"I did it."

Six years ago the Lord personally gave me a verse, Jeremiah 15:19 ...if you return (and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair), then I will give you a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile (cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness), you shall be my mouthpiece. This isn't just for me... we are all called to be spokesmen and women for the Gospel of the Kingdom.

God has shown me in His Word, that His promises to us are sure and nothing can stop them from coming to pass, except ourselves. If we turn from the path, take our eyes off Him, we can change the outcome. He is not going to turn us into robots that obey Him because the cannot do otherwise. He desires to have a relationship with us, and that we should obey Him, out of love, just as we desire from our own children.

How often have our children wanted something that we had to tell them "no"...for their own good. They don't always agree with us, or appreciate us for it, or even obey us. Especially if they think we are wrong and they are right.

Are we ever guilty of thinking we are wise? Wiser than God?

Maybe we don't consciously set out to do that, but if we don't believe the things that make us uncomfortable, or that for some reason we disagree with, that is in effect what we are doing.

As a young Christian, I had trouble reading the Old Testament because there seemed to be so much violence... so much killing. In recent months, the Lord has been opening the Word to me in a new and beautiful way. I now am able to read all of the Bible, from cover to cover, and see that the message is the same throughout. There is so much violence... because that is the nature of man without God. Look at the world today, and it's history. Fallen man is destructive and rebellious. If it were up to me, I must confess, I would have been tempted to call fire down from heaven and avenge myself from time to time as well. Thank goodness God is just. He sees our thoughts and knows the deepest hidden secrets of our hearts and judges righteously.

Psalms 97:2 says...righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Countless other scriptures attest to the righteousness of God and His judgments.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 Every scripture is God-breathed (given by his inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and correction of error and discipline in obedience, for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action), so that the man of God my be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The more we see and grow in our relationship with God, the smaller we feel. We realize that we are just dust, and that we do not know a fraction of all there is to be known. We should marvel that He would even take notice of us at all... let alone send His Son to die and pay the price to make a way for us to come to the Father. We should realize that it is only by His grace that we are saved... not by any goodness in ourselves.

Today, as never before in history, the world is in darkness (spiritually), and world worships material things, power and self. Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. We see from this verse that mankind in the 21st century are certainly following in the footsteps of our ancestors... with the evil in men's hearts being displayed through the media on a daily basis.

I read somewhere that there are more than 3000 religions in the world, each one claiming to have the truth and be the way. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but having ears itching (for something pleasing and gratifying), they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, and turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions.

Now isn't it interesting that if you were to bring this verse up to 20 different people, from 20 different churches, they would all think that they had the truth... and the other 19 were in error?

The truth will be known, because the day is fast approaching when the Lord Himself will reveal it. At that time many will be dismayed, to learn that they have thought wrongly. Everything man has built will be brought down. The leaders who have failed to lead, will be held accountable. In Matthew 23:13 Jesus said, But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so. This is going to change... because the Lord God is going to change it.

Let us examine our own selves. Let us seek the Lord as never before. I am stirred within, and pace the floor. He has removed all desire for all that the world has to offer. (We are getting more peculiar all the time. We never do anything "fun" as the world thinks of fun, because nothing appeals anymore). I find relief from this inner stirring only when I delve into the Word, waiting before the Lord. It's so exciting when He opens my eyes to see more in His Word than I ever saw before... and how it all fits together.

Let us not be satisfied with the teachings of men. But sit at the feet of our Lord, and let Him reveal to us what the scriptures mean. Let us examine what we believe, and know for a certainty that we are in accord with God and His will. Great changes are coming for every one who claims Jesus as Lord, for 'judgment will begin at the house of God.' The world will be watching. As will the great cloud of witnesses. Our relationship is critical to our survival in what's about to take place.