I am trying to catch up to current teachings, as I have posted some teachings out of order,  but do not want you to miss notes I skipped to post teachings from visiting pastors. These are the notes from a teaching on March 19, 2010.

Isaiah 24 covers events at the close of the judgment, and speaks of the future judgment of Israel. Isaiah is describing ancient Babylon. It was historically fulfilled, and prophetically will be fulfilled. The physical Babylon was destroyed.  This passage is also an End Times Prophesy. The whole earth will be judged. The Tribulation Period and the Day of the Lord overlap. 

Peter quoted Joel in Acts 2, and stated that these were the beginnings of the last days. The Tribulation began then, and Paul said that we are in it. The 9th & 12th Chapters of Daniel speaks of the Great Tribulation and the End Times. Another name for this period are the time of Jacob’s Trouble. Jesus spoke of this period in Luke 21, Matthew 24, and Mark 13.  There are tribulations going on, but there will be a final time of Great Tribulation. This Great Tribulation period will begin when Israel signs a seven year peace agreement, and then 3 1/2 years into that the peace agreement will be broken with the abomination of desolation. The antichrist and other nations will break the peace agreement.

During the Great Tribulation the work of the devil will become more pronounced, there will emerge a new world order and the spirit of Babel and mystery Babylon emerge. (These terms and ideas in the next few entries will be more fully explained if they are terms you are not familiar with.) 

The period of tribulation we are in now is under the spirit of antichrist, not the antichrist, but there are many teachings and people in the earth that are speaking against the truth of Christ (anti-Christ). The book of Revelation speaks of a three-headed beast, which is a spiritual, military, and political beast, seeking to destroy anything that is of Christ. This beast will do anything that is against Christ. And as a three-headed beast this represents an unholy trinity, the enemy’s imitation of the trinity of God. During this time the people will be politically and militarily possessed and oppressed. During the Great Tribulation we, the whole Church will not be there. 1 and 2nd Thessalonians speak of this time. When the Church is raptured, then there will be nothing on earth to restrain the evil one and the antichrist will be revealed. When believers are no longer on the earth, evil will have the run of the earth.

Isaiah 24:5 The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 

The earth is DEFILED. So what happens because of this defilement?

Isaiah 24:6-11 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none may go in. There is a cry for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. 

Things are so gloomy, the people drink to numb their pain, not as a joyful celebration. Pharmakia is rampant. Today we are seeing people getting addicted to prescription drugs and grandparents are selling their pain medication to help themselves financially.

Isaiah 24:12-15 In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction. When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the LORD they shall cry aloud from the sea. Therefore glorify the LORD in the dawning light, the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. 

They will glorify God in the dawning light, a light that is welcome when all is in darkness. Not everybody’s going to die with this shaking.

Isaiah 24:16-18 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: “Glory to the righteous!” But I said, “I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.” Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. 

Watch and see.  Even today the intensity and volume of volcanoes and earthquakes have increased, but in these end times there will not have been any like those. Today the cycles between these cataclysmic events is getting closer and closer, kind of like labor pains. There is a shaking of the earth.

Isaiah 24:19-20 The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again. 

With the recent tsunami and other events, our earth’s axis has been moved a bit, and that causes changes in weather patterns and cycles.

Isaiah 24:21 It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. 

IN THAT DAY (The end times date) God will judge the earth, punishing those in the high spiritual realms first. Judgment begins in the heavenlies. 

We can’t become gripped with fear, but need the peace of God. The devil is in the earth creating problems, and ups the ante. While that is going on in the earth, from the heavenlies God is moving. What we see, is it God or the devil? The devil acts on the earth and from the heavenlies God intersects with what God is doing, and that brings on the day of the Lord.

Some of what is happening on earth is built into the design at the creation. Pastor Don explained it by comparing the earth and its axis to an old-fashioned top where you pull the string and the top spins and is upright. As it slows down the top begins to wobble until it falls over and stops. The earth will always exist, it will never not exist.  God will create a NEW Heaven and a NEW earth. The old earth after 7000 years will pass away. It is going to pass away because so much sin and evil has been committed on the old earth, that God will want to make a new one.

In the Middle East earthquakes are intensifying, it could be because of the vacuum created by sucking out the fossil fuels. The earthquake mentioned in this passage is considered the MOTHER OF ALL earthquakes. The DAY OF THE LORD is a time of trouble. It comes at the end of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord culminates with the battle of Armageddon, the battle that God wins.

Isaiah 24:22-23 They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.

We wanted to look in more detail about this passage, so we turned to Ezekiel 25.  Ezekiel 25 speaks about God’s vengeance on the Ammonites, Moab, Seir, and the Philistines. Ezekiel 26, speaks about Judgment against Tyre.  Ezekiel 27 is a lamentation for Tyre.  Ezekiel 27:10 speaks of Persia, Lydia and Libya. Ezekiel 27:12 speaks of Tarshish.  

Ezekiel 28 speaks of the KING OF TYRE. This is not an actual king, but the KING of a principality and power over Tyre – a demonically appointed king to rule the area. 

Ezekiel 29 speaks of Egypt. Today some of the regions of this area we know as Sudan and Ethiopia. 

Ezekiel 30 speaks more about Egypt and her allies. 

