The Rebellious Versus The Faithful Child

Romans 9: 4-5

God gave every advantage to the Israelites.

Who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons,

The adult children who will help run the Family business, the Kingdom;

and the glory

The honor of being God's sons.

And the covenants

The agreements, the contracts with God.

And the giving of the Law

All the rules for prosperity and peace.

And the Temple service

The means of having a relationship with God as His children.

And the promises,

All God said He would do, His revealing of the future.

Whose are the fathers,

Descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And from whom is the Christ according to the flesh,

Jesus' human genealogy was through David, of the Tribe of Judah, the son of Jacob, or Israel.

The Israelites were given all the advantages over all the other Nations. 

Romans 10: 20-21

Isaiah is very bold and says, "I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me." 
But as for Israel He says, "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."

God said that He was found by people who didn't even realize they were looking for Him, but He held His hands out all day for Israel, who He had given all the advantages, but they were disobedient and obstinate.

Isn't that the way it goes. The child in the family who is favored, even spoiled, is the rebellious one, while the ignored child turns out to be the most responsive. 

O my Father, I didn't know that it was You I was seeking, when I was searching for the Truth. But You are Truth, and You honored my search by coming to me and revealing to me that Jesus took my place in death. That's when You rescued me from the addictive sin that had trapped me, and caused me to be born into Your own family. 

You had wanted Your chosen Nation, Israel, to be Your examples to show the World what a good God You are, by obeying Your laws and rules so they could enjoy Your blessings, then the other peoples would also want to worship You instead of their idols. 

But the Israelite Nation had a real problem consistently focusing on You and Your ways, and strayed so far that they failed to do what You intended. 

But You knew this would happen, and You told Isaiah and other Prophets how You would call people of other Nations to yourself, also. 

And You called me, Father--one who has no discernible genetic descent from Abraham--to be Your daughter in Your own Family. 

O Father, I pray for all Your children, and all those who will be Your children. You know, since before You created anything, who would be Yours; and You call us to Yourself in Your time and in Your way, in every Time and every age. 

O my Father, I pray for Your wayward son Israel. I pray that the veil over their eyes would be removed, and they would recognize who You are and how You Love them. I pray that Your hand of Peace would be over Jerusalem, the Capital of Your Nation at the Center of the Earth. 

And I pray for Your children who are being persecuted. Father, my brothers and sisters who are living in areas of the World where the political climate is taken over by evil and hates all those who abide by Your Book. 

Father, You have torn the veil that separates us from intimacy with You, and You have broken down the wall between Hebrews and Gentiles. We are all to have the same faith, believing the same Scriptures, and we are all sisters and brothers in Your own Family. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!




 

The Man Of Lawlessness

II Thessalonians 2: 1-12

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,

Here Paul puts Jesus' return and the Rapture of the church together. 

That you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come.

Some of their teachers were saying that the Lord had already returned. Paul is telling them not to worry, it hasn't happened yet, they didn't miss Him. 

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

We are to look at what is going on around us to see when some powerful ruler acts as though he is above the law. 

Okay, almost every government official of every Nation acts like they are not subject to the same laws we are. 

So let's see what this particular one does:

Who opposes and exalts himself above every god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 

This person will promote himself as the only one to be worshiped, in the middle of Daniel's seventieth week (Daniel 9:27), persecuting everyone who will not bow down to him.  

Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 

Paul had taught these believers as much as he understood would happen according to God's plan, but he wasn't in Thessalonica very long, being run out by the Jews who didn't believe him (Acts 17:5-10). 

And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 

Okay, Paul told them, but he didn't tell us who this is who is restraining; and now we have several theories propounded by theologians, but no proof of any of them. 

I will leave that to God to reveal or not what this is that restrains the evil and lawlessness to prevent the "man of sin" from being revealed. I suppose we will know after the fact. 

When this person compels everyone to worship him by preventing anyone to buy or sell anything without giving him fealty, he will use the World's economic system to enforce his theology (see Revelation 13:15-18). 

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the Appearance of His Coming;
That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,

This person is in direct opposition to God, wanting to be God, and trying to act like a god with miracles and deceptive wonders. So he also is in opposition to the people of God, both Jews and Christians. 


