REFERENCE POINTS FOR DISCIPLES
DURING THE LAST DAYS’ INVASION
CONTENTS
Introduction
Page 3
Point 1.
Some Preliminary Tools to Help Us Operate Effectively in Combat
p. 9
Point 2.
How Are New Covenant Disciples Armed and Equipped?
p. 15
Point 3.
Learning to Render True Hospitality to Our Guest
p. 23
Point 4.
Make Sure You’re Connected to Your Roots
p. 29
Point 5.
Keep Filling Your Tank
p. 36
Point 6.
The Message of the Cross
p. 44
Point 7.
The Fire Spreads by Means of Adversity
p. 54
Point 8.
0 + 100% = 100%
p. 58
A Prayer of Last Days Disciples While Confined in the Stocks
p. 65
***************
Introduction
NOW IS THE TIME FOR GOD’S LOVE POWER TO BE UNLEASHED!
“For the Kingdom of God does not consist of talk BUT OF POWER!”
(1 Cor. 4:20 TLV.)
“So pay close attention to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise. Make the most of your time BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL! For this reason do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk on wine, for that is recklessness.
“Instead, BE (continually) FILLED WITH THE RUACH (Holy Spirit), speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord…” (Eph. 5:15-19 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
Scripture is bringing some very timely and important facts to our attention:
“Make the most of your time because the days are evil!” (Eph. 5:16 TLV.)
“… From then on, Yeshua began to proclaim, “Turn away from your sins, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Mt. 4:17 TLV.)
“…Woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great rage, knowing that his time is short.” (Rev. 12:12)
“A mouth was given to him (the Antichrist) speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
“And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority I saw one of his heads as if it had been fatally wounded, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
IT WAS ALSO GIVEN TO HIM TO MAKE WAR WITH THE SAINTS AND TO OVERCOME THEM, AND AUTHORITY WAS GIVEN TO HIM OVER EVERY TRIBE, PEOPLE, LANGUAGE, AND NATION. ALL WHO LIVE ON THE EARTH WILL WORSHIP HIM, EVERYONE WHOSE NAME HAS NOT BEEN WRITTEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD IN THE BOOK OF LIFE OF THE LAMB who has been slaughtered. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. HERE IS THE PERSEVERANCE AND FAITH OF THE SAINTS!” (Rev. 13:5-10. NASB)
And so beloved, in light of the dire warnings God has clearly given, we have no excuse for being unprepared. No one will be able to say, “Why did God allow us to be hit from the blind side?” Nor will anyone rightly and justly ask, “Why didn’t God let us know this was coming?” He has warned us… He told us that tremendously trying situations and exceedingly dangerous circumstances will descend upon us all! And, if we are willing to pay attention, we will use whatever time we have left to prepare and ‘get ready’ for spiritual combat in these Last Days times that have already arrived.
But the wonderful part of all this is, that God has already given us everything we will need to endure, persevere, overcome and eternally triumph over anyone or anything we will ever have to face and deal with! Father has foreknown every detail of everything that is to come! Nothing will take Him by surprise. And He has factored all of what He knows will happen into His Plan… and He has already provided everything for us that we will ever need as we will be progressively working our way through what is to come in this demon-infested time and space dimension.
And, by the great mercy of our Heavenly Father, even though we have already entered the Era of the Last Days, we still have a little time and ‘elbow room’ left in which to prepare our souls, minds and emotions. We can learn what we need to know, and practice doing what we’ll need to be experts in doing, when the time for action is at hand. Yes, the enemies of God and His Word are even now closing in around us. And they’re also making it very clear that they are making extensive preparations to come after every Jew and Christian they will be able to ferret out and capture.
We don’t have to wonder or guess about what they intend to do to us. They’ve already shown their hand. They are planning on stamping out the entire house of Israel. They intend to eliminate the people of God… those who serve and worship and proclaim the Living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And they will not stop until they have erased even the thought of God, and the Jewish people, and everyone who dares identify himself as a Christian, from the face of the earth! But none of that is taking God by surprise dear ones. Our Father has already worked out His Infinitely Superior Ingenious Battle Plan and Strategies. And He’s waiting to spring all of that upon His unsuspecting demonic opponents at the proper times.
Meanwhile our enemies are taking steps to enact legislations that will put the Bible and our faith and our claims regarding the fact that there is only one true God, and only one true way to Salvation, outside the borders of all the current contemporary cultures and societies. God’s Laws and Standards of Righteousness and Morality, are being regarded by more and more modern day people as being prime examples of the crimes of bigotry, intolerance and religious oppression. And soon they’ll be of a mind to totally silence and stifle us and prevent us even from sharing our faith, or worshipping God in any way that would ‘bother’ or ‘disturb’ or ‘offend’ anyone around us.
So, as we try to acclimate ourselves to this toxic, negative Last Days atmosphere, I’d like to offer some preparatory reminders to my fellow Last Days disciples-in-training. I’d like to bring some Biblically derived facts and set them before you. My hope is that you will receive some insights and learn some lessons from our Scripturally-revealed apostolic New Covenant origins and learn from our forebears who are already celebrating with God in Glory.
My prayer is that what is offered here will, at some time in the future, prove to be of use to us who are being prepared for combat with the powers of Darkness. For they will most assuredly be seeking us out, to inflict as much opposition, demonization, humiliation and damage upon us, as they possibly can.
So here is a foundational revelation God has given us that can serve as the Bedrock Reality upon which we can and should base our entire earthly existences and eternal futures. Pay very close attention to what God has revealed to the world about His original Act of Creation from which we, and our global circumstances and situations and future prospects have all emerged:
“So the heavens and the earth were completed along with their entire array. God completed—on the seventh day—His work that He made, and He ceased—on the seventh day—from all His work that He made. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He ceased from all His work that God created for the purpose of preparing.” (Genesis 2:1-3 TLV. Emphasis added.)
I ask you to note the tenses of the verbs in the above text. How many times, in those three verses, is God telling us that all of His past, present and future works of Creation, Redemption and Restoration were completed to Perfection, as soon as He spoke forth His Living Creative Word? Do you think He is trying to drive home something for us that is vitally important?
“Let us fear then! Though a promise of entering His Rest is left open, some of you would seem to have fallen short. For we also have had Good News proclaimed to us, just as they did. But the Word they heard did not help them, because they were not unified with THOSE WHO LISTENED IN FAITH! FOR WE WHO HAVE TRUSTED ARE ENTERING INTO THAT REST. It is just as God has said, “So in My wrath I swore, ‘They shall never enter My Rest,’” EVEN THOUGH HIS WORKS WERE FINISHED SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD! For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from ALL His works,” and again in this passage: “They shall never enter My Rest.”
“So then it remains for some to enter into it; yet those who formerly had Good News proclaimed to them did not enter because of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:1-6 TLV. Emphasis added.)
- Beloved, in light of the fact that God has already created and provided and paid for EVERYTHING we will ever need to continue to live, and operate, and do His will and fulfill His Plan in the days to come, we have the luxury of being supplied with a changeless advantage… a truly granite-solid foundation that enables us to enjoy an outrageous confidence… that can permeate everything we think, say and do throughout the days we will continue to be deployed in this fallen, broken world!
- We don’t ever have to worry about not being cared for or protected! We’ll never have to worry about running out of ‘ammunition’ or provisions, or reinforcements! We’ll never have to anxiously fret and offer panic-driven prayers to God, asking Him to do something that we may assume He has not yet thought of or covered. He knew Everything in advance and prepared for it! He has already factored every detail concerning the present, past and future of His entire Creation into His awesome Battle Plan! The Lord God Almighty is our Infinitely Perfect and Omnipotent and Omniscient SHEPHERD… and so He has assured us that those who are His own, will never, ever, be in want of anything that will be necessary for us to enjoy His Lovingkindness and ample All-Sufficient Provision. So beloved… even if we’re not aware of it yet… the Truth is that, thanks to God’s Wisdom and Mercy, we are ready to roll, and we’re good to go… ready to face, and effectively deal with, whatever may lie ahead of us!
- Not only that, but the risen Lord Himself has assured us that, whether we can see or hear or feel Him close to us or not… He will always not only be with us… He will actually be abiding within us! And He will never leave or forsake us! We’ll never be alone, or left to our own devices. Our Commander is always right here… with each one of us… continuing to lead, and summoning us to follow Him… into the ongoing fulfillment of His Perfect Battle Plan… His Plan for conducting this war with the powers of Darkness… THAT HE HAS ALREADY WON!
“Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!” (John 16:32-33)
“Later He appeared to them, the eleven, as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked them for their unbelief and hardheartedness, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had been raised.
“He told them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the Good News to every creature. He who believes (that I am risen from the dead) and is immersed (into My Father’s All-Sufficient Grace) shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak new languages; they will handle snakes; and if they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”
Then the Lord Yeshua, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word by the signs that follow.” (Mark 16:14-20 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
So the time to begin to demonstrate this Comprehensive All-Sufficient Grace and Love Power that is ours… has arrived! It’s time for us to learn to demonstrate and prove that it is TRUE! And we must begin by beginning to make our indwelling Lord’s indwelling Presence ever-welcome and agree with whatever He is here to be and to do… to us… in us… through us… and for us!
It’s time to realize that we can always afford to habitually, continually, rejoice in Him… and to thank Him… and LOOK TO HIM ALONE, ALWAYS. Because of His Perfection and Absolute Authority and Infinite Faithfulness, we need not be fearful, fretful or anxious about ANYTHING! (See Philippians 4.)
REMEMBER THIS: FOR GOD, MIRACLES ARE NO PROBLEM! HE WORKS THEM ALL THE TIME!
The War between the Hosts of Heaven and the powers of Darkness is still raging all around us. And the action is really beginning to ‘heat up’. So we must be continually sinking our faith roots ever more deeply into the granite-solid assurance that our beloved Supreme Lord and Commander, Messiah Yeshua, has already crushed the head of the Serpent, the Father of Lies.
He has already completely routed our enemies… as our Covenant Champion and Representative! So there’s no reason for us to waver or be discouraged or cave in under pressure. In our Messiah, we have already won the War!
So, just as David won the current ongoing hostilities between Israel and the Philistines by killing and decapitating Goliath, so too has our Messiah, the Son of David, rendered our Accuser and the Enemy of our souls, helpless and totally unable to maintain his death-grip on us any longer. We have been set free once and for all, thanks to the Perfect Finished Works of Creation, Redemption and Restoration that our Commander, the Living Word of God made flesh has already completed in our name!
“As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will continue to live in the Son and in the Father. Now this is the promise that He Himself has promised us—Eternal Life. I have written you these things about those who are trying to mislead you. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things—and it is true and not a lie—and just as it has taught you, abide in Him. And now, children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we will have confidence and not be ashamed in His Presence at His coming.” (1 John 2:24-28 TLV.)
“Loved ones, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. You know the Ruach Elohim (the Spirit of God) by this—every spirit that acknowledges that Messiah Yeshua has come in human flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. You are from God, children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world, so they speak from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God; whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.” (1 John 4:1-6 TLV. Emphasis added.)
So… in the light of all of this… let’s consider the Last Days combat situations we’re going to be facing and dealing with at this point of our Lord’s Invasion into enemy-held territories.
John Marquez
www.follow-me-ministries.org
********
Point #1
Some Preliminary Tools to Help Us Operate Effectively in Combat
A useful analogy with which to begin our considerations:
Consider an electric lamp – apart from its power source, it can’t be a lamp. It can’t do what lamps are made to do, as long as it remains disconnected from the power. It just sits in its place, dead and collecting dust. So too is it with God-less radically independent, self-asserting humans.
- The lamp must first have its power cord plugged into a live electrical socket. (With respect to us and the Holy Spirit, we get plugged into Him by first repenting of our Sin-full Self-life, and being baptized into God, by becoming one with our risen Messiah and the New Covenant Blessings He has made available for us.)
- To be right with God, we must be plugged into Him through His Living Word and His Holy Spirit. Then the Power that God is, becomes one with the connected human ‘lamps’! God’s Power enters into a human that repents of Sinful Self-life and becomes filled with Spirit-imparted Messiah-Life.
“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?”
“Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the Name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. (The Holy Spirit)” (Acts 2:37-38 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
- Then each connected lamp’s switch must continually be kept at the ‘on’ position.
“Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing! If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.
“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much (of My) fruit and so prove to be My disciples.” (John 15:4-8 Amplification and emphasis added.)
- If we’re continually making the Holy Spirit welcome, and consciously filling ourselves with all He is in us to be and do and give… He will begin to make our risen Lord Yeshua, REAL, and PRESENT, and ELECTRIFYINGLY FRUITFUL and WORLD-CHANGING in our personal experience! Continual interaction with our Divine Guest will develop a new lifestyle habit pattern within us that will keep us ever-mindful of the fact that Almighty God is abiding in us as in a temple! And as we continually make the Holy Spirit welcome, and submit to whatever Messiah-revealing impartation He is here to ‘download’ into us, the Omnipotent Power of God continues to flow freely into us… and out from us! And thus God’s Spirit is free to ‘light up every vicinity’ we occupy. And we can, and will, serve as His abiding, yielded, Power-filled, Light-giving human ‘torches’.
“You are the Light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on a lampstand so it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your Light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”(Matthew 5:14-16 TLV. Emphasis added.)
But I believe there’s a vitally important element we must take into account as we try to understand what the Holy Spirit is here to do with us in terms of where He intends to guide us and what He wants us to know and understand. And we must do our best to cooperate with Him in the days to come. I believe the risen Lord is given to abide within us, so that He can continually ‘unpack’ and make available, the inexhaustible Glory and the endless flow of All-Sufficient Provision that Father has already provided for us in Him. No matter what we will face or need in the future, we must realize that God has already foreseen it, and made the perfect provision for it in His Perfect Wisdom and Foreknowledge. All of that already exists in God’s Finished Works of Creation in Eternity. And… our Messiah will always be available to us here in time and space… IF… we continue to operate in the obedience required by our Faith and continually look to receive all that pertains to Him from the Spirit of God!
The job that Last Days disciples will be commissioned to fulfill, as the Lord leads us into the demon-possessed sectors of this world, will require each one of us to be in constant communication with God’s Spirit, and with each other. This will help to keep us connected to our essential supply lines of God-given equipment, ammunition, essential supplies, and ongoing protection and the constant availability of reinforcements.
In this sense, our situation might be compared to that of the U.S. Marines that were commissioned to invade the island of Iwo Jima in the South Pacific during World War II. When I was a young boy, shortly after World War II ended, a Marine and his wife rented a downstairs apartment in the home of my parents, for a year or two. He was a veteran of Iwo Jima and was stationed in my hometown. And so I would pump him with questions. And he would tell me all about what had happened and what he had seen and experienced; and he’d bring home reels of Marine combat footage to show me, because of my intense interest…
(Tragically, years later, after he and his wife moved away and went on to other things, I learned that my Marine friend, like many other combat veterans, ended up committing suicide. In those days, no one was aware of what today is called, PTSD, or, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. When it is not properly and effectively treated, many of its victims continue to have repeated traumatic ‘flashbacks’. So in their war-mutilated souls, they vividly relive, over and over, in vivid detail, the horrors that the combat situations they were forced to witness, participate in, and endure, keep bringing them back into. So… to put an end that nightmarish existence, and to find some sort of relief… there are those among them who feel compelled to end their lives. And that is what happened to my friend.)
The island of Iwo Jima is only about five hundred miles from the Japanese main homeland. So in 1945, it was an extremely strategic necessity for both sides, to occupy and control that small Pacific island. For the Japanese forces, it enabled them to make a supreme ‘last ditch’ effort to stem the advance of the United States forces that were closing in on Japan with superior manpower, technology and endless streams of material resources. And for the American side, Iwo Jima presented the possibility of having another easily accessible landing strip and base for the B-29 bomber crews that could then bomb Japan with ease and increased safety.
