Breathed Out By God

II Timothy 3: 10-17

We've just seen how the wicked people will be during the difficult times of the Last Days, and Paul wants to encourage Timothy in how to weather the storms. 

(10) Now you followed 

Timothy has been faithful to follow Paul. 

my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 

Paul's character traits and lifestyle. 

(11) persecutions, and sufferings, such has happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 

And what happened to him because of his testimony, that he endured, and he gives credit to the Lord for rescuing him out of all of them. 

(12) Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 

Paul tells him and us that everyone who is seeking to live their lives according to God's ways in the Holy Spirit power of Christ Jesus, will have to face opposition and persecution in the world. 

(13) But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 

And these evil people will keep going on their by-way toward perdition, increasingly displaying the character traits of the devil, who they are following. 

(14) You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 

So Paul encourages Timothy (and us) to continue to do the good and righteous and kind things he learned from Paul and the Scriptures. 

(15) and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

Paul reminds Timothy that his mother and grandmother had accurately taught him the Old Testament while they raised him, which is a tremendous advantage. Then he had Paul to connect the dots for him with the sacrifices in the Law and Jesus being our Lamb of God who fulfilled them. 

(16) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 

(17) so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 

Paul now pronounces the all-encompassing purpose that God gave us His Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments. 

Every word, every part of a letter of a word is all "God-breathed," theopneustos, a compound of theos, "God," and the verb pneo, "breathe," breathed out by God into His prophets. That makes it dependable so that we can rely on it. 

And in understanding it we can benefit, ophelimos, "profitable, useful," by learning all the lessons the stories teach, didaskalia, a general word for "teaching," of the consequences of past decisions made, both good and bad. We can learn from both the mistakes and good choices of those who have gone before. 

Where we've gone wrong in making the wrong decision, Scripture will give reproof, elegmos, "conviction," showing us where we are wrong. 

Then it will correct us, epanorthosin, "restoration to an upright position or a right state." It will show us how to get right again. How to stand up when we've fallen. 

Training is paideia, "the rearing of a child." It came to mean "training, learning, instruction, schooling." Scripture will show us how to live our lives in righteousness, both in our thought processes and in our actions and relationships. 

The whole purpose of all this is so that God's man and God's woman will be thoroughly equipped to do everything God wants done by us. We are His hands and feet, we are charged with doing His work, to promote and grow His Kingdom by thinking His thoughts, having His attitudes, seeing with His eyes, and going in the strength of His Holy Spirit. 

That is God's plan for each of us. He made us, and He loves a diversity! So He made our Human Race multicolored, with differing abilities and various interests and personalities. He's put each of our feet on the specific path He wants us to walk, and my path is not identical to yours. But they are both the "narrow way" for each of us, so that everything will be done, in every area of expertise in all the world through all the years we are here. 

There is no time to waste! We all need to get on the stick and do what God has uniquely fitted each of us to accomplish! 

Jesus is coming soon, and everyone needs to hear the Gospel in such a way that they will understand how God loves them and wants them in His family. This is our job. Every one of us needs to get with our Father to receive our orders. Whatever it is that you can do, where you have ability and skill, and enjoy doing; do it for the glory of God and to show His shining character in yourself. 

We are children of the King, His royal family. We are strangers and nomads here on this Earth, our citizenship is in God's Heaven, as His sons and daughters. Here we are His ambassadors, His representatives in the world. To introduce the World to our Father. 

Many in the world do not want to hear our message of reconciliation with God. They have believed the lie of the devil, and have determined that they "know better" and refuse to hear the Truth. So, they will war against us, and mistreat us, and persecute us. This is because their god hates us because we belong to God. 

The devil cannot hurt God, so he goes after His children. We should expect this, and not be surprised or shocked when his minions attack us. They are his slaves, who have believed that they're doing what they want, but it's what he wants. 

And God uses everything, both good and bad, to further His great Plan of the Ages. He has told us what will happen, to prepare us for what we all will face. And He has given us His strength and protection of His Holy Spirit and our Armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18). 

O my Father, You are so good to all of us! You have stretched out Your hands continually through all these decades and centuries and millennia. You have patiently waited for all who would turn to You. Soon you will withdraw the carrot and begin to use the stick, to show Your power and authority over Mankind and this Earth we live on. 

