeisthai kai adeemonein: to be extremely distressed and troubled] used together describe an extremely acute emotion, a compound of bewilderment, fear, uncertainty and anxiety, nowhere else portrayed in such vivid terms as here. Note the following translations of these two verbs:
Rawlinson: shuddering awe, amazement, deep distress;
Swete: amazed awe…overpowering mental distress;
Goodspeed: distress and dread;
Moffatt: appalled and agitated;
Weymouth, Montgomery: full of terror and distress;
Manson: dismay and distress;
BFBS: appalled and sorely troubled;
Lagrange: surprised and terrified;
Synodale, Brazilian: fright and anguish.
Now Jesus Himself feels amazement as He directly faces the struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was being tempted by Satan to desire His Own will rather than the will of God in that which He was to suffer: For since He Himself was tempted to desire His Own will rather than the will of God in that which He has suffered [Heb 2:18].
He asked, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. If it is possible, within the framework of Your plans, Your purposes, Your will, may this cup of suffering be taken from Me.”
If it is possible [within the framework of Your plans, Your purposes, Your will], take this cup of suffering from Me. That was our human preference crying out to the Father…a valid request since our Father assured us that He would grant us our request that is in agreement with His will: Father…You have assured me that I may have this confidence in approaching God: “If you make any request in agreement with My will, I shall hear you. And since you know that I will hear you in whatever you ask, you may be sure, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that I shall grant you the request that is in agreement with My will you have made of Me.
He wins the victory over Himself [in the character of His human nature] in the Garden that night, setting a Personal example for me to follow, saying, “Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, then not My will, but Thy will be done.” With that surrender of faith, He was then enabled to endure the cross, despising the shame.
SUFFERING: THE HARBINGER OF A SPECIAL BLESSING
His joy was not in the anguish and suffering He was to endure, as if it were something pleasant to Him. No…My Son Jesus accepted the cross, even welcoming it, as the necessary and only means through which He could appropriate the wonderful and eternal blessings I had set aside for Him to secure on your behalf. His joy was a joyful expectation, an excited anticipation, in the blessings that were to be His…and with His heart fixed on those blessings, He patiently endured the adversity necessary to appropriate those blessings…the cross…heedless of its shame.
My Son Jesus said in His heart: Father, if it is not possible for this cup of suffering to pass from Me unless I drink it…if this cup of suffering is the only means through which I can appropriate the blessings You have laid aside for Me…then not My will, but Your will be done. I will gladly accept the suffering of the cross I must endure, heedless of its shame.
NECESSITY FOR SUFFERING
My beloved child…why are you bewildered by the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though some strange thing has happened to you? Don’t you yet understand that I Myself have Personally allowed it to touch your life…and for My Own good purpose? Knowing that I have Personally allowed these adversities to touch your life…why, then, are you frightened? Why are you downcast; why so vexed? Do you still have no faith? Are you still unwilling to trust with an unwavering child-like trust in My unfailing Love for you, and in My absolute Sovereignty over all Creation?
Consider it pure joy, my child, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Moreover, be full of joy even now; exult and triumph in your troubles and rejoice in your sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith…of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire…may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Christ Jesus My Son is revealed.
Therefore, do not become discouraged and lose heart. Though your outer man is progressively decaying and wasting away, yet your inner self is being progressively renewed day after day. For your light, momentary afflictions…these slight distresses of the passing hour…are ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for you an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent Glory and blessedness never to cease! Therefore, fix your attention, not on things of the physical realm that are seen, but on things of the spiritual realm that are unseen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
So then, My child, whenever you suffer because it is God’s will, you should by your good actions trust yourself completely to your Creator, for I always keep My promise. You are regarded favorably in the sight of God if you endure the pain of unjust suffering. After all, what kind of glory is there in it if, when you do wrong and are punished for it, you take it patiently? But if you bear patiently with suffering which results when you do right and that is undeserved, it is acceptable and pleasing to God. For even to this were you called. Christ My Son also suffered for you, leaving you His Personal example, so that you should follow in His footsteps.
SUFFERING: PATHWAY TO GLORY
Child of God! My Divine Son Jesus, being consecrated and perfected through suffering, has consecrated the way of suffering for all My children to pass through unto Glory.
Have you never understood and fully embraced the truth that the sufferings I allow to touch your life are not only necessary and unavoidable…they are hereby made honorable, useful, and your same pathway to Glory as My Own Beloved Son? Now if we are children, then we are heirs…heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His Glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
My beloved child…it is fitting that My children must follow the same route and receive the same reward that My Divine Son Jesus did.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for Whom and through Whom everything exists, should make the Author of our salvation perfect through suffering. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps.
CROWN OF LIFE
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Me.
This, then, is to be your attitude…the same that was in Christ Jesus My Son…in any of the trials I allow you to face: Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
YET WILL I REJOICE IN THE LORD…I WILL BE JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like hinds feet; He gives me strength and courage, enabling me to walk upon my high places…places of trouble and suffering and responsibility.