So for months prior to the inevitable invasion of that vital last-ditch defense of their homeland, Japanese troops had been diligently digging underground gun emplacements and networks of connecting tunnels throughout the entire island, in order to entrench themselves and be able to destroy the American invaders that they knew would soon be coming. They deployed various units all across that deeply fortified island. They took special pains to honeycomb Mt. Suribachi (a 550 ft. volcanic elevation that was the highest point situated on the island’s southwestern tip) with strategically-placed gun emplacements and underground bunkers with peep holes that covered the entire landing area from which they knew the Marines would have to begin their invasion.
As soon as the invasion began, the Americans began to realize what they were really up against. They began to suffer heavy casualties as soon as they hit the beach. Intense fire from well-concealed gunners came at them from all directions and kept them pinned down in the thick black volcanic ash that covered the beach areas. The ash was so soft and deep that it was impossible to run in it. So the Marines had to crawl and stay as close to the ground as possible, to try to avoid the withering fire that was coming from various inland emplacements spread out across the entire horizon. The defenders had the total advantage, thanks to the unhindered view provided by their well-concealed positions on Suribachi and throughout the rest of the island. They were so well concealed in their caves and bunkers, that the Marines were ‘sitting ducks’. They couldn’t see who was shooting at them or from where! So they quickly realized they would have to conquer and silence Suribachi as soon as possible… regardless of the cost.
One of the things the Marines had done to enable them to deal with such a challenge, was to bring a supply of weapons called, ‘flame throwers’. They consisted of napalm-filled cannisters that were attached to their armored tanks. And they had other portable flame-throwing units with tanks that could be strapped to the backs of men assigned to use those weapons, when the situations their units encountered required it. Each flame thrower had a hose and a triggered nozzle from which jets of ignited napalm gel could be shot out. And as the Marines began their agonizing advance up the heights of Suribachi, and against the other emplacements that honeycombed the entire island, the Marines with flamethrowers fired streams of blazing napalm directly into the caves and tunnels that were filled with enemy troops.
Of course anyone hiding within those cavities would be incinerated as soon as the fiery gel hit them and stuck to their clothing and skin. And when the napalm had done its work, live grenades were tossed inside the caves, tunnels and bunkers, to make sure no survivors remained within. Thus, in about a month, all the tunnels and emplacements on Suribachi and throughout the rest of the island were put out of commission, one by one… at an enormous cost in lost and maimed lives. And so, finally, the Marines were finally able to bring their invasion to a successful conclusion.
So… what does all of this have to do with Last Days disciples? Well, we’re in a very similar situation beloved. The Lord and His Hosts have been invading demonic-held territories around the world for a long time. And, now that the Era of the Last Days has finally arrived, we’re at a point where the enemy is about to be defeated and eliminated from the heavenly realms they have infested. And then, all they’ll have left as a base of operations will be… EARTH!
“And war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angels making war against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, but they were not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in Heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now have come the Salvation and the Power and the Kingdom of our God and the Authority of His Anointed One, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters—the one who accuses them before our God day and night—has been thrown out. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great rage, knowing that his time is short.” (Revelation 12:7-12)
The dark demonic forces have lost a lot of territory beloved. Soon Earth will be the only stronghold left to them! And we know that the Captain of the Lord’s Host has already begun the Invasion of their ‘last ditch’ stronghold. We see previous stages of that Invasion chronicled in the New Covenant apostolic writings. And in these Last Days, we’re encountering a situation that is very similar to the way things were during the final months of World War II. In Europe, the action between the Allies and the Nazi troops reached its bitterest, most brutal and lethally destructive stages after the Allied forces invaded Normandy and began to make their final push against Germany itself. And so was it when the American forces began to close in on the Japanese mainland in the Pacific. In warfare, when your enemy is reaching the end of his resources and capacities, that’s the point when he becomes more ferociously desperate and murderous than ever before!
We’re in a similar situation because we’re reaching the end of this final age. Time is running out on our demonic enemies, and they know it! They’ve reached the extreme limits of their defenses and resources. So their frenzied desperation and terror levels are at an all-time high. And they’re intent on coming against us with everything they have, using every possible kind of ‘booby trap’ and illusion and bit of misinformation… they can conjure up to try to confuse, mislead and entrap as many of the Lord’s forces as possible.
And, by God’s Supreme Will and Plan, our current generations were chosen to be born at this time, and prepared to serve the Lord during the final stages of this cosmic conflict. We’re wearing the risen Lord’s uniform and are under His Absolute command… and we’re in the part of the War when it’s time for us to take part in the awesome Final D-Day Invasion of Earth. And our risen Lord, the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts, is abiding within us to guide and direct and lead us, as we invade the enemy’s ultimate last ditch strongholds and go in for the ultimate kill!
As I read the Book of Acts, this is what I see: I see Acts 2 as being the chronicle of the launching of the Lord’s final Invasion. It was the beginning… the institution and launching of the New Covenant Era. And what took place among the New Covenant, Post-Ascension Spirit-filled Messianic disciples of Yeshua, was what the apostle Paul was referring to when he wrote these words:
“But by your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the Day of Wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will pay back each person according to his deeds. To those who by perseverance in doing good are seeking glory, honor, and immortality—eternal life. But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness—wrath and fury.
“There will be trouble and hardship for every human soul that does evil—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But there will be glory, honor, and shalom to everyone who does good—to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” (Romans 2:5-11 TLV. Emphasis added.)
In the Gospel accounts of the New Covenant apostolic writings of Scripture, Father sent His beloved Son, the Living Word made flesh, to come to Earth to initiate the Final Invasion of the demonic powers that were infesting this world. It started in Israel with the Jewish people:
“They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. As soon as Yeshua got out of the boat, a man from the graveyard with an unclean spirit met Him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain. For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been ripped apart by him and the shackles broken. No one was strong enough to tame him. And through it all, night and day, at the graveyard and in the mountains, he kept screaming and gashing himself with stones.
“When he saw Yeshua from a distance, he ran and bowed down before Him. Crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What’s between You and me, Yeshua, Ben El Elyon? I’m warning you, in the name of God, do not torment me!”
For Yeshua had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” Then Yeshua began questioning him, “What is your name?”
And he answered, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” He kept begging Him not to send them out of the country. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside nearby. The unclean spirits urged Him, saying, “Send us to the pigs, so we may enter them.” So Yeshua gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs. And the herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the cliff and were drowned in the sea.” (Mark 5:1-13 TLV.)
In Acts 2, the Jewish apostles and disciples were the first units to be sent against the Last Days enemy entrenchments that honeycomb our world and entrap its citizens. After these Jewish believers were empowered and commissioned by the Holy Spirit to begin invading the earthly enemy emplacements, they continued to focus on liberating the nation of Israel. And then, when Father’s Strategic Battle Plan called for the expansion of the battle front, more units of reinforcements were needed… So God began the process of bringing in units of newly-arrived Gentile reinforcements so that the Invasion could spread out and begin to move into all the other portions of this world. This began several years after the Invasion began in Acts 2. We read about the beginnings of the expansion of that invasion in Acts 10.
And so, ever since those original first century beginnings of the Invasion, the Hosts of Heaven have been taking more and more territory back from the enemy usurpers. And now, all that remains to be ‘cleaned out’ is the last bastions of the Father of Lies… the final vestiges of the ‘Houses of Cards’ that the Father of Lies has managed to construct, in order to continue to deceive, beguile, and mislead as many naïve, gullible human beings as possible.
He has been very successful in getting humans to ‘go for the bait’ that he keeps dangling before them. Many have bit into the bait, only to have the demonic ‘barbs’ hidden within the bait embed themselves within their innards. So Earth has become like an enormous global prison… filled with innumerable human victims and prisoners that are languishing and laboring in the same kind of bondage and slavery that once bedeviled the descendants of Abraham in Egypt as chronicled in the Book of Exodus.
********
Point #2
How Are New Covenant Disciples ‘Armed and Equipped’?
The Lord has a spiritual weapon in mind for each one of us. This weapon is not a created thing, however. It is a Divine Person… the Spirit of the Living God! And the Activity of the Holy Spirit, when He is free to live and abide within us, comes into our earthly experiences in a variety of ways. It operates on two levels… in the spiritual realm, and in the physical. Spiritually, the activity of the Holy Spirit is meant to arm and equip us to resist and oppose and protect us from what our demonic enemies keep trying to do to destroy us. And the earthly activity to which we’re called, is analogous to what flame throwers do in combat, in earthly warfare.
But God’s Spirit doesn’t equip us to fire upon enemy emplacements in ways that destroy human ‘flesh and blood’. It equips us to destroy spiritual strongholds in which our demonic enemies conceal themselves and from which they continue to militate against the human victims they manage to deceive, entrap, and enslave. This is what Paul refers to in his letter to the Ephesian believers:
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the worldly forces of this darkness, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist when the times are evil, and after you have done everything, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:11-13 TLV.)
And it’s vital that we know exactly what we have to work with when we’re sent to invade and destroy the enemy’s spiritual emplacements. The spiritual Armament God is putting into us is much more powerful and effective than physical napalm could ever be, in the natural realm. The Living Word of God Himself abides within us at all times after we’ve been immersed in the Reality of the Spirit of Almighty God. And so God’s Omnipotent Power and All-Consuming fiery Love are what Christ is with us to be and do and release into the world through us! Despite the trials and tribulations we all experience in this fallen world, God has given us plenty to work with, and all we need to do, to continue on to total victory… is to continually focus on and feed upon… Him!
“Therefore, having been made righteous by trusting, we have shalom with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Through Him we also have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and boast in the hope of God’s Glory. And not only that, but we also boast in suffering—knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because God’s Love has been poured into our hearts through the Ruach ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit) who was given to us!” (Romans 5:1-5 TLV.)
“For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Messiah Yeshua as Lord—and ourselves as your slaves for Yeshua’s sake. For God, who said, “Let Light shine out of Darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Messiah.
But we have this Treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing greatness of the Power may be from God and not from ourselves. We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body. For we who live are always being handed over to death for Yeshua’s sake, so that the life of Yeshua may be revealed in our mortal body.
“ So death is at work in us, but Life is at work in you. But we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” So we also believe, and therefore we also speak, knowing that the One who raised the Lord Yeshua will raise us also with Yeshua, and will bring us with you into His Presence. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace that is spreading through more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow—to the Glory of God!” (2 Corinthians 4:5-15 TLV.)
Yes, the Holy Spirit is our Weapon. We can release ‘the Living Waters’ of Christ’s indwelling Presence into our surroundings, just like a blast of napalm! We can oppose and overcome whatever evil schemes the powers of Darkness plan to use to oppose God, and destroy His people! And beloved, for those who believe and interact properly and appropriately with the Holy Spirit… the Weapon of our risen Lord’s Presence that He is here to impart to us and release through us, is INVINCIBLE!
“So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by (created earthly) might nor by (Man-originated) power, BUT BY MY SPIRIT, SAYS THE LORD OF ARMIES!
‘What are you, you great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring out the Top Stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” (Zechariah 4:5-7 NASB. Amplification and emphasis added.)
This is exactly what our Lord Yeshua was referring to when He made this emotion-packed statement in the hearing of His disciples shortly before His death on the cross:
“I HAVE COME TO CAST FIRE UPON THE EARTH (the Fire Power of the Holy Spirit); and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism (immersion into Death) to undergo, and how (anxiously-) distressed I am until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:49-50 NASB Amplification and emphasis added.)
“… But YOU WILL RECEIVE (FIRE) POWER WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS COME UPON YOU; and (THEN, FINALLY,) you shall be (equipped to serve as) My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth!” (Acts 1:8 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
In Acts 2, 3, 5, 7, & 8 we see instances of that ‘heart-gripping’ life-changing New Covenant Fire Power contained in the testimonies that Peter, Stephen, and Philip were commissioned to deliver in those early days of the New Covenant Era. And in Acts 9, we see what the risen Lord did to the radically-independent religious Self-life of Saul of Tarsus! He gave that Anti-Messiah stronghold that had such a strong hold on that man, a lethal blast of that ‘Divine Napalm’ that comes into the earth by the Authority of the risen Lord Himself! And after that happened in Saul (through the obedience of the faith that was exercised by the Messiah’s faithful disciple Ananias,) the Word of God made flesh, brought Saul out from the grip of spiritual death… and into His Realm of Eternal Resurrection Life!
“Now there was a disciple named Ananias in Damascus. The Lord said to him, “Ananias.”
He said, “Here I am, Lord.”
“The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street named Straight, and ask in the house of Judah for someone from Tarsus named Saul. For look, he is praying; and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”
But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man—how much harm he has done to your kedoshim (saints) in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the ruling kohanim (priests) to tie up all who call on Your Name!”
“But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a choice instrument to carry My Name before nations and kings and Bnei-Yisrael (the children of Israel). For (if you bring Me to him) I will show him how much he must suffer for My Name’s sake.”
“So Ananias (trusted and obeyed the Word of the Lord. And he) left and entered into the house. Laying hands (from which he released God’s Spiritual Napalm) on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Yeshua, the One who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming—has sent me, so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit).” (Acts 9:10-17 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
Dear ones… the risen Lord was now living within His Jewish disciple, Ananias, just as the New Covenant promises had foretold!
“I will put My Ruach (Spirit) within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them!” (Ezekiel 36:27 TLV. Amplification & emphasis added.)
“Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the Ruach. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the Ruach, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Come from the four winds, Ruach! Breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied just as He commanded me. The Ruach came into them and they lived. They stood up on their feet, a vast army.” (Ezekiel 37:9-10 TKV. Emphasis added.)
And so this was, and is, the issue as far as Ananias, and every other New Covenant Last Days disciple is concerned. The risen Lord is asking each one of us these awesome world-changing questions:
“Will you allow Me to lead you wherever I want to lead you, from now on? Will you trust me enough to know that, no matter what may happen to you, and all around you, I WILL BE WITH YOU… COVERING YOU… EMPOWERING YOU… AND LEADING YOU THROUGH WHATEVER IT IS YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE?
“WILL YOU TAKE MY INDWELLING PRESENCE WITH YOU INTO YOUR SITUATIONS, CIRCUMSTANCES AND PERSONAL INTERACTIONS… SO I CAN BE FREE TO OBEY MY FATHER’S DIRECTIVES AND FULFILL HIS AWESOME PLAN TO PERFECTION? I will be abiding and working through you, even though, very often, you will not be able to see and understand what I am doing, or why I am doing it? WILL YOU TRUST ME THAT MUCH, MY BELOVED COVENANT FRIEND?”
Dear ones… Ananias said, “Yes Lord, I will trust You that much!” And because he did, and fulfilled the orders he was given… I ask you to consider the awesome outcome and personal transformation of Saul of Tarsus that took place after Ananias laid his hands on him and released God’s Holy Spirit Napalm into him. I ask you to notice that this awesome New Covenant Fire Power did not hurt Saul. Instead it set him free from his demonic oppressors and it restored his sight and brought him out from the state of Death… and into Eternal Life!
But… when the Napalm hit Paul, it destroyed the demonically-induced hold by which that Sin-corruption he inherited from Adam had been able to entrap Saul! It destroyed the Death Grip the Accuser of the brethren had on him. So Saul, that hyper-religious thug that had so recently been such a threat and deadly enemy of God’s Living Word and His devoted people, died… and was reborn by the Holy Spirit… to become Paul, the Lord’s apostle or emissary to both Jews, and Gentiles!
