I ask the Lord frequently “what is your Spirit saying to us Lord?” He answers me in bits and pieces over the course of days. Today I believe I was impressed by His voice saying “warn those who can be warned, and encourage those who can be encouraged.”

I ask Him frequently about the events in the world that we all see, like the oil spill, events in the middle east etc. I have to tell you that what I perceive from Him is the direct opposite of what we are seeing and hearing and reading from the world.

Right now if I had to encapsulate in a few words what this sense is I have from the Lord it is peace and stillness. The following Words are a bullseye of where the Lord has been centered/hovering/pointing for many weeks now, at least as I perceive Him:

11The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:

12“Do not call conspiracy

everything that these people call conspiracy;

do not fear what they fear,

and do not dread it.

13The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,

he is the one you are to fear,

he is the one you are to dread,

14and he will be a sanctuary;

but for both houses of Israel he will be

a stone that causes men to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare.

15Many of them will stumble;

they will fall and be broken,

they will be snared and captured.”

For people who are of this world, who love this world and the things in it, now is a time to fear. All the things men hope to get from this world are fading to a place where they are all out of reach. Instead of searching for something beyond what can be found in this world, these people throw themselves off of buildings and in front of trains.

The world is going into a tailspin, and far from being alarmed or excited I sense absolute stillness and peace from the Spirit of God. The end is not yet.

Although I can assure you with 100% certainty that there will be an “escape from all” event (Luke 21:34-36), my belief is that we have to wait a little more for it.

Don’t misunderstand this, we must be ready for our Lord to show up tonight, but we probably have a little more waiting to do.

Each fall, the fall feasts that are so far unfulfilled wait for their fulfillment. This year, we are looking at:

Feast of Trumpets(Rosh Hashanah)begins September 8, ends Wednesday September 10, Friday.

Each and every year until our Lord shows up, I will be raising a flag during this time. If you are unfamiliar with the significance and relationship of the escape from all (harpazo/rapture) with the Jewish wedding ceremony and the feast of trumpets, I would highly encourage you to get to reasearching it.

I will be posting more on that topic as we approach Rosh Hashanah 2010. As in previous years, I am predicting nothing, just that our alertness for our Lord’s return should be greatly hightened during the time of the fall feasts.

I believe the Lord gave me a mind picture? years ago, of our face pressed right up against a razor thin piece of glass? seperating us from the time of Jacob’s trouble. The significance of the picture is, it will require faith as we approach and step right up to the very minutes and seconds before all hell breaks loose before the great escape takes place (Luke 21:34-36).

People can argue about the timing of the rapture until they are blue in the face. What they cannot argue because they coflict with the Lord’s own words is that there WILL BE an escape from all.

Use the bible to interpret the bible. Noah and Lot are not condemned by today’s “christians” as escapists, yet those who hold to the Lord’s own words on this subject are condemned? PRAY that you may be counted worthy to escape ALL of what’s about to happen (luke 21:34-36)…the LORD’S WORDS…not mine. Argue with that.

Recently the Lord brought to mind the “escape” of the people in Israel when the anti-christ is standing in the temple proclaiming himself to be god:

Matt 24:15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Rev 12The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

I find it amazing that today’s “christian” opposition to the escape has no problem with with any of the other escape stories in the bible, but when it comes to escaping ALL that’s about to happen, oh…they have problems.

Lot escaped, Noah escaped, the children of Israel escaped Egypt for the promised land, Those in Judaea who flee to the desert will “escape,” Elijah “escaped,” The 24 elders sitting in heaven in Rev 4-5 with crowns on their heads who are redeemed, rewarded men, they all “escaped” the time of Jacob’s trouble.

And last but certainly not least, EVERY GENERATION OF MEN before this very last blip on the world’s timeline, they ALL ESCAPED the tribultation, ALL OF THEM, by virtue of the fact that they lived before it.

If you listen to the tired arguments of men who rail against the “escape from all,” they come up with all kinds of reasons why we in this last generation (likely) “need” to go through part or all of the time of Jacob’s trouble.

