The Rapture. The Catching Away. The Gathering Together Unto Him.

Every since I was a little child, I've heard that Jesus is coming soon. It's always been true, and none of know WHEN, not even Jesus. Father will allow Jesus to know WHEN it's time to gather His Bride, and bring us to a great marriage supper of the Lamb.

This passage marks an event that some have termed "The Rapture".
Verse 17 goes on to say:
Then 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.

It's also been called "The Catching Away."
It's also been called "The Gathering together to Him."

In II Thess. 2 we're told:
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

What exciting times we are living in.

We are living in days where things are happening that none of us on Earth have ever seen before. All around us we hear such things as "The End Times" - "The Last Days." There's danger all around us, and it could cause fear if we allow it.

To insure the safety of our lives and those of our families, we all need to get right and stay right with Jesus.

How do we do that?
John 3:16 tells us:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 3:23 says:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 says:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:8-10
8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Over in Psalm 91 we're told how to dwell safely.

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust."
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

FIRST He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. and the benefits of that decision bring us PROTECTION that is mentioned in the next 15 verses. WHAT WONDERFUL PROMISES we have here.

God thought of everything.

II Timothy 3:1 tells us:
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come

Even though we're living in strange - perilous times...
peril meaning:
1. exposure to injury, loss, or destruction; grave risk; jeopardy; danger
2. something that causes or may cause injury, loss, or destruction.

....we're shown HOW we can be safe.

Father, THANK YOU for showing us Your Son, Jesus. THANK YOU for HELPING US and showing us how to be safe. Help us to use Your Word to lead us all of our days. We need YOU, Lord. We look forward to the time we can BE WITH YOU, and in the mean time, I ask You to speak to our hearts to show us how to get right and stay right with You. In Jesus' Name.

Hungry and Thirsty?

Haven't we all been invited to either eat or drink something and realize that we're neither hungry or thirsty, and declined the invitation?
When we have an "invitation" to eat and drink from the Lord and His Word, and realize that we're not interested...what have we filled ourselves with? We're full of something if we're not hungry for the Lord.

We've got to come to a place to where we are fed up with how things in our lives are, in order to begin to make changes.

What happens between the time we've asked God for some answers and say "Amen" and the time we can say "There it is!". None of us, will be able to reach "There it is!" unless we are hungry and thirsty after God and His Word.

GOD HELP US!!!

There are seven things that we can put on a check list that will help to remind us how to stay on course and to remain hungry and thirsty after God. They are not original with me...but I have heard them from a minister named Jerry Savelle, of late.

#1. Get into God's presence.
We don't want to be in an arena of doubt, fear and discouragement. We need to surround ourselves with Godly teaching, Praise and Thanksgiving, get good praise and music going into us.

#2. Don't rely on what I already know about God.
Keep learning about Him and His Word. We've got to understand that we cannot live on yesterday or yesteryears food we've had from God. Need FRESH MANNA.

#3. Deepen your relaitonship with God.
We need to become more intimate with God than we have ever been.

#4. Press Into Jesus.
Cast down worry, frustration, doubt, unbelief with the Word of God in your mouth.
Opposition against us, is designed by the devil to discourage us. We cannot afford discouragement while we're waiting for "There it is!". When we're on the brink of a breakthrough in our lives, satan will certainly bring what would appear to be overwhelming circumstance that we've got to be prepared to pull down with God's Word.

#5. Rekindle your desire for God's Word.
Purposefully make it a point to stay in God's Word. It's there that we'll be encouraged - receive instruction, and be motivated by His Mighty Word. It will always point us to victory that He's provided for us through the finished work of Jesus. The thing satan hates more than anything else is one that is in the Word. The worst thing we can do between "Amen" and "There it is!" is listen to the lies of the devil. he will continually try to distract us and keep us from God's Word.

#6. Make sure you keep your life pure.
Discouragement can lead to compromise. If we're not feeding on the Word, staying in His presence we can open the door to sin. Don't open a door to the devil in any way. There's much at stake here, when we're on the brink of victory the devil will do what he can to distract us, and cause us to compromise our lives.

#7. Give Yourself to Prayer
It's hard to get discouraged when you're in communication with God. It's two way communication. Me talking to and also listening to God. We're to keep ourselves encouraged. We're to get our mind off ourselves and our needs, and pray for others.

Father, I ask You to HELP US. Help us not to be so full on everything else around us and give other things the place that is meant for ONLY YOU! Help us to BECOME and STAY Hungry and Thirsty after YOU, In Jesus' Name.

In Remembrance Of Me

I Corinthians 11:25, 26
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

Different churches make use of communion in different ways, at different times. All the Lord said was that as often as you do it, do it in remembrance of Him.

While growing up I understood that I needed to get my life right with the Lord BEFORE taking communion, as well we should, as Scripture bears that out. But that's not all what this is about.

Taking Communion is not just a ritual that most do once a month, twice a month or even each week.
It's not a ceremonial thing.
It's a LIFE thing.

What we are doing is reminding ourselves of the Body and Blood of Jesus, taking it, the New Covenant that He cut FOR US.