Ezekiel 30:10‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will also make a multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”

Something similar will happen in the Last Days.

Ezekiel 31  Egypt is cut down and Assyria.

Ezekiel 33 speaks of the Last days, the watchman on the wall.

Ezekiel 33:2-5 “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life.“

If we do not share the warning of God the blood of the people will be on our head. If we warn people and they refuse to listen, their outcome is on their head. 

FAITH PREPARED  IS DIFFERENT FROM FAITH IN AN EMERGENCY.  In an emergency it is sometimes harder to work up our faith because we get caught up in circumstances. It is far better to know what is coming and apply our faith to it, preparing for what is going to occur.

Ezekiel 33:6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

The watchman must warn the people.

Ezekiel 33:12-19 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of his righteousness in the day that he sins.’  When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die. Again, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is lawful and right; he shall surely live.  “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair!  When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.“

We need to trust in God, in the Sovereign Will of God, not in our own righteousness. We need to ask the help of the Holy Spirit to purify and cleanse our walk.

Pastor assigned the reading of Ezekiel 34 which deals with shepherds and those who minister to the sheep.

I pray this teaching blesses you.  It is so important to stay informed about what is occurring so that we continue to have faith in God, trusting in Him, as times draw closer and closer to the end days.

Heather

Tonight was the last meeting led by Pastor Danquah before he returns to Florida.  If you live in Florida you can find him at the following address:  Christian Restoration Ministries Intl., 19255 NE 3^rd Ave., Miami, Fl 33169  If your church is looking for a great speaker who moves in the Spirit, contact Pastor Danquah.

We remembered our focus verse:  John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

When you receive God’s Word and abide in it, you are free. Zechariah 4:6b Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. 

God wants to bless us. When we take the NATURAL and mix it with the SUPER we have SUPERNATURAL. God is the God of possibilities. Nothing is impossible for God. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Angels are working on God’s Word and people are being freed from limitation and bondage. A limitation is an intangible barrier. You can’t touch it, can’t see it. It is immaterial.  Limitations intimidate our imagination, paralyzes our thinking and causes us to accept our current state as the apex of what is possible for us to do. It is demonic.  We need to remember: Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD.  We condemn limitation in the Name of Jesus. The bondage of fear and limitation are destroyed. God creates things in the realm of the Spirit, and our freedom from limitation is already created in the realm of the Spirit. All we need to do is manifest it. 

We read a story from Acts 3:1-10 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

In this passage the man was in a predicament.

1. He was LAME.  He could not walk.

2. He was LAID.  He depended on some person to bring him to the temple and lay him down at the temple gate. His whole life he depended on a man to bring him to the temple. We are limited when we rely on men to help us with our needs. We need to depend on God to help us get free from limitation.

With finances if we depend on the economy of America we will be limited, but if we depend on God’s economy we will not have limitations. But with God we need to follow His principles and rules. That means that we need to honor the tithe and give God 10% or more.  We are not to rationalize or tithes and offerings, but depend on God. God will make a way for us. If we do not pay our tithe God has no grounds on which to rebuke the devourer.

3. He was LACKING. He was poor.

4. He was LEFT. No one sat by him. When you are sick people sympathize with you a few months, but when the sickness lasts for a long time people get tired f you. Pastor Danquah illustrated how the man must have pushed himself around with his arms, to get from one place to another, for he could not walk. No one gave him water or food during the day. He had to scoot around on the ground to bring himself to another place.

5. He was STILL LOOKING for healing and help.

6 One day he LEAPED UP and was able to walk.

One day we will leap up from whatever circumstance has bound us. OUR LEAPING TIME IS NOW! Are you poor, sick, depressed, hurting, having marriage problems?  Know that your time of leaping is now. When God says, “Yes,” no demon can stand against that Word. We are Covenant Children of God, under the power of the Precious Blood of Jesus.  We are bought by the Blood and under the Promise of Abraham.  Ignorance of the Word puts us in bondage. 

God has heard our cry. He is coming to deliver us. But He does not just deliver us out of something. He delivers us into something new. He is going to take us out of bondage to the land of milk and honey. There is a way out of obscurity, poverty, bondage, sickness. DON’T ACCEPT THE SPIRIT OF LIMITATION.

Every day this covenant child of God sat at the Temple Gate begging. He had no wheelchair and was 40 years in bondage. If this was a son or daughter, or yourself, how would you feel being so lame.  But one day HE LEAPED! 

Today is your day to leap. God wants to bring you out of your lameness into a new land. We can limit the potential God has placed in us. We can only hope for small things instead of the large territory that God wants us to inhabit. Limitations have nothing to do with what God has promised us. He God has promised us something, He is capable of providing it. Limitation may inhibit our progress but limitation does not have to be permanent. 

Know the Truths.

1. The man had POTENTIAL. He desired people to bring him to the Temple every day. If he had no desire, he would have stayed home. Instead he went to the temple, for he desired God. If you stay where you are you will not achieve your potential. Proverbs 10:24 What the wicked dreads will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

We need to go before the presence of God. This man daily went to the Temple.

