A Prayer For The Church In 2025

 

A Prayer For The Church!

LORD, Forgive us our sins; as The People Who are called by Your Name; convict us by Your SPIRIT and Your Word of our false teachings and unholy lifestyles!

Expose the liars, thieves, cheats, those who lack integrity, those who lack morality; as You Call them to Repentance if they are unrepentant then remove them from Your Body as a cancer!

Expose the false in Your Body, prophets, apostles, teachers, pastors, evangelists, the wolfs in sheep’s clothing, the Ahabs and the Jezebels. Convict them of their sins and if they do not repent heal Your Body of their leprosy!

Convict us of our false doctrines and teachings; make Your Word – The Truth Holy to us so that we can only speak and teach What You are Saying!

Forgive us for lifting up our names and ministries over The Name of JESUS and Obedience to Your Will!

Thank You that You are raising up a generation of men and women, young and old who want to do Your Will. Join us with The Remnant of Your Faithful Servants that You have had in every generation Who are doing The Work of Your Kingdom in the earth.

Thank You that You are Restoring Integrity, Morality, Grace, Mercy and Truth to Your Church!

Thank You that You are correcting us so that we are ready for the days ahead to be Obedient, Faithful Servants Who are about Our Father’s Business!

Thank You that You have Redeemed us by The Blood of Your Son, JESUS and Filled us with Your SPIRIT so that we can endure to the end!

Thank You that You remind us to Seek You before everything, anything else!

Heavenly Father – GOD Almighty; thank You that You are using us, Your Church – The Body of CHRIST to lift up The Name of JESUS and to show Your Righteousness, Love, Power and Mercy to the nations of the world! In JESUS' Name, Amen!

Revelation Chapter 9

 

Revelation Chapter 9

Introduction:

Chapter 9 is the revelation of trumpets 5 and 6: trumpet 5 is a star fallen from heaven to the earth is given the key to the abyss; trumpet 6 is four angels that have been bound at the river Euphrates are loosed with a large cavalry to kill one third of humanity; those still alive do not turn from their sins.

:1-2 Then the fifth angel sounded: I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him* was given the key to the bottomless pit (Lit. shaft of the abyss). He opened the bottomless pit and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace (Luke 8:30-31; Revelation 20:1-3). So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit (Joel 2:2, 10).

:3-5 Then out of the smoke locusts** came upon the earth. To them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree (that’s good since much of the trees and all the grass was burned up by the first trumpet Revelation 8:7), but only those men who do not have the seal of GOD on their foreheads (Ephesians 4:30; Revelation 14:1). They were not given authority to kill them but to torment them for five months (as noted in chapter 8 this is the only seal, trumpet or bowl judgment that has a time frame). Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man (scorpions have poisonous stingers on their tail, some are deadly to humans).

:6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die and death will flee from them (death is a living spirit (Exodus 12:23; Jeremiah 4:7; Hebrews 11:28 “destroyer” TLV, “…lest he that destroyed them…” KJV) and one of GOD’s torments to those with the mark of the beast is to withhold it).

:7-9 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; on their heads were crowns of something like gold and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lion’s teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running onto battle (Joel 2:1-11 about The Day of The LORD sounds a lot like this). I heard a preacher say John, seeing the future could have seen modern combat helicopters and this is the best he could describe them based on his experience and knowledge.

:10-11 They had tails like scorpions  and there were stings in their tails; their power was to hurt men five months. They has king over them the angel* of the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3), whose name was Abaddon (Lit. Destruction) , but in the Greek he has the name Apollyon (Lit. Destroyer).

:12 One woe is past! Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things (Revelation 8:13, 11:14).

:13-15 Then the sixth angel sounded: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar (Revelation 8:3) which is before GOD, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year (GOD has a plan and a time for everything Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Acts 1:7), were released to kill a third of mankind (the seals and the trumpet and the bowls all result in the death of millions of people who have rejected GOD).

:16-17 Now the number of the horsemen of the army was two hundred million; I heard the number of them, and thus I saw the horses in the vision; those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone ( brimstone means burning stone, Genesis 19:24).