“ Now if their transgression leads to riches for the world, and their loss riches for the Gentiles, then how much more their fullness! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Insofar as I am an emissary to the Gentiles, I spotlight my ministry if somehow I might provoke to jealousy my own flesh and blood and save some of them. For if their rejection leads to the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Romans 12:14 TLV. Emphasis added.)
The demon-driven manipulation that had compelled Saul to persecute Yeshua’s followers was forever destroyed. And Saul was now set free to transform into what God had originally intended and created him to be! And now he was equipped to bear that same Napalm that had liberated him, and learn how to use it to set countless others free… in the Name of His beloved risen Lord.
And that dear ones… IS THE FIRE POWER THAT GOD HAS MADE AVAILABLE TO EACH AND EVERY NEW COVENANT DISCIPLE THAT STEPS FORWARD TO SERVE HIM, AS HE DIRECTS, DURING THESE LAST DAYS!
So we can see that people like blind, Saul of Tarsus, who are on the receiving end of what the Holy Spirit conveys through obedient faith-filled disciples, will also be pierced, penetrated and impregnated with the Life that this ‘Fire Power’ that hits and liberates Satan’s captives with the force of the Word’s ‘Living Water’, is here to release into every sector of this world’s barren, grieving wastelands.
Holy Spirit’s Fire Power is given to us to enable us to cooperate in the revelation, exaltation, and magnification of God’s Living Word. As we testify to our risen Lord, God’s very powerful, unstoppable, ‘Holy Spirit Napalm’ is being released from within us. And this is how we can assist in the impartation of God’s Grace to more and more imprisoned people that populate this Sin-ridden, corrupt, undeserving demon-infested world!
This is the amazing and awesome New Covenant ‘Armament’ that Yeshua had in mind for us, when He said that He had ‘come to cast Fire upon the earth’. This was what He so anxiously anticipated and yearned to make possible for us to have when He made that statement. But first He had to face the prospect of pouring out His perfect, utterly righteous human life on the cross… as the necessary Atonement that God’s Infinitely Perfect Standards of Righteous, Truth, and Justice, required Him to pour out before His Father in order to redeem and reclaim us for His own Personal Service.
Each flame thrower that the Marines used in WWII, when filled to capacity, was able to shoot a flaming jet of napalm for a maximum of about 70 seconds before the tank was emptied. So to make their ammunition last as long as possible, those who used those weapons would fire short bursts, to make their supply last longer. But as soon as their tanks did run out, they had to stop and acquire fresh tanks and strap them onto their backs, before they could continue the attack.
So now, in light of what took place on Iwo Jima in February and March of 1945, we can get a better understanding of the awesome Armament the Lord has provided for us. We’re commissioned to invade the global entrenchments and strongholds of the Father of Lies. He is the Accuser that even dares to malign the Reputation of Almighty God, not to mention that of His faithful people! And now that we’re fully armed and equipped, the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts, Messiah Yeshua, is ready to lead us into our assigned parts of this final Last Days Invasion. However… we will be totally helpless and defenseless before our enemies, as long as we remain mentally and emotionally ignorant of and separated from the indwelling Presence of the Spirit of Almighty God!
Ananias would not have stood a chance of success had he dared to try to deal on his own, with the enemy stronghold that held Saul of Tarsus in its grip. Had he not known that he was filled and fueled by the indwelling Presence of Almighty God, he would not have dared to proceed! But… because he knew and firmly believed that he truly was filled with God’s Spirit… the Spirit was able to cause the Awesome Perfect Presence of the risen Lord to be Real, and Present, and eminently Fruitful, as the Lord reached out to Saul through the obedient faith-filled, Spirit-empowered hands of Ananias!
Beloved, THIS is why it’s so important that we too take pains to make sure we continually abide with, and rest in, the Perfect Presence of God. If we do this, God will keep us filled and fueled by His Spirit! And this is our challenge! This is why it’s so necessary for us to be mindful of the fact that we have this Blessing. We must know this as we pass through the Last Days Boot Camp training that is so necessary for us to receive. This training will rewire and reprogram our brains and reconfigure our minds to abide perpetually with our indwelling Lord. And when we make the Spirit of Yeshua, that welcome, within us, He will be able to abide in us and teach, train, discipline, equip and make us combat-ready… for whatever awaits us up ahead!
So this is our major challenge: because, in ourselves, we are so weak and Sin-damaged and flawed, we can easily be ‘blown off course’ by our demonic enemies. We tend to allow the myriad of distractions that the enemy causes to fill this fallen world to cause us to forget about God. And those distractions blind us to what our demonic enemies are incessantly trying to do to entrap, disarm, and weaken us and lead us astray. So Ephesians 5 warns us to keep filling ourselves continuously with the Holy Spirit! So let’s ponder once more the caution that God has given to us:
“Take no part in the fruitless deeds of Darkness, but rather expose them—for it is disgraceful even to mention the things that are done by them in secret. Yet everything exposed by the Light is being made visible, for everything made visible is Light. This is why it says,
“Wake up, O sleeper! Rise from the (levels and worldly distractions that beguile those who are) dead, and Messiah will (be able to continually) shine on you (and through you)!”
“So pay close attention to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise. Make the most of your time because the days are evil! For this reason do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk on wine, for that is recklessness (don’t focus on earthly things that can easily distract you). Instead, be (continually) filled with the Ruach (the Holy Spirit who enables you to live and work as one with God), speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord—always giving thanks for everything to God the Father, in the Name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.” (Ephesians 5:11-20 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
God wants us to fill ourselves with Him, consciously, deliberately, and on an ongoing basis! His precious Holy Spirit IS THE DIVINE SPIRITUAL ‘NAPALM FIRE’ with which we Last Days disciples MUST ALWAYS BE FILLED AND ARMED! It’s not enough to be introduced to the Holy Spirit the moment we’re saved, and exchange ‘high fives’ with Him and then leave it at that! After our first encounter with Him, we must realize that He is sent by Father to ENTER INTO US, AND TAKE UP PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN US… TO EXERCISE SUPREME AUTHORITY AND MASTERY OVER US, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REVEALING AND EMBODYING OUR RISEN LORD YESHUA! In this way, God is free to accompany us at all times… to teach, train, guide, and empower us while we invade enemy territories and expedite our Messiah’s Advance!
So remember this: the ‘staying filled’ part of our invasion into enemy territory, is up to us! We must be in the habit of continually receiving and welcoming and submitting to the Holy Spirit’s indwelling Presence! It’s up to us to ‘host’ Him… and offer Him constant ‘hospitality and companionship, now that He abides within us, as in a Temple! God, from the earliest times revealed to us that has always been His desire to live in close touch with us.
“Then Adonai Elohim formed the man out of the dust from the ground and He breathed into his nostrils a breath of life—so the man became a living being!” (Genesis 2:7 TLV. Emphasis added.)
“And Enoch continually walked with God—then he was not there, because God took him.” (Genesis 5:24 TLV.)
“These are the genealogies of Noah. Noah was a righteous man. He was blameless among his generation. Noah continually walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9 TLV.)
“When Abram was 99 years old, Adonai appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Continually walk before Me and you will be blameless. My heart’s desire is to make My covenant between Me and you, and then I will multiply you exceedingly much!” (Genesis 17:1-2)
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He trims so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
“I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing! If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so PROVE to be My disciples.” (John 15:1-8 TLV. Emphasis added.)
Can you see that God created each one of us to live and act and interact with Him AS ONE? If we continually welcome and interact with the Holy Spirit… our ‘faith tanks’ will always be filled with His ‘spiritual napalm’. We’ll always have an adequate supply of the Heavenly Holy Spirit Fire Power we’ll need to oppose and overcome the forces of Evil we encounter! The Spirit of God Almighty IS the Fire Power that will protect us and overcome whatever the enemy tries to do against us. We have the glorious privilege of serving as our Lord’s point of entry into this earthly dimension, and His base of operations… from which He can be free to do whatever Father requires Him to do, anywhere on Earth!
Like the Father of Lies himself, the demonic forces are spiritually blind and ignorant. Long ago in eternity past, they knew God as He really is as soon as He created them and commissioned them for His service! And even though they knew Him… they still decided in ‘cold blood’ to resist Him and reject His Word’s Infinite Authority and Supremacy over them. And because they knew what they were doing, they have no excuse. So, for them, there can be no forgiveness or salvation or redemption. And in their supreme arrogance, they still believe they might have a chance to successfully ‘pull off’ their rebellion against God. So they never stop trying to destroy us, by using their deceptions, lies, and holographic traps to draw us back down from the Heavenly Realm, and become bogged down again in things that are earthly. Thus, they hope to derail us and thus prevent God’s Plan from being completely fulfilled. And that, they think and hope, will buy them more time.
Therefore, we must always be alert and on guard against their devious attempts to ‘infiltrate’ our ranks and place alluring traps in our path. This is why we must always maintain close personal, intimate communion and interaction with the Holy Spirit of our God! He must be in us to fortify and protect and guard us at all times. He must be with us to fulfill the promises that our beloved Lord Yeshua made to all of His disciples:
“I still have much more to tell you, but you cannot handle it just now. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into ALL THE TRUTH. He will not speak on His own; but whatever He hears, He will tell you. AND HE WILL DECLARE TO YOU THE THINGS THAT ARE TO COME. HE WILL GLORIFY ME, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is Mine. For this reason I said the Ruach will take from what is Mine and declare it to you!” (John 16:12-15 TLV. Emphasis added.)
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings because of Me, as a witness to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you should say, for it shall be given to you in that hour what you should say. For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you!” (Matthew 10:16-20 TLV.)
********
Point #3
Learning to Render True Hospitality to Our GUEST
The Spirit of God will be our Energy, Motivation, Wisdom, Guide and Protector. He is the Fire Power of God’s Everlasting Covenant Love, that will be covering and protecting and equipping each one of us… AT ALL TIMES! And, not only is He pledged to speak and act through us, but He will also be the AUTHORITY and CONVINCING CREDIBILITY that will VALIDATE and ENDORSE and make our testimonies concerning our risen Lord, CREDIBLE!
So beloved, we will be sent to give honor and validation and testimony on behalf of our risen Lord, while His Spirit’s Fire Power is blasting through the emplacements of our demonic enemies that continually oppress and imprison people in the spiritual realm. Just as bursts of flaming napalm coming from earthly flame throwers, overwhelm and devastate whatever they hit in the natural realm, so will the Spirit of God do to the devices, traps and strongholds of our demonic enemies in the Spiritual Realm! So we must remain poised to allow Him to do that.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, YOU ARE WITH ME! Your rod and Your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. YOU HAVE ANOINTED MY HEAD WITH OIL, MY CUP OVERFLOWS!” (Psalm 23:4-5)
The awesome ‘Flame Thrower’ that we can have within us, is the Spirit of Almighty God, and the physical manifestations of His Infinitely Perfect, All-Sufficient Treasury of Grace, in all of its Fullness! The Holy Spirit is the Fire Power God has commissioned to abide in and accompany us. He will be giving overwhelming penetrating velocity-impact to our words and testimonies. Can you think of anything else in this life that can possibly be more essential and important to us than being ever-mindful and interactively united to the Lord God Almighty, Himself? And can you imagine what it means to the entrenched powers of Darkness to see disciples that are filled with the total interactive awareness and lifestyle that proves we know that our Awesome God’s inner Reality is actually abiding within us? What will they think and feel as they see such well-prepared and excellently-armed ranks of disciples… advancing in their direction?
And can you imagine how ridiculous it would be, for people that are disciples in name only, and are empty and devoid of any trace of the Reality of the Holy Spirit’s Presence… to dare to try to come against the dark forces of Evil? Consider this example:
“God was doing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
But some traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Yeshua, saying, “I charge you by the Yeshua whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of a Jewish ruling kohen (priest) named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, “I know Yeshua and I know about Paul, but who are you?”
“Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, subduing and overpowering all of them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. This became known to all who lived in Ephesus, both Jewish and Greek people. Fear fell upon them all, and the Name of the Lord Yeshua was being magnified.
“Many also of those who had believed came confessing and recounting their practices. And many of those who practiced magic arts brought their books together in a heap, burning them before everyone. They totaled the value of the books and found it to be about fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the Word of the Lord was growing in Power and prevailing!” (Acts 19:11-20 TLV.)
When we’re one with God and we speak forth His written Word, and proclaim the excellencies of our risen Lord into the Anti-Christ atmosphere that surrounds us, the Spirit is standing by, ready to supply unstoppable ‘Blasts’ of Validation and give Proof that makes the Word of Truth (which is the Sword of the Spirit), become Alive, Real, Present, Substantial, and eminently Fruitful… as God’s Word reveals His Truth and Reality from within us! The Spirit gives the Word a velocity and penetrating power that nothing in Heaven or on Earth can equal or resist. This is why the words of the Spirit-empowered Last Days disciples who have been properly trained and prepared, will have unstoppable penetrating Power, as they advance further and further into the enemy’s realms! The One who abides within us, blots out anything that may be around us!
And this is a most wonderful part of this Reality! Notice what happened to the seven sons of Sceva who were illegitimate ‘disciple wannabe’s’. They were devoid of the Holy Spirit and didn’t know Him. So when they dared to try to come across as legitimate disciples of Yeshua, the powers of Darkness (whom they were actually serving) turned on them and beat them severely, both spiritually and physically!
But when God’s ‘Napalm’ hits the human captives of those demonic powers, it doesn’t afflict them with the same agony, destruction and devastation to which it subjects their demonic predators and captors! No, when God’s ‘Napalm’… hits humans, just as it did Saul of Tarsus, it delivers those who are still spiritually dead, and strips that death away from them. And it brings them into our Messiah’s ETERNAL RESURRECTION LIFE!
God’s Spirit destroys what is demonic so that it can then set those who are captivated by it, free! And they will no longer be forced to worship and adore themselves! Instead of continuing to be the image and likeness of the Father of Lies, these blessed people will transform into the living human image and likeness of God’s Living Word! And in this way, the forces of our enemy are dying. Each time one of their captives dies to Self, the enemy force decreases correspondingly by one. And God’s Invasion Force correspondingly increases by one! So, as the disciples continue to advance and take more and more enemy territory, the powers of Darkness decrease, while the earthly Body of our Messiah increases!
And, when the Last Days reach their Ultimate Climax, all of the doomed powers of Darkness will be forced to submit to the ongoing, inescapable Burning Testimony that belies and exposes and neutralizes all of their satanic rebellious disobedient activity. By the successful conclusion of our Invasion, the flaming Fire Power that gives velocity to our Testimonies, will undo and reverse every bit of the horrible damage the dark forces have managed to inflict upon God’s beautiful Creation.
“A psalm of David. Adonai declares to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” Adonai will extend your mighty rod from Zion: Rule in the midst of your enemies.” Your people will be a freewill offering in a day of Your Power. In holy splendors, from dawn’s womb, Yours is the dew of Your youth. Adonai has sworn, and will not change His mind: “You are a Kohen (a Priest) forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
My Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations, heaping up corpses. He will crush heads over the entire land. He will drink from a stream along the way—so His head will be exalted!” (Psalm 110 TLV.)
At the end of this age, the combat will finally cease, and the Lord of Glory will finally assume His rightful Eternal place as King of kings and Lord of lords. And His reign will be established in Jerusalem. And, at last… the rebellious demonic and human enemies of God and His Word… will be plunged into the ‘LAKE OF ‘FIERY NAPALM, WHICH IS THE REALITY AND TRUTH OF THE TOTAL SUPREMACY AND AUTHORITY OF THE LIVING WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH!
