by Joseph | Nov 6, 2008 | Preparation, Sharing
It’s a great time to be a called servant of the King Most High. I am actually thankful for the election of Obama as President of the USA. Yep, I said it.
Certainly, and obviously, the other candidate was my choice – but, the day is now here that the Called of Christ have to make a stand. We’ve hidden in our “churches” with smiles and nice programs for our youth, and preached against those who kill babies, and those who wed in same-sex marraiges. Our rally cry has been a battle against the sinful, while we walk in our pride and display our piety by erecting elaborate buildings – and huddle in comfort with fellow “believers” often ignoring the opportunity to share the love of Christ.
When Jesus and His disciples walked on the earth, the State was powerful and feared. The corruption of the Roman empire was expected, and the church of the day played along so they could keep their “hold” on their positions.
Jesus came and didn’t really play well with the kids who occupied the power positions. He knew those who were in hybris positions of leadership were temporal, and shared about a Kingdom that was eternal. Those who were hurting and living in fear, found hope and life. He didn’t need to constantly berrate those who occupied the temporal leadership positions, in fact, He said to render unto Ceasar that which belonged to the earthly government.
Many who chose to follow Jesus in that day, were persecuted and imprisoned. They sacrificed their lives sharing about the Kingdom of God, not spending hours forwarding e-mails that spoke against the ceasar. The rally for the early believers was sharing the truth of the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus Christ).
I am excited about this day – as the “preparation call” is more relevant than ever. It’s time for those who await the return of the King to come out and tend the fields. The government is not where I place my trust, and liberal government is certainly not my salvation. My Peace, Hope, and Eternal destiny is secure through the shed blood of the Messiah, Yeshua. He is my Rock, and my Salvation.
by Joseph | Oct 29, 2008 | Preparation, Sharing
I received the following prayer as an e-mail. I receive lot of forwarded e-mails that I rarely take the time to read, because they seem more gossip than substance. This particular e-mail (regardless of whether it is an actual occurrence or not) hit a chord with me.
Prayer given in Kansas at The opening session of their Senate It seems Prayer still upsets some People. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open The new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual genealities, but this is what they heard:
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek your direction and Guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those Who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we Have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed Our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it — The lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it — Welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it — Choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it — Justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our Children and called it — Building self esteem..
We have abused power and called it — Politics.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions And called it — Ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and Pornography and called it — Freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values Of our forefathers and called it — Enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts Today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free
Amen!
The response was immediate. A number of Legislators walked out during the prayer in Protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls Responding negatively. The church is now receiving International requests for copies of this prayer From India , Africa and Korea
Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on His radio program, ‘The Rest of the Story,’ and Received a larger response to this program than any Other he has ever aired.
With the Lord’s help, may this prayer sweep Over our nation and wholeheartedly become our Desire so that we again can be called ‘one nation Under God.’
If possible, please pass this prayer on to Your friends. ‘If you don’t stand for something, You will fall for everything.’
by Joseph | Oct 23, 2008 | Preparation, Sharing
Yesterday, a member of my family called me an “Alarmist”. I really was not aware that I am an alarmist, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me. In fact, I didn’t even know what an alarmist was- or what the role consisted of. So, being the good alarmist that I am… I looked it up.
Here’s what the dictionary definition of an alarmist is:
“a person who tends to raise alarms, esp. without sufficient reason, as by exaggerating dangers or prophesying calamities.”
Perhaps my family member knows something about me that I don’t know. Or, maybe it’s possible that my actions and communications have been misinterpreted by those who disagree with my insights. To my knowledge, I haven’t exaggerated the dangers that we face – nor have I prophesied destruction. In fact, by definition the alarmist will raise concerns without sufficient reason. If you have done any research into what is happening on a global scale – there is certainly sufficient reason to be prudent in preparation.
I am not screaming in the streets that we are all doomed, but I do believe we are facing some serious challenges ahead. My call is not to warn people that the end is near, rather to encourage people to prepare for the difficulties that may lie ahead. The Bible is very clear that the King is soon coming – and we need to prepare for His arrival. There will be some difficult events as we get closer to His arrival. If a call to prepare for that is an alarm, well, so be it.