To make these arguments, they have to ignore the whole of human history, biblical history, and the Lord’s OWN WORDS which tell us to right now, not tomorrow, PRAY FOR ESCAPE FROM ALL.

How much clearer could He be? Yet many spurn such commands as if I or some other man issued the command? No, the Lord commanded, yet they mock the command, and they scorn the messengers who confirm and remind you of this command.

Matt 25 speaks to us of wise and foolish virgins. The foolish were not, and are not ready. When the Lord shows up for his bride, and its at a time that the foolish did not expect, they will be left behind and the door in heaven will be shut.

Re-read Matt 25 and Rev 4. When the Lord showed up thousands of years ago in the flesh, the people of Israel did not recognize Him. They were not ready for Him because they knew neither the Son nor the Father. If they did, they would have been ready. So too, today, many are not ready.

Many are the foolish virgins who mock and scorn the Lord’s own command for us to pray for escape. On the day that these men are knocking and pleading for the Lord to open the door (Matt 25), we will see who the wise and the foolish are.

If the Lord said it, He meant it, period. If He said something will happen, it will happen, period. Many are those today because they are so “learned” and have studied all the so called wise men of this age (“scholars”) tell us that the bible can no longer be read and taken at face value.

The bible no longer means what it says as a child would understand it because the “wise men” of today’s age say that the bible means something different.

Those who do not enter the kingdom of heaven like LITTLE CHILDREN will not enter it at all. Perhaps today’s “wise men” masquerading as “pastors” and “scholars” need to unlearn what men have taught them and pay heed to what the Spirit is speaking to the churches today. These men would do well to humble themselves and take the attitude and perspective of little children.

Matthew 18:3 … And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Today is a day to warn those who can be warned, and encourage those who can be encouraged. My sense of the Lord’s direction to us today is to be at peace.

Do not fear what they fear. As things go from bad to worse, our witness to this world is our peace in the midst of the storm.

People will run from you if you pull a bible out during a conversation but when they are around you and you are at peace while they cannot sleep at night for fear, and they live in a constant state of anxiety, they will see you and what lives in you and wonder…”what is it that they have, or that they know? I think I want some of it…”

Be at peace, stay in the Word, keep the faith. Be patient, we may have quite awhile to wait, or we may be out of here tonight. About times and date I need not write to you

Blessed be His name, grace and peace

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

For IN JUST A VERY LITTLE WHILE, He who is coming will come and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those WHO BELIEVE AND ARE SAVED.”

Studying Heb 6:13-15 this morning and realising that we are at the close of the generation I followed the pattern of Daniel who realised that the 70 years of exile were up and asked the LORD this morning “How long O LORD, must we endure as we await the Glorious Hope?”

This is what HE answered me

In addition to the swishing of priestly robes and the sounding of temple trumpets, there was another reason the Hebrews were being drawn back to religiosity. The early church lived in anticipation of the return of Jesus. But weeks, months, and years passed. And Jesus had not come back. “The temple we can see,” the Hebrews must have said. “The incense we can smell. Jesus left us with His promise—but where is He?” Consequently, many grew weary, wondering if they could trust the promise of His coming.

Throughout Scripture, there is inevitably a gap of time between the giving of a promise and the performance of the promise. Abraham “patiently endured.” How long? Twenty-five years. In our case, maybe the same will be true because in the period of waiting, in the gap between the giving of the promise and the performance is when God does His best work.

In this time at the closing of the generation that saw Israel become a nation in 1948, for all those who are watching for the signs and the intensity of these signs today – be patient even if it subjects us to extremes – the end product is beyond our wildest dreams

After anticipating this day for months, Jack and Naomi stand before the pastor promising they’ll be faithful and true in sickness and in health, in riches or rags, until death separates them. But five years later, Jack comes home and says, “I’m out of here, Naomi. You no longer meet my needs. You no longer captivate my heart.” And he walks away from the promises he made, leaving his wife and family behind.