The Reality and Absolute Credibility of God’s Living Word will surround and envelop and permeate them, like a lake of agony-inflicting fiery gel that will cover them completely. And they will be forever trapped! There will be no way they will ever be able to escape. They won’t be able to stop the WORD’S TRUTH AND REALITY from continually burning throughout their entire being… inside and out! And this is why they are currently in a frenzy to do whatever they can to delay and hold back, and if possible, reverse what God has said is – INEVITABLE!
“And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.” (Revelation 19:20)
“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10)
“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14-15)
So… can you get a mental picture of this ‘Fiery Power’? It is the Eternal Triumph of the Truth of the Word of God! This is what the Holy Spirit is sent here to do in and through us… He is the Fire that our Messiah has cast all across and throughout the created universe! I believe the Holy Spirit is here to fill us through and through, with God’s Presence, so that we can transform into Heavenly flame throwers! Thanks to Him, we will be able to cover our demonic targets with the flaming Napalm-like ‘gel’ of the Presence of our risen Messiah and His inescapable TRIUMPH! Nothing that is unreal, false, deceptive or untrue, will be able to withstand the Truth, Reality, Authority and Power of the Living Word of God! And that spells doom for unclean spirits that have nothing but the Serpent’s lies behind which to try to hide, and upon which they vainly rely.
So, as soon as we get this Awesome Reality into our heads and hearts, and totally submit to the Holy Spirit, and habitually keep ourselves completely open and submissive to Him, He will be able to keep filling us to overflowing. And just as He did with Ananias, and the other first century New Covenant disciples, His Invincibility will empower us to transmit what He is here to be and do, to us, in us, through us, for us, and all around us!
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and (by His Fire Power, I will) cause (motivate and energize) you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NASB. Amplification added.)
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I WILL COME TO YOU. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and YOU IN ME AND I IN YOU! He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me (and is fully under the authority and guidance of My Spirit); and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him (and through him).” (John 14:16-21 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:25-26 NASB. Emphasis added.)
But I tell you the Truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, BECAUSE THEY DO NOT BELIEVE IN ME; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the Truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for HE WILL TAKE OF MINE AND WILL DISCLOSE IT TO YOU. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that HE TAKES OF MINE AND WILL DISCLOSE IT (all of the Fullness that is in My Perfect Finished Work) TO YOU!” (John 16:7-15 NASB. Emphasis added.)
“At that time Yeshua said in response, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and discerning and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was pleasing to You.
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and ‘you will find rest for your souls.’ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light!” (Mt. 11:25-30 TLV Emphasis added.)
Beloved, please grasp the Awesome Truth that all of this conveys: what pertains to our risen Messiah is the Fullness of what is already contained in His Perfect Finished works of Creation, Redemption and Restoration! It is all the revelation of God’s All-Sufficient Grace that was brought into being as God spoke forth His Living Creative Word in Genesis! God Himself is the Arsenal from which we are authorized and commissioned to work from, and to draw from… with Him!
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was chaos and waste, Darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim was hovering upon the surface of the water. Then God said, “Let there be Light!” and there was Light. God saw that the Light was good. So God distinguished the Light from the Darkness. God called the Light “day,” and the Darkness He called “night.” So there was evening and there was morning—one day.” (Genesis 1:1-5 TLV. Emphasis added.)
“In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the LIGHT of men. The LIGHT shines in the Darkness, and the (demonic power within the) Darkness has not overpowered it!” (John 1:1-5 TLV. Emphasis added.)
In the Last Days, Yeshua, the Light of men, in whom abides Eternal Resurrection Life, will return to Earth with His Heavenly Hosts to reclaim what is His. And the napalm-like Fire Power of the Holy Spirit will be unleashed from within God’s Living Word and from within those who are one with Him, and the powers of Darkness will finally, eternally, be put down.’
So beloved friends, we’re suddenly going to be taken by surprise at the suddenness with which God announces that the time for us to repent and change is up.
“It was just the same in the days of Lot. They were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from Heaven and destroyed them all. Things will be the same on the day when the Son of Man is made fully known. In that day, the one who is on the roof, and his possessions in the house, must not go down to take them away. In the same way, the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his (worldly Self-) life will lose it; but whoever loses his life (in exchange for the Life I will give him) will preserve it!” (Luke 17:28-33 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
But we won’t be the only ones taken by surprise. Our demonic enemies will also be shocked, stunned and terrified at the suddenness with which the Fury of the Lord will be unleashed against them!
********
Point #4
Make Sure You’re Connected to Your Roots
“It so happened that as we were going to prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination, who was bringing her masters much profit from her fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept shouting, saying, “These men are servants of El Elyon, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
She kept doing this for many days. But Paul was irritated and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Messiah Yeshua to come out of her!” And it came out of her that very moment!
“But when her masters saw that the hope of profit was gone, they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. And when they brought them to the chief authorities, they said, “These men are throwing our city into an uproar! BEING JEWISH, they advocate customs which are not permitted for us to accept or practice, BEING ROMANS.”
Then the crowd joined in the attack on them. So the chief authorities ripped their clothes off them and commanded them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to guard them securely. Having received this charge, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” (Acts 16:16-24 TLV. Emphasis added.)
So now let’s learn something vitally important from the clues the Holy Spirit is giving to us from the Scriptures, that will be fully unpacked and expanded upon during the Last Days… through the final generations of New Covenant disciples. At this point, I ask you to pay attention to the issue that is being brought out by these words:
“… Being Jewish, they advocate customs which are not permitted for us to accept or practice, being Romans…”
Beloved… notice the vast chasm that this attitude that is expressed by these Philippian men is revealing. As they tried to build a case against Paul and Silas, they emphasized the fact that they were Jews! And they, being Romans, began to emphasize the vast enmity and opposition that has always existed between God’s chosen people and the rest of the human race. This issue has always been the bone of contention that has existed between those that are commissioned to represent the Living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… to the rest of the Sin-corrupted, God-despising human race that populates this fallen world of the fallen Sin-corrupted children of the First Adam:
“Afterward, Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Adonai, God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast for Me in the wilderness.”
“But Pharaoh said, “WHO IS ADONAI, THAT I SHOULD LISTEN TO HIS VOICE, and let Israel go? I do not know Adonai, and besides, I will not let Israel go!” (Exodus 5:1-2)
The pharaoh was speaking for the entire fallen race of men that despise and reject the God of Israel, and all that He reveals and requires of us through His Living and written Word. That was the issue then, and it was still the issue in the first century that faced Paul, Silas, and the other New Covenant disciples of Yeshua. So, it’s not surprising that those of us who are serving the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob now, in the Last Days, will have to deal with the full blast of that same contempt and resistant deadly opposition that the powers of Darkness will most assuredly throw against the people of God, Jews and Christians alike, as we follow our risen Lord’s invisible Presence and participate in His Ultimate Invasion against the well-entrenched hold the enemy currently enjoys over this fallen world. Pay close attention to what Paul says in the following text:
But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Insofar as I am an emissary to the Gentiles, I spotlight my ministry if somehow I might provoke to jealousy my own flesh and blood and save some of them. For if their rejection leads to the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
If the first fruit is holy, so is the whole batch of dough; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off and you—being a wild olive—were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root of the olive tree with its richness, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, it is not you who support the root (of Israel) but the root (of Israel) supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough. They were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear—for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Notice then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell; but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off!
And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.For if you were cut out of that which by nature is a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:13-24 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
Dear ones, have you noticed how the dark ominous signs that once began to crop up in pre-Holocaust Germany, in the early 1930’s, are now emerging once more in so many parts of the twenty-first Century world? And we know the absolute horror those preliminary ‘signs’ led the world into by the end of that decade and the beginning of the next! What happened during World War II was the ‘preview of coming attractions’ of what will be happening world-wide in the lives of the Last Days generations of disciples. Finally, that same unresolved issue will appear before us all… and we will be forced to decide which side of that deadly conflict we will choose to become one with.
“Now when the Son of Man comes in His Glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations (Jews and Gentiles) will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You? Or thirsty and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger and invite You in? Or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
“And answering, the King will say to them, ‘Amen, I tell you, WHATEVER YOU DID TO ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE MY (Blood Covenant) BRETHREN, YOU DID IT TO ME!’
“Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Go away from Me, you cursed ones, into the everlasting fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in; naked and you did not clothe Me; sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
“Then they too will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not care for You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Amen, I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these (Jewish & Gentile Covenant friends of Mine), you did not do for Me.’ These shall go off to everlasting punishment, but the righteous into Everlasting Life.” (Matthew 25: 31-46) TLV. Emphasis added.)
During the Last Days, when the Holocaust scenario is revisited for its final conclusion and resolution, we will have to come to grips with Israel, and the Everlasting Blood Covenant Bond that God established with her. The Living Word of God, and the Covenant Bond that makes us one with Him… is the Root of the True Israel… out of which the faith and the opportunity to join with God and become one with Him, grows and bears fruit. And, whether or not we’re truly grafted into that Root, will determine whether we will be part of the ‘sheep’ of God, or the ‘goats’ that oppose Him. How can we be one with ‘The King and Messiah of the Jews’, if we’re not one with His people? Can we be part of the fulfillment of God’s promise that, at the end of this age, Jews and Gentiles that belong to Messiah Yeshua, will be as one with each other if each side continues to insist they live on separate sides of a Wall of Partition? How could that fulfill the promise that the two will become ‘One New Man in Messiah’?
In the 1930’s there was a division between two different groups in what was called, ‘The Christian Church’. One faction was very small. It was comprised of people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and a handful of other believers that dared to stand before Hitler and his powerful gang of murderous bullies, in defense of the Jews and the others that they were trying hard to exterminate. And they opposed the Nazis to their faces! Instead of cowering before them, and submitting to the authority they had usurped over the German people, this small number of disciples defied them, saying:
“NO! We will not agree with what you propose… nor will we cooperate with what you insist on doing to the Jewish people, and to all the others you have chosen to marginalize, demonize and discriminate against! You have no right to accomplish your agenda of murderous genocide, theft, rape, torture and redistribution of political and social wealth, power and influence. You are violating the laws and the will of Almighty God, and we will NOT cooperate with you! In fact, we will oppose you with everything that is in us, regardless of the cost!”
And of course, because this tiny remnant were so few in number, by the sheer force of numbers and resources, the powers of Darkness were allowed to carry out their horrendous campaign of destruction and murder. Enormous portions of the world were deeply devastated and disrupted. And that proved to be a warning, a preview that give us a bitter taste of what will be ultimately fulfilled and brought to its inevitable conclusion during the Last Days Mother of all showdowns. In those days there will be a great ‘falling away’ of those who will be exposed to be believers and disciples in name only.
That other group that comprised ‘The Christian Church’, which was much, much larger, looked the other way as the Nazis unleashed the full fury of their genocidal madness upon their forsaken victims. The so-called ‘believers’ hid in the shadows, distracting themselves with other matters and refusing to deal with anything that would force them to face and confront the issues concerning God’s chosen people that Hitler was flaunting in the face of the entire world! The world labeled what was happening as ‘The Jewish Issue’, as if the atrocities that were being done did not really involve them, and were not happening in a realm of reality in which they had any part!
And what began then is not over to this day, beloved. The matter has not really ever been settled. This is the primal ancient Issue between Light and Darkness that simply will not ‘go away’. We still all have to face it. It will separate every nation, and every people group, and every region and family in existence. It will invade every individual heart and life, and force all of us to declare ourselves and take our final stand! It will involve the entire human race because it will constitute the working out of the Great and Final Harvest about which the prophets and their Scriptures have been warning the entire world, for centuries!
“Do not think that I came to bring shalom on the earth; I did not come to bring shalom, but a sword. For I have come to set ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.’
“He who loves father or mother more than Me isn’t worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me isn’t worthy of Me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me isn’t worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39 TLV. Emphasis added.)
At that time, there will be no way to escape or avoid this issue. What the parables have been telling us about the separation of the ‘Wheat from the Tares’, and the ‘Sheep from the Goats’ will be brought to their complete and final conclusions… by the risen Lord Himself! And no demonic or human being will be able to escape His gaze, and His Judgment!
“Yeshua answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray! For many will come in My Name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will lead many astray. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must happen but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are only the beginning of birth pains.
“Then they will hand you over to persecution and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of My Name. And then many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one other. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This Good News of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the End will come.
“So when you see ‘the abomination of desolation,’ which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. The one on the roof must not go down to take what is in his house, and the one in the field must not turn back to get his coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! Pray that your escape will not happen in winter, or on Shabbat. For then there will be great trouble, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. And unless those days were cut short, no one would be delivered. But for the sake of the chosen, those days will be cut short.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Messiah,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and show great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen. See, I have told you beforehand.
“So if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. Or, ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For just as lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. For wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.
“But immediately after the trouble of those days, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its lightand the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in Heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven’ with Power and Great Glory. He will send out His angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together His chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
“Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the door. Amen, I tell you, this generation (that discerns these signs) will not pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, except the Father alone.
“For just as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. And they did not understand until the flood came and swept them all away. So shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one taken and one left. Therefore stay alert; for you do not know what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and not let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”(Matthew 23:4-44 TLV.)
Beloved… the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob always operates from within the pattern of the Blood Covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their descendants. In other words, His Covenant is only with His True Israel. He made no other covenant with any other people. So if Jewish people, as well as those from the other nations and people groups, desire to become one with God, in His Blood Covenant, they will all have to choose to have God’s Living Word ‘graft them into’ the Root of the unbreakable Bond He has with His chosen people, the children of Abraham. This is what Paul was endeavoring to get across in his letter to the Galatians:
“… Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Therefore, recognize that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” (Galatians 3:6-9 NASB)
“Why the Law then? It was added on account of the violations, having been ordered through angels at the hand of a mediator, until the Seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; but God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Far from it! For if a law had been given that was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has confined everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
“But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, being confined for the faith that was destined to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
“ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For you are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (who is Israel’s Messiah and King.) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And (only)if you belong to Christ, then YOU ARE ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS, HEIRS ACCORDING TO PROMISE!” (Galatians 3:19-29 NASB Amplification and emphasis added.)
********
Point #5
Keep Filling Your Tank
Beloved, these are the times and the issues the current generations of disciples have been chosen to bring to the Great Conclusion. This is a most awesome time to be alive, and the Task that God has honored us by entrusting us with its fulfillment, is incomprehensible in its honor and importance.
So, in the first century, the apostles and disciples began sowing the seeds of faith, repentance and salvation into the minds and hearts of people in that Middle Eastern part of this fallen, broken demon-captivated world. And, when the Spirit led Paul and Silas to Philippi (a Roman colony in Macedonia), they began to sow their seeds in that place. And those seeds continued to multiply and spread throughout the succeeding generations, to all other parts of the world… and, eventually, to us. So let’s learn from those disciples’ first century experiences.
Paul was led by the Spirit to deliver a young woman that had been demonically manipulated to start pestering him. After he had had enough, Paul ‘blasted’ that spirit with his ‘Napalm’, and that set off a chain reaction. The girl was set free from the control and manipulation of her demonic tormentor, but the men that had profited from her occult ability, became enraged! And the unclean spirits, whose realm Paul and Silas began to invade, retaliated by stirring up those captives of theirs, who were angered by their loss of revenue, to begin an uproar of accusation against the two disciples of the Lord. They accused Paul and Silas of causing a civil disturbance! Then they were flogged by Roman lictors, and put in prison, pending further legal action.
So now let’s consider Paul and Silas and their post-flogging human condition and circumstances. They had been taken completely by surprise. And now they were severely wounded, bleeding, and suffering great pain. And to add to their sense of helplessness and impotency, the wary jailers had dragged them into the maximum security part of the prison. Now, not only were they severely weakened, and in chains, but they were also roughly confined in wooden stocks! Now, the unbelievers around them would have seen them as, “Hopeless Losers”! And most people throughout the world would agree.
