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What am I supposed to do, What am I meant to do, What is my calling, How do I know my calling, God, Jesus, God's Calling Article below. Or downloadable PDF link . PDF God's Calling God the Father has a calling and He has put it upon Himself God has His very own calling and we see this in Ephesians 1:18 “…what is the hope of His calling” What is the “hope of His calling?” Let’s look at the word “calling” in Strong’s - Greek #2821: Klésis -“invitation; always of a divine call. (from 2564 /kaléō, "to call, summon") – used of God inviting all people to receive His gift of salvation – with all His blessings that go with it (Ro 11:29; Eph 4:4; 2 Pet 1:10). The divine invitation to embrace salvation in the kingdom of God” God’s Own Personal Calling is for All Men to Embrace Salvation! That’s far bigger than what we have thought before! When you put Ephesians 1:18 with 1 Timothy 2:4-6; 2 Tim 1:9-10; and 2 Peter 3:9 it makes a fuller picture: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you… who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth . For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time…He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time , but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, Who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel …The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance .” That’s powerful! God’s own calling on Himself is for all men to be saved and know what He has done for us through Christ Jesus! His grace with this calling was done before time began (2 Tim. 1). That means before Genesis 1:4-5 when God created “time.” (*See articles on Crucifixion and Second Death.) This was when God wrote our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life - it was before the foundation of the world - Ephesians 1:3-6 and Revelation 13:8 NIV. THIS is God’s calling - to save mankind! And when He says something, it’s a promise, and all of God’s promises are “yes” and “so be it.” God will be sure His promise made to HIMSELF will come to pass. You don’t have to worry about it. You can count on it.

Is God real, Who is God, His personality, His character, Is Jesus the Son of God, Is all this God stuff real Who is God, His Names, & His Character Article below or click link for downloadable PDF PDF Who is God, His Names, & His Character When we introduce ourselves we say, “I am (name).” We are making a simple statement of “who we are”. There is no one who can tell you that you are not that named person. Ever. It is your identity. You are who you say you are. AND names are personal. The Name and titles of God are no different. When we look at the names/titles of God we see the same thing. He is who He says He is. Can’t change it. It is Him. It’s His personality. And it is a great privilege that He shares His names with us. He has given us His Name (Ephesians 3:14-15). I don't fully understand this myself...yet. It's extraordinary! It’s personal. It reveals more than the name “God”. It is His substance and we learn His personality. And the more we spend time with Him in the Word and talk with Him about it, the more we see Him actively involved in our lives in the way that He “describes” Himself. It’s important for us to know these names when we address Him in prayer, rightfully, respectfully. And when we address Him in prayer using one of His names it enlarges our expectation...our faith...that shows Him to us as His name or title says He is. He is the everlasting God, the Creator of all. We want to address God with reverence and wisdom when we pray. It’s also important to remind ourselves of Hebrews 13:8 - God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He said about Himself in days gone by is the same today! Let Him show up in your life in these ways. These names are who He is and what He is like. Way better than a dating app!! He is our first love. Who loved us before the foundation of the world and had us planned in His heart from that point. Listed below are only a small part of the many scriptures in each area. I suggest doing a full study on the area of interest. YHVH - Exodus 3:12-15. I AM. The One bringing into being; Life-giver; Giver of existence; Creator; He who brings to pass; Performer of His promises; He who causes to fall, rain or lightning; Destroying foes; The One Who Is; The Absolute and Unchangeable One; The Existing; Everliving: I shall be with you; He who will be IT with you; He is who is essentially unnamable, inexplicable. Jesus - Luke 1:31. Is a translation of the Hebrew “Joshua” - “Yashua”, that means, “Jehovah is salvation, is the Savior”. It was a common name among Jews at the time which is most likely why they missed it when He was on the earth (Ex. 17:9; Luke 3:29; Col 4:11). Jehovah Jireh - The Lord will provide. He is our provider: Philippians 4:19, 3 John 2 and Genesis 22:13-14. Jehovah Rapha - The Lord will heal. Philippians 4:19, Exodus 15:26, and Isaiah 53:5. Jehovah Shalom - The Lord our peace. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, John 14:27, & Philippians 4:6-7. Good to use when anxious or afraid. Whenever God showed up to people and they were afraid He would always say, “Peace, be still.” Jehovah Nissi - The Lord our banner. Exodus 17:15 (all). Represents He is the one that stands with you in battles. You are not alone. The “banner” is God Himself as a “name tag” over you saying “you are His”. Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord Who is righteousness. He is our righteousness - 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 10:4, Philippians 3:9, Jeremiah 23:5-6. Good for using when you need Godly judgment and righteousness in situations, decisions that need to made. Jehovah Rohi - The Lord is our Shepherd. John 10 and Psalm 23 Jehovah Shammah - The Lord is always present - The Lord who is there. Ezekiel 48:35. Such an intimate prayer time with this title. As you go into prayer, call Him Jehovah Shaman. He is righter there in the same room with you, as close as your own breath. Jehovah M’Kaddesh - The Lord Who sanctifies. Leviticus 11:44, 20:7-8. God is Who sanctifies you and makes you holy, He sets you apart for Himself and perfects that which concerns us. Praying like: “Jehovah M’Kaddesh, I need more holiness my life. I needs greater victory over temptation. I need strength over son. I want to represent You more purely to a corrupt world. Please help me grow in Your sanctification. You are my Jehovah M’Kaddesh.” The Lord of Glory - 1 Corinthians 2:8; Exodus 33:7-23 I AM - John 8:58 Author of Salvation - Hebrews 2:10 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - Exodus 3:2, 6 The Almighty - Revelation 1:8 The Everlasting Father - Isaiah 9:6 The First and the Last - Revelation 1:17 The Faithful Witness - Psalm 89:36-37 The Image of the Invisible God - Colossians 1:15 WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD - Isaiah 9:6 A Sacrifice - Ephesians 5:2 A Ransom - Mark 10:45 Heir of All Things - Hebrew 1:1-4 He is Love - 1 John 4:8. The Temple - Revelation 21:22 A Sanctuary - Isaiah 8:14 Intercessor - Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:27 Helper - Romans 8L26, John 16:7 (Amplified) Author and Finisher of our faith - Hebrews 12:2 Advocate - 1 John 2:1 Surety of a Better Covenant - Hebrews 7:22 Teacher - John 13:13, 1 John 2:27 The Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25 The Wisdom of God - 1 Corinthians 1:24 Lord (Yahweh) - Isaiah 26:4, Psalm 23, John 20:28 (a vast study can be done on “Lord” - it’s a proper name. Hebrew: Addonai. Strong’s #113.) God - (same study done can be done here. Hebrew Strong’s #430. Greek #2316 ) 1 Timothy 2:5. Son of God - John 1:34 Beloved Son - Matthew 17:5, 3:16-17 The Word - John 1:1 Messiah - Daniel 9:25 Alpha and Omega - Revelation 22:13 Savior - Luke 2:11 Redeemer - Job 19:25 Light of the World - John 8:12 Lamb of God - John 1:29 Creator of All Things - Colossians 1:16 Master - Luke 8:24 Mediator - 1 Tiimothy 2:5 Bread of Life - John 6:48 High Priest - Hebrews 3:1 The Lamb - Revelation 7:9 A Lamb without Blemish and without Spot - 1 Peter 1:19 Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World - Revelation 13:8 The Shepherd of The Sheep - Hebrews 13:20 The Way - John 14:6 The Good Shepherd - John 10:11 The Chief Shepherd - 1 Peter 5:4 The Rock - Psalm 18:2 My Rock and My Fortress - Psalm 31:3 The Rock of My Refuge - Psalm 94:22 The Rock that is higher than I - Psalm 61:2 The Rock of My Salvation - 2 Samuel 22:47 My Rock and My Redeemer - Psalm 19:14 NIV The Builder - Hebrews 3:3 The Foundation - 1 Corinthians 3:11 A Sure Foundation - Isaiah 28:16 A Stone - Isaiah 28:16 A Living Stone - 1 Peter 2:4 A Chief Cornerstone - 1 Peter 2:6 A Precious Stone - 1 Peter 2:6 A Stone Cut Without Hands - Daniel 2:34-35 The Last Adam - 1 Corinthians 15:46 God’s Firstborn - Psalm 89:27 The Firstborn Among Many Brethren - Romans 8:29 The Firstfruits of Them that Slept - 1 Corinthians 15:20 74. A Witness to the People - Isaiah 55:4 The Amen - Revelation 3:14 The Light , The True Light- John 12:35, John 1:9 The Light of Men - John 1:4 He is the Lamb Who was Slain - Revelation 5:12 He is Faithful - Hebrews 3:2 He is Our Strong Tower - Proverbs 18:10 He is Our Foundation - 1 Corinthians 3:11 He is Preeminent - Colossians 1:18 He is the Tree of Life - Revelation 2:7 The Bright and Morning Star - Revelation 22:16 The Sun of Righteousness - Malachi 4:2 He is Our Gift - 2 Corinthians 9:15 The Head - Ephesians 4:15 The Head of the Body, the Church - Colossians 1:18 A Life-Giving Spirit - 1 Corinthians 15:45 The Head of All Principality and Power - Colossians 2:10

What does it mean God is love? My identity, My identity in Christ, My identity in Christ Jesus, How do I get the love of God God is Love & So Are You Article below. Or downloadable PDF link. PDF God is Love & So Are You Love is our substance of who we are in Christ Jesus Now Abides Faith, Hope, & Love...But the Greatest is Love 1 Corinthians 13:13 Love is our substance of who we are in Christ Jesus Because we are made in the image of God and we are one Spirit with Him. Genesis 1:26-27 & 1 Corinthians 6:17. Hebrews 11:1, 3 says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” …continue on to verse 3 - “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” The worlds were made by faith, which is THE substance. They were made by God’s substance because He spoke. His Words came from within His heart, within His Spirit, God’s Word, Who is Jesus, came from within the very heart and Spirit of God. It is “Who” He is. Add to this, the Spirit of God was hovering upon the water waiting for God’s Word to be spoken so He could activate the Word of God and bring it to pass - Genesis 1:2. Consider how the Holy Spirit also did that in the book of Acts with signs, miracles, and wonders when Paul, Peter and others preached - some scripture references: Acts 4:16, 5:12; 6:8, 8:6,14:3, 15:12; Romans 15:18-19; Hebrews 2:4. The Word comes from within God Almighty, the Creator Himself. Just as you speak and the words you speak come from within in you. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks - what we say is who we are. As a man thinks in his heart so is he - Luke 6:45 & Proverbs 23:7. Same for God. What He speaks is Who He is and there’s a substance to it…and that substance is Him, and it is faith. And Faith comes from the Word. They are not separate…but whole. You may need to read that again. Here's another way to say it: Faith is the same word as "belief". So, what God speaks is Who He is. He believes that. He knows that. It is His substance...that substance is Him, And believe comes from what He says. They are linked. Part 1: God is Love Put Hebrews 11:1 in context with 1 John 4:8: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” & “God is Love.” You will notice the words highlighted in bold: (faith) is the substance and (God) is (love). We will compare the two bold words and their definitions from Merriam- Webster Dictionary: Substance : 1. Essence; Essential Nature; b. A fundamental; or Characteristic part or quality; 2. The ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestation and change. Is - Present tense of the verb “(to) be.” (A state of being.) “Substance ”- is essential nature, essence. “Is ” is a state of being. A constant. “Is and Substance” are constant. Never change. They ARE = I AM. God’s essence, His being is love. His elemental nature is love, His essence, and faith, or belief, is a part of His elemental nature . So is hope, like 1 Corinthians 13:13 states. These elements are a constant within the very nature of God. They are your nature too. Let’s put this another way: faith and love are the same. God is love…love is His substance and as 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, faith, hope, and love abide but the greatest is love, means they abide together. Abide : the Greek word for “abide” is #3306 menó. Means to “remain, to stay.” All three abide, they remain, they stay. These three are in God. He is in us and we are in Him, and we know we dwell in Him because He has given us of His Spirit - 1 John 4:13. When we don’t “feel” this way, it doesn’t matter. This is The Truth. Just because someone wakes up and “feels” like they’re a cat doesn’t make them a cat. When you don’t “feel” like you operate from faith, hope, and love, go to these scriptures in your Bible and declare them over yourself. Speak them out loud in your house. It will change you and your atmosphere. Faith, hope, and love - They remain. They don’t change. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. They are the substance of God. It’s not only love but all three. Love, with Faith and Hope - this is His eternal nature and the root of everything in Him and in all of existence. You can’t separate them from God’s essential nature. As love is the root of everything in existence, it operates with faith and hope. They are not separate. Love speaks. Those love words are faith filled and creates a vision (which is hope) of what is “seen” in the God-given imagination, and will come to pass. “Hope” is created by words. Because of “words” we then “see” in our imagination what was spoken. We see this in Proverbs 4:20-21. All three are together but God separates them for study in His Word. Can people operate without love, of course. These three can work the exact opposite of what God intended. That’s what happened when Lucifer fell. All of what is the nature of God was twisted, perverted, and turned in the exact opposite direction within the heavenly creatures (angels) when their rebellion occurred. If it’s not love, it’s hate - or some lighter version of it like: disgust, vileness, deception, doubt, worry, trepidation, stress, fear, and all the others. All are forms of fear and fear is a compadre of hate. They are hooked up together. Just like love and faith. To be specific: faith, hope & love in the exact opposite are fear, doubt, hate. And it all comes from satan’s major temptation he uses with people: doubt. Let me phrase it another way: "to consider". In the Garden all the serpent had to do was tempt Eve to doubt or consider something other than what God said. But his initial reason as to “why” he did it - his own hate. Hate toward this new creature God had made: mankind. Take a look at Psalm 8:4-8 “What is man, that You are mindful of him? And the Son of man, that You are mindful of him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You have him to have dominion over the works of your hands; You have put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas.” satan was disgusted that God had made a new creature and this creature was in the image of God and given dominion over the works of His hands. *** Faith and doubt are opposites. When we doubt we cannot operate in faith which is part of our essence. This goes against our essence and goes against God’s essence. Conclusively, when we get caught up in fear, doubt and hate we are caught in sin - “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” - Romans 14:23. Faith is what pleases God - Hebrews 11:6 - we must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. His essence, His state of love, faith, hope essence or state of being will never change. It is our essence. He will never change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the Great I AM. It’s who He is. And faith is the “substance” of His essence - all three Godly elements exist together: faith, hope, & love. But the greatest one of them is love. It is how everything operates. It is how God operates, including in His judgment and wrath. Some Christians think that because God is love that He does not have justice. But you cannot have true justice without love. Cause and effect. When people or created beings (angels) violate God’s law, there is an outcome. People innately want justice when something wrong has occurred to them. God is no different. We are made in His image. Doing things right, because it’s right, then doing them right is part of God’s nature. His essential constant characteristic is in everything He created. He is in everything: His Faith, His hope, and His love are in everything. Love is the generator of everything. It is God’s substance, the substance of faith, and it is your substance - John 14:20. It’s like saying someone has brown hair, it’s a constant. Like us being born of mankind. It is the type of living creature we are, it’s our essence. We were not born as an animal or a bird, or a fish. We are born of the creature called: mankind, and our substance is of God, it is love…faith, hope, and love. These are the essence of who we are. Even those who are not born again have a sense of justice, morality, faith, hope and love. They can’t help it. It’s because we are made in the image of God’s. Part 2: Christ’s Love Compels us Now that we know love is the base of our elemental nature we can see how it works within us. 2 Corinthians 5:14 NIV “Christ’s love compels us….” KJV - “Christ’s love constrains us…” "Constrains " is Strong’s Greek #315 anagkazó, to compel, doing so with urgency, as a pressing necessity. TPT - “Christ’s love fuels our passion and motivates us…” TMT - “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes…” God’s essential nature within us behaves in this manner. It’s His Spirit doing this within us. It - He - compels us. He does so with urgency regarding situations. He fuels our passion and motivates us. He moves us to such extremes to carry out His will. And He will only do this in combination with your own “will.” God will never overpower your will. If He could have then He would have done that with Lucifer. We have to yield to His leadings, compelling, motivations. When we do not yield to Him we then grieve the Holy Spirit. And at the start you can sense it. When someone continually ignores the promptings of the Holy Spirit, He will eventually stop moving within you and let you have your way. Ephesians 4:30. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit no matter what. You can’t change it by your actions. But He won’t be pleased, which means we are not operating by faith, but doubt, fear, and sin. It’s important to realize above all the virtues of God keep love in the forefront of your thoughts. It binds everything together because it is God, who is the essence of everything and all of His virtues or goodness is love. They come out of each other - Colossians 3:14. God let His goodness pass before Moses. His goodness is in you! *** Part 3: More Parts to His Love Love is God’s essence, His being, His breath of life, and His essence is ours. We are new creatures in Christ Jesus - 2 Cor. 5:17. Exodus 33:18-23 - Then Moses said, “Now show me Your glory.” And the Lord said, “ I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My Name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But, He said, “you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.” Then the Lord said, “There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back parts: but My face must not be seen.” In this passage God says His glory is equated to: His goodness , His Name being proclaimed-spoken-in Moses’ presence, and His back parts. (It is my hunch there is so much more to God’s glory then we have learned.) And God couldn’t let Moses see His face because it would have killed Moses, as Habakuk 1:13 says, His eyes are to pure to look on sin fallen man. Sin burns up in God’s presence. Habakuk 1:13 - “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrongdoing;” God didn’t want Moses to be burned up with His goodness, His presence, His love, His Name, His essence. That’s why God had to cover Moses’ face and why Moses had to cover his own face with a veil when he went before the people. This is what the physical form of God had to do in the Spiritual realm so that He could save His created man. When sin fallen man is in the presence of God, He burns it up. This may be why God had to kick out satan and the disobedient angels. God didn’t want to destroy His creation even though they rebelled. It probably has something to do with a legal standpoint. God is the ultimate judge and He abides within His own law. Not saying this is the only reason. But it may be a part of it. Job 34:14-15 - “If it were His intention and He withdrew His Spirit and breath, all humanity would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.” If God were to withhold His breath all creation dies. His love is what keeps things in existence everywhere. His love, His power, and His faith are one unit. You can’t separate these things from God and still have God. Yes, this is so big it’s difficult to wrap our earthly heads around it. But bless God we can, by faith. And it’s His faith within us! He will reveal it. *** Let’s take a look at the Greek word for God’s love: agape. Using Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words: “Love can be known only from the actions it prompts - Like God’s love in sending the gift of His Son to save mankind. It was an exercise of the Divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself. Love has its perfect expression among men (mankind) in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian love is the fruit of His Spirit in the Christian. Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Christian love has God for its primary object,. and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments (which is to love the Lord your God and love your brother as you do yourself - 1 John 4:20-21). It expresses the deep and constant love and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects, a practical love towards those who are partakers of the same, and a desire to help others to seek the Giver.” This is love God’s glory, His goodness, and His love exude from within Him! They exude from within you. The more you follow His leadings, promptings, compelling, and motivation by spending time in His Word with prayer, talking with Him about the things that are on your heart and questions you have, and listening for His leadings, promptings, compelling and motivation the more of His goodness will exude out of you. 2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place.” The NIV says, “…uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. There’s a “smell” to us as we yield to Him. *** Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” We have a pure heart only by the Holy Spirit. Nothing to do within ourselves. As Romans 5:5 says, “…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who is given to us.” None of this can be done on our own . Our purity of heart is only by the Holy Spirit. A new heart! WE have God’s hear t . Praise God, it’s all Him. He’s saved us, purified us, and has adopted us as His own, and saved us for the day of redemption, and the Holy Spirit is the downpayment of the epitome of our redemption which is our new immortal bodies and an eternity with Him (1 Corinthians 15). We are His and He is ours. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise - 2 Corinthians 1:21-22. This seal is a seal of ownership on us as NIV says, and His Spirit is put in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. And it is God Who makes us stand firm. We don’t rely on our strength but on God’s within us! What a relief that is. “‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.” - Zechariah 4:6. *** Part 4: The Holy Spirit is in Our Hearts “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” John 14:26. "Like wise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" - Romans 8:26. Being in flesh in this world is a weakness but the Holy Spirit will help us pray. Sometimes in English, sometimes in tongues. Both are important. As Jude 1:20 says, “Building up yourself on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Spirit.” Praying in tongues is the way to build up your faith on what you are standing on from the Word until it manifests. This is necessary when we feel weak. Isaiah 28:11-12 “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people, to whom He said, ‘This is the rest wherewith You may cause the weary to rest and this is the refreshing…’” When we feel weary from standing in faith for believing a promise of God, get into praying in tongues and into praise. Both build you up and cause a breakthrough. Look at Psalm 149, praise is our greatest weapon of war! In TPT - verse 6, “God’s high and holy praises fill their mouths, for their shouted praises are their weapon of war!” Go back to verse 5, “His Godly lovers triumph in the Glory of God, and their joyful praises will rise even while others sleep.” Doing these things will change your mental outlook, will change the atmosphere, and bring about your answer to prayer. As we simply trust Him and rest in Him and His nature within us we are easily led by His Holy Spirit Who teaches us and reminds us of what He has said to us. What He has revealed to us. We don’t have to struggle to “make it happen.” We simply trust Him. And then do whatever He leads us to do. Our flesh may have a hissy-fit. But we let the Holy Spirit through our own spirit have priority and lead us. *** We have faith, hope, and love because of Jesus. And faith in Jesus can only happen because of the Father, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44. It is God the Father Who brings us to Himself. He brings all those who are His, His seed , to Himself. This entire world we live in is about the seed war - seed of the serpent; seed of the woman - Genesis 3:15. God the Father will draw all who are His to Himself. He will not loose one . No way. His will is for all flesh to be saved . 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wanting any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” And God is not a man that He should lie; all of His promises He has made to Himself…yes, they are ours as well…but He made them to Himself - Numbers 23:19 and Hebrews 6:13-20. His Word comes from within Him. It is “Who” He is, His promises are first to Himself and He will bring them to pass. * A sister in Christ told me something the Lord said to her in prayer. She had asked Him: “What is Your truth? I want to know Your truth?” God told her: “I love you and I want to be with you.” This is the Father’s heart toward us! If you’ve been sensing out of sorts, not close to God although He is in you and will never leave you or forsake you, we can approach His throne in prayer because of Jesus’ Blood of which we always have, and ask the Lord to forgive us. To help us keep on His track and reconcile us back to Him - Hebrews 4:16 & 2 Corinthians 5:18. This is the Love of God in action. This is God’s love toward us. He wants to be with us. He wants to be included in all we do. We are already reconciled to Him. We don’t ever loose that. He has reconciled us to Him through His Son Jesus. As 2 Corinthians 5:19 says God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ… He has already done this to all! All we have to do is receive His great gift. We love Him enough to come to Him and ask Him for help. But maybe we haven’t been sensing Him; or haven’t been in the Word and prayer like we usually are, these things affect our hearing from Him. Doesn’t mean He’s not there. Our spiritual ears weren’t hearing. God is always talking to us, always leading us. When there are times it may “feel” as if God is distant, there are one of three reasons why: 1.) it is during the time of a test/trial; 2.) or there is disobedience (sin) - can be a simple as not doing what He told you to do, or spending the time in His Word; 3) or getting to busy with life and not spending time with the Lord in the His Word and in prayer. If it’s a test/trial - 1.) it is like being in school and being given a test. The teacher sits at their desk quietly until the test is over. Although they are quiet the entire time, they never left. Same with God. He never leaves us! But He is quiet during times of testing. These are times of learning for us. Standing in faith because we know His promises, and all of His promises are “yes” and “amen.” If there’s disobedience - 2.) all we have to do is ask for forgiveness and receive it - 1 John 1:9. Depending on the situation, we can also ask for the Lord to guide us in how to handle it and if there is anything to do about it, then do it. 1 Timothy 2:4 TPT - “He longs for everyone to embrace His life and return to the full knowledge of the truth.” God longs, yearns for us to embrace Him. His life. His love. His truth. And return to the knowledge of the Truth when we mess up. And include Him in all we do. *** This is who you are! His love, faith, hope and His power work in unison at all times. You can’t have one without the other. His love, His power, His life. When something dies, the essence of it comes back to Him because its essence is love. When He exhibits His love He exhibits His power. You don’t have one without the other. All of His creation is the essence of His love. His power. His life. He used His love through Jesus (the Word) and the Holy Spirit to ignite all of creation. We are made in the image of God. “As He is, so are we in this world.” - 1 John 4:17 Receive this in all it’s vastness. Once you can receive it you can reflect it to others. GOD IS LOVE & SO ARE YOU

What is communion, What does communion mean, why is communion important, Holy Communion Article below. Or downloadable PDF link. PDF The Depth of Holy Communion Before you partake in Holy Communion, think on these things. When satan attacks and tries to destroy you, Remember!! TAKE THIS PERSONALLY AS IF JESUS DID THIS ONLY FOR YOU - BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE!!! 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 (TPT) “I have handed down to you what came to me by direct revelation from the Lord Himself. The same night which He was handed over, He took the bread and gave thanks. Then He distributed it to the disciples, and said, “Take it and eat your fill. It is My Body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me.” He did the same with the cup of wine after supper and said, “This cup seals the New Covenant with My Blood. Drink it - and whenever you drink this, do it to remember Me.” “For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are retelling the story, proclaiming the Lord’s death until He comes. For this reason, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in the wrong spirit will be guilty of dishonoring the Body and Blood of the Lord. So let each individual first evaluate his own attitude and only then eat the bread and drink the cup. For continually eating and drinking with a wrong spirit will bring judgement upon yourself by not recognizing the Body. This insensitivity is why many of you are weak, chronically ill and some even dying. It you do not sit in judgement of others, you will avoid judgement yourself. But when we are judged, it is the Lord’s training so that we will not be condemned along with the world.” So, What are we remembering? Jesus crucified, Jesus’ death, Jesus buried? On the third day He rose from the dead? Yes, but there’s so much more. Genesis 4:10 “The LORD said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s innocent blood is crying out to Me from the ground for justice.” This is where Cain slew Abel and shows us that the voices of the blood speak! Hebrews 9:22 “In fact under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither forgiveness nor release from sin and its guilt; nor the cancellation of the merited punishment.” Hebrews 12:24 “and to Jesus, the Mediator of a New Covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel,” Abel’s blood cried out for vengeance. The blood of Abel spoke revenge but the Blood of Jesus speaks Redemption. John 12:27 (TPT) “Even though I am torn within, and My soul in turmoil, I will not ask the Father to rescue Me from this hour of trial.” Jesus spoke this prior to His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was dealing with His mind, will and emotions regarding His upcoming trial, torture and death. You know the Father showed Him what He was going to go through. He knew what He would face in the torture and in the separation from the Father and in hell. It had to be on His mind continually. Matthew 26:37-44 (TPT) “He took Peter, Jacob and John, However an intense feeling of great sorrow plunged His Soul into deep sorrow and agony and He said to them, ‘My heart is overwhelmed and crushed with grief. It feels as though I’m dying. Stay here and keep watch with Me.’ Then He walked a short distance away, and overcome with grief, He threw Himself face down on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if there is any way You can deliver Me from this suffering, please take it from Me. Yet what I want is not important for I only desire to fulfill Your plan for Me.’ Then an angel from heaven appeared to strengthen Him.” Luke 22:39-44 “And He came out and went, as was His habit, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him. When He arrived at the place Gethsemane, He said to them, “Pray continually that you may not fall into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup (of divine wrath) from Me; yet not My will, but (always) Yours be done.” Now an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony (deeply distressed and anguished; almost to the point of death), He prayed more intently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down on the ground.” Jesus was in torment. He was fighting to get His will in alignment with the Father’s will. He knew what the Father was asking of Him. He knew the pain, torture and torment that lay before Him; so much so He sweated blood wrestling with His will. He did this for us so we don’t have to struggle so greatly to align ourselves with the Father’s will for us. Jesus paid the price for our willfulness with own His Blood. Psalms 22:1-18 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? O My God, I call out by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet. But You are holy, O’ You Who are enthroned in the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You rescued them. They cried out to You and were delivered; they trusted in You and were not disappointed or ashamed. But I am (treated as) a worm (insignificant and powerless) and not a man; I am the scorn of men and despised by the people. All who see Me laugh at Me and mock Me; they (insultingly) open their lips, they shake their head, saying, ‘He trusted and committed Himself to the LORD, let Him save Him. Let Him rescue Him, because He delights in Him.’ Yet You are He who pulled Me out of the womb; You made Me trust when on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth; from My mother’s womb You have been My God. Do not be far from Me, for trouble is near; And there is no one to help. Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They open wide their mouths against Me, Like a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; It is melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; And My tongue clings to My jaws; And You have laid Me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; A gang of evildoers has encircled Me, They pierced My hands and My feet. I can count all My bones; They look, they stare at Me. They divide My clothing among them and cast lots for My garment.” The chastisement of our peace was upon Him as He hung on the cross. This means the torturing of our minds, our souls. His soul being ravaged by satan and his demons. Jesus paid the price for all of our torment and anguish as He hung on that cross so we wouldn’t have to endure it. Isaiah 53:1-12 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm and infinite power of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majestic splendor That we would look at Him, Nor appearance that we would be attracted to Him. He was despised and rejected by men, A man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him. But (in fact) He has borne our griefs, And He has carried our sorrows and pains; Yet we assumed that He was stricken, struck down by God and degraded and humiliated (by Him). But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness.The punishment (required) for our well-being fell on Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, We have turned, each one, to his own way; But the LORD has caused the wickedness of us all (our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing) to fall on Him (instead of us). He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth (to complain or defend Himself); Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before her shearers, So He did not open His mouth. After oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who (among them) concerned himself with the fact that He was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgression of My people, to whom the stroke (of death) was due? His grave was assigned with the wicked, But He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. Yet the LORD was willing to crush Him, causing Him to suffer; If He would give Himself as a guilt offering (an atonement for sin), He shall see His (spiritual) offspring, He shall prolong His days, And the Will (good pleasure) of the LORD shall succeed and prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He shall see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge (of what He has accomplished) the Righteous One, My Servant, shall justify the many (making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him), For He shall bear (the responsibility for) their sins. Therefore, I will divide and give Him a portion with the great (kings and rulers), And He shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because He (willingly) poured out His life to death, And was counted among the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many, And interceded (with the Father) for the transgressors.” Jesus took our punishment in His soul; (His Mind, His Will and His Emotions.) He took our punishment in His Body. They held handfuls of His beard, and hair and pulled it out by the roots. They kicked, punched, and spit on Him for hours. Until there wasn't a single spot on His body not covered in blood. They shoved a crown of thorns down on His head. They beat Him with reeds so the thorns were imbedded right through His skull. After hours of being beaten, mocked, whipped, flogged, and tortured they made Him walk with a cross. They made Him carry it. A heavy, rough piece of wood with splinters digging into His fresh wounds. They wanted Him to feel every bit of pain they could bring. He had to endure the pain so He can heal us. He took our spiritual death, separation from the Father upon Himself so we could be reconciled to the Father. He cried out on the cross, “Father, Father, why have You forsaken Me.” In this moment He became sin itself and the Father had to turn His Back on Him. It was the first time Jesus was without the Father’s presence. Jesus experienced death in His Spirit, a total separation from His Father. His legs did not have to be broken to insure His death. I believe He died of a broken heart. 1 Corinthians 11:26-32 “So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy (of Him) will be guilty of (profaning and sinning against) the Body and Blood of the Lord. But a person must examine himself (and his relationship to Christ), and only when he has done so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks (without solemn reverence and heartfelt gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ), eats and drinks a judgment on himself if he does not recognize the Body (of Christ). That (careless and unworthy participation) is the reason why many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep (in death). But if we evaluated and judged ourselves honestly (recognizing our shortcomings and correcting our behavior), we would not be judged. But when we (fall short and) are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined (by undergoing His correction) so that we will not be condemned along with the world.” Jesus, hanging on that cross in cruel torture, pain and torment said; “ Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.“ How can we justify ourselves for not forgiving wrongs done to us. Our Lord sinless, innocent, holy and pure took upon Himself the cup of God’s wrath that rightfully belongs to us. The world, Jew and Gentile alike screamed for His crucifixion. Taking our punishment, He asked the Father to forgive us. How can we as believers do less. Luke 23:44-47 “It was now about the sixth hour (noon), and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (3:00 p.m.), because the sun was obscured; and the veil (of the Holy of Holies) of the temple was torn in two (from top to bottom). And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT!” Having said this, He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he began praising and honoring God, saying, “Certainly this Man was innocent.” Psalm 16:8 -11 TPT “Because you are close to Me and always available, My confidence will never be shaken, for I experience Your wrap-around presence every moment. My Heart and Soul explode with joy - full of glory! Even My Body will rest confident and secure. For you will not abandon Me to the realm of death, nor will You allow Your Holy One to experience corruption. For you bring Me a continual revelation of resurrection life, the path to the bliss that brings Me face-to-face with You.” Jesus used His Faith to conquer hell and the grave. He trusted The Father to raise Him up in glory! The devil created death when he caused Adam and Eve to sin against Father God. Jesus caused death, the devil’s creation, to be destroyed right there in hell; satan’s own territory. Colossians 2:15 (TPT) “Then Jesus Made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was Not their prisoner; they were His!!!” Now as we eat the bread that symbolizes The Body of Jesus, we reflect on the great price Jesus paid for our health, peace of mind, and well being. As we drink the wine, we remember the tremendous price that Jesus paid for our new covenant with the Father. When we received Jesus into our hearts, He recreated us brand new. Our sinful old man died with Jesus on that cross and we became new and once again united to the Father. He put His law (Word) into our hearts and minds. Matthew 26:26-28 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” (NOTE: Only OT priests were allowed to eat of the sacrifice, showing us we are a kingdom of priests as we partake in Holy Communion. OT priests were the only ones allowed to carry and teach the Law of God. We as a kingdom of priests have God’s Law put into our minds and hearts.) “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My Blood of The (new and better) Covenant, which (ratifies the agreement and) is being poured out for many (as a substitutionary atonement) for the forgiveness of sins. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Isaiah 52:14 TPT “Just as many were appalled at Him, for so marred was His appearance, like an object of horror; He no longer looked like a man.” We are use to seeing images of the crucification that do not reflect the truth of what Jesus went through to save us from judgement. He was so disjointed and disfigured, He didn’t look like a man. When we receive the revelation of the horror Jesus went through, the very idea of letting satan steal from us the very things bought for us at such a great price is not an option. Jesus gave everything He was. Spirit, Soul, and Body. He died Spirit, Soul, and Body so we can have life eternally. Before you partake in Holy Communion, think on these things. When satan attacks and tries to destroy you, Remember!!

