Archive for the ‘Devotions’ Category
Posted by appolus on August 26, 2020
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.(Psa 2:1-3)
The world in which we live grows ever more angry against the Kingdom of God and His saints. As each day passes we see more and more that the heathen, the unbeliever and the people in general are aligned with the kings and rulers of this world against the anointed of God. The anger is rising in the hearts of men against the saints of God. Pretense is being cast away and kings and governments are showing their true colors, they are showing us who they really worship, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air.
Yet the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords still sits upon His throne. His kingdom and His people still carry the banner of light into the valley of darkness. Though the whole world rises up in a crescendo of darkness and evil, the saints, the bearers of the light shall stand firm upon Holy ground, they will not be moved. Those who serve the Lord with fear and who tremble in His manifest presence are soldiers in the Army of the Lord. We do not fight with the weapons of this world, our weapons are mighty for the pulling down of strong-holds.
Every saint who has ever walked Godly in Christ Jesus knows something of the heathen’s rage. You know brothers and sisters, you know. God has seen your suffering and is well pleased that you have stood strong against the exploits of the people in general around you, perhaps even those of your own household. Now consider our Lord and Savior Jesus, how in His day the rulers took counsel together to destroy Him. Kings and rulers, Pharisees and Sadducees, Herodians and the mob all came together against Him. The whole world turned on Him and yet He was true to His calling until He gave up His last breath.
Though the whole world come against you dear brothers and sisters, and it will, let us follow the ways of the Lord and stay true to our calling until we breathe our last breath. Whether we live or whether we die let us glorify the Lord. And whether we are still alive or have gone on before we shall all join our Lord in the sky in that great and terrible day of the Lord. The Kings and the rulers of this world and the raging heathens and all the vain peoples will bow their knees and acknowledge the Christ and receive His judgment.
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Posted by appolus on August 19, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
This verse is one of the high water marks of our walk with the Lord. Paul says that he had “learned,” to be content no matter what situation he found himself in. This learning did not come from his studies at the feet of human teachers. This learning came from having experienced everything that life had to throw at him, or better stated, everything that he had to suffer for the cause of Christ.
Whether it was being hungry or without proper clothing, having a lot of money or having no money at all, Paul had learned. Whether he was popular or whether he was rejected, he had learned. When he was shipwrecked and adrift in the sea, he had learned. Whether he had the skin torn from his back or stoned to within an inch of his life, he had learned. Whether he was a free man in this world or whether he found himself at the bottom of a dungeon, he had learned.
What had he learned? What had a multitude of afflictions taught him? He has learned that His Lord and Savior was always with him and always took him through. When you can look back at your own life and see what the Lord has brought you through, how He walked with you through a multitude of trials and afflictions you can see that He always took you through, through the fires and through the floods of life.
Look back and see where He has brought you from. See what He has delivered you from. See how He has provided for you. Looking back is very rarely healthy, yet when we think back to how the Lord has delivered us time and time again it builds our faith. It strengthens our tomorrows when we can look back at our yesterdays and see what the Lord has brought us through and how far He has taken us. We lean not so much about our own faith, we learn and appreciate the faithfulness of God. As we learn how faithful the Lord is, it actually grows our faith. All good things flow from God, including our faith, all the glory belongs to Him.
If we have come to the place that we can rejoice when our teachers are the bread of afflictions and the waters of adversity then we can say with Paul that we have learned to be content in every situation. Bread and water is the diet of prisoners, it is designed to barely keep them alive. Yet our life comes not from bread alone but from every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. A word from God is life to us. Water is the most basic need of man, but we drink from the eternal wells of living water that flow from heaven above.
Therefore, even in chains and in the most dire of situations we can rejoice. We will always have bread from heaven and the living waters of life to revive our soul. Therefore we can rejoice in the Lord our God just like Paul and Silas in the dungeon. Paul could be content in every situation because he had learned, by actual experience, that God was with him in every situation. Dear saint, He is with you, and in this we rest.
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Posted by appolus on August 18, 2020
Jer29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,β declares the LORD, βplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This is a very well known verse, and like many well know verses it is, for the most part, quoted without context. In Jer 29 Israel is in a very dark place, a place of judgement and captivity. It is in this context that the Lord assures His people. While all around us may be falling to pieces, while the hand of God may be moving against those who are far from Him and have turned away from Him, God assures His people. There is the danger that God’s own people will think He has turned on them, but here the Lord assures them that quite the opposite is true.
