Category: QuietTimes

“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.

“The seventh angel then blew [his] trumpet, and there were mighty voices in heaven, shouting, The dominion (kingdom, sovereignty, rule) of the world has now come into the possession and become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (the Messiah), and He shall reign forever and ever (for the eternities of the eternities)!  Then the twenty-four elders [of the heavenly Sanhedrin], who sit on their thrones before God, prostrated themselves before Him and worshiped, exclaiming, To You we give thanks, Lord God Omnipotent, [the One] Who is and [ever] was, for assuming the high sovereignty and the great power that are Yours and for beginning to reign.” Revelation 11:15-17 ->me: The witnesses have been taken up into heaven and there has been a great earthquake…the second woe has passed.  Now the seventh trumpet is blown and we see that in this God (and Jesus) permanently takes back His dominion and rule over the world.  When I surrendered my heart to Jesus there was a great earthquake in my life and He took possession and reign over my soul forever…but my body and mind are still here on earth.  If I take, as reality, the ownership of my life by my Savior to heart then my response should be no different than the 24 elders; I should fall down on my face and worship the One Who is King over my life.  Lord God Almighty, I have accepted your Son and in doing so you have assumed the high sovereignty and great power that are Yours in my life.  Help me to live here on earth in light of Your Majesty in heaven…understanding the power and magnitude of your presence.

“And those who dwell on the earth will gloat and exult over them and rejoice exceedingly, taking their ease and sending presents [in congratulation] to one another, because these two prophets had been such a vexation and trouble and torment to all the dwellers on the earth.” Revelation 11:10 ->me: It is no doubt that these witnesses were God’s own and came to fulfill their purpose.  They did this so well that when they were killed, the masses (every race, tribe, nation, and tongue) rejoiced over the end of their message; to the point of celebrating with gift giving.  Have I shared the gospel and warning about the coming of the Lord in such a way that ‘some’ might rejoice over my death?  Have I lived by the Word of God to the point of persecution?  Now, I understand that the witnesses are in the end times and that the hearts of the world have been hardened (Rev. 9:21), but I still feel like I have it too easy and I take it too easy.  I need to ask myself -> What am I not doing for the Lord because of my fear of rejection from the unsaved who God has put into my life?  I just feel like ever since the trip to Mexico this has been a continuing message I have been hearing from the Lord –>> Exercise boldness in my walk.

“But when they have finished their testimony and their evidence is all in, the beast (monster) that comes up out of the Abyss (bottomless pit) will wage war on them, and conquer them and kill them.” Revelation 11:7 ->me: I have been sitting here for a good while this morning trying to wrap my brain around the scene of the 2 witnesses. I have been praying and asking the Lord for wisdom and discernment; not necessary to understand fully the picture here but to see what He has for me to take away. This is what He has revealed to me. When I am a TRUE follower of Him, there is nothing the enemy can do to veer me off my path of God’s work. It was only when their testimony was finished and the evidence was complete that the Lord removed the witnesses from the scene. I can walk confidently forward in not only my sanctification but in my witness to others. The evil one cannot destroy me before the work of the Lord through me is complete. God gave the witnesses power to defeat their enemies with the fire of their words (Jeremiah 5:14) and I have similarly have the Sword of the Spirit. I must remember that this holds true while I am doing the work of my Savior. Just a couple of verses ago I read about John measuring the sanctuary, altar, and counting the worshipers; I must remain counted (secure in my relationship and effective in my ministry) to have the confidence that I will only be taken when God’s work in and through me is complete. This can sound morbid and comforting at the same time. I am cool with that. 🙂

