Dear friends, I want to share something with you today so urgently that was given to me.  What I have to share with you is not my meditation or musing about the new year or some other small matter of life.  No.  This is the most urgent matter in heaven and earth.  This life is fleeting, and we must be ready like the virgins trimming their wicks.  God has created us not to entertain ourselves incessantly but to pray without ceasing.  May HE forgive me for turning my eyes off of eternity and onto the things of this world.  I pray now to God that as you are reading this too that He take you captive to this message that he has given me.  Time is short.

We are to endeavor toward a higher goal.  We must praise God.  The word hallelujah, as I discovered last night, is not just a word to shout when you feel good.  No.  It is a two word directive in Hebrew that literally means…PRAISE GOD.  It’s not just a casual word that we say when we are feeling full of happiness and joy.  It is a thing we should be doing night and day regardless of circumstance.  The longer that we turn our attention aside from God the more difficult it is for Him to get our attention.  We wonder why our prayers are not answered.  We wonder why we are dissatisfied.  I pray for you and for me to our God.  Oh God my God in the heavens, Jesus the messiah, we praise YOU oh God.  Cleanse our lives and reveal the thoughts and deeds that keep us separated from YOU.  Take captive our thoughts and let our lives be filled with YOUR WORD and WILL and not our own.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. -Ephesians 6:12

Do not be discouraged.  Likewise as we are not in a struggle against flesh and blood, we are enabled by God’s Holy Spirit.  You must accept this and be ready for God to give His spirit to you.  We must continue to be aware of how God sees us.  We must be immersed in the Bible and in Biblical teaching so that our minds are not swayed by the things of this world.  Satan is called the god of this world for a reason, and if he can use the things God created to pull us away from the peace of God, then it will be done.  The more we seek God, the more we will hear from God.  God does not perform on demand, though.  He gives what you need when He knows you are ready.

May the name of Jesus be praised in heaven and on earth.  He became human to experience our lives and take on our suffering so that we may experience His eternal life.  Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind.  Then He went on to say that the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  There are so many people out there today who are perishing and will spend eternity in hell.  For various reasons, we have become desensitized and do not fully grasp the urgency of this.  Many people that we meet through our lives will die, not knowing God’s love for them because of our timidity.  God forgive my silence.  How simple and powerful is the truth of Jesus.  He conquered death and hell for us.  God is not willing that anyone die and go to hell.  No, a loving God does not want to send people to hell.  It is we who are willing to trade eternity of peace for an eternity of unending torments.  It is we who choose to take our rewards in the here and now where moth and rust destroy rather than in heaven for eternity.  God’s Spirit grieves that people choose death over the life He gives so freely.  How pleasant and fitting it is indeed to lift our voices to praise God, that he is willing that we not perish but take on our guilt and suffering for us.  Jesus said to take His yoke for it is easy.  Today, please cast your cares upon Him.  Give God praise and honor in your life.  God’s Word does not return void.  Let us stop splitting theological hairs and get right with God before it is too late.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. -Matthew 25:31-46

Weeping, gnashing of teeth, everlasting punishment…I can’t speak for you, but I want no part of that.  A man’s (or woman’s) ways seem right in his (or her) own eyes, but God sees and knows.  May we come clean now before it is too late.  May we be deceived no more and live in God’s holy light.  God will reveal His will to His people.  It is fact, but we must be ready to hear it.  ”He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15)

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. -Galatians 5:16

May God fill your lives to overflowing with His blessings and peace.