So… obviously it was time for Paul and Silas to ‘reload’ their spiritual ‘Napalm Tanks’ for further action. And, in the middle of that apparently desolate, hopeless, and pain-filled night, they refilled themselves with the Holy Spirit, and when disciples do that, everything changes:
“So pay close attention to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise. Make the most of your time because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk on wine, for that is recklessness. Instead, be filled with the Ruach, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord—ALWAYS GIVING THANKS FOR EVERYTHING to God the Father, in the Name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.”(Ephesians 5:15-20 TLV. Emphasis added.)
“For the music director: “A Silent Dove Far Away,” a Michtam of David, when the Philistines had seized him in Gath.
“Be gracious to me, O God! For man has crushed me, fighting all day he oppresses me. My foes trample me all day. For many are fighting me arrogantly. In a day when I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
“In God—I keep praising His Word—in God I trust, I will not fear. What can mere flesh do to me? All day they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife; they lie hidden. They mark my steps, eager to take my soul. In spite of such sin, will they escape? In fierce anger, O God, cast down such people!
“You have recorded my wanderings. You put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day I call. This I know—that God is for me. In God—I keep praising His Word—in Adonai—I keep praising His Word—in God I trust, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
“I am under vows to You, O God. I will present thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the Light of Life.” (Psalm 56 TLV. Emphasis added.)
++++++++
“A psalm of David. Adonai is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of Righteousness for His Name’s sake.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME: Your rod and Your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of Adonai forever!” (Psalm 23 TLV. Emphasis added.)
++++++++
[Written to the Philippian saints by Paul, during one of his several imprisonments:]
“Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS—again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all people. The Lord is near. DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING—but in everything, by prayer and petition WITH THANKSGIVING , let your requests be made known to God. And the Shalom of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Yeshua.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise—dwell on these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—put these things into practice, and the God of Shalom will be with you.
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me (though you were concerned before but lacked opportunity to show it). I am not saying this because I am in need—for whatever circumstance I am in, I have learned to be content. I know what it is to live with humble means, and I know what it is to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment—both to be filled and to go hungry, to have abundance and to suffer need. I can do all things through Messiah who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:4-13 TLV. Emphasis added.)
++++++++
“So they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Yeshua. But (filled with the Holy Spirit) Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide. For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
After threatening them again, they let them go—finding no way they could punish them on account of the people, because they all were glorifying God for what had happened. For the man in whom this miracle of healing had happened was more than forty years old.
As soon as they were released, Peter and John went to their own people and reported all that the ruling kohanim (priests) and elders had said to them. When they heard it, they (began to fill themselves with the Holy Spirit and) lifted their voices together to God and said, “O Sovereign Master, ‘You made heaven and earth and the sea, and everything in them.’ (That is, You have already provided everything we will ever need now and forever. And) You said by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, through the mouth of our father David Your servant,
‘Why did the nations rage and the peoples plot foolish things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against Adonai and against His Anointed One.’
“For truly both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together in this city against Your holy Servant Yeshua, whom You anointed. They did whatever Your hand and Your purpose predetermined to happen. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant Your servants to speak Your Word with utmost courage—while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the Name of Your holy Servant Yeshua.”
“When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. And they were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak the Word of God with boldness.
“Now the whole group of those who believed was one in heart and mind. No one would say anything he owned was his own, but they had everything in common. With great Power the emissaries were giving witness to the Resurrection of the Lord Yeshua, and Abundant Favor was upon them all. No one among them was needy, for all who were owners of lands or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds and set them at the feet of the emissaries. And the proceeds were distributed according to the need each one had.” (Acts 4:18-35 TLV.)
Beloved, do you get the picture? Can you see the defiant, determined attitude of the New Covenant disciples? They were not about to ‘close up shop’ and give up! Instead they immediately ‘refilled’ their Spiritual Napalm Tanks! Despite the dangers and threats that kept swirling all around them, they continually made the Holy Spirit welcome as He abided within them. And they kept gathering together, worshipping God as one, agreeing with what He had already revealed to them in His written Word. And when they could not gather, each one rendered hospitality to their indwelling Lord in his or her heart.
And so, God was able to continue to fill them to overflowing with Himself, and with His Perfect Finished Works of Provision. Instead of being overwhelmed by their terrible circumstances and helpless condition and pain and fear… they maintained their disciplined military-level focus of attention on the indwelling Presence of God. And through the obedience of their faith, they cooperated with God’s Word, and they continually filled themselves with the Holy Spirit, receiving the Reality and Truth of the Presence of Yeshua, the Living Word of God made flesh that the Holy Spirit is here to impart to us! They kept welcoming the Spirit and the Word into their innermost being, and into their collective midst… regardless of what was, or was not, happening around them.
And this is how the Holy Spirit was able to keep filling them with the Reality and Fire Power of the risen Lord! Thanks to their obedient faith, the Holy Spirit continued to fill them with that ‘Napalm Fire’ with which they kept agreeing and cooperating. They kept reminding themselves, and each other, of the awesome Fact that: “The risen Lord Yeshua is right here with us… and as He abides with His Father, at His right hand, He supplies His own with endless access to Father’s Eternal Treasury of Grace, that flows forth from His Already-Finished and Perfectly Sufficient Works of Creation, Redemption and Restoration!
So in light of God’s Invasion Plan, let’s look deeper into the events that transpired in Philippi. According to Plan, the Holy Spirit first led Paul and Silas to liberate the young woman from the unclean spirits. And then… after the populace and city magistrates reacted in such a negative way and manhandled and imprisoned them, Paul and Silas ‘reloaded their tanks’ by filling themselves with the Holy Spirit. They did it by directing their focus upon God and praying and singing praises to Him. In this way they re-filled themselves with the Spirit; and as they overflowed, they began to direct streams of ignited Holy Spirit Napalm into the prison itself! And so… God’s Spirit was able to set all of the other prisoners, and the jailer, and his entire family free from their chains. Then He gave them all an opportunity to share in their Messiah’s Eternal Resurrection Life and Inheritance. So naturally they began to proclaim that it was Israel’s God, to whom the disciples had been praying in the Name of Israel’s risen Messiah, who freed them from their chains and blew the prison doors open! God did all this through the obedience of the faith of Paul and Silas!
Dear ones, remember that all of that awesome Heavenly ‘Napalm’ was coming out of all that is already contained in the Living Word’s Perfect Finished Work of Creation and Redemption! (See Gen. 2:1-3; Jn. 19:30.) None of those results came from what Paul and Silas were doing, or how well they did it. The results were coming from what God and His Word had already DONE! And the obedient faith of the disciples was the channel through which God’s Grace flowed into their circumstances. Yes, God’s Heavenly Provision was coming into and out through the ‘tanks’ of their obedient faith. But it originated from the Word’s Perfect Finished Work! As Paul and Silas continued to fill themselves with the Holy Spirit, they were simply drawing from the Treasury of Grace that God had already provided for them through their Covenant!
And the next day, as the amazed prisoners and the jailer and his family began to give enthusiastic testimony to what had taken place during the night… they proclaimed that God had intervened in response to the prayers of Paul and Silas. And that of course began to really change the minds and attitudes of the city leaders and those who had accused and thrown them into prison in the first place. So this is how the Holy Spirit’s Napalm continued to set more and more Philippian people free from demonic bondage of idolatry, anti-God rebellion, and Sin and Death.
But now… in these Last Days, our generation of disciples, is commissioned to continue, and finish, the Invasion into the demonic realms that Messiah Yeshua and his disciples started. And right now, we are preparing the way for the Glorious Return to Earth of our risen Lord! We’ve been placed at that precise point in the working out of the Era of the Great Harvest… where billions of tortured, captivated slaves of the Serpent have already begun to be set free!
In this Twenty-First Century, the time has come for wholesale, cosmic Salvation to take place throughout every continent, region, nation and neighborhood of this fallen world! And the Lord has shown us that, if we keep our faith tanks continually filled with the Napalm of what is contained within God’s Perfect Finished Works… all of that God-given Grace can be made real to us, and released through us, by our close personal, intimate union with the Holy Spirit! This is how we can receive and release all that God has made available to us. We can do it through our faith… releasing God and His Loving Provision into all our situations, circumstances, personal interactions and present surroundings. We can release God’s Irresistible, Overwhelming Napalm into whatever enemy emplacements we will ever encounter!
Now the Holy Spirit is assembling the Lord’s disciples from all over the world, and forming them into a vast, highly-coordinated D-Day Invasion Force. It is like a living ‘Fishnet’ that encircles the entire globe! And now it is time for us to Harvest myriads of souls… by releasing the Full Reward of our Messiah’s sufferings on the world’s behalf. It’s time for us to be led by our Commander, into the bowels of the Global Prison in which the Serpent is holding billions of people captive! Now is the time for us to release our inexhaustible supply of Holy Spirit Napalm into all the demonic cells and chains, addictions, and other Sin-induced limitations… It’s time to liberate and reclaim all prisoners who will repent, in the Name of our risen Master. They have always been His, and now the time has come for the demonic usurpers that have been holding them captive, to be confronted, exposed, stripped and devastated for the entire world to see.
So always remember: We must keep our ‘tanks’ filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Overwhelming Liberating Redemptive Napalm’ of God’s Presence! We do it by doing what Paul and Silas, and the saints in previous eras of the Covenant Family of God learned to do, as recounted throughout Scripture, such as, the book of psalms, and the book of Acts.
And remember that, while they were chained and confined in stocks in that jail, Paul and Silas were personally at their weakest, most helpless point. But in the middle of that tortuous night, after they were flogged and put in the stocks, these well-trained soldiers of the Lord kept their minds and hearts focused on their indwelling God. So they deliberately began to fill themselves with all that God had revealed to them about Himself in the Scriptures, and in their past experiences with Him. They filled themselves with the Realities of Israel’s New Covenant with God, thanks to the forgiveness, pardon and righteousness that Yeshua’s death and resurrection had made available to them. And, thanks to the Eternal Blood Covenant, by which God had made them to be one with His Word and Spirit… the city of Philippi, and the other places in which they did the very same things… began to change dramatically and benefit spiritually… as the Fiery Spirit of the Word of our Living God continued to spread out to the ends of the earth!
We too must keep on filling ourselves with the Holy Spirit through the continuous individual and corporate worship and the interactive companionship we enjoy with our Awesome God. We overcome our enemies, by continually abiding in, and filling ourselves with the realization and worship of the indwelling Presence of God, who works from within us. It’s not about us, and what we think God might expect us to do. He has already done all of the work! It’s all about how well we learn to rest and rejoice and exult in Him! That’s how we can fill ourselves with the Spirit, and release the Fire Power of His Omnipotent Presence… into our situations, circumstances and interactions.
We do it by the Authority of, and in the Name of, our risen Lord. God has already done the necessary Work. And, because we are one with our Messiah, we can continually receive and fill ourselves with the benefits (our ‘Daily Bread’) of His Finished Work. We can proclaim and demonstrate the awesome Realities of the Inheritance that is ours, thanks to what He has done! We receive all of this through the obedient ‘intaking action’ of our faith in God’s Living and written Word.
“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Amen, I tell you, they have their reward in full! But you, when you pray, go into your inner room; and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you. And when you are praying, do not babble on and on like the pagans; for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him!
“Therefore, pray in this way: ‘Our Father in Heaven, sanctified be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:5-13 TLV. Emphasis added.)
The Message of the Cross reveals this Heavenly Reality: In ourselves, we humans are weak helpless dust. But when we repent and become one with God’s Living Word and Holy Spirit, God lives in us and works through us, and we transform into invincible warriors! The following teaching our Lord gave, seems to describe helpless passive people. But actually, it’s a blueprint for wise invincible warriors who do not rely on themselves, but fill themselves instead with the abiding inner Presence of Almighty God!
“And He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive Mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of Righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in Heaven is great; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people.
“You are the Light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your Light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:2-14)
Beloved, our Lord is describing people that are not puffed up with themselves. They have been emptied of Self-adoration by the Cross and are now filled with Almighty God Himself!
********
Point #6
The Message of the Cross
“For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved IT IS THE POWER OF GOD! For it is written,
“I will destroy the (so-called) wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the (so-called) intelligent.”
[ In this text, Paul is referring to Isaiah 29:14, which reads: “Therefore, behold, once more I will do a marvelous work among this people—a marvel and a wonder—so the wisdom of their wise (ones) will perish, and the discernment of their discerning (ones) will be concealed.” And then Paul continues:]
Where is the wise one? Where is the Torah scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For seeing that—in God’s wisdom—the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased—through the foolishness of the Message proclaimed—to save those who believe.
“For Jewish people ask for signs and Greek people seek after wisdom, but we proclaim Messiah crucified—a stumbling block to Jewish people and foolishness to Gentile people, but to those who are called (both Jewish and Greek people), Messiah, the POWER of God and the WISDOM of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brothers and sisters, that not many (among us) are wise according to human standards, not many are powerful, and not many are born well.
“Yet God chose the foolish things of the world so He might put to shame the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world so He might put to shame the strong; and God chose the lowly and despised things of the world, the things that are as nothing, so He might bring to nothing the things that are—so that no human might boast before God.
“But because of Him you are in Messiah Yeshua, WHO BECAME TO US WISDOM FROM GOD and RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS and REDEMPTION—so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, BOAST IN ADONAI!” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
Beloved, this is astounding revelation! Can you see the awesome strategy that God uses as His Invasion progresses? The same strategy He used when He sent His Living Word to become one of us… is what He will use with the Last Days disciples. Father deliberately put His beloved Son Yeshua, at a total disadvantage in the face of His demonic enemies. That was a Divine Trap dear ones, and the enemies fell into it! And, because the powers of Darkness are blinded by their arrogant pride and self-confidence, they never learn from past lessons. They continue to do what they’ve always done, for the very same reasons! And so God will continue to use the very same strategy with them when He sends us into the fray. To untrained eyes, it will appear that we don’t stand a chance of surviving, much less prevailing. We will appear to be weak and foolish and pathetically bereft of any resource or advantage. Everyone will be ‘betting’ against us. Look at Yeshua our Commander; notice how disadvantaged He always appeared to be, from the moment He was born in an animal shelter. It never appeared as if He would ever amount to anything! And He is the one we are called to follow!
“Philip *found Nathanael and *said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets also wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” (John 1:45-46 NASB. Emphasis added.)
‘Who has believed our report? To whom is the arm of Adonai revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, nor beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our pains. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, struck by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:1-4 TLV.)
Notice the enormous difference between the ways of the powers of Darkness and the ways of God. Demonic powers lure and beguile their victims and puppets by showering them with worldly privileges, honors, wealth and outstanding successes. They prey upon our inherited human Sin-corrupted flesh, and arouse our inherent arrogance and greed so they can recruit unsuspecting people into their service. They do that for as long as they remain useful for their purposes. But as soon as their usefulness dries up, the demonic forces turn upon their own and begin to torment them, just as they did the seven sons of Sceva!
But our Heavenly Father’s strategy is just the opposite! Those who serve Him and expedite His inevitable glorious conquest over the dark forces that dare to oppose Him, are deliberately made to appear as nobody’s, and ‘losers’, and ‘have nots’, and insignificant outcasts that worldly people either ignore, or shun and abhor! This is because they have nothing to prove! They know that, in their Messiah, they have already won the War! So these triumphant ones come ‘in disguise’… seeming to be nothing more than hapless losers!