The judgement upon Israel was not for her destruction, it was for her correction. God chastens those that He loves and it is for the purpose of turning His people back to Him so that they shall call upon Him. Maybe today you find your own life is in something of a turmoil? Perhaps you face trials on every side and conflicts at every turn? You wonder does God really love you. You wonder what God really thinks about you. You are plagued with doubts. Seek the Lord and keep seeking His face with all of your heart. He shall be found by those who diligently seek Him. His presence shall be your reward. Your captivity to thoughts and doubts and fears shall be loosed.
In these times of darkness, in these days when Christendom is falling away and judgement has begun at the house of the Lord, it is critical that we seek Him with our whole hearts. Let the darkness draw you closer to the Light. Let the fear and uncertainty that is all around you draw you closer to the peace and contentment that is only found in Jesus. Seek Him with all of your heart and be found in Him. As the storm rages all around you and seems to grow more intense, let your gaze upon Him grow more intense. Situations and circumstances will do everything they can to draw you away and avert your gaze, do not look away. Endure, overcome, stand brothers and sisters and know that His thoughts about you are more than the sands of the sea. And His plans for you are to hold you and keep you in the midst of the madness. In the Lord their is hope and in Him we have our future. He is our exceedingly great reward.
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Posted by appolus on August 14, 2020
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.(Jer 9:23-24)
In the day of your calamity where is your strength? When the doctor tells you your child shall surely die, where is your wisdom? Can your strength save the child? Can all the money in the world raise up a child from the dead? The man of God’s strength lies in the fact that he knows God and is known by God. To know God and to depend upon Him is true wisdom. To know God and to be found in Him is true strength. To know God and to stand in His presence is riches beyond measure.
In the evil day to come we shall find our wisdom in the Word of God and the power of His Spirit. In the evil day to come when all true saints are brought low and among them there is no distinction, we shall find that in Him we are stronger than we ever could have imagined. We shall discover that it is His strength flowing through us when all our own capabilities have been stripped away. In the evil day to come when the world has taken back from us all of its treasures as a measure of punishment, we shall discover a depths of riches from the treasures of heaven that enrich us with true riches.
God’s wisdom is pure and eternal and His strength knows no bounds. The treasures that He bestows upon His children will stay with them for all eternity. Knowing Him is abundant life even in the midst of death. Knowing Him is light even in the depths of darkness. Knowing Him is rivers of living waters in a dry and dusty wilderness. Knowing Him is heavenly food for a starving soul in the midst of a great famine. Knowing Him is to have access to resources that are without limit, they are are spiritual and not carnal. The Apostle Paul proclaimed that the loss of everything he ever had in this world, including its wisdom and power and riches were as nothing in comparison to the excellency of knowing Christ his Lord and to found in Him and to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
Can we make such a proclamation brothers and sisters? Is knowing Him our all in all? Shall we gladly suffer the loss of all things to be found in Him? This is the mark of the saint down through the ages. Let us take our place with the Body of Christ that went before us , that great cloud of witnesses, and let us proclaim with them and with Paul that to know Him and to be found in Him is the all consuming treasure of our heart.
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Posted by appolus on August 7, 2020
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns Jer 4:3
What would become of seed scattered upon ground not broken up and not tilled and spread among the weeds and the thorns? In the parable of the sower and the seed in Matt 13 Jesus explains that the seed sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word of God but the cares of this world and the pursuit of its riches choke out that word and the seed dies. Fallow ground, fields that have not been broken up and tilled, cannot produce fruit. Only hearts that have been broken, tilled, turned over and made ready can be productive for God.
The average man today who professes to be a Christian has a heart that is like a field that is unbroken and fallow. He scatters seeds upon it and then wonders why it does not yield a crop. A generation or more of professing Christians have been raised on a steady teaching of cheap grace to be saved and hyper grace to be sanctified. None of this represents the broken-hearted saints who follow the risen Christ and surrender to the purifying process whereby Jesus creates His own special people.. A people who every day arise and take up their cross and follow Him. To take up your cross in this instance it to be plowed. The heart must be tested, it must be broken, it must yield to the Master’s hand. It must endure suffering and trials. Each furrow in the field is a trial endured by the saint and overcome by the power and the glory of the risen Christ. Into this field, into these furrows the Lord will scatter more seed. And because it is a work of the Lord this field will produce fruit.