About Kamp Jesus: My name is Rina van de Kamp. We here at Kamp Jesus believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and He came and gave His life for you, for all that you've done wrong, so that you don't have to be pay the price. He came for all to have the knowledge of Him. But you have to ask Him into your heart. Receive Him. All you have to do is call upon the Name of the Lord and you shall be saved. Then ask Him to reveal Himself to you, to help you. He is always there for you even when you don't know it. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and with God all things are possible. He is coming back soon! Hallelujah! We at Kamp Jesus made this website for you! It is a teaching site for the things of God. Scroll though the different subjects to find what you're looking for. There are PDF's links available for you to download. And if there is subject matter that you are looking for but don't see it, send us an email and we will get it to you. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you! He loves you more than you can imagine...so let your imagination expand with our beautiful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Do I have to forgive, What if I don't forgive, Is unforgiveness a sin, Does the Bible say to forgive, God, Jesus, Are they real, Isn't the Bible just stories How to Forgive How to Forgive - ARTICLE BELOW OR PDF LINK. PDF How to Forgive... It’s a choice. It's that simple. It’s a Choice There are over 100 scriptures about “forgiveness”. We all “know” in our heart, by the Holy Spirit, that we are to forgive. But it simply seems impossible to do. So, “why” can’t we do it? You can’t reflect what you haven’t received from the Lord . This is a sobering statement, I know. But if you haven’t received God’s forgiveness for yourself, then you can’t forgive others. Spend time with the Lord. Pray the Ephesians 1:15-23 prayer over yourself and ask the Lord to show you about this, to teach you. Then listen for where He directs you to in the Word. He may start revealing things within your head, your thinking, about the situation first. Whatever and however He does it, follow Him. When He shows you, repent, deeply. And receive your forgiveness. Receive it. You do this on purpose. Not because your feelings agree, or don’t. You receive it because of God’s Word which says, He is faithful and just to forgive you - 1 John 1:9. Say out loud: “Lord, I receive Your forgiveness and thank You for it.” 2. In John 20:23-24 in a different translation - “Then He took a deep breath and breathed on them. ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’ He said. ‘If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?’” Here’s a revelation from the Lord: If you hold on to unforgiveness of someone, you then receive the person’s penalty for the sin. You are keeping the sin active and alive, and the penalty follows - the penalty is attached to it and attached to you. Whatever they do about the sin is between them and God. You take care of your part and forgive it. Take every thought captive about the situation and cast it down, out loud, “I forgave so-and-so about that sin. Go talk to Jesus about it.” And keep doing this with the vain imaginations of unforgiveness until it’s gone. It takes a few days but you have the power through Jesus. 3. The other major component to forgiveness, and this may not be easy for some people to read…is pride. You have to get honest with yourself and the Lord and see if this is the issue. Pride will typically look like something else, like “justified” for feeling this way because what was done to you was really bad, "you didn't deserve it". That may be the case. You may be justified in a worldly sense, but it’s about how “right” you are. That’s pride. 4. Unforgiveness holds you captive. Captive by the situation. Captive by the person(s). You are not free. You are in bondage. And you are choosing bondage rather than the freedom Jesus Christ purchased for you - Galatians 5:1 - “Stand fast in the liberty where Christ has made me free and I am not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” 5. There are times when the toughest part to forgiveness is forgiving yourself . This goes in the line with #1 - you can not reflect what you haven’t received from the Lord. Spend time in scriptures on His forgiveness of mankind, it’s what the Cross was all about. Soak in those scriptures until you know that you know, that you know that you are forgiven. Forgiveness is about “choice.” You have to choose to do it. It’s emotionally tough because our emotions feel justified or like we deserve to feel this way. Choose to forgive. Spend time with the Lord to see what your case involves from the numbered areas above. He will lead you. He loves you. He gave His life for you. He will lead you if you let Him. Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Bible Marriage, How do I find a husband, How do I find a wife, Do I have to be married, Is living with my boyfriend a sin, Looking for a Spouse *Article below is predominantly written by Pastor Vlad Savchuck: www.vladschool.com PDF in link below. PDF Looking for a Spouse TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Looking for a Spouse 2. Qualities To Look For 3. Stages in Marriage 4. Four Myths About Marriage 5. Reasons You Shouldn’t Cohabitate 1. Looking for a Spouse Genesis 2:18, 20-25 - “18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”20 But for Adam f no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. 1 Corinthians 7:39 “A wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” Points of Reference 1. Notice Corinthians says “whom she wishes.” Not whom the Lord said. The only requirement to find out who the “one” is, is that they must be in the Lord. 2. In Genesis 29 Jacob wakes up to find he’s married to Leah, not Rachel, the woman he thought he was marrying. This mix-up is a like many marriages for people: what you expect isn’t always what you get. You have to have real expectations from the Word of God to find out “how” a marriage works, rather than “pie in the sky” ideals that fall flat. Many go into marriage without preparation. Additionally, read 1 Corinthians 6-7 and 13; Ephesians 5; Colossians 3; 1 Peter 3:7; Proverbs 21:9; 19:14; 31:10; Mark 10:6-9; Proverbs 12:4. 2. Qualities To Look For 1. The Opposite Gender Scripture is very clear that God wants us to marry someone who is the opposite gender. As Christians it’s very clear that this is this is how God intended relationships to be from the beginning, no matter what society says. 2. Faith Has to Match Not only should they believe in God, but they should believe in Jesus. It’s not enough to just believe in God. When there are differences in “how” you believe and doctrinal differences it will make things challenging. Things like the gifts of the Holy Spirit, baptizing in the Name of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, tithing, the kind of church that you go to, speaking in tongues, deliverance, etc. can become huge obstacles when there is disagreement. Yes, you can still marry someone who is not in the same place doctrinally but it will make things tough and as a result cause friction, disagreements and arguments. It’s important to keep peace in your household. So when there are differences “be” the example, don’t argue about it. And STAY in forgiveness. 3. Your Values Should Match It’s possible to share the same faith but have different values. Handling things at work, for example, from the place of honor and faith are a value. If the person you are considering for marriage does not operate that way you will find much difficulty in the relationship. It is also how they will handle you. Whatever we see a person do to those around them is ultimately how they will treat you. These differing core values will create friction, and sooner or later you may find yourselves going in different directions. Peace is your indicator as Colossians 3:15 says. Always follow your “peace.” I like it in the Amplified translation: “Let the peace of God [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise in your mind]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always].” You need to have peace with this person. If your gut says “no,” don’t move ahead. Hold on and pay attention. Don’t rush into anything that you have no peace over, even if they are attractive and you think they’re perfect. Sometimes God withholds peace and that’s a sign that you shouldn’t be in that relationship or that you should pause or wait. Never go against your peace. Always follow the Lord with your heart, your conscious. No peace, no go! 4. You Must Be Attracted to Who They Are It’s important to have attraction. Not only physically but “who” they are - their soul - how they think, act, their interests, etc. If you don’t have this, then don’t rush into that relationship, because this is what really makes the relationship different from every other relationship. You cannot change them. Don’t even consider a marriage with someone you want to “change”. You have to have things that you genuinely like about the person, attractive qualities. Remember attraction alone will not sustain your relationship. Don’t base a marriage on this. It never works out in the long run. Without the previous numbers 2 and 3 it will never last long term. Bottom Line This is summed up in one word – compatibility. Are you compatible? Make sure that you are compatible in all the areas that matter. You may have different jobs and backgrounds, but at the core of who you both are, are they the same? Do you enjoy being around each other? These things are important. Yes, this is serious but don’t overcomplicate it. God wants you to be involved in choosing your spouse. Don’t over-spiritualize it by saying you need a “sign”. God probably won’t do that. Jesus got perturbed at people asking for signs. Especially the priests - they should have known better because they had the Word. We are kings and priests. Bottom line: follow the Word and follow your peace. You will have a “knowing” if it is right or not. AND be honest with yourself. 3. Stages in Marriage It’s important to understand that all marriages go through these stages at one point or another. I call them “seasons” in marriage. And when you first get married are when the seasons are the most extreme. Infatuation is always at the beginning. The others will have seasons of repeating: Infatuation – when everything is new and exciting. Irritation – when small things start to annoy you. Toleration – when you learn to live with those annoyances. Appreciation – when you start to value each other more. Celebration – when you’re really happy to be together. Being aware of these stages prior to marriage helps regulate your marriage expectations so nothing catches you off guard or creates unnecessary disappointment. One of the most important things in ANY STAGE is to pray for your spouse! If you’re not used to doing this sort of thing take a look at the article: Believing for Your Children. It’s the same principles. Take a scripture that will help your soon-to-be spouse and pray for them. As your relationship evolves within the marriage, so will your prayer for your spouse and how the Lord leads you to pray for them. A very important fact is to have a solid relationship with Jesus Christ first. A potential marriage partner will not take the place of Jesus. They are not supposed to, nor should they have that burden placed upon them. 4. Four Myths About Marriage 1. Marriage Fixes Everything Some people think getting married will solve all their problems. But, Scripture states in 1 Corinthians 7:28 , that marriage brings its own troubles. Marriage isn’t a cure-all for personal issues. In fact, after the Infatuation stage it will make things flare more than you could have anticipated. It is not a magic pill that causes all of your addictions, hurts, and loneliness to disappear. Only Jesus can do that. It’s vital to make sure your relationship is strong with Jesus first, before you get into a marriage. A husband or wife will not fix your problems. That is an unreasonable expectation to put upon anyone. Only Jesus can solve your problems. 2. Marriage Is For Everyone This is absolutely not true! Jesus said that marriage is not for everyone, Matthew 19:10 . In fact, Jesus was the greatest single-person alive. Paul was another example of someone that did great things for God but was single, 1 Corinthians 7:7 . Singleness is not a disorder that you need to get rid of. Actually, the word “single” means being whole and unique. Aim towards that even while married. 3. Marriage Makes You Whole Actually, marriage is more likely to show you your flaws than fix them. It’s like a mirror that shows you what you need to work on. If you allow God to deal with them, you will see changes in your character and in your marriage. Marriage only magnifies everything you have now, so allow the Lord time to work on those areas BEFORE you get married. 4. Marriage Is A Contract The Bible says in Malachi 2:14 -16 that marriage is a covenant , which is much deeper than a contract. A contract is an agreement between two people for the purpose of protecting their rights, limiting their responsibilities, and safeguarding their interests. A covenant is an unconditional surrendering and choosing to lay down one’s life and rights for the other. A contract requires a part of you; a covenant demands all of you. A contract has an expiration; a covenant is eternal . A contract is written with ink; a covenant is written with blood . The Blood of Jesus. Remember that God desires marriages to work, but they need to be based on truth, not myths. Marriage is a journey with good and bad times, but understanding and preparing for it can make all the difference. 5. Reasons You Shouldn’t Cohabitate In our culture, "friends with benefits" and cohabitation are normal things to hear, but in the scripture we see that it teaches us another way of doing life prior to marriage. In fact, that way proves to be more fulfilling, here’s why. In the 1970s, only 0.2% of couples cohabitated. Today, approximately 15% of couples ages 18 to 34 are living together. A growing acceptance of cohabitation is evident as 78% of those aged 18 through 29 consider it acceptable for unmarried couples to live together, even without plans for marriage. In fact, many cohabitating partners have no desire to marry. Forty-one percent of Christians approve of cohabitating couples who plan to get married. BUT it’s crucial to look at what the Bible says about cohabitation and why it advises waiting until marriage before living together. 1: Nakedness Reserved For Marriage Genesis 2:24-25 (on first page) states nakedness is between a husband and a wife. This biblical principle suggests that we should not expose our nakedness to anyone who is not our spouse. 2: Cohabitation Is A Sin Of Fornication The Bible defines cohabitation as a sin of fornication. 1 Corinthians 7 states clearly that our sexual expression should be limited to our spouse and not extend to a boyfriend or girlfriend. Cohabiting with someone as though they are your spouse, when they are not, is viewed as sinful. In Leviticus 18 is every kind of deviant sexual behavior is listed and stated as sin, most are some form of incest. Yes, in today’s crazy society there are cohabitating “partners” who are family. Additionally, fornication creates a curse on the people partaking of it and upon any children that are born to them. 3: Living Together Doesn’t Equal Marriage According to John 4:17-18 , living together does not constitute marriage. Jesus clarifies this point when interacting with a Samaritan woman, indicating that living together does not equate to the commitment and sanctity of marriage. 4: It Has Negative Consequences On Future Marriage The Journal of Marriage and Family found that couples who live together before marriage are 46% more likely to divorce after getting married. Other studies found that relationships tend to be unstable in cohabitation, with only a fraction surviving more than three years. There’s a higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, financial instability, and negative impacts on children. If you’re being honest with yourself there is always the “thought” that “if this gets to hard or be too much you can leave.” That is not the mindset of marriage. 5: Generational Curses When people are cohabitating, according to scripture, they have left doors open for spiritual attacks. The wages of sin is death. Death can be one of them. There are also generational (family) curses that can come upon the cohabitators and especially any children born into the situation. This can result in diseases for the cohabitating parents or children; violence; and many such things as a result of the curses. 6: Cohabitation Devalues Women Cohabitating is often more burdensome for women. Women tend to contribute more in terms of goods, work, and effort to the relationship, yet receive less satisfaction from relational commitment and security. Marriage provides a safety net in both finances and physical appearance and therefore offers more security for women and stability for men. In Conclusion It’s crucial to genuinely understand that the Bible advises against this practice. Not as means to keep you from having fun but to protect you from spiritual attacks. If you choose to continue cohabitating, bear in mind that the Scripture and statistics are not in your favor. I encourage you to find separate living spaces and refrain from having sex until marriage or you may choose to get married quickly, formalize the relationship legally, and then have a formal wedding ceremony later. And in prayer, together, repent of cohabitating and cut all cords to the sin and burn them up with the Fire of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, break all generational curses in Jesus Name and loose all demons that attached from it, and cast them off eternally; and cut all cords to the generational curses. Contact I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect. info@mysite.com 123-456-7890

Who is God, Who is Jesus, Does God love me, Can I be close with God, God, Jesus, Are they real, Isn't the Bible just stories, Intimacy with the Lord Being called a friend of God Article below. Or click link for downloadable PDF. PDF Intimacy with the Lord How to be close with your Creator Being Called a Friend of God How to Be Close with Your Creator? Abraham was the first friend of God we see in the Bible and he wasn’t the only one. Imagine being called a friend of the all-knowing, and omnipresent God. It is incomprehensible in our mental abilities. But we can with God who created the heavens and the earth! This is what He desires with us, His kids. Abraham wasn’t perfect. Neither are we. He partially lied to Pharaoh and said his wife was his sister, so he wouldn’t be killed. He also took Lot with him when he left his country - God told him to get out of his country, away from his family, to the place that God was taking him. But he took Lot, his family and all the belonged to him. Nevertheless, Abraham was God’s friend. James 2:23 Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness AND he was called God’s friend. God wasn’t looking where Abe messed up. He looked on Abraham’s heart. Abraham believed God and consequently God called him “friend.” Imagine what it would be like if fellow brethren treated each other like that rather than telling them they were going to hell. But I digress... David was similar. God so loved David because He knew David’s heart. As a young shepherd boy it was likely he spoke to the Lord, sung to Him, spoke scripture back to Him because of this one verse - it was in the showdown with Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:26 - “David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David understood the Law. He knew who he was to God. And God said David had His Own Heart. (1 Samuel 13:14.) And David, like us all, was a flawed man. BUT God knew David had His very own heart: David would believe what God said. This is a part of how intimacy with God happens. All we have to do is believe Him. Like any good parent, they always tell the truth to their children and their children trust them without a second thought. So now we established a part of what it takes to have intimacy with the Lord, what are the other aspects and how do we do it? It’s just like any relationship. The basic rules are the same. Spend time with the Lord, believe Him, do what He says to do. 1. Spend time with God - we do this in quiet time each day, in His Word and speaking with Him and most importantly, listening to Him. You are His sheep and you hear His voice John 10:3-4, 27. Ask Him how He wants you to go about your day; you may have questions about the specifics of that day - ask Him - He will lead you, even if you don’t “get” anything immediately, you will get a prompting from deep within you of what to do. Sometimes you may simply get “peace” about your day. That’s wonderful. When you get busy and distracted from time with the Lord, you will notice a difference. You’ll be short tempered, language will not be Godly, etc. If your life is such that time is limited, then play Christian music when you sleep and in your car, or play teaching sermons from pastors/teachers who you are led to. Keep the Word going into your heart. Then when you can, set aside time with the Lord. Even if it’s 30 minutes. Talk with Him. Always be sure to listen, listen in His Word - ask Him where He wants you to read that day. All of this is so important. It’s like building any relationship. You have to spend time together. The more you do it, the more you will want to do. 2. Do what He tells you - as John 2:5 says, whatever He tells you to do, do it. He may tell you by a gentle prompting (He is the ultimate gentlemen); or a knowing; or His still, small, quiet voice. However He chooses to lead you, follow His lead. If you miss it, repent immediately and ask for His direction about it. He may still want you to do it or He may direct you otherwise. 