Living by faith means doing what God wants even if what God wants is diametrically opposed to what our minds and emotions tell us. It may require painful decisions. It may require emotional and mental struggles of such unbelievable proportions that it tears at the fabric of our being. Yet, faith requires no less.
Moving, shaking faith releases everything in one’s possession even when it seems that doing so is to give up the very thing God has promised. Moving, shaking faith stands before God with an open palm. Moving, shaking faith is willing to give back to God, instantaneously, that which He has already given.
Much of what we know here is good and beautiful and exciting, but heaven is better. This is our starting place but was never meant to be our ending place. Did you know that this world is not our home? Some people can’t imagine leaving, but for you and me, should we not have difficulty trying to imagine staying?
This paragraph of Scripture, in particular, verse 17, is an encapsulation of the entire Revelation. In actuality, it is a look back at everything that happens during the tribulation, yet a pivotal point going forward to those same events but in greater detail. If you’ve ever wanted to see the Revelation in a nutshell, here it is. Memorize it. Ponder it. Pass it along.
The person who is trying to hurry things along or is trying to scheme their way to the top – is living a life of arrogance, and a life of arrogance is a sure way to miss the best! A life of arrogance has no room for the divine but only for the personal. God does not need, nor does He accept, human scheming and ingenuity.
The world without Christ will rejoice at the final destruction of those who preach judgment and repentance. It seems as if Christ-haters will go so far as to throw parties and send gifts to each other as they celebrate their apparent victory. The preaching of God’s church will cut into the hearts of the lost like the sting of a wasp or the bite of a rattlesnake. They will be glad when God’s people are dead. If that’s the truth, can you handle it?
The Gigantic Angel and His Little Book sounds kind of like Jack and the Beanstalk, doesn’t it? Except, the Gigantic Angel & His Little Book is no fairy tale. The message of this end-time epic will not only have a global impact, but the power of this angel will rise so high above mankind that no one can deter his actions. Like the roar of a lion and peels of thunder, the mystery of God will come forth spilling forth in great crescendo. Ear plugs will do no good as John prophesies concerning many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.
You may have been encouraged along the way to spend time with God, and in fact, that’s the best way to start every day, isn’t it? However, what if God thinks that the best way to start any day is to start that day spending time with you? Wouldn’t that be something?
In Matthew 10:16, Jesus warns His Apostles to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves as we are sent out on a mission. While we are not Apostles, we are sent out by God into a den of wolves. How do we apply wisdom and innocence on our walk, and what traps should we be on the lookout for to avoid being ensnared?
In a way, the trumpets of the Great Tribulation sound eerily similar the plagues of the Exodus. As anti-Israeli forces moved against the people of God in Egypt, so God moved against them as a warning, even as an encouragement, to join Him and His people in His plan for the world. So it will be in the time of the Great Tribulation. Will anyone, including anti-Christian influencers, accept the invitation