Saint, do not resist the testings of the Lord. If you desire to be fruitful then you must allow the field of your heart to be broken up, to be plowed and to be furrowed for the removing of the weeds and the thorns and the clods. Let every suffering saint glorify the Lord in the midst of this plowing knowing that this surrender, this yielding to the hand of God is for the sanctification of his soul and that he may be useful in the Master’s hand. Every true saint wants to produce good fruit. Even nature tells us that there is no other way to produce fruit from a field than for it to be tilled and to be plowed. Saint, do you wish to be fruitful? Then today, yield and rejoice in the fact that you have been counted worthy to be plowed.
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Posted by appolus on August 5, 2020
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.(Joh 1:1-5)
All praise to God, the Word was made flesh. The love of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, the mercy of God, the glory of God, the plan of God, the long suffering of God. All of this and much more manifested in the Word made flesh. The very representation of the God-head, manifested in the Son of God and walking among us. God commanded that light would shine out of darkness, and so into the darkness of our world stepped the Word of God made flesh, Jesus. Life, overcoming death. In death He would bring forth life. Out of the darkness of Calvary, the greatest darkness ever known, shone the greatest light ever known. The culmination of the sin of man was overcome by the one without sin.
This great light than shone out of the darkness of Calvary is the life of men. Men may be dead in their sin but the light that shines in the darkness brings life to those who are dead. This is the work of the Lord and it is a marvel to behold. In Him is life and those who know Him walk in the newness of that life and it dwells within them. This light beckons to those who are dead in the darkness of their sin to come to Him and let His light shine upon them. Man will do one of two things, he will run to it or he will run from it. Those who run to it are consumed by it. It overwhelms them and transforms them and fills them with unspeakable glory. They have penetrated and have been penetrated by impenetrable light. The glory of God and the redemption of man and purified as His own special people.
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Posted by appolus on August 4, 2020
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.(Mat 6:33)
Here we find one of the key Scriptures in all of the Bible. This is the cutting edge of what it means to be sold out to Jesus. The high water mark of walking in the Spirit. It comes in the context of the sermon on the mount, the most revolutionary teachings ever delivered where everything we know of humanity is turned on its head. The revolution goes so deep that it reaches down into our DNA. It is so counter-intuitive to who we are as a race. No matter what culture we were born into, the basics of food and clothing and a roof over our heads are fundamental to our survival. So when we are told by the Lord that the primary object of our lives is the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of a holy God, it sets up a direct conflict with the basic nature of our humanity.
Self preservation and looking out for our own dies a death when we are walking in the Spirit. To be Kingdom minded is to be transformed and transported from one world into another, while still walking in the former. It is supernatural. In the last verse of this chapter the Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow, but rather focus on right now. Do you live that way saint? Can you imagine the peace that would rule and reign in your heart if you followed the direction of the Lord and simply lived for this day? If indeed you took no thought for tomorrow, no thought for the food on your table and the clothes on your back. Imagine living like the sparrow, the Lord says that they neither reap nor gather into barns yet our heavenly Father feeds them.
How about the clothes on your back? The Lord says that we are to consider the lilies of the field how they neither toil nor spin yet Solomon in all of his glory was not clothed with such splendor as the common grass of the field was. There are many degrees in our walk with the Lord, but the two broad categories are these. Kingdom minded or worldly minded. Your effectiveness for the Kingdom of God cannot begin until your primary focus is on the Kingdom, on the Lord Himself and on His glory and His beauty and His majesty and indeed, on His righteousness. Make this the focus of your life and the struggle, the rat race, becomes something entirely different. The rat race is exhausting, particularly to the saints. It wears you down and depletes you. It diminishes who you are as a mother, as a father, as a human being. Maybe you are feeling depleted today and exhausted, worn out and worn down. Let this be the day that you turn your attention to His instructions, His commands.
When you do, you will find something remarkable. Living the exact same life, getting up and going to work every day, running your household, raising your children, being a husband or a wife, instead of being depleted you will find yourself strengthened. For when we seek first His Kingdom in everything that we do, when His righteousness in our lives is our primary concern, then when once we were weary now we are strong. You shall renew your strength daily when you make Him your daily focus. You will indeed mount up with wings as eagles and the former obstacles that would have defeated you, you will now soar above them as you walk and then take flight in the Spirit. You shall run , just as you ran before, but contrary to the human experience you shall not grow weary when you run in Him and towards Him. God bless you this day saint.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 27, 2020
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being
If we are passionate worshipers of Jesus, then everything else is secondary. If Jesus is the primary object of our passions, then everything else becomes the by-product. If we ever get that wrong, we cease to be effective. If soul winning is our primary object, we cease to be effective soul winners. If faith is our primary object then we cannot be faithful. If Holiness is our primary object than we cannot be holy. If revival is our primary object then we will never see revival. Outside of Jesus being the primary object of our lives then we immediately begin to lose ground in every aspect of our walk, whether we are pastors or teachers or whatever role we have in the Body.