And all those who have succumbed to the devil's schemes will experience Your wrath poured out on them. Even though thousands will fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us, we will just stand and see their destruction (Psalm 91: 7). The wrath we deserve has already been poured out on Jesus on His Cross on our behalf. We need not be afraid when we see all this transpiring. 

And, Father, thank You for Your strength and Your care and compassion when we face the persecution and martyrdom that is coming for all of Your people. We do not need to be afraid of those who can only kill the body, for they cannot touch our soul or our eternal rewards (Matthew 10: 28, Luke 12: 4). 

My Father, help us to respect the authority Your Word has over us, to teach us and rebuke us and to train us as Your children in this school of the world. Help us to learn to understand everything from Your point of view, to have a true and accurate response to everything You've told us You are doing. 

Send us out, Father, into all the nations of the world, so that every living being will be able to hear and understand how much You love us all, and have extended Your gracious and generous gift of Salvation to each of us. Father, lead us especially to all of Your embryonic children, to draw them to the birth into Your royal family. 

And give us strength, perseverance, and wisdom to stand against those who will oppose us. And we know You will deliver us from their hateful recriminations against us by either going through it or from it. 

And You will receive all the glory, Father, for You planned it all out and carried out Your plan just as You wanted to. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Always Learning But Still Ignorant

II Timothy 3: 6-9

We've just seen some of the character traits that will be prevalent in the Last Days. Now we will see how they work. 

(6) For among them are those who enter into households 

They "worm their way into homes;" physically then, but today it could be by internet and television. 

and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 

Captivate is aixmalotizo, "take captive" in war. Here it could mean "deceptive," as these women are weak morally, and already addicted to following various impulses. 

(7) always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

Evidently these women think they're so smart, they read and study, but all the wrong things. They're following all the by-ways that take them further and further away from that narrow road. And some of these deceived women are in powerful positions of authority. 

(8) Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 

Jannes and Janbres are thought to be the two main magicians who duplicated some of the miracles God gave Moses to perform. Our enemy has always wanted to be worshiped as God and tries to do what God does, in a twisted and corrupted way. 

(9) But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also. 

These two magicians could only go so far in duplicating what Moses did, and were not able to do the later miracles. The devil can only go as far as God allows him to go; but God will allow the Antichrist to go so far as to have authority to persecute and martyr God's people. 

God will allow this final rebel to have so much power that everyone who doesn't know God will be convinced that he is God:

"The one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 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 (the lie), in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." (II Thessalonians 2: 9-12.) 

This sounds scary, like everybody will succumb to the devil and perish. And everyone who has refused to submit to our Lord and believe the truth of the Gospel, will be given this delusion, and left to their destructive wickedness they have chosen. 

We have the choice, either to say, "Your will be done, Lord;" or the Lord will say, "Your will be done, rebel." 

Everyone alive will hear the Good News in a way to understand enough to turn to God, and it's up to us, brothers and sisters, to do that job! We must get the Word out! We are charged with this mission, to go and teach all the nations, baptizing and instructing them in the ways of the Lord (Matthew 28: 18-20). 

O my Father, send out Your children, show us how to get Your Word out to every person alive! You want everyone to have that choice, before allowing "the lie" to condemn them. Strengthen us, Father, and give us boldness and steadfastness in the face of opposition. Lead us to all those who are searching, and enable us to share with each one how much You have loved them and want them to be Your children. 

And no one will have any excuse for rejecting Your gracious and generous gift. 

Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Last Days Difficult Times

II Timothy 3: 1-5

Now Paul goes from speculations to describing conditions at the end of our time line. 

(1) But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

He then says how far people will go in their degradation in these last days. The word he uses for difficult is chalepos, "terrible, hard to bear, troublesome, dangerous." This word is used only here and in Matthew 8:28, describing the "violent" demoniacs. 

He then gives eighteen character defects that will be prevalent and characterize this time. 

