Bourland Family Blog

“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.

“And he (the mighty angel who was robed in a cloud, with a halo like a rainbow over his head, face like the sun, and legs like columns of fire) shouted with a loud voice like the roaring of a lion; and when he had shouted, the seven thunders gave voice and uttered their message in distinct words, and when the seven thunders had spoken (sounded), I was going to write [it down], but I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven thunders have said! Do not write it down!” Revelation 10:3-4 ->me: This is one of the most mysterious passages I have read in the entire bible.  We are not told what/who the ‘seven thunders’ are but we are told that they spoke in words in that John understood distinctly.  How interesting that this would even be mentioned; in all of my reading, one thing has become clear -> God has a reason for saying everything that He does in scripture.  Nothing is left out that is needed to be said and nothing is there that is not relevant to His instruction to us.  So, if I read this in that context then there are things that I cannot know and that is because it is best if I don’t know.  The Lord knows what is best for us and I need to know that He is not going to reveal everything; I need to have FAITH in His sovereignty.  This angel was also holding a ‘little book’ -> I think this is the Word of God…if that is the case then even though I may not get to hear what the seven thunders said I do have all that I need in the rest of the Bible, the very book in which this mighty angel was holding.  I feel like the Lord is reminding me not to get discouraged when I don’t understand everything.  I am just to stay in His Word and rest in the peace that He will continue to reveal exactly what I need to know through His Holy Spirit until He returns.

“And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues (the fire, smoke, and Sulphur from the demonic horses released) even then did not repent of [the worship of] the works of their [own] hands, so as to cease paying homage to the demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor move.  And they did not repent of their murders or their practice of magic (sorceries) or their sexual vice or their thefts.” Revelation 9:20-21 ->me: I remember when I read  the ‘Left Behind’ books and the way LaHaye and Jenkins depict this scene of the horsemen and horses is chilling.  The entrapment of idols is real and they just don’t have to be images carved in stone, gold, bronze of the like.  They can be something as simple as pleasing your wife above all else -> Nobody wakes up one day and says, “I’m going to start living for the approval and affection of my wife.  That will be my ruling passion starting right now, and I will refuse to find comfort in God, His Word, and His promises until I get the approval and affection from my wife that I crave.” Nobody voices that thought out loud; but in action that is exactly what they are doing.  God has given us His Word to serve as smelling salts, to rouse us from the idolatrous coma we live in so much of the time.  We are locked into our own idolatrous way of thinking and living until we pick up God’s Word, and then, BAM! A wake-up call–we’ve been seeing things wrong; we haven’t had a complete picture. [excerpt from ‘Gospel Treason’ by Brad Bigney] Reading His Word (everyday) allows me to look up and see the idols I allow into my life (this is a life long struggle) and has given me a ‘get up and get moving’ attitude towards change in my life.

“Then the sixth angel blew [his] trumpet, and from the four horns of the golden altar which stands before God I heard a solitary voice, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Liberate the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates’.” Revelation 9:13&14 ->me: Today’s write-up might seem a little off but will give you insight into one of the ways the Lord speaks to me.  When I was reading this passage yesterday and today the thing that caught me was John saying “a solitary voice”…that may seem innocuous but it made me pause wondering why John would say ‘solitary’ or ‘one voice coming from one person’.  Then today in Sunday Morning Worship at Canyon Hills we were singing several songs and one of them was about the ‘amazing name of Jesus’.  Right then I realized that I don’t put a face with the name Jesus…or God the father…or the Holy Spirit; I don’t even think about it.  After this was Pastor Steve’s message on Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) -> where through faith we receive grace.  Faith in the Son of God being a heart response through repentance.  Ok – so how does all of this come together?  Well through all of these moments, together they were an awesome message from God and His provision through Grace to not worry about what He ‘looks’ like but Who He is and what He is about.  His solitary voice is all that matters.  It is not important what He looks like, it is important Who He is in character and spirit; how He operates.  Weird as it may seem, this is how God talks to me – He takes what might seem like an inconsequential piece from a passage in His word, pokes me through His Holy Spirit, then follows that up with other things in my day to form a piece of His Theology for me.  How cool is that???…and while I have been in His word, this happens ALL the time.

“And the Lord utters His voice before His army, for His host is very great, and [they are] strong and powerful who execute [God’s] word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who can endure it?  Therefore also now, says the Lord, turn and keep on coming to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning [until every hindrance is removed and the broken fellowship is restored].  Rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil [when His conditions are met].” Joel 2:11-13 ->me: I know I am calling out Joel here but this is because there are so many similarities between Joel 1 and 2 and Revelation 9.  In Joel the locusts have ravaged the land and suffering is not only felt by every person but animals as well.  What caught me again was God’s grace and mercy that is extended once again.  Additionally, the way out of trouble is laid out here so well.  I think of those in my life who are suffering from illness, death, loss of work, anxiety, etc.  What I hear the Lord saying here is that even when things are terrible ‘also now’ -> ‘turn and KEEP ON coming to Me with ALL your heart’.  Do this with fasting, weeping, and mourning (genuine sorrow in repentance) UNTIL every veil created by sin is removed and your relationship with Him is restored.  When I let my heart break before Him and come humbly to Him, I will find His grace, mercy, patience, and loving kindness abundant for me.  What an absolute gift this is from God; a vision of His love to me.  It is hard to imagine that I can come daily to His feet after living every hour in this earthly body and He will be there to rescue me every time.