:18-19 By these three plaques a third of mankind (as noted in verse 15) was killed – by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and their tail; for their tails are like serpents having heads and with them they do harm (I have seen pictures where the tails are depicted like Medusa’s head with many snakes; I believe they have a tail that is a snake.)

:20-21 But the rest of mankind that were not killed by these plaques did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk (Psalm 115:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:19-22); and they did not repent of their murders and sorceries (drugs), or their sexual immorality or their thefts (Revelation 21:8, 22:15).

 

* We know stars as celestial bodies such as our sun, Sol, GOD has given them all names and treats them as living beings (Psalm 147:4, 148:3; Amos 5:8 [these are all about creation] the star of Revelation 8:10-11, Wormwood, I described as maybe an asteroid breaking up in the atmosphere, but maybe it’s a living being of the heavenly host who travels around the earth touching waters in different places and making them bitter.) In Revelation 20:1-3 it says an angel shut up the devil in the bottomless pit; angel and star are interchangeable here.

** These are not like the locusts of the plaques of Egypt (Exodus 10:1-2, 13-25) or any other locusts mentioned in The Bible. These are hybrid locusts GOD created just for this purpose. Unlike the regular locusts these do not consume vegetation, we do not know what they eat. Their only function is to torment people who are not sealed by GOD.

 

https://youtu.be/AWqdLlXoD_o

Revelation Chapter 8

 

Revelation Chapter 8

Introduction

Chapter 8 is the seventh seal opened and the first four trumpet judgments are sounded and three woes are announced: seal 7 is silence in Heaven, seven angels given seven trumpets, the smoke of incense and the prayers of the Saints goes up before GOD, fire from the Altar is thrown to the earth, there is an earthquake, peals of thunder and lightning; trumpet 1 is hail, fire and blood thrown to the earth and a third of the earth, a third of the trees and all the green grass are burned up; trumpet 2 is a blazing mountain is thrown into the sea and a third of the sea is turned into blood, a third of the sea creatures die and a third of the ships are destroyed; trumpet 3 is a blazing star falls from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs of water, they become bitter and many people die; trumpet 4 is a third of the sun, moon and stars are darkened, an eagle cries out a warning of three woes to come.

:1-5 When he opened the seventh seal there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour (this is different with the first four seals where an angel spoke, with seals 5-7 the angel dose not speak); and I saw the seven angels that stand before GOD (Psalm 34:7; Matthew 18:10; Luke 1:19; Hebrews 1:13-14), and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar, he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints (Revelation 5:8) upon the golden altar (Exodus 30:1-3, 6, The Holy Place)) which was before The Throne (The Ark of The Covenant with The Mercy Seat (Exodus 37:1-9 in The Most Holy Place Exodus 26:33-34). The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the Saints ascended before GOD from the angel’s hand (Exodus 30:6-10; Psalm 141:1-2; Luke 1:5-10). Then the angel took the censer filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. There were noises, thunderings, lightings and an earthquake (Revelation 11:15, 19 – seventh trumpet; Revelation 16:17-18 – seventh bowl; did David foresee this event? 2 Samuel 22:8-16 ).

:6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The trumpet judgments could last the whole seven years of the Tribulation, one per year. Or they could last for the last three and a half years, one every six months. We do not know, the only one that has a time duration is trumpet 5, it lasts for five months (Revelation 9:5). Like the ten judgments against Egypt when GOD was bringing the Hebrew people out of captivity, we do not know how long they lasted except the last one, the Passover judgment (death of the first born) lasted one night. GOD rarely tells us the duration of His Judgments, He did not tell Noah how long the flood would last; He told Abraham his descendants would be slaves for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13); He did not tell the Israelites how long they would be removed from their land under the king of Assyria, that lasted until 1948; He did tell the Judeans they would be captives in Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12); He did not tell the Judeans how long they would be exiled under the Romans, that lasted from 70 until 1948. GOD did not tell us how long The Great Tribulation will last, but we believe because of Daniel’s seventy weeks that it will last seven years (Daniel 9:20-27); JESUS in His description of the last days did not say how long they would last; in The Revelation to John he is not given any time reference about the Great Tribulation except trumpet 5 that lasts for five months. We know there are seven seals (I believe the first five have happened), seven trumpets and seven bowls of GOD’s wrath but no time frame for how long any of them last except trumpet five.