Be watching who is anti-Semitic, for one indication. And for who doesn't approve of Christians proclaiming only One Way to God, through the Blood of Christ. This is the spirit of lawlessness at work today.

And with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the Truth so as to be saved.
For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,

Paul is talking about the people now, who follow the World instead of following Christ. Since they refused to accept the Truth that we all deserve to die (The wages of sin is death; Romans 6:23), and will not accept Jesus as the Savior. 

So God will let the man of sin make it impossible for these people to be saved, so they will elevate him instead of God. 

What could be such a strong "deluding influence" but the new technology out of the Far East that puts emotion and thought control into implantable chips, along with medical and financial information. So don't get any chips implanted!

In order that they all may be judged who did not believe the Truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

God's judgment is absolutely righteous, and these people will show themselves deserving of God's wrath, that King Jesus will dispense with His Word--the sword that proceeds out of His mouth (Revelation 19:15). 

O my Father, please prepare all of Your people, both Your children and the Israelites You have chosen, to survive the wrath You will be pouring out on the World, and to reach all of the rest of Your sheep who are still searching. 

Thank you so much, my Father, for putting the wrath I deserve on Your own Son as He suffered as Lamb of God. Strengthen me to stand firm in the face of the enemy's minions when they confront, and protect me, to live to see and take part in the Glorious Appearing of my King. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Faith And Love

II Thessalonians 1: 3

... Your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater.

Our faith and our love are mentioned together here. Is there a connection? I think so. 

Our faith is how much we are trusting God. God is Love, and the better we get to know Him, the more we will realize how much He loves us. Then the more trust we can put in Him, becoming more comfortable in His care, knowing that He has only good planned for us. 

And as we become more aware of God's absolute power over all Creation, and every moment through Time; then we will naturally (supernaturally?) lean more on Him and His wisdom and knowledge to guide our steps each day. 

And we will find that we also love what He loves, other people. Especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. And also His lost sheep. 

So when Paul noticed how the believers in Thessalonica had "greatly enlarged" their faith, they were also growing in their love for one another. 

O my Father, may all of us, Your children, greatly enlarge our faith, getting to know You better every day. And may our trusting You grow our hearts in love for one another. 

May our love for one another show the World how good You are, Father; and that You Loved us so much that You sent Your own Son to be our Lord and our Savior. 

O Father, teach me how to love my sisters and brothers, help me to do what shows love; as love is an active verb, not a fleeting feeling. Show me what I can do to love my neighbor, and show Your Love to the World.

Show me, Father, how to love those especially close to me, and I to them. Help us to love one another with the active Love that You Love us with. Open my eyes to see their needs, and how I can meet them. 

Father, You have given me everything I need. You have always been so generous with me, help me to also be generous with others, as Your hands and feet. 

And send me, Father, to your lost sheep. Allow me to contribute the abilities and resources You have granted me, for the advancement of Your great Kingdom, to hasten the Glorious Appearing of my Lord and Savior.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Pains Of Childbirth

Romans 8: 15, 22-23

... You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,"Abba," Father! 
For we know that the whole Creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 
And not only this, but we ourselves, having the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 

The whole Earth is groaning and writhing as in childbirth, under the curse put upon it by Adam's sin, until Jesus' return to make it "new." 

When Adam sinned, the Earth and its environment, the Universe, was cursed with death. Science calls this the Second Law of Thermodynamics, or Entropy; things tend to wind down and wear out, going from order into chaos.

I've been hearing lately, these past few years, and more and more as time goes by, of all the geological upheavals with volcanoes and tectonic plates shifting, causing weird weather and stuff. And with the Watchmen's Earth and Space Connection reporting all these accelerated global anomalys, and looking at what the weather is doing around me, I can't help but believe that the Earth's birth pangs are reaching their zenith. 

The final, global, world-wide earthquake that will flatten the mountains, overflow the islands and split apart the Continents will greet our Lord's Glorious Appearing; as soon as every person living will have heard the Gospel with enough understanding to accept or reject God's ways. 

