JOURNEY OF FAITH
Day Twenty-two
My heart is steadfast, Abba Father; I sing and make music to You with all my soul! Awake, harp and lyre; I awaken the dawn! I praise You among the nations, Father! I sing to You among the peoples! For great is Your love…higher than the heavens! Your faithfulness reaches to the skies! Be exalted above the heavens, Father, and let Your Glory be above all the Earth!
I come to You and sing for joy, Father! I shout aloud to the Rock of my salvation! I come before You with thanksgiving, and extol You with music and song! For You are a great God, Father, the great King above all “gods!” In Your hand are the depths of the Earth; the very mountain peaks belong to You! The sea is Yours, Father, for You made it, and Your hands formed the dry land! I come to You and bow down in worship, Father. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care! Hallelujah!
Revelation 20:1-15 [NIV; Amplification in Italics]
And I saw an angel coming down out of Heaven…the Angel of Yahweh…the Lord Jesus Christ Himself…having the key to the Abyss and holding in His hand a great chain. He seized the Dragon, that ancient Serpent, who is the Devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss…that prison in which evil spirits are detained prior to their final judgment…and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
I saw thrones on which were seated all those resurrected saints who are His called, chosen and faithful followers…those who had been assembled together to form the armies of Heaven, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean…His glorious bride…who had now been given authority to judge and to shepherdize the nations along with Him as He had promised: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My Throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne.” And I saw among them the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the Word of God. They had not worshiped the Beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They were especially noteworthy among those who came to resurrection life, and now reigned as kings and priests over the nations along with Christ for a thousand years. [The rest of the dead…those who are not among His called, chosen and faithful followers…did not come to resurrection life until the thousand years were ended]. This is the completion of the period of the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who alone have part in the first resurrection…a resurrection out from the dead, and a translation of those still living, who belong to Christ…His glorious bride! The second death has no power over them, but they will be unerring and immortal kings and priests of God and of Christ, shepherdizing the nations…ruling over them to direct, instruct, and feed them with all the loving care of angels, but shall rule them with a rod of iron in their hands to enforce docility, obedience, and unreserved surrender to all the laws and requirements of the Lord God Almighty…and they will reign with Him for a thousand years!
When the thousand years are over, the loyalty and devotion of the nations, who had now experienced a heavenly life of peace and prosperity under the blessed shepherdizing of the Lord Jesus and His immortal co-regents, are again to be tested. Satan will be released from his prison and will go out once again, for the last time, to deceive the nations in the most remote four corners of the Earth…Gog and Magog…to gather them together for battle, believing the lie that they can overthrow the rule and authority of the Lord’s immortal and glorified saints. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the Earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the City He loves. But fire came down from Heaven and instantly, utterly, devoured them. And the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the Beast and the False Prophet had been thrown a thousand years before, to be imprisoned there forever and ever, where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever, without end. Thus ends the last rebellion ever seen upon this planet…the last sin, and the last deaths, that ever occur in this dwelling-place of man.
Then I saw a great white Throne, awe-filled with immeasurable power, and of pure, complete, unmingled, and invincible justice, and Him Who was unnamable, indescribable, and Eternal Godhead seated on it. Earth and sky seemed to have fled into an insignificant nothingness from the overwhelming Almightiness of His Presence, and there seemingly was no place for them! And I saw the resurrection of damnation of the rest of the dead, those who did not have part in the first resurrection, both the great and small, standing before the Throne, brought forth from all the depositories of the souls and bodies of the unholy dead, and books were opened wherein were fully recorded every thought, every word, every deed, every attitude, every motive, every secret and most hidden thing, of every person who ever breathed Earth’s atmosphere. Included therein also were the deeds of goodness and morality of those who thought to stand before God on their own merit…who never felt the need of atonement by the propitiation of a crucified Savior, and who thus disdained to build on the merit and righteousness of the One only Mediator as the sole hope of a guilty and diseased humanity. Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life…the roll-book of the regenerate in Christ Jesus…the register of the washed and sanctified through faith in His redeeming Blood. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged and condemned according to, and in proportion to, the degree of sinfulness of what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, as had been the Beast, the False Prophet, and the Devil before them. The lake of fire is the second death…an eternal living-death of unimaginable woe, pain, and dreadful torment of both body and spirit, day and night, unceasing, forever and ever. If anyone’s name was not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:1-15]
WHY DO I EXIST
EPILOGUE
HOUSE OF PRAYER
ANECDOTES
Suddenly, out of the clear blue, the Spirit of God swept over and fell upon our group! Kids and adults alike were weeping with joy, and then break out into another song! Kids and adults began joyfully weeping and embracing one another, breaking out again into yet another praise song! Everyone was filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit! And so the inaccessible Light of the Glory of the awesome Presence of God just kept going on and on! No one would ever be able to forget that evening when God poured out a Divine token of Love on our little group as we were immersed in praise and worship by the fireplace! Hallelujah!