“For you see your calling, brothers and sisters, that not many are wise according to human standards, not many are powerful, and not many are born well. Yet God chose the foolish things of the world so He might put to shame the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world so He might put to shame the strong; and God chose the lowly and despised things of the world, the things that are as nothing, so He might bring to nothing the things that are—so that no human might boast before God!
“But because of Him YOU ARE IN MESSIAH YESHUA, who became to us Wisdom from God and Righteousness and Holiness and Redemption—so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, BOAST IN ADONAI!” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 TLV. Emphasis added.)
This text describes very well the physical condition and the abysmally low social standing that Yeshua and His disciples, including Paul and Silas, occupied throughout their earthly lives. They were actually being favored by the Father! Paul and Silas were being set up for a tremendous surprise victory and triumph… even as they endured their excruciating ordeal in that prison in Acts 16! At that time it certainly didn’t seem as if they were winning. Hadn’t they just been severely flogged and dragged into the maximum security prison unit after being publicly humiliated and demeaned? Hadn’t their backs had been torn open, and their physical strength and sharpness of mind, severely depleted? Yes they definitely had nothing about which to boast; nor was anything available to them from which they might derive some comfort that would ‘buck them up’ and make them ‘feel better’. But that’s exactly what sucks our demonic enemies into the fatal quagmire of arrogance, self-adoration confidence and presumption!
Paul and Silas’s circumstances made it absolutely clear that what was about to happen was most certainly not going to depend on what they might try to do, or how well they would be able to do it! They weren’t able to do anything! So the outcome would most certainly not be about them! No… what was about to take place would be all about God… a demonstration of what He had already done in eternity past… when He foreknew this hour and anticipated all that would happen. As far back as that, God had already done and provided everything Paul and Silas and His own Invasion Strategy were going to need in order to overcome and prevail in this most desperate hour!
Thanks to the Gift of the Holy Spirit these disciples had received, the glorious invisible Presence of the risen Messiah was in them, and all around them… He was filling all of their helpless bankrupt deficiencies… and introducing what was utterly impossible for them to accomplish. Everything that followed was done by the Power of the Holy Spirit who now permanently resided within them. It wasn’t by human earthly might or power or intelligence that the Lord of Glory began to make Himself known in that prison. It was done entirely by the Holy Spirit… who was abiding within those two faith-impelled men. And the Love Power of God responded to their obedient faith… the faith that prompted them to look to God and praise, exalt and worship Him, no matter what their earthly circumstances happened to be!
This is something Last Days disciples will have to constantly keep in mind; for we are heading into an ever-increasing ‘Storm’ of demon-inspired opposition. We’ll experience barrages of ridicule, segregation, ostracism and unwarranted abuse. We’ll be vilified, marginalized, ‘demonized’ and ‘criminalized’ by our unbelieving contemporaries. Society will try to close in all around us and strip us of our freedoms and resources, just as the Lord warned in Matthew chapter 10.
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings because of Me, as a witness to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you should say, for it shall be given to you in that hour what you should say. For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against their parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end shall be saved. Whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. Amen, I tell you, you will never finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his Teacher, nor a slave above his Master. It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the Head of the House Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” (Matthew 10:16-25 TLV. Emphasis added.)
In the working out of God’s Plan, our enemies will not stop plotting, scheming and conniving to find ways to destroy us. They will apparently have all the earthly advantages and power to use against us. So for us, things will start to go wrong. Our efforts to escape trouble will seldom work out the way anyone would desire or expect. We’ll experience pain and bitter disappointments! But we must never lose sight of the fact that God is following His Eternal Plan on our behalf. Our plights will be part of His Strategy to lull our enemies into carelessness and get them to glut themselves with false confidence and vain hopes. But the Truth will be unchanging. And the Truth is: WE HAVE ALREADY WON!
So God will suddenly spring His trap and it will close all around them and they will be cornered and overwhelmed! They won’t be able to comprehend what just happened. This is why, very often, things will appear to be totally against us. Our hopes will be dashed and our cherished expectations destroyed! Yes, we’ll be included in God’s Plan, and will have very important roles to play in it. But we won’t be the ones that fulfill and accomplish it! We won’t be the ‘heroes and stars of the story. God’s Almighty Power will be revealed and perfected in the midst of our abysmal weakness! Everything will be all about YESHUA… THE LIVING WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH… AND WHAT HE HAS ALREADY DONE TO BRING EVERYTHING TO ITS PERFECT FULFILLMENT!
“Seek Adonai while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked (imperfect one) forsake his way, and the unrighteous one his thoughts, let him return to Adonai, so He may have (Perfect All-Sufficient) compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly (completely) pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
“For as the heavens are higher than earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not
return there without having watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to sow and bread to eat, SO MY WORD WILL BE, THAT GOES FORTH FROM MY MOUTH. It will not return to Me in vain, but will accomplish what I intend, and will succeed in what I sent it for!” (Isaiah 55: 6-11 TLV. Emphasis added.)
Dear ones… re-read the above text carefully. Fathom the meaning! Father is telling us that everything will always be perfectly accomplished by His own Living Word! He will be the one that will make absolutely sure that everything is done to Infinite Perfection! That’s why it can’t be about us! Everything has already been done TO PERFECTION IN OUR NAME… BY THE INFINITELY PERFECT ONE… Only God Himself can meet and satisfy His own Perfectly Perfect Standards! And that is exactly what He has done! It was done in our name, and He will give us the credit and reward for it… but none of it happens because of our imperfect individualistic efforts. That’s why the Story is always about the Living Word made flesh… the beloved Son of God! And this is why Father cautions us to refrain from relying upon flesh, our own included! Nor are we to rely on our own feelings and understanding.
From our perspective, everything will appear to be inadequate and unfinished; and we will obviously be, in ourselves, totally vulnerable, defenseless, and alone! But we must remember that everything has already been covered and brought to God’s successful conclusion. God has told us repeatedly that despite outward appearances to the contrary, everything we see happening before us has already been concluded… in His Eternal Realm and in His Mind and Will and Plan.
And, since God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways differ so greatly from our ways, can you see what else He is revealing? It follows that if try to operate independently of God, and try to navigate and make choices according to what seems right and makes sense to us, because we can never see the whole picture, we will, automatically, by default, ALWAYS BE DEAD WRONG, AND FAR OFF COURSE! Sin has wreaked so much damage on our Sin-corrupted human nature and our natural faculties and abilities, that we can no longer safely rely upon anything in this world that is created! We can only rely on our Creator and what He has seen fit to reveal and impart to us in, and by, and through, His Perfect Living and written Word!
“Thus says Adonai: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, and depends on flesh as his arm, and whose heart turns from Adonai. For he will be like a bush in the desert. He cannot see goodness when it comes, but will dwell in parched places in the wilderness—a salt land where no one lives.
“Blessed is the one who trusts in Adonai, whose confidence is in Adonai. For he will be like a tree planted by the waters, spreading out its roots by a stream. It has no fear when heat comes, but its leaves will be green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor depart from yielding fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5-8)
So for us, Salvation, Redemption and Restoration can never be the result of what we might think we can do and accomplish through our own fallen faculties, wits and senses! He’s telling us that Sin has killed us when it comes to being able to ‘know the score’, and ‘get the job done’. We’ll never successfully and effectively operate as radically independent agents that can be, in any way, shape or form, ‘as God’. That’s why everything has to be done by the real God, and not by our fallen flesh.
Yeshua, and those of us who believe and rely upon Him and follow Him, are always rejected and opposed by people of this fallen world. So we’ll also experience what the first century disciples experienced. We saw it happen in Yeshua’s life in Israel; and we saw it happening in Acts 7, when Stephen was murdered by that religious Jewish mob. And that mob, of which Saul of Tarsus was a part, went on a persecution rampage, doing their utmost to exterminate anyone that would dare to believe in, or speak of, Yeshua of Nazareth! (Acts 8) That’s the way of this world!
So, to disciples of all times and generations, it will seem as if the earth on which they are standing keeps suddenly caving in under them and becomes a huge ‘sinkhole’ that swallows them up! And, as that repeatedly continues to happen, many will be tempted to assume God can’t be trusted and that it’s up to them to try to do something to save themselves! So many will lose hope and become discouraged and angry. And they will fall away from the Lord and begin to trust in their own understanding and navigate according to their very faulty, inadequate thoughts, feelings and opinions of God and ‘Reality’. And this is why so many continue to ignore and bypass God’s revelations, commandments and promises… and operate as radically independent self-sufficient agents with lives of their own.
Despite his intense hyper-level of religiosity, that’s how it was for Saul of Tarsus. He assumed that he was exceptionally ‘spiritual’ and was serving God properly and impeccably. But, as soon as he was finally encountered and confronted by the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he was mercilessly exposed for what he really was! He was gored to the very core of his being by Truth Himself! And so Saul learned, in the most graphic and gut-wrenching way possible, that God’s Story is not at all about him, and his Pharisee companions. Nor is it even all about the blessed chosen people of the nation of Israel! No, not at all. And it certainly couldn’t have been about those disciples that, after Stephen was killed, went into hiding, or scattered in all directions to try to escape with their lives!
No, it always was, and always is, and always will be, all about God’s Eternal Living Word made flesh! Everything is about Him, and what He is here to be and do in order to obey to Perfection, the will of His Father, and to flawlessly fulfill His Eternal Plan for His Creation! And that is what the Gift of the Holy Spirit, the ‘Power from on High,’ is sent to reveal to us all. And after the original New Covenant disciples, Peter, James, John, and the others, received ‘Power from on High’, they were ignited with the Fire Power of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit transfers the benefits of what flows out of God’s Perfect Finished Works in Eternity… to those of us who look to Him and wait upon Him here in earthly time and space. He equips us supernaturally, with the Wisdom that only comes from God, so we can realize just who it is that says to us all, “Follow Me!”
Then we can know God… IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH! And it becomes blatantly clear just who the real Hero and Star of the Show of God really was and is, and always will be! The Holy Spirit is here to make this very clear to us, as soon as He is sent by the Father and His Word to pierce, penetrate and impregnate us with His All-Consuming Fire! And, after Saul of Tarsus repented and received the Spirit, he began, progressively, to transform into Paul, the most world-renowned Apostle of all. And Paul realized, at a most profound level, that God’s ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts.
And, just as all the other New Covenant emissaries and disciples had to learn, Paul and Silas in Philippi were able to experience things that truly emphasized the fact that, in themselves, they were nothing, and they could not be, or do, or have anything, as a result of looking to and relying upon themselves.
“Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To keep writing the same things to you is not troublesome for me—but for you it is a safeguard. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship by the Ruach Elohim and glory in Messiah Yeshua and have not depended on the flesh—though I myself might have confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he might depend on the flesh, I far more—circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel; from the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the Torah, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting Messiah’s community; as for Torah righteousness, found blameless.
But whatever things were gain to me, these I have considered as loss for the sake of the Messiah. More than that, I consider all things to be loss in comparison to the surpassing value of the knowledge of Messiah Yeshua my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things; and I consider them garbage (dung) in order that I might gain Messiah and be found in Him not having my righteousness derived from Torah, but one that is through trusting in Messiah—the righteousness from God based on trust. My aim is to know Him and the Power of His Resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death—if somehow I might arrive at the Resurrection from among the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or been perfected, but I press on if only I might take hold of that for which Messiah Yeshua took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself as having taken hold of this. But this one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the reward of the upward calling of God in Messiah Yeshua. Therefore let all who are mature have this attitude; and if you have a different attitude in anything, this also God will reveal to you. Nevertheless, let us live up to the same standard we have attained.
“Brothers and sisters, join in following my example and notice those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. (For many walk who are enemies of the cross of Messiah—I have often told you about them, and now I am even weeping as I tell you. Their end is destruction—their god is their belly and their glory is in their shame. They set their minds on earthly things!)
“For our citizenship is in Heaven, and from there we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He will transform this humble body of ours into the likeness of His glorious body, through the Power that enables Him even to put all things in subjection to Himself.” (Philippians 3 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
Beloved, in the Plan of God, disciples have to know better and deeper and more profoundly than anyone else, the experiential reality behind what Yeshua had said to the disciples the night before He died:
“Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the Vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; FOR APART FROM ME, YOU CAN DO NOTHING!” (John 15:4-5)
Paul and Silas learned that none of the awesome spiritual, supernatural God-wrought things that were happening around them and the other Spirit-Empowered disciples, were about them! Those miraculous happenings were taking place because, just as He had promised, Yeshua was with them, doing what only He could do on their behalf. And God’s already finished Provision was coming to them in the midst of their dire straits and circumstances, from His Heavenly Eternal Treasury of Grace in Heaven!
And so our situations in this fallen world, whether good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, do not matter in the least. The only thing that truly matters, is the working out of God’s Eternal Plan. Will the obedience of our faith in Yeshua allow our risen Lord to transmit and reveal and unpack what He has already done to cover our situations for us, and in us, and through us! If so, we, and the people around us, will see God’s Plan unfolding before their astonished eyes. God will reveal it to all concerned, through the obedient faith of Yeshua’s New Covenant disciples.
And now that our risen Lord is here in us and in our midst, we must follow the same ‘Game Plan that our Lord and His original disciples followed in the first century. The Lord is also with us, ready to do the same things He did for them… ready to reveal and display what He has already accomplished through His Perfect Finished Works of Creation, Redemption and Restoration! All of the supernatural wonders that take place in and around the disciples of any era, are, always… all about Yeshua… and what He and the Spirit of His Father have already done at the command of our Heavenly Father… FOR US!
So the moods, perceptions, aspirations, fears, hopes and opinions of the fallen humans involved in God’s Story are not that important in the working out of what God is here among us to be, and to reveal and to display. This is what we all must realize and learn, as soon as possible. Our God can truly be trusted because He has already anticipated everything we will ever encounter or need, and He has already provided everything necessary to Perfection… to see us through those future things that to us, always remain unseen and unknown.
“For we walk BY FAITH, not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7 TLV. Emphasis added.)
And this is what God’s written Word is revealing to us all, through the lives of those He has chosen to reveal and highlight as examples for all the rest of us. Because the real essence and import of what God wants us to know is contained in His Living and written Word, and in His Perfect Finished Works, we can see the purpose behind why we need to receive, and be filled with, the Presence of the Holy Spirit. He is here to empower us to know, and to become as one with, and to contain and reveal the Perfect Presence and supernatural Activity of the risen Lord Yeshua. And therefore, we can get out of His way and allow Him to do what Father sends Him to do. We are to do this in the midst of a fallen broken world that can only see and know things by sight and feeling and conjectures that are always false. This is why the Spirit causes our risen Lord to dwell and reveal Himself to us, in us, and through us! God Himself is here to energize and direct each and every one of His Word’s disciples… transforming them into living testimonies, the living embodiment of the glorious risen Son of God!
And so, what happened to Paul and Silas in Philippi for example, serves as a great example for us all. God uses what happened to them as the background setting in contrast to which He intended to display the blazing Glory and Grandeur and Authority of His beloved rejected, crucified, BUT GLORIOUSLY RESURRECTED SON, the Lamb of God! He revealed Yeshua’s Presence through the lives and dismal circumstances of those two faithful, steadfast servants. Their ordeal clearly and obviously reduced Paul and Silas to a state of total childlike helplessness and desperate neediness! In themselves, they were utterly bankrupt and devoid of any human, earthly resource! And that is a perfect way to announce and usher in the Glorious Lamb of God in all of His Resurrection Glory!
The same Living Word of God, who was living within them, lives in us. And He has been given all Authority throughout the heavens and the entire created physical universe! And He is here to exercise His Absolute Authority and Credibility… to prove that He has already covered and supplied everything His servants need now, and will ever need at any time in the future!