It could be any day now!

O my Father, thank You for telling us in Your written Word what to expect, so we can be prepared for what is coming. Help us, Father, to do the things You would have us do, go where You want us to be, and talk with the people who need to hear what we have to say. 

Send workers into Your fields white to harvest; to find Your lost sheep; to build and promote and finance Your Kingdom on this Earth; and draw to Yourself every one of Your children, leaving no one with any excuse. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

From Condemned To Accepted

Romans 7: 18

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

My flesh is polluted by Original Sin. 

When the original man, Adam, willfully sinned in disobeying the only rule he had to obey and ate that piece of fruit, it damaged his DNA. And he passed that brokenness to his progeny, and every generation has broken it a little more ever since.

That's why nothing I can do in my flesh is acceptable to God, being polluted by that sin-nature; even my most noble and altruistic endeavors are stained by it.

8: 1

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

Now that Jesus has given Himself to be the Lamb of God, He is my personal Sacrifice, who takes my death and pays my debt. And His Blood, splattered on the sides of His altar, the Cross, washes away my sins. So now God forgives me and sees me as "in Christ" as I died and rose with Christ Jesus. And He suffered all the wrath of my condemnation for me. 

8: 9

... But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.  

When I knew that Jesus took my death upon Himself for me, and I died and rose with Him, is when God put His Holy Spirit in me, which is the Spirit of Christ. He lives in my spirit, making it alive, giving me real Life, in addition to my human life. 

Now I have the ability to choose to do what is right. And these choices are acceptable to God, being done in the power of His Holy Spirit. 

O my Father, You have thought of everything. You are our source of everything. You have planned out and designed everything You made, and Your creation obeys Your "natural laws." 

But You have given Mankind a will that is free to choose, so that we can choose to follow Your ways. But we can also choose to disobey Your commands, to our own hurt. 

So You sent Your own Son to be our Lord God Almighty, to give us Your rules to live by, and the laws to obey. And to show us what He would do when He came to be our Savior and Redeemer. 

Until He saves us from sin, there is nothing we can do. Then, when He puts His Life in us, then we have the power to do what You will accept, and follow Your ways to accomplish the work You planned out for us to do, before You created anything. 

And we are Your hands and feet to do all the things You want done. And what You want is for Your family to be complete, and learn to be Your kings and queens to rule with You in Your mighty Kingdom. 

So we are here on this Earth, living in the World we made on it, as our school to be educated in all the ways of God to rule and govern righteously. 

And when we "graduate," we will be welcomed to Your great banquet table, and take our places as Your children in Your "family business," Your Kingdom. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!




 

Can We Know When?

I Thessalonians 5: 3-5

While they are saying, "Peace and safety," then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But you, Brothers, are not in darkness that the Day should overtake you like a thief; 
For you are all sons of Light and sons of Day. We are not of night, nor of darkness.

We are told that the Lord's coming will be as a thief in the night, that we cannot have any idea when He may make His appearance. 

But this passage tells us that we may be able to know more than we've been told we could know. We are not in the dark as the rest of the World is. So we may be able to discern a little more about God's timing, to expect Him at an approximate time. 

We won't know the hour or the day, but we may be able to bring it down to the year, and maybe even the season of the year. 

We need to pay careful attention to what God has told us to look for before the Coming of the Lord, and if we're paying attention to what is going on around us in the World, connecting it with God's Word, then we just may be able to know more specifically when to expect His arrival. 

We are children of Light, not darkness; sons and daughters of the Day, not the night. We should be able to see what others do not see. 

We should be able to see in the Light of God's Word what the World is blind to, being in darkness. 

O my Father, You have laid out Your whole Plan of the Ages in the written Word You have given us. Please help us understand what You have told us, so we can be prepared and ready for what You have for us. Let Your Holy Spirit living in us open our eyes and minds and hearts to understand Your time-table, and be at work doing the works You planned before Time for us to accomplish. 

Send more workers into Your missionary fields to find Your little lambs that have lost their way, to lead them back into the safety of your One Fold with One Shepherd. 