2. The man was DILIGENT He went daily, did not miss one day. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

We know God has sent an angel, but we don’t know when the angel will reach us. Daniel prayed 21 days. Had he stopped praying after a day or two the Archangel Michael would not have reached him. The angel was sent at the first words of Daniel’s prayer but met opposition in the spiritual realm. Even though we do not see the manifestation of our prayer does not mean that God hasn’t sent the response to us.

3. The man made a DECISION. He did not make excuses to stay home, but went daily to the temple. We need to make a decision to follow Jesus and obey what He tells us to do. So many people say that they are waiting on God. Some wait for years. They don’t realize that God is waiting for them to take a step of faith. God is waiting for us to make a bold, Holy Spirit decision based on Scripture.

4. The man had DETERMINATION. The man had been crippled for 40 years, had never walked, but was determined to make an effort and stand up. He had to fight against years of habit of limitation.

HIS PETITION.

1. He asked for ALMS from Peter.  He did not realize that he was going to get something even better from God through Peter, the ability to make a living and have a better way of life. When we ask God for something, He always provides far more than we can think or imagine. God can do it and do it beyond our imagination.

2. Peter told the man LOOK ON US. The man was looking at the wrong people. When we look to people we stay bound, only when we look to God can we gain our liberty from limitation. Scripture tells us that we want to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of the faith. We want to look to people who will encourage us, not tear us down and point out our limitations to us. Don’t look to people who tell us we can’t do what God is telling us to do. Follow someone who has been successful at overcoming their own limitations, and know that they will be able to better encourage you. We don’t try to become a mirror image of the person, but we do imitate their principles. Follow their principles and things will work out well for us. Don’t be around people who don’t encourage you.

3. The man LISTENED to God’s Word. When Peter told the man God’s Word, the man listened. REVELATION OF GOD’S WORD WILL OPEN A WAY. REVELATION IS FOLLOWED BY FAITH, AND WHEN YOU HAVE FAITH MIRACLES HAPPEN. When we receive our miracle we can speak freely of the goodness and blessedness of God. And our praise will defeat the enemy. Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Peter laid hands on him, or as the Amplified Bible says, firmly grasped him. Nobody rises without help. We need someone to hold us and help us. God will send us a helper, maybe a person will be like an angel to us and help us.  God gives us FAVOR. And favor will lift us up. We don’t need to stay in our situations forever. We are coming out of bondage.

The anointing that Peter had from God helped the man to become strong. When you locate your strength you will be leaping. 

Notice, the man was NOT LIMPING, he was LEAPING. If you are limping it is because you are wanting sympathy from others. But when we receive the strength of God, we are leaping over limitations. This man was limited for 40 years, but he leaped. As we worship God, He gives us new strength.

After this teaching, Pastor Danquah ministered to us, and many were touched. This was followed by many testimonies of healings that happened over the past few days. 

I pray these teachings bless you. If Pastor Danquah is ministering in your area, I highly recommend sitting under the teachings of this blessed man of God.

Heather

Deuteronomy 9:1-3 “Hear, O Israel: You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, (2) a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’ (3) Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you.

John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 

The Word of God makes us free. We need to hear and obey God’s Word. We are saints saved by Jesus, and now that Jesus has freed us, He wants us to know the truth which makes us free. Limitations stop us from being what God wants us to be.  A limitation is an intangible barrier. You can’t touch it, can’t see it. It is immaterial.  Limitations intimidate our imagination, paralyzes our thinking and causes us to accept our current state as the apex of what is possible for us to do. It is demonic. 

Limitations are all in the mind, and that is where the attacks of the enemy begin – the battlefield of our minds. The enemy is trying to stop our creativity. Since God is a creator and we are made in His image, we too can create. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus came to bring us life and life more abundantly. He wants to bring us out of our limitations. 

It is the truth that brings liberty. God has told us to go into the land and possess it. We are able to win against even nations that seem mightier than we think we can battle. But if God tells us to possess the land, He knows the outcome – we win. God has plans for your future that are far bigger than we can think or imagine. Most of the time when God tells us to do something it is bigger than we can accomplish in our own strength.

God says to go, and we should go even if there are giants or obstacles in the land. Fear limits us. We want to believe God, not our circumstances. The devil wants to get you debating the circumstances, not believing God. Don’t give in to the limitation of fear.

Deuteronomy 9:2 (see above) God tells the people to go in and possess the land. The people say that the descendants of Anak (giants) are in the land. Which report are you going to believe?  The ten spies or God? Circumstances or the Lord?  God has something mighty for you to possess, and if He wants us to possess it He will provide the way. With God all things are possible. If we can only believe we can possess. God knows that there are giants in the land, but God promised to destroy them with a consuming fire. But if you stand still you won’t be able to see the consuming fire destroy the enemy. We need to take a step and then God’s consuming fire will proceed us.  If you keep making excuses or refuse to act out of fear you will never see the miracles of God. 

Had Peter stayed comfortably in the boat he would never have walked on water. He had to take that step of faith. 

Naturally speaking things may be giant challenges but God is a consuming fire.

When Caleb was 80 years old he went up to the mountain promised to him and destroyed the giants in that land. He fought and possessed the land. We are not too old or too young to possess our land.

We need to fight and possess the land that God has promised us. What is ours is in the hands of somebody, and we need to fight for our faith.

