dar334

In my study of Revelation it occurred to me that when all is said and done and heaven and hell have their eternal occupants there will be no more babies born. This kind of saddens me.

Labor pains are contractions, “a shortening of the uterine muscles occurring at intervals before and during childbirth” per Oxford Languages, and as labor continues they become stronger with shorter periods of rest between until a baby bursts onto the scene. Then the crying begins.

I’m working on my expository study of Revelation and am currently in chapter 16, verses 12-16. Verse 15 states:

“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”

The study note in my Bible referred to 1 Thessalonians 5 where verse 3 says:

While they are saying “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape.

… and the crying begins.

Labor and labor pains are mentioned several times throughout the Bible and emphasis is often on the fact they come unexpectedly, therefore we must be ready. As I’m introduced to solid food I’m surprised at the number of analogies I never fully grasped.

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. -God

Our Daily Bread reminded me of the promise God gave us after he flooded the earth to destroy the evil that had taken it over. In the devotional I was told something I never before. “In reality, there’s no end to a rainbow. A rainbow is a full circle …”

As I meditated on the thirteenth verse (above) found in Genesis 9, I considered the seven colors it proudly displays. The top color, the largest, is red and represents passion, vitality, love, warmth, and life. As our eyes follow the colors down we see orange which represents creativity, joy, warmth, and the sun. Yellow represents happiness, cheer, knowledge, and wisdom. Green represents growth, renewal, harmony, nature, and the environment. Blue represents calmness, serenity, trust, loyalty, stability, the sky, and the sea. Indigo represents awareness, intuition, spirituality, mystery, and depth. Violet represents imagination, creativity, spirituality, and royalty.

It should come as no surprise that the rainbow, the circle, has no beginning or ending. It is always. Forever. Eternal. It consists of seven colors, the number that represents completeness, wholeness, perfection. It represents God. The lesser number, six (666), is the number associated with the devil. We see flags and banners flying everywhere these days consisting of six colors and the meanings are a variation of the ones found in God’s rainbow. The missing color is indigo, which represents spirituality.

Turning Point and Dr. David Jeremiah schooled me this morning on the topic of love. I knew the Greek language had three words for love and the English language has only one and it covers a numbers of things. I always use the example that I love chocolate and I love my grandchildren. Obviously the love I have for each is far from equal!

Dr. Jeremiah introduced a new form of love this morning, eros. Reading the devotional about love I was prompted to gather my doodling/journaling supplies and work on my “love” page, gathering nuggets as I read. One of the nuggets was a reference to Song of Solomon which Dr. Jeremiah described as “That little book is placed in Scripture to describe the joyous intimacy God intends for the marriage partnership.” I made a mental note to leaf through the pages later; but for now I’d like to share the nuggets I wrote down.

Agape is the highest form of love. The love we’re to have for God would fall under this column and it’s my understanding that should be the only name listed.

Philia is the kind of love you have for those you have a friendly feeling toward. As I considered this word I thought of the many names I would write in this column.

Storge is the love between family and close friends and again, there are many names in this column.

Eros is the love between husband and wife and I thought about the man I now call husband. I thought about the warmth I feel when he calls me his wife, his girl, his woman. The warmth I feel when he puts his arm around me and draws me close.

“Marriage requires falling in love many times, and always with the same person.” -unknown

“If a man doesn’t treat his wife right, I don’t want to hear him talk about Christianity.” -D. L. Moody

As usual, before my rest with Jesus begins I pray for the ability to focus and for understanding. I can see my progression from milk to solid food when scripture shine’s it’s light on me and not on others.

Our Daily Bread sent me to Proverbs 29 this morning where I read about the benefits of “reining in our emotions”. I considered the many times I should have listened to that advice.

v11 Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.

Through the many trials I’ve experienced in my life I don’t have the energy anymore for rage. Instead, I choose to remain silent and let the fool have the stage.

An early morning devotional led me to the book of Deuteronomy where I rested with Jesus in chapter 11. It was vs 13-15 that stopped my eyes from moving on, and my mind to consider His instructions.

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today – to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul – then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and springs rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

As I gazed out the window in my temporary home I couldn’t help but consider a few words. Obey. Love. Serve. I thought about recent weather conditions, specifically the fires in California, and wondered if obedience to God, loving God, and serving others would have led Him to send rain sooner.

