As for myself, I am often sadly tossed about because of the heresies and false doctrines of this present age. It grieves me to the heart to see the lack of spirituality among ministers and of holiness among professing Christians. It cuts me to the quick to see the utter rubbish and poison which is preached instead of Christianity. At times it looks as if all things were going wrong! The men to whom one looked as pillars, forsake the faith, and the staunchest give way for the sake of peace. We are apt to cry, “What will become of us?”
But if God is our refuge and strength, we need not be afraid, even amid general apostasy! While God lives, Truth is in the ascendant. I remember years ago meeting with that blessed servant of God, the late Earl of Shaftesbury. He was at Mentone with a dying daughter and he happened, that day, to be very much downcast, as, indeed, I have frequently seen him and as, I am sorry to confess, he has also frequently seen me. That day he was particularly cast down about the general state of society. He thought that the powers of darkness in this country were having it all their own way and that, before long, the worst elements of society would gain power and trample out all virtue.
Looking up into his face, I said to him, “And is God dead? Do you believe that while God lives the devil will conquer Him?” He smiled and we walked along by the Mediterranean communing together in a far more hopeful tone. The Lord lives and blessed be my Rock! As long as the Lord lives, our hope also lives! Gospel Truth will yet prevail! We shall live to see the old faith to the front again! The Church, like Noah’s dove, will come back to her rest and bring something with her which shall prophesy eternal peace.
In the spring and summer, the sun is a position that when it rises in the morning, it bursts over the trees and its rays shoot down the road.
I live at the end of a small one-way street. Looking east, the sun rises over the tree line for a few minutes, brightening the sky. It’s coming!
Suddenly the sunrays burst out and stream down the road, lighting all the bushes and pastures along the way
The brightness is incredible, reflecting off everything the sun rays touch. The bushes burst into focus, each leaf evident in the gold adornment
It’s as if the curtain of golden light is being raised- you can see half the bush illuminated as the sun rises higher and higher, the shadow line sinking fast to the ground as the illumination is almost complete
I always love that moment, when the sun comes up and the first light shows itself. What will it be like when we’re called home in the rapture, and we see the full light of the glory of Jesus?!
Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. (Revelation 1:12-16)
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:22-23)
Apostasy is a hard, hard thing, For anyone who is righteous, seeing loved ones succumb to the sway of a false doctrine, or follow a false teacher, it is a torture to the soul and a agony to the mind and a hardship on the soul. I see a Blackaby book on a pastor’s desk and I worry. I hear a woman refuse to acknowledge Joyce Meyer is false “because she preaches straight from the bible” and I mourn, I see a woman wear a “Walk to Emmaus” tee shirt and I fear. Encountering these things in my daily routine is like having a hot nail driven into my head. I am not exaggerating.
It’s not to say that these people or any person who reads a book, accepts a teacher or participates in a retreat once is an apostate. I participated in both the Experiencing God study by Henry Blackaby and a Beth Moore Living Proof weekend and a DVD retreat, but in doing so alerted me to the falseness of their teachings. It gave me a close-up view of what it was that troubled my soul so much. That’s what false teaching does, it either grieves the soul and alerts one to its falsity or it entrenches one deeper into their lack of discernment. I worry because I know when someone doesn’t or won’t see the falseness of a particular doctrine or teacher, the false teacher or a false doctrine has successfully taken root into their mind. Satan won’t let that go. Unless they refute it and repent, it will grow like gangrene. That is the way of things. (2 Timothy 2:17; Acts 14:2)
It feels sometimes like there are hardly any people with discernment left. It feels like so many friends and family are falling away. I know from your emails and blog comments that many of you are in locations where there literally are no good churches or where false teaching abounds. Doesn’t it feel like were the only ones, sometimes!
Here is where we praise the gracious Lord for His examples for us in scripture. We are not alone! Elijah thought he was alone! Jeremiah was tortured by the apostasy around him and in his lifetime, judgment came! Noah preached 120 years and only had 7 converts! Isaiah was told to prophesy until there was literally no one left!
“And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”… God assured him, Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:9-10, 18)
My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. (Jeremiah 4:19) The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. …These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:5-6, 9)
“Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,” (Isaiah 6:11)
In the New Testament, imagine there being no ‘church down the road’ you could switch to when apostasy is so rampant in your church you have to leave. The Corinthians were having chaotic services, drunken Lord’s Suppers, and immorality and sexual impurity were a problem. But that was the ONLY church. Can you imagine how the few pure and holy Corinthians felt?