IT IS A FIGHT. ARM YOURSELF. Jesus said in Matthew 11:11-12  “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.“ 

We are engaged in a fight. Arm yourself and begin to possess your mountain. Behind your mountain is milk and honey. Behind your giant is gold and silver.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 

The enemy is LIKE a lion. HE IS NOT LIKE THE LION OF JUDAH. He is an imitation.

Goliath was a powerful giant and David a little boy. Goliath was armed to the teeth and David had rocks and a slingshot. David could have been afraid of the giant if he only saw him with his natural eyes, but instead Goliath looked to God. David KNEW HIS GOD, and because of that could face and defeat Goliath.

PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR GOD CAN DO STRONG EXPLOITS.

The devil is trying to intimidate you out of what God wants you to do. 

THE SPIRIT OF FEAR RETARDS IMAGINATION, STOPS CREATIVITY. But when we have a dream or a vision from God, we must fight the spirit of fear and step boldly toward our dream.  Know that GOD IS STRONGER THAN OUR OBSTACLES. HE HAS DEFEATED THE ENEMY.

Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD.

Deuteronomy 9:3 Therefore understand today that the LORD your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the LORD has said to you.

We can go boldly to take our land because God is a consuming fire that is going over BEFORE US. IF GOD SAID IT, HE WILL DO IT! Take that bold step. See the power and provision that God has supplied over your life. Rise up and fight the enemy.

Numbers 13:25-27 And they returned from spying out the land after forty days. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

They spied out the land and brought back huge fruits. They spies saw that God spoke the truth about the land flowing with milk and honey. If he spoke the truth about that, wouldn’t He also speak the truth about their ability to conquer the land?

GOD CANNOT LIE. The Lion of Judah cannot lie. Believe what God says in His Word and be bold and conquer your territory. What visions and dreams God has given you, believe Him. Don’t be confused by the lies of the enemy. Fear is a spirit. We want to use the SPIRT OF BOLDNESS to combat the spirit of fear.

Numbers 13:28-29 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan. 

(Pastor Don says that when people say “nevertheless” they always have never more than the less.) These enemies (‘ites)  are the terrorists of our lives. What the devil does is sit you down and get you to analyze the details of your situation, so that you talk yourself out of doing what God has promised you. He tells you you will die, the enemy is too big, you are incapable of doing this, you don’t have enough wisdom, strength, etc. If he can get you to focus on your circumstances you won’t go and possess the land God has given you. What the enemy tells you may seem real, and the circumstances may back up the lies of the enemy, but we want to pay attention to the truth of God’s Words, not the lies of the enemy. 

WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO US WE WANT TO BE OUT OF OUR MINDS AND IN THE SPIRIT. We don’t want to be arguing in our minds, but rather thinking the truths of God. The people feared the giants and said that they couldn’t possess the land.

What is fear?
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real 

Overcome the limitations of fear to possess your promise. Venture into your new territory, don’t choose to remain in your comfort zone. Take charge of your faith and move to the new territory. Take your foot off of cruise control. God wants you to move to the more prosperous territory, not just so you can be blessed but so you can be a blessing to the Kingdom.

DON’T GO WITH THE FLOW. You are different. God’s hand is on you.  God wants you to perform supernatural things with His help. KILL THE GIANTS IN YOUR LAND WITH THE HELP OF GOD.

Our adversary is not always natural, sometimes we battle in the realm of the spirit, in principalities and powers. FAITH REMOVES THE MOUNTAINS BEFORE YOU. 

We must take a bold step. BOLDLY STEP OUT AND DRIVE AWAY THE ENEMY BY FAITH. When we step towards the giant, we see he has no power. The devil fears you when you step out in FAITH, BOLDNESS, POWER, and LOVE.

Promotion is open to you, but many fear the increase and block their chances to be millionaires. Fear prevents people from trying new things. Fear of failure paralyzes them. 

John the Baptist was bold, spoke the truth even though what he was saying was not popular. In our businesses we need to boldly take steps in new territory, facing down the enemy.  Have you ever noticed how many new products are out on the market? We get the new gadget, only to find a few months later there is a newer version of the same gadget. We are tempted to spend our money on these things instead of investing our money toward our career, or toward the things that would help us to grow more effective in reaching the new territory God has for us. The enemy wants us to squander our resources instead of investing in our future.

Peter feared to throw in the net, but listened to Jesus and got the big catch. He acted in fear, but later became bold and possessed the land for the Kingdom.
Jehoshaphat  feared, but believed God and won his battle.

Numbers 13:31-33 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.  There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

THE WAY YOU SEE YOURSELF IS THE WAY PEOPLE WILL SEE YOU. If we see ourselves as grasshoppers, people will see us that way. The enemy is a DEFEATED FOE. We are made in the image and likeness of God. We are the victors over our defeated foe.

Joshua 1:5-9 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

DO NOT BE AFRAID. In the Bible there are 366 times God has told us to not be afraid. Why?  Because we need to be reminded by scripture every day of the year, including the leap year to not be afraid. God is in control.

FAITH IS ACTION. We need to move forward, not remain in the same spot. Remember that the Lord goes and fights for you.

2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

The battle is God’s.

