"Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." Revelation 18:4-5 NASB

Today's Inspirational Prayer

Further Reading: Revelation 18:4-5 NASB

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. —Revelation 3:19

Dr. James Dobson has a phrase: "Love must be tough." Tenderness is central to Jesus' nature, but so is toughness. Jesus is God, yet Jesus is man. You can't reconcile the two, but they are both true. Jesus is tender, yet Jesus can be tough.

Jesus tests us to this very day because He wants to know how we feel about His Father. Let me tell you something: there is a lot of talk from people who say, "Jesus I can accept, but I don't like the God of the Bible." However, they need to understand that the God of the Old Testament is also the God of the New Testament. Not only that, but the God of the Bible is the Father of Jesus. You may think that you are endearing yourself to Jesus by saying, "Jesus, I can take You, but I don't like Your Father." But that will incur His anger. You could not have said anything worse.

Before you are saved, you have to be reconciled with God, the Father of Jesus. There is no way you can avoid the God of the Bible if you are going to go to heaven. Jesus makes it clear that His Father is the God with whom you must come to terms. He wants to test you. He wants to see how you are going to react, how you feel about His Father. Perhaps years ago you became disillusioned with God; you felt He let you down, that He hurt you in some way. You believed then that your feelings were justified. Jesus wants to know how you feel about God now.

How do we know about the toughness of Jesus? Take, for example, when Jesus saw His disciples on the Sea of Galilee in a storm; they were rowing but making no headway as the winds were so strong. Jesus saw them. He could have gone to their rescue immediately. He didn't. He waited. That meant He had to be tough, even though what He wanted to do was to go at once. So love is tough. And He will test you, too.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. —2 Corinthians 10:4

You may be ready to wield your weapons on Sunday morning, when the worship has lifted you and the preaching of the Word has stirred your spirit; but how do you feel on Monday afternoon? It does no good to have your weapons ready on Sunday morning if you can't find them when you need them at 7:00 on Thursday evening.

Our adversary is an invader who will not respect your schedule or give any thought to your feelings. He will seek any entry point, and while his first attacks may seem insignificant, his purpose is to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).

Today's resentment is tomorrow's hatred. Your prayers will be hindered and your interest in the Word will wane. Then the onslaught will come, like divorce, a runaway child or the loss of your job.

Don't be a weekend warrior. Stand guard over your heart and give the devil no place of entry.

Jesus, help me to guard my heart and
to fill my spirit with Your Word.
Empower me to resist
the enemy. Amen.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. —John 3:17

Go back to the purity of the first hour you knew Jesus-.-.-.-when you wanted everyone in the world to have a chance to feel what you felt and know what you knew.

Keep that hunger and that purity that reaches out a hand and says, "I'll pray for you. I'll believe God for your miracle." We are the only hope to evangelize this world. We are the generation destined to reach out in this last hour to the depraved and the destitute with the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. From the uttermost to the guttermost, take a stand and declare, "This is the Bible, and it is the answer for everything!"

We are all called to be witnesses, and God has given us an anointing and a calling to reach the lost. People are hungry to know God, and you have the answer

(1 Peter 3:15).

If someone asked you about Jesus, could you lead them to salvation in Christ Jesus? If you answered "yes," then pray for wisdom in saying the right thing. If you said "no," then go to a pastor, evangelist, teacher, or another Christian brother and sister and learn how to share the gospel with the unsaved. Get equipped to take the Good News to everyone you know.

Equip me to witness, Lord Jesus. Teach me through
Your Spirit and the lives of other believers how
to lead others to Jesus effectively. Amen.

What is impossible with men is possible with God. —Luke 18:27

Providence means that God overrules. He sets aside something to take over. He works through evil and through our weaknesses. Do you know why He does it? It is so He receives all the glory and honor.

Are you presently in a situation where there seems to be no way out? God says, "Give that one to Me." Are you trying to make it easy for God? He says, "No, I want a difficult case. I want something that humans cannot possibly do. Leave it to Me! I'll do it!" Will you let God do it, or do you have to pull a string here and there and say, "Remember me? My name is ... "

Humanly speaking, there was no way your situation could turn out for good, but God loves to work when everything looks absolutely bleak. God's providence sorts out the sore spots in our lives.