(2) For men will be lovers of self, 

This is philautoi, "selfish." 

lovers of money, 

This is philargyroi, "avaricious." 

boastful, 

This is alazones, "imposters, braggarts." 

arrogant, 

This is hyperephanoi, "proud, showing oneself above others." "With an overweening estimate of one's means or merits, despising others, treating them with contempt; haughty." 

revilers, 

This is blasphemoi, "evil-speaking, slanderous." 

disobedient to parents, 

Today the public schools are actually teaching children to be disobedient to their own parents! 

The next four adjectives all begin with a-negative. 

ungrateful, 

This is acharistoi, the opposite of being thankful. 

unholy, 

This is anosioi, describes the person who has no fellowship with God and so is living a merely "secular" life

(3) unloving, 

This is astorgoi, "without love," and means "without family affection." This can result in an anti-social personality disorder, which seems prevalent today. 

irreconcilable, 

This is aspondoi, "unforgiving, without a treaty or covenant." 

malicious gossips, 

This is diaboloi, when given the definite article, is "the devil." This connotes "prone to slander, accusing falsely." I see this in the political scene very deeply. 

The next three adjectives also are a-negative. 

without self-control, 

This is akrateis, in the widest sense, it describes the the weak man without strength, who is easily led into bodily lustful sin. 

brutal, 

This is anemeroi, "not tame, savage, fierce." 

haters of good, 

They hate and despise everything that is good and beneficial and healthy. I see groups of people today that only want to tear down everything that has benefited people, and promulgate practices that will cause more people to die and be sick physically and emotionally, "for their own safety," which is a lie. 

(4) treacherous, 

This is prodotai, "traitor, betrayer," used of Judas when he sold Jesus for the price of a slave. 

reckless, 

This is propeteis, literally, "falling forward, headlong," and came to mean "hasty, reckless, rash." 

conceited, 

This is tetyphomenoi, the perfect passive participle of typhoo, "to be wrapped up in smoke," so to be "puffed up" in pride. 

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 

This is a play on words, describing those who put self in the place of God as the center of their affections. 

(5) holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; 

Yet they are religious! This describes a church that may recognize who Jesus is, but deny what He has accomplished on the Cross. They teach that we have to "earn" grace by doing religious things. 

avoid such men as these. 

He tells him to apotrepou, "turn away from," or "have nothing to do," with these evil hypocrites. They are not worth his time or energy. 

Paul was warning Timothy, so he would teach his leadership and congregation, and the advice is even more apropos to us today. 

The church has from the Middle Ages or before denied all that Jesus has accomplished and finished on the Cross; that's why the Reformation happened. But even the denominations that came from that movement have since then lost their doctrinal way with corrupted teachings. 

Today we must be very careful of who we choose to sit under to learn from. The truth of God is pure and simple, and it has been corrupted and complicated more and more through time, until today most people in America, for instance, who consider themselves Christians only have a religion, not that relationship with God that He intends us to have. 

We must be "born again" in order to even "see" God's Kingdom (John 3: 3). It's like He wrote His Scripture in a code, that takes His Holy Spirit as the key to understanding it. Otherwise, one can make it look like it says anything he wants it to say, to justify whatever sin. 

Our enemy the devil knows that his time is short now, and he is feverishly and aggressively pouring his poison down the throats of all who have not turned to our God for Redemption. 

God still loves them, and wants them to give up what they think are their own ideas and submit to the Lord who gave Himself up for them. 

O my Father, please help us to understand what You are telling us all through the love letter You wrote to us. You want us to expect You to be who You are, and to not be surprised or shocked by what You have said You will do to this world. 

You have held out the carrot to mankind for all the eras we have lived, and still there are so many who refuse Your kindness, choosing instead to be seduced by the deceptions of the devil. And even our own hearts lie to us, Father. So, when You use the stick, please let it convince people of Your power and authority, to acknowledge You. 

You've given us Your word, written down, so the words can be seen and understood; and not change like man's tradition, which is like the children's Telephone game. And You've given us Your own Holy Spirit to decipher the code and put the dots together to see Your bigger picture. 

And when Your wrath is poured out on the whole world, Father, Your children will just need to stand, and watch the thousands fall at their side, the ten thousands at their right hand, knowing that the wrath we deserve has already been poured out on Jesus for us on the Cross. And Your peace on us in the midst of the maelstrom will show the world Your faithfulness and care. 