The Bible you hold in your hands is packed full of promises—more than three thousand in number. Many of you have promise boxes sitting on your kitchen table or promise books stuffed in your back pocket. But today, there are those in our midst who would say, “My heart is broken because I don’t think the Lord has kept His promise to me. I claimed the promise. I prayed it in. I wrote it on a three-by-five card and stuck it on my mirror. But nothing happened.”

Maybe, like Naomi, you’re in that place today. If so, this is a highly important text for you to consider. If you’re not, certainly you’re living near or linked to those who wonder why things don’t work as Scripture promises.

In verse Heb_6:12, we are exhorted to follow those who went before us and obtained the promise by faith. The author of Hebrews uses one man specifically as an illustration—Abraham, the father of faith. After Abraham patiently endured, he obtained the promise. What promise? You know the story…

Abraham was seventy-five years old when, in Genesis 12, he was told to leave his home and father to go to a new land where God would give him offspring as the stars overhead. This must have blown Abraham’s mind, for he and his wife, Sarah, had no children at that time. Off he goes on his journey, this father of faith, and sure enough, God gave him a son from whom an entire nation was born. But it didn’t happen immediately. In fact, it took twenty-five years.

And in this there is a hugely important spiritual principle that needs to be part of your life. That is, there is very often a gap of time between the promise and the performance of the promise. In Abraham’s case, the gap of time was twenty-five years. We read that after Abraham patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

I love the New Testament because it is so wonderfully gracious in that it never once mentions the sins or failings of the Old Testament saints. And that’s the way God looks at you and me under the New Covenant. “Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more,” He says, (see Heb_8:12).

If you only read the New Testament account of Abraham, you wouldn’t know the rest of the story. For while it is true that Abraham patiently endured and obtained the promise, it is also true that when he was in his mid-eighties, Sarah said, “I know God promised you we would produce a nation. But let’s be reasonable. Ten years have come and gone since we heard from Him—and nothing’s happened. I’m long past the age of child-bearing, so have relations with my handmaid, and the child produced will count as ours.”

Abraham agreed to Sarah’s suggestion, and a baby named Ishmael was the result. Ishmael was not the promised child—but rather an attempt by Abraham and Sarah to try to help God fulfil His promise. And as is always the case whenever we try to help God out, Ishmael only made matters worse, for Ishmael became the father of the Arab nation. The promised son, Isaac, would come through Sarah thirteen years after Ishmael was born.

“This raises an interesting question,” you say. “What kind of father would give a promise to his kids and then wait twenty-five years to fulfill it? Why does God make us wait?” Following are three reasons why God our Father tells us to patiently endure…

To Produce Endurance

Jeremiah was getting a bit weary of the ministry to which God called him. When are You going to come through, Lord? he wondered. And God answered him by saying,

If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?—Jer_12:5

In other words, “You may think it’s tough now, Jeremiah, but I know what’s ahead. There are some real difficulties coming your way, some tremendous challenges heading in your direction.”

Jesus made it clear that it rains on the just and the unjust alike (Mat_5:45). Because of the fallen condition of the world in which we live, death, disease, poverty, tragedy, and heartache abound. Consequently, God says, “Due to the repercussions of the fall of this planet, due to the repercussions of the depravity of the race, storms are coming.”

“Change the weather,” we say.

“No,” says God. “I am going to change you—through the trials you’re going through right now, through the promises you’re claiming but have not yet seen come to fruition.”

If someone had told me twenty years ago the things that would come down in my life, I would have said, “I can’t deal with that. I won’t be a part of that. No way.” But my Father has been so good, so faithful to prepare me all along the way through difficulties and challenges. Yes, there were promises—but yet there were gaps between the promise and performance that tested my faith—not because God was cruel to me, but because He cared about me. “I’m training you for what I see is coming down the path,” He said. “It’s all part of the plan, Son.”

To Perfect Blessing

“I’m going to do exceeding abundantly above all you could ask or even think,” the Lord says (see Eph_3:20)—”but it’s going to take time.”