MY CHILDREN EMBRACE THE MIND OF CHRIST THEIR EXAMPLE
My child, let this same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus My Son. For the joy of the special blessings I have laid aside and desire for you to have, set your heart to patiently endure the suffering of the necessary afflictions I have allowed in order for you to be able to appropriate those blessings, heedless of their vexation.
My beloved child, listen to the exhortation of My Son Jesus: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life for himself and his own interests will lose it, but whoever loses his self-life for My sake will save it. Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.”
So do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be distressed or dismayed, for I am your Father and your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Beloved…because you have set your love upon Me, therefore I will deliver you. I will set you on high, because you trust in My Name. When you call upon Me, I will answer you. I will be with you in trouble; I will rescue you and honor you. I will reward you with long life and show you My salvation.
EMBRACING THE RICH BLESSINGS THAT RESULT FROM SUFFERING
Abba Father…I understand. For the joy of the great and special blessings You have reserved for me and are to be mine, that can only be appropriated by my patiently enduring the particular adversities You have allowed to touch my life, I willingly and gladly bear the suffering of my cross, heedless of its vexation.
I want to know Jesus, ever more deeply, ever more intimately. I want to know Him in the Power of His resurrection and in the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed 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! Hallelujah!
POWER OF THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT
If only you would enter into My promised rest and abide there, your soul need never remain vexed. If you try to live a spiritual life in the power of your flesh… through reliance upon your human capabilities and capacities, by your own efforts and in your own strength, according to your own wisdom, knowledge, and understanding…you will surely die spiritually. Just as a baby cannot provide for its physical life, neither can you provide for your spiritual life. You can only walk this path in the Power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. [Father God…John 15:4-5]
PATHWAY DEDICATED BY CHRIST OUR FORERUNNER
Beloved…you walk along that Path and enter through that Gate that opens into the Heavenly Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies solely and only by faith. The way into My promised rest is through…
your unwavering child-like trust in Me,
your unreserved child-like dependence upon Me, and
your unquestioning child-like obedience to, and acceptance of, My will.
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 as my Forerunner…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.
Jesus Himself, by virtue of the Eternal Power and the Eternal Worth of His Blood poured out on my behalf on that cross at Calvary, rent the veil in two, from top to bottom…that veil that hung in front of the entrance into the Holy of Holies prohibiting entrance into the Presence of God, under penalty of death. By virtue of the rent veil of His Own flesh…the offering of His will unto death on the altar of sacrifice in obedience to the Father…He guaranteed and secured my Eternal Access into the Holy of Holies and the inaccessible Light of the Glory of my Father’s unclouded Presence, as my birth-right. And having taken upon Himself a human nature, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death…even death on a cross! [Phil 2:8]
It is not humanly possible to walk that path; only the indwelling Power of the Holy Spirit can set me free to walk that path, in His Power and in reliance upon His strength. The power of my flesh is hopelessly helpless to do so; there is no way it would even want to! The Spirit of the Living God alone works in me both to will and to do. 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.
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]
POWER OF MY LIFE; SOURCE OF MY STRENGTH
Blessed Holy Spirit…continually and unceasingly, day and night, I need to breathe in the breath of life that comes from You 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. You are the Power of the Most High God, given to me by my Father and sent by the Son to dwell in me…never to leave me, never to forsake me.
It is Your Power in me that guarantees and secures my capability to live my everyday life…
faithful to my solemn marriage vows as the bride of Christ the Son,
faithfully within the Holy of Holies, in the inaccessible Light of the Glory of my Father’s unclouded Presence…which is my birth-right as a child of the Most High God!
KNOWING JESUS
I fully understand, and my heart is inflamed with yearning, to know Jesus in the Power of His Resurrection, which can only be attained through the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. For my determined purpose is that I may know Jesus… that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly…and that I may in that same way come to know the Power out-flowing from His resurrection which it exerts over God’s children, and that I may so share in the fellowship of His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness even unto His death, that I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while still in the body. [Phil 3:9-11] Hallelujah!
UNWAVERING CHILD-LIKE TRUST
Abba Father, You have lovingly encouraged me, as well as all of Your children: Trust in Me with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own wisdom, knowledge, and understanding; but in all your ways…watch for Me and wait before Me, look off unto Me and listen for My voice; acknowledge Me in this way, and I will most assuredly direct your paths…I will most assuredly lead you and guide you by My indwelling Holy Spirit. I have laid aside the blessings of obedience for My children!
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Our Lord Jesus’ High Priestly prayer to the Father…on that night just prior to His betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane…clearly defined eternal life: Now this is eternal life:
personally knowing You, Father, the One True Living God, continually ever more deeply and intimately in a daily living-out union of oneness,and
knowing Jesus Christ Your Son…the Messiah Whom You had sent…in that same deep and intimate personal relationship,
joined inseparably together with Us in an eternal Sacred Covenant relationship. [John 17:3]
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.
Friends & neighbors, brothers and sisters…
There is one absolutely necessary preparation for every living soul on the face of this Earth, for the soon coming and imminent return of Jesus Christ…the one preparation that will irrevocably determine in which neighborhood you will spend all eternity, whether in Heaven or in Hell. You must be a born-again child of God.