:7 The first angel sounded: hail and fire (Exodus 9:1-26; Ezekiel 38:18-22) followed mingled with blood and they were thrown to the earth. A third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up.

:8-9 Then the second angel sounded: something like a great mountain* (this could be a meteor) burning with fire was thrown into the sea, a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed.

:10-11 Then the third angel sounded: a great star* (this could be a meteoroid that breaks up and hits in lots of places on the earth as meteorites) fell from heaven burning like a torch, it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood**; a third of the waters became wormwood and many people died from the water because it was made bitter.

:12-13 Then the fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened; a third of the day had no light and likewise the night (Isaiah 13:9-10, so the daylight would only be about 6 to 8 hours instead of 8 to 12 hours and during the night there would be 3 to 4 hours of pitch darkness. So that there will be a total of 11 to 16 hours of pitch darkness over the earth each day during this time). I looked and I heard an angel (eagle, Revelation 4:7) flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, Woe, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels that are about to sound!”

 

* An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter. Asteroids are rocky, metallic, or icy bodies with no atmosphere.

A meteoroid is a small, rocky or metallic space rock that orbits the sun. Meteoroids can range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. 

Meteors: When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.

Meteorites: When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.

** Wormwood: in Hebrew it means to curse it is regarded as poisonous and therefore accursed – hemlock, wormwood. In Greek it means a type of bitterness – figuratively calamity, wormwood.

https://youtu.be/GA0V0ne6tSg

Romans 8:38-39

 

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other thing shall be able to separate us from The Love of GOD which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.”

 Have you ever thought about the lists in The Bible? There are lists of people and places, lists of things to do and not to do, lists of events past and future and lists of GOD’s Attributes. But this is a list of things that want to destroy us, to keep us from GOD’s Kingdom or steal us from GOD’s Kingdom.

 I think that sometimes we do not think enough about The Scriptures and what GOD is telling us! Sometimes we think about the “big picture” so much that we lose the point of GOD’s message to “us” to “me”. Everything in The Bible is to every human being and everything in The Bible is to “me” and to “you”!

 Creation is a big picture but how we interact with GOD’s creation each day is personal and may or may not apply to others and vice versa. We struggle with understanding creation; all that exists in the universe where we live. There are Christians who believe that we should explore space and the planets and there are Christians who do not believe we should do any of that; there are Christians who believe we should protect every species of plant and animal on the earth and there are Christians who believe it does not matter; there are Christians who believe that every Believer should be about preaching The Gospel throughout the earth and there are Christians who believe that someone other than themselves should be doing that.*

 So what is the reality of Salvation? Too many people in the earth have and do believe that we can live a life that pleases GOD (whatever their concept of GOD is) and be accepted into His Kingdom of the eternal afterlife no matter what it is called!

 The reality is that there is only One GOD (Elohim)** and only One Way into His Kingdom in the earth and in Eternity! As a Believer we should all be living and proclaiming John 14:6, JESUS said to him, “I AM The Way, The Truth and The Life, no one comes to The Father except through Me.” This with The Great Commission is why Paul says in Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of The Gospel of CHRIST, for it is the Power of Salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first and also for the Greek (Non-Jews).”

 So what does this have to do with the list of Romans 8:38-39? There is an enemy of GOD who wants to kill humans and keep us (you and me) from receiving His Gift of Salvation or to steal it from us! Many humans die with a false knowledge of GOD and do not enter into His Salvation and therefore into His Eternal Kingdom (Heaven). The whole point of GOD establishing before the foundation of the earth that JESUS would be born without a human father, live a life overcoming temptation and sin, and go to death on the cross taking our punishment for our sin (1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 1:30-35; 2 Corinthians 5:21) was that everyone who believes in JESUS, confesses Him as Savior and LORD (Romans 10:8-13), will be saved from eternal damnation into GOD’s Eternal Kingdom!