Due to our youngest being twins my wife and I had our predestined charges, Ruan was mine and Celine was my wifes for the first year of their lives. At night the cry of one could be identified over the other and my wife and I knew when our turn to rise and minister had come. On an occasion I, was up at night with Ruan, he started crying as I impatiently heated his bottle. I can remember saying, “Calm down, kiddo. It’s coming. You won’t want it cold.”

But you know what? He continued to howl because he couldn’t understand what I was saying. And in retrospect the Lord whispered in my ear today, “Jim, that’s you. I’m cooking something up; I’m getting something ready. But you’re crying, “Where is it?” because you don’t understand the language of faith.”

And that’s all of us. “Wah, wah,” we cry. “It’s been twenty-five days or two years or sixty years. Where’s the promise?” And all along, the Father is saying, “I’m getting it ready. I’m going to do something better than you could even imagine. But it has taken some time.”

Zacharias and Elizabeth were well beyond the years of bearing children. No doubt they had stopped asking for children decades ago. But God heard their prayers and knew He wanted not only to give them a baby, but to give them the greatest prophet who had ever lived, one who would prepare the hearts of Israel for the coming of His Son (Luk_1:16).

The same is true for you and me today. God says, “I want to do things beyond anything you could dream or imagine. So hang on, folks, the bottle’s getting warm.”

I have discovered that the longer God takes to fulfil a promise in my life, oftentimes the better it will be.

“I want a man who loves God passionately,” she says. “Doesn’t God say to delight in Him and He’ll give us the desire of our hearts? Well, I’m praying for a man who loves God, who’s six feet four inches tall with dark hair, a big smile, a good business head, who loves to talk about the Lord, who cares about people, who is a good athlete with a great sense of humour, who’s sensitive and considerate, and who has eyes only for me. That’s what I want.”

So the Lord begins shaping and developing her to make her the woman who would be attractive to such a man.

But what happens?

“I’ve waited two months,” she says as she heads off to Rockin’ Rodeo to scope out the scene. And then she wonders why she ends up with Tex.

After Abraham patiently endured, he obtained the promise. We know the inside story. He wasn’t patiently enduring perfectly. But he learned his lesson, and the promise eventually came his way.

To Prepare Us

The language of eternity is faith. When the Lord has us ruling and reigning at His side, under His command, doing His bidding—whatever that means in the ages to come—He’s going to need men and women like you who are not second-guessing, not doubting, not faltering. Jesus taught about the faithful in this life who will be rulers over five and ten cities in the kingdom (Luke 19). In other words, Jesus is saying there is a destiny far beyond what any of us know or can imagine awaiting us in the next gazillion years to come.

And the language that must be fluently spoken by us if we are going to be ambassadors for Him in the realms and regions beyond is the language of faith.

And that’s what the Father’s doing. “Beloved,” He says, “the only way you’ll be prepared for what’s coming is if I force you to learn the language of faith now because that’s the language you’ll be speaking for the next billion years to come.”

If I were God, you know what I’d do? Once a year, I’d go to every church and appear with a great display of power and fire and smoke. That would probably get everyone by for a year or so. But God knows such a thing would actually undo what He desires to do—for the growth of faith would be retarded. We would depend on what we could see physically or hear audibly—and consequently, we would not be fluent in the language of eternity.

All the promises will come about in due season. In the meantime, precious people, realize God’s heating the bottle. Understand that He’s forcing you to develop a whole new way of thinking and living.

And remember, Scripture says it was after he patiently endured that Abraham obtained the promise.

Come LORD JESUS the time is at hand and YOUR prophecies are always on time

Maranatha

jimmy

We live by faith…..not sight. Do I see all the problems around us? Sure, but so what? Am I to stay focused on what my eyes tell me or am I commanded to dwell on what faith tells me? Here is where we see how important it is to stay in the word of God. If we stay in the bible, our mind will be full of promises and faith. The bible is a promise and faith filled book. If we stay focused on this world with all its problems, we will be problem filled people.

