Amanuensis

2 Kings 19:10-14 “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? Have the gods of other nations rescued them – such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? My predecessors destroyed them all! What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

The Assyrians were boastful, and did not know who I am. They were convinced that they were unconquerable. And, they made sure to plant doubt and fear into the hearts of my people. But, they were no match for me. So it is today. Your enemy has moved many from their trust in me into abject fear, and thus controls their behavior. Just as the king of Assyria was attempting to get the people of Judah to surrender to them without a fight, so your enemy does today. This is how they have turned your people into fearful, obedient, unquestioning followers. If you live in fear, you do not live in me. If you look to people to keep you safe and healthy, you do not trust in me. If you hand over the controls of your life to others – if you blindly obey those who do not represent me – then you are not following me. If you are not a Berean in every area of your life – but especially in those areas where others say they are speaking my Word, interpreting my commands, giving instruction that aligns with my desires – if you are not a Berean in all things spiritual and physical – then you are not following my commands, you are not following me, and you are wasting the gifts that I have given to you, my children, my special creation. You have been given the ability to think critically, to study and verify. You have been given the ability to reason, to overcome emotion with logic and fact. Yet, so many have allowed the enemy to guide them into fear, into blind obedience, into wrong thinking in the name of being “healthy”, of “caring for others”. Yet, nowhere in there, is care for or obedience to me. Wake up before it is too late. Your enemy seeks to separate you from me, and ultimately to destroy you. This is the same battle that has been raging since the beginning of time. This battle, however, is fiercer than at any time other than when they persecuted and murdered me.  Your enemy is well aware that the end is approaching. As we move closer to your enemy’s ultimate demise, the attempts to destroy you are ramping up. It is a multi-pronged approach that comes at you from all sides. Your government. Your health industry. Your corporations. Your “news” sources. Your entertainment industry. My “church”. Your own family and friends. Critical eyes and ears, children. Verify before trusting. Pray before obeying. Seek me and me alone and I will keep you from falling into their pits. Step up, time is growing short. 

Genesis 16:2-6   So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt…..Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

Sarai gets impatient and defies me. Abram decides to obey his wife rather than me. Hagar sins in her treatment of Sarai, so Sarai doubles down on her sin and treats Hagar so badly that she runs away. Do you not see? One sin is never the end of it. It begets other sin and then more sin until you are so far away from me that it seems impossible to ever draw close again. Seek me before making up your mind to do something. Know my Word well enough that it guides you. But, even perhaps more importantly, when you do end up estranged from me due to your sin, just come back. I am still here. I will forgive, but there will be damage to be lived with. Your life will not be as it was prior to the sin. So it is with your Nation, it has sinned grievously for many years. The ramifications of those sins are being manifested. But, if your nation will repent and return, I am still willing to forgive. I will help you. But, there will be lingering effects of those years of sin and distance from me. 

Psalm 4:1-4. Answer me when I call to you, O God who declares me innocent. Free me from my troubles. Have mercy on me and hear my prayer. How long will you people ruin my reputation? How long will you continue your lies? You can be sure of this: The Lord set apart the godly for himself. The Lord will answer when I call to him. Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.

You are living this daily in today’s world. You will be faced with yet more opposition. More slanderous talk. More mistreatment. Do not give up. Do not believe I do not see or do not protect you. Just as David was brought out from Saul’s persecution and set on the throne over my people, so will I restore your lives. Some on earth. Some not. Yet all will be fully restored to perfection in my presence for eternity. So as you walk, do not sin. Anger will come. Do not allow it to fester. Do not act upon it. Act righteously. Be good ambassadors of me and my Father. You have the Spirit to help you. Pray. Breathe. Focus on me. Do not sin in your righteous anger. 

Matthew 4:20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.

You once did. Your brothers and sisters in faith did. You do not understand why all do not abandon their lives to follow me. Well, look at this: you often cling to parts of your life and do not follow – obey – me. You also behave in this way. Do you renounce your faith in me? No. Do you stop trusting me? Not completely, yet sometimes this disobedience involves a lack of trust in certain areas. Do you always turn a blind eye to things of the earth in order to wholeheartedly follow (obey) me? Do you willfully let go of everything earthly that gets in the way of following my will? No. So, do not be so confused by the people around you. You have been a believer for more than 30 years, and you still get it wrong frequently. You still dig in your heels over certain things from time to time. Some of those take years to resolve. Do I give up on you, throw up my hands and walk away? No. I know you. I know your heart. I know you love me. I wait. Patiently. Yes, sometimes while I wait you suffer the consequences of your decisions – or lack of making certain decisions. But, when you do come around, when you do decide to wholeheartedly obey in that area, I am ready and willing to forgive and go on. So it is with those around you. I wait. Some will finally obey. And I will forgive and bless them and help them. Others will not. And I will grieve as they suffer the consequences of those decisions. 