I’ve seen a massive defection from the faith since 2008. I’ve also seen a horrific decline in discernment since then too. The rise in apostasy to my mind and according to how I interpret 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is that the time is near when the rapture will occur. The defections of millions from the faith and the fast tsunami of apostasy in even evangelical denominations shows this, in my opinion. The curtain on this age is coming down, and fast.
Each of the prophets named above walked closely with God. Even in times of terrible apostasy when they were literally the only ones in their sphere left who were faithful. They were human, to be sure. Elijah suffered a bout of depression. Jeremiah was tearful and mourning much of the time. The key is, they clung to God.
Take encouragement! The Lord Jesus is near to us. At the time of His incarnation, there were few faithful ones. His religion had been turned into a mockery. They rejected His words while clamoring for His miracles. They wanted His ‘stuff’ but not Him for Himself. He knew apostasy! He knows the pain we feel when people reject our precious Jesus and go astray! Don’t give up the fight!
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:18)
He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. (Hebrews 5:2)
Pray for those who are ignorant and going astray. Pray for yourself in your weariness and sadness. Jesus is with us. It is good.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
“Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, You have seen well: for I am ready to perform My word.” (Jeremiah 1:11, 12.)
OBSERVE, first, dear Friends, that before Jeremiah becomes a speaker for God, he must be a seer . The name for a Prophet, in the olden time, was a “seer”—a man who could see—one who could see with his mind’s eye, one who could also see with spiritual insight, so as vividly to realize the Truth of God which he had to deliver in the name of the Lord.
Learn that simple lesson well, O you who try to speak for God! You must be seers before you can be speakers. The question with which God usually begins His conversation with each of His true servants is the one He addressed to Jeremiah, “What do you see?” I am afraid that there are so me ministers, nowadays, who do not see much. Judging by what they preach, their vision must be all in cloudland, where all they see is smoke, mist and fog. I often meet with persons who have attended the same ministry for years—and when I have asked them even very simple questions about the things of God, I have found that they do not know anything.
It was not because they were not able to comprehend quickly when the Truth was set forth plainly before them, but I fear that it was, in most cases, because there was nothing that they could learn from the minister to whom they had been accustomed to listen. The preacher had seen nothing and, therefore, when he described what he saw, of course it all amounted to nothing.
No, my Brother, before you can make an impression upon another person’s heart , you must have an impression made upon your own soul. You must be able to say, concerning the Truth of God, “I see it,” before you can speak it so that your hearers shall also see it. It must be clear to your own mind, by the spiritual perception which accompanies true faith, or else you will not be able to say with the Psalmist, “I believed, therefore have I spoken.” Let me say again that sentence which I uttered a minute ago—the speaker for God must first be a seer in the Light of God.
I often cry out to the Lord that I want to see. I want to plumb the depths of His word and learn more about Him all the time. I want to go deeper, see more, understand Him. I know I see through a glass darkly now, and it will only be later that I fully know, but still, can I know You more today than yesterday, please? (1 Corinthians 13:12).
It’s a double edged sword though. Knowing Him better through His word means I get to know myself better, also. In reading Who He is, we get to know ourselves better to, positionally. I get convicted, repentant, and sorrowful over my own sin and the sin of the world.
This is the analogy.
If you know the size of RI, the ocean is never very far, since RI is so small. Moreover, my grandparents had a house on the bayfront, and we kids and all the cousins would visit constantly. Weekly, just about daily in summer. And we always had a boat.
In the book The Wind in the Willows, Water Rat is extolling the virtues of being on the water to Mole, who has never been in a boat. Mole wants to know if it’s nice.
“Nice? It’s the only thing,” said the Water Rat solemnly as he leant forward for his stroke. “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
The bay or the ocean has many charms, and all of them are interesting to a child. We splashed on the water, swam, messed around on the boat, played at the water’s edge. We collected shells and we dove off the dock and we raced to the mooring buoy and we lazed on the grass. We loved the water.
Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually fins. Use of this equipment allows the snorkeler to observe underwater attractions for extended periods of time with relatively little effort.
