JOURNEY OF FAITH
Day Four
My mind is steadfast, fixed on You, Abba Father; therefore You will keep me in perfect peace because I trust in You! I trust in You forever, for You are the Rock Eternal, my precious Lord, my God and Father! The path of the righteous is level! You are the Upright One, the One Who makes the way of the righteous smooth! Yes, Father, I walk in the ways of Your laws, and I wait for You! Your Holy Name and Your renown are the desire of my heart! My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You! Father, You establish peace for me! All that I have accomplished is due to You having done it through me, with me, in me! Precious Lord, my Father, other “lords” besides You have ruled over me, but Your Holy Name alone do I honor!
Revelation 4:1-11 [NIV; amplification in italics]
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven…the doorway opened for the ascension of the raptured saints! And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet, which sounding is the signal by which His elect are to be gathered from the four winds, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this…after the dispensation of this present church-age, represented by the seven selected churches, has run its course and the order of things to which they belong has come to its final conclusion.” At that time, with the summoning of the voice of the archangel, the dead saints shall rise from the dust; the living saints, in a moment…in the twinkling of an eye… are changed; and both together are rapt up far above the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, long before He is seen by the inhabitants of the Earth. Thus will the saints be kept from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who remain…those whose hearts were preoccupied with the things of Earth rather than their heart’s desire a continual longing after a heavenly citizenship. From the safety of their home in Heaven, they will witness the terrible judgment plagues and sorrows inflicted upon the Earth that will take place after their rapture.
At once I was caught up in the Spirit, and there before me was a majestic, awe-filled Throne being set in place in Heaven, marking the beginning of a new dispensation, with someone sitting on it…the Triune God Himself! And the One Who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, insufferably brilliant…as a pure, purple, fiery, red, crystalline, consuming fire…flashing with a blazing light of awesome Glory! A rainbow, standing as the token of God’s covenant with all flesh and resembling an emerald… a soft, beaming emerald of promise and hope…mercy remembered in wrath…salvation over-spanning the appearance of consuming fire… encircled the Throne. Surrounding the Throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders, representing all the thousands upon thousands who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, having been gathered out of the tribes and peoples of all the Earth. They were now resurrected and glorified objects of grace, dressed in white…the white robes of the righteousness of the saints…and had crowns of gold on their heads…the crowns of righteousness promised by the Lord…befitting their office as priests and kings in glory. From the Throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, heralding the wrath and judgment that is about to proceed from it. Before the Throne, seven lamps were blazing forth as torches of fire the flaming indignation of the wrath of God, harbingers of that Day of Judgment in which the Earth will burn as an oven. These are the seven spirits of God in all His plenitude. Also before the Throne there was what looked like a sea of solid, transparent glass, clear as crystal and full of inexpressible beauty and splendor.
In the center, around the Throne, were four living creatures…likewise, along with the elders, representing those redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, having also been gathered out of the tribes and peoples of all the Earth, whose still higher office and distinction is to share the Throne with their Divine Redeemer as His ministers and as executors of His will throughout the unfolding eternal ages…and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle, for the reason that they are the Heavenly powers that guard and cover the camp of the Lord which, under them, the entire world is to become subject. They are those certain preeminent classes of the eclectic resurrection and translation, in the exact position which angels held in other dispensations. Each of the four living creatures had six wings, being angelic, now, as to their form of existence, and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings, denoting their intense intelligence and ability to direct their ways and administrations with unlimited penetration and discretion. Day and night they never stop expressing the Holiness and Glory of the Lord God Almighty, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
Who was, and is, and is to come!”
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Him Who sits on the Throne and Who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him Who sits on the Throne, and worship Him Who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the Throne, giving glory, honor and power to the Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth, and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things,
and by Your will they were created
and have their very being!” [Revelation 4:1-11]
WHY DO I EXIST
CHAPTER 14
POWER OF THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT
ANECDOTES
My beloved child…there are two operating principles out of which you can live your life…
Apple Operating System: the power of the flesh, or
Eagle Operating System: the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Those whose lives are under the guidance of the flesh…their sin-enslaved human nature…set their mind on and pursue what that nature desires; but those who live guided by the Holy Spirit set their mind on and seek after what My Spirit desires.