All that is in the provision of that Covenant is OURS.
Do we need healing?
Do we need peace?
Do we need forgiveness?
Do we need our lives in God's order?
Do we need HELP FROM GOD?

Whatever it is that I need, while I'm receiving communion, I call out to God for it.
When Jesus came, shed His Blood and died, was raised from the dead - He bought us salvation. Salvation is not just our ticket out of hell. THANK GOD FOR THAT TOO. But salvation is EVERYTHING we need from God's bosom in THIS life. He thought of it all.

None of us can put one foot in front of the other by ourselves. :)
All the provision that He's made, He also put it in one of His names. El Shaddi, which means the all beasted one. When a baby comes into our arms and a mother nurses that child, that breast milk has everything that child needs.

God has everything that we need in our lives. Often we don't even KNOW what we need.
While we find ourselves close to the Lord, calling out to Him and bearing our heart to Him, His provision is THERE for US ALL, all the time. We can depend upon Him meeting those needs.

In the Gospels we're told to pray God's will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
There's no sin, sickness, disease, lack, torment...etc etc., in heaven. I don't need provision for those things in heaven. I NEED THEM NOW, in this life.

That BLESSED Covenant! How wonderful to be able to call out to God for all it is to us. Often, after praying, I'll reach for communion elements to seal my prayers in His Blood and through the provision of His Covenant.

In Galatians 3:13-14 we're told:
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Jesus took the curse of this life for us. Thank God!

I want to encourage you to reach for the elements of communion often. Enjoy the blessings in the New Covenant Jesus bought for us. Don't allow the power of communion be relegated to a mere ritual. It's powerful. It's lifegiving.

Father, thank You for sending Jesus FOR US. Jesus, thank You for being obedient unto Your own death. Thank YOU for providing everything that we need in THIS LIFE. HELP US to look to YOU the author and finisher of our faith, our GREAT provider and Mighty deliverer. Teach us how to pray, Lord. Help us to understand what this "communion" is all about, and make use of it the way YOU intended for us to. :) Lord, thank You! In Jesus' Name.

Call on ME - I'll Show You GREAT and MIGHTY THINGS

Jeremiah 33:3
'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

The Word of God says that Hezekiah began to reign when he was 25 and that he reigned as king for 29 years. His father-in-law was Zechariah. Here's a brief account of the mans character......

In II Kings 18:3-7 we're told:
3 And he (Hezekiah) did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.
4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
6 For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses.
7 The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

During Hezekiah's reign, the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) wrote a threatening letter to King Hezekiah. The king of Assyria blasphemed God, let Hezekiah know what his intentions were and that...

18:35
Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?' "

An arrogant cuss, eh? :)

God had sent a message to King Hezekiah by Isaiah, straight away and told him...

II Kings 19:6, 7
6 'Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." ' "

Sennacherib had been a formidable enemy for a very long time, in that region, and his conquests had been known far and wide. He sent a letter to King Hezekiah....

II Kings 19:10-13
10 "Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: 'Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, "Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."
11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where [is] the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?' "

When King Hezekiah received this letter...
II Kings 19:14
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: "O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
16 Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
17 Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands--wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone."

Hezekiah bore his heart to God, calling for His help.

God sent another message to King Hezekiah...
II Kings 19:20
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.'

...and part of that message was:

19:32-34
32 "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: 'He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,' Says the LORD.
34 'For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David's sake.' "

THEN THE LORD TOOK CARE OF THIS MATTER...and Sennacherib met his demise.

19:35-37
35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses--all dead.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Is the devil breathing down your neck with threatenings that try to overwhelm you?
DO WHAT KING HEZEKIAH DID. Take all those threats, fears to the Lord and spread them out upon His altar. Call upon His Name, Cover yourself with the Blood of His Son, the finished work of Jesus.

Whatever is trying to terrorize us, we need to take some diffinitive action against it all, and not limit the Holy One of Israel. What is impossible with man IS POSSIBLE WITH GOD. It doesn't matter HOW LONG hell has enslaved any of us, what display of his might and strong hold that he's intimidated us with. What we MUST do to overcome any bondage of hell, is to rise up, pour our hearts out before the Lord and ALLOW HIM to come to our defense.

It will do no good to stay on the phone hashing out our troubles from fence post to fence post. It will do us no good to eat it, speak it, drink it and loose sleep over any of it.

The ONLY thing that will do any of us ANY GOOD will be to call out to God.
We're not equipped to handle the devil, his plans or the stress it causes...it will make us sick in body, soul and spirit.

His ear is not deaf and His arm is not short.
Isaiah 59:1
1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

Isaiah 40:28-31
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Jeremiah 33:3
3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

Father, YOU ARE OUR GREAT AND MIGHTY GOD. HELP US to remember to take every threat from hell and lay it at Your altar. Help us to TRUST YOU, that it is not only within Your power to HELP US, but it is YOUR DESIRE to do so. You alone are our Deliverer. In Jesus' Name.

Encourage Yourself In The Lord!!!