As we grew older, we became fascinated with what was under the water. We’d fight for the masks and snorkel gear and paddle along, looking in fascination below the surface at the pretty pebbles the small waves were rolling along the sand. Or a hermit crab curling into his house shell as we swam over him, darkening his shallow water sky. Sometimes we’d forget we were in such shallow water and scrape our knees as we kicked along the beach’s edge, heeding our grandmother’s warning to stay close to shore.
As we grew even older, we wanted to see what was under the surface, really deep. Could we see horseshoe crabs? Fish? The anchor of the boat as it bobbed in the calm waves under a sunny sky? What was under there!? It was frustrating, the waters were not clear and even with a mask and flippers, we couldn’t get down far enough to see the bottom. Under the surface was still a mystery to us.
Then I sailed in The Bahamas. The waters are clear there. It was both fascinating and disconcerting to say the least! Suddenly I could see all the way down, but what the clear water revealed was another world, and one fraught with dangers, toils, and snares. Our keel passing over a coral head, we didn’t know if the coral was inches below the surface and ready to open the underside of our boat like a sardine can, or was in fact as deep below as the charts said. Predator barracudas were everywhere. And actually seeing the bottom was sometimes not a blessing, because it gave us an aquatic vertigo, always unsteady in thinking the boat as about to run aground in what looked like mere inches of water but was in fact fathoms.
In this photo, it was so clear that we could see our own anchor, in 30 feet of water. In the moonlight. EPrata photo
Being able to see the depths under the surface of the waters revealed another world. It was as if the surface of the ocean was simply a thin veil, covering a vast and mysterious and beautiful world, hidden until now. It was a world that existed with ours, was immediately adjacent, and in this bit of Bahamian clarity, was in equal parts scary, dangerous, and destabilizing.
Do you want to go deeper? Do you want to see? Really see, as Spurgeon described? I hope you do. As we grow in sanctification we do not stay in the shallow water for long. We should desire to peer into the depths of the ocean of truth and see what the Lord will reveal.
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation…” (1 Peter 2:2)
The milk here is the spiritual food good for building up. When we’re born-again as babes we begin feeding on the pure spiritual milk. We crave it with intensity like a baby cries for his bottle! We need it every few hours! When we have capacity to understand more, we still thirst, and we go deeper into the Living Waters.
But we must be ready to withstand its glories. We remember who we are and in taking in all truth, we see our depravity compared to His holiness. We cry out, as Isaiah did,
“And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)
Reading the bible deeply, coming so close to His glory as revealed in the bible, some days I might as well say something similar, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a woman of unclean lips, and unholy heart, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have read the words of the King that the Spirit has delivered to us and revealed in His word!”
And yet we desire more, deeper, to see. Or we should.
“The word is to be desired with appetite as the cause of life, to be swallowed in the hearing, to be chewed as cud is by rumination with the understanding, and to be digested by faith” [Tertullian].
Can you imagine the pit of despair the Disciples felt on Good Friday? To them it was a hellish and confusing Friday. Jesus’ separation from the Father while on the cross (Matthew 27:46) is the loneliest and most poignant moment any person ever felt in the history of the universe, bar none.
But the disciples’ sudden and unexpected separation on Friday from their spiritual Father they’d been following so hopefully for three years came upon them cruelly and brutally, throwing them all into states of panic, despair, and spiritual depression. Even though Jesus had told them ahead of time, and even though they had studied the scriptures, they didn’t understand. To them, it wasn’t Good Friday. It was just bad Friday and the seeming end of the long trail of hopes and highs they’d been experiencing for three years with Jesus in discipleship to Him. They did not know as we do, Friday’s here, but Sunday’s coming!
We worship Jesus every day. We worship and praise Jesus collectively in services on Sunday. We exalt Him once a year on Resurrection Sunday. We know Him as Resurrected King triumphant over sin and death!
His ultimate moment will be His return, when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess (Romans 14:11, Philippians 2:10, Isaiah 45:23).
“The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.” (Zechariah 14:9)
Everyone will know that Jesus is MESSIAH! Not their spouse, not their work, not their own self. They will finally know the Resurrected Jesus is the only name. He is all names. He is the beginning and the end!