Philippians 3:14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

FEAR IS NOT THE TRUTH. We need to think on those things which are true, pure, honest, noble, lovely and of good report. Think on virtuous things that are praiseworthy, not on fear. 

The enemy wants to get us distracted by things of this world. He makes sin appealing. Achan was attracted to some of the riches of the land even though God said that he should not take any plunder from the land. Achan died and caused the death of many others because of his greed.  David was attracted to Bathsheba and had consequences from that sin.  The devil does not reveal the end result of your sin, he just attracts you to sin to pull you off course. 

What you think in your mind is what you will end up acting out. The battle is in our minds and we need to choose to think Philippians 4:8 types of thoughts.

God’s Words will renew your mind.  Allow God’s Word to fill us so that our mind operates from the truth of God’s Word, not the lies of satan.

Then we prayed and Pastor Danquah ministered to us.  

If possible, try to attend tonight which is a night of healing and deliverance. I plan to attend. Living Word Chapel 1555 Route 28A, West Hurley New York, at 7 PM.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

What a powerful night of the Holy Spirit as many people were set free from limitations. Pastor Danquah will be at Living Word Chapel, 1555 Route 2A, West Hurley New York 12491 phone: 845-338-9305 two more nights – Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:00. Come and join us for an anointed time of worship, praise, teaching, and blessings. Tomorrow Pastor Danquah is going to speak on getting free of worry and fear. I plan to come expecting a miracle, for fear and worry are two areas I am still working on in my life.

Tonight Pastor Danquah brought us to John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 

The highest desire of God when we are saved is that we are saved indeed. Then He wants us to be free indeed. When we know the truth, the truth shall make us free..

ARE WE FREE INDEED? We may be born again, heavenly bound, tongue speaking, and still not be free indeed. God is wanting to set us free from limitations.  What is a limitation?

A limitation is an intangible barrier. You can’t touch it, can’t see it. It is immaterial.  Limitations intimidate our imagination, paralyzes our thinking and causes us to accept our current state as the apex of what is possible for us to do. It is demonic. 

Too many Christians are under bondage. We can speak in tongues, dress nicely, be on the worship team, sing, be an elder, be in the choir, be a pastor or a deacon, or in leadership and still be limited. The spirit of limitation hides out and is hard to spot at times. But God wants us to be free indeed. 

We can be born again and still be poor, struggling, and under bondage.  

It is not God’s will for us to stay were we are, accepting limitations.  Don’t put your life on cruise control, going only 40 mph when God can take you further, faster.

Amos 6:1a Woe to you who are at ease in Zion,

When God blesses you it is not only for you personally, but God wants to use you and the blessing to reach out to others so you become a channel of blessing. Limitations cause us not to reach the target and the goal God has set for you.  God wants us to grow higher than we are and shake off the spirit of limitation. The devil wants to destroy our destiny. 

God wants us to change, to cause our life to bless and prosper. We are a Covenant Child of God and we are not living in the freedom that the Covenant provides for us.

Luke 13:10-13 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raiseherself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 

This woman was in a predicament. She was a covenant child of God, a Jewish woman. She was in covenant with God but still had the limitation that bent her over. She went to the Temple and was worshipping, even with her limitation. She was bowed down, and could not raise herself up. Something was pushing her down, forces making her bow. 

We can be limited spiritually, demon bound, crooked spiritually. This woman suffered for 18 years. Our limitations can be momentary, or last for weeks or months or years. The enemy draws a line in our life and then tells us that we can’t step over the line. Limitations push us back. The devil tells us this is as far as you can go. He paralyzes our thinking, shuts off our creativity, and tells us we are too old, too young, too whatever that prevents us from being able to do what God wants us to do.

Abraham was 70 years old when he was called. Moses was 80. How old are you?

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD EXCEPT THE LIMITATIONS THAT YOU PLACE ON YOURSELF.

This woman in the Temple was bent and twisted, her beauty was gone for she was knotted up and her spine was crooked. 

Jesus declared in Luke 4:18-19 The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

The anointing is present for us to be free indeed. Free from the Spirit of Infirmity, free from poverty, cancer, drugs, marriage problems, or any problem that is limiting you. Whatever the problem it stems from a spirit of limitation. 

Jesus SAW HER.  He saw her because she was at Temple.  Had she stayed at home or not gone to Temple she would not be in the position for Jesus to see her. If we stay home, don’t go to church we are not in a position to receive our freedom from limitation. 

Does it have to only be at church? No. Where ever God’s children gather, a restaurant, over lunch, in a home, God is there and He shows up.

Jesus called her. He is calling us to set us free. 

We need to identify the limitations in our lives and ask God to free us from what is shutting down our creative process.  

God knows our end from our beginning. He created us and knows us from before we were born. The Savior is here and we can see miracles in our lives from whatever is oppressing us. We can be free from every bondage and limitation. 

The woman was loosed from her bondage. The woman was worshipping at the Temple. It was not a special Holy Ghost meeting, or a healing service. She was just worshipping God. Jesus did not pull out oil and anoint her, or do anything spectacular. He spoke to her. “Woman thou art loosed.” And she was healed. We don’t need a special ceremony, a special anointing, or a touch from a person to bring about our healing. Just believe God and that He wants to free us from our limitations.  The oil is a touch point for the anointing, but it is not necessary to transfer the anointing. 