In spite of the fears, troubles and problems this brother has faced in life, the Lord has delivered me from them all. That is what the Lord would have me tell you today. Our God is a God who still answers prayers today. He is faithful and true to his promises. Since the Lord has been on this topic now with me for about 4 months, it appears that he intends to stay on it.

In these last days, while darkness and wickedness and apostasy abound, we are called back to a simple childlike faith in Jesus. We are called back into the word of God to be rooted and built up in faith on a text that is error free. We do not need man’s words, we need Gods words. Men can deceive you, the Lord will not deceive you. He tells you the truth every time.

We are living once again in the days of Noah and Lot. We don’t know how much time is left and neither does anyone else. To even try to guess is a fool’s errand. For that reason we are told to be watching and ready every day….A person who is not watching and ready today is likely to be caught unprepared on the day the Lord shows up.

Luke 21:34“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

We are told to be careful not to let our hearts be weighed down……with dissipation drunkeness and the anxieties of life….That’s important stuff isn’t it? Do you know what a focus on the problems in the world will do? It will weigh your heart down with the “anxieties of life.”

What are we told about the “anxieties of life?”

Philippians 4:6
… Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

We are called to be a promise filled people. I know of something that gets the world’s attention: real answers to real problems. The Lord is telling me today that I am to believe him for spectacular answers to prayer. He is a big God, there is no other like him. At this point in my walk with him I expect spectacular…awesome..incredible to the world kinds of results from prayer. I am a nobody, he is everything, Jesus is everything, he is the focus. Focus on him, seek his face, stay in his word, trust him, that’s another way of saying “have faith.” This brother, the least of your brothers is telling you today that our God can be trusted.

Use every ounce of faith at your disposal today. Stay in the fight. Believe the Lord for everything and anything. No prayer or request is too small or too big if you have the faith for it. If you don’t have the faith for it then ask Jesus for more…stay in his word.

The Spirit says to me today: encourage, encourage, encourage, testify, testify, testify. The Lord has performed miracles in my life, that is no exaggeration. I am to tell you today that if miracles through faithful prayer have been done for me, they can be done for you. Our Lord is no respecter of persons. Be patient, have faith..let patience have her perfect work:

James 1:4
… But let patience have her perfect work, that ye maybe perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

I’m not sure what the Lord is up to today. The best way to describe what I sense inside is like an anchor has been pulled up and the ship is moving. Where to? I don’t know. I sense movement, something new is afoot. That’s the best way to describe what’s I sense in the Spirit right now. While this ship is moving or whatever is going on that involves movement or something new, the two words faith and patience fit perfectly.

The Lord is constantly doing new things and those who are daily waiting at his doorstep must learn to “tune in” to what he is doing. Sometimes if you are “slow” to get things (I look at myself in mirror) then it takes awhile to figure out what actually happened and whats going on right now. That’s okay, we don’t have to figure everything out on the spot. We have the duty not to figure everything out right now, but to be patient in faith, trusting that whatever is happening is of the Lord and will work out for our good somehow, some way, some day.

We serve a very GOOD God. He loves us so much its hard to describe in words. He does not stay angry with us forever, nor does he treat us as our sins deserve.

Psalm 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

Whatever is going on in your life right now, understand that through faith and patience all things can be overcome. Understand how very dearly you are LOVED. Through faith and patience you will see mountains moved before your eyes. Through faith and patience your feet will be placed on the heights of the land so you can see that the Word of God is true and he can be taken at his word, every time.

The Lord has given me a vision/mission and just recently he opened my eyes to another brother from 200 years ago who had an almost identical mission to the one dropped into my heart. The only part of this mission/vision that is relevant to you right now is the fact that our God can be trusted. His Word can be leaned on and taken at face value every time and it will not fail you….ever.

Today is my birthday. They just keep coming! I suppose that instead of people giving me something I should be the one giving…giving thanks to our God for all the wonderful things he has done for me, my family and all of those with us “in Christ.”

done for today, grace and peace
Posted by Brother D at 3:01 AM