I grew up in a loving home with a father that seemed to live his life in almost constant fear. I honestly believe it was a trait, “a genetically determined characteristic” and not something taught. My granddaughter has a fear that mirrors her grandfather’s, having never witnessed it or even heard of it. I can see traits in my children that come from my father, traits that were not picked up as habits are.

I’ve spent the majority of my life being afraid of something, many of which were amplified as I listened to my dad talk about them with others. I paused on my journey this morning, resting with Mark on a verse 40 in chapter 4.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

“He” meaning Jesus, and the fear at hand was that of a violent storm; a fear my dad also had. In the disciples defense, they had heard the prophecies of the coming Messiah their whole life. Even though they believed, I’m sure they felt as we do today, it will never happen to me or in my lifetime ….. and then it does.

When “it” happened to me I knew what I had to do. I knew “it” was out of my control and I knew what I needed to do. And I did it. Immediately afterwards I felt a calm I had never felt before. Every weight I had put on my shoulders was lifted. And one of those weights was my genetically determined fear. Sure, I still feel anxious about a lot of things, like shots, or flying, or situations out of my control, but the fear of those things is now in God’s wheelhouse. When I feel them coming I’m confident my shield will ricochet them straight up to Him.

God is good.

Today’s The Upper Room devotional sent me to Hebrews 11:1-10 where I settled in to reflect on the words. I made a mental note to work through a study on this book that’s teachings have always been intriguing. After I finish Revelation, and Daniel.

I found verse 1 in the chapter highlighted and remembered the many times I had meditated on it.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

The verse starts with the word “now” and I considered its meaning. A google search gave me 3 options of a meaning and after a few minutes of considering I chose the conjunction. “as a consequence of the fact. ‘They spent a lot of time together now that he had retired’”

“Now faith is confidence…” “Now” that we’ve seen and heard, “now” that we’ve learned the stories of our ancestors, “now” that we’ve seen miracles only God could perform, we are confident “He” is real. We have faith.

As I sat here resting in God’s Word I remembered a verse from Mark 9.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” -v24

I recently received an email from LightSource Today that included an article with the above question as it’s title. The article was written by a pastor Shane Idelman, and the subject has been one that I have toyed with many times since a conversation with a Christian about her bother’s death. He had lived a homosexual lifestyle for many years and upon his death he was living in a same sex union and although a cause of death wasn’t mentioned it was assumed his death was related to HIV.

I was comfortable enough with her faith that I could ask the question many have considered. How do you handle knowing what the Bible says will be your brothers eternal resting place? I was surprised at her rather matter of fact reply. “Oh I know he’s in heaven. He was saved years ago and that can’t be taken away.” I reached out to my pastor asking the validity of her reply and his reply was one I had never considered. “Perhaps he wasn’t saved in the first place.” He did go into a little more detail but the bottom line stuck with me. Who determines whether or not you’re saved? Certainly not me.

Because of that previous conversation I’ve been attentive to everything that talks about salvation and the article on salvation remained in my inbox until I could journal it. Included in my journaling was: “Salvation can’t be lost, as in losing your car keys, but it can be left, as in walking away from it.” Pastor Idelman referenced several scriptures pertaining to his remarks: “you left your first love” from Revelation 2:4. “They claim to know God but by their actions they deny him.” from Titus 1:16. “If anyone wanders from the truth and someone tuns them back, a soul is saved.” James 5:20. “Return to me and I will return to you.” Malachi 3:7. My study note for the verse from Malachi said this: “The Hebrew word for returning or turning around appears here with the idea of repentance.”

Just now I was playing Candy Crush and listening to a Christian talk show. One of the ladies brought up Genesis 3:9. “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” We know where the man was. He was hiding. Through his disobedience he had walked away from God. God made him from the dust of the earth and breathed life into his nostrils. He was granted salvation through no actions of his own. But by his actions he hose to walk away.

I don’t know if Adam repented and turned back to God or not. I don’t know if he now resides with Jesus in heaven. I do know that the actions of that one man thousands of years ago are still affecting us today. We continue falling.

In closing, I now believe God will not take away our salvation, but we could walk away from it. And as I sit here looking out at Little Lagoon, I’m remembering scripture that tells us names are blotted out of the Book of Life.

Over the past decade I’ve found great hope in scripture. I’ve spent countless hours trying to understand it and trying to live what I do understand. The analogy of milk and solid food found in 1 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Peter 2:2; and Hebrews 5:12-13 came to mind this morning.