3. Take His Correction - there are times when we miss it. Allow the Lord to correct you. There are several things to be aware of in the area of correction. First, take a look at what God has said about it in scripture: Zephaniah 3:2 - “She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD, she does not draw near to her God.” In order for us to take correction from the Lord we have to trust Him . Do you trust God? Be honest with yourself. You have to come to the place where you know that God is always right. It doesn’t matter if you don’t “get” it. He will reveal it. Simply do it, no matter what. His “will” will make things very clear to you. What He says goes - He is always right. Proverbs 12:1 - “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.” Proverbs is great for correction and very clear. Proverbs 15:32 - “Those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the one who heeds correction gains understanding.” Not only is the understanding you gain deeper in the things of God but your understanding is deeper in the things of “you”. Trust “you” because of the Holy Spirit within you, and learning where you missed it and how. You will learn volumes from things like this…they are painful…but oh, so helpful. Heeding correction will draw you closer to the Lord. Disregarding it puts a barrier between you and God. The main way we receive correction is through God’s Word, 2 Timothy 3:16 - “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” We don’t know “how” to be righteous and since we are now new creatures in Christ Jesus and the righteousness of God through Jesus paying the price for our sins on the cross, we have to learn “how” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). Proverbs 3:12 - “Because the LORD disciplines those He loves, as a father the son He delights in.” The Lord loves us and that is why He corrects us. To help us. After all, that is why a parent disciplines their child. To help them. And there are 5 general things that we need to be aware of in life. These occur with each and every one of us. How to recognize them when/if they are happening: • There are 5 things that we all have to be aware of because we all have (had) them to some degree. The Lord’s correction will change you with these things. And this is where learning correction from the Lord is VITAL, to change these things in our lives. A . Generational Curses - these show up as cycles of things in a person’s life and they are a trait in the family line, like: cycles of sickness, divorce, molestation, addiction and many more. Curses can come from a few ways - a family member whom has done oaths, agreements, rituals (witchcraft), [these can be known or unknown done by the person] - these come from “sin” - disobedience to God - and has cords Proverbs 5:21-23. That’s why it is in cycles, it’s the cord. The cord allows the demons to attach to the family line. All of these ways can also be done by a witch who has cast it upon you or your family. The bottom line is Jesus Christ has given you Authority to break them. A doorway was created by someone with unrepented sin, and the sin needs to be cleaned up with repentance and the Blood of Jesus. Yes, Jesus died for all of our sins. But sometimes when there is a family curse the Lord will allow it to teach you about Spiritual Authority. Pray along these lines: 1. Stand as the intercessor for your family; 2. In Jesus Name, repent of all sins of your forefathers and foremothers and cancel all oaths, contracts, rituals and such things - known and unknown and close all doorways that had been opened; 3. Receive God’s forgiveness for you and your entire family; 4. Break all cords to the sins of your family Ecclesiastes 12:6; 5. Speak the blessings of God over your family from this point forward and plead the Blood of Jesus over your entire family and wipe it clean in Jesus Name. B. Demonic spirits - Sometimes demonic spirits get lodged in a family from a family curse. But there are others that can take up residence with you or another family member. Demonic spirits may manifest in various ways like spirit spouses - you know if this is your situation if you have sexual dreams. Some experience being raped in their dream; there can be spirits of anger - these can manifest as short outbursts for very trivial problems; spirit of control - yourself or a family member likes to be in control over every thing at all times; spirit of loneliness; spirit of rejection - very common today, shows up as a lack of self confidence. There are others. The result is negative “traits” that plague a family. You know if there is spirit if there is a behavior that you don’t like and that you can’t get away from. You can’t stop it. Demons force. They are here to steal, kill, and destroy - John 10:10. They steal your peace, steal your joy; kill your destiny, kill off your health; destroy relationships in the family, destroy success. These spirits can cause division and strife within the family and within marriages if they are not dealt with. What to do : you have to break spirit marriages in the Name of Jesus, you belong to Jesus’ - end of story. Repent of all sin that caused the doorway(s) for these spirits to enter and close it in the Name of Jesus; cut all cords to the sin; and loose the demons in Jesus Name and cast them out into outer darkness to await their judgement - Jude 6. Ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse you, your family, your home, of all residue in Jesus Name - this may mean playing Holy Spirit led music, or playing scripture in your home to spiritually clean the environment - Ephesians 5:26-27. C. Mental strongholds - mental strongholds are false beliefs. Typically they are “thoughts” we grew up with and we can’t tell they aren’t true because they have becomes a part of our personality. Like: “We’ve always been poor, that’s just how it is. We are poor.” That’s a mental stronghold. It’s a false belief or misconception that you have accepted as truth. Another like: your mother or father always told you that you were stupid. This misconception became your identity…but it is not who you are. You deal with mental strongholds by renewing your mind, as we have spoken before. Change your thoughts for God’s thoughts. He is always right. You do this by getting into scripture that says “who you are” according to God. Go to all the “in Him, in Whom, in Christ Jesus, in Christ” scriptures. This is your identity now! And every time the old stronghold shows up, cast that thought down in the Name of Jesus and replace that old thought by speaking to yourself the scripture that counteracts it. You do this until your thinking changes. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6.) D. Addictions - alcohol, drugs, pornography, even types of food can all be addictions. Can be caused by curses, but not always. Addictions are motivated by two parts, a spirit of addiction that is typically hooked up to spirit of rejection and unforgiveness. The spirit of guilt sometimes comes along for the ride. Like all the others things listed above: Repent of opening a doorway (unforgiveness is usually the doorway here) and the sin, cut all cords, loose the strongman with all spirit(s) it’s in charge of, in the Name of Jesus and cast them into outer darkness; wash yourself clean by pleading the Blood of Jesus and renewing your mind with scripture - washing of water by the Word. You are a new creature 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 8:36. You have to change your thinking. Always with addictions there is a stronghold involved. E. Issues of the flesh - our sinful nature, when not submitted to the Holy Spirit, is a free-for-all with the enemy to have his way with us. Things like pride, pushiness, selfishness, and stubbornness will cause serious problems in your life. It’s about submitting your way, for God’s way. It is a choice. You have to choose to do it. None of us are smarter than God. We don’t have it all figured out. Submit to God and He will lead you through it. As you are spending time in the Word with the Lord, listening to Him, obeying His voice, retraining your mind, getting rid of all strongholds, you are getting closer and closer to the Lord. And the more time you spend in His Word, the more you want to spend time. It’s amazing how that happens! Simply trust Him and follow Him. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will bring it to pass. He has got you! 2 Corinthians. 13:14 - “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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End times, Eschatology, Second Death, Judgment Seat, Heaven, Milleneum, Second Coming, Rapture, Lake of Fire, Lake of Fire for satan and his angles, fallen angels and nephilm The Second Death & Great White Throne Judgment Article below or click the link for downloadable PDF. PDF The Second Death & Great White Throne Judgment There's More to it than what we think. I. Introduction II. The Books versus The Lamb’s Book of Life III. The Lamb’s Book of Life Jesus Went to Hell Who gets raptured? Will there be those who are left behind of the Body of Christ? The Day of the Lord and God’s Wrath are the same “Day” What About the Mark of the Beast Where are we now? Who’s the Restrainer? IV. The Judgment During the Millennium V. Lake of Fire & Various Thoughts VI. Two Other Scriptures to Address *NOTE: Emphasis in scriptures and notes are added. * I. Introduction I bring before you, for consideration, the Second Death and the Great White Throne Judgment has more to it than what we have been taught - seen in Revelation 20 (below). This is after the millennial reign of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who is Lord and Savior eternally. Jesus Christ is King of kings, and Lord of lords. Look at the evidence in the Word, comparing scripture with scripture and see how they fit together as the Holy Spirit is in you AND leads you. He is wisdom and revelation knowledge. You can trust He will open your eyes. “Doctrinally” this goes against all we have been taught from “man’s wisdom” - but we are looking at what God has said about it. Keep your heart open to what He shows you. It’s wonderful. He is Wonderful! Revelation 20:12-15 “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 21:27 - “And nothing impure will ever enter it (heaven), nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 17:8 - “…The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. Ephesians 1:4-6 - “According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: 5 having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, where He has made us accepted in the beloved.” Revelation 3:5 - “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before My Father and His angels.” Zechariah 9:11 - “For You also by the Blood of Your Testament have sent forth Your prisoners out of the pit.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 “But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.“ Out of 2 or 3 witnesses let every word be established 2 Corinthians 13:1 * Read the entire article for the fullness to come to light. At the beginning some details may not be explained right away and some may be hard to grasp at first. As you continue on information will be in more detail. You can always go back and re-read sections. Trust God. He has got you! He will enlighten your eyes. * II. The Books versus The Lamb’s Book of Life So why are there two sets of books at the Final Judgment of Revelation 20:12-15? There must be a reason. God does not do things haphazardly. If there are two sets, they are needed. First: in the opening scripture, Revelation 20:12 “…the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works…” Keep this in mind as you look at the whole passage, recall this is after the millennium: Revelation 20:12-15 “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Both sets of books are to be opened for the Final Judgment at God’s Throne after the millennial reign: 1.) The Book of Life and 2.) many books that are opened pertaining to the lives of people who were paying the price of their just punishment in hell because of their sins. They had never received Jesus Christ as the sacrifice He paid for their sins - so they had to pay it! And yet some are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life - of which as Revelation 3:5 states, “(He-Jesus) will never blot out their names from the Book of Life.” Revelation 20 clearly states that those who were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life do not stay eternally in hell and the Lake of Fire!! THAT is good news!!!!! Yes, they were knuckle headed and deceived by the enemy to never receive Jesus while they were alive and consequently had to spend some time in hell paying for their sins…but they belong to God! He is THE FATHER and is not going to eternally loose any of His kids!! There is another scripture that goes with Revelation 20, that is: Malachi 3:16-17 - notice these are both end time scriptures: “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His Name. ‘On the day when I act,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘they will be My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.’” Let’s take a look at this one in Psalm 139:16 “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; all the days ordained for me were written in Your Book before one of them came to be.” Some think when they see these scriptures that we don’t have a choice in our destinies in this world but that’s not God. He always gives people a choice of “how” to live their lives. The Bible is filled with these examples. We live either according to His will or we live according to ours. For example: Israel with Moses in the desert rebelling against God; Sampson with Delilah; David with Bathsheba; the rich young ruler in the Gospels; and many more. Ephesians 4-5 gets into nitty gritty about this. God always gives us a choice - we can do things His way or ours. He wants you to choose Him. We don’t have to, neither do we have to follow His leadings for the things in our lives. It is up to us what we will choose. All of Deuteronomy 30 talks about this - we will only go to verses 14-20 says: “But the Word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; for I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it. But if your heart turn away, so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them: I declare to you this day that you will certainly perish, and that you shall not prolong your days upon the land, you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live; that you may love the Lord your God and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him: for He is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” We can see from all of the passages noted above, taken all together, that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world - Revelation 17:8 , Ephesians 1:4-6 ; our names are never blotted out - Revelation 3:5; all of our days are written before they ever came to be - Psalm 139:16; God keeps books written of us and our conversations about God for those who fear and honor Him - Malachi 3:16-17 and He keeps us from the destruction to come; and God still gives us a choice of how to live on this earth - Deuteronomy 30. We don’t have to abide by what He has written about us in His book(s), but it is in our best interest to follow His leading. And there are rewards in heaven for doing so (See article on Crowns); if we don’t we will not receive rewards. If we do we will live a long robust life because we follow Him and choose Him in this world. To love Him. To obey Him. But some will not. And they will have a tough life and wind up in hell until the Second Death and Great White Throne Judgment. For those who receive Jesus before they die the books that list the sins are wiped away and are not remembered as Psalm 103:12 says. Jesus was the sacrifice for our punishment of all sin, past - present - future - there are many, many scriptures that say this, but we will only go to three: 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Hebrews 10:10-13 NLV “Our sins are washed way and we are made clean because Christ gave His own body as a gift to God. His did this once for all time. All Jewish religious leaders stand every day killing animals and giving gifts on the altar. They give the same gifts over and over again. These gifts cannot take away sins. But Christ gave Himself once for sins and that is good forever. After that He sat down at the right side of God.” 1 Peter 1:23 “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God.” Our records of sin in heaven are expunged by the Blood of Jesus, wiped away, blotted out; and there is no memory of them. As the Lord has said in Psalm 103:12 that He has “removed all our sin from us as far as the east is from the west.” Hebrews 8:12 “For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” And Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He Who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Bear in mind, we need to repent! Because sin has consequences if we don’t. Cause and effect. Once true repentance is made, not just saying “sorry” but changing the way we think about the situation and asking for forgiveness, then the sins are washed away. This means the books for the born-again believers are records of good things like God’s purpose for our lives and things of which we are rewarded at the “Bema Seat,” the Greek word used in the New Testament for “judgement.” The Greeks used it when speaking of the athletic games where the contestants would compete for the prize of a crown, under careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure rules of the contest were obeyed. They win a prize for following the rules and winning the race. This is what Paul is referring to when he speaks of this Judgment Seat in the Epistles: 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.” 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 ESV “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” Salvation is a gift and there are rewards given for walking out this life in faith being moved by the Spirit of God, thus bearing fruit. These are things we get crowns for. We see this reward all through this Epistles. Check out, 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 (remember the “bad” has already been forgiven and wiped away. This scripture in 2 Corinthians is alluding to the Second Death. God is multidimensional and so is His Word. He often talks of several things in different timelines within the same scripture), Romans 14:10, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 - “So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” Romans 14:10 - “…For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 - “24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” * III. The Lamb’s Book of Life 1.) God will never blot out their names. This is important - get ready for this, because this is major revelation from the Holy Spirit: everything in the Bible is truly stated and yet, some things stated are not God’s Truth. For example, when the disciples wanted to call down fire from God to take out the Samaritans who wouldn’t receive Jesus, Jesus rebuked them - Luke 9:53-55 . It was truly stated what James and John said but it wasn’t God’s Truth. This happens throughout the Bible. Such passages like this are about names being blotted out are written by Moses and David. These statements were requests from them to God. It doesn’t say God did it. It’s truly stated but it is not God’s truth. (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:29; Psalm 109:13 .) It contradicts what Revelation 3:5 says that God will not blot out the names. Whenever we get scripture that appear to contradict other scripture, we need to ask the Lord to show us because there is something we are misunderstanding. He will always show you. One place where the Word does discuss God, not man asking, but God blotting out names is of the “wicked” in Psalm 9:5 . (See Ex. 23:1; 7; Genesis 13:13; 18:23; 38:7 .) The wicked are not of God’s seed (Genesis 3:15 ), His children. In Hebrew the word for “wicked” is: “rasha”. It means: “criminal, evil, evil man/men, guilty offender, ungodly, wicked, wicked man/men, wicked one, wicked ones.” Bear in mind that angels are often called “men” predominantly in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament in Hebrews where we can entertain angles in the likeness of men. If you study out who the wicked are in scripture they are satan and his fallen angels, and their offspring or “seed” (Genesis 3:15 - seed of the serpent) of wicked people. These are who God has blotted out of His book. But what is “this” book? Is this the same book as the Book of Life? No. It is of people that are written to live on earth at a point in time, “under heaven” as in Deuteronomy 29:20 states - “The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book (of the Law - Deuteronomy 28 ) will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.” And a similar scripture in Deuteronomy 9:14 - “Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.” It’s not directly stated but by the use of grammar and phrasing it is apparent that there is a book of who is alive on earth at points of time. It is the book of who is alive from under heaven. There are so many books written in heaven - this is yet another one. We can also tell there are more than one book because scriptures referring to the Law that God gave Moses. Both of these books are something completely different than the Lamb’s Book of Life. It does not state “the Lamb’s Book of Life”. God is specific. If He meant “the Lamb’s Book of Life” He would have stated it. There is a revelation here too…you may have to read this a couple of times…if the name of the book is “The Book of Life” how could you put names in it that God would blot out. It’s a Book of Life. Not death. Not destruction. It would no longer be a Book of Life because eternal death would have been done to those whose names were blotted out. It’s a contradiction. God doesn’t do contradictions. God’s plan is perfect for saving all of mankind - 2 Peter 3:9 - “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God doesn’t want any of His children to perish! And as is God’s personality He repeats this statement again - 1 Timothy 2:4, 6 - “Who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 6. Who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” Scripture doesn’t say when the “proper time” is but I suspect it’s at the Great White Throne Judgment. This is when we will find friends and loved ones of whom we have prayed for, sometimes for years, that the Lord will pull them out of hell because they paid their own price for sin - and they didn’t have to but they never received Jesus’ sacrifice for them. They could have received Jesus’ sacrifice but didn’t and had to pay the price of sin: death. “The wages of sin is death” - Romans 6:23. God is NOT going to let the devil steal His kids! God is getting the rest of His kids back! 2.) Mankind’s entire existence on earth has been about a “seed war” as L.A. Marzulli calls it - Genesis 3:15. Seed of the serpent versus Seed of the Woman (God’s Seed). Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil - 1 John 3:8 . When we look at scripture of how God works we can “see” more of the “big picture” of what God had planned before the foundation of the world. Because of what the devil did by stealing mankind with Adam and Eve, God’s perfect plan was on “hold” in order for God to get back His “man” and all that had been stolen from Him in creation. He is taking it back! Matthew 27:51-53 NIV “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many many people.” I’ve never seen a sermon preached on this. I wish someone would. There’s some real nuggets of revelation here. The devil already lost and he never knew it until it was too late for him. As 1 Corinthians 2:8 says “Which none of the princes of this world knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” We don’t know how many were raised from the dead and we don’t know if this was all of God’s seed (not the serpents) at that time who had been raised, globally. I happen to believe it was a global event for those of God’s seed because Jesus preached in hell according to Peter. But we won’t know until we get to heaven. However, it is in God’s personality to get His kids out of danger once they received Jesus when they were in the pit. It’s not like God to make them stay there. God put the devil and his bunch on notice. They lost. Jesus took the keys to death and hell - Revelation 1:18 . It’s Jesus who rules that kingdom. Not the devil or his minions. Jesus is King of kings. Lord of lords. This is massive what happened. I purpose the Second Death and the Great White Throne Judgment is also massive, something we have never “seen” before in Sunday church service. But it is time for things to be unveiled. “…(God does) superabundantly beyond all we could ask or think…” Ephesians 3:20 . This was an epic battle of good and evil, and God won!! Jesus came to destroy all that the devil had done, all that he had stolen from God. God’s man, all of God’s creation from animals, to the planets, to universes. Jesus got it all back!! All!!! We know this…but do we really understand what that means. To us it seems like an “eternity” for which all of this has transpired. Recall a thousand years is as a day with the Lord. It’s only been, approximately, a few days to a couple weeks with God, depending on your view on the age of the earth and the culmination of “time” is at the Second Death and Great White Throne Judgement after the millennium. The new heaven and new earth has no darkness, no night. No “time.” It’s eternity. That’s when all that is God’s is fully returned to Him and all of satan, the beast, false prophet, and critically thinking here, “their seed” because their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire - Revelation 20:15. Eternally. And God won’t ever let this kind of treason, anarchy, happen again - Ephesians 1:21 - “(Jesus being raised from the dead) Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:” What Jesus Christ did on the Cross is eternal and supersedes anything created before or afterward. God will never have to put up with another revolt again! 1 Corinthians 15:22 - “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” * Jesus Went to Hell There used to be a “doctrine” that Jesus never went to hell. But that is contrary to scripture. Restating the scripture in 1 Peter 3:18-22 - “18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive, He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 Who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to Him.” Colossians 2:13-15 "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Take a look at this scripture in the Passion Translation, “Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the Cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner, they were His!” There are scholars notes in the Passion Translation on Colossians 2:15 that says “the Aramaic text has a phrase that is not found in the Greek manuscripts. The Aramaic can be translated “‘having put off His body, He stripped principalities and powers and shamed them openly.’ This implies that between the day of crucifixion and the day of resurrection while in the spirit-realm, Jesus destroyed death, the powers of darkness, and every work of the enemy through the Blood of His Cross. All the enemy’s weapons have been stripped away from him and now the church has authority in Christ to enforce this triumph upon the dethroned rulers of this world.” Ephesians 4:9-10 - “(Now this, “He ascended” —what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)” Ezekiel 31:14 - “…For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.” And Ephesians 4:8 - “Wherefore He said, ‘ When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.’” And check this again with Matthew 27:50-53 - “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His Spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” This was after Jesus had preached to them in hell as 1 Peter 3 says. Ecclesiastes 1:9 - “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” This will be done again…after the millennium: Second Death and Great White Throne Judgment when God pulls out His own from the pit. * I want to add one more: 1 Corinthians 15 . Verse 14 through 26 “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20. But Christ has indeed been raised form the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21. For since death came through one man, the resurrection of the dead comes through one Man. 22. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23. But each in turn: Christ, the first-fruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. 24. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He (Jesus) has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25. For He (Jesus) must reign until He (Jesus) has put all His (God and Jesus’) enemies under His (Jesus’) feet. 26.The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” DEATH WILL BE DESTROYED AT THE SECOND DEATH when He puts death and hell into the Lake of Fire. (Re-read Revelation 20:11-15. On first page or your own Bible.) We see the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is about resurrection from the dead. Going on to a subsequent verse 1 Corinthians 15:57 - says: “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Including those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life but did not receive Him while on earth. He will snatch out of eternal hell in the Lake of Fire. They are a part of “all” that Jesus Christ has rescued in His death and resurrection and who are raised from the dead - 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 “22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him.” Those who are God’s seed, who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world. * Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God was without sin, 2 Corinthians 5:21 , that is why the devil couldn’t hold Him in hell. It was illegal. And by Jesus’ death He nailed all accusations against us from the “accuser” (Revelation 12:10 ) on His Cross! And He did this for ALL men. He took our sin for us - Glory to God! So that He would have all men, God’s seed, to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth that He has freed us all! (1 Timothy 2:4 ). As 1 Corinthians 2:6-8 says, “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect (mature): yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world, that are coming to nothing: No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” The devil, rulers, principalities, powers, none of them had the legal right hold Jesus, the Son of the Living God, in hell! And by Jesus being our sacrifice He paid the price for us! That’s shoutin’ ground right there!!! Devil couldn’t hold Jesus in hell and the devil can’t hold God’s seed either! Jesus has paid the price! Zechariah 9:11 - “For You also by the Blood of Your Testament have sent forth Your prisoners out of the pit.” 1 Peter 3:18 - “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God” This IS BIG! How does all this occur? Logistically? Mankind when he is disobedient is giving heed to seducing voices, to the god of this world - 2 Corinthians 4:4 - “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God.” Every voice we hear and every thought we think is not from God. And those seducing voices blind the eyes and can cause people to go to hell if they refuse God and remain blinded and refuse Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as Lord. But if they are God’s seed and written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, then they are God’s seed…God’s kids…and He ain’t going to loose any of them to the devil. Not going to happen. No parent would allow their child to be stolen and God certainly won’t. The Lord will get them back! Nowhere in scripture does it say that only when a person is alive on earth can they receive Jesus as their Lord and Revelation 20 is clear about that. Can you imagine those who are God’s coming face to face with Him without the devil blinding their eyes!! What a glorious Day that will be! * Who gets raptured? Will there be those who are left behind of the Body of Christ? The word “rapture” comes from the latin translation of the Bible called the Vulgate - the latin word is “rapturo”. The Greek word in the New Testament is is “Harpazo” - #726, to seize, catch up, snatch away (as from danger), obtain by robbery, to seize by force, snatch up, suddenly and decisively - like someone seizing a bounty (spoil, a prize), to take by an open display of force (i.e. not covertly or secretly). (See 2 Corinthians 12:2,4; Revelation 12:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Acts 8:39; and put with the typology Elijah 2 Kings 2 and Enoch before the flood Genesis 5:18-24, Hebrews 11:5, Jude 1:14 .) It is typically translated in English: “catching away”. All will see the rapture happen! Matthew 24:30 and Revelation 1:7: “And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” “Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see Him— even those who pierced Him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for Him. Yes! Amen!” There was a witness when Elijah was taken and we can only guess there was at least one witness when Enoch was taken because this incident is mentioned in scripture. God is consistent. What He has done before, He will do again and His is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Ecclesiastes 1:9 & Hebrews 13:8 .) * 1 Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever.” Being born again we have incorruptible seed in us: God and His word. And we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Ephesians 1:13 and 2 Corinthians 1:22 . The definition of “seal” means: to make secure, guarantee, assurance. it is like in the Old Testament when a king would seal a document with his signet ring. The document was sealed by the king and it could never be revoked. You being a born again child of God, God has set His signet, His royal seal upon you and it can never be revoked! We are sealed with His Holy Spirit of promise! A father protects His children. And God’s children are His forever because His seed is incorruptible. He will not leave any behind. Symbology of the Holy Spirit is oil: Luke 4:18 , Isaiah 10:27 . We see this all throughout the Old Testament but I will only use one: 1 Samuel 16:13 (1-13 ) “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him (David) in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David…” Oil = The Holy Spirit. Keep this in mind. Let’s go to THE scripture that has the most of the Body of Christ thinking there will be left behind brothers and sisters: the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25:7 . Five virgins are without oil. They do not have the Holy Spirit, so they are not actually saved. They are not sealed. As John 3:5 states: “Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.’” Being born-again you have the Holy Spirit. There is no other way to be born-again. So your “lamp” has oil. The Holy Spirit comes into your spirit and recreates your spirit. You cannot be born again without Him. The 5 who did not have oil play the game of being Christian - they may talk a good talk - but never gave their heart to the Lord for whatever reason. Some because of lack of proper teaching and consequently it breeds ignorance. Some because they thought they wouldn't be able to control their lives. Some out of fear. Let’s take a look at another scripture that confirms this: Isaiah 4:1 - “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.” These do not eat the Bread of Life - feeding on the Word, nor do they wear the Robe of Righteousness - this is what true believers in Jesus have, and yet they want to be called by His Name, Christian. There are many people like this sitting in church with “head knowledge” who haven’t truly given their hearts to Jesus. Including pastors. It’s always a matter of the heart with the Lord. He wants your heart, for you to want Him. Those 5 virgins who did not have oil were “Christians” by mental assent only. They are called by the Name but “feed on their own bread” and “wear their own cloak.” They have no “oil.” They do not have the Holy Spirit, they have not been re-created, they are not in union with Jesus, they do not have God’s incorruptible seed within them. They are not born again. John 3:5-8 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.” Titus 3:5-6 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” Now let’s take a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The One Who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” God is the One Who keeps us. It is not by our actions. We don’t have the ability. LET ME BE VERY CLEAR: This doesn’t mean you can just live a sinful life - sin has an effect, always. Unrepentant sin will show its outcome in believers lives. Many believers have illness and death in their lives because of unrepentant sin. Some go by way of the grave at an earlier time than God had planned because of unrepented sin. Disregarding the Lord and His Word, and living any way you want will get you in trouble. We are supposed to live right. We are to try to keep it out of our lives as much as possible, the Lord will lead you. Trust Him. But it is God that has saved us. Gave us a new heart. He has adopted us, He is not going to allow anyone to take away His children for eternity. As He said in John 10:28 that no one can take us out of His hand. Once you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you are in His hand. It is not in God’s character to abort His own kids. He would never do that. And He is keeping us blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. No flesh is justified in His sight Romans 3:19-23 . It is not us. We cannot do it, we are in a sin-fallen body with a soul (mind) that needs to be renewed. It’s impossible. Thats why our “works” are as dirty rags - Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9 . We trust Him for our salvation, not our “doing”; and we trust Him to keep us for our escape in the rapture. He has made us brand new and reconciled us to Himself permanently because of what Jesus did - 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away (the old sin fallen nature of our spirit); behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” Here’s one more scripture about God preserving us - which states it is all of us - and taking us all for the rapture, (there are more) Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ.” God is going to Rapture all! Not part. Notice it doesn’t specify a group of people. (Neither do the other rapture type scriptures.) It’s words like “all” and “you”. And He will bring out the good work in you. Simply trust Him to move through you and in you. Rest in Him. Rely on Him. * The Day of the Lord and God’s Wrath are the same “Day” I mention this here because The Day of the Lord and God’s Wrath are the same “Day” as the Rapture. Let’s take a look: Isaiah 2:(6-12 ) but we will look at verses 10-11 and put it with Revelation 6:15-17 & Isaiah 13:9,13 : Isaiah 2:10-11 “Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty! 11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” Revelation 6:15-17 “15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of His wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” Isaiah 13:9,13 “9See, the day of the Lord is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—to make the land desolate”…”13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of His burning anger.” I’m not going to go into comparing all of the scriptures but I will list them at the end of this part for you, should you want to see it for yourself. As you can see in the above comparison they are the same “Day”- The Day of the Lord & The Day of God’s/Lord’s Wrath”. It is the same throughout the other scriptures as well. KEY POINT: The Rapture which is spoken of in the New Testament as Jesus coming as a “thief in the night” is the same as The Day of the Lord, The Day of Wrath. Something to bear in mind scripture was not originally written with chapter and verse, so let’s look at 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 in context with chapter 4:13-18 because they go together; and Matthew 24:42-44 which is coming from verses 20-31 the main rapture passage besides 1 Thessalonians 4. It’s about context. In these passages we see the coming of the Lord (Rapture) Who comes as a thief in the night, and when the Lord comes it is also the Day of the Lord, and the Day of Wrath. Look at how it is described in these passages. Oh, and one more that goes with these: Zephaniah 1 - the entire chapter is about the Day of Wrath and in verses 14-16 “14The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out. 15That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities, and against the high towers.” As 1 Thessalonians 4 says Jesus comes with a trumpet!! And here in Zephaniah there is also “alarm” because what is the rapture for those who are alive and remain is the same day of destruction for those who are not believers. SCRIPTURES : Isaiah 2; Isaiah 13 and 24:19-23 and 26:16-21; Ezekiel 13:5 ; 30:2-19; Joel 1:15 , 2:1 ,11 ,30-32; 3:14 ; Amos 5:18 -20 ; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1; Zechariah 14:1 ; Malachi 4:1,5 and several times in the New Testament like Acts 2:20 ; 1 Corinthians 1:7-9 and 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14 ; Philippians 1:6, 9-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2 ; James 5:1-7 with Revelation 6:12-17; 2 Peter 3:10 . It is also alluded to in other passages like: Revelation 16:14 . Others refer to divine judgments that will take place toward the end of the age which The New Testament commonly calls it a “Day of Wrath,” a “Day of Visitation,” and the “Great Day of God Almighty” and “the Day of Christ” and refers to future fulfillment when God’s wrath is poured out on the unbelieving: Isaiah 22; Jeremiah 30:1-17; Joel 1-2; Amos 5; Ezekiel 38–39 (38:18-20 goes with Matthew 24:29-30; Luke 21:24-37; Revelation 6:12-17; Isaiah 24:19-20); Zechariah 14. The Scriptures indicate that “the day of the Lord” will come quickly, like a thief in the night, which Jesus said His return is like a thief in the night: Zephaniah 1:14-15; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Matthew 24:43. * God will have all men to be saved as 2 Timothy 2:4 says and God is the One who keeps all believers blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, because faithful is He Who calls us Who also will do it, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 . And there are more passages like this: Philippians 1:6 that we can “be confident that He which began a good work in us”, meaning recreated our spirit when we got born-again, “He will perform it (or continue it) until the day of Jesus Christ.” This is when the Day of the Lord/Rapture/Day of Wrath occur and we get our new bodies as 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 says! He will perform it until it is fulfilled and we have our new bodies. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 - “15For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 - “50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” Let’s look at more passages: 1 Corinthians 1:5-9 "5 For in Him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end , so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Colossians 1:21-22 "21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation— “ 1 Thessalonians 3:13 “May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.” Not in any scripture, anywhere, does God say only a portion of those saved will be raptured. It is part of God’s mercy upon all “who are alive and remain”. If God were only to rapture, or let’s say it this way, gives us an escape from what’s coming, it certainly is not in God’s character to only rescue a part of the Body of Christ. Consider what He did with Israel in Egypt. There were millions of them and He saved them all. He will rescue ALL that are alive and remain, as 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 says. God is the One Who keeps us and perfects us until the rapture. All of us. And there are more than two or three scriptures that state this. You can take that to the proverbial bank! * What About the Mark of the Beast Revelation 14:9-10 “A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.” Revelation 13:8 “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (antichrist), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear.” Another translation states it this way: “and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” Here is another translation: “Everyone on earth will worship the wild beast - those whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain.” That’s another verse to make you shout and praise God! Looking at these two verses together - Revelation 14:9-10 and 13:8 - we see All who take the mark are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!! And our names are written in it before the foundation of the world! And God doesn’t blot any names out of the Book of Life. It is a Book of Life…not death. I was taught, as I know many of you were, that our names were written when we accepted Jesus. But that’s not accurate according to the scriptures we have gone over. There are 6 places where the Word states that we are written from the foundation of the world. Out of two or three witnesses let every word be established. This is a doctrine set in place by Jehovah God - God’s Truth. Revelation 17:8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go in to perdition: and they that dwell on earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” Only those who are not written in the Book of Life take the mark and worship the beast, the antichrist. Ephesians 1:4-5 “He has chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before Him in Love.” 2 Tim 1:9 “Who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” Rom. 8:29-30 “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those He predestined , He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” Romans 8:29-30 TPT “For He knew all about us before we were born and He destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of His Son. This means the Son is the oldest amongst a vast family of brothers and sisters who will become just like Him. 30 Having determined our destiny ahead of time, He called us to Himself and transferred His perfect righteousness to everyone He called. And those who possess His perfect righteousness, He co-glorifies with His Son!” We were planned and called before the foundation of the world! God predestined us to be His. He knew us before we were born and had a plan for us! (Jeremiah 1:5 .) Psalm 139:16 TPT “Your eyes saw my unformed substance ; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them .” If we were planned and predestined, we were written, and we are not here to receive the mark nor worship the beast. We are predestinated to be with our Lord! He will show us and is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us - Ephesians 3:20 . We see in part and know in part now and see through a glass darkly - 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 . We only have an inkling of what wonderful things He has in store for us! God had us in His mind and in His heart before the foundation of the world. We were “chosen” then. What a great love He has for us. Hallelujah! * Where are we now? Who’s the Restrainer? Going to restate some things in this section that have already been discussed for context. Life as it is, in the time of this writing is 2024 and I can say we are in the end times with all that we see in current events taken in line with Matthew 24 , Mark 13 , and Luke 21 , Daniel , Revelation and many others. I won’t go into much about it except two things: technology and end time scriptures being un-sealed. Technology has to be at a certain place in order for things of Revelation 13 to occur, and if we go much further in time and technological development we will surpass what scripture says. End time scripture has opened! You can tell by so much of it making sense now, when it never used to before! Daniel 12:4 “4But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” Many going here and there and knowledge increasing is this era. Knowledge has become so accessible like never before - at our finger tips. Travel is common place, to far away destinations. Like never before. And the book of Daniel and Revelation have opened up so dramatically and paralleling other Old Testament books like I have never seen in over 45 years of reading the Bible. Things like this never made sense to me before like they do now and many believers I speak with all say the same thing. There has been what I would call a “panic” with most believers at some point to make sure they do not take the mark. Of course. We know what that means, but as we have seen in the previous section that is not possible. For those who are God’s seed, either death will come first or you will avoid taking it by some means. God knows how it will work for each of us. Trust God. He’s got you. I know many think the mark is here. But when you check scripture you can see it’s not. Not yet. And yes, they are working on it. Have been for decades. The antichrist (ac) has to be on the main stage of the political scene with all nations under his control for the mark to be in place. He’s not yet. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 and Revelation 13 .) And as previously stated about the mark, none who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life take the mark. The remainder of this section is going to be hard to read for those who have held on to 2 Thessalonians 2 “Restrainer” with Daniel 9:24-27 “doctrine” that the Church is raptured before the ac comes on the scene. Let the Holy Spirit reveal it to you. Let’s take a look at what the scriptures say. Overview Originally the word “restrainer” was used in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. It’s been changed in many translations to “let.” “Restrainer” is one of those enigmatic Greek words that means simply means “something that restrains,” it is stopping something from happening for a particular reason. Uh…okay…this means we need to go into more depth in the Word to see exactly what the Lord means. As mentioned before the devil has been trying to get his antichrist (ac) in the limelight for centuries. The “Restrainer” has been holding him back because of what God has said in His Word. God has a timeline for this to occur. Why? This is my take on it, since God has already created people before the foundation of the world and written them down in His Book of Life, they must be born…or let’s say it this way: conceived in this world first. Each person is designated to be on earth in a specific time period, and no devil is going to push to make it happen outside of God’s timing. What God has said in context with His prophetic scripture is a covenant. It is an oath from God Almighty. In context with 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 the Restrainer is stopping the ac from showing up before the time that God has ordained according to His Word - and according to Daniel 9:27 it is God Himself that has made a covenant with many for the 7 year Tribulation to occur, God has it set in a specific timeline and won’t let the devil “jump the gun” or make it last longer. We have thought that Daniel 9:27 the “he” was the ac. It is not the ac. Let’s look at Daniel 9 in more detail: "2 in the first year of his reign (king Xerxes), I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the Word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: ‘Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.’ 7 'Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against You. 9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him; 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws He gave us through His servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey You.’ ‘Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to Your truth. 14 The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything He does; yet we have not obeyed Him.’ 15 'Now, Lord our God, who brought Your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for Yourself a Name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, turn away Your anger and Your wrath from Jerusalem, Your city, Your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and Your people an object of scorn to all those around us.’ 17 'Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, Lord, look with favor on Your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. We do not make requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, my God, do not delay, because Your city and your people bear Your Name.’” The Seventy “Sevens” "20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for His holy hill— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision: 24 Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.’” Notice the flow of what is spoken:iIt is about God and what He has poured out on Israel because of their sin. The “he” that occurs everywhere except the end - the last sentence - of verse 27 throughout the text is God. We will look at it again with text inflections to see better. There is also the part at Gabriel’s opening statement that lays out an outline in verse 24 - this gives an order to more details within the order that is discussed in subsequent verses. We will start at verse 15. We could go from the beginning but you get the point. Emphasis added and I will stop in places with commentary: 15 “'Now, Lord our God , Who brought Your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and Who made for Yourself a Name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 Lord , in keeping with all Your righteous acts, turn away Your anger and Your wrath from Jerusalem, Your city, Your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and Your people an object of scorn to all those around us. 17 "Now, our God , hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, Lord , Look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and Hear; open Your eyes and See the desolation of the city that bears Your Name. We do not make requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy. 19 Lord , listen! Lord , forgive! Lord , hear and act! For Your sake, my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your Name.’” The Seventy “Sevens” 20 "While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for His holy hill — 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me , “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. [Regarding what you have asked for from God.] 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision: [Verse 24 which we are about to get to is the outline of what Daniel is told and the main themes are numbered. We will get to that in the next paragraph. Verses 25-27 are further details of each numbered item and the events described within each numbered part overlap from one number to the next. #1 was the primary question Daniel raised about how long Israel would remain in captivity under Babylon. #2 is from God’s perspective of His doing away with sin and atoning for wickedness. #3 is also from God’s perspective how God will bring everlasting righteousness because man cannot do it on his own. #4 is what God will do with…get this…THE vision and prophecy that He has given to Daniel - Daniel’s visions that God gave him are ONE vision and prophecy in chapters 2, 7-12. Just like chapter 9 there is further explanation of what verse 24 lays out will happen. This is how God does things all through the Bible, especially in Revelation. Revelation is not linear in happenings. Many chapters are further explanation of other chapters. They overlap. So does Daniel’s visions - they overlap, they are further detail of what he first got in Chapter 2 and chapter 7. And technically what he got in chapter 2 came through someone else - Nebuchadnezzar. Have you ever had the Holy Spirit give you further revelation upon a word that He revealed to someone else? Sure you have. God does that. And God was letting Daniel know that He would seal what He gave Daniel until the time of the end - Daniel 12 . No one will understand it until God opens it. #5 the final part of God’s design of Anointing His Most Holy Place, the New Jerusalem, of which Daniel didn’t realize this was one of the answers he asked for, the rebuilding of Jerusalem - the final one, from God’s perspective. When we ask God questions, most commonly we don’t realize “what” we are asking. And He will answer from His perspective. This is why the Lord said in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are higher than man’s ways.] Verse 24 here’s the “overview” of what is spoken in subsequent verses that give more detail. 24 - #1 - Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, #2 to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, #3 to bring in everlasting righteousness, #4 to seal up vision and prophecy #5 and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Further Explanation of verse 24 : we see 70 sevens of years (490) was the time allotted for Israel to pay for their transgression by the rule of Babylon, of which Daniel was praying about and repenting of the nation of Israel’s sin. Putting and end to sin and atone for wickedness permanently could only be done by Jesus and the cross. His resurrection is what brought everlasting righteousness, it could come no other way - 1 Corinthians 5:21 - “you are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus.” Upon His resurrection He brought in EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS. Righteousness was not here before His resurrection. Sealing up Daniel’s vision and end time prophecy has been done from the time of Daniel through to the end times. Anointing the most holy place, the New Jerusalem, is what will happen after the millennium. There is a wide timeline of what the Lord was showing Daniel, from his time through to the next dimension on the recreated earth with the New Jerusalem - Revelation 21:1-2 . [Numbered sections in verses 25-27 go into the sections listed in verse 24 - they are further explanations of sections in verse 24, they overlap.] 25 "Know and understand this: #1 From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the Ruler, comes there will be seven ‘sevens’, and sixty-two ‘sevens’” - In this verse there is more detail of #1 that leads into #2 giving a timeline - 490 years plus 434 years until Jesus came from the time of Daniel. #2. There are 70 sevens and another 62 sevens until Jesus comes to put an end to sin and wickedness. The Temple was rebuilt during the time of Nehemiah when the Temple was first rebuilt, after the time of Babylon, under Persia when they defeated Babylon. [Babylon took over Israel in 605 BC. Which makes it 320 AD according to this verse of scripture for when Jesus was around and we know that wasn’t the case. Hear me out - in Church history the most important political ruler was Constantine. 320 AD was the year he was born. His rulership made Christianity acceptable in the world. More than that, they stoped killing and torturing Christians. Something else to figure is the Essene calendar. The way the Essenes figured the timeline was according to scripture, it is God’s calendar not the Gregorian calendar. And there is always an overlap between the two. Each era or what are called “days” - there are 7 and we are currently at the end of the 6th era or day which ends in 2025 - overlaps on the Gregorian calendar. All of them overlap on the Gregorian calendar. [https://www.fivedoves.com/letters/mar2024/luisv310-2.htm ]. So from the Prevoius era “The age of Torah” over laps into the “Age of Grace”. It only does the first portion of that “day”. About 1/3. This is the same as an over lap to what they consider the “Church Age- the Age of Grace”. So what am I saying? It is both. It is the coming of Jesus to take away the sins of the world and bring righteousness and Constantine was a political leader who made Christianity the religion of an empire. It had never happened before. All done by the hand of God.] More detail in verse 25 : #2 25 until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble . - These are overlapping the rebuilding of the Temple and Jesus onto the earth under the occupation of Rome - times of trouble with what it was to be like to the time of His death on the cross. During the time of the rebuilt Temple would be a time of trouble - it wasn’t going to be easy for Israel for well-over millennia. We know what happened, after Babylon was the Persians with king Cyrus, Greeks with Alexander the Great, and then the Romans with the various Caesars, and subsequent to that the great dispersion after the Resurrection of Jesus that lasted until 1948 - all overtook Israel. Israel certainly had times of trouble even though the Temple had been rebuilt from what Daniel had asked. Explanation of verse 26 : 26”After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.” Let’s look at this verse in Hebrew: 26 After the weeks, 60 and 2, Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself, and the city and the sanctuary shall destroy the people, of the prince (ruler) who is to come, and the end of it shall be with a flood and till the end of the war are determined desolations.” We see Messiah’s death on the cross which is not for Himself, He died for the sins of the whole world. When Rome takes over, at this time under emperor Nero, is the one who destroyed the second Temple. This is all part of #1 for Israel being under the punishment of God. Again, it’s more detail. There is also added the time of the end like Revelation 12:16 where Jerusalem is destroyed by a flood. As verse 26 says, the end comes with a flood. There are scholarly debates as to whether this is literal or figurative. I’m not going to say one way or the other. It could be both knowing how God uses language. There are often 2 meanings at the very least. Explanation of verse 27 : 27 "He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” Now here is part with the “he” or “He” to consider. Let me ask you a question: Did God speak of the antichrist at all in this chapter so far? No. So let’s take a look at it from God’s perspective since He is answering Daniel from His perspective. 27. “He - God - will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’ “- God is making a promise to those who believe in Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection, for a limited time: 7 years. And it’s a promise! A covenant! And He has made the covenant, His promise with many…not just Jews but to all who receive Him. God will not allow the devil to run rampant for longer than that. He is putting a parameter on the devil. Why is God even having to do any of this, you might ask? Because people have become so stubborn, hardhearted and deny God. All of God’s punishment no matter when He has done it - Noah’s Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, (the original) Babylon, Tyre, Ai, Nineveh, Jericho - come from lack of repentance and coming back to Him. It’s all over Genesis, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and many more. It is what the entire Bible is about - those who stay with Him and those who do not. God has to allow the punishment to try to turn people back to Him. It is what the entire book of Revelation is about. Look at Revelation 16:11 - “they cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. ” But God will only allow so much time for this because of those who believe in Him - Mark 13:20 - “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has shortened them. ” Who God has chosen are those in the Lamb’s Book of Life. God’s seed. Those who are alive and remain and are His seed, the days will be shortened because of them! In the next part of this verse “‘He ’ will put an end to sacrifice and offering - what has this whole chapter spoken about? - the sacrifice and offering of Jesus for all of mankind to put an end to sin and wickedness. This is where we get back to what “He” means, right here in this part of verse 27. Let’s look at this with 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 and Isaiah 66:9 . First Isaiah 66:9 “Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.” As you know it is God that gives children and it is God that closes the womb. He allows or does not allow on the earth. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 “1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. [This is the same as the ‘abomination of desolation’ from Daniel 9 and Luke 21. The ac will desecrate Christian churches and houses of worship. We have seen this occur recently when Jihad occurs and Christians are tortured, burned, beheaded, and their churches are set on fire or converted to mosques. I’m not saying the ac is muslim…but he very well could be. From what is written by Daniel especially in chapter 7 and 11 it could very well be. We shall see how this plays out.] This also goes with the “Restrainer” being removed…it’s half-way through the 7 years to allow the ac to have authority over the believers - Revelation 13:7 “it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:” and Revelation 12:17 which is after the “woman” or those who believe in Jesus go into hiding - verse 17 says, “And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” God has to allow the devil to do this because believers who know their place in Christ and the Authority He gave won’t put up with it, unless they have been told by God that they will be a martyr. And let’s face it, most Christians today have no idea about their Authority in Jesus Christ. Once the Lord removes His hand from the devil and allows him to run wild, many of the Christians left won’t have a Spiritual leg to stand on. 2 Thessalonians 2:2-12 (continued) “5Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back , so that he may be revealed at the proper time . [“Something” or better to say Someone is holding him - the ac - back for the proper time!!! Not in the devil’s own time, but rather in God’s own time! Which is only for 7 years. The devil thinks he can run the entire show on this planet for eternity. Not going to happen. God is in charge. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof!] 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work [because of sin in the earth and those who have not received Jesus] ; but the one [One] who [Who] now holds it back will continue to do so till he [He] is taken out of the way. [Remember this is why has the sacrifice that Jesus paid have to be removed or “taken out of the way” which is the other way to say it: BECAUSE God gives satan authority OVER ALL mankind for a period of time - the last 3.5 years. This is seen in Daniel 7:25; 9:27 and Revelation 13:5 - Daniel 7:25 - “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time:” Daniel 9:27 - “He (God) will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ He (God) will put an end to sacrifice and offering.” Revelation 13:5-8 - “5The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His Name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.” We see that God’s holy people have to undergo the ac having authority over them. With Jesus having done His sacrifice we have Authority over the devil - Luke 10:17-19 & Mark 16:17-18 but this time period is different. God is allowing the devil to have authority over His people, those who are His holy people. It is not just Jews. No where does it say that it is only the Jews. It says: His people . There is no difference between Jew or Gentile, male or female, we are all one in God - Galatians 3:28 . God is allowing the devil to have dominion so “Something” needs to be removed to allow the devil to have authority. God is removing His Atoning Sacrifice of sin and wickedness for a short period of time which is what gives believers Authority in order to let the devil free to torment those who are hard hearted, which is the punishment on people who have refused Jesus. Like Sodom and Gomorrah. Believers who are left are able to handle what’s coming. No different than the disciples who all but one was tortured to death. But they knew what was coming. The Lord revealed it to them. He was with them every step of the way. That’s heavy! But God!!! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!] 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 “8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming. 9The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, [Just like Revelation 13.] 10and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” - This is an apparent and simple explanation of why God is allowing this. This next statement will be difficult who are still adamant about certain “doctrinal paradigms” but let go of preconceived paradigms of men and allow the Holy Spirit to show you. Notice all of the rapture scriptures - none state that there are 2 comings of Jesus. When Jesus comes in all of them it is at one time - at the end. Read the scriptures above again, notice that believers will be persecuted by the ac. The rapture is not pre-trib. I know some may say mid-trib but by 2 Thessalonians 2 we see it is at the end and this matches with Matthew 24:27-31; Isaiah 26:16-21. It is not at the mid-point either. Matthew 24:27-31 “27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 29“Immediately after the distress of those days “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Isaiah 26:16-21 “16Lord, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. 17As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, Lord. 18We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life. 19But your dead will live , Lord; their bodies will rise —let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy —your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. 20Go, My people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until His wrath has passed by. 21See, the Lord is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.” [Put that last sentence with Genesis 4:10 “The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”] * God is just in all that He does. It’s all in God’s timing and His timing is always right, no matter what we perceive. The devil has been attempting to get an ac started for centuries: Nero, Napoleon, Hitler etc. But the “Restrainer” has to be removed before the ac can show up. And who…or Who is in charge of everything? God, the creator of all things. Many Bible scholars believe the Restrainer is the Holy Spirit. That’s understandable but according to scripture there is more depth to the meaning. Since there is persecution of the saints it doesn’t make sense for the Holy Spirit to be removed. It is the Holy Spirit who recreates our spirit when we get born again. If He is removed than He, the Holy Spirit would be removed. If He is removed than He, the Holy Spirit being removed would of course mean all Christian’s. He can’t be because we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and yet there are believers who are persecuted by the ac. That’s a contradiction. The Restrainer cannot be the Holy Spirit - it goes against other scriptures in the Epistles like 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “God makes us and you stand firm in Christ. 22He Anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our heart as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” And Ephesians 1:13-14 “13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of His glory.” We must always go to the Word to define itself. Reasoning for this “doctrine”? This “doctrine” is that the restrainer is to be removed is the Holy Spirit and the Church to be removed - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is assumed that is the Holy Spirit and includes the Church because He is in each of us. Looking at it from that point of view we won’t see the antichrist because we will be taken out of the way. And yet, he persecutes those who believe in Jesus. It’s a contradiction. It is put in an incorrect context with Daniel 7:25; 9:24-27; Revelation 12:17 & 13:7,10. We will only look at the first scripture: Daniel 7:25 “he will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.” God is the One Who made the covenant with all those who are alive on earth at this time, that there will only be a 7 year period. It will be a tough period for Jerusalem because there will be a major flood and wars. And these things also go on across the globe. But here is a key point. It is divided into halves. Two 3.5 year parts. Where else do we see that number with the Tribulation? Revelation 11:1-3 - “1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” Revelation 12:14-17 - “14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” Revelation 13:5-8,10 - “5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His Name and His dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. 10 'If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.’ This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” Daniel 9:27 27He [God] will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he [He] will put an end to sacrifice and offering [because He is removing His restraint from the devil so the ac can show up and this whole thing will be done soon.] And at the temple he [this is finally the ac] will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed [by God and the entirety of Revelation is poured out on him and those who refuse God] is poured out on him.” [the ac who is possessed by the devil per Revelation 13 and 9 - he comes out of the abyss at the half way point, 3.5 years, and then goes to persecute the remaining believers.] Daniel 12:1-2, 5-7, 11 1“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 5Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 6One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” 7The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed. 11“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. [or 3.5 years] 12Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.” God’s people are delivered into the ac’s hands - meaning the ac has authority because God is no longer restraining him. And with all of the disasters coming many will go by way of the grave. Plus there’s two types of saints at that time: those who will be martyrs and those who will be isolated and trying to survive - both are called “Tribulation Saints.” I think there is another part but I won't get into it much and that is those who are hidden from the a.c. (Revelation 12:14 ) for 3 and a half years - there is a link between the "Mount Zion" in the Old Testament and the refuge of Revelation 12:14. I know this isn’t easy to read but it is what scripture states. Pray. Talk with the Lord and see what He wants you to do. SUMMATION : Okay…this is not easy…and you are seeing how all this fits together: Those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life do not take the mark. The serpent does war with the saints and will overcome them. This will occur for 42 months - 3.5 years. It’s commonly thought this is not until the the last 3.5 years when he is released from the Abyss according to Revelation 11:2,7 but it actually doesn’t says that. It says “the beast that comes out of the pit,” it doesn’t say when. God’s people need to have patient endurance and faithfulness through this. Many will die - 1 Thessalonians 4:17 “…those who are alive and remain.” The Remnant of Israel (there’s neither Jew nor Greek) will hide in the mountains for 3.5 years. It is debated whether this means true Israel or is this a mixture of Jews and Christians. I’m figuring it is both. The two witnesses are around for 1,260 days which is 3.5 years. The Gentiles trample on the outer court of the temple for 3.5 years. We don’t know exactly but I personally believe this is all the same timeline…the same 3.5 years. 