I would argue that the saints who have rocked this world for Jesus are the saints who have walked in intimate communion with Him. He is the source of all love and majesty and glory and power. Only by abiding in Him ( Him being our primary object) can we walk in forgiveness and mercy and grace. Out of the abundance of the passion that we experience as we walk with Jesus as our grand obsession comes the overflow that changes those around us and brings light into a dark world. Are you being ineffective in your walk? Have you wondered why? Is Jesus the primary object of your life? Is there joy in you life? Is there glory in your life? Are you an over-comer? Do you have a thankful spirit?
Listen saints, if Jesus is truly the primary object of your life then what flows from that is love, joy, peace, faithfulness, thankfulness, forgiveness and so on. How often have I heard a saint say, on any one of the aforementioned issues βI need to work on that.β That is quite exactly wrong. No amount of βwork,β can muster up joy nor thankfulness nor love nor any of the issues of the heart. He must be our all in all. In Him we live and move and have our being. Jesus Himself is the answer to any problem you are having, any problem. The answer lies in Him alone, the answer lies before the throne.
Whatever you seek to achieve in the Kingdom of God comes directly from the depths of your relationship with Him. Find a man who is passionate about sports and he will bore your pants off speaking about it. Find a man who is passionate about politics and he will rip your shirt of telling you all about the latest policies and issues and the state of the world. Find a man who is truly passionate about Jesus and you will find a man who is changing the world. Out of the abundance of our passion flows the power of God.
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Posted by appolus on July 25, 2020
I shared just a few days ago with a group of saints that when sports came back that every knee would bow. The picture shows the very first baseball game of the year. Every knee bowed with a black ribbon connecting them to show their support for BLM. This is the power of the mob. This is the fickle nature of the multitude. How could a group of people be hailing Jesus as King one week, and the next week be calling for His blood to be upon their heads? How is it that a whole country could be compelled to give the Nazi salute in Germany? Fear. A desire to fit in. A terror of standing up to the mob. The control in America is tightening. Just yesterday a poll that was taken revealed that over 60% of Americans were afraid to voice their opinion in public. This power of the mob is not knew to society and it is something to be manipulated and wielded. It is regressive (or in our example its from progressives) It is like a virus, something that gets into the atmosphere, something that we breathe in.
Speak your mind and lose your job. Speak your mind and lose your friends. Speak your mind and lose your liberty. Speak your mind and lose your life. As I said, this is not new. Study the last 2000 years and see each period of extreme persecution all have the same stifling of opinions that run counter to the popular culture. Religious or secular, the tactics are the same because it is tried and tested. Make no mistake, there is a strategy behind all of this and its not man made. Men are mere pawns in the grand strategy of the devil, willing dupes. The dupes payoff is to see their grievances avenged and the people they hate suffer. The devil’s payoff is to shut down the ability to shares the Gospel, the full Gospel. As in times gone by, there is a remnant who will not bow the knee nor give the salute to the devil and his cohorts. It will not end well, but the end of this world for the saints is the reaching of our final etrnal destination.
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Posted by appolus on July 24, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
The question is, are you content? I would argue that the whole world is looking for contentment. I certainly thought when I became a Christian that the Church would be packed full of contented people, you can imagine my disappointment. It seemed to me that most folk that I met in the church were very much like the world when it came to contentment. The world makes every mistake possible while attempting to achieve contentment, yet so do many Christians. Many people in the world believe that contentment comes through material possessions and good personal relationships. While these things are nice, they could never possibly bring the deep kind of contentment that Paul is talking about.
Now some good Christian folk would argue that your personal relationship with Jesus brings you the kind of contentment Paul is speaking about in this particular Scripture, it’s simply not true but it makes it possible. In fact only through Jesus is it possible, but He aint doing it for you. Paul had to learn to be content. It was not a question of his relationship with Jesus, rather it was a question of enduring and overcoming as he walked through fire and flood. There are choices to be made as we move along the narrow path of life. We choose to endure. We choose to give thanks. We overcome much as Jesus did in the garden when He submits His will to the Father’s.
The key word I would argue in understanding this is “learned.” He had learned to be content, there was no magic wand. No one came along and laid hands on him and suddenly he was full of contentment. Paul, time and again had to walk through the fire and continue to praise God. We see in another Scripture that we are admonished not to be anxious at all but to pray and give thanks and make supplication to God and if we did that, something supernatural would happen, a supernatural peace that passes all understanding would actually stand guard over our hearts.