During the 4 years of the Disciple study I heard “You’re not ready yet” or “It’s not time yet” when I struggled to understand something. I’m one of those that flag, highlight, and write notes in my Bible or in the app and as I revisit scripture I’m often tickled when I see a highlight or note of a previous visit, often times looking like spilled milk. And often times it’s a sign of where I was spiritually on that previous journey.

This morning an email sent me to 1 Peter 1:6-13 and I started at the beginning of the section in v3. The highlight I found was v8.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,”

Today however, the verse that touched my heart was 6.

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

We all experience grief along the path and we all react to it differently. I can safely say that having Jesus in my life has made it easier, he’s carried me when I couldn’t take another step. I can now the see solid food that’s being introduced a little at at time.

My heart has been weighed down lately, struggling to keep Satan’s taunts under control. Yesterday I had the worst battle with him I think I’ve ever had. It wasn’t the battle as much as it was not vocalizing what my mind wanted me to say. The proverbial devil on my left shoulder. My filter may be clogged but thank God it still works ….. most of the time.

The thing I miss the most from my previous life are my grand-babies. They are now more like my grand-adults and the relationships are entirely different. They no longer run into my open arms shouting “Grammy Grammy!” as I sweep them up and kiss their warm giggling faces.

As I drifted off to sleep last night I had them on my mind and woke up thinking about one in particular and immediately prayed for her, and prayers for the others quickly followed. As I laid there in the silence, fond memories with each entered my mind and when I saw a text notification from one of them I immediately recognized the God wink.

He’s got this, he’s in control.

noun; an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true.

I honestly don’t believe in karma, irony, or coincidence anymore, my belief is that God is in control of all things. Sometimes I wonder why things happen the way they do and know enough not to question Him. I’m learning to be patient.

In January of 2019 my husband and I were asked to attend a meeting after early church. My husband was on permanent disability as his 3 year battle with lung cancer continued. We both led Bible studies in the church, and staying connected was helping us cope with the inevitable. Our studies were basically “closed” because the Education Director wanted them kept small, therefore they were not offered to the church which was causing dissension. What we thought would be each of us taking on another night ended up with them being stopped completely because we opposed what the Methodist denomination had decided to do. Hoping to bring in more bodies they decided to change the rules and allow LGBTQ+ persons to be ordained, thus going completely against the Instructions. We left the church.

Little did I know that at the same time a Bible teaching was going on in the book of Revelation in a small Bible church roughly 70 miles to the north. My husband died a year later and a year and a half after that God blessed me with a wonderful man to grow old with. I retired, got married, sold my home of 60 years and found myself living in a little house on a small lake, roughly 70 miles to the north. And I found myself in that little Bible church.

A lot has changed and the last five years are just a blur. The world continues spiraling downhill and I’ve found myself wishing for the Rapture. My family has several loved ones professing to be and condoning LGBTQ+ activity. Because I know what the Bible says, and believe what the Bible says, I see them on a dead run toward a lake of fire. I have been deemed a hater.

I started listening to the series from the Bible church on Revelation last summer and started chapter 14 today. Pastor Myers does expository preaching and covers just a few verses at a time. Revelation starts with letters to the churches and the Methodist church was brought up as an example of prophetic writings. Five years to the day my husband and I left that church I was being reminded of the error in their “way forward.”

Today, in chapter 14, John tells us about the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with his 144,000. Near the end of his teaching 5 years earlier, Pastor Myers spoke these words:

“During the Tribulation period there will be no pretense. No pretense or the desire to cover it up. Sexual immorality will be the norm, it will be accepted and even expected.”

I remember as a student rewriting papers until I decided the penmanship looked as good as it could. The sad part is I was more concerned that my “e” didn’t look like an “i” or my “m” like an “n” and didn’t absorb the important part, the content. At my advanced age, I’m still guilty of retaining very little and to justify that fact I’ve self labeled myself with ADD, borderline ADHD.

I’ve been writing for awhile now and have had many positive comments. I’ve also experienced a few attacks when the topic doesn’t align with worldly values and recently stepped away from posting on Facebook because it was getting harder and harder to not “judge”.

This morning’s headline from Turning Point was “Letters to God” and I was sent to Psalm 45:1.

My heart is overflowing with with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

In the body of the devotional a quote from British writer Julia McGuinness said, “Writing prayers down rather then speaking them out loud or voicing them in your head can be a powerful, patient act of worship … The very act of writing may make you more mindful and attentive to what it is you want to pray.”

Romans 1:28-32 ESV / 89 helpful votes 

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.