Moses was a man with a high calling. He was to lead his enslaved people out of the land of their oppression and through the desert. Then he was to take them into a beautiful country and conquer the land for God.
God's plans are always good, but when we walk in God's ways, we always encounter adversaries and obstacles.
The first problem for Moses came when he was born. Pharaoh wanted to kill all the male babies of the Hebrews, but God saved his life. Pharaoh's daughter found Moses and took pity on him. She adopted Moses and gave him back to his mother. What a miracle of God!
In these end times, we Christians have a great calling. Do you want to be part of a mighty end-time revival? Then you have an adversary who wants to stop you. God's kingdom is coming, but the devil wants to nip the end-time revival in the bud.
One of the enemy's tactics is to spread the negative teaching that we should only expect decay before the return of the Lord Jesus, that God is supposedly not planning a great revival.
But in the Bible I find God's prophetic promise that we should expect both darkness and glory.
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Is 60:1–2 NRSV
Does this only apply to the Jews? No.
Jesus commanded the apostles to set in motion a mission that is to increase until his return.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ... Mt 28:19 NRSV
We have not yet reached all nations. The Great Commission still applies. Just as with Moses, God's great plan will face terrible opposition.
Moses needed amazing supernatural miracles to overcome Pharaoh's resistance. Likewise, we need amazing miracles to overcome the devil's opposition in our time.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mk 16:17–18 NRSV
Sunday, October 20, 2024
End Time Battles
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Hope in Troubled Times
The world is shaking. Everything is uncertain. First Covid, then Ukraine, now war in the Middle East.
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. Hag 2:6–7 NIV
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Is 60:1–2 NRSV
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the age of faith, it was the age of scepticism,
a season of light, a season of darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us”
Dickens, Charles. Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
The world of yesterday is never coming back. The world of today is a mess.
We wait, but we do not know what to expect.
The future will be different from the past, but we do not know what will come and when it will come. But wait with patience. In the deep darkness, God is not a passive bystander.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to look death in the face. He confronted the power of darkness with open eyes. He was executed by the enemy, that is, hanged by the SS, but he entered God's loving presence at that very moment.
He wrote the following words:
Wonderfully sheltered by good powers
Let us confidently await what may come
God is with us in the evening and in the morning
And certainly every new day. (Translated from German)
But these terrible last years before peace were like labour pains. Two new babies appeared. A new Germany, a civilised democratic country, and a new Israel, the restored homeland of the Jews.
This convulsion will continue. Covid did not come from God. We are experiencing cruel demonic attacks, but God still remains God. God is good and He is controlling this shaking to accomplish His will.
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Is 60:1–2 NRSV
I believe that the worst time will be the best time.
But the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Hab 2:14 NRSV
Countless millions will bow before Jesus. The long-awaited reformation will finally come to light.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES
"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbour, Pressing him to your bottle,
Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his (or her) nakedness! Habakkuk 2:15 (NKJV)
In this chapter we also see the most horrible sin dominating the world in the darkest of times.
It speaks of evil men using violent coercion and alcohol (or drugs) to sexually abuse powerless victims (male or female).
In today’s world rape, kidnapping and trading slaves for prostitution is out of control. It is a huge global industry.
Liberal humanist governments have legalised prostitution in many countries, hoping this will prevent and help control violent criminal sexual abuse but such laws has often have often produced the opposite result.
The democratic freedom we rightly value comes from Western Europe, Britain and former British colonies. These are the countries where the Bible once had a profound influence on culture.
It is true that classical Greece was pagan but that country only gave democratic rights to the male citizens, who were a privileged class ruling over women and slaves.
It is also true that the French Revolution also proclaimed faith in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. However the French Revolution was the scene of the most depraved mass slaughters, horrific wars and an epidemic of arbitrary executions.
Liberal democracy is only fully effective when there is a measure of respect for Biblical truth and moral goodness.
When the God of the Bible is ignored or despised, Western Society, once known as Christendom, falls to pieces. That is what we are seeing today.
All Western Countries are sinking under a mountain of debt and moral confusion.
I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected.
Then the LORD answered me and said: "Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.
"Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith. Hab 2:1-4 (NKJV)
In the traumatic End Times, faithful believers will seek personal encounters with the Living God of Israel and He will not disappoint us.
God will share profound and powerful truths with those who love Him and listen to Him.
When God gives you a message to share, don’t wait until your pastor invites you to preach on Sunday because it probably won’t happen.
God calls you to share His messages with the people around you, at home, at work, on the bus and on the Internet.
But don’t just preach. Live by faith. In these difficult times, only a profoundly personal faith in God will get you through.
However, the End Time is not only a time of darkness.
God will answer our heart cry for His presence in a way we have not yet seen or understood, although many of us are beginning to experience fresh revelations of His glory.
For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea. Hab 2:14 (NKJV)
We see a similar message in Isaiah.Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people;
But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. Isa 60:1 (NKJV)
It is time for us to begin to see the glory of God in more dramatic abundance than ever before.
I believe we will see extreme miracles which will surpass the miracles of Moses and the Miracles worked by Jesus when He lived as a man.
Never before in history has the earth been FILLED with the KNOWLEDGE of the Glory of God but it will happen.
And it will happen in the midst of darkness and strife before Jesus returns.