Pastor Danquah spoke freedom from limitations on marriages. Pastor Don Moore and Cynthia have been married 40 years, and Pastor Danquah has been married 26 years. The devil is trying to tear apart families and marriages, and God is seeking to restore them.

When Jesus spoke to the woman, IMMEDIATELY she was loosed. God wants to loose us from our bondages. 

He wants to loose people from an addiction to pornography. 65% of pastors look at porn, as do 85% of men. Even women are addicted to porn. 

God is a God of miracles and He will set people free. Some people can’t spend time with God, they are limited. They can’t even pray 10 minutes, but God wants to free us so that we are able to spend the time necessary with Him.

We then stood and prayed, praising God and asking for freedom from our limitations. Pastor Danquah ministered to the people present who needed release from limitations, then we worshipped God. What a blessed evening. I am excited to see how God moves tomorrow.  See you there.

Heather

What a blessing to have Pastor Danquah visiting Living Word Chapel again. If you want a fresh touch of God and great teaching come and visit. He will be ministering Monday – Tuesday – Wednesday at 7PM . Living Word Chapel, 1555 Route 28A, West Hurley New York 12491. If you need more information call 845-338-9305 during office hours.  It looks to be an exciting series of teachings and I don’t want to miss one.

Besides having a church in Florida, he also has churches in Ghana. Recently they placed a $60,000 roof on their church.  Living Word Chapel supports this ministry in Ghana and 9 others around the world.  Pastor Danquah thanked all who have contributed to the ministry, and told us that he is believing big plans for the future. He knows that many at LWC have had hard times but still sacrificially give, and God blesses that. 

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

When God makes blessings flow in abundance for us it is not just for our personal edification, we are given resources so that we can share them to help the ministry. 

2 Corinthians 9:8 AMPLIFIED And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].

Favor in finances, favor in promotion, favor in business, favor in every earthly blessing IN ABUNDANCE. We are to share this blessing with others. 

DON’T GIVE UP: KEEP ON SPEAKING

We will be blessed, delivered, free, growing to a new level of overflow. We speak and catch the blessing spiritually before we see any physical manifestation.

Romans 12:11not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; We then looked at this verse in a Contemporary English Version Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. Follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up! The devil tries to get us to give up before what we are believing for manifests. The devil will pound, use tricks, and confused emotions to get a person’s mind off the truth of God’s Word. Never give up. Keep speaking the Word of God into your life. You are right at the precipice of a breakthrough. We are in a marathon race and we don’t want to give up when the finish line is so close. 

Winners don’t quit and quitters don’t win. When the race gets tough, the tough get going. 

You are not alone, you have God on your side. He knows the end before you even began the race. He has plans for you to give you a future. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God always knows the finish before you even begin. He has seen what will happen. If you give up you will miss the best of what God has for you. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The enemy wants us to stop, to lose, for he knows if we persist we will be a blessing and help the Kingdom. God is acting on your faith, we are to believe. We are not to look at the natural, but by faith have persistence. 

The definition of persistence is the quality of continuing steadily despite problems and difficulties. We do not stay down, but keep pursuing the vision that God has for us. 

The battle results are fixed – we win. Paul instructed Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. If we look at the physical we will give up and stop fighting because of the weight of the problem. We need to operate by faith not by sight.

There was no way the teenager David could kill Goliath in his own strength. We do not want to be dependent on another person, but rather dependent on God. If you focus on your giant you face defeat. When you are making strides towards God’s goal the devil will put tribulations in your path. But you do not need to become mired in those tribulations.

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. If those in the church are poor and lacking they are bound, if they feel they can’t do what God wants them to do they are bound. God wants to set us free. God wants us to receive His blessing. But we need to resolve to continue forward in spite of the tribulations.

Resolve means to not care what the enemy will do, but that you plan to continue forward regardless. It is a commitment that does not give up no matter the circumstances.  You tell yourself, “I will not quit no matter what.” And you continue to fight the good fight of faith.

2 Corinthians 4:13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,”we also believe and therefore speak,

Faith is a spirit, and is a principle used even by the Patriarchs and the old saints. They spoke what they believed. You must keep speaking what you believe, and it does not always instantly manifest. You may need to speak for weeks or months or years, or decades. Don’t look at the circumstances, focus on the truth of what God is saying. 

When Joshua went to Jericho, he walked around the walls six times, and on the seventh day walked around seven times, it took 13 times around the walls before they crumbled. They kept believing what God said. If we look at our circumstances we can become discouraged, which is why we must keep speaking the Word of God. When you speak the inspired words of God you create faith. 

Your future is on your lips.  Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. 

You eat the fruit of what you say. Your tongue either speaks words of life or words of death. Sometimes our life circumstances make it hard to speak God’s Words, but we must stick to the truth of His Word. Keep speaking the truth and building up your faith in the Spirit. The truth manifests in the Spirit before we see it in the physical. Psalm 45:1b My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. 

We must speak the right things which impacts the realm of the Spirit. Speak what God says and that builds images in our mind in the Spirit realm. 

Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

God created the World by speaking. If He had sat with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and did not speak the World into existence, it wouldn’t exist. We are created in the image of God, so when we want to bring something into existence we need to speak it. 

Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

God’s Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, then God SAID “Let there be light” and there was light. 

If you believe you will speak what you believe. The Spirit gives life. God’s Words are Spirit and life. The Spirit creates life in the midst of our hopeless situations.

Lazarus was dead 4 days, and was decaying in the tomb, but the problem of death was not too hard for Jesus. Jesus SPOKE and Lazarus came forth living.

God speaks life to our dead, hopeless situations. God wants us to know that we must PERSIST, and keep Speaking His truth into our situations.

Don’t withdraw. Keep speaking the truth and one day our situation will turn around.  The Glory of the Lord will be displayed in the turn around. God will not only turn our situation around but He will restore all the years that the locusts ate.  When we speak God’s Word we keep the angels busy. 

Psalm 103:20 Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.

God’s Word has a voice, and when we speak His Word the angels harken to His Word, and God makes things happen. Our finances change, our relationships, jobs, state of mind, husbands, wives, children must change. It is the will of God to bring His Word to pass.

Daniel 10:12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

Daniel prayed to God, and for 21 days seemed to receive no response. An angel had been dispatched from the FIRST DAY, but had been hindered. Daniel kept praying and believing God even though he saw no immediate response. But notice. God heard him from the first day. God heard Daniel’s Words, but there was a hindrance. The enemy, satan, adversary, opposes us, trying to get us to doubt God, and apply doubt to our future and welfare. He doesn’t want us to succeed so he hinders any way he can. 

If the enemy can get us into the realm of reason he has succeeded for then we leave the realm of faith. Only speak faith words based on Scripture and God will send His angels to bring His words to pass. Nothing is impossible of God. God says, if you can believe, all things are possible for you.  Believing will cause miracles to happen for ALL things are possible. 

Even when our situation seems dry, the Words of God can turn the darkness to light. He can change our weeping to laughter, our heaviness to joy in the Holy Ghost. We have been given the authority to stop the devil. The devil wants to kill, steal and destroy. If we do not open our eyes and see his wiles, we permit him to destroy our future, our children and families. WE HAVE AUTHORITY TO SPEAK AGAINST THE devil, and cast him out. WE HAVE AUTHORITY given to us by Jesus Christ.

Mark 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

Cast out demons, speaking them out. TAKE AUTHORITY AND SPEAK. We don’t have to stay bound, we are FREE. Speak and see things changing.

We need to speak out the truth. If we don’t speak the truth the devil will take advantage. In Matthew 4 during His temptation, Jesus kept saying, “It is Written.”  Speak the Words of God, satan cannot stand the Words of God. He will fail when we speak faith filled words.

Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”  So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 

Faith as small as a tiny mustard seed can cause a tree to be pulled up by the roots and put in the sea. Your words can move a mountain. God said it so I believe it. God knows HOW, we don’t have to know HOW God did it. All we need to do is believe, God will take care of the details. The tree listens to the Word of God. And what is a check in your checkbook made out of – wood (tree), so speak to your checkbook and tell it for God to increase your finances. Not money for self, but provision so you can support yourself and the ministry. We want to reach people in these last days. 

If we speak to our mountain (our mountain may be cancer, sickness, fear, poverty, etc.) we can tell the mountain to move, and we are free. We need to believe and SPEAK.

Tomorrow Pastor Danquah is speaking on limitations. We tend to limit God. God is so much greater than we can think or imagine.

Hope to see you tomorrow night.

Heather

Notes from Bible Study taught on 3/12/2010 by Pastor Don Moore, Living Word Chapel, West Hurley, NY.

This is a Messianic passage.

Judgment of Shebna

Isaiah 22:15-17 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “Go, proceed to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, and say: ‘What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have hewn a sepulcher here, as he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, who carves a tomb for himself in a rock? Indeed, the LORD will throw you away violently, O mighty man, and will surely seize you.

When we read a passage we want to ask questions, who – sepulcher, tomb. The person is anticipating death and made a tomb. The sepulcher is made on high, and they carved the tomb for themselves in a rock. This is as if in preparation for their own death and they are hoping to establish for themselves as an altar in the heavenlies or above what God has for us. Our plan will fail. God will overthrow this plan violently.

Isaiah 22:18-20 He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country; there you shall die, and there your glorious chariots shall be the shame of your master’s house. So I will drive you out of your office, and from your position he will pull you down. Then it shall be in that day,  that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;

IN THAT DAY, they are seeking to establish their kingdom above the Kingdom of God, but it will not succeed.

Isaiah 22:21-25 I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt;  I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open. I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the LORD has spoken.’”

Eliakim – the Lord shall Rise, Hilkiah

Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 praise to God, the exalted one, unmatched in Heaven. They are given a servant (Jesus) to help restore the authority that satan took from Adam. Jesus gained that authority back.

The house of Jerusalem – is the Jews, the House of Judah, and we are grafted in, so the praisers are not only Jews but also Gentiles. The Key to the house of of David is Jesus, and His authority sits upon his shoulders – we saw that in Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9. This is the cross. And as a result of that, there is a Glorious throne in Heaven and all will bow knees to him.

Galatians 3:26-29  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 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 if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

^h]’>
O Hades, where is your victory?”