So the Supreme Lord of all things abides within the abused flesh of His disciples… and His Spirit causes the flaming streams of God’s Eternal New Covenant Fire Power to flow continually into this broken time and space world, generation after generation… through the obedient faith of disciples like Paul and Silas. God’s Napalm Power is igniting this world in all directions! And we can expedite that process by remaining connected to God by remaining focused on Yeshua and never forgetting that He is always Present and Available to His own. For those of us who truly know Him, as He really is, our eyes and our faith will always remain fixed upon Him, and nothing else! The Holy Spirit is here to train us to be mindful of God’s Eternal Covenant Love and Faithfulness, and to respond to Him and shower Him with our praises and hymns and prayerful adoration even amid our darkest, most dismal and apparently hopeless moments.
The Fire Power of the Love that the Holy Spirit is here to transmit into us, will thus shoot out from us like flaming Napalm. It will hit everyone and everything that may happen to be around us… including the demonic predators that remain concealed within the entrenchments and bases of operation they’ve established throughout this broken world over the years.
So Scripture is showing us the awesome supernatural level at which the New Covenant Blessings that belong to the Last Days disciples, are intended and geared to operate! The situations will not matter, nor will the circumstances or human feelings that will be aroused matter. And nothing the powers of Darkness will keep trying to do, will matter. Only the Eternal Reality of the Perfection of God’s Holy Presence and the Fullness that is in Him which the Spirit of God will be transmitting into us will matter!
The conditions that will surround the Last Days disciples will be even more harsh and impossible to prevent or control, than those of the first century disciples! But what God did for His own in the first century, He will do the Fullest Extent for us who will serve Him in the Last Days. We will need the Fullness of His Blessings because we will have to endure the fullness of the demonic opposition that will be thrown against us. The Lord warned us:
“Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”(Matthew 18:3 NASB.)
And this is why disciples MUST develop within themselves, a very strong, military-level of disciplined focus that enables them to remember that they need not react or respond to insults and abusive treatment that people under the influence of the dark powers will heap upon them. None of what will be happening will be about them. Everything that is happening to them is a ‘stage prop’, a disguise that conceals the awesome Reality that the War has already been won, because all the necessary work has already been done in Eternity, by God’s Living Word who was made flesh and who is even now, leading them into this situation and setting up His enemies for a total shock and devastating disappointment!
And, because they know they are running out of time, our demonic enemies are being enveloped by and reduced to, a state of absolute terror. Desperation is driving them to a frenzy… as they realize they are almost completely out of time… and the Jaws of Eternal Doom are in the process of closing down upon them all!
This is why God will give complete and total access to the Fullness of the Maximum Outpouring of the Holy Spirit to His Word’s Last Days disciples. He will fill us completely and move us and take us directly into and through all of the last ditch efforts that the fear-crazed powers of Darkness will throw against us. There’s nothing they can do to stop the Advance of the risen Lord of Glory and the members of His earthly Body! They have already been trounced, defeated and stripped of all hope! And that’s why the disciples can afford to maintain their disciplined calm, peace and joy. God is setting up their enemies for a devastatingly sudden surprise. His trap will suddenly snap shut all around them. And they will suddenly realize what the Lord has been up to, and the trap they’ve been lured into entering… all this time!
********
Point #7
The Fire Spreads by Means of Adversity
Nothing in the Roman Empire, and nothing in each succeeding generation and historical era, has been able to stop the advance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God throughout the centuries following what took place in Acts 2, in Jerusalem. The shock waves caused by that Explosion that took place on that Shavuot (Pentecost) day, continue to reverberate and spread out in all directions. And they continue to pierce, penetrate and impregnate more and more demon-oppressed human prisoners… and by the end, billions of captives will have been set free at last. Nothing will be able to stop the risen Lord’s Advance, that started in Jerusalem, to spread all around the world. It will finally circle back and end in Jerusalem, where it began… to the Total Vindication and Enthronement on Earth of the King of kings and Lord of lords!
But presently, we’re at the beginning of the Last Days Era. And the forces of the Serpent have managed to usurp and commandeer all the major systems and assets and controlling forces of this fallen world. They monopolize and control and use these resources in their effort to stop the Triumphant Return and Total Takeover of the Son of God. But nothing they manage to amass or keep trying to throw against the Invasion of God’s Heavenly Host and their Supreme Commander, will be able to ‘stick’, or endure or prevail. Nothing they are or have or will be able to do, has a chance against the Divine Blast of the Holy Spirit’s Omnipotent Power and Infinitely Perfect Covenant Love for His people!
This is why believers must realize the Perfection and Fullness of what they already have, in and from, Almighty God! What He has already done covers Everything! It’s Perfect and All-Sufficient because He is Perfect and All-Sufficient! And that’s’ why we must be weaned of the terrible habit of assuming that what God has done, is not good enough! We must stop ignoring the Treasure before us, and looking to other things we think will be necessary to finally ‘finish the job’ and ‘do what it takes’ at last. Beloved, we need nothing more. God doesn’t have to do one more thing for us in order to ‘finish the job’! We have to wake up to who and what HE IS!
So we must delve deep into the Wisdom underlying the ‘Foolishness’ of the Cross. By the Foolishness of reducing Himself down to Zero… to make Perfect Atonement for all of us… God’s Living Word received the Total Fullness of God’s Finished Works which covered Him with His Father’s Lovingkindness and Approval! When our Representative reduced Himself to Zero by living a perfectly selfless human life, doing only what He saw and heard His Father doing and nothing else (John 5:19) and when He poured His perfectly righteous Human Life out on the cross, He was taking all of us that He was representing, with Him, into the death of human Self-life! And as soon as we died in Him… the Accuser had nothing left around which to wrap his coils! As far as he is concerned, we disappeared into thin air, and now there’s nothing left of us over which he can lay any claim, or accusation or condemnation or charge. Our Messiah has redeemed us 100%! That is the enormous Wisdom of the Cross!
So God’s Strategy was enough to raise His Son, and the entire human race that He represents, FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN AND DEATH! So God’s Word has already, eternally, reversed, neutralized and destroyed all the Self-adoring works of the Evil One… and our common enemy, and those that serve him, are even now… left with nothing to anticipate for themselves except… The Eternal Lake of Fire!
“Yeshua said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven! And I also tell you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My community; and the gates of Sheol will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on Earth will have been forbidden in Heaven and what you permit on earth will have been permitted in Heaven.” Then He ordered the disciples not to tell anyone (for the time being) that He was the Messiah.” (Matthew 16:17-20 TLV. Amplification and emphasis added.)
“From that time Jesus began to point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s purposes, but men’s.” (Matthew 16:21-23 NASB. Emphasis added.)
The Lord was announcing to Peter and the other, soon-to-be New Covenant emissaries, that what God has already done, by commissioning His Living Creative Word to become the Lamb of God who would be our Atoning Sacrifice, is already more than enough to set all of Creation free from the lies and traps and machinations of the Serpent! So the Truth is, that God’s enemies have never really had any real power or authority to oppose God’s Living Word, or those He represents in the Eternal Covenant! And they have no substance with which to back up their malevolent intents, desires, threats and schemes. All they have to rely upon is their clever lies, deceptions, and holographic ‘traps’ by which to beguile, ensnare and totally captivate naïve, gullible humans. The human race fell into the Serpent’s demonic trap… but those redeemed saints who now know the Truth can now stand upon the Solid Rock of that Truth. And those who do, will endure, persevere, overcome and eternally prevail!
“For I will proclaim Adonai’s Name, ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock—blameless is His Work. Indeed, all His ways are just. God of Faithfulness without iniquity, Righteous and Upright is He! Did it corrupt Him? No! The blemish is His children’s—a generation crooked and twisted.” (Deuteronomy 32:3-5 TLV.)
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them (i.e. lives according to them) will be like a wise man who built his house on The Rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house; and yet it did not fall, for its foundation had been built on The Rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Now when Yeshua had finished these words, the crowds were astounded at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having authority and not as their Torah scholars.” (Matthew 7:24-29 TLV.)
The true, God-appointed time for the disciples’ testimony to the Reality of Yeshua’s Authority to begin to be unleashed, had been reserved by the Father for this awesome New Covenant Era into which we have been born. That is when God promised to fulfill to Perfection, what He promised He would do, through His prophet Joel:
“It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
“And it will come about that everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, just as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.” (Joel 2:28-32. NASB. Emphasis added.)
God has promised that the disciples of the Last Days will be filled with the Presence and Fire Power of the Holy Spirit! And that will enable us to triumph over and overcome anything the powers of Darkness may try to do! Nothing can stop the Final Invasion of Almighty God’s Heavenly Hosts!
This is what the Lord was trying to get His original New Covenant disciples to understand in the first century, when He ordered them not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah. At that time, they were not yet ready to ‘receive Power from on high’! And it is only when disciples do have that Power that they are qualified and equipped and prepared to truly understand these things and serve as the risen Messiah’s witnesses… witnesses to the stunning Reality that He who rose from the dead is actually Present… present within and among those very disciples that are giving this awesome message!
“And Yeshua (after He had risen from the dead, and just before He ascended back to His Father) came up to them and spoke to them, saying, “All Authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age!” (Matthew 28:18-20 TLV.)
He said these things to them in Matthew’s Gospel account, after he had arisen. And, what He said there, corresponds with what we see Luke’s account in chapter 1 of Acts revealing. They wanted to know when He would restore the Kingdom of God to Israel. But the Lord let them know it wasn’t yet time for that to happen. Instead, He told them what their true commission was actually going to be at the beginning of the New Covenant Era:
“He said to them, “It is not your place to know the times or seasons which the Father has placed under His own control. But you will receive Power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. After saying all this—while they were watching—He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:7-9 TLV. Emphasis added.)
So beloved, the Lord has told us what is really going on. The big event described in Acts chapter 2 has taken place. And we were all born into that era! And we can know what our God-given commission entails and what we have been empowered to be and to do! We know that God has already done everything necessary to cover and supply everything we will ever need, now and in the future. The Holy Spirit is here to empower us to get the job done… but in Reality, thanks to our beloved Messiah, it is already Finished… and Forever Perfect!
So on this awesome Basis… let’s remain focused on our Hero and Star and Champion of God’s Story. Let’s keep directing the Fire of His Irresistible, Unstoppable Presence at everything and everyone that is around us, behind us, and before us! And let us proclaim His Glory and Triumph over Sin and Death to our dying breath!
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden menorot (menorah lampstands). In the midst of the menorot, I saw One like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe down to His feet, with a golden belt wrapped around His chest. His head and His hair were white like wool, white like snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came forth a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at full strength.
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last, and the One who lives. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever! Moreover, I hold the keys of Death and Sheol. Therefore write down what you have seen, what is, and what will happen after these things.” (Revelation 1:12-19 TLV.)
********
Point #8
0 + 100% = 100%
“Who has believed our report? To whom is the arm of Adonai revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, nor beauty that we (Israelites) should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, one from whom (most of the Jewish) people hide their faces. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our pains. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, struck by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities. The chastisement for our shalom was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:1-5 TLV.)
“Behold My servant, whom I uphold. My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Ruach on Him,He will bring justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, or make His voice heard in the street.A bruised reed He will not break. A smoldering wick He will not snuff out. He will faithfully bring forth justice.
“He will not be disheartened or crushed until He establishes justice on earth. The islands will wait for His Torah. Thus says God, Adonai, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and Ruach to those who walk in it—I, Adonai, called You in righteousness, I will take hold of Your hand, I will keep You and give You as a Covenant to the people, as a Light to the nations, by opening blind eyes bringing prisoners out of the dungeon, and those sitting in darkness out of the prison house.
“I am Adonai—that is My Name! My Glory I will not give to another (but only to Him who is My Anointed One) Or My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new (Covenant) things. Before they spring forth, I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:1-9 TLV. Amplification added.)
Through prophets like Isaiah, God has revealed the way things would be after His New Covenant Era would finally come into being. At that time, EVERYTHING would be about His Living Word made flesh, Messiah Yeshua. He was the Promised One, the One about whom Moses had written, the One in whom all of the Fullness of the Almighty Living God would be contained. He would appear in the Person of the Last Adam, the Ultimate Covenant Representative and Champion for the human race. And everything God has revealed, commanded and promised to the human race will finally be brought to complete, eternal closure and all would be fulfilled to Perfection… when the End comes.
After people are able to realize and admit the horrendous, abysmal damage that the fall into Sin of our first parents inflicted on us all, and they see the terrifying state of Sin and Wickedness in which we were all trapped, it’s easy to falsely assume that for us, there can never be any hope of us being saved from ourselves, and restored to what God originally intended us to be. But, to assume that, would be a terrible error. God has already provided the Perfect Solution to our personally unsolvable problem. He decided to do everything necessary Himself… in our place, and in our name… so that everything could be done at a level that would completely satisfy His Heavenly Father’s own Perfectly Perfect Standards!
God saw to it that, by His own Infinitely Perfect Living Word, He would take full responsibility upon Himself, to do what was necessary to redeem, rescue and fully restore us. This is why all of the credit and reward for it rightfully belongs to God! And, in the fullness of time, God commissioned His Living Word to become flesh, so He could represent all of us, He lived the perfect human life… totally devoid of Self-life… doing only what He saw and heard His Father doing and nothing else. In that sense, His Human Life was always ‘crucified’! And in this sense, the Lord Yeshua became our Perfect Shepherd, Redeemer, and Perfect Protective Blood Covenant Covering. It was all done in, and through Him… the One who called us out of the crowd and summoned us to follow Him, He is the one in whom all of this Fullness abides. It is in Him, and by Him, that we are all empowered to fulfill the Perfect Plan of God… to Perfection!
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness! Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the flying creatures of the sky, over the livestock, over the whole earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the land.” God created humankind in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)
Many of us have failed to understand that our God is not at all like us. But yet, fallen human flesh seems to have an incurable penchant for trying to second-guess His Word and reverse His original plan, by trying to ‘remake’ God… by changing and reducing Him into our image and likeness! And that is what the Serpent and his demonic hordes have tried to do. They refuse to accept God as He is. And so, in doing that, they refuse to accept Reality and Truth as they actually are. And so it follows that they also cannot accept themselves, and each other, as they truly are, either. That’s why they strive to try to usurp God’s rightful Place and relativize His Absolutes, and absolutize their own relative self-serving ‘my truth’ concoctions.
So God’s demonic and human enemies dare to embark on the project of trying to ‘trade positions’ with God. They aspire to take His place of Supreme Authority and Dominion. That is basically what every humanistic human dares to try to do when he or she assumes that ‘Man is the Measure of all things.’ And it is into that God-less world they devise for themselves, a world permeated by demonic Self-adoring assumptions, that Yeshua’s disciples are born, commissioned, and deployed to invade… with the Gospel and overcome it by the Divine Fire Power of the Holy Spirit.
It is utter madness for demons and men to assume they can take the place of Almighty God! How could the limited imperfect creation, dare to strive to become the Unlimited, Perfect, Eternally Uncreated One? That’s Insanity! But that’s exactly what they keep trying to do. The Real Truth, however, is the exact opposite! Creatures could never take the place of the Perfect God. BUT… the Perfect God was able to take the place of His imperfect creatures, for example, His human beings. And that is exactly what He did! God became one of us and took on our limitations and weaknesses and vulnerability… except for Sin. And as our Representative, He paid our debt and redeemed us entirely from our demonic captors. And now He sends His disciples to announce the Good News of Total Salvation and Redemption to those who do not yet know about these things.
Do nothing out of selfishness or conceit, but with humility consider others as more important than yourselves, looking out not only for your own interests but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Messiah Yeshua, who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped.