 

 * According to Matthew 28:16-20 and Mark 16:14-18 every person who claims to be a Believer in JESUS CHRIST should be doing some part of The Great Commission in their life at all times – it is a  command not a suggestion (John 8:31-32)! Following is my paraphrased harmony of The Great Commission: JESUS came and spoke to them saying, “All Authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on Earth; go into the world and preach The Gospel to every person and therefore make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in My Name; The Father, The Son and The HOLY SPIRIT; and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: in My Name they will cast our demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Amen!”

 ** Sorry we do not know GOD’s Name, we have a lot of attributes that we call Him by, LORD, Father, Son of GOD, HOLY SPIRIT, Savior, Lamb of GOD, CHRIST; you get the point (Revelation 19:11, 13,16). There is only one name that we have for GOD, The Son of GOD, The Savior; JESUS of Nazareth, Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:31). Until we get to Heaven and in GOD’s presence we will not know His Name, only then can we know and understand His Name (Revelation.19:12).

 https://youtu.be/OuaQ7sRGGcg

Revelation Chapter 7

 

Revelation Chapter 7 

Introduction: 

Chapter 7 is about the one hundred and forty four thousand (See 14:1-5) virgin Jewish men; twelve thousand each from the tribes of Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin; who are sealed with the Mark of GOD on their foreheads. The Heavenly and human hosts who worship GOD continuously.

:1 After these things I saw* four angels standing at the four corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:11-12), holding the four winds of the earth (Daniel 7:2*), that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.

*Four winds – Jeremiah 49:34-36; Ezekiel 37:9; Daniel 8:8, 11:4; Zechariah 2:6; Matthew 24:31 (Mark 13:27).

:2-3 Then I saw* another angel ascending from the east, having The Seal of The Living GOD; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea or the trees (Revelation 9:3-4) till we have sealed the servants of our GOD on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1; All Believers – Ephesians 1:13-14; Revelation 22:1-4).”

:4-8 And I heard the number of those who were sealed; one hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

                There is an addendum at the end of these notes on the Twelve Tribes listed and not listed in this section. Dan and Ephraim are excluded, Joseph and Manasseh are included.

:9-12 After these things* I looked and behold**, a great multitude which no one could number, of all the nations, tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before The throne and before The LAMB, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,  and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our GOD Who sits on The Throne and to The LAMB!” All the angels stood around The Throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before The Throne and worshipped GOD, saying: “Amen!

 Blessings and Glory and Wisdom, Thanksgiving and Honor and Power and Might, be to our GOD Forever and Ever. Amen!”

                As in chapters 4 and 5 we see great multitudes of heavenly and earthly creatures worshipping GOD.

:13-17 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of The Great Tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in The Blood of The LAMB (Revelation 20:4). Therefore they are before The Throne of GOD and serve Him day and night in His Temple; and He Who sits on The Throne will dwell among them (Revelation 21:3). They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore (Revelation 21:6); the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat (Revelation 21:23); for The LAMB Who is in the midst of The Throne Will Shepherd them and lead them to Living Fountains of Waters. And GOD Will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:4).”

* ”Then I saw”, “After these things”, “Next” are all phrases that tell the reader the order that John saw events or something was revealed to him: but not necessarily the order in which they happen! Just like in Revelation 22, verses 1-5 are about the Eternity, In 6-11 the angel is speaking to John in his present time, in 12-17 JESUS is talking about His 1000 year reign, 18-19 are a warning, 20 is JESUS seal of approval and 21 is a Blessing to all who read this Revelation. This is why we each must read and study the Scriptures, letting The HOLY SPIRIT teach us.

**Behold is said 27 times in Revelation, 26 times it is defined as: idŏu; lo, see, behold. From ĕidō; to see, to know, be aware, behold.

In Revelation 17:8 it is defined as blĕpō; to look at, behold, beware, lie, look, perceive, regard, see, sight, take heed.

Several times in The Revelation of JESUS CHRIST, John is told to look or behold, he is being told to see what is happening because he is expected to record it for the Church so we will know what GOD plans and therefore how we should participate in His Kingdom’s Work in the earth.

