Monday, May 27, 2019

He Died For You Personally

This is one He has been on me to write so here it is.  Most of us do not truly understand the fullness of what happened on the cross when our Lord died for us.  Because we are human and not God we do not have the capacity or capability to do what He did.  What do you mean?

When our Lord Jesus was on that cross, when He was dieing for our sins, He did it for all mankind.  We know that.  What is less clear is our Lord's ability to compress and expand time.  What does that mean?  It means there are times we can understand where a minute feels like an hour or an entire day flies by in what seems like a minute.  Its time compression and expansion.  This is what our Lord impressed upon this writer to share with you:

You personally were not 'lost in the shuffle' in our Lord's attention as He died for all mankind on that cross.  On that day, each one of us individually had what seemed like an eternity of attention by our Lord Jesus Christ as He died for us.  This is something only an all powerful omniscient God can do.  He is everywhere at once.  He does not live in time, time lives in him.  These are things hard for us to understand but understand this.  When our Lord was hanging on that cross shedding His blood, He did it for you personally with His full attention on you as He did it.  You were not some blur as all the names of mankind flashed by His eyes that would be the way a finite being would have to process the event, one things at a time.

He was able to process all of us at the same time, with His full unwavering attention on each one of us as an individual at the same time He saw all of us collectively.  Its hard to wrap our mortal brains around it but the point is, He wants us to know how we were loved then and how we are loved now.  He wants us to know how special we are to Him, then and now.

And we in return are to hold Him in the same regard.  He is the most special and cherished things in our lives.  We recognize what He did for us and we love Him for it.  When He died on that cross you might as well consider He spent the entire time looking at you and thinking about you specifically as an individual as He died for you because that is what happened.  Only He could do this while at the same time doing the exact same thing with everyone else He died for.

Thank you thank you Lord Jesus Christ for what you did for us.  We love you!

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Time

Ecc 3:1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

As we look around the world we see a global backlash against establishment/corrupt politicians.  Why now?  People have lived happily with corrupt politicians for decades if not hundreds of years without a second thought.  Why now?  Because there is a time for every purpose under heaven.  Who really brought about Brexit in the UK?  The Lord did.  Why really put Trump in office?  The Lord did.  Who is sweeping Europe with anti-establishment movements?  The Lord is behind all of this.

Ps 119:91 Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you.

Trust in politicians has been declining for years but it has now reached a breaking point which is why we are seeing these movements.  The Lord has lit a spotlight and aimed it directly at the corruption/rotten wickedness that has been taking place around the world for years.  Even so, look at how many people still cling to the rotten, the wickedness in spite of the overwhelming proof exposed that what they are supporting is rotten.  This is the journey into the last days.  Nobody will be able to say "we didn't know" or "we did not see that" when a divine spotlight has been squarely focused on all of it.

In a sense this is the beginning of separation of the wheat from the chaff.  The removal of ignorance of the corruption means the people who still support it are left without excuse.  The Word of the Lord tells us this trend will continue into the end.  The Lord will continue to send wave after wave of exposure and judgement on the earth to leave people without excuse if they hold onto the wickedness and darkness present in this world.

Rev 9:13And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 18By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
20And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

What is this telling us ^^?  The heat continues to be ratcheted up on mankind to leave not excuse, no explanation whatsoever for what they are holding onto other than pure wickedness and they choose that wickedness over righteousness.  This world has been in a steady descent away from the Lord for years.  The removal of everything that is godly in the public sphere along with the approval of the masses is what has the world in the mess it finds itself in now.

We do not have to guess what is going to happen, we already know.  The Lord laid out a clear roadmap for us and we can see the world progressing down the road on this map through this very day.  This brings us back to the current rejection of establishment politicians around the world.  People have had it with politics and politicians and they are looking for an alternative.  The fact that we see a fairly equal split (at least currently) between those holding onto the exposed rotten establishment and those who want something else hints at more extreme change in the future.

Unfortunately for those who think Brexit or Trump is going to save them, the purpose of the current rejection of the corrupt establishment is not to promote earthly alternatives but a Divine alternative.  We are all going to learn that only "thy kingdom come and thy will be done" is going to work.  It is mankind, doing his own thing his own way that has brought us to this point of things getting worse not better all around the world.  Until this world bows the knee and confesses that Jesus Christ and our Father in heaven are the only way out of this, there is no end in sight for the troubles in store for this world.

The current political upheaval will eventually result in people being so polarized and traumatized by the political conflict that they will find themselves in a place where they are looking for a savior.  The true Savior has been offered to this world for thousands of years, however the world's rejection of the true Savior will result in a false savior, also known as the anti-Christ being presented to the world.  This anti-Christ they will accept.

2 Thess 2:1Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

None of this has happened overnight.  It has taken years to bring the world to this point and it will take years in the future to conclude the matter.  The long process is necessary to test the inhabitants of the earth.  The test is a test of time.  Time tests all things.  Time tests commitments to everything and anything, how much more our commitment to what is good or evil.

As we watch this world spin out of control and we see the evil continue to prosper seemingly without judgement we are not to despair.  The Lord has nudged this writer to a new favorite psalm that keeps everything in perfect perspective and helps encourage us to stay in a place peace without getting over anxious about the increasing expose of wickedness around us.  Here it is:

Psalm 37:1
1{A Psalm of David.}
א
Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
ב
3Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
ג
5Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
ד
7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.


Trust in the Lord.  Delight in the Lord.  Rest in the Lord.  The wicked will be cut down like grass.  When we see the wicked (seemingly) get away with murder, fraud, abuse of every kind, they are really getting away with nothing.  Notes are being taken and a time has been assigned to judge all of it.  We do not have to get upset or angry about any of it.  It is not us who will repay or make things right, it is the Lord who will do it.  That's good news.  We have been told how to deal with all of what we see around us.  Trust, delight, rest in the Lord.  He will make things right.  In the meantime, do good

3Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

This is not rocket science.  We just have to do what the Lord told us to do and be patient.

7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him

Be patient, time will test everything and our Lord has everything under control.  Glory to God.

grace and peace