Back in the 1990s my immediate and my extended family used to rent a house on an Island once a year. We’d converge from three or four different states on this rental and enjoy a week together at the beach. Of course this was an event that was eagerly and fervently anticipated. We’d email and telephone back and forth about our plans once we got there. I would look at the photos of the rental house at least once a week. I’d google for maps of the place and look at all the roads leading to and from and around the house. How far was it from town? What restaurants were nearby? Where was the bike rental place? There was no detail spared in looking up and anticipating our visit.
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2).
I was talking with a friend the other day about a concert she was planning to attend. I got excited for her, because it was a big concert. We both laughed as I asked if she looked at a schematic of the auditorium to see where she and her companions would be sitting. Looking at photos of the venue, looking up biographies of the men in the band. It was exciting to think of the big event, and no detail was spared in all the discussion about what the concert may be like.
Do you ever have excited conversations with friends or family about a big upcoming event you’re really looking forward to? You know you have!
Why don’t we do that with heaven? We talk more about upcoming concerts and cabins than we do heaven! But heaven is a fact. It is real, and it is there. We are definitely going. Even the concert could be canceled or the rental cabin could burn down, but the fact of our going to heaven if we are saved by His grace is real and unalterable. As a matter of fact we are already citizens of heaven!
You would not believe how many people look at me strangely because I talk excitedly about the place Jesus is preparing for us. Or remark on the trees lining the River of Life, or the color of the emerald rainbow surrounding God’s throne, or meeting up with Noah or David or Hannah and walking with them, or any number of things that the bible describes as the future promise. Being in heaven with Jesus is THE MOST EXCITING THING in the entire universe, it awaits every Christian, and yet few talk about it! We talk about the big concert or the summer cabin with more excitement than we discuss the glories of the place Jesus is preparing for us.
It is important to have an eternal perspective. It is the secret to contentment, because it puts earthly trials in their place. It ignites hope. It soothes the heart. Adopt an eternal perspective because it is exhorted in the bible for us to do so.
“Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17–18)
We do this in several ways. Have an active prayer life. Talking to Jesus sets the mind on the things above, because that is where He is.
Also, read the bible, and focus on the passages where it describes the things to come in concrete terms. Like the passages in Ezekiel after chapter 39 when the Millennial Kingdom is set up (the kingdom will be on earth and limited to a time of 1000 years but we ourselves will be glorified by then and living in an eternal body). Read Revelation 21 and 22. Read the passages in Corinthians and Thessalonians describing the glorified body.
The truth of the word will permeate your heart and mind and this sets you up for thinking of the things above. (A side note: AVOID all books describing heaven tourism, books like “Heaven Is For Real” and such nonsense. Stick with the words God gave us in describing His holy habitation, they are true and trustworthy).
Then, think on these things. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8). And what is more pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent than His heaven and our home? Finally, talk about these things. When I speak of making a date with a friend in heaven and going to see David or Noah or Hannah, they look at me funny. But these names are not just bible characters, but real people dwelling in heaven in real worship right now. When the time of glorification comes, they will have real bodies, as we will, and we will worship and sing and walk and talk and eat and live together! It is a fact. Talking about heaven and the bible’s men and women as real people whom we will see makes it all the more real for those with whom we are having the conversation. (And for those listening to us!)
If we’re not embarrassed to spout on and on about the cruise we’re going to take in a few months, then what is so embarrassing about talking about what our place in heaven might look like, or the fruits of the trees of life lining the river, or the pillars of the temple shaking as the cherubim sing HOLY HOLY HOLY? Those things are more real than the cruise, which hasn’t happened and might not, while God is in heaven on His throne right now! (Revelation 4:1-5)
“If we would remember that all the trees of earth are marked for the woodsman’s ax, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Pray, read, think, and talk about heaven. You’ll find your happier, more content, more able to endure hardship, and your re-oriented perspective will excite the brethren and please Jesus. What’s to lose? It’s a win-win all around.
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word adorn is defined as
to make (someone or something) more attractive by adding something beautiful
With that in mind let’s look at this verse from Titus:
“Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” (Titus 2:9-10)
I like the emphasis here. Jesus’ doctrine is pure and beautiful on its own, but we adorn it when we live by its standards. Pastor Bayless Conley expounded on this verse in a devotional titled “Double Standard.”