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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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TWO OPERATING SYSTEMS
My beloved child…there are two operating principles out of which you can live your life…
Apple Operating System: the power of the flesh, or
Eagle Operating System: the Power of the Holy Spirit.
Those whose lives are under the guidance of the flesh…their sin-enslaved human nature…set their mind on and pursue what that nature desires; but those who live guided by the Holy Spirit set their mind on and seek after what My Spirit desires.
When you choose to live controlled by the power of the flesh, you live your everyday life in reliance upon your human capabilities and capacities, by your own efforts and in your own strength, according to your own wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Those who choose to live controlled by the Power of My Spirit live their everyday life in reliance upon His Divine capabilities and capacities, by His efforts and in His Omnipotent strength, according to His Divine Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding.
LIVING IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
My child, have you yet to fully embrace His Divine Power that has given you everything you need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the One Who called you by His Own Glory and Goodness? Through these He has given you His Own very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the Divine nature now dwelling within you, and thereby escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Living in the Power of the Spirit is a life of watching and waiting upon God, looking off unto Me and listening for My voice…
for Me to place you where you are to be,
lead you where you are to go,
show you what you are to do to participate together with Me in My work,
give you the thoughts to think and present,
the words to speak or write.
This was the life of My Divine Son Jesus when He lived on this Earth. You are to live your everyday life by the example set by 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.”
LIVING IN THE POWER OF THE FLESH
Life in the power of the flesh is characterized by trying rather than by trusting.
It is a life requiring your continual striving and struggling; all of your efforts, redoubled efforts, and strength; all of your commitments and resolutions; all of your pledges and promises. Even then…the absolute weakness of your sin-enslaved human nature guarantees you will utterly fail!
My child…a life of trying in the power of your flesh ignores My Eternal Provision for your living a holy and righteous life: the Eternal 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.
POWER OF THE FLESH: SELF RELIANCE
Trying in the power of your flesh to do My work and My will presumes that you are fully capable of doing so, and do not need Me. It is an assertion of your self-reliance and self-sufficiency, and that you have no need for dependence upon My Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding. It is not well-pleasing to Me; it is a life of utter failure and spiritual bankruptcy!
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 can actually do so, that you can be well-pleasing in My sight in the power of your sin-enslaved human nature. The truth of the matter is…apart from Me you are hopelessly powerless, hopelessly impotent, hopelessly helpless to do anything that is good, or pleasing, or acceptable to God!
POWER OF THE SPIRIT: CHILD-LIKE DEPENDENCE
Beloved, life in the Power of My Spirit is characterized by trusting, and not by trying. It is a life of…
unwavering child-like trust, prompting you to look to My Holy Spirit with an
unreserved child-like dependence for His leading and guiding, to show you what you are to do and when, so that you may then respond with an
unquestioning child-like obedience.
BREATH OF LIFE
Continually and unceasingly throughout the day and night, your heart needs to breathe in that breath of life that comes from My Holy Spirit and sustains your spiritual life…just the same as your lungs need, continually and unceasingly, to breathe in that breath of life that comes from the outside air and sustains your physical life!
CHILD-LIKE TRUST
Trusting implies that you know beyond the shadow of a doubt you cannot satisfy your spiritual needs trying by your own efforts and in your own strength. Trusting is a conscious decision to live your everyday life in reliance upon the Power of My indwelling Spirit. It is an expression of death to self, and absolute reliance upon the sufficiency of God.
The only way to live your everyday life in the Power of My Spirit is to trust Me to do this in you. With an unwavering child-like trust…watch for Me and wait upon Me, look off unto Me and listen for My voice.
