Author: Ben Bourland

“Here [comes in a call for] the steadfastness of the saints [the patience, the endurance of the people of God], those who [habitually] keep God’s commandments and [their] faith in Jesus.  Then I heard further [perceiving the distinct words of] a voice from heaven, saying, Write this: Blessed (happy, to be envied) are the dead from now on who die in the Lord! Yes, blessed (happy, to be envied indeed), says the Spirit, [in] that they may rest from their labors, for their works (deeds) do follow (attend, accompany) them!” Revelation 14:12-13 ->me: I have said in previous QTVOTDs, I am meeting monthly with a group of men (13 of us), where we discuss study topics and support each other’s growth in Christ.  This month we are reading “The Treasure Principle” by Randy Alcorn.  These verses really spoke to me and support the assertions Randy makes in his book…that we take no material achievement with us into eternity.  What we do take is works (deeds) done through faith.  What we want to do while we are here is to build up and send forward treasures (deeds).  One of those ways is to give money, another is give time, and yet another is give spiritual/emotional support.  If at some point the Lord blesses me by taking me home, will I feel good about the things (deeds) I am bringing with me?  Will my U-Haul be full?  This is yet another confirmation by the Lord…now through my quiet time…that I have so much, I can, and need to do.  Lord, help me to hold firm to my faith and hope in Eternity, and let go of the earthly resources, You have put in my charge, that need to flow to the places You need them.

“These are they who have not defiled themselves by relations with women, for they are [pure as] virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These are they who have been ransomed (purchased, redeemed) from among men as the first-fruits for God and the Lamb.  No lie was found to be upon their lips, for they are blameless (spotless, untainted, without blemish) before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:4-5 ->me: No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth but I have missed 2 days quiet times…and I have felt it.  Last night I was watching TV and found myself being engrossed in dramas of this world and filling time before drifting off to bed.  The knowledge of missing time with my Lord and Savior in His word weighed on me…I missed Him…so this is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Day -> I am thankful for God’s coaxing hand through His Spirit: Even though I had not been in dedicated time with Him the last couple of days I felt His presence in my thoughts and prayers while in my prep work for this day.  I am thankful for the people He has put in my life to sharpen me further: Those who have been put there as an accountability or giving me just the  admonishment I need.  I am thankful for the Power God has given me through my surrender to Him (His Power in my weakness):  This is the only power that matters; a Power that allows me to stay pure in my thoughts, a Power to turn away from evil, and Power of wisdom to follow Him and stay in His waterfall of grace and blessing.  Finally, I am thankful for His redemptive Grace that is so hard to understand:  The Grace that says “You can approach My throne because I only see My Son when I look at you” or “You can talk to Me because I don’t hold against you anything My Son has already died for in your place”.  Then if that were not enough, He has blessed me with a family and friends who are the most precious gifts God could give me on this earth.

“Whoever leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Herein is [the call for] the patience and the faith and fidelity of the saints (God’s people).” Revelation 13:10 ->me: There is some debate on this verse in the commentaries but here are my thoughts.  The first part ‘Whoever leads into captivity will himself go into captivity,’ better translates into ‘Whoever God leads into captivity will indeed go into captivity’ (this is very close to the RSV).  So, to me this is a statement about the purposes of God perfectly executed -> if it is God’s will that I get abducted while on a missions trip then that is indeed what is going to happen.  If I am following God through prayer and His word then I can be at peace in every situation because that is exactly where God has me at that time and place – I should be looking for the opportunities to serve Him in every circumstance, even if it is under adversity.  The second part ‘if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain’, I believe is about trust.  When Peter drew his sword to kill the servant in garden, when Jesus was betrayed, Jesus said ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?’ (Matthew 26:52-53) God calls me to trust Him implicitly; in every situation and circumstance.  God forbid I take something into my own hands and create a detour the Lord must take me through that might be 100 times harder than just trusting that God has every aspect of my existence situated in the events of His plan for my life.

“And all the inhabitants of the earth will fall down in adoration and pay him homage, everyone whose name has not been recorded in the Book of Life of the Lamb that was slain [in sacrifice]from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8 ->me: ALL the inhabitants of the world will worship and follow the beast except those whose names are found written in the Book of Life.  The unsaved will not see, they will be blind.  So this drives me to think that I might need to question pre-trib…but lets not go there just yet.  It still haunts me that ALL WILL fall down in adoration of the beast.  There was a cool saying I read in ‘The Treasure Principle’ -> Randy Alcorn—“There is a life lived in love and sacrifices for the Kingdom of God; apart from faith in Christ, there is no explanation for such a life.”  How do I expect people of the world, the same ones who will worship the beast if they don’t find Jesus, to understand my motives and actions if I don’t explain the gospel to them.  Time is short, I must accelerate my mission to bring more and better disciples.

“And the beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but his feet were like those of a bear and his mouth was like that of a lion. And to him the dragon gave his [own] might and power and his [own] throne and great dominion.  And one of his heads seemed to have a deadly wound. But his death stroke was healed; and the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration.” Revelation 13:2-3  ->me: Some serious imagery here.  2 things from this passage. The first is a more firm understanding of why I think we see the dragon, beast, etc described the way we do by John.  I am pretty sure this is what he saw and how God knew to show him in a way that we could see the ugliness and horrible evil that is wrapped up in the devil and his henchman.  I am sure that if you were to see the beast (the anti-christ) he is probably a normal looking man the world will follow during his time in the end days…but if you were to describe his internal initiatives and contempt for God, you would put together John’s image of the anti-christ.  The second thing that the Lord impressed upon me through this is that the sin in us can be wounded but cannot die until the end of time.  I believe this is a reminder that I must remain vigilant my entire earthly life against the sin of this world.  Through God’s strength I can overcome in the end but it will be a fight the entire way…I can NEVER let my guard down.