The reference that I was an alarmist came because I referred to the fact my family had just received a shipment of supplies – much of it for our pantry. Here’s a picture of some of our shipments…
The “alarmist” comment speaks more about where we are as a society, and really, the very lack of family discipline that has led us as a society to some of the difficult issues we are facing. We’ve become a spoiled people, who expect immediate gratification and constant entertainment. We have learned that we can squander our resources, and borrow to replace what we’ve depleted.
It is folly to assume that we can continue to live without ultimately paying the debt for our greed and obsessive lifestyle. Make no mistake about it we will reap what we sow. That’s not an alarm, that’s a fact!
by Joseph | Oct 22, 2008 | Preparation, Sharing
Offered By: Jeff Rowland
Four times in the scripture the bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” This is an imperative declaration. It doesn’t say that we might live by faith, but it says the just SHALL live by faith. This implies many things. Faith is the ultimate key to the victorious Christian walk. It doesn’t matter what you are facing in life, if you are walking in faith you are setting yourself up to see miracles in your life.
It is possible to go into an unhealthy extreme in this area as well. If faith becomes the object of our goal instead of the object of faith, which is Christ, then you will fall into extremes that will lead you into misapplying scripture. The power that becomes manifest in the believers life is as a result of who we have faith in and not faith itself.
I want us to consider a key element associated with faith in this article and let it encourage us to begin a lifestyle of faith that will bring us into fullness in our relationship with Christ.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hope for.”
Faith can be viewed in a two-fold manner. It is an action as well as an attitude. James says that faith without works is dead. Therefore there must be action to faith or it is a dead faith. Paul lists faith as a spiritual gift in his writings to the Corinthian Church.
People who have the gift of faith walk around in an attitude of faith most all of the time. Going back now to the first line of verse 1 of Hebrews 11, we could say that our actions or attitude of faith, then we have the verb is. This makes faith a present tense action or attitude.
Next we have the word, substance. Substance defines faith as the reality of the object of faith. So then, actions and attitudes of faith are the present tense reality of things hoped for.
Hope can be defined as the future tense of faith becoming sight. I have the hope of heaven because I have been redeemed by Christ’s blood. My hope is yet future. However, in this verse we can say that the actions of faith are the present tense reality of things that are yet future in our lives.
Speaking from a spiritual perspective we can say that faith takes what is yet our future hope and places it into our present day. I can enjoy the joys of heaven while on earth through faith.
This verse goes on to say that faith is the evidence of things not seen. That is it is the proof of what is invisible. Through the eyes of faith we can see things that before we could not see. This being the case we could say that unless our faith is strong we will not see the things that God wants us to see. We will be blinded to it. I wonder how many are walking around in darkness now even though they have been saved but their faith is weak and they are blinded to spiritual realities that could be right in front of them.
This truth from verse 1 would bring us to a question that should be asked. How do we strengthen our faith? Verse 3 says, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Verse 3 gives us the basis for faith building.
Romans 10:17, “So then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
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by Joseph | Oct 17, 2008 | Preparation, Sharing
Shared By: Jeff Rowland
Romans chapter 14 is in my opinion the most pivotal chapter in the Word of God concerning relationships between believers. This chapter also gives the streamline and basic fundamental principles of Kingdom living for the people of God.
We are living in ages of social dilemma’s that shape the political landscape of our nation. Every issue that we look at, points to the rules of conduct for our leaders and our citizens. For the believer, the kingdom of God has certain guidelines and principles that are to guide our lives concerning relationships with others, ourselves and our King. Paul in this chapter approaches those principles in verse 17. He says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” This indicates it is not the matter of our liberty or lack of liberty in certain areas that allows us the joy of the kingdom.
The three elements of kingdom living emphasized by Paul are; righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. These three elements can only be received as a gift from the King; they cannot be earned through performance. They are matters of the heart and spirit, not of the will and flesh.
