God has not forgotten

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, "Come away from her, My people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds.
(Rev 18:4-5 NLT)

As we strive to build a great nation have we left God behind? But I do not know anything about building a nation, then look at what you are building. Are you a business owner, what about your own household, for each one should look around and take an account of the things they labor over. Is God included or are the things of God of no consequence? Does God’s standards seem antiquated and impede production? While the world toils to be something great they leave behind the very things God told us He would honor.

Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to be My disciple must follow Me, because My servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves Me.
(Joh 12:25-26 NLT)

Babylon represents the peak of all human striving that lifts up mankind, not God and in return she will fall and the world will watch in amazement as a great society crashes to the ground bringing low all who made a profit from her greed.

The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries. In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God's holy people and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world."
(Rev 18:23-24 NLT)

God is holy and just who can question His ways or reasons for doing what He sees fit? When we sin and the consequences are not seen right away that doesn’t mean God doesn’t care but He is long suffering, patient, and full of mercy. The longer we turn a blind eye towards God’s conviction the less likely we are to hear His final call to come in from the darkness before it’s too late.

Am I prepared?

"Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for Me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed."
(Revelation 16:15 NLT)

God has provided His Word to lead, guide, and protect those who love Him. Those who have a heart for Him, who live expecting to see His return, will not be disappointed. How often have things such as tragedies, heartbreak, and trouble got our attention and refocused our eyes upon Christ? Tell me are we not loved by our Heavenly Father who prepares us for what is to come. In the days we read about in Revelation the difference between those who belong to the beast and who belong to God can be determined by what or who the eye is trained on. If we live this life now looking to God in the little things how much more will we look to Him at the end of time? All will look to the heavens in those days, many shaking their fists but only those who know God will be saved!

You will know you are prepared by looking at your relationship with Him now. Do you make an effort to know Him in the midst of your busy life? The primary means of knowing and recognizing the character of God is to read the Bible, His Word, and praying that the Holy Spirit will give you wisdom and understanding as you read it so that God’s Word is etched into your very soul. This way when trouble comes you will already know the answer and you will not be found searching. There will be no knowing Him the day of because the test will be beyond all that you have faced before. Like the days of school either you are learning each day from the teacher and your text book or you cram the night before the big test, one yields good results the other not so much and because no one knows when the time will come the only option that brings peace and joy is to live for Him today. Read Revelation and see what is in store for humanity, then read chapter 16 and see what leads to Armageddon. Is this something you want to face without knowing Christ Jesus? Many will dismiss it, saying it’s only a story but are you willing to bet your soul on it? And what will you do when the day comes and you are reminded of what you read in Revelation? Will you cram like you did in school? If you could not give your life to God when times were good how can you expect to do it when doing so will mean you will lose your life? To those not prepared the book of Revelation is a warning but to those who are it is the finish line to a race and the winner’s circle is just on the other side.

The choice not the consequences is ours to control

Then a third angel followed them, shouting, "Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God's anger. It has been poured full strength into God's cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name." This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying His commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!"
(Rev 14:9-13 NLT)

In the end we will either take the mark of the beast or remain faithful unto the Lord. No one is saying it will is something that will be taken lightly but regardless the choice is ours to make and when we do the consequences that come because of that choice will be out of our control. God’s Word will either enrage or be a life-giving spring of hope, there is no middle ground then as there seems to be today. Even today there is no middle ground, except that the enemy has fooled, deceived, and blinded all who will listen. The enemy’s first attack is to get you to believe God doesn’t exist. It’s only after you have stood your ground, by standing on God’s Word that he comes against you ready to battle in all the fury he can muster but God has raised a standard and the blood of the Lamb makes known who we are and who we belong to.

Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
(1Co 13:12 NLT)

We cannot understand what God has planned or why, for He has kept much understanding from us but there will be a day we will look back and understand all that God has done. He is great and greatly to be praised, for He knows exactly what He is doing and one day we will understand without fear what He now asks to believe by faith.

Those who live by the sword

They've made their bed; now they must lie in it. Anyone marked for prison goes straight to prison; anyone pulling a sword goes down by the sword. Meanwhile, God's holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.
(Rev 13:10 MSG)

The difference between the people of the world and the people of God is that the first do what they feel is right and then they justify it by their own reasoning, while the later does what God says is right and are justified by One greater than themselves. It amazes me how many “Christians” prepare for the end by stock piling guns, ammunition, and other devices meant to kill to keep from being killed should things get really bad. Don’t get me wrong I value life and because of that I would gladly lay down my own to protect my family but what’s more important is that we recognize the salvation of our souls.

Jesus referred to physical healing as the children’s bread (Matthew chapter 15) for He knew to touch the soul He must first meet the need the people understood best. So to lay down your life for another has a great impact on not just their physical being but their very soul. What good would it do to save someone’s life only to allow their eternal life (the spirit) die and who can save the spirit but Jesus? Did Simon Peter’s sword save Jesus when he cut off the slave’s ear of the high priest who came to have Jesus arrested? You see Jesus gave His life for ours but His spirit, the Holy Spirit only continued to increase and even when Jesus’ body lay in the tomb the Holy Spirit was at work. Jesus’ death brought atonement for our sins but His resurrection gave hope and new life to our spirits.

So life is a precious gift from the Father of Lights but spiritual life is beyond measure and without end. Don’t give up the eternal for the temporary, even at the end.

