The First and Second Resurrections

Revelation says, ''Blessed is the man who endures to the end." He will take part in the first resurrection. Those saints will reign with Jesus for 1000 years while Satan is bound. After that, the second resurrection. I hope I get to hang around long enough to be considered one of the tribulation saints, be part of the first resurrection and reign with Jesus while the saints who went into the grave before lie asleep until the second resurrection. I am constantly exercising my imagination of all that could take place especially if I am priviledged to suffer through many days of the tribulation.

I know the grace of God is sufficient for all situations. He will be glorified.

"Contend For Your Family"

This past year was highlighted most thoroughly by prayer and experiencing the reality of prayer with Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In December 2008, I heard God say, "Contend with
Me."

I asked, "How do I contend with the Almighty God?"

"Contend for your family," was His reply. It amazes me I stopped asking Him questions for greater understanding. Ask, Ask, Ask must become my motto.

Well, I faltered through trial and error, contending for my family. And I am beginning to see much fruit in each of their lives. The last leg in our family tree yet to see results from this prayer vigil for my family is with my marriage and for inner healing of Tom's broken heart.

"Father God, we are created from the dust of the earth and our days are filled with futility and vain endevors. Occassionally, You remove the plank from my eye and I see clearly enough to keep quiet and hold my words. Yet, You require I answer You and give you my strong arguments of all that is in my heart."

"Reveal Your will that I might pray accordingly. Show me, Your servant, what it is You desire of me and what it is You would have me pray."

"Create in my marriage a clean heart and a right spirit. Restore unto us the beauty of Your glory for the ashes of years of conflict, pride and bitterness."

"The glory due You for accomplishing this would be tremendous in the communities of our home town and the town we invested the first 13 years of our marriage. When the many hear of Your great exploits in our marriage, glory and honor and praise will rise to Your throne on such a grand scale and I promise to go to each church fellowship to testify of the great healing and restoration You purposed on our behalf. All glory and honor is Yours and we will take none of it to ourselves. Many will marvel and many will dedicate their lives to You anew when their eyes behold our healed lives and marriage sanctified in the glory of Your Holy Spirit."

"In Jesus' name, AMEN."

10K, 25K or Will Jesus Ever Return?

We must run the good race with all diligence and not lose heart. All the parables in Matthew that refer to the end of the age and the return of the Son of Man have one thing in common. The return of the master, the coming of the Bridegroom and the thief, all tarry. It is after the master had been gone a very long time that the servant he had put in charge said to himself, 'My master isn't ever going to return,' and he began beating his fellow servants, etc. All 10 virgins began to fall asleep, and after the wicked slave buried his talent (life) the Word says, "After the master had been gone a long time..." And since day after day nothing every happened to merrit it anymore, the homeowner stopped locking his door. He probably said to himself, 'No thief ever comes and probably never will.' Locking the house and being prepared for such an event was unnecessary. Lulled with eating and drinking or celebrating a new marriage, etc., the homeowner doesn't think twice about checking the door before going to bed, or (as is the practice in our household) doesn't lock the door behind himself upon entering the house.

It's not a very popular position to hold about the truth of the return of the Son of Man but it is most likely all the exhortation given to the church to remain alert and be on guard is because the day and the hour of His return is much later than any of us bible believers have dared to imagine. But think about it. Laying aside all the indoctrination of what can and cannot be, laying aside all fear or insecurity, isn't it possible all the warnings and parables we are given about the last days and the end of the age and the return of the Son of Man are because things are not going to play out as neatly and easily and swiftly as our hunan natures have conjured up?

Needless to say, I am running this race as one who has trained for a great marathon, not knowing if I will see the finish line at the end of 10K or 25K. I am running the good race, fighting the good fight as if I am to endure the greatest of all tribulations before meeting Him in the air upon His return to separate the sheep from the goats. I don't want to fall short of enduring to the end because I trained for a 10K race only to quit because the finish line is not crossed at that point in time.

He who endures to the end shall be saved.

Multi-facited, Multi-dimensional, Eternal

I began seeing God in His milti-facited personality when I began studying gems and the different styles of cutting gems to maximize their reflection of light. God is milti-facited, milti-dimensional, Eternal. We will all enter eternity future simultaneously with our beloved who have died before us. They are asleep and will remain so until the last trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ arise and all on the earth who belong to Him meet Jesus in the air. God is not bound by time the way our mortal bodies exist. He is currently in the beginning and He is right here with me and He has already judged the earth and executed rewards to all the saints. He knows the beginning and the end, He is the first and the last.

The reason so many God-fearing bible scholars are able to believe so strongly their interpretation of scripture is right and their beliefs are the truth is because of the clarity in which they perceive the particular facet of God they are beholding. No one is able to see Him as He is in His totality, in the completeness of all His facets and dimensions.

Not long ago a friend was reading a book about the 4 views of Revelations and confessed she was confused because all 4 views were opposed to each other and the nature of each view was conclusive only in itself. She asked me which viewpoint was true and I stated, "All of them." To which she replied that was impossible because the very nature of each viewpoint was only it alone could be true. She wasn't in the least reassured and we have yet to sit down and discuss the different facets and dimensions of the last book of the New Testament.

The Helper, Our Teacher

"You have not because you ask not." After asking God what this meant, I began asking Him more and more questions. This has been a very satisfying was of develping my relationship with Him and the Holy Spirit. As a result of His directing me in our relationship this way I heard from Him the explanation of a verse difficult for me to understand, "For where the dead corpses are, the vultures gather." Matt 24:25. In context, Jesus was talking about the return of the Son of Man being as the lightning that strikes in the East and goes to the West. So obvious will the return of God be for all to see. He gave me a picture of people being excited about the "messiah over here" and beconning all to come see him. Jesus warns us not to go there because it is a gathering of dead souls and therefore also many demons.

Recently, I heard teaching The Son of Man will return 2 times because this is the only way many scholars can fit the rapture of the church into their pre-tribulation thinking. There is nothing to support God is going to remove his church from the earth before His return. Both events happen similtaneiously. Just before the last trumpet sounds, Jesus appears with His Angelic Hosts and the dead in Christ arise and we meet Him in the air. The 144 thousand and all believers and all who are asleep in the grave arise to meet Him.