I will lead you and guide you, I will show you what you are to do and when. When you hear My voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it,” you need only respond and cooperate.
You respond in obedience; you cooperate with the power of My enabling grace. My Spirit is at work in you, working in you both to will and to do. My child…don’t run ahead of Me, or without Me! Walk in lock-step with My Holy Spirit!
POWER OF MY ENABLING GRACE
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 respond and to cooperate.
You live a life of trust not by trying to do what I show you to do, but by cooperating with My enabling grace manifested through My indwelling Holy Spirit within you to do so. You are not trying by your own efforts and in your own strength; you are cooperating with My strength, My Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding, with My capabilities and capacities. It is My work, not yours; and the results belong to Me, not to you.
SPIRITUAL ACT OF TRUE WORSHIP
Your place in My work is to attentively and diligently look for the leading and guiding of My Holy Spirit in everything concerning your everyday life, and to cooperate with the Power of His enabling grace to do all that He prompts you to do, or say, or think. He is the One Who produces fruit in your life; you are simply to be a branch that bears His fruit! Branches don’t produce fruit; branches simply bear the fruit My Holy Spirit produces.
You participate in My work by making the members of your body and all your faculties available to Me as instruments of righteousness, leading to holiness. Offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice, a vessel dedicated for My honor and well-pleasing to Me. This is your spiritual act of true worship!
LONGING FOR PERFECTION
Blessed Jesus…You assured me, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be fully satisfied. Abba Father…this is the most intense desire of my heart, above everything else: my heart is inflamed with yearning to be holy as You are Holy, to be perfect as You are Perfect.
HOPELESSLY POWERLESS TO ATTAIN PERFECTION
Father, I understand; I realize and acknowledge: I cannot literally be holy and perfect as You are. It is not humanly possible while I am still living in this body of flesh, and subject to the insistent desires of my sin-enslaved human nature.
In the power of my sin-enslaved human nature, I am hopelessly powerless, hopelessly impotent, hopelessly helpless to stand against the onslaught of temptations and sins…or to completely free myself from these sins.
SIN-ENSLAVED HUMAN NATURE
The overriding characteristic of my sin-enslaved human nature is that it is enslaved by sin. Why would I ever think that the powers of my sin-enslaved human nature would voluntarily choose to deny its own self and put forth effort to give the Holy Spirit free reign over the conduct of my life? That is absolutely contradictory to my self-serving human nature! It not only does not have the power to do this…but in no way would it even want to! My human nature is held captive by sin, imprisoned by sin, in bondage to sin, enslaved by sin…and it has no desire whatsoever to be free of sin. It likes sin, wants to continue living in sin, and refuses to give it up for You! And it can’t be fixed; it must be crucified.
LIVING BY FAITH IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
Abba, Father…it is not humanly possible for me to be delivered and set free from my human emotions…that I would never experience those feelings ever again. Emotions…my feelings…are spontaneous and involuntary responses within me to circumstances, events, and things that touch my life…things of the literal physical realm, or of the imaginary realm that rises up within the hidden life in my heart…in my mind, my thoughts, my imagination…things that come into my sphere of awareness that insist that I respond with an action in accordance with its dictates and demands. Emotions have an insistent desire to be the controlling mechanism for the behavioral responses of my life. Emotions desire to rule and reign on the throne within my heart…and usurp the rule and reign that rightfully belongs to Your Holy Spirit, Who was given to rule and reign upon the throne of my heart. Emotions insist…demand…that my will makes decisions in accordance with its dictates. My emotions can’t be fixed; they can only be crucified and no longer allowed to come down off that cross and usurp rule and authority over the conduct of living out my every day life.
And so, there are these insistent voices that demand my will to make decisions concerning the conduct of my every day life:
- My emotions with its feelings;
- My body with its desires and cravings;
- My mind with its human wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
The indwelling Holy Spirit was given as God’s Eternal Gift; He is the One Who leads and guides me in accordance with the plans, purposes, and will of God. He must be given free reign to rule over the conduct of my every day life.
