Revelations 8:10 and 11 – Bitterness
10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11the name of the star is Wormwood A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter
This verse stands out to me every time I read it. The strongest word for me is Wormwood. Funny, in a strange way, that that name means Bitterness. Over the last year I have seen so may folks fall away from a true walk with Christ into something else that it brings tears to my eyes, and in most every case it is due to the fact that they have allowed Bitterness to take hold in their heart.
There is another truth in this verse that I have not seen before. “…And many people died from the waters that had become bitter”. The living word of Christ often flows through his followers via dreams, revelations, prayer, deeper understanding of the word, etc. If we call The Word of Christ the Living Water, wouldn’t it stand to reason that if we take the word and filter it through a false doctrine of some type would become something different, bitter and hurtful? Turning it from living water to bitter water, causing people to die spiritually.
I believe that in the end times we will see real physical bitter water due to wormwood, but that there is also the spiritual aspect I describe above due to bitterness allowed to take root in our heart.
Into the New Year with Repentance
God’s word is coming forth in so many places saying this is going to be a year of momentum, a year of moving forward, a year of mobilization.
People this is going to be a year that will be written into the history books, and never leave the memories of generations to come.
As I read the word, and study the messages of those around me, I am constantly hearing a theme for the beginning of the year.
In the book of Revelations in the letters, Gods word through John is telling the Churches to repent. The Churches, the ones who are to seek higher ground are still in need of repentance.
I think, because of my Catholic upbringing, that I need to wait to “Confess my sins” and penance is somehow the key to beginning to repent. This is altogether a LIE, and misleading by the enemy. I believe that Confession and Repentance are fully two different things. Confession is from your mouth, and Repentance is from your heart.
Confession is between you and another person. Repentance is between yourself and God, it’s a sorrow deep within your heart, a longing to strip away what ever it is that may become between you and Jesus.
My wife shared this with me, but I am sure she will give all the credit to God.
We do not need to wait for the weekend service, or the next prayer meeting. We don’t have to talk to our church friends or spiritual leaders to start this process. We have every right under the blood of Jesus to repent of our sins. You do not need to continue to live in that way until the next meeting, but can be freed through try longing and willingness to drew closer to Jesus.
His Heart Cry’s Out
So I have a picture in my mind of Jesus, in a field of tall grass and wild flowers, wearing robes that are a little gray and dingy, every day cloths used for work or play. Not the White Robes of royalty, but the rough heavy garments of a Caregiver.
He, Jesus is in this filed down on one knee, grinning nearly from ear to ear and a hearty belly laugh is coming from somewhere deep inside
He is surrounded by Kids, hundreds and thousands of kids of every color and language known to man, laughing and playing, rolling in the grass and just enjoying the breath of life.
I look into his eyes and see a deep sorrow and I understand…
These are the Kids that were lost before they were able to defend themselves.
These are the kids that were lost to abortion
He sits with each one of these every day knitting them back together body and soul, loving them and laughing with them into eternity while his heart cries out every moment for very reason they are even there.
Praying Like a Lion
There are those who pray, and then there are those who PRAY. I am blessed by knowing people who PRAY. I heard someone say that my good friend Gala roars like a Lion, and just a few hours later I prayed with her. Now she didn’t actually roar like a lion, but I believe if she did you would feel the hairs on the back of your neck standup, she does have a point where her passion comes to the surface and her prayer seems to come more from the heart then the mouth, or more from the spirit then the mind. There is most definitely a roar in the spiritual when she comes to that point.
I am blessed my friend Gala’s prayer
There are so many people in my life that inspire me in many ways. Boldness, Understanding, freedom, willingness, unrelenting, these are things I desire more of in my prayer life. Gala is just one of many, but she is on the font of my mind since Sunday. So Gala may God bless you today, and thank you for allowing God to bless me through you.
To petition before the Lord
I claim to be a prayer warrior, I claim to stand on the wall through the night and protect and contend for the innocent, I even claim to be faithful. Yet when the time came and I was supposed to stand at my appointed place and cover those truly in need on prayer where was I. No where to be found… I was so involved in the earthly that I completely bypassed my what I was called to do. I forgot, I let it go, I failed.
I am human, and I ask For the Lords forgiveness in this but I also commit to redouble my efforts in covering those involved with Vote yes in prayer.
Please know, that if you are a part of that team the word I have for you this week is to take up your shield of faith. The enemy will no doubt be flinging darts in your direction, but have no fear, stand tall and do not flinch because once you take up that shield the darts will fall to the ground dead and harmless. Do not neglect the rest of the full armor, but know that the shield of faith if vital this week.
God Bless
One
Well and am back working at my desk again so I was hoping to have a little more time to blog. But as a result of the training I have received over the last two weeks I have been put on something called the priority phone queue, which means I am always at the top of the list to receive the next phone call. Now I seem to be living in the heart of a whirlwind of phone calls, which seems to be rather distracting when it comes to writing a blog.
Anyway have a little something that I want to expand on for a while and see where it goes. A few weeks ago our church and multiple other finished up a series called one prayer. The series was good, we had powerful men of God delivering each message for 4 weeks and it’s hard to go wrong with something like that, but what I want to talk about is related to that, but not exactly the same.