“And I will grant the power of prophecy to My two witnesses for 1,260 (42 months; three and one-half years), dressed in sackcloth. These [witnesses] are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands which stand before the Lord of the earth.” Revelation 11:3&4 ->me: Verses 1 &2 deal with John being asked to measure the sanctuary, altar, and worshipers but to omit the outer courts of the church for they have been given over to the Gentiles to be trampled.  I think this John separating the Christians from the Gentiles in the end times.  Size of the church as a whole (Sanctuary), the extent of the sacrificial nature of Christian service (altar), and the count of the people of God (worshipers).  The church is being allowed to be oppressed for a limited amount of time (3.5 years).  The distinction between the sanctuary and the outer courts means that there is a limit on which the Gentiles can do their trampling.  There is a lot of debate about who the 2 witnesses are -> the two faithful churches of the 7 lamp stands?  Elijah and Moses because the powerful miracles the witnesses wield are the same as Elijah and Moses were given?  This is hard to discern.  What drew my attention is that they wore ‘sackcloth’; a garment of those in mourning.  They are prophesying doom and their attitude accordingly is sad and sorrowful (penitent).  As a witness for Jesus I must have a heart that aches for the lost, and when I truly think on it, I am not as compassionate as I should be.  As I said in my last QTVOTD, one of my commitments is to be more bold in my witness; well maybe what I am missing a dread for the lost.  My prayer today is that the Lord gives me a heart for the unsaved, a realization that unless I allow myself to be used by Him to reach them, they may be lost for all eternity.

“For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4 ->me:  The last 2 days were a gift to be able to spend some close time with 12 other men focused on supporting each other in purity.  Between devotions, prayer time, worship, hanging out, and deep conversations, we all grew closer to the Lord with renewed vigor to pick up the pace in our race of sanctification.  These 2 verses were part of our morning devotion that was a powerful answer to the transparency, confessions, and discussions of the previous evening.  I came away with 4 commitments – 1) to be an example of grace and peace to my kids moving forward 2) to share with Marianne all that I had shared with the group men on Friday night 3) that I would walk through a similar time with my Life Group men 4) that I would use the gifts God has given me in Prim’s story and my Mexico trip to be more bold and courageous about sharing the Gospel with the unsaved in my circle of influence.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” Psalms 51:10-11 ->me: What an amazing evening with a godly group of men. By God’s grace I have been able to participate in a retreat with some other men from church meeting ‘offsite’ on Whidbey Island for a time of reflection, repentance, renewal, and recommitment to the values of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. God is doing something amazing here. What an encouraging time. These two verses were presented as a passage to setup prayer for confession and repentance. I have sang these verses many more times than I have read an consumed them. Tonight they had extra power and conviction for me and will be added to my armory of memory verses.  There really isn’t a need to restate what these 2 verses are saying.  They penetrate without effort.

“Then the voice that I heard from heaven spoke again to me, saying, Go and take the little book (scroll) which is open on the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.  So I went up to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it and eat it. It will embitter your stomach, though in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” Revelation 10:8-9 ->me: This is the interlude between the 6th and 7th trumpets.  This vision of the mighty angel who is standing with his right foot on the sea and left foot on the land with a little scroll open in his hand.  3 things jump out at me in this passage. 1) The book is open.  2) Both the voice from heaven and the angel tell John to ‘TAKE’ the little book (scroll).  3) Upon eating the book it is bitter as well as sweet.  So lets take them one at a time.  First, what we NEED to know from God is open to us and in His word.  The authority of the bible covers the whole earth both land and sea.  Second, we must ‘take’ His word, it will not be shoved down our throats…we must take for ourselves what His plan is for Redemption.  We must make the contents of His Word completely our own.  Thirdly, when we consume God’s Word it not only refreshes our soul, brings us peace, and comfort but it also becomes a message of judgement and wrath on those who do not accept Jesus as His Son.  Both Jeremiah (Jer 15:16) and Ezekiel (Ezek 3:1-3) are told of the sweetness like Honey God’s Word but those passages are missing the bitterness spoken here.  The bible is concerned with message we must proclaim.  The more my heart is filled with the love of God, the more certain it is that the telling forth of ‘woes’ will be a bitter experience.