Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

Psalm 49:1-20 –
¹Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world,
² both low and high, rich and poor alike:
³ My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding.
⁴ I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle:

⁵ Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me—
⁶ those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?
⁷ No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—
⁸ the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—
⁹ that he should live on forever and not see decay.

¹⁰ For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish
    and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their tombs⁾ will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations,
    though they had named lands after themselves.

¹² But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them.  The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.
¹⁵ But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah

¹⁶ Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases;
¹⁷ for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.
¹⁸ Though while he lived he counted himself blessed—and men praise you when you prosper—
¹⁹ he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life.

²⁰ A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

You read the New Testament and it’s the same theme.  It’s completely natural to want to chase after these things in our fallen state.  So what do we do?  You study the Word of God and meditate on it.  You go to prayer that you can live and be all the God has for us. 

I don’t know if any of us will ever come close to our full potential, but it’s not hard to see now and throughout history those who attempted to and did a pretty good job of letting God work through them.  First rule to more success concerning all of us?  It’s about He, not me.

Exodus 17:8-13- ⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

¹⁰ So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹² When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³ So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

When Moses brought his hands down, the battle turned against them.  When he kept them up in acknowledgement that the Lord was the power, they we’re winning to the point of victory.

Your life is on a battlefield rather you know it or not.  That battle is for the control of man’s heart.  Raise your arms and let God win this battle for you.  Don’t be trying to doing it on your own or you will lose.

The raising of your arms is acknowledgment, submission, shows faith, in the one Whom is in charge.  He wants your heart.  Give to Him and have victory.

1 John 1:8-10 – ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

There might be some pretty nice people out there, but I haven’t met anyone without sin.  As a society who has drifted away from God, many people don’t even know what God considers sin anyway.  They know what they consider sin and that is what counts.

Jesus came to die for our sins.  God in the form of the Son, dying on the cross, is the only purification from death from our sins.  He knows we are sinners.  It’s a free gift.

So why doesn’t everyone want a free gift that will bring them back to the Lord?

Because since the beginning there has been an enemy roaming out there with his demon followers convincing others that they can be like God and be the God of their own lives.  It started with Eve and hasn’t stopped.  Rebellion is a spirit.  We have a free will and God doesn’t want it any other way.  What one does with their free will is which side they choose to be on.  It determines what they will do in the spiritual war that we are all a part of.  We’re the playing field.  God wants us to come home, Satan wants us to rebel.

The problem is most people have no idea how high the stakes are.  Choose God and start reading His love letter for all our lives who want Truth.

2 Corinthians 5:20 – ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

This post was motivated by Pastor Bill.

There are people that don’t like to be representatives in the world today.  They are high up figures in society.  However, it doesn’t matter rather you want to be or not.  If you are a part of an organization or associated with it, you are a representative.  You’re a face to what you are linked to.

As Christians, we are the representatives, ambassadors to our Lord.

Big responsibility?  I think it’s the highest.

It doesn’t matter if you want to be.  If you call yourself a Christian or are one, you have that responsibility to be a representative or more an importantly an ambassador.

Colossians 3:1-4 –3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Most all of us do it to a certain degree.  Show me someone that gives all he can afford and I’ll show you someone that has put his heart and faith in God.

What degree have we set towards Him?  There’s a test.  I’ll give you a hint.  The test isn’t to see how much we can make and spend on ourselves.  That’s not the “A” in which God is looking to give.  God wants to see what choices you will make with your responsibility.  It works that way for both our time and resources.

Tell Him that you love Him, or show Him that you love Him.  Actually both are better than just one.  He wants us to love one another.  Why?  One, God is love.  He loves us even when we’re not lovable.  That’s what He wants us to do.  He wants us to be the same as Him in this area.  Does it come naturally in with this sinful nature we have inherited?  Not for me.  My love for others, who are challenging, comes from God.

Let’s keep our eye on the prize.

John 14:16-17- ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Most, but certainly not all, take the Holy Spirit for granted.  Think back before you accepted the Lord.  We were as blinded as the world that does not have Jesus now.  Don’t let that just pass on by.  Embrace those memories and let them motivate you in your quest to know your Lord better.

I can tell you that when you concentrate on the Lord and really seek Him.  His arms are around you all the time.  ALL THE TIME.  He’s your best friend.  Make sure to make every effort to treat Him that way.

Because of the Holy Spirit that the Lord sent, we can know Him.  Without Him we would be in a cloud.  The lost are still in that cloud.  Christians that don’t seek to know the Lord are still in their own cloud. 

Follow Him.  When you take your own paths no matter how good your intentions are, you’re going to cause a mess.

Proverbs 22:6- ⁶ Train a child in the way he should go,
    and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Amen to that.  This is why it takes generations for nations to fall.  It’s an eroding process.

What are some of the things that break the chain from kids being trained by their parents and things being passed down?

The most obvious in America is wealth and prosperity.  It has been a large player in people taking their eye of the real prize which is the Lord.

What’s the advice we’re more apt to give to our daughter’s today?  Go out and get a college degree so you can work and not have to depend on your husband who has a 50% of leaving you and the kids, or if you need to leave him.  That’s a little different than what was taught back 55 years ago.

Where that may be good worldly advice it’s not biblical.  Yet many Christians are now teaching this (obviously with more positive hopes but as a fallback) because it’s the country that we have now eroded to.

When America began to worship wealth, the enemy got a foothold and began creeping into the courts and government.  Little by little they began to rock the boat.  However, as long a prosperity was happening we’ll let them turn up the water just one degree.  As you know after 55-60 years you have almost a boiling frog in the pot.

Satan is trying to build a one world government.  He wants a current Tower of Babel in which man is trying to make his own heaven on earth, WITHOUT GOD.  As we read in Daniel and Revelation, He has a plan to be that world ruler in which everyone is to eventually worship.  This is his plan.  Where did I hear about that?

 Isaiah 14:12-14- “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’  

The clock is ticking and the Lord’s return is closer than ever.  Focus on Him and serving Him.

1Thessalonians 1:6 –⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

We see many falling away from Truth in these last days.

The passage above reminds me of how grateful we need to be that believers did hold onto the Holy Spirit so the Gospel could continue to be passed on.  During severe suffering so many held onto the faith.

We need to continue to seek the Lord and His Word as it strengthens us and our faith.  We never know when the suffering could kick in.  We know this though, it won’t go unnoticed by our Lord.