This leads us to the present condition of the church. Most churches spend the majority of their time trying to discover what is right and wrong. As a result of this we accumulate a list of sins, as well as patterns of behavior that leads to sin. If we focused on the heart of God and the word of God then I believe we would accomplish much more.
Jesus declared in the Gospel of John 3:18, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” The key thought is to believe. Faith unlocks the door to salvation and the grace of God. With that said consider what Paul said in Romans 14:23 “for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
This is not a profound thought but a reminder of some things. When we establish a list of sins like; adultery, lying, stealing, envy, jealousy, and taking God’s name in vain, we need to remember that the sin has already occurred before the actions ever manifest.
The sin according to Paul is the lack of faith. From a lack of faith any known action of sin can manifest in anyone given the right situation. Therefore any believer is vulnerable to any known act of sin if we walk in a lack of faith. This brings up the question, how many people are walking in sin and never even realize it until the action manifests?
Satan knows what situation or circumstance to surround us with at the time when we are walking in a lack of faith to bring about any given action of sin. Be careful when you say you would never commit a certain action.
Now based on this what do we do? Paul says in verse 23 “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” At its most basic root, faith is total dependence on God. Whatever makes us independent will lead to a lack of faith and leave us vulnerable to manifest whatever action of sin the situations of life will call for. Therefore we need to understand some basic principles.
1. Your strength can become your weakness.
It is important that we understand that the enemy wants to do damage to that part of you that does his kingdom of darkness the most damage. Satan targets our strength more than our weakness. It is our strength that does him the most damage. The spiritual gift that you operate in is the area that you could become weak in.
We have the tendency to forget that it is the Spirit of God that enables us not we ourselves. The preacher can become independent of God in his preaching and begin to think that it is his ability rather than God ability that enables him to declare the Word of God with power. Don’t forget that it is God that enables us to do all things.
2. Your weakness will become your strength.
Paul describes this principle in 2 Corinthians 12 in his conversation with the Lord. With regard to Paul’s thorn in the flesh, God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” In our weakness, we then begin to trust God. Our weakness then is transformed into our weakness.
The perception of the church is that our weakness must never be seen or talked about when in fact after our weakness is manifest and then taken to the Father, we at that point have the choice to trust the Father more deeply and are transformed into His strength.
3. Prolonged circumstance will cause you to become independent of God.
David said in Ps. 13, “How long will hide your face from me O Lord.” When we are faced with a circumstance of trouble over a prolonged period of time we begin to attempt to work things out for ourselves instead of waiting on God. When we engage our will to work things out on our own we are walking independently from God.
Conclusion: Instead of looking so intently on the manifestations of sin we should be looking at the root cause, which is a lack of faith. Trusting the Father will keep us walking in the Spirit and we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
by Joseph | Oct 16, 2008 | Preparation, Sharing
A lot of people know that I have been working on preparation for quite a while. I am often asked to share what I am doing (currently) to prepare.
To help me stay focused (and not feel overwhelmed), I keep a working list that I continually update with items I feel are very important in the preparation journey. Of course, I also try to regularly post to this blog – as it enables me to share some insights I have from my journey, and what I feel is impressed upon my heart.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted an article on the progress of some of my family’s efforts to get ready for events that we believe are coming. Every day we work on our list – and involve every member of our family in the process.
Before I share an update on our progress, I found it quite interesting that today on CNN – Glenn Beck published an article that is right in line with this whole notion of preparation. from my perspective, his comments and insights are right on target as he mentions the need to prepare – and not panic. If you are interested, you can View the article here.
Anyway, let me get to my preparation. Let me encourage you to start your own list of things you want to work on to prepare. It will help you stay focused, and feel less stressed about the events that are unfolding.
These are in no particular priority order, and this is not at all my comprehensive list. I have some other items that I’ve prepared – but will not disclose those for security reasons:
- My family has developed a fully-stocked heirloom vegetable seed (and seed potatoes) bank. We’re going to be getting some flowers as well.
- Have a strong supply of nutrient dense URI products (dehydrated whole-food powder) for nutritional needs. The Feast and Barley Pure are a necessity for my family, and the product has a 2 year shelf life. (more…)