“So then the dragon was furious (enraged) at the woman, and he went away to wage war on the remainder of her descendants—[on those] who obey God’s commandments and who have the testimony of Jesus Christ [and adhere to it and bear witness to Him].” Revelation 12:17 ->me: Today I had the privilege of leading my Life Group men in a devotion and set of commitments to God and each other.  This afternoon while I was on a walk and reading up on what God has laid on my heart, I felt the attack of satan.  I had to stop my walk, turn off Audible, and pray asking for the Lord to give me the strength to resist the flaming arrows of the evil one.  I prayed and quoted my daughter Bella’s life verse (Psalms 27:4-5).  At that moment, my mind became clear and I was able to continue with my walk and preparation.  This verse is a reminder that I am a child of the King.  I can expect to be targeted by the devil because of my faith.  Satan is at war with all Christians.  Although I obviously don’t like the threats, encounters, and punches from the evil one, I am comforted to know that he is only doing that because I am born again and saved by the Grace that is new every morning.  BTW – the time with my men was awesome!  If you are interested in what we did, please reach out to me.  God, thank you for your chastening.  Thank you for allowing me in as an adopted member of your family – for my hope is in You!

“Therefore be glad (exult), O heavens and you that dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in fierce anger (fury), because he knows that he has [only] a short time [left]!” Revelation 12:12 ->me:  Now that satan has been cast down to earth, everyone in heaven is free of hearing satan’s accusations day and night…but the earth and sea now get the full on fury.  The troubles of the persecuted righteous arise not because Satan is too strong, but because he is beaten. He is doing all the harm he can while he can. But he will not be able to do this for much longer.  When I was on my “Building Faithful Men” retreat, one of the gents in my group talked about what sin does when we go after it to slay it.  It acts like a man who is being crucified – imagine, if you were being led up Golgotha and knew what was ahead as you drug your cross up the hill; your mind would be racing with all of the possible outs you might have.  When the soldiers then pinned you down and took your left hand to be nailed, you would fight for your life; you would kick, squirm, spit, and anything else you could do to escape or delay…then that first nail would go in and the searing pain would have you fight even harder.  You would fight even though your one hand has a nail through it (you would be weighing the options of tearing your hand loose).  Then, when that second nail went in your fight would begin to subside you start to accept the inevitable result.  Soon you relent to only staying alive in your predicament, but your time is short.  Our sin reacts no different when we go after it.  When the Lord reveals your sin to you, and in your new creature you begin to remove it from your life, you can be assured that sin will fight back harder than you have ever seen it before…but stay true, don’t let it get away…its time is short if you persevere.

“Then I heard a strong (loud) voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now it has come—the salvation and the power and the kingdom (the dominion, the reign) of our God, and the power (the sovereignty, the authority) of His Christ (the Messiah); for the accuser of our brethren, he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out!  And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death [holding their lives cheap till they had to die for their witnessing].” Revelation 12:10-11 ->me: These 2 verses come after the dragon has been defeated by the Angel armies and cast out of heaven and down to earth.  There are 2 very impactful statements in these 2 verses that have been on my mind yesterday and today.  1) ‘he who keeps bringing before our God charges against them day and night, has been cast out!’ – What stood out at me is that satan is busy and unrelenting in his pursuit to accuse us of our sin before God.  I have this visual in my mind of satan looking and God and pointing his finger down at me, saying ‘See that sinner Ben down there, strike him down! He chose his pride over You!’.  But then…in the next sentence it says 2) ‘And they have overcome (conquered) him by means of the blood of the Lamb and by the utterance of their testimony’.  How amazing and comforting is this!  By the blood of my Savior Jesus Christ, my witness, and declaring God’s work in my life, I ‘have’ overcome through the power and might of the Almighty God.  This added onto Pastor Jeff’s message today is a confirmation and exhortation to ‘tell my story’ of BEFORE CHRIST I WAS___________, BUT NOW IN CHRIST I AM___________.

“His (the dragon’s) tail swept [across the sky] and dragged down a third of the stars and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stationed himself in front of the woman who was about to be delivered, so that he might devour her child as soon as she brought it forth and she brought forth a male Child, One Who is destined to shepherd (rule) all the nations with an iron staff (scepter), and her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Revelation 12:4-5 ->me: Here satan’s plight is clear -> to destroy the Son of God.  Satan is depicted with might (horns) and royalty (crowns).  He flexes his muscle by wiping a third of the stars out of the sky.  BUT, time and time again we see God’s will accomplished, His purposes met.  When Paul talks about “neither principalities or powers…can separate us from the love of God” we can use these visions by John to take heart as believers and know that even though God GIVES satan rope, it is only enough to set forth His ultimate plan of redemption and eternal fellowship with the Almighty God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  I must not let the actions of the dragon I see in this world get me down.  The God of All has a plan, He reigns over all, and I am part of His purposes.  In this place I have a front row seat to a show I already know the end of, like watching an intense movie you have seen before; you still get worked up and excited for the heart pounding parts of the movie, but you know how all ends perfectly in the end.