I would like for you to read again the Scripture we read yesterday, Titus 2:9-10,
Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
We make the gospel unattractive when we live contrary to our beliefs. The gospel becomes unsavory and unattractive to those outside the church when our lives do not match up to what we say we believe.
Take the verses we read here. Paul says, in effect, that we make the gospel unsavory when we pilfer (which means stealing items of small value) or talk back to our boss.
You do not adorn the gospel when you show lack of respect for your boss, rip the company off, use the phones and computers at your job for personal business, take extra long lunch breaks, steal paper, take staplers, steal pens, or whatever you can get your hands on.
You should not dress the gospel in rags and then pass out tracts to all your coworkers or invite your boss to church.
This truth does not just apply to work. Do not live contrary to your beliefs anywhere. Do not live a double standard at home. If you do, it will turn your kids away from wanting to serve Christ. If you are into sports and you curse a lot, cheat, or have a bad temper, you dress the gospel in rags.
In 2 Corinthians 3:2 Paul states that, You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
The truth is, we are the only Bible some people will ever read. They are looking at our lives.
——————–End Conley——————
Here is one other verse with the word adorn in it:
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)
Gill’s Exposition explains,
“when all the elect of God are gathered in, the number of the saints is perfected; when the good work of grace is finished in them all, and they are all arrayed in the righteousness of Christ: and to be “adorned”, when not only they are clothed with the robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, and are beautified with the graces of the Spirit, but also with the bright robes of immortality and glory.“
So keep His doctrines, for we are an adornment to our Groom’s truths. In heaven right now, He is adorning His city for us, His bride.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
The Queen of England in 2004 delivering a speech. Cleveland Plain Dealer photo
Thrones are usually seen as majestic. Thrones are large and high-backed, stately, usually covered in finery, adorned with jewels, and lifted up. Of course the Lord’s is no different, it is THE most majestic throne of all! This verse from later in Hebrews attests to its majesty and the one who occupies it.
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. (Hebrews 8:1-2)
In the Hebrews 8 verse we see the throne of majesty and the Lord performing His holy duties. It is such a comforting picture, to think of Jesus administering His holy duties! However such a throne would not be so approachable.
The protocols surrounding meeting the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, are formal and strict. Only the politest of questions are suggested, such as “Is Your Majesty enjoying the performance?” She is to be referred to as Your Majesty, and Ma’am thereafter.One does not turn one’s back to the Queen, and curtsies are expected. One does not touch the Queen, and if she extends her hand, one must not grip it or pump it. These are indicators of respect and obeisance to the Sovereign.
The photo below is of Pope Benedict on his throne, richly adorned and atop marble steps. It is not an approachable throne.
Pope Benedict
Though man tries to emulate a sovereign throne of majesty, they all pale in comparison to the one described in Hebrews. Such majesty the Lord’s throne must emanate! I can see Him in my imagination through the biblical description as Priest performing His duty. Isaiah was given a sight of this:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1-5)
Now THAT is a throne of majesty!!! One would hardly dare to approach in confidence and boldness as the Hebrews 4 verse says!
So the Lord in His mercy and wisdom inspired the writer of Hebrews to encourage us, when we need to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, to approach the throne of grace.
In the times where we have a need, we are encouraged to approach with confidence not the majestic throne, though it is, but to draw near to the throne of GRACE.
How merciful is our God, who demonstrates again and again his wisdom and His mercies! When we need Him, His throne is one of grace, approachable and ready for us to receive His gift. It was S. Lewis Johnson who pointed to that distinction between the Hebrews 8 throne of majesty and Hebrews 4’s throne of grace.
I hope you ponder the majesty of our Holy God and also delight in His throne of grace, which stands ready to be approached by us, His little children, to weep for help and to be the beneficiary of His grace in our time of need. He is a tremendous God! Praise Him today, with your mouth, in your songs, and by your heart with love to Him the Worthy One.
Look in the bible for how many times clouds are mentioned. The word is used for different reasons and in different ways. It is fun to think of His grace in giving us the literal clouds, which shield us from the hot sun, or which gives us rain. The variety and wonder of the different shapes of clouds: nacreous, cumulus, tubular, cirrus, etc, and the different reasons for clouds, both literal and symbolic, is a study in itself.
The best reason to think of clouds is that Jesus will return in one!
the-end-time.org 