And so I embrace as my own this same mind that was in You, Lord Jesus: NOT MY WILL, FATHER, as determined by my sin-enslaved human nature, BUT THY WILL BE DONE, as determined by God.
- I am to live by faith, not by sight…reliance on my human mind;
- I am to live by faith, not by my emotions…what I feel;
- I am to live by faith, not by my flesh…the desires and cravings of my body.
SANCTIFICATION: WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Abba Father, I know I can never attain righteousness by trying, by my own efforts and in my own strength…that any efforts on my part only serve to hinder Your Holy Spirit from working righteousness in me. Sanctification is the work of Your Holy Spirit, not mine. My place is to hate sin, love righteousness, and cooperate with the work of Your Indwelling Holy Spirit, Who is the One Who works in me both the desire to obey Your will and the Power to do Your will. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond Your companions.
My beloved child, I counsel you to live your everyday manner of life in the Power and under the guidance of My Holy Spirit; then you will not gratify the desires of your sin-enslaved human nature. Your heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked…your sin-enslaved human nature has a strong desire for its own will to be done and so to suppress My Holy Spirit, and My Spirit constantly has a strong desire for God’s will to be done and so to suppress your sin-enslaved human nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are hindered by your sin-enslaved human nature from freely doing what you desire to do in obedience to My will.
But if you are living your life guided by My Holy Spirit, your life is no longer under the guidance of the demands of the Law, which has no power to suppress the desires of your sin-enslaved human nature. For the Law of the Spirit of life in My Divine Son Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and its resultant death. The fruit produced by My Holy Spirit dwelling within you is: love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no Law prohibiting such things as these…rather, they fully satisfy the demands of My Law. Those who belong to Christ My Son have nailed the passions and desires of their sin-enslaved human nature to His cross and crucified them there.
Since you earnestly desire to live your everyday manner of life under the guidance of My Holy Spirit, be careful, then, to follow the Spirit’s guidance in every part of your life.
PERFECTION OF HEART
Purity, holiness, and righteousness…first of all and above all…is a matter of the heart. It is in my hidden life within my heart…in my mind, my thoughts, my imagination…where a pure, holy, and righteous life has its roots. The only righteousness acceptable to God is purity of heart.
Without that purity, the outward physical life makes no difference. God’s Divine evaluation takes place in the heart. He judges the source and origin of sin, not its manifestation or lack of manifestation.
True Christianity lies in the heart, in the purity of heart; the washing of the heart from wickedness. Those who truly belong to God will be motivated to purity. The deepest desire…the consuming desire…of the redeemed is for holiness, even when sin hinders the perfect fulfillment of that desire. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. [Rom 6:19] Intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God is reserved only for the pure in heart.
THE ALMIGHTY ONE
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. [Isa 40:31]
THE EVERLASTING ONE
My beloved child…Your watching and waiting upon God, looking off unto Me and listening for My voice, will depend greatly on your faith of Who I am. It is as I reveal Myself as the Everlasting and Almighty One, and that revelation enters your soul, that your waiting will become the spontaneous expression of what you know Me to be… a God altogether worthy to be waited upon.
My children are to “mount up with wings as eagles;” you are to live a Heavenly life, in the very Presence and Love and Joy of God. You are to fully embrace My Eternal Promise prepared for My children, resting in Me with an unruffled child-like rest and abiding in Me with an unclouded child-like carefree joy all the days of your life on the face of the Earth, and then afterwards together with Me in Heaven for all eternity.
Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the Everlasting One…the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth…fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. So far from it…He giveth Power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths…the glory of young men is in their strength…even the youths shall faint, and the young men shall utterly fall: all that is accounted strong with man shall come to nought.