Do you have a sore spot? Of course you have. Could it be your pride that's getting you into trouble all the time? Are you hypersensitive? Is it your jealousy? Is it your negative spirit? Is it that you love gossip? Could it be sexual lust or some addiction? Have you stepped on people to get where you are? Do you have an inability to handle money? God has to deal with you. Do you want to be exalted? That's all right. There's nothing wrong with that. God wants to exalt you—in His due time—but the sore spot will have to be dealt with first.

Believers are often confronted by skeptics who bark out their opposition to our present translation of Scriptures, charging that the translation is not the same as the original Word God gave to Moses, the prophets, and the apostles.

However, an event in 1948 helped settle the controversy of the authenticity of the 1611 translation of the English Scriptures as it relates to the Old Testament.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd boy was watching goats in the Judean wilderness near the western edge of the Dead Sea. Exploring several caves, he discovered a group of large clay jars. Inside were pieces of rolled, leather-like parchments. In 1948, the Bedouin sold seven parchments to Mr. Kando, a cobbler and antiquities dealer from Bethlehem, who eventually sold the scrolls. The most famous of the scrolls, it was discovered, was an ancient copy of the Book of Isaiah.






This valuable scroll was examined by scholars and purchased by the Hebrew University, who placed it on display at the Shrine of the Book Museum in Jerusalem. The scroll begins with the 16th chapter of Isaiah and continues through Isaiah 66. To the amazement of scholars, when this 2,000-year-old scroll was compared to the English translation of Isaiah from the 1611 King James translation of the Bible, they were both parallel, with the only exceptions being a few minor spelling differences and tense-oriented scribal errors.

This discovery was good news to believers in the inspiration of the Bible and sad news to skeptics of divine inspiration.







Some Western Hebrew scholars occasionally point out that there are misspelled words in certain sections of the Old Testament. These are usually identified as mistakes by the copyist. Thus the inspiration of the Scriptures is minimized by alleged human mistakes. The Jewish rabbis, however, have discovered that these so-called mistakes actually reveal a deeper meaning or a cryptic prophetic secret, indicating future events.






Mysteries of the Mistakes





When studying the Scriptures, Christian ministers often employ one of these methods to interpret or prepare a message:

The primary meaning—reading the story as a past or
future event

The practical meaning—how the story or verse can be personally applied to us today

The prophetic meaning—how the prophetic symbols and layers reveal mysteries of the future

Jewish rabbis are taught to analyze the Torah by using four different methods. They are:

Peshat—understanding the simple meaning of the text

Remez—an allusion, or an allegorical and philosophical level of study

Drash—the regal level, the Bible is understood using riddles and parables

Sod—the hidden meaning or the mystical level 17

Christ was a master at teaching on all four levels. He taught the simple and practical life truths through the Beatitudes, yet He also revealed the riddles using parables and privately revealed the mysteries of the kingdom to His disciples (Matt. 13:11).

Just a note to say that my arm is some better. I go back tomorrow to see my Dr. for an update. I feel so greatful to have the support group that I have around me. While it's rare right now that I can post, I still enjoy reading all of yours.  I'm being spoiled rotten by people here at home in so many ways as well. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes for you'll never know what they mean to me right now. Thaks as well to those who have called and came by just to be with me in this pain that seems to know no end. I know I will recover but as a human sometimes need a kick in the pants as well. God bless until the next time!

 Just a note to thank all for their prayers, support and well wishes. I am home from the hospital and will start PT next week, God willing. My Dr. said the surgery went well. I had a bone spurr for in my right shoulder and as it grew it started to slice ligaments, tendions and ect. He said I should regain full use of my right arm in time. Until then I hope all will keep me in your prayers, look over my crummy one-armed typing skills and forgive me for not being able to write to each one at this time. God's blessings to all until the next time.

 I may not be able to post for a short time. I am having surgery in the morning, Oct. 8th to repair a blown out right shoulder. I will try to carry on but unsure how much I will be able to do. I will miss you all and wouldn't mind a prayer or two either. God bless to all and I hope to be back soon!