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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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DIVINE PRESENCE: HOUSE OF PRAYER
At 5:00 PM on a Friday afternoon in the mid 1980s, I left Brooklyn with a 15 passenger van filled with 5-12 year old inner city kids on our way to a weekend retreat at a Christian Retreat Center in the mountains of Pennsylvania. I was their Youth Leader. The Conference Center Director told me that the Prayer Band from the Brooklyn Tabernacle was going to be there for the entire week…and they had been praying for us every day! I was deeply impressed hearing they were praying for us, because they certainly did not know us, and at that time I had never even heard of the Brooklyn Tabernacle!
It was winter and it was cold as we began our 3 hour trip, but everything seemed OK…until we got into Pennsylvania. The van was being pelted with an ongoing mixture of wind-driven snow and freezing rain, and the narrow mountain roads winding along precipices and cliffs were becoming slippery and treacherous! I was in a cold sweat, continually pleading with the Lord to watch over us, protect us, and keep us safe! With a heart of thanksgiving, we arrived at the Retreat Center at 9 PM…and the gracious staff was there waiting for us, with a wonderful dinner they had prepared for the kids!
Saturday was spent involved with our kids program, and then we joined the Prayer Band in the early evening to have dinner together in the Conference Center’s large dining hall. After dinner, our kids went over to the beautiful stone fireplace at the other end of the dining hall to sing kids praise and worship songs along with the tracks I would play on our boom box.
We always sang these songs, everywhere we went. They knew at least 100 songs, all by heart! We had been invited to sing at a number of churches over the past year; it was our particular God-ordained ministry. The kids were enthusiastic and all lit up when they sang; they thoroughly enjoyed pouring out their little hearts in these songs! Invariably, they would “bring the house down” wherever we went! Congregations wouldn’t let us leave; we would end up singing 5 or 6 songs!
I selected a track as we sat by the crackling fire, and the singing began. I never had to tell them which song I was going to play; they knew the song in just a few seconds into the opening music! Members of the Prayer Band began wandering over and joining in, and soon we were all immersed in singing kids praise and worship songs!
Suddenly, out of the clear blue, the Spirit of God swept over and fell upon our group! Kids and adults alike were weeping with joy, and then break out into another song! Kids and adults began joyfully weeping and embracing one another, breaking out again into yet another praise song! Everyone was filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit! And so the inaccessible Light of the Glory of the awesome Presence of God just kept going on and on! No one would ever be able to forget that evening when God poured out a Divine token of Love on our little group as we were immersed in praise and worship by the fireplace! Hallelujah!
It was there at the Retreat Center that some members of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Prayer Band invited me to come to their Tuesday night prayer meeting. They told me that 2,000 people attend every Tuesday night…standing room only! I never heard of a prayer meeting like that! I wondered how that could possibly be…my experience of prayer meetings at that point was a hand full of people gathering together around a table to pray…over a “shopping list” of prayer requests provided by the pastor.
From the day of that invitation, it took 4 years for me to finally go and see this for myself! The Spirit of God, though, kept reminding me of that invitation; would not let me forget…until finally I decided I have to go; I couldn’t believe there could be 2,000 people at a prayer meeting! How could that possibly be, I wondered.
I arrived at the Tuesday night prayer meeting at 6:45 PM…the meeting starts at 7:00 PM. When I walked into the sanctuary, it was packed! The lights were dimmed quite low. There were a whole number of people at the altar…standing, kneeling, on their face…just crying out to God. Others were seated, praying silently or out loud. There was background instrumental worship music playing…very soft so as not to be a distraction. Nobody was socially conversing with one another…there was only the sound of prayer, the atmosphere of prayer, the aroma of prayer. As I walked into that sanctuary, I was struck with the Presence of God…an overwhelming sense of His Presence! I would never forget this first experience…and I was constrained to attend that prayer meeting every Tuesday night thereafter for the 14 years before being told by the Lord, “I want you to move to Florida!”
The sanctuary doors on the prayer meeting night were opened at 5 PM…2 hours before the meeting was to start. At 4:30 PM there would already be a hundred people in the lobby, waiting for those doors to be opened! It was there at the Brooklyn Tabernacle that I learned what the leading of the Spirit was, and where I learned what a House of Prayer was…what the Lord intended for His church when He said, “My House shall be called a House of Prayer.”
The hour and a half prayer meeting always started with at least 20 minutes of corporate worship and praise songs, longer whenever the Spirit led to do so… 2,000 people immersed in worship, praise, and thanksgiving, with our hands lifted high and our voices raised to the sky, giving Him honor and glory and praise! “I will enter Your gates with thanksgiving, I will come into Your courts with praise.”