Can you praise God today in spite of your circumstances? If you learn to do this, if you walk through the fire with your hands held high, trusting in God, you will come to the place that Paul came to. You will discover that peace and contentment will have nothing to do with your circumstances, which are ever-changing, but have everything to do with praising and trusting in God who is never-changing. Choose to praise the Lord in the lower reaches of the dungeon, and you will learn to be content.
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Posted by appolus on July 22, 2020
Rev_12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
These are tried and tested saints. They have been taken to the wilderness. Rejected by man. Rejected by religious institutions. Walked through fire. Waded through flooded waters. Refined,tested and broken. Suffering is their teacher. The bread of adversity is their food. The waters of affliction their drink. You do not do not wake up one morning and love not your life unto death. God prepares His people. He equips those that He calls.
He takes away the love of this world and everything in it by drawing His people unto Himself. He reveals Himself to His children, that is part of the preparation. This revelation, these encounters of the manifest presence of God strengthens and challenges His people. There is three major themes in the old Hymn “I have decided to follow Jesus.” They are 1. The world behind me, the cross before me. 2. Though none go with me, still I will follow. 3. My cross I’ll carry till I see Jesus. Such a simple hymn, such profound concepts.
Christ is coming back in all His glory in the sky. There is great movement in the heavenlies and the principalities and powers know that. God is preparing a people who will stand in that evil day. Moses removed his shoes before a Holy God. God had come to commission him and tell him to go and confront the world. In order to confront the world we must remove all worldliness from ourselves otherwise we shall be written off as mere hypocrites. God will call tried and tested saints to stand and bear witness to the truth and those saints will be saints who are willing to lay down their lives.
After more that 400 years of silence from God, John the Baptist cries out from the wilderness βBehold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world.β Gods own people in this day have been dwelling in a wilderness and God has raised them up. In the midst of storms and through their brokenness they have learned to keep their eyes upon Jesus. The attractions and distractions of this world have been removed like dross from the fiery furnaces of trials and afflictions. The culmination of the ages is upon us.
You know it, you do not have to be convinced, the indwelling Spirit tells you so. The principalities and powers know it too it and they will not go quietly. The children of God are their deadliest enemies for we are bearers of the light. Hold fast, stand strong, lift up your heads for you know where your help cometh from. Remember the words of the Hebrew children in defiance of haughty arrogant power “we shall never bow down to the gods of this world.” Stand fast saints. He is coming.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 20, 2020
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Daniel speaks of a time when the saints will be worn down. I believe the process of the saints being worn down has already begun. Times have been changed and wrong has become right and truth, at best, is relative. This is wearing the saints out as they struggle to come to terms with these fast changing circumstances. There has been a blitzkrieg so to speak in the realms of the spirit. Compromise and unrighteousness has surrounded the saints. We are an obstacle that at some point will have to be removed if the enemy is to have total dominance. More laws will be changed and we will witness more compromise by Christendom
Now we know we are called to gird our loins with truth. Satan has furiously assaulted truth in our day. Truth has become anything you need it to be, it has become relative. Of course truth is absolute, but that is no longer accepted. We are called to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteous living and holiness has become something of a quaint notion in our day. Between the word of faith and the prosperity gospel, cheap grace and hyper grace, actual holy living has become something deemed as a work when of course it is one of the fruits of genuine salvation.
Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Our hearts must be right and this keeps us ever ready to walk in the peace that comes from the truth of the Gospel which has set us free. It also keeps us ever ready to share the gospel with others. Satan has done a great job in quieting the saint when it comes to the Gospel of truth. We are constantly afraid of offending someone. The bold notion that there is but one way to heaven, through the Lord Jesus Christ and that all other paths and religions lead to hell has become all but illegal and in fact it has become unacceptable in so many arenas of public life.
The shield of faith is one of our most important parts of our armor. It protects us from the fiery darts of the enemy. Yet in the last several decades we have seen movements like the word of faith literally destroy the meaning of the word faith. The essence of faith is trusting in God despite our circumstances, yet Satan has turned that truth on its head by teaching that our circumstances are the results of our faith or lack thereof. So, when trials come, rather than people trusting in God they begin to despair and the fiery darts of the enemy find their mark.