Eternal value

And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
(Rev 12:11 NLT)

The devil, who accuses Christ’s own, will be defeated by the blood of the Lamb and by our testimony of God’s salvation and those who belong to Christ know Him and are not afraid to die because their eyes are set on Him and their trust is in Him.

Not all will die for Christ by the sword but in those last days as Satan’s army wars against the heavenly hosts it sounds like that is how God will gather the last of His people unto Himself. Those who do find themselves in that time and place will no doubt look around, see the horrible things taking place and know that their time is short but they will also know God has something better in store and the last and greatest threshold they must cross is death. For they will not back down about their testimony of Christ because He is their all in all and even though backing down would allow them to keep their lives they trade it gladly because by faith they know what lies ahead.

We read Revelation and think how terrible it would be to live through all that will take place on the earth, and it is true but as the end draws near and the evidence of God’s great judgment becomes more obvious it does something to change people. No longer are we concerned about lives of comfort as bags of gold will be traded for a loaf of bread. No longer are we concerned about building warehouses to store our riches. No longer can we stretch out our arms in pride and point to all that we have accomplished because God will be bringing to a close a chapter in His great story. People will either try to save their lives and disregard the salvation that stands before them or they will give what remains to God and prepare for whatever He has planned. You’ve heard the saying whatever doesn’t break you makes you stronger, well this time only those who live by faith will be made stronger and the rest will be broken.

What does that mean for us today as we live to make our lives more comfortable, as we plan to accomplish our goals in this life? One thing it means is that we better learn not to hold too tightly to the things of earth, the things meant to satisfy the flesh. We do not know when Christ will return but when He does the dead in Christ will rise up out of the ground to go be with Him first, whether those who are alive in Christ on that day will return to heaven with Him at the same time remains to be seen. We do know that there will be those who become saved during the Great Tribulation and since that is the case that indicates there will be others to witness of Christ’s love, meaning that not all who belong to Christ will escape the display of God’s wrath on the earth. Revelation makes it very clear that those who belong to God and remain on the earth during this time will be protected up until chapter twelve and then after seeing all that has taken place that change I mentioned that will make some stronger and crush others will act to galvanize the saints of God and prepare them for the final threshold they must cross before coming home.

Learning the Master's call

For God to warn me about something through His Holy Spirit but me not recognize Him only to later find out that was God speaking and if I had listened and obeyed I would have been in a better place serves the purpose of spiritual growth. Not necessarily talking sin, for example I sleep with a pillow to hug, the Lord spoke to me to wash it and keep it clean, I didn’t listen, reasoning how dirty could it be but after months of it falling on the floor and the dog occasionally getting in bed I ended up with a sinus infection. This morning He spoke to me again and reminded me of what He originally said after I had gone to the doctor and had a test ran because of consistent headaches. In this way He is teaching me to listen more carefully. The question in situations like these is not whether I want to obey or not but how do I know God’s voice from my own thoughts, for things like this has happened to me a number of times. I feel led to do something but not recognize it as God’s leading and then later be reminded of what He first said.

Because of this I am more sensitive to His leading than I used to be and when I do recognize His voice I am usually quick to obey but I find He keeps leading me to be more in tune with who He is as I grow. God’s leading will never contradict the Bible and the beginning to knowing His voice is a daily relationship with Him through prayer, study, and worship. Deep calls to deep, the more you know of Him the more you want to know.

Deep calls to deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me.
(Psa 42:7 MKJV)

Often the beginning of hearing God’s leading is Him reminding you of things you’ve already read in the Bible that pertains to certain circumstances in your life. At that point you are required to act upon that leading (obey). As the frequency of this increases God’s voice doesn’t become louder but quieter. Hearing God’s leading doesn’t become easier but more challenging, the same is typically true with obeying. The reason for this is that God is causing you to grow in spirit and to keep in tune with Him the prayer, study, and worship becomes more important not less. Many work on the physical appearance with makeup, hair styles, the clothes they wear, or diet and working out, even education and career path which are good but all along starve the spirit until it is too weak and is forced to do what the physical man wants. To feed your spirit by spending time with God and by practice recognizing His voice and then letting your spirit control your flesh by obeying God’s leading is to become the spiritual leader God means for you to be. Though many are called few will listen, even fewer will obey but God’s remnant He will honor; to those who learn to be led by the spirit and not the flesh those He will set apart for His work and the world will know they are different.

A thankful heart

God loves a thankful heart so be sure to thank Him for today as you rise out of bed regardless of what is going on, happy or sad, easy or difficult, sunshine or rain He has something waiting for you. He is not our sugar daddy, meaning we only pray when we need something. It is the consistent relationship through thick and thin that has value. The Bible says the prayers of a righteous man availeth much or has much power and produces wonderful results (James 5:16). Righteousness is the quality of being morally right or justifiable and if that’s so who justifies us? To answer that you have to ask to whom will we give an account when this life is over? Is it not God and did God not send His Son Jesus to die for our sins? Then it is only by knowing Jesus and having a relationship with the Father that we can be called righteous or justified. We serve a God of mysteries and many of them can be known through simple obedience. You want to know how to pray then learn the character of God, learn what touches His heart and desire the things He desires, your journey starts with obediance. When God told Israel to rejoice in the Old Testament He did not say it was conditional, only rejoice if you feel like it. No many times they were told to rejoice it was in the time of difficulties and living in the desert and so it is with us. In this way when difficulties come we cannot be shaken and we know exactly who to look to because of our relationship with Him.