O Father, You are so good to us! Please send out Your children into all the world, so that every living person will be able to understand how You have loved them, and offer freely the most wonderful and gracious and generous opportunity to be born into Your own royal family! All we need to do is to submit to letting You do it all for us! 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, please come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Flee From Childish Wants

II Timothy 2: 20-26

We've just seen how we are to handle God's word accurately. 

(20) Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. 

As God's family we've been depicted in several different earthly concepts, like stones, priests, and athletes. Here we are vessels for the Master's use. 

There are goblets for fine wine, and there are also chamber pots. 

(21) Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, 

These things are the faulty understandings of what God is telling us, as we read yesterday; we are to abstain from wickedness. 

he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 

This is our responsibility, to make sure we're not trying to read anything into God's word that isn't really there, just to satisfy our own pride. To take care to compare scripture with scripture, to open our minds to what God is saying to us, and to understand Scripture with open clarity to be prepared to face what is ahead. Then we will be fit to do God's work in the world, and to serve Him forever. 

(22) Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 

The way we do this is to flee youthful lusts, to not be childish in wanting to know everything right now. We are to be patient to let God teach us, and to run after righteousness, faith, love and peace, in the company of other believers who have also purified their hearts. 

(23) But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 

(24) The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, 

Arguments and quarrels only come from wanting to impose our ideas on others, rather than listening to others. 

but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 

(25) with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 

And after listening to them, if we find that they are adding to or ignoring passages of Scripture, we are to patiently and gently steer them in the right direction to know the truth. Then it is their decision to follow that path, and change their mind. 

(26) and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 

If our patience and gentleness and kindness would lead them into knowing the truth, then they can in turn be reasonable with us, and even turn around their thinking to escape the deceptions of the devil. 

Paul is writing to Timothy, the pastor at the church in Ephesus, so he is to be the example for the other church leaders to follow. It is his responsibility to make sure that the teachers are not teaching any fallacy. 

When someone is caught in a deception, it will lead him into all kinds of side-paths, off the narrow road, and lead away from Christ. This is what the devil wants to do with us, to get us off-track. Because that will keep us from promoting and growing God's Kingdom. 

Even Christians are susceptible to these small deviations, when we're not totally focused on Scripture, but opening our minds to other sources of "truth." 

Research is good, and we can stand on the shoulders of others who have gone before us. But we are not to put any man's opinion on the same level as God's word, and do our own research in Scripture to make sure there is nothing disputable or not in line with what God has clearly told us. 

And when we still see gaps in our knowledge, we can be patient, knowing that God knows what He's doing, and not try to make up something to fill the gap. 

When I give you my thoughts in this blog, I don't want you, dear reader, to swallow my opinion whole, but to do your own research, also. I may think that I am being true to the Word, but I am still human, and can still make errors. 

If you ever see anything in any of my entries that may not align with Scripture, please call me on it, leave me a comment, and I will thank you for it and do more research and prayer. 

O my Father, please lead us into an accurate understanding of what You are doing in this part of Your great Plan of the Ages that we are living through. If this is the time You have described, strengthen us through it. And if You will relent and give us more time to gather more into Your family, then strengthen us through that, too. 

O Father, I know that Your word is precise and accurate, and I also know that You will relent when Your people confess and forsake our sins and seek Your face. 

Father, call all of Your children to bring a great revival in our societies, that every living person will hear and come to the knowledge of Your great love for us all and Your provision of everything we need, both now and forever. Draw all of Your embryonic children to the birth into Your family, and fill Your house! 

And every eye will see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Understand The Word Accurately

II Timothy 2: 14-19

Paul has just quoted what may have been an early Christian hymn that poetically stated Biblical truth. 

(14) Remind them of these things, 

Keep these lyrics, this hymn, on your mind, and before the people. 

and solemnly charge them in the presence of God 

This looks very serious, like an oath. 

not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. 

Not to take words out of context, not to argue if a word means this or that without considering the passage it is in. If a certain word can be understood in more than one way, then it's useless to argue about it, just take the tone of the whole passage for the meaning. 