Shortly after coming to know the Lord I felt that Gods desire for me was to be in ministry, and soon after that I started having images of a “One Church” run through my mind. The thought here was on a citywide level, but the basic premise was to have a single location, multiple pastors, and a single vision. I am talking a wide selection of speakers. What god spoke to me is that by doing this we would start to see the Gods vision for the city, rather then one mans interpretation of God’s vision. I am not sure if I am sharing this vision in a way that others can understand, so feedback and questions are encouraged.
I believe God does not want to see his body at odds with one another, but rather in harmony. The right hand should was the left, not cut it off. And the body does not exist in one building, or one denomination, but rather out in the world made up off all those who know Jesus Christ.
How is God blessing you today
Today God has impressed these words on my heart, I heard last night.
“If the Man David is not willing to go out and kill the giant God will find a Boy David to get the job done”.
How is God blessing you today? Please leave a comment…
The end of an Empire?
A little over a year ago I left a phone support job that I had worked at for a little over 5 year. I had taken some where between 10 and 15 thousand phone calls by the time I left that position.
After that many days on the phone, and that many phone calls, and now a year out of the picture I can only remember one statement from one customer on the phones. The call was with a foreign gentleman and we had quite a long, and nice conversation. The thing that he said and has stuck with me now for a couple of year is that the general consensus around the world is that the United States is at the end of it’s empire. He went on to explain that every empire the world has known has come to an end. Each and everyone has fallen, thus making the way for a new Empire to rise up.
Looking back there is always a people, or nation that has risen above the rest, who seems to be sitting in a pool of blessing. A nation who can do no wrong, they seem to be the nation who calls all the shots around the world.
A couple years later I have to say that it looks like this fellow may have hit the nail right on the head.
We are in a war that we seem to be unable to win.
We as a nation cannot balance a budget
We are losing ground as the manufacturing leader in the world
We are the number one consumer of oil in the world and we have no control over the prices.
We have started to spend so much time enjoying the good life that we no longer recall what it took to earn that life.
We are rising the second generation who believe they are entitled to everything their parents have without putting the work into earning it. Yes that’s right, I am calling my generation the first of the “Must Have” generation, and I will admit that I am guilty as charged.
It’s the work less; deserve more attitude that is killing this nation.
A Great Nation requires people that are will to work hard for, and earn what they get. Either by using the muscles in there back or gifts in their minds. The first will always outnumber the last, yet in America today we have more people who are unwilling to use their back, and incapable of using their mind then ever before. Who believes a strong mind is built, jut like strong muscles? I do.
We have, as a nation, stepped out from under Gods covering and there for lost the glory that comes along with that. Who knows that to get closer to God you must spend more time flat on your face? I think that because we, as a nation have removed ourselves from God we are being forcefully put back on our knees, and then our faces because he is not done here yet.
A quick personal testimony to help illustrate the bigger picture, several times I have had someone pray over me. Some of those times I have felt either a weight on my body, weakness of muscles or a combination of both. I have always been able to resist this feeling and stay on my feet. So there is a conscious choice there, but there are times that I submit to those feeling and find myself on the floor. I have found that when I am willing to humble myself before God the glory is often physically tangible. We will be held accountable in the end will the kings and queens of this world lay their crowns at the feet of Jesus? I pray by the blood of Jesus that if I ever find myself in with a mantel of an sort I will give it all to God. I say it is high time that America step up and do this. We need to repent of our laws and actions that are sinful in the eyes of our God. We need to give him the glory and become one nation under god once again.
As always I believe Pastor Steve does a couple of things. Number one he unknowingly reads my mind. and number two does a better job putting these thoughts into words. Check out his message from this past weekend. Message
God Bless
Revelations
Revelation 8:1
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
I love the mental picture this gives me. I just imagine Jesus breaking the seal as angels and saint’s watch, each one waiting to see what’s next.
We have all had moments like that in our life. They are almost physically painful to live through. Sometimes it’s excitement, others just anticipation and maybe even fear. In this case it seems like the silence before the storm.
What ever God has in store for me today, I will wait in silent anticipation, knowing that when it’s all said and done I will love him more then I did yesterday.
Wrestling with God
Jacob Wrestles With God
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
I feel that this verse will bless someone today. Because today is a test from the Lord to see how much you desire him, how far you are willing to go for him, how much you will endure for him. Today keep in mind that not all struggles are against the enemy, some are against God because he desires us to stand firm in our faith and is willing to test that, not for his knowledge because he already knows how far we will go, but for our own understanding. How much deeper will you be rooted in the Lord if you can stand up and say I wrestled with God and lived to tell you about it. Look, here are my scars to prove it.
<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> For anyone who has ever wrestled another man you know 3 minutes is a killer, imagine wrestling with God, all through the night. When he tells you to stop you say no, not until I receive my portion. That is the desire God wants to see in us.
I pray today that God blesses you with the desire, and strength to carry on through the night, and the faith that when the sun rises you will be blessed with all of his Glory.
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