Last we have the Word of God which is the sword. We can say with great certainty that the enemy has fought this for countless centuries but in recent decades has made enormous strides in taking the sword out of the hands of those who oppose him. We are an illiterate generation. This lack of knowledge is killing us. So it is clear, in order to stand in the coming evil day we must rediscover the armor of God and wear it at all times. Cry out to God today saints, have Him help you put on the armor. It will save your eternal life.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on July 17, 2020
Joh_12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Today the saints must establish in their hearts what they are living for. Are you living for the things that are eternal? Will you be willing in the coming days to lose everything? In the coming days, there will be darkness and various shades of grey on one side, and there will be light on the other. There is no darkness in God. We cannot stand in shades of grey. If there was an earthquake and you were standing on the fault line, one foot on one side and one on the other, as it began to open up, you would have to choose what side you were going to stand on. Continue to straddle the line and you would plunge to your death, you would be swallowed up.
There is a spiritual earthquake going on right now. Everything than can be shaken is being shaken. What side will you find yourself on? On one side there is the world and all its attractions and distractions. For most of us our way of life is wrapped up in the world. On the other side there is the way of the Kingdom and the word of God which almost entirely contradicts everything the world holds dear. If the civil war split families right down the middle and pitied one against the other over issues of slavery and so on, what will the ultimate separation look like? America tore itself to pieces in the bloodiest civil war ever seen and yet the coming separation will go much deeper and on multiple fronts.
A famous group of colonists once declared independence from Great Britain and a shot was fired that was heard around the world. When the colonists signed that declaration of independence, death was assured for them in the event of defeat. They were, with their signatures, totally committed to the cause and willing to pay the ultimate price. If mere men can make declarations of independence and give their life for that cause, what can an army of saints around the world achieve by their own declarations? Not of independence, but of dependence upon God alone. And how will we declare such things? By the lives that we live and the stands that we take. If one cannot take a stand now, that one will not be able to stand in the evil day. For those who stand upon the Word of God and walk in His Kingdom reality, God will pour out His Spirit upon them. He will equip those He has called to stand. Stand fast brothers and sister.
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Posted by appolus on July 10, 2020
Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
When David left the Ark with Obed -Edom, it was reported that all that pertained to his house was blessed of the Lord. Our modern day prosperity teachers would convince us that God enriched Obed-Edom but Jewish history shows that Obed-Edomβs family were enriched by the birth of many children in the short time the Ark was there. Women of the household giving birth to multiple babies. There was life in the house of Obed-Edom and that more abundantly. The presence of God gives us life and that more abundantly.
Life in God, life in the Spirit, the overcoming power of God that comes from walking in His Spirit. Obed-Edom would later be found as a guard of the Temple treasure and involved in the worship in the temple. It seems he followed the Ark, he followed the presence of God and dwelt there as a door-keeper. Have you been touched by His presence? Would one day in His presence be better than a thousand elsewhere? Will you follow Him where He leads? Has the presence of God taken hold of your life?
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Posted by appolus on July 8, 2020
Rom 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Imagine you are crossing a great river. The world is on one side and you are headed toward the other side, the heavenly side. Each time you are obedient, each time you turn your back on sin, another stepping stone appears before you and you move forward towards your goal. One step at a time on the road to glory. It is by obedience that we make forward progress towards a deeper walk with Him and we overcome.
Now, there are two main categories of obedience. One is a legalistic obedience and the other is glorified obedience. Brokenness, submission, surrender and love must be the building blocks of our obedience. If we simply try to be obedient without first taking these steps, revealed to us through the word and a revelation of it, we will discover that there is an obedience that binds us in chains and the weight of these chains will drag us down and drown us. Yet, obedience born out of love and a desire to please the one that we love frees us and fulfills us and propels us on.
Glorified obedience, one motivated by love and awe of a righteous holy God and a revelation of Calvary is like the watering of a tree. There can be no fruit produced unless that tree is watered by the living waters of obedience. Striving to be obedient without the fruits of brokenness will lead to a desert landscape in which nothing can live. The motivations of our heart, the seat of our affections that sets our eyes upon Jesus and the Holiness of God takes us from glory to glory.
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Posted by appolus on July 1, 2020
Joh 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
βI saw the angel in the marble and carved him until I set him free.β And βEvery block of stone has a statue inside of it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” And one more in reference to his most famous statue of King David βDavid was always there in the marble, I just took away everything that was not David.β These are quotes attributed to Michelangelo and I love them, for I think he expresses, without knowing, spiritual truths. What he has assigned to a block of stone and the creation of a statue, is the very thing that God does with a human being who discovers Him
We who know Jesus are a work in progress. Paul says in Ephesians that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This word perform means to complete. The work that He has begun in you, He is faithful to complete it. I want you to sit for a moment and ponder the magnificence of that. Rest in the truth that the greatest artist of all, the one who hung the stars in the sky, the one who laid the foundations of the earth, the one who created you and breathed life into you has not finished His work with you but will finish it.