(15) Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 

Here's a verse that is much loved and often memorized. 

We all need to be diligent and carefully aware of how we approach God's word. God wants us to be honest and open to receive what He is actually telling us (exegesis, drawing out what is there), not looking for what we want to hear (eisegesis, putting in what we want to be there). 

What God wants to teach us is not always pleasant to our sensibilities, and His standards are never what we would call "politically correct" in our society. Man's standards rarely have ever come even near to the high level of purity and wholesomeness of God's. 

We must take care to handle God's word accurately, so that we understand what God is telling us. To do otherwise is shameful. 

(16) But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 

Arguing about words is more than a waste of time and energy, it leads to further ungodliness. 

(17) and their talk will spread like gangrene. 

This is so dangerous to their faith that Paul says it's like a medical term, gangraina, a sore that eats into the flesh, like gangrene or cancer. 

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Then he names two of the teachers there in Ephesus who are spreading this spiritual disease. 

(18) men who have gone astray from the truth saying the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 

He even puts his finger on a misinterpretation that they are promoting, that the Day of the Lord has already come; and they have deluded some with this heresy. 

(19) Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the Name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness." 

Nevertheless, no matter what people may say or teach, or how widespread the idea reaches, even though all men have believed a lie, God remains true (Romans 3: 4). 

God always knows who are His, and are true to His teachings and ways. And those who are His will know His truth that sets them free from the pull of wickedness, so they will stay away from all that does not conform to reality. 

O my Father, please help us to face Your Word honestly and openly, even when You are telling us where we have been wrong! We react negatively to the messenger who tells us we're wrong, because we want to think we're too smart to fall for deception. 

That's where Eve was deceived, and our enemy has never changed his tactics. The Devil still convinces so many gullible people that they are intelligent and know what's what, and in their pride they cannot hear anything else. 

But, Father, Your word is still true and accurate, and is the reality we need to be aware of. Teach us Your Truth, Father, to have our eyes open to see Your reality around us, and not be seduced into any side-road that would take us off Your path. 

O Father, You have given us everything we need to know, for living today in this world around us, and for preparing for the glory You have for us in the next state we will be in. Help us to connect all the dots, to see the connections between all the stories and all the rules and all the prophesies; to better understand Your Big Picture, and be able to supply whatever pieces that we still find missing in the puzzle. 

My Father, when we can see what You are doing, it builds our trust in You, to persevere when we don't see what You're doing. We know that You know what You're doing, and You don't have to tell us everything. 

Father, send out all of Your children to teach the world how much You love us all, and to let them know that You have already planned out everything that looks so confusing to us. Father, while we're in the midst of the maelstrom swirling around us, may Your peace be upon us to show the world Your power and authority. 

And may every living person hear and understand enough to be able to turn to You, Father God, to Your outstretched hands, to give them Your gracious and generous gift of rescue and salvation and redemption. 

And let no one have any excuse for rejecting Your kind offer. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus! 

Endure Suffering Now And Reign Forever

II Timothy 2: 8-13

Paul has just likened the Christian life to that of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer, all hard workers, training and toiling.  

(8) Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 

Paul personalized the Gospel, that Jesus was born into the royal family of King David, and He rose from the dead to never die again, to reign on David's throne. 

(9) for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 

He is so impassioned for his Lord to be known that he is willing to suffer whatever hardship is necessary, even being mistreated as a criminal. 

Even though he is in prison, the message is not, and is still going out, even more!

(10) For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. 

He will go through all this for his love for those who will believe, his sisters and brothers in the Lord, who will not only be rescued here, but also will sit with King Jesus on His throne ruling with Him, as He sits in His Father's throne. 

(11) It is a trustworthy statement: 

This opening formula is always attached to a maxim relating to doctrine or practice on which full reliance can be placed. 

This is generally thought to be an early Christian hymn. It is in the typical form of Hebrew poetic parallelism, with four "if" clauses. 

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

This is in the aorist tense, indicating a crisis. Paul spells this out in Romans 6: 3-6, 8, 11. It's only as we die with Christ, in admitting He died our death, that we can have spiritual life with Him right now, as His Holy Spirit lives in us. We must die in order to live. 