“I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s Kingdom. I tell you the truth, no one can ever enter the Kingdom of God unless you are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.'” [Jesus…John 3:3-7]
If you have never been born again,
or you are not sure whether you have been born again,
or you have been living your life as a lukewarm Christian and would now like to recommit your life and enter into a deep and intimate relationship with Christ Jesus in preparation for the soon coming marriage supper of the Lamb…
then I counsel you to get alone with God, read the solemn marriage vows presented below you must make to become the bride of Christ and thereby be born-again, and with sincerity of heart from within the depths of your being,
acknowledge before God, “I DO.”
MARRIAGE VOWS
SPIRITUAL BRIDE OF CHRIST
- Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Divine Son in the Triune God, the Lamb of God Who came into this world to become the One only, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice through His death on a cross and subsequent resurrection, thereby securing forgiveness for your sins and restoring your relationship with God that had been severed by sin?
- Do you now solemnly vow before God to give yourself to be the bride of Christ, receiving Jesus the Christ into your life in a spiritual marriage, promising to honor and obey Him as both Lord over your life and Savior of your soul?
- To be joined inseparably together with Him in a Sacred Covenant relationship…an Eternal living union of oneness through the new life to be conceived in you by the Holy Spirit…
- To have and to hold Him, above all others and above all else this world has to offer, as the choicest, most precious treasure of your heart…
- To love and to cherish Him, above all others and above all else this world has to offer, reserving for Him alone your sweetest, most tender affections…
- For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life, until death of this body brings you to be together with Him in Heaven for all eternity?
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Friends & neighbors, brothers and sisters in Christ…
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…my Father’s ear is attentive to the voice of His child, and He loves to give His child little tokens of His Divine Love whenever my requests are within the framework of His plans, purposes, His will. Scripture tells me, “You have not because you ask not…or you ask with wrong, selfish motives.”
My Father loves to show His child His Glory…that I may see it with my own eyes, and thereby have occasion to testify to His great Name and mighty Power. I have testified to it continually, and I will do so again:
https://preservechristianfamily.org/category/testimonies/
Beloved…be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. Be alertly waiting for your master’s return from the wedding feast, so you may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those whom the master finds ready when he comes. You also, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect! [Jesus…Luke 12:35-37, 40]
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]
Brothers and sisters in Christ…
In that soon coming Day of the Lord…Men’s hearts will be failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth: for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken. When God spoke from Mount Sinai His voice shook the Earth, but now He makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the Earth but the heavens also.” This means that the things on Earth will be shaken, so that only eternal things will remain. When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. [Heb 12:26-27; Luke 21:26, 28]
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. In that day, the Earth will burn as an oven. Everything in the physical, material realm will be burned up…EVERYTHING; nothing will remain.
Beloved…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. [Jesus…Matt 24:42-44]
Beloved…sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of My unfailing love! Break up the fallow ground within your heart! For it is time to seek Me, the Lord, until I come and shower righteousness upon you! Look off unto Me and My strength; seek My face and My Presence continually! Those who know My Name will trust in Me, for I have never forsaken those who seek Me! [Triune God…Hos 10:12; Ps 105:4; 9:10]
At that time the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and did not take extra oil with them. The wise, however, took extra oil in jars along with their lamps, and so were ready for his coming. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. [Jesus…Matt 25:1-13]
In that great and terrible Day of the Lord, Father, Your Divine Son Jesus will manifest the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God against all those upon the Earth who stand in rebellion to His Throne, and He will destroy all those upon the Earth who are enemies and usurpers of His rule and authority, until He has placed every one of His enemies under His feet. Then in that Day, Your will, Father, will be done on Earth even as it is in Heaven. [Heb 1:8-13; Isa 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; 2:11, 31; Zep 1:18; 2 Pet 3:10; 1 Cor 15:24-26; Matt 6:9-10]
Beloved…continually wash your robes in the Blood of Jesus; wash your garments that have been soiled with sin, making them clean again, dazzling and white. Wash your feet with pure water; wash the dust of sin off your feet. Continually and diligently do these things, that you may always abide with Me in the Holy of Holies, in My unclouded Presence. [Rev 19:7-9]
These are the days of the separation of the wheat from the chaff. I [John] baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One Who is more powerful than I, Whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty.
“Not a root or a branch will be left to them.” [Matt 3:11-12; Mal 4:1-2]
But also in those days there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves. They will subtly and cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God, even denying the Sovereign Lord Who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Christ and His true way will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies and cunning arguments to get hold of your money. With eyes full of adultery, their lust is never satisfied. They make a game of beguiling and luring unstable people into sin. They train themselves to be greedy; they are doomed and cursed. But God condemned them long ago, and their eternal misery is on the way. [2 Peter 2:1-3, 14]
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. Even so…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, 10-12, 14, 17; 1 John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:14-16]
This is what the Most Holy, Most High, Triune God declares:
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:
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