The Lord has a hammer and He has a chisel. In the process of freeing you from your former self there must be the blow of the hammer down upon the chisel and we must yield to it. The Scriptures also tell us that the steps of a righteous man are ordered of God. Your life is not some series of random events that somehow hold you capture to its surrounding circumstances. No, your life is His and He is faithful to you. The swing of His hammer is the process whereby He is setting you apart. When Jesus cried to Lazarus to come forth, the coming forth was not all that happened. Lazarus was bound hand and foot with grave-clothes. He had to be set free from them. The grave-clothes had to be taken off so that the Lazarus that was brought to life would no longer be bound by death, but released and free to live.
In 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter says that we are stones being built up into a spiritual house. Every stone is shaped by the Master. Peter also says in the same chapter that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation a peculiar people who have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light so that we may declare the praises of Jesus. When the religious men of the day plotted to kill Jesus, they also plotted to kill Lazarus. Why? Because his very life testified to the Master, the creator of life, the one who rolls the stone away, the one who shines light into the darkness, the one who bids us come out of the darkness and join Him in His marvelous light.
You are a saint such as this. Don’t let the enemy fool you or lie to you. You are God’s creation. He created you, He breathed life into you, He called you out, He raised you up, He healed you, He forgave you, He restored you, he reconciled you, when you passed through the waters He was with you, while you were refined by the fire He was with you, when you were down He raised you up, He died for you, He rose again for you and He ever intercedes at the right hand of the Father. He has not finished with you but He is faithful and true to complete that which He has begun in you and He does it all for His good pleasure.
You are His, you were bought with a very expensive price. He has not forgotten you. Lift your hands towards heaven today and open your heart and let this truth flood into your very being. God bless you my brother, God bless you my sister. Keep on going, there are a cloud of witnesses cheering you. You are Godβs work of art and all other works of art are but a mere shadow, a pale imitation at best of what the Lord is creating in you.
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Posted by appolus on June 26, 2020
Mat 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
The Lord will not commit to those who are not committed to Him. This present generation of loud and βtumultuous,β believers are seeking to establish the Lords kingdom here on earth. The sign the Lord gave them is not good enough for them. What sign did the Lord give them? He gave them the sign of the Prophet Jonah. Jonah was swallowed whole by the whale and to any observer, was dead, yet three days later he is miraculously alive and goes on to call Ninevah to repentance. Jesus would find himself swallowed up by death but three days later He would arise and He has been warning us ever since through His word and through His people and through every soul that has been resurrected from death into His glorious light of eternity.
In the quiet of faith, the Lord will respond to His own, He always has and He always will.He will not respond to a crass church which seeks to gratify their own corrupt lusts. So all of the churchβs that cry out for miracles, the Lord knows the motivations of their heart. Signs and wonders would follow. Follow what? The preaching of Calvary. The proclamation of the Truth. The bold witness for Christ. The genuine love of the lost. So, those who place greater importance on signs and wonders rather than salvation’s do so for a reason. And in doing so, they expose the fragile nature of the faith that they claim to have.
The Lord will not commit to those who have built their houses on sinking sand. This is why we see the βhouse,β of βbelievers,β come tumbling down when faced with βunanswered prayers.β For they are not established on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary. βOn Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.β Does your faith depend upon you seeing a miracle? Or does your faith stand upon the finished work of the cross of Calvary? Miracles are a bi-product of a glorious gospel not the primary object. That primary object is Jesus. And only when He alone is lifted up can we expect to see anything, as a byproduct of His glory.
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Posted by appolus on June 25, 2020
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
What does it mean to hear God? Seems like such a simple question. You would imagine that no Christian would object to βhearing,β God speak to them. That still small voice, the voice of the shepherd speaking to His sheep, and His sheep recognizing His voice. The Holy Spirit whispering into the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit leading and guiding and magnifying the Lord Jesus in our hearts. A man went into the supermarket to buy his wife a rose. It was his practice to do this every week. He picked the rose that he wanted and made for the checkout lane. As he walked toward the line, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, that still small voice from the Shepherd. βGive the rose to the old lady over there.β
Immediately the man resisted. βLord that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?β There was great resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her βThe Lord wanted you to have this rose.β The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained. βMy husband died several months ago. Every week, for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.β The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?