 

https://youtu.be/42vHk4waeo0

 

 

Addendum:

From Verse By Verse Ministry International 

In Revelation 7, the 144,000 Jewish men raised up to evangelize the world come from twelve tribes of Israel, but the tribe of Dan is missing from the list. Why?

The absence of Dan in the list of tribes in Revelation 7 is a source of much interest among Bible students. The text itself offers no explanation, but we can speculate based on some analysis.

First, it’s important to note that there are 13 named tribes in Israel, not twelve. Jacob bore twelve sons, but later Jacob adopted Joseph’s two sons in place of Joseph after moving to Egypt. Thereafter, the sons of Jacob were:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin

Secondly, there are at least 19 lists of Jacob's sons given in the Old Testament: Gen. 35:22-26; 46:8-25; 49:3-27; Exod. 1:2-5; Num. 1:5-15; 2:3-31; 13:4-15; 26:4-51; 34:19-28; Deut. 27:12-13; 33:6-25; Josh. 13:7-22; Judg. 5:12-18; 1 Chron. 2:1-8:40; 12:24-37; 27:16-22; Ezek. 48:1-7, 23-28, 31-34

Reviewing these lists, we usually find all thirteen tribes included though sometimes a tribe is left out (usually Levi). For example, in Numbers 1, 2, 13, and 26, the tribe of Levi is left out. In other cases, Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim, and Manasseh are combined under just the name Joseph. In one case, multiple tribes are missing (i.e., Judge 5). So, we see that it's not unusual for scripture to leave names out when listing the tribes of Israel.

But then we have the list in Revelation 7. This list is unique in several ways. First, it is the only list of the tribes of Israel in scripture to exclude Dan. Secondly, it is the only list to include Joseph in place of only one of his sons instead of both sons. Specifically, Joseph and Manasseh appear in the Revelation 7 list but Ephraim does not. Perhaps the exclusions of Dan and Ephraim are related?

Thirdly, the territories originally allotted to the tribes of Ephraim and Dan bordered one another in Canaan, but during the time of Judges Dan rejected its claim and moved north to occupy a part of the territory of Naphtali.

Finally, even though the name Joseph is listed in Revelation 7, no territory or tribe of Joseph actually exists. Joseph didn’t receive a portion in the land. His two sons were adopted by Jacob and received Joseph’s double portion instead. This raises the question how can there be 12,000 men from "Joseph" during Tribulation when no such tribe of people exists?

Given these clues, we can offer speculation on why Dan and Ephraim are missing from the list.

In Judges 17-21 we're given two stories of apostasy in Israel. Both stories center on the tribes of Dan and Ephraim and on the city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of David, God's choice for king over Israel. The writer of Judges emphasizes in these chapters that these were the days before Israel had a king. 

In those chapters of Judges, Dan sinned by viewing the land God allotted to them as unacceptable, so they abandoned it. While passing through Ephraim, they stole idols from a home and recruited a Levite to serve in a false temple in the new territory. As a result, Dan became the first tribe in Israel to embrace idol worship in Israel.

Meanwhile, the tribe of Ephraim, the source of the idols, assumed control over the land originally intended for Dan. They aided and abetted the Danites in bringing idolatry into the land of Israel. These sins give just cause for God to exclude them from the privilege of preparing Israel and the world for the Messiah's return.

Furthermore, since the tribe of Manasseh is already included in the list of Revelation 7, then we know that the tribe of Joseph can't represent his two sons, as is usually the case in scripture. Instead, Joseph still represents two tribes, but in this case Joseph replaces Dan and Ephraim, tribes historically and geographically linked by their conspiracy to introduce rebellion and idolatry into Israel. So they were excluded from this list by name with the name Joseph standing in their place.

Such a substitution allowed the Lord to retain the symmetry of twelve tribes while drawing attention to these tribes' joint contribution to idolatry in Israel. Since there is no literal tribe of Joseph, in a sense, we could say that Dan and Ephraim were “hidden” in Joseph. If so, then the 12,000 men of the tribe of Joseph in the Tribulation will actually be Danites and Ephraimites.