Proverbs 1:20-23. Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate: “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise.”

This needs no explanation. Look around you. I am willing to share my heart with those who refuse to see. I will make wise those who are choosing to remain ignorant. Yet, they will not. Do not miss this. They will not. They choose. At some point, the blindness and deafness and hardened hearts become what they choose. I do not force.

Matthew 4:17 From then on, Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

The “Kingdom of Heaven is near” did not mean that the end of days was approaching. It meant that I, the Son of the One True God, was walking amongst them. So many missed it. So many remained blind to that fact, though I was there, I was performing miraculous signs, I was exposing the darkness, I was preaching my Father’s Word in a way that they had never experienced and could not understand. Yet, most preferred to remain blind. Most preferred to cling to whatever existence they had forged on earth and not replace that with anything – not even Truth. And so it is in your day. Do not be dismayed. Do not be confused. The willfully blind have always been with you. They will remain with you to the end of days. Keep talking truth. Keep telling people of me. Keep putting my Word forth. Keep sharing these messages. Some will be awakened. Many will not. Shake the dust off and move on. It is not within your power to change anyone. Only mine. Plant seeds. I will harvest. 

Genesis 8: 13-14  On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. Two more months went by, and at last the earth was dry!

Remember that it took months and months for the land to dry out sufficiently to inhabit after the rains stopped and the floodwaters receded. Do not be impatient as things begin to look hopeful. Do not try to go ahead of me, the environment may not be safe yet. Do not believe I am trying your patience needlessly. Again, the timing is in my hands and will be perfect. Just keep your eyes on me – not on your surroundings. Listen for my voice – not the voices around you. Faith. Trust. Obedience. Stand firm. Only I have proved trustworthy. Only I have what you need for your life. Only I have what you need for your eternity. So, give this the time needed. In the meantime, remain faithful and stand firmly and proudly as my warrior. Keep fighting the battles. Remember, Noah did not just sit in the boat all that time. He had animals to feed and a family to care for and the boat needed attention. Your life requires action, also. Stay active. Stay strong in your faith. Armor up. The battle will end some day, just not today.

Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat.

It may feel as if I forget you sometimes. It may feel as if you have been faithful and obedient, even in the face of opposition, ridicule and hatred, but I am not with you. It may feel as if you are stranded in the midst of floodwater that will never recede. That you will never be on firm, dry land again. That I have abandoned you. But, just as you will see yet again in the story of Noah, I have not forgotten you. I have been with you this whole time and will remain at your side.  I will bring dry land again. I will bring some peace to your life. I will show you that I love you, my children, and that I never leave nor forsake you.  You will see that I have a plan for you. I have a future for my children that remain obedient, that do not bend to the enemy, that stand firm in faith. Tomorrow? Next week? When? Just be trusting and do not fret about timing. It is in my hands, therefore the timing will be perfect.

Revelation 22:8-9 I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said, ”No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!”

This should be the attitude of all who proclaim to represent me.  All who preach and teach my Word. Worship only me. Obey only me. Sadly, and much to their ultimate detriment, many of those who purport to represent me seek to be worshipped, seek to be obeyed. They have placed themselves on the throne only meant for my Father. They have made themselves gods. Woe to them. When I return, when they stand before my Father, there will be an eternal price to be paid. Warn them. There is still time to repent and return to their rightful position. But very little time.

Revelation 22:12-13 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” 

Revelation 13:14 “And with the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world.” 

You are amazed and astounded at the blindness of those around you. You do not understand how they cannot see truth, how they do not recognize the bold lies they are told daily. You are weary from it. Yet, it has been so for many many years and has just begun to be so in full view. They do not hide their lies anymore. They do not hide their worship of their god – Baphomet now has a “nativity scene” dedicated to him, with a likeness of him as an “infant”. Yet, your world does not see. It is blind and deaf. It has hardened its heart so toward me and toward truth that truth is now what they perceive as a lie. They perceive what is good to be what is bad and vice versa. They see any imposition of good over evil as unacceptable. Did I not warn of this exact state of affairs in my Word? Do you not see now how important it is to stay in my Word, to stay in prayer, to stay in close contact with my Spirit? This will become worse. Their attacks on Truth and Good and my Word and against you will only increase. But just for a time. I have set the boundaries. Stay close. Be courageous. Be faithful. And do not lose your trust in me.