Posted in encouragement, prophecy

We take refuge in a mighty God

Though we are in a battle, “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” (Psalm 9:9). Our Lord of hosts is God commanding, ordering, summoning the hosts of heaven. These are the angels, in and among the starry worlds.

He organizes and dispenses helps from these realms to those who love Him. If you are feeling troubled, take refuge in Him. “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah” (Psalm 46:7)

His protections are never ceasing, constant, and uninterrupted: “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.” (Psalms 121:3). He misses nothing, He is not unaware of anything. We do not have to be fearful of him being overtaken by stratagems or surprise. He does not sleep.

Even when it seems to us that His helps are meager, not enough, ineffectual, they are not. “And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.” (Judges 7:7).

Hearken to God, precious brethren. The days are going to grow darker, but He is LIGHT!

“But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Proverbs 1:33).  Of those who love Him we have a new heart: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26).

He strengthens this new heart, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” (Psalms 27:14). Eventually, precious brothers and sisters, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8).

He is our shield and our reward!

“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)

Therefore, we will not be afraid

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Posted in encouragement

Re-post: Roll call in heaven

Some encouragement for a Monday morning, a re-post from last May of some thoughts about heaven after the rapture:

There’s a song by the Gaithers called “When the roll is called up yonder” and the next line is “I’ll be there.”

Speaking of New Jerusalem:

“Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

The roll call from Jesus reminded me of several scriptures I love very dearly. The illustrate the moment when certain of God’s prophets were called. They heard God, and they responded “Here I am!” They report for the highest duty possible, a life of total dedication and obedience to Jesus. This is the only proper response to His call. It moves me to think of them saying “Here I am!” to God. These are the men whom God called:

Abraham, when God tested his faith: – Genesis 22:1, 11,
Jacob, in a dream, hears the LORD say that He sees Jacob’s ill treatment by Laban – Genesis 31:11
Moses, seeing the burning bush and hearing the Angel of the Lord call Moses to perform the Exodus – Exodus 3:4

Samuel, as a boy, receiving his first call from the LORD. – 1 Samuel 3:4
Isaiah, in a vision from Isaiah 6:8, receiving his call to Prophet after seeing the LORD on His throne and exclaiming he is a man of unclean lips, being cleaned with the live coal, then eagerly answering God, “Here I am, send me!”

“Here I am!” they all said.

Now get this. Picture in your mind the great multitudes that appear before Jesus in heaven after the rapture. You are wearing a white robe and are enjoying a glorified body. You are seeing things unparalleled and experiencing indescribable joy. You see Jesus’ face, and you can’t get enough. In the midst of this, imagine Him opening the Lamb’s Book of Life, in which your name is written. And ‘books were opened’ and the roll is called…and then then He calls your name.

Because of His sacrifice, because of His love, because of the blood, because you repented, you will say:

HERE I AM!

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Posted in encouragement

An encouragement

I greet you all with a kiss of peace, and with good news that He loves us and is waiting to call us, His bride, home to Him soon. He is preparing the place in which we will dwell for all eternity, untainted by sin at last. We will gaze at one another through the spotless lens of the Holy One who redeemed us to Himself, and we will love Him and each other perfectly. His light will shine upon us untainted by clouds, pure as the blazing Light that shines supreme, transcendent, unmatched, our eyes shining as the reflection of His matchless glory. Angels will sing praises to Him and we will join in, love glowing out among all creation in glory, as only He can be! Why He chooses to share Himself with us, I will never know, but that knowledge and fact only makes me love Him all the more. He saved a wretch like me, and changed me from creature to daughter of God!

I sincerely hope you all are well. If you are not, then I hope that good news of what awaits us revives you, that we have the perfect assurance of the incomparable riches of His grace. O, His grace is sufficient for me, and if I feel this overwhelmed with it now, what will it be like when I get there??!! Think on that brethren. Beloved, these things are true, these things are noble, these things are just, these things are pure, these things are lovely, these things are of good report, there is virtue and they is praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Phil 4:8-9 paraphrased)
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Posted in encouragement

Short shots of encouragement

I hope you enjoy these (short) blog entries. They are written with sensitivity and thoughtfulness from Christian bloggers. If you need a short shot of encouragement, these will do nicely.

Chris Sanchez, “The Passing of Steve Jobs

Pastor Paul: “If the Lord Had Not been On Our Side

Phil Johnson, “Sermon On The Mount in Under 2 Min: (by a child)” charming 95 second video of a child explaining the Lord’s famous sermon.

John MacArthur: “Intimacy with the Father“.

Small World Photo contest: Photographing the Micro. Romans 1:18-21 comes to mind when seeing these gorgeous photos!

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Posted in encouragement, finish the race, holy spirit

Finishing the race

Watch, it’s 2 minutes. Then read, it’s encouraging!