But there is a deeper message in their exclusion. The apostasy of Dan and Ephraim represented the low point in Israel's history immediately prior to the Lord raising up a king from Bethlehem to deliver Israel from its sin. Sound familiar?

This is exactly the pattern that will exist prior to the Lord's return to rule over Israel at the end of Tribulation. By excluding these two tribes from the list in Revelation 7, the Lord is pointing our attention back to the circumstances at the end of Judges. The final chapters of Judges (17-21) and the story of Ruth which follows Judges form a three-part story of the king's arrival to address the nation's idolatry.

Parts 1 and 2 of the story are found in Judges 17-21 and chronicle the growing apostasy of Israel under the influence of the Danites and Ephraimites. Part 3 of the story is found in Ruth, where the Messiah's arrival in Bethlehem (pictured by the arrival of Naomi's son in Bethlehem) serves as the hope of Israel. These events picture the greater arrival of Christ to rescue Israel from apostasy.

Therefore, Dan and Ephraim are missing in the list of Revelation 7 to draw our attention to the time of Judges, to illustrate that Israel is once again guilty of apostasy as it was in Judges under Dan and Ephraim. And once again the Lord will bring Israel a king from Bethlehem to rescue Israel from its apostasy, that is Jesus Christ. By excluding these two tribes, the Lord is emphasizing that the third part of the story is right around the corner. 

 

 

Valentine's Day 2-14-25

 

Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2025

 

Today is the day we celebrate love in its many forms:

Friendship

Family

Companionship

The Bond of war or tragedy

Marriage

GOD

 

Whoever you express love to today do not forget The One Who is Love (1 John 4:7-11) and Loved you so much that He planned your salvation before He created the heavens and the earth (1 Peter 1:18-21); and He planned the days of your life while you were in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-18).

Need - Good - Gift

Need – Good – Gift

 

Three of most Christians’ favorite memory verses are: Matthew 6:33; Romans 8:28; James 1:17.

 

Matthew 6:33 “Seek you first The Kingdom of GOD and His Righteousness and all these things (needs) will be added to you.”

Most skip 6:34 “Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself, each day had its own issues”

 

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things (that intersect our life) work together for Good to those who Love GOD and are The Called According to His Purpose.”

Most skip 8:27, 29-30 “Now He Who searches the hearts knows the what mind of The SPIRIT is, because He makes intercession for the Saints According to The Will of GOD…For whom He foreknew, He also Predestined to be Conformed to the Image of His Son (Philippians 3:8-10), that He might be The First Born among many Brethren. Moreover whom He Predestined, these He also Called; whom He Called, these He also Justified; and whom He Justified, these He also Glorified.”

 

James 1:17 “Every Good Gift and Perfect Gift is from Above, and comes down from The Father of Lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Most skip 16, 18”Do not be deceived my beloved Brethren…Of His Own Will He brought us forth  by The Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”

 

We have needs, wants and desires: needs are the things that keep us alive, air to breath, food and water to sustain our bodies, purpose to satisfy our desire to Please GOD. Wants and desires are not needs and we can live without them, it just feels like we have to have them to be happy and successful.

 

In Matthew 6:32 JESUS said, “For after all these things (Matthew 6:25-31) the Gentiles (non-believers) seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” That’s why verses 33-34 apply to our life. “Let go and Let GOD” or “Do not worry GOD supplies all our need” (Philippians 4:19)!

 

James tells us that every Good Gift comes for GOD, when we do a Good Deed we are sharing GOD’s Perfect Gift with others. Even unbelievers do this when they do a good deed toward someone else. We, as Born Again Believes in JESUS are Firstfruits of GOD’s Eternal Creation when we share His Perfect Gift with others; it has the Power to change lives (Romans 1:16-18).

 

Romans 8:27-30 is the fact that GOD has a plan for each of our lives (Psalm 139:13-18) and if we endure the process of life by trusting in GOD everything in our life (no matter how bad or good) He will Work according to His Purpose for our life. That is The Need and The Good together; it is The Gift of GOD to all who believe and live according to JESUS’ Commandments (John 8:31-32; 14:15-18, 23-24).

 

https://youtu.be/1WyjupSG6s8