But they that wait upon the Lord…on the Everlasting One, Who fainteth not, neither is weary…they shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and…listen now, they shall be strong with the strength of God, and even as He…shall not be weary; they shall walk and…even as He…not faint. [Isa 40:28-31]
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the LORD alone did lead him. [Deut 32:11-12]
To whom then will you liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold Who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His Might, for that He is strong in Power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, “My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?” [Isa 40:25-27]
A CHILD OF GOD HAS EAGLE WINGS
Precious child! You are born of God; a child of the Most High God! You have the eagles wings! You may not have fully known it; you may not have yet used them; but I, your God and Father, can and will indeed teach you to use them. I will stir up your nest. I will disappoint your hopes. I will bring down your confidence. I will make you fear and tremble; as all your strength fails, you will feel utterly weary and helpless. And yet, even so, all the while I am spreading My strong wings for you to rest your weakness on, and offering My Everlasting Creator-Strength to work in you!
And all I ask is that you should sink down in your weariness and wait upon Me; and allow Me in My Jehovah-Strength to carry you as you ride upon the wings of My Omnipotence. You need only lift up your eyes, and behold your God! You need only listen to Me Who assures you that I never grow tired or weary, Who promises that you too shall not faint nor be weary, Who asks nothing but this one thing…that you should wait solely and only, wholly and always, upon Me! Oh beloved child, with such a Father…so mighty, so faithful, so tender…why would you not set your heart to continually wait only upon God?!
PROMISE TO RENEW MY STRENGTH
Abba Father…oftentimes I am so tired, so weary, so worn. Oftentimes I have so little energy, so little strength, so little stamina. But Father, You promised!…if only I would just wait upon You, that You would renew my energy, my strength, my stamina. You assured me that I shall mount up with wings as eagles; that I shall run and not be weary; that I shall walk, and not faint. You assured me that, as Your child, I indeed have the eagles wings, and that You will indeed teach me to use them!
TRUE HUMILITY
Abba Father…I understand. I am just the paint brush in the hand of the Master; the pen in the hand of the Author; the bow in the hand of the Master Violinist.
I am just the instrument of Your Righteousness…a vessel set apart for noble purposes, holy and consecrated to the Master, prepared and ready to be used for Your every good purpose.
The all-prevailing, all pervading, atmosphere in which my soul lives and moves and has its very being is an unwavering child-like trust in You, Father.
The underlying foundation for my unwavering child-like trust is that in the very depths of my being I have embraced the reality of Your fathomless love for me, and Your absolute Sovereignty over all Creation. Hallelujah!
EMBRACING THIS BLESSED LIFE
And so, Father, in the Power of Your enabling grace I embrace this blessed life:
MY WAITING UPON GOD…Just to be alone together with You in our trysting place, to walk with You and talk with You in the cool of the early hours of the morning well before dawn…just to commune with You face to Face as a man would speak with his friend…
MY WAITING UPON GOD continually and unceasingly throughout the day and night…with a joyful expectation and an excited anticipation, with an unwavering child-like trust and an unreserved child-like dependence…watching and waiting, looking off unto You and listening for Your voice behind me saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it” …
FOR GOD TO REVEAL TO ME WHO HE IS and the rich eternal treasures of the Heavenly realms…ever more deeply and intimately…and Your plans, Your purposes, Your will for me as Your messenger, Your ministering spirit, Your watchman, Your prophet…
SO I MAY THEN RESPOND, with an unquestioning child-like obedience, to every leading and prompting of Your Holy Spirit in living out my every day life, cooperating with the Power of His enabling grace Who is the One Who works in me both to will and to do.
Blessed Holy Spirit…You are the Divine Nature dwelling in me, Whose Power in me continually guarantees and secures my capability to live my everyday life:
faithful to my solemn marriage vows as the bride of Christ;
faithfully within the Holy of Holies and the unclouded Presence of my Father in our Sacred Covenant relationship.
My soul, wait thou only upon God!
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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
Preserve Christian Family 