Do you remember the account when King David had the conflict with the Amalekites. He and his gang came back from battle and and all their families, wives, children .... everyone had been taken?
It was at that time, when his troops rose up and wanted to stone him because he took them away to war and it cost them their families?

I Samuel 30:6
6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. BUT DAVID STRENGTHENED HIMSELF IN THE LORD HIS GOD.7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Please bring the ephod here to me." And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And He answered him, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all."

They came across an Egyptian that told them he was part of the group that brought destruction to their homes and kidnapped their people. David inquired of him and asked if the young man could take them to the troops that left him behind. The boy said he would IF David would swear to him that he'd niether kill him or deliver him to his master. The deal was struck.

16. And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17 Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
18 So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
19 And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.

Every one of us have had the murauders of hell to come to produce a holocaust in our lives. They come for the quest of plunder, to invade, attack, ravage and to pillage for every spoil they can get their hands on.

I want to remind us to get up - to strengthen ourselves in GOD - and to Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all

The devil will try to take us through a valley and keep us looking back at his handiwork, pining away at the defeat we had, to remind us of what HE'S done in our lives....but I SAY NO!!!! I will not be reminded of that.....I will say LOOK WHAT MY MIGHTY GOD HAS DELIVERED ME FROM and put the devils stinking nose in THAT, MY OVERCOMING VICTORY.

I want to encourage you to DECREE what it is that you want for your life.
Job 22:28 says:
You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways.

There have been times that I've told my husband that it's his tough luck he's married to me, I know how to pray, and God HEARS AND ANSWERS MY PRAYERS.
I've had to throw off slander from all sides in my life.
I've had to throw off ill spoken words of every kind from all around me.
I've had to disregard what man says about me because all I want to do is to please God.
I've had to tell those bastard devils (and they are bastards, they've left their Creator, their Father, without God) that they're messing with the WRONG WOMAN, because I'm NOT GOING to allow death to creep into the windows of MY HOME!!!

Remember Jeremiah 9:17-21. The king had blown it....the priests had blown it, and they called for the INTERCEEDING WOMEN!!!

vs. 21 says that death had come through their windows, and had entered their palaces, to kill off the children, no longer to be outside, and the young men, no longer on the streets

HELL be DAMNED if he thinks he's going to plunder my life and that of my family!!! MY CHILDREN? - NEVER!!!! NOT THE FRUIT OF MY BODY!!!!

I've arose up to ENCOURAGE MYSELF IN THE LORD and decreed and am decreeing NOW the things that I'm not backing down from....FOREVER!

I'm DECREEING THAT I'M RECOVERING ALL, without fail!
My peace.
My childrens peace.
Every single penny he's stolen from me.
Every bit of sleep he's attempted to steal from me.
Every bit of health and healing that belongs to us all.
Every bit of life that belongs in my home, my husband, myself and my children.
Lost relationships.
Everything that I don't even KNOW that has been stolen, I'm commanding it back into my life.

You get the picture?

While you are walking through your days, and nights, YOU encourage YOURSELF IN GOD!
You DECREE everything that YOU want in your life and that of your family. You remind yourself and the Lord of HIS WORD.
Take the bold stand against all of hell, that has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), and don't be moved off of what you KNOW. That devil is defeated from day ONE...and the only place for him/them is UNDER your feet....because GOD has given you power over ALL the power of the devil, through the finished work of Jesus. Luke 10:19 - Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Father, I ask You let the fuel of YOUR WORD encourage us and motivate us into everything that YOU ARE DOING AT THIS TIME IN OUR LIVES. Lord YOU said that we are made OVERCOMERS BY THE BLOOD OF YOUR SON AND THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY. I thank You that YOU HELP US to take back everything that hell has stolen from us...that we recover all, and walk in the Overcoming victory that even David did. In the Name of Jesus.

Mercy Said No!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_SjhKJgqGg

Ms. Cece Winans sings this song at the link above.
I don't usually post songs here, but this has been ringing in my heart today and it has a powerful message that bears repeating, even if you already know what it is. The lyrics are below.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was just a child, when I felt the Savior leading
I was drawn to what I could not understand
And for the cause of Christ, I have spent my days believing
That what He'd have me be, is who I am

As I've come to see the weaker side of me
I realize His grace is what I'll need
When sin demanded justice for my soul

(Chorus)
Mercy said no
I'm not gonna let you go
I'm not gonna let you slip awayyyyyyyyyyyyyy
You don't have to be afraid
Mercy said no
sin will never ever take control
Life and death stood face to face
Darkness tried to steal my heart away
Thank You Jesus, Mercy said nooooooooooooooo

For God so loved the world, that He sent His son to save us
From the cross He built a bridge to set us free
Oh, but deep within our hearts, there is still a war that rages
And makes a sacrifice so hard to see

As midnight fell on crucifixion day
The light of hope seemed oh so far away
As evil tried to stop redemption's flow

(Repeat Chorus)

(Bridge)
And now when heaven looks at me
It's through the blood of Jesus
Reminding me of one day long ago

(Repeat Chorus)