Heather Dorniden of Minnesota University raced the 600m at the Big 10 Indoor Track Championships. Her example can be used to remind us what a race really is about. What life in Jesus is really about, in truth. We will fall. We can get up. We finish. But what is your reaction to the fall? To rising up again? Therein lay the difference.

When you fell, did you stay down? Did you lay there? Did you give up?

Did you say “woe is me, I fell, I’m not worthy of Jesus”? There are many people who and engage in continued public self-flagellation in false humility, like the Pharisees.

When you got up, did you then trudge? Paul says do not trudge but spring up and finish the race! Have joy. The race is a “good” race! It is a “good” fight!

Jesus knows we are faulty, that we will stumble, that we fail. But He is there to lift us up, the Spirit is there to encourage us. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20). What awaits you when you arise is the Holy Spirit, there with hand extended, to help you immeasurably!.

We all fall, the joy is in the getting up and finishing.

Keep looking ahead to the finish line. A crown awaits. Our home in New Jerusalem awaits. Eternal joy awaits. Our Lord awaits. Get up, get up! Pilgrims, the time is short, whether through death or rapture, our time here is shortening daily. Spring up and with all joy and energy, run to the finish line!

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

Will you be able to say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;” (2 Timothy 4:7)

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Posted in encouragement, end time, japan, nuclear, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

Christians, this is where the rubber meets the road

The immediate future looks very, very dim for all of us on planet earth. The Japan situation is one where we simply do not have words any more. The human toll, the infrastructure toll, the economic toll, the financial toll and the nuclear toll affects everyone on this planet, whether you are Japanese, American, or Finnish. As a matter of fact, the Finns are buying iodine pills like they are going out of style, which they are. Over at The Economic Collapse blog, Mike Snyder noted: “[Japan is the] 3rd largest economy in the world … Could this be the “tipping point” that pushes the Japanese economy over the edge and into oblivion? … The truth is that the economy of Japan was already deeply struggling before this disaster. The national debt of Japan is now well over 200% of GDP and there seems to be no doubt that they will need to borrow massive amounts of money to deal with the aftermath of this crisis. Up until now the Japanese government has been able to borrow money at ultra-low interest rates of around 1.30 percent for 10-year bonds, drawing on a huge pool of savings from its own citizens. But in light of what has just happened, will the citizens of Japan still have enough resources to continue to fund the rampant spending of the Japanese government? At this point, it is estimated that this gigantic mountain of debt breaks down to 7.5 million yen for every single citizen of Japan.”

Add to that the cost to rebuild, mainly from scratch in places, and you have a serious dent in Japan’s and the world’s economy.

The nuclear situation is dire. Here is a photo from satellite of nuke reactor #1 (left) and #3 which still had smoke rising from its most recent explosion. [Photo credit: Photo DigitalGlobe / Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND]

They are destroyed. The steel housings of the construction are hanging outside the building and have actually melted on the concrete, you can see them running parallel to each other from top to bottom. The core is clearly visible, the overhead protective structure is completely obliterated at the very least. They are talking about radiation, plutonium, cesium, chromium and/or MOX getting into the atmosphere. Reactor 3 was burning MOX (mixed oxide fuel) fuel which is a VERY radioactive fuel when used.  MOX is bad because it will burn hotter then regular uranium. This was warned to be a bad fuel IF the plant were to come close to meltdown. Here is a link to Japan’s MOX program.

People on conspiracy sites all over the place are putting up wind and jet stream maps to determine when and where the radioactivity will arrive in the US and in other places. All three reactors are in meltdown mode and today even the mainstream newspapers are discussing the radiation fallout and putting up maps. They are buying gas masks, getting treated for radiation poisoning, hospitals are filling up…it is truly a doomsday scenario. The spectre of radiation raises the spectre of a chilling thought: the Revelation 4th seal of death through pestilence could well be radiation. Maybe not, but it shows us how He could lift a finger there and over here something completely un-thought of comes forth.

What can we as Christians do? We know to pray. We know to donate. We also know to rely on the promises of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Rely on His promises! This time is where the rubber meets the road. I painted a realistic picture for you and it is truly a doomish one. But He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8) Lest you forget what is ahead for us, and perhaps SOON:

‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5) What a comfort to be known and spoken of by the God of the Universe!

Ps 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.” Yes, we have afflictions, and more may be coming down the pike, but what a blessing to know that we will be delivered!

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18). Does this compute? The God of the Universe, will come to you. He will come right now if you need Him, pray if you need comfort. He is there, right beside you.

We are looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13). We are the generation that will see Him from life to eternal life without death! We are blessed to see Him soon, His glorious appearing! “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” (Mt 17:1-2). We will see Him through glorified eyes, gaze upon His bright face!

Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. – John 14:1-3

So though the near future looks dim on planet earth, this is not our home! It looks very bright for us in New Jerusalem.

He knows your name, He is readying a place for you, He is bright like the sun and so you shall be bright, and He is coming to gather you to His bosom. Do not quiver in fear, this is where the rubber meets the road in your faith! Stand strong and ready, “‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.‘”
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