God not only hears the cries of His people, He speaks to them and they know His voice and they hear Him. We need to pray for ears to hear and eyes to see what the Lord is saying and doing. God knows His sheep. He sees you. He hears your cries, he sees your afflictions, he sees the tears that no one else sees, He knows. He Himself was despised and rejected, He was a man of sorrows, He was well acquainted with grief. He bore all our griefs and sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him according to Isaiah 53. By all of theses things He secured for us peace and healing for our sins and transgression. The sheep had gone astray and now, by His stripes the sheep were healed of their transgressions. Now we know His voice and He bids us to follow His lead. Perhaps if you asked for a rose today you will find yourself in a garden. Listen for that still small voice today, He often talks to us in ways we do not expect. His word is a lamp unto our feet in the darkness and His still small voice assures us that we are known and that He sees us.
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Posted by appolus on June 22, 2020
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Oftentimes when things become more accessible they become less desirable. There is a fundamental flaw in humanity, you can call it the Adam and Eve flaw. We desire what we cannot have and oftentimes take for granted what we do have, until of course we do not have it. The object remains the same, what determines the attitude depends upon whether we have it or not. The ability to be thankful for what we have is a gift that must be learned practically. It can only be learned in the classroom of life. Many never learn , a fortunate few discover that there is great peace and contentment within the heart that is full of thanks.
The great danger is that we take our relationship with the Lord for granted. Time and time again we see Israel drift away from the Lord in times of prosperity. When we are in battles in life, or struggling to survive, we have a high dependency upon the Lord. We stay close to Him and we cry out to Him to keep us. The key for our walk with Jesus is to stay close to Him whether we are full or whether we are hungry, whether we are clothed or whether we are naked. In short, we must learn to be content in whatever situation we find ourselves in.
Staying thankful, staying intimate, spending time with the Lord lies at the heart of our relationship with Him. Thankfully we have been called to a battle-field and not a playground. If we are living Godly in Christ Jesus we will experience persecution and this persecution keeps us close to our Lord. That is why it is important to thank God in everything, to rejoice in Him at all times and in everything. Not for everything but in everything. For the steps of a righteous man and woman are ordered of God. We are His servants and it is He who keeps us. He keeps us when we go through the waters, He keeps us in the midst of the fires and He keeps us in quiet tranquil days when there is not a cloud in the sky. If He is the center of all things then we shall be grounded and centered in Him no matter what the circumstances of our lives.
When all around us are being devastated by circumstances and tossed like waves in a sea overcome by storms, we can stand above those waves when we fix our eyes on Jesus. Rather than the circumstances of life tearing us apart, with the right attitude of our heart, they become elements which make our faith deeper and stronger and actually propel us further into the heart of God. It is the will that keeps us. The will rules the emotions. Jesus in the garden, by an act of His will, submits to the will of His Father. It brings Him great peace when the matter is settled. Indeed it brings Him joy. You must settle in your mind if you will trust Him in all things. If you do that and then put it into practice, put flesh on the bones of what you believe, then you will be able to say with Paul that you have learned to be content in every situation.
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Posted by appolus on June 19, 2020
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
I have a GPS system in my car. I simply put in the address and follow the blue line and I inevitably end up at my destination. Yet even with this system in place you can take wrong turns and the system will automatically βrecalculate,β and give you new directions to get you back on track. This almost always involves βtaking the next exit,β or doing a βlegal u-turn when possible.β Sometimes when you take the wrong road but it runs near to or initially parallel with the correct road, the system still believes you to be on the right road.
As the wrong road slowly veers away from the correct road, the system at some point finally figures it out and re-directs you. Much of Christendom has taken the wrong road. Initially it runs almost parallel to the correct road and, without discernment it is almost impossible to know that you are on the wrong path. Most will simply plow ahead down the road they are directed and itβs at a point of getting lost that the person realizes that they have went astray.
When Amelia Earhart attempted her epic flight, it is reckoned that she only had to be a tiny fraction off in her calculations to miss the Island that was in the middle of the vast Pacific ocean, by hundreds of miles. To continue flying and being slightly of course, would take her ever further away from her destination. Today, Christendom is moving further and further away from its destination.
When the destination ceases to be God Himself, and the destination becomes something other than His presence, His Tabernacle, His alter, His throne room, then we simply get further and further away from Him and the narrow path that leads to Him. Only by getting off at the βnext exit,β or doing a βlegal u-turnβ can we get back on the narrow path. The address, the destination itself must always be God Himself. Are you headed in that direction, is that what is plugged into your spirit, is He alone your destination?
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A Call To The Remnant 