“But He emptied Himself—taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself—becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
“For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in Heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord—to the Glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my loved ones, just as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence—work out your salvation with fear and trembling. FOR THE ONE WORKING IN YOU IS GOD—BOTH TO WILL AND TO WORK FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE!” (Philippians 2:3-13 TLV. Emphasis added.)
If we realize and admit that God alone is truly God, and if we receive His Grace and place ourselves under the Authority of His Word, realizing that He has already done everything needed to provide for each and every need every one of His creatures will ever experience in the future, then whoever receives His Grace, is free to enter into God’s Eternal Sabbath Rest from all of His Work And they can thus rest from all of their works. In that case, God becomes their All-Sufficient Source and Provider 100% of the time! And, we can all know that God does not need our help or advice for anything. So, the Truth is: we provide 0% of whatever may be needed… and rely instead on God to provide for everything that is needed… for everyone.
That’s why, when we know that God is our Perfect Omnipotent and All-Sufficient Covenant Friend, Champion and Provider, we always look to Him to provide for us daily… by transmitting all the Daily Bread He has for us in Eternity, down to us who live here on Earth. And this is the meaning of the equation we’re going to consider next…
********
Point #8
0 + 100% = 100%
Fallen Man + Our All-Sufficient God = Everything that will ever be needed!
So now, we can see in retrospect, that the firestorm of rabid persecution that swept over Jerusalem in Acts 8, was an attempt on the part of God’s demonic enemies, to exterminate all of the Messiah’s New Covenant Jewish disciples. But now we must also realize that there was much more embedded into what was happening than that! The truth is, that what happened after Stephen’s death was not really initiated by the powers of Darkness! Something much larger and more powerful than the demons was what was actually working these things out. It was God’s Strategy for His Holy Spirit and Living Word to fulfill His promises. God was actually beginning to launch, spread, and develop His New Covenant Era. Remember what He promised to His disciples in Acts chapter 1?
“But you will receive Power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth!” (Acts 1:8 TLV. Emphasis added.)
Stephen and all the other disciples had recently received that Heavenly Power! They were equipped by the Holy Spirit to really and truly know God, and all of the Perfect Fullness that is eternally contained in His Living Creative Word… the Word that was made flesh to represent the rest of us in God’s Eternal Covenant! So now it was time for them to begin to testify to the Resurrection of Yeshua, and proclaim His total Credibility and Perfect All-Sufficiency of His claims and promises to the entire world! It was time for the disciples to be deployed and sent into every region and nation to begin doing what the Holy Spirit was now authorized to empower them to do. But just before the events in Acts 7 and 8 took place, they were all still firmly and comfortably established in their current ‘comfort zones’, in Jerusalem.
And so God strategically used the ferocity and urgency that this sudden outbreak of persecution began to arouse, to loosen the disciples’ grip on their current comfort zones and break their ‘bubble’ of domestic wellbeing. He did it by allowing the persecutors to scatter and compel them to run for their lives in all directions! The powers of Darkness thought they were initiating something that would militate against God. But actually, God was using their rebellious striving to further fulfill His Awesome Plan of Salvation. He was using these circumstances to strategically deploy His Invasion Forces in their proper God-assigned posts and positions for combat duty!
And although the disciples had already started to proclaim the Glory of their risen Messiah in Jerusalem… it was time for them to disperse and move out from there. Hence, the persecution. That was God’s tool! And the persecution signaled the beginning of God’s world-wide Invasion of the Serpent’s last bastion of resistance. So the disciples were then enabled to begin to proclaim their Lord in Judea and Samaria also. And soon afterward, the proclamation concerning the risen Messiah eventually began to spread from Jews… to some Roman Gentiles that were living in Israel as part of the Roman occupation (Acts 10). And, after that, the New Covenant disciples began to multiply exponentially and invade every part of the earth, in earnest!
So the Holy Spirit, into whom the disciples had all recently been immersed, was able to equip them to serve as witnesses to Messiah Yeshua’s Resurrection… and proclaim Him as Israel’s True Anointed One… and testify to the truth of His claim to be the Redeemer, not only of the Jews, but of the entire universe!
And when we look at what took place in Philippi in Acts 16, we can attribute all that happened there, to the Holy Spirit’s Strategic Plan as well. God saw to it that Paul and Silas would be transferred to a new deployment in Macedonia (See Acts 16:6-11). And while they were there, the Holy Spirit moved Paul to become fed up with the continual intrusions of a demonized woman who kept pursuing him and Silas. And so Paul finally fired a Napalm blast at the demon in that woman, and it immediately departed… setting the woman free from oppression.
And the chain of events that followed, seemed, apparently, to be nothing but bad news for Paul and Silas. But if we look at it from that deeper level, we can see that this too was also part of God’s strategy to save many other people throughout the city of Philippi, that desperately needed what they had to share. Notice how many people eventually were made aware of what God has done for the world, through the obedient faith of Paul and Silas. Their apparent fall into the pit of disaster was actually a ‘stage prop’ that God intended to use to display, prove and explain the Wonder and Glory of His beloved Resurrected Son! It’s very likely that the now rapidly spreading wave of Salvation managed to reach and penetrate the heart of every one of the other prisoners that were in that jail. And it certainly reached the head jailer, and his entire family… and for sure it reached even some of the leaders and citizens of the city, after Paul informed them that they had unlawfully flogged and imprisoned a native born Roman citizen! So now, more and more Philippian people had their hearts pierced with fear and dread over the crime they had taken part in committing against Paul and Silas. And that knowledge, plus what took place in that prison, completely changed everyone’s attitude toward these two men. Suddenly they were heavy-duty personalities that merited everyone’s attention and respect and deference. So now, the people began to treat them with ‘kid gloves’.
Everyone in that region was able to hear about the rising fame and glory of the recently resurrected Messiah King of Israel… and many more people, thanks to the Divine Power that seemed to be enveloping Paul and Silas, began to believe that Yeshua is King and Lord of the entire universe! The shock waves of that chain of events were extremely powerful, and they travelled in all directions, making more and more people aware of the Power and Authority and Total Credibility of the risen Lord of Glory. And all of that came out of the apparently great misfortune that befell Paul and Silas.
So beloved, be prepared for this. It will be the same with all of us. God intends for great things to happen, each time He commissions and sends His disciples into parts of this world that have not yet received their Napalm blasts of Holy Spirit Fire Power. And He will often use the apparent disasters, misfortunes and sufferings that He will allow to befall His disciples, as ‘the perfect backdrop’ against which to unleash the sudden shocking revelation of the Glory, Power, Absolute Authority and Eternal Triumph… of His Living Word made flesh!
Despite appearances to the contrary, all that Paul and Silas had to do in Reality, was to remain focused on the Presence of God Himself. He was always with them, as promised. And, after they were flogged and put into maximum security and rendered totally helpless in the stocks, that’s exactly what Paul and Silas began to do. They started to refill themselves with the Holy Spirit… through their praise and worship of God. And the Spirit rendered the risen Messiah present, and fully alive, and electrifyingly active… from within the bruised and lacerated flesh of His disciples! And the Glory of the Resurrected Lord took over from there… spreading, invading, piercing, penetrating, impregnating and liberating more and more hearts with His Salvation and Eternal Life.
Beloved, this is how God’s Heavenly Flame Thrower works! So don’t be shocked or surprised when the Holy Spirit begins to ‘set up’ the people around you, by putting you in apparently desperately hopeless situations and at great disadvantages! Don’t be sucked in by the appearances of what is happening. Get ready to experience the astounding Glory of the Lord. Look up… for your Redemption will be drawing near! Not even Stephen suffered disaster. No, he was drawn right out of his dismal situation… and lifted straight into the Eternal Glory of His risen Lord’s ascended Presence! And I am deeply inclined to believe that Stephen was so focused upon and totally absorbed by His vision of His risen Lord, standing up to welcome him at the right hand of the Father, that he probably didn’t even feel or notice the stones that were beating the life out of his mortal body! And isn’t that kind of glorious ending to this transitory life exactly what we are all looking forward to, and anticipating?
The disciples of the Last Days, just like the Master they follow, will also experience shocking setbacks and excruciating disappointments and all kinds of opposition and resistance from the demonically deceived denizens of this fallen world. But even though the powers of Darkness will be frenziedly doing their utmost to stir up all kinds of trouble against us… nevertheless… we must always remember these inescapable facts:
- All Authority in Heaven and on Earth belong to God’s Living Word made flesh – who now lives and works from within our crucified and yielded flesh! (Mt. 28:18-20) So there’s no authority left over for any creature, not even the Serpent!
- Everything that God’s enemies and God’s people will ever be able to do comes, originally, from Almighty God, the Creator of all things. And all of God’s Works of Creation, Redemption and Restoration have already been done and completed to Perfection. (Gen. 2:1-3; Jn. 19:30; Rev.22:13) So God will have everything we will ever need, and He will be ready to supply us with it… every step along the way, as we serve Him in the future!
- Nothing our demonic enemies will ever try to do will take God by surprise. In His Infinite Wisdom and Foreknowledge, and Eternal Perspective, He foresaw everything each of His creatures would ever be and do, and He supplied what they will need to do it. That includes the ability of His rebellious creatures to use their free will. Even if they use it to rebel against God, and try to stop His Advance, whatever they have to use against us, must come to them from God, their Creator.
- But God, in His Wisdom and Foreknowledge, will never allow any rebellious creature of His, to be and to have and to do enough to thwart or derail and prevent the working out of His Eternal Plan and Purpose for His Creation! He will give them only so much… but as they use what He allows them to have… they will reach a point where He will give them no more! And they will stop dead in their tracks, short of their goals! This is why their malicious plans are doomed to failure and why their agendas will never be fulfilled! God will never give them enough to succeed! So they are doomed to total failure and frustration. In this sense, they have already lost the War… And the Word of God has won and reigns Supreme!
- This is very important for the Last Days disciples to know. It means that the powers of Darkness were defeated even before the Serpent first rebelled! They will never have all that they will need to succeed. God will give them only so much ‘rope’. It will not be enough for them to thwart and overcome God. It will only be enough for them to, in their perpetual rebellion, be able to manage to hang themselves!
“I alone declared, saved and proclaimed, and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses”—it is a declaration of Adonai—and I am God! From eternity, I am He. None can deliver from My hand. I act, and who can reverse it?” (Isaiah 43:12-13 TLV. Emphasis added.)
“The valiant have been plundered—they slumbered in their sleep. The mighty could not lift their hands. At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both horse and rider lay dead asleep. You are awesome, yes You are! Who can stand in Your Presence once You are angry? From Heaven You pronounced judgment. The earth feared and was still—when God rose up to judgment, to save all the humble of the land. Selah
“For wrath upon man will bring You praise, remnant of wrath You put on as a belt. Make vows to Adonai your God and fulfill them. Let all around Him bring tribute to the One who is to be feared. He cuts off the breath of princes. The kings of earth are in awe of Him.” (Psalm 76:6-13 TLV. Emphasis added.)
Regardless of how things may appear to our natural senses, regardless of how sudden shocking events may cause us to feel dismay, panic and dread, those appearances and the feelings they generate are nothing compared to the Reality of the Perfect Presence and Lovingkindness, and Wisdom and Perfect Sabbath Rest of our Almighty Creator and Covenant Friend, and Shepherd. His banner over us is Love! We are His sons and we are co-heirs with His only-begotten risen Son, Messiah Yeshua! The Perfection of His Perfect Finished Works is the Full Armor of God, our Perfect Covering! What He possesses, belongs to us! Where He will end up, we will be there too! And because God has already won… so have we!
“Thus says Adonai: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is the House you would build for Me? Where is the place of My rest? For My hand has made all these things, so all these things came to be,” declares Adonai.
“But on this one will I look, one humble and of a contrite spirit, who trembles at MY WORD!”
“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Messiah, keep seeking the things above—where Messiah is, sitting at the right hand of God. Focus your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Messiah in God. When Messiah, who is your Life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him, in Glory!” (Colossians 3:1-4 TLV. Emphasis added.)
A Prayer of Last Days Disciples While Confined in the Stocks
Beloved Father in Heaven… we praise, honor, and glorify Your Awesome Name!
Who is like unto you? Who or what in all of Creation can be compared to You? Truly Lord You alone are unique and transcendent. There is nothing in all of existence that can dare to stand beside You! You stand alone, and reign Supreme Because of who You are, You alone are to be exalted and allowed to occupy the Highest Place!
The Authority and Creative Ability of Your Living Word are Infinite and Perfect in every way. The moment You speak, something new comes into existence and the universe changes! And whatever You forbid, no longer has any bearing or effect.
As You know Father, we are currently in deep trouble. We have been unjustly abused and publicly shamed and debased. Our bodies have been tortured and our blood has been spilled. And now we are confined and abide in total helplessness and weakness. There is nothing we can do to save or help ourselves. And we do not know what to do next.
But Father we look to You. You are our beloved Blood Covenant Friend and Ally. You have sworn by Your own Name and Word to be ever-faithful to us in our every situation and circumstance, and time of need. And You sent Your Word made flesh to pour out His Life and shed His precious blood… to seal us into Your Covenant… and you joined us to Yourself… Forever!
So we raise our voices to You on that basis, dear Father. We call out to You, not as whipped disgraced helpless slaves, but as Your sons and Covenant heirs. We have been disgraced and abused for the sake of and in the Name of, Your beloved Son. We are one with Him in the Covenant, and one with Him in His suffering and crucifixion. Thank You for this privilege and honor!
And we are also living temples of Your Holy Spirit, who abides and operates from within our flesh at all times. And because we were made to be what we are, by Your Eternal will and plan and purpose… we embrace these conditions and situations that are now ours… by the obedience of our faith in You, O Lord. Use our dire situations as platforms from which we can proclaim, embody, reveal, and exalt Your beloved Son! And we thank You for including us in what You are about to do through these very situations.
In the midst of our suffering… we raise our voices to praise, love, adore, worship and thank You. You are worthy to be loved, believed, trusted and obeyed at all times, no matter what may or may not seem to be happening. So we exalt You with all of our hearts and souls and wills… and with all the strength that we still have left.
We fill ourselves continually with Your Precious Holy Spirit. We welcome Him into our heart of hearts, and invite Him to penetrate and fill us to overflowing and ignite us with His Life-giving Love Power. And, in the Name of our resurrected Lord and Messiah Yeshua, we release Your Holy Spirit and His Fire Power into our present situations and circumstances. May everything within us and around us be filled with the Glory of Your Perfect Finished Works and may everything here, and everyone concerned, be transformed exactly as You have envisioned and willed for them to be.
Establish Your Son’s Kingdom wherever we go precious Father… and establish His Authority firmly within the hearts of whoever may be in our vicinity. Let Your will be done… to us… in us… and through us… to Your total satisfaction and contentment and Eternal Glory. May it all be done to us here on Earth, exactly the way You wish for it to be done in Your Heavenly Eternal dimension.
We await Your good pleasure dear Lord. Respond as You see fit… in Your Infinite Wisdom, Lovingkindness, and Perfect Wisdom and Timing. Fill wherever we go with Your Glory, Honor and Transcendent Authority. Establish Your Kingdom here and now! And give to Your beloved Son Yeshua, the full Reward of all the sufferings He underwent on behalf of us all! It is In His Name that we bless and thank You, now and forever…
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” Now He said this about the Ruach, whom those who trusted in Him were going to receive; for the Ruach was not yet given, since Yeshua was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39 TLV.)
Beloved Holy Spirit… we fill ourselves with the Fiery Love of God that You are…
… and release You to flow out of us… all across this fallen world! AMEN!
********