Jesus said:

And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all Nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:15)

This tells me that every person alive will get the chance to come to the Father through the Sacrifice of the Son, or reject Him. Then The End will come. 

Father, You have told us everything we need to know; both for living here on this Earth in this World among our neighbors; and for being made fit to live with You where You live, forever. 

Send me, Father; let my words reach Your lost sheep, and strengthen Your children to trust You implicitly, even in the depths of persecution. Let them not despair, but know that their brothers and sisters are praying for them and working on their behalf. Let them know that their families are being cared for, and that they will be rewarded with a crown heavily laden with the precious jewels of their sufferings, to lay at the feet of our Lord. 

And may Your House be full and every place at Your banquet table be filled with all Your children, on that Day when we will rejoice together in all You have done, Father!  

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!




 

He Is Not Far

Acts 17: 24-28

For God who made the World and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 

Our Creator God is greater than to be able to live in any kind of structure made by His creatures.  

Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;  

So He doesn't need or rely on anything we can do, since He is the Source of everything we can have or give, He already owns it all, and us, too. 

And has made of one blood all Nations of men to dwell on the face of all the Earth, and has determined the Times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 

God has made all of Mankind from one man, Adam, and we are all the same Race of Man. God has scattered Mankind all over the World to live in our separate Nations with our varied cultures; He decided this before any of it was done. 

That they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach for Him,  

God wants everyone everywhere to know Him, to look for Him and reach out to find Him. 

though He is not far from every one of us;  

We can do this because He is not very far from any of us, wherever we may be, He is ready to be found by us. 

For in Him we live and move and have our being. ...  

Because He is the One who had the idea, He is the One who thought us up, and designed it all, and put His order into the chaos to form our Earth, and He planned it all out how we would live here and make our World on this Earth. 

We, the whole Universe, everything that exists, is His imagination. We are His thoughts and words, we have our being in His mind. If He were not thinking of us, we would not exist. 

So whenever anyone, anywhere, turns around from what they've been doing, He is right there, ready to welcome, ready to forgive, ready to take us into His loving arms and into His own family. 

It was never His intention for anyone to perish or suffer or be destroyed. He wants us all to come to Him in repentance, admitting that we deserve death, and letting His Son, our Savior, be our personal Sacrifice, taking our death on Himself for us, in our place. 

God's justice must be satisfied, then His mercy can forgive us and wash us clean, and His grace can give us His own Holy Spirit to live in our human spirit, making us alive with a brand-new life, much better than the "normal" life we've known. 

And in this new life we have the power and ability to do the right, good things that He determined we should do before He created anything.

And the Blood of Christ washes us pristine clean, as though we'd never sinned, suited and fit to live with God where He is. This is why He made us. 

Mankind is the pinnacle of creation. He made us to be His own family, to rule over His creation with Him, to participate with Him in His Family Business. 

O my Father, Your plans are so reasonable and logical, yet they are so far above my own reason and logic. I can't depend on my own understanding of what's going on, I don't have Your Big Picture. So I must lean on You, Father, as I curl up in Your lap, listening to Your Voice teaching me what I need to know today. 

Father, You know all the details of all of our lives, and how our paths will intersect today. You know what others need that I have to give, and how we can help one another each day. 

O Father, teach me Your ways today, help me do only what You would have me do or say. Keep Your arm around my shoulder and Your hand over my mouth to keep me from exalting or promoting myself. Hold tightly to my hand as I walk through each day, so I won't turn to the right or to the left, that I won't pull away or wander off, and not run ahead or lag behind.

Help me to walk confidently and boldly in the way You have planned for me to go, so that I may be able to promote Your Kingdom; that my sharing might reach Your lambs who are searching for You. 

Protect Your missionary children from the goats who reject Your goodness and put darkness for Your glorious light. And protect all of Your children from the minions of the enemy who have allowed themselves to be deceived by him, especially those who are in the public eye. Use them, Father, to bring glory to Yourself in a public way that no one can deny.

And Father, I am eagerly anticipating that Day when my Lord King Jesus returns to claim His Kingdom. 

And every eye will see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess in every language that Jesus is our Lord God Almighty, to the glory of the Father.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!