1,260 days is an exact amount. Forty-two months and 3.5 years (time, time, and half-time) are “roughly” 3.5 years which mean for some it can be shorter, for some it may be exact, for some a bit longer. The descriptors in all these various scriptures that state this time line. The point I find interesting is Daniel 12:11-12 with the different day count: “1,260 days… blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of 1,335 days.” My thoughts are this remaining 75 days are the “Day of Wrath”/“Day of the Lord”. I could be wrong…but that is how I see it for now. It doesn’t say the believers make it to that point which would make sense for the Rapture to have already occurred at the second 1,260 days. The passage simply says “blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of 1,335 days.” I’m not certain on this. I am still in prayer about this. * Here is why I think the above paragraph with 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 - “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only He who now restrains it will do so until He is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” The Day of the Lord cannot happen until the rebellion comes first, from the enemy being fully allowed to do what he does. This makes that “day” at or toward the end of the 3.5 years. Perhaps this leaves the 45 days of wrath to occur. It has been generally thought that the ac would simply be resurrected as a man by satan but scripture explicitly states in Hebrews that men are appointed to die once. When the ac gets the head wound he is “resurrected” by the indwelling of the dragon. Not the spirit man of the ac. There is a set-time that God has ordained for His Day of Wrath to come as the Rapture occurs and His Wrath comes down. ( Joel 2-3; Zephaniah 1 .) As you have heard: “As we go up, it comes down.” It’s a day of Trumpet AND Alarm. Trumpet for last trump (Revelation 8-11 ), the Rapture; and Alarm for those who remain on the earth (Zephaniah 1:16 [14-18]. ) for the final 45 days [1,260 and 1,335 of Daniel 12], especially bearing in mind passages like Isaiah 26:16-21 , if I am interpreting this correctly, this is speculation for now. * IV. The Judgment During the Millennium This is in Revelation 20:4-6 “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” The judges during the millennial reign are the martyrs. There is a boldness the Lord has created within them and enabled them to live out this calling. They sustained whatever torture and would not give up on Jesus or give up His Name no matter what. When God gives you a calling, which He gives to every believer, and especially a very difficult calling - He gives you what it takes to carry it out. Rely on Him. Consequently, the Lord has made them judges during the millennium. We know from the previous scriptures that the tribulation saints also would not take the mark or worship the beast because their names, like the martyrs, ARE written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Many of the Tribulation saints will go by way of the grave. Many will make it. Whatever He gives you to do, He gives you His strength to do it. * V. Lake of Fire & Various Thoughts This is food for thought… In no way am I saying this is so. Speculative questions only. As with all things in scripture we have to look at it multidimensionally. God is multidimensional and so is His Word, like when He speaks of two timelines in the same passage of scripture, which He does repeatedly throughout the Word, for example Deuteronomy 29:4 “You shall not muzzle the ox while he’s threshing.” In context with 1 Corinthians 9 Paul refers to this scripture in Deuteronomy, as an example of helping ministers who preach the Gospel. They should not do it at their own expense. There’s at least two layers of meaning to scripture. More substance than what is initially learned from the first layer of the text. God is multidimensional and so is His Word. * Lake of Fire: God is a consuming fire - Hebrews 12:29 Where is this Lake of Fire? It eternally burns. Is this Lake of Fire within Him? I don’t know. Is it in another dimension? Very likely. Matthew 10:28 - "Do not be afraid of those (other humans) who kill the body, but do not have power to destroy the life; rather, fear Him Who has the power to destroy both life and body (their entire existence) in Gehenna (lake of fire)” Gehenna: is a valley to the west and south of the city of Jerusalem used as a place to contain the garbage and filth of the city. Easton’s Bible Dictionary states, “Here the dead bodies of animals and of criminals, and all kinds of filth, were cast and consumed by fire kept always burning. This in the passage of time became the image of the place of everlasting destruction.” Jesus mentions Gehenna at least 11 times in the New Testament, and some of the apostles refer to it as well. The word is mostly rendered “hell,” with Gehenna in the margins or footnotes. But from what we have seen in the previous scriptures “hell” and “lake of fire” are two different places. Greek for Gehenna is “geenna,” or “Gehenna,” defined by Strong’s Concordance as “a valley west and south of Jerusalem, also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly.” Jesus always used physical examples when He told parables to people. Especially when He talked of spiritual things, which was most of the time. Strong’s says it’s the “final place of punishment of the ungodly” which means the lake of fire. The scripture in Matthew is a symbol of how we should operate with Godly fear because He is all powerful. Keep in mind God can never go against His Word. He would be going against Himself. He has said we would not be blotted out and that we were written from the foundation of the world. Always keep in mind if there is scripture that you are puzzled over, know that you don’t have the understanding yet. Just ask the Lord and He will reveal it at the correct time for you. I have asked my questions to the Lord and am sharing my thoughts with you. He will show me when the time is right. We don’t know from scripture where this place is…but it’s not out of reach to think it is within God Himself. He is a consuming fire. He created us all - we came out of His heart, His Spirit. And He has the power to do away with whomever He will do away with and power to have mercy on whomever He will have mercy. But not outside of His Word. He will never and can never go against it. It is who He is. He doesn’t wipe out the unholy trinity: beast, antichrist, false prophet. The fire where He puts them burns for eternity. Perhaps as a reminder for Him? Their sin is not forgotten. Jesus didn’t die for them. He died for us, mankind. We are saved by the love, mercy, and compassion of the Father - John 3:16-17 . 1 Kings 18 - Elijah and the situation on Mount Carmel when the Lord tells him he is not the only prophet left, there are 7,000 remnant left. To get to the point, Elijah goes to king of Israel, Ahab, and his “prophets” of Baal. He tells them to get their sacrifices together for their “god” and do their thing for their sacrifice. Nothing happens. Elijah prepared his sacrifice to the Almighty God. He even covers the wood with water three times. He calls on the Lord to show up and show the “prophets” who is truly God. Verse 38, “The fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.” KJV says: “Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” “Consumed” - Merriam-Webster: to do away with completely; destroy. “Completely” - total; absolute; brought to an end. “Total” - comprising or constituting the whole; entire. God’s fire is consuming. It will eradicate all sin. Exodus 33:18-23 - “Then Moses said, ‘Now show me Your glory.’ And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My Name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,‘ He said, ‘you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.’ The Lord said, ‘There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock, when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.’” Our God will consume all that are placed in the Lake of Fire. Is this His glory that will consume them? Ezekiel describes Him in His glory as a fire from the loins up and a fire from the loins down. And the Lord says in Revelation 20:10 that the devil, beast, and false prophet will eternally be tormented and burn. Is this in His eternal glory? Perhaps. No evil will be left according to Revelation 21:27 & 22:15 and are not in God’s Realm. It appears from scripture all others besides the unholy trinity: devil, beast, and false prophet, will be consumed. Entirely. From existence. Fallen angels and seed of the serpent. But there seems to be a distinction between the unholy trinity and all others put into the lake of fire. Not sure. Like I said, God doesn’t say specifically. Just pondering. 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. With John 4:14 The water He gives those who believe shall be in us and well of water springing up unto eternal life.” There is still a remaining bit of God the Father in those in the lake of fire. Because they are alive. Has to be. Life - Who is God makes one alive in existence. John 1:4 “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Is this to keep the remembrance of the rebellion within God? Job 34:14-15 AMP - “If God should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself [that is, withdraw from man] His [life-giving] spirit and His breath, All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.” Galatians 5:1 “Christ has given us liberty and we are not entangled again with the yoke of bondage…” which means those in hell and in the lake of fire are entangled with the yoke of bondage. And they are bearing deadly fruit, the fruit of death - which is separation from the Father, for the seed they have sown. The devil (meaning his entire kingdom) is right there with them because they have submitted to the devil whether they know it or not. James 4:7 Revelation 1:18 - “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. (The realm of the dead.” It’s all God’s!!!! He has all the keys to everything. Colossians 1:13 “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” For those who did not receive Jesus, simply reverse those particular scriptures for us that give us victory, and you can see their “state” on this earth, like James 4:7 - they have not submitted unto God, nor have they resisted the devil. Therefore he has not fled from them. Rather they and their lives have the right to be filled with the demonic realm. This is why it is important to pray for the unsaved, that God would manifest Himself to them. And Romans 8:2 The law of sin and death is in operation 100% of the time in the lives of the unsaved because of their actions and choices. It has to. It’s a law. It’s God’s law and will not go against His own law. He has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing - therefore choose life that both you and your offspring may live. (Deuteronomy 30 .) Ephesians 1:18 The hope of His calling - God’s calling is for all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth - 1 Timothy 2:4. What is it He is hoping for? “Hope” means Godly expectation. He is expecting for all humanity to be saved and death to be put under His feet. All of whom He has written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. God’s expectations will be fulfilled. He has said so in His Word, 1 John 2:2 , Hebrews 2:9, 1 Peter 3:18 and 1 Timothy 2:4 . And next verse of Ephesians 1, verse 19 - “and what is His exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. Which raised Jesus from the dead.” He will raise up those who went to hell, after His resurrection Matthew 27 - in the second death because they are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. What God has done before, He will do again, as Ecclesiastes 1:9 says. Ephesians 1:22-23 - “And has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church which is His Body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all” - His entire Body is all who have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and will raise them up and put all of death and hell under their feet. Our feet!!! What an ultimate revelation of the greatness of our King Jesus and Creator of the universe God Almighty!!! That’s BIG!!!! We think of it all being done at the rapture but it can’t be according to His Word. It’s not done yet for Jesus. He doesn’t get His entire Body until the Second Death Judgement has occurred and those who belong to Him have returned. The fulness of His body that fills all in all. Then He is complete!!! He is always perfect but He has been waiting for His completeness. (1 Corinthians 15 .) 1 Corinthians 1:7 …as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed - yes, revealed to people on this earth; yes, at the rapture; AND at the second death to all who were in hell but written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Philippians 1:10 - I am convinced that another layer, a second layer, to “the Day of Christ” is the second death. Here’s why: “Christ” means the Anointed One. It also means the Anointing. The anointing removes burdens and yokes - Isaiah 10:27. The epitome of the Anointing is resurrection from the dead. Let’s look at: Ephesians 1:20 - …which He (The Father) exerted in Christ (The Anointing - the Holy Spirit) when He (The Father) raised Him (Jesus, His son) from the dead. Romans 8:11 - the Spirit of God will give life to your mortal bodies. Hell is death. The Spirit is life. ”Death and Hell are put into the fire.” Colossians 1:12-14 - “and giving joyful thanks to the Father, Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light. For He has RESCUED us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Ephesians 2:6 - “We are raised up together in Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places.” Christ had gone into hell after the cross. Colossians 2:14-15. Mediate on that. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 - “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.” What Jesus did on the cross and going into hell, permanently stamping our sin with His Blood - is eternal. Satan believes he’s got one over on God by stealing some of His kids who were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, he thinks he has succeeded. Just as he did when he and his cohorts witnessed the death of Jesus on the cross, Psalm 22:12-13,16 and 1 Corinthians 2:8 . But God!! God will retrieve all who are His. The seed of the serpent versus the seed of the woman - Genesis 3:15 . God is taking His seed back from the thief!!! 1 Timothy 2:4 - “He wants all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Peter 3:18-20 - “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: But which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built.” Matthew 27:51-53 - “At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” 2 Peter 3:9 - “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Yes, these scriptures are for all mankind who have lived and/or are alive on this earth now; and it also goes to the future of those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life who did not received Him while they were alive. Hallelujah! Above and beyond all we could ask or think! That is our loving God. God is multidimensional and so is His Word. There is no limit to God and there is no limit to His Word. Jesus has the keys to death and hell (Revelation 1:18 ) which means He has dominion there as well. Jesus calls the shots even there. Romans 8:37 Those who are in hell who are His seed will be the ultimate conquerors mentioned in this verse! More than conquerors through His love for them. God so loved the world. And when they are before the Judgement Seat at the Second Death with no devil standing in their way, as the seed of God they will run to Him believing. Phil 4:7 Because those that have not received Jesus in this world and those who have gone to hell, do not have peace. They cannot. God is the God of peace. They have not made Christ Jesus their Lord. His peace transcends all understanding and guards our hearts and minds because we believe Him. There is no peace in hell. Only torment. But those who are the seed of the woman and written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will have the ultimate escape. He always plans for a way of escape as 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” When God speaks His Word will come to pass. * VI. Two Other Scriptures to Address Psalm 6:5 “For in death there is no remembrance of You: in the grave who shall give You thanks.” Isaiah 38:18-19 “For the grave cannot praise You, death can not sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, the living - they praise You, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about Your faithfulness.” We see from Psalm and Isaiah that those who are in hell do not know that God has saved them and will ultimately save them. That will be the ultimate shock. They have no memory of Him. What an extraordinary day it will be when they are taken out by the Spirit of God and brought before His Throne at the Second Death and Great White Throne Judgment and find out rather than pain and torment that they will live forever with God in His love and peace for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!!! God’s mercy is unfathomable to the natural world’s way of understanding. Ephesians 1:22-23 “And has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all.” God’s salvation of mankind through His Son Jesus Christ saved all of mankind, which makes us all His Body - the fulness of which fills all in all.” We fill everything, everywhere. Including those who are in hell and don’t know they have been saved. God still sees them as His children, a part of His body. Like the Prodigal Son, the Father never turned His back on His son, including when he was in the mire with pigs eating slop, which is sometimes how hell is described in some translations. Ephesians 2:6 “We are raised up together with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places.” Jesus was raised from hell. So are those who are His seed and have gone to hell. A whole other layer to this one! And God’s sheep: He separates the sheep from the goats - Matthew 25:31 . I believe another layer to this one is a separation of His seed and the serpent’s seed at the Great White Throne Judgement. * Epilogue All you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and tell Him you make Him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of your life. Ask Jesus to wash you clean of all sin. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Those who have accepted the Lord Jesus into their heart and made Him Lord ARE justified BY Him the moment you receive Him! It is through receiving Jesus as our Lord and His sacrifice that He has blotted out all our sin - Colossians 2:14; Galatians 1:4; 1 Corinthians 5:7 . We have obeyed His calling which is to “come to Him”- Ephesians 1:18 and Hebrews 3:1 - and receive the free gift of Jesus Christ through His sacrifice on the cross. None of this ever goes away. - His salvation, His justification, His Word, His seed within us is incorruptible, 1 Peter 1:23 . If we could loose our salvation and all Jesus did for us then His death was useless. But He has taken all the bad for us. HOWEVER, simply because we are justified, which also means “made righteous” by Jesus Christ, AND we ARE new creatures and reconciled to God - 2 Corinthians 5:17 doesn’t give us a “free pass” to do any sinful thing we want. The actions we take have an outcome. Sinful actions that are unrepented of eventually cause death - Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And these can shorten your life on earth - Deuteronomy 30:19 . BUT you are saved. Just like the Apostle Paul who told the Corinthian church to kick out the man who was having sex with his stepmother. This young man was in sin. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Paul told them to kick him out of the church and let satan destroy his flesh so that his spirit may be saved - 1 Corinthians 5. We have eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ no matter what form of sin we allow in our lives - 1 John 5:11 & John 3:15-17 - “eternal” means eternally, forever. And there are over 100 verses about eternal life that we have with Him. Out of two or three witnesses let every Word be established. The fact of allowing sin into someone’s life means there is no revelation about what the Lord has done for you. It doesn’t mean you loose your salvation. There’s simply no revelation. It all depends on what you focus on. Whatever you focus on is what will show up in your life. He paid the price of going to hell so you don’t have to. You don’t loose your salvation. That’s why Jesus paid the price of a brutal, horrific death, and went to hell, so we don’t have to. And He was the first one raised from the dead! Hallelujah! But there is judgment. And we will all go through it. As Peter says, judgment comes first to the house of God. So we keep our hearts right with Him. All we have to do is stay tight with Jesus! We are His sheep and we hear His voice - John 10:27 - and He leads us! John 10:1-5 . *****

Teaching, Faith, Biblical truths, Biblical faith, how to use my faith, how does faith operate, do I have faith Faith Article below. Or click link for downloadable PDF. PDF Faith The substance of all things - Faith For we live by faith, not by sight - 2 Corinthians 5:7. Faith is how we live whether we know it or not. As Hebrews 11:6 says, we know faith pleases God: “But without faith it is impossible to please God, because he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder to those that diligently seek Him.” For we live by faith and not by sight for without faith it is impossible to please God, because we believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Since we are to live by faith, how do we get it? Do we already have it? If so, how does it operate? 1. WHAT IS FAITH Scholars call Hebrews 11 the “Faith Chapter.” Some call it the “Icons of Faith Chapter.” Not only does it describe what faith is, it also describes details of how faith works in Biblical examples through these icons of faith. We see “how” faith worked from Abel to Enoch, Noah to Abraham, Sarah to Isaac, Jacob to Joseph, Moses to Joshua and all the warriors at Jericho, Rahab to Gideon, and so much more. If you want to do an in-depth study of faith, look at each of these examples in the Old Testament and study how these people functioned in these crazy and heroic incidents, with Hebrews 11. It gives a bigger picture. Now let’s look at the definition of faith: Hebrews 11:1 and 6: Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen…But without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Faith is THE substance. It’s the “substance” of things. In verse 3, it is how the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So this means “faith” and the “Word” go together. (We will get to that in the next chapter.) Faith is the substance. It is the make-up of things. All that we see at its core level is made up of faith. The substance. 2. Faith is THE evidence of what you cannot see. This means if you can see it, it’s not faith, it’s manifestation. You are only operating in faith if you cannot see it. Let’s take a look at Romans 4. I also call this chapter a faith chapter, Romans 4, shows how faith operates. (You will see this in more later.) Romans 4:17-22 “As it is written: ‘I have made you the father of many nations,’ before Him Whom he believed, God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, ‘So shall thy seed be.’ And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” God’s spoken Word IS the evidence! It will come to pass. God spoke His Word regarding creation in Genesis 1-3 and it was so. All the promises of God are evidence! All we have to do is believe like Abraham did and give praise to God for it before we see it take place. Take God at His Word. He is not a man that He should lie, He will do what He has promised - Numbers 23:19 - if He said, it is done. 3. It pleases God for us to use our faith in Him and He rewards us for using our faith. Like any parent, when you’re child says they don’t believe you, it is frustrating to say the least. A good parent wouldn’t lie to their child. It’s no different with God. What He has told us in His Word is so. And in Hebrews 6:13 we see God made the promise to Himself. Since He did that with Abraham, He has done it with all of us. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He has done before He does again. By making the promise to Himself, He knows that the promise cannot be broken. He will never break His own promise, unlike the fickleness of mankind in their fallen state. That’s how we know God’s Word will never change. Not in Him nor in heaven. It is His Word and that settles it. 2. WHERE DOES FAITH COME FROM Romans 10:17 - Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We get faith or better to say “build up” our faith by reading and studying the Word of God, and by making scriptures that “stand out” to us as our daily confessions. We do all of this in our quiet time with the Lord, going wherever He leads us in scripture. This requires getting quiet with Him, using a scripture like Psalm 119:18 - “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things out of Your law,” and speak it back to Him and asking Him where to go. For example: “Father God, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You for Your Word. It is truth, and Father, I ask that You would open my eyes that I would see wonderful things out of Your Word, direction, edifying, and whatever You want to share with me. So where would You like me to go?” Then be still and wait until it comes up from within you. Not outside of you. His Holy Spirit is WITHIN. You may have a thought that floats up from deep within you to your mind. Or you may hear His still, small, quiet voice. You may see the words of the name of the book, like “Colossians” come up in your minds eye. Whatever it is go to that scripture. You know it’s right when an “ah-ha” moment comes from where you are reading. It may be a verse or a couple of verses, or the entire chapter that are speaking of a particular subject directly TO you. When this happens you “see” something that you have never seen before and it answers a question you’ve had or a thought that you’ve pondered. It can even be something you’ve pondered for a very long time. No matter what the case may be, it’s an answer for you and you will have “peace” and “joy” about it. It always puts a “spring to your step.” (Colossians 3:15 AMP.) Always have a notebook handy, write the date and the scriptures He leads you to that day, along with the ones that were the “ah-ha” scriptures and whatever revelation you got from it. These notebooks are good logs of how the Lord is teaching you. You can always refer back to them and when you do it stimulates your faith again. Faith in Greek means “believe.” Everyone believes something. Including atheists. They believe there is no God. Every human on the planet has faith. It is part of our make-up. But how we use it is important to recognize because whether we know it or not, we are using our faith for ourselves or against ourselves. We are believing the best, God’s Word, for ourselves; or believing the worst for ourselves. And whatever we “believe” is what we speak. Speaking it is what brings it to pass - Genesis 1. When we find that we are believing bad things for ourselves it’s time for a faith “build-up” and find out what God has said about us instead of what we think, feel, or have been told. God always shares good news of who you are in Him! * How to know when we need to build up our faith: 1. When you pray, is your automatic thinking going along the lines of - “That would be nice but I don’t know if that will really happen. We’ll see.” *Remember , “I don’t know” is doubt and is the opposite if faith. Technically it is faith being used against ourselves, faith in the worst happening instead of God’s promise; and faith cannot be “seen” so if those words are in your thinking take notice. 2 Corinthians 5:7 - We live by faith, not by sight. If we can see it, it’s not faith. This means you need a faith build-up by a change your thoughts with what God says about you, not by what you can see. 2. Assess where your heart is - do you, deep down, go in line with scripture and you’re excited about the promise of God, or does it feel like “something” is missing. If it feels like something is missing, this means you are praying from “mental assent” rather than “knowing, that you know” that it will come to pass. Mental assent is easy to happen and it’s sneaky. Because you know a particular scripture, like “by His stripes I was healed,” doesn’t mean you’re using your faith. And when you have that hollowed out-empty feeling when you're are praying and declaring your health/healing means you need a faith build-up. 3. If you are afraid that something will happen/not happen. Having “fear” is not of God. 2 Timothy 1:7 - God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. When “fear” shows up, it - the spirit of fear - is trying to get you off your stand on the Word of God. Cast that evil spirit out of your thought life in the Name of Jesus. We are to control what we think, not let our thoughts run rampant, if we do we will get into trouble - 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” * All three of these “thoughts” denote building up our faith is necessary. Faith is like a “spiritual muscle”. It needs to be worked out. We have to build it up. Little by little. Strengthen our faith with the Word that says “who” we are. Like John 17:23 - God the Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus. This is a statement of fact. It has already occurred. Now we simply believe it. Then we build up on these kind of scriptures until we use the Word regarding things that have not “shown up” yet, like healing, as we used in the earlier example. Take time away with the Lord and get into the scriptures regarding that area. Since we are using healing in this example, go to all the healing scriptures. There are hundreds of them. Read them. Speak them. The ones that get you excited, write them down, and make it personal. Like 1 Peter 2:24 - “By His stripes I was healed and I am healed, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He lives in me and there is no sickness in Him and no sickness in me. I refuse the right of illness in my body. My body belongs to Jesus. I am healed. Thank You Jesus.” As you do this there will be an attack. There always is when you’re standing on the Word. It’s the parable of the sower. Immediately when the Word is sown, the devil comes to steal the Word that’s been sown. He does it in a few ways according to Luke 8 and Matthew 13: The devil steals the Word because the person didn’t understand it; or … If you receive it but have “stony” places in your heart, or hard-hearted, typically it is unforgiveness or pride, or both, they will keep the Word from manifesting. The person has no root, meaning the Word hasn’t taken root. They haven’t kept meditating on the Word, speaking that Word, and then when tough times come because of the Word that was sown they let go of it. Or… The cares or worry wipe out the Word, or the lying of money to your head - thoughts that you ponder on about money (whether your rich or poor doesn't matter, it can be either.) These will come up when we are acting on the Word. Guaranteed. Jesus told us twice, in Matthew and Luke. So know it. Stay steady on the Word. Keep feeding your Spirit with the Word and control your thoughts. When you do this you have the victory in Him. * When you write all the scriptures down that get you excited, make them personal like the example I showed for 1 Peter 2:24. These are your “confessions”. Pray them back to the Lord as declarations over your life. The Holy Spirit takes hold with you on the Word and you get excited. That’s how you know you’re on the right track. (Romans 8:26.) There is one more part to add for the faith build-up and that is praying in the Spirit. It builds up our faith by praying in tongues as Jude 1:20 says - “But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” There are times when you are standing in faith for a particular promise to come into manifestation, you’ve been reading the scriptures, confessing them, casting down vain imaginations and replacing them with what the Word says about your situation - but it hasn’t come to pass yet. This is when praying in tongues is imperative. It builds up your faith, and it’s the Holy Spirit Who is strengthening you. All believers have the ability to pray in tongues because all believers have the Holy Spirit. You cannot be born again and not have the Holy Spirit. He is the one Who has planted God’s incorruptible seed in your heart and shed the Love of God in your heart. He is there. And praying in tongues is always God’s will - Romans 8:26-27. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Like everything else with God, you do it by faith, because God said you can. Open your mouth expecting. Isaiah 28:11-12 - “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to His people. To whom He said, “This is the rest wherewith You may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing…” 3. HOW DOES FAITH OPERATE Let’s look at what we have learned from the scriptures so far: We all have faith because God has put it within us because He created us and faith is the substance of all He created - it is our substance - Hebrews 11:1. Since we are made in the image of God, this means that is also a part of His substance, faith. God is love and He is faith. When God speaks faith comes out from within Him. We are in His image. What is coming out is from within you. Faith pleases God - Hebrews 11:6, because we believe in Him and know that He rewards us for diligently seeking Him. Faith is the evidence of what we cannot see. If we can’t see it, we have to use our faith. Faith is like a muscle, it can be built up, and that is done with the Word of God through reading and confessing it, and by praying in tongues - Jude 1:20, and casting down vain imaginations and replacing them with what the Word says. We do this by speaking the Word to ourselves and when we cast out thoughts that are not Godly, out loud, we then replace it by confessing the Word once again. * I. In Romans 1:17 - “The just shall live by faith; and Hebrews 10:38 adds - Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” This makes sense because God has told us in His Word that faith is what pleases Him, so if we don’t operate in faith, He’s not happy. We will frustrate Him. In fact, in Galatians 2:21 - “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” We want to please our Father God so we operate in faith, not in works. II. We know faith resides in us and “just” in Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38 is the same word used as “righteous”. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus - 2 Corinthians 5:21. He is our righteousness. It’s not by anything we have done. Therefore we are just, whether we feel like it or not. It’s not based on our “feelings,” it’s based on THE truth, the Word. And we are to live by faith, believing what God has told us. We do this because it pleases our Father God. A child always wants to make his parents happy, to please them. Galatians 2:16 - “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the Fatih of Christ, not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” And this goes with Galatians 4:5-6 - “To redeem them that were under the law, what we might receive the adoption of sons. And Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.” Look again at the earlier scripture Galatians 2:21 - my own words - if we get caught in works, we are making Christ’s death of no effect and that frustrates God’s grace. Simply believe what God has said. He took care of everything. It’s our Spirit’s that are re-created, incorruptible - 1 Peter 1:23 - “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever.” God took care of everything. It is our soul (mind, thinking) that has to be renewed and our bodies that will be transformed into incorruptible at the resurrection. III. We are to call those things that be not as though they were - Romans 4:14 and Genesis 1. We have to speak to situations. Do this in your prayer time. Take out your scriptures, if you wrote them down, or if you mark them in your Bible, get them in front of your eyes and declare God’s Word over situations in your life until they manifest the promises of God. IV. James 2:12 - “So speak and so act as people should who are to be judged under the law of liberty.” We are to not only speak or declare God’s Word over our lives but we are to act like it. Act like it has already taken place. Depending on the situation “acting” like it is merely an “attitude” adjustment. Where you “look ahead” as it’s already happened. For example, getting a new job. See yourself in that new job. What your daily routine is like with it and so on. Yes, you are using your imagination. God gave it to you. This is what the Bible calls “hope”. As Romans 4:18 - “…against hope, Abraham believed in hope…” - means worldly hope is merely “wishing”. There’s no power to it. But when you have a promise from God, it creates a vision in your imagination! That’s what you hold on to! That’s what Abraham did. He kept imagining himself as the father of many nations. Proverbs 4:20-21 - “My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to My Words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;” When you hear words, those words create thoughts. They create images. This is imagination. And when you do this from God’s Word it creates Godly hope. Godly expectation. God will bring it to pass!! That’s what you keep your mind on. V. Romans 14:23 Berean Literal - “But the one doubting has been condemned if he eats, because it is not of faith; and anything that is not of faith is sin.” KJV says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. That’s a sobering statement from the Lord. 4. CONCLUSION We are to live by faith, God’s way of operating. We don’t have to. God will never make us do something we don’t want to do. But there is so much joy, peace, fulfilling life to be had when you live by faith. Make the choice to live by faith, and not by sight. Here is the list all together: We all have faith because God has put it within us because He created us and faith is the substance of all He created - it is our substance - Hebrews 11:1. Since we are made in the image of God, this means that is also a part of His substance, faith. God is love and He is faith. When God speaks faith come out from within Him. We are in His image. What is coming out from within you? Faith pleases God - Hebrews 11:6, because we believe in Him and know that He rewards us for diligently seeking Him. Faith is the evidence of what we cannot see. If we can’t see it, we have to use our faith. How can we believe for something when we see it?! Faith is like a muscle, it can be built up, and that is done with the Word of God through reading and confessing it, and by praying in tongues - Jude 1:20, and casting down vain imaginations and replacing them with what the Word says. We do this by speaking the Word to ourselves and when we cast out thoughts that are not Godly, out loud, we then replace it by confessing the Word once again. We are the just and we shall live by faith. If we draw back God will not be pleased. Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38. We are not justified by works but by the faith of Jesus Christ, Galatians 2:16. We are to call those things that be not as though they were, Romans 4:14 and Genesis 1. We have to speak to situations. Do this in your prayer time. Take out your scriptures, if you wrote them down, or if you mark them in your Bible, get them in front of your eyes and declare God’s Word over situations in your life until they manifest the promises of God. James 2:12 - “So speak and so act as people should who are to be judged under the law of liberty.” We are to not only speak or declare God’s Word over our lives but we are to act like it. Act like it has already taken place. God’s Word creates thoughts! Allow the Word to create imaginations in your mind of what the promises coming to manifestation “looks like” in your life. Whatever is not of faith, is sin - Romans 14:23.

God, Jesus, Is scripture hisotrical, are they real, Isn't the Bible just stories, How do I use the Bible, Is Bible more than stories, How do I do it, God, Jesus, Are they real, How to Use Scripture It's not just for reading Finding Inspiration in Every Turn PDF How to Use Scripture- it’s not only for reading. Proverbs 4:20-27- NIV My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ears to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free from perversity; Keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths of your feet, and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right hand, or to the left; keep your foot from evil. This subject is “How to use the Word.” When we take scriptures in reference to each other on a particular subject matter we see a bigger picture. We will see how to access the Word to change our heart. There are steps to it. Ways of immersing yourself in the Word to get a proper perspective. Have an open heart (mind) to what God is telling you through His Word. Allow Him to correct when needed and to edify, and strengthen. (2 Tim. 3:16.) Recall the last teaching was about the “heart”. It is our soul: mind, will, emotions/ feelings, & personality. It is the un-renewed part of us that is joined with our Spirit. And only the Word can divide between the two (Heb. 4:12). Plus the only way to renew our hearts (the soul) is with the Word. This is how we renew our minds (our soul) (Rom. 12:2). As 2 Tim. 3:16 says, His Word is for instructing us, correcting us, and reproof. It’s to help us. And when we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us (Spirit and Truth John 4:26) you can’t help but “be helped!” He is our Helper! And so is the Word. It’s our Teacher, Helper, Strengthener- it is the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus! It is the Anointing! (The Holy Spirit is truth, the Word Is truth. The Holy Spirit is the Anointing and The Word was made flesh - Jesus! Jesus is the Truth! ) All in all!! 1. Verse 20-21- keep the Word in front of your eyes . As much as you can. We don’t need to get weird about it. Because if we do then we are basing it on “works”. Remember...Jesus gives us rest and His burden is easy and His yoke is light. So don’t allow yourself to get caught in “rules”. Keep your focus throughout the day on the Word. Think it. Ponder it. Jesus is the Word made flesh. Focus on Jesus throughout the day. When we keep our eyes on Him we stop looking at ourselves. Much better option. He’s perfect and will help us. He never fails. Love never fails. If we look at us... well, you get the picture. Like Joshua 1:7-8 basically says the same thing: be courageous, don’t look to yourself, look to the Word and keep it in front of of your eyes (literal and in your imagination! ...in your thinking.) and MOUTH!! Mutter it. During the day, speak the Word to yourself. As you do this you’ll get revelation from the Holy Spirit about it! It’s awesome as He teaches you throughout the day!! “Work” things out with Him- tell Him about the questions you have, ponderings, ideas, upsets, all of it! Don’t allow the excuse of: “But He knows my thoughts, why do I need to do that?” Because as you do that He then opens up what you were unable to “see” before!!! And always brings scripture(s) to your remembrance (John 16:13-15; 14: 26-27!). It will bless you!! Major revelations come this way. 2. Pay attention to the direction the Holy Spirit is giving you through His Word and do it. Keep it in front of your eyes and ears! Eyes and ears are “gateways” to our heart! When you want to know what is in your heart, take a look at the things you typically/usually say. (Matt. 12:34.) There are over 100 scriptures that talk about what comes out of our mouths! That’s what is in our hearts. When we don’t like the words we have been speaking, then we need to change what is in our heart (soul)- this is what needs to be renewed: mind, will, emotions/feelings, personality. And we do that by changing our “automatic thinking” and speaking to that part of us with what the Word says. We take control of what our minds think (2 Cor. 10:3-6). (*verse 5 used to say “vain imaginations”. That’s different than “imagination” which is what God gave us to envision His Word manifesting in our lives. We are to cast down vain imaginations- from our soul.) Things that are contrary to the Word of God. And we do that by putting the Word in our eyes, ears, and mouth! We read it. We listen to it. We speak it. And especially when our heads are telling us something different than what the Word says. 3. James 2:12 we speak and act! We then put the Word into action. Example: the Word says to forgive. So, do it. Doesn’t matter how we feel about it. That’s a “feeling” - soul. We change it by acting on the Word! And it will eventually change our feelings. It changes your heart!!! 4. When you are changing your heart with the Word of God, be sure to pray for a “crop failure”. The words that we have spoken over our lives, good or bad, are seeds. And they will produce a harvest!!!! When the Holy Spirit reminds you of something you’ve spoken that is not good cancel those words out in Jesus Name and pull them up by the root!! Stamp them with the Blood of Jesus to eradicate anything that can grow or has grown from it. When you speak the Word and read the Word it is life to you ! And healing!!! You feel sqeeky clean! (Ephesians 5:26.) Verses 23-25: we are to guard our heart. How do we do that? We guard what comes in the “gates”. Our eye gate- what we look at, books, movies, etc. Ear gate- what we hear through people, podcasts, videos, music, conversations, etc. And what goes out our mouth gate- the words we speak. That’s how we guard our heart. And notice the following verse...verse 24 is about what we speak. What we speak is what we become. As it was in the beginning in Genesis 1, God spoke and the Holy Spirit moved to bring it to pass. It is the same with us. And if we speak something ungodly- not just foul language or lying, but anything that is contrary to the Word of God- we then have activated demonic spirits to bring that word to pass. What we speak either activates the Holy Spirit or activates demons. (That’s an eye-opener!) That’s why praying for a “crop failure” for contrary words that have been spoken is so important. We don’t want to give the devil any fuel. This is why he bombards our mind’s with junk: “As a man thinks in his heart so is he” - Prov. 23:7. Once your mind gets inundated with thoughts you will then speak them. satan is after your thoughts and tongue. That lier attempts to get you to doom your own life by speaking bad things into being. The majority of people allow him to do this to them. But you can stop him in Jesus Name. Don’t let him have your thoughts or your tongue. The remaining verses are about staying focused with this. Keep this as a way of operating. When we first do these things it’s a challenge. A lot of work. But it gets easier day by day! The more you do it the easier it gets. Restate: Use scripture on purpose when praying. Take a scripture, whatever has “unction” on it, speak the scripture back to God expecting. When you speak the Holy Spirit moves, just like God did in the beginning and in Acts when the Apostles spoke the Holy Spirit moved with signs following (Acts 14:3; 2 Cor. 12:12; Acts 5:12 (all through Acts); Romans 15:19). This is praying in faith . Expectant!! Because you can’t “see it”. You can only pray in faith when you can’t see it. Hebrews 11:1. God’s Word that you speak IS the evidence that thing exists!! You keep speaking it with thanksgiving until it shows up!!! Example: Let’s say I’m believing for a friend who has struggled in life. They are saved but have had problems. I can stand in the “gap” interceding for them. I am praying for them because they don’t know to do this. So I do this in their behalf. I will use Philippians 1:6 and I will word it for this person: “Heavenly Father, I bring my friend (______) before you in Jesus Name, according to Philippians 1:6. I am confident that You who has begun a good work in him will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, and I praise You that is done!” Any other scriptures the Holy Spirit brings to mind, use them! Then whenever this friend comes to mind simply praise God for him being perfected by the Lord and the Lord performing His perfect work in him. You can also do that, speak it with thanksgiving, from the place of having already received it. By saying something like: (Eph. 1:17-23)- “I thank You Father God that You have already given me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation knowledge, You have opened my eyes so that I can see what it is you want to show me...” and so on. Not from “going to” receive it. But already HAVE IT! IMPORTANT. The verbs are IMPORTANT!! If we keep saying “God is going to do this or that (from a promise in the Bible) is putting it in the “future”. Instead, speak as if it has ALREADY occurred! Because it has in the Spirit. Like when Daniel prayed and Gabriel was immediately sent to him when he prayed but the enemy held up Gabriel. So Daniel may have thought God didn’t answer his prayer...but God did. Immediately!!! What you pray for is answered immediately. There are different reasons why something doesn’t show up right away. You have to get the scoop from the Holy Spirit to see what’s up. Sometimes it can be a test of your faith; strengthening you for standing on the Word; enemy is getting in the way; a curse; un-repented sin; bitterness/unforgiveness; all sorts of reasons. Ask Holy Spirit so you know what to do. He will show you. Hold fast!! Hold fast with the Holy Spirit and the Word!! They will always lead you right!! You’ll be left with joy, peace, and washed clean!!!