We must believe the truth that Jesus died and forgave ALL our sins, satan wants to keep reminding us of what we did and cause us to feel shame, but it is a lie. Believe the truth of God, not the lies of the enemy.  We looked at how verses in Revelation lined up with Isaiah 22

Revelation 1:16-20 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,^i]’> the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw^c]’>

Isaiah 22:22 The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open.

The only safe place is at the Cross of Jesus, we must know Him.

Isaiah 24 is speaking about the present day. In the fall of Babylon are parallels with today and what is coming now. For believers the ending is happy, but there are those who have rejected Jesus and the times will be filled with great trials.

Isaiah 24:1-5 Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste,  distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be: as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

The church must examine what they are teaching to make sure that it lines up with the Word of God, our lives must line up, for there is no difference between servant and master, people and priests. All must obey God. There is a graphic picture of what will happen in verses 6-23, a long passage but well worth reading.

Isaiah 24:6-23 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine fails, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The city of confusion is broken down;  every house is shut up, so that none may go in. There is a cry for wine in the streets, all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city desolation is left, and the gate is stricken with destruction. When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; for the majesty of the LORD they shall cry aloud from the sea. Therefore glorify the LORD in the dawning light, the name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:  “Glory to the righteous!” But I said, “I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”  Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.  And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again. It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem  and before His elders, gloriously.

Notice that this describes the rapture and the subsequent events. The intensity of the events are increasing, the tribulation will continue to increase in magnitude. The beginning of the Tribulation was at Pentecost, and Peter spoke to the people and said that this is that which Joel is speaking about. We have been in tribulation, but there is to be a great tribulation that will come.  Once there is a peace treaty signed about Israel that will herald the start of the Great Tribulation. There is no point in scriptures that says that when this happens God will rapture the Church. We are to be ever expectant regarding the rapture but there is no day, hour or event that specifically tells when this will happen.

Christ is looking for a church without wrinkle, spot or blemish, and He periodically tests to see if the Church is meeting the requirements. In Revelation the Churches met some of the requirements, but not all.

Jesus can come at any moment and we are to expect His coming, looking for His glorious coming. The rapture is a picture of His coming for His Bride. There is the parable of the 10 virgins, where five were ready with extra oil (Holy Spirit) and five were foolish and not ready. When the groom  comes no one is to know the day or the hour. This is a picture of the Jewish Wedding celebration. In the traditional Jewish wedding, the bride and groom share a cup of wine and she is betrothed to him. The groom goes off to his father’s house to build a home for the bride and the bride makes ready for the groom’s return. He will come unexpectedly when the Father tells him that the necessary preparations are done.

The Father will lean over to Jesus and tell him to go get His Bride (He has been in Heaven preparing a place for us). We won’t know exactly when this will happen but we are expected to know the times and the seasons. And another parable tells us that two reapers will be in the field, one taken, one left. It is usually done at Midnight, when the groom comes for his bride. Jesus wondered before He went to the cross if He would find faith on the earth. Some people abandon their faith when trials increase.

Pastor Don wondered if St. Peter walked into the churches of today would he stay or would he have words of correction for them. Would St. Peter call us hypocrites and idol worshippers?

Persevere, then they overcame. We are not effectively working together as one Body. There is not enough good will and finances to take care of all the disasters through our government. What kind of people are we going to be? Are we going to reach out and help? God is bringing judgment on the earth. When bad things happen on earth and life becomes difficult, some will choose to cope using alcohol and drugs. We need to be ready to speak God’s truth over our life and circumstances, for the power of life and death is in our mouths. To reach out and help. As a church, pulling together we can survive what is coming. Pastor Don said that one person could bring potatoes, another rice, another a few carrots, another a piece of meat, and we can make a stew that can feed many. But we need to work together.

Revelation 6:9-12 (Key verses) When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold,^f]’> became like blood.

Those who have been persecuted, will be avenged. In this day and age more people are persecuted for being Christian than the combined total of all previous persecutions.

While earthquakes have been increasing in frequency and intensity,there has not been an earthquake of the magnitude mentioned in Revelation 6:12, nor has the signs in the sky manifested. There have been local incidents of blood red moons and darkness, but not a world-wide manifestation.

Revelation 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

These will not be isolated incidents, and there will be other signs and happenings.  How bad will it be?

Revelation 6:14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

Earthquakes with such power that they will rearrange the earth. We have already seen that the recent earthquakes and tsunamis have recently changed weather patterns on the earth. This will be even worse.

Revelation 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders,^g]’> I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

There will be 144,000 without spot, wrinkle, and blemish.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Jesus’ rebukes for the Churches were done out of love.

Revelation 3:20-22 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Jesus is saying to get busy, that He is coming for overcomers.

Revelation 4:1 (see above) is a rapture verse that comes two chapters BEFORE the seals are broken. The first seal breaks and war breaks out around the globe.  Then will follow scarcity, inflation, pollution and death.

The devil is not everywhere and these events will have pockets where things are not so bad. But the events will be terrible enough to put people into proper perspective, if they choose to change. What we see as terrible today is a walk in the park for others. We haven’t faced the devastation of Chile or Haiti or India’s persecution in the Hudson Valley. When real persecution comes, will we be able to stand?

I am praying that we grow in Him to stand when times get tough.

Heather