The musicians were there, but they did not lead the worship…the Holy Spirit led the worship spontaneously through the Pastor [or assigned associate pastor] as they were prompted to sing one song and then another…on and on. The musicians only provided the accompanying music to the song the Holy Spirit selected; no one knew beforehand…not even the Pastor! The congregation did not have song sheets where the words to the song were written; there was no screen in the front displaying the words of the song. People knew the words by heart; new members learned the words by heart as they joined in with the singing. It was the people who were immersed in worship: God inhabits the praises of His people.
That was the atmosphere my sister walked into on that night when the Lord had told me as clearly as a man speaking to his friend, “Your sister will be saved in this meeting.” You will be blessed beyond measure in reading this testimony: https://preservechristianfamily.org/2017/04/17/divine-intervention-salvation/
After the worship and praise was over, the balance of the meeting was prayer dedicated to supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving…for whomsoever and whatsoever, as the case may be at that particular time frame. Although the prayer meeting ended at 8:30, invariably many people just lingered there in the Presence of God for another half hour or more!
That brings me to the time period after which in 2004 the Lord had told me to move to Florida, and He had raised my mother up off her death bed as He told me 3 times He would, and her subsequent homecoming 9 ½ years later…to May 2015. A couple who were close friends was attending CITG at the time, and they told me there was an associate pastor who had just experienced the Brooklyn Tabernacle prayer meeting recently, and was completely overwhelmed by it. They told him about me…that I was a member there and had attended those prayer meetings every Tuesday for 14 years; he wanted to meet me! I knew the Lord was calling me to CITG because of the prayer meeting…so I went to the morning service the following Sunday, and met Pastor James for the first time, before the service began. We had such a blessed time talking about those anointed prayer meetings!…and he asked me to come to CITG’s Tuesday night prayer meeting and give a testimony about the Brooklyn Tabernacle prayer meeting…which I did. There were about 35 people present on that Tuesday evening. That was how the Lord called me to CITG, and to minister at their prayer meeting.
Pastor James wanted to establish a prayer meeting at CITG that mirrored what he had experienced at his one trip to the Brooklyn Tabernacle…a House of Prayer… and we began working together to do this. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before he was called to another church in a different State. After that, the CITG prayer meeting just kept dwindling in numbers, and deteriorating in purpose…until the church leadership discontinued the prayer meeting altogether in November 2019.
After Pastor James had left CITG until that end-time point in 2019, the prayer meeting had become just a platform for the current night’s leader to give a mini Bible study…15 minutes out of a one hour meeting! The Lord had clearly proclaimed His intended purpose for His Church: “My House shall be called a House of Prayer”… not a house of preaching, of teaching, or Bible study. Preaching, teaching, and Bible study…Yes; but not on the prayer meeting night! “My House shall be called a House of Prayer!”
The remainder of the “prayer meeting” time was dedicated to the “same ole, same ole” “shopping list” requests of God…”to do” lists for Him and “laundry lists”… the “my will be done” lists. Not a single thought about His will be done!
There was no thought of first of all, before ANYTHING else, to enter My gates with thanksgiving, come into my courts with praise. There was no leading of the Spirit in songs of worship, praise, and thanksgiving; the people were not immersed in worship and praise: God inhabits the praises of His people. Yes, there was a worship song…a taped song off a computer from a worship group that was not even present there in the meeting! Why? Isn’t the Holy Spirit capable of prompting His people to make melody with our hearts to God…singing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs from our heart? Brethren…the Holy Spirit must have free reign…in everything! Apart from that, the worship is a stench in the nostrils of God; it is not worship in Spirit and in Truth! It is not at all good or pleasing or acceptable to God!
There was no thought of coming to the sanctuary early, to personally cry out to God before the meeting ever started. The sanctuary did not have the atmosphere of prayer, the aroma and fragrance of prayer, the respectful quietness for those already immersed in prayer. Those who came did not come to pray; they came first of all for social interaction!
The prayer meeting was NOT the most important church meeting of the week… more important than the Sunday service, more important than the various church ministries, meetings, and programs. Pastors, elders, and church leadership rarely, if ever, attended. The Holy Spirit was programmed out; the prayer meeting was spiritually dead. The Lord’s House was NOT a House of Prayer!
Sadly, this characterizes 99% of churches across America!…and explains why the Lord’s Church has no spiritual power, authority, or influence in our current day society! Brethren, you need to watch this video presentation: My House Shall Be Called A House of Prayer: Pastor Jim Cymbala: https://vimeo.com/132887856/
This is a wake-up call to the churches that claim the Name of Christ; they have a form of godliness, but are totally void of any spiritual power! They are not a House of Prayer!
Brothers and sisters in Christ…There is no hope for our church…any church for that matter…becoming a House of Prayer unless the Holy Spirit rend the heavens and comes down as a consuming fire to transform His Church…Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy Presence…as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make Thy Name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy Presence. [Isa 64:1-2]
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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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcx2O9WXvn8&feature=youtu.be
Alone With God:
Preserve Christian Family 