(12) If we endure, we will also reign with Him; 

 To endure is in the present continuous tense, indicating that we are to continually keep on enduring to the end, not giving up, to reign with Him on His throne. 

If we deny Him, He also will deny us;  

This does not say we can lose our salvation. If we give in to denying our relationship with Him, He will deny our rewards that would have been due us. We will suffer much loss eternally in our ruling position in doing this, so we must stay strong even in the midst of the maelstrom that will swirl around us. We have the Armor of God (in Ephesians 6: 13-18), in which we will be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. No excuse. 

(13) If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 

Even if we give in to the forces arrayed against us, and are unfaithful to Him, He will still be faithful to us, to do everything He said He would do: in us, to us, for us and through us. Our Lord God is good, and true, and faithful. Nothing can change Him, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We can count on it. And put our full trust in Him. 

O my Father, thank You so much for being who You are, our Almighty God. Thank You for being true to Yourself, so that we can trust You. You have shown Yourself to be completely worthy of all of our trust, regardless of what may be going on around us. 

My Father, strengthen us to withstand whatever the world will throw at us. When we stumble, we will not fall; Your hand will hold us up. When we are perplexed, we will never give in; we can trust that You know what You're doing. When we're persecuted, we know You will not forsake us; and when we are cast down, we will not be destroyed, but You will raise us up. (II Corinthians 4: 8-9.)

Father, even when we will be dying in our flesh, we know that we are alive in Your Spirit forevermore. We need not fear anyone who can only attack us in this world. We've read the last chapter--we win! 

O Father, we who are in Christ are safe. Please send us out as Your messengers and missionaries to share with every living person in the world how much You have loved us all, and want everyone to turn to You to receive Your generous and gracious gift. Father, Your hands are open wide, draw all of Your embryonic children to Yourself. Let everyone understand enough to turn to You, and those who refuse and rebel will have no excuse. 

Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! 

Network The Gospel

II Timothy 2: 1-7

Paul is encouraging Timothy before he leaves the body to be present with the Lord.

(1) You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Paul considers him to be his son in the Lord, and it is in Christ that we find strength.

(2) The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Paul is handing the baton to Timothy, and instructs him to pass it on to others, who will be faithful and true, to in turn pass it on to others, through the ages, like a relay race. We call this networking, and it works because it is God's plan. This is what God had Moses write the people, to teach the next generation (Deuteronomy 11: 19), and Paul is applying this principle here, too.

It only takes one generation to drop the baton.

(3) Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

He again tells Timothy to expect and be willing to suffer (as in 1: 8), and places it in a military context.

(4) No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

Anyone who is on assignment in the military is not thinking about his affairs back home, but is concentrating on the mission, to make it successful.

(5) Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.

Then he uses another framework, as an athletic competition. To participate in the Games you must qualify and perform following all the rules that are set for the competition, to not be disqualified from participating.

(6) The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.

Then he changes the picture again, to an agrarian one. The farmer who does all the work of producing the crop should receive benefit from what has been produced.

(7) Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 

Paul uses these different illustrations to picture different aspects of our work as Christians and as leaders in God's church.

He tells him to consider what he's told him, to think about it, and pray about it, to let the Holy Spirit teach him the applications of Scripture. God wrote His word in a kind of code that takes His Holy Spirit as the key to unlocking understanding of it, how it all works together, and what to expect so we're not surprised or shocked at what is happening all around us.

We are living in exciting times. As I see things, we are in the Last Days of the End Times that began with Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension and the Day of Pentecost. Now we're beginning to face the chaos and persecution He said would come.

So be strong, people, in the Spirit of the Lord, and be prepared to stand firm against the onslaught of the evil storms brewing and building even now.

O my Father, please help us to be strengthened in the knowledge of what we will be facing soon. Enlarge our perception of Your care for us in protecting us from Your wrath being poured out all around us, trusting in You to have put what wrath we deserve onto Christ Jesus as our Savior. Keep our feet firmly planted, that we will not be moved or shaken in the midst of all the turmoil.

O Father, let Your peace flood our minds, to keep us steady, that the world will know that only You are God.

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, do come quickly, Lord Jesus!