Archive for the ‘the remnant’ Category
Posted by appolus on April 18, 2020
Many of us have learned a lot in the recent weeks about ventilators. They dominated the headlines as it seemed there was a great shortage of them. In many ways we came to equate ventilators with life. In actuality, up to 80% of patients who are ventilated die. So what exactly does a ventilator do and what are the dangers? Ventilators “breathe,” for the patients. They have to be sedated. They push air into the lungs and extract that air back out. In effect, they are inflating and deflating the lungs because you cannot. It is mechanical breathing. The dangers are many and they include organ failure, infection, over-inflating and long term lung damage. The longer one is on a ventilator the less likely that they will be able to come of a ventilator.
Breathing is life. Without breath we die. Without breath there is no life. In Genesis 2:7 we see that God formed man from the dust of the earth, but that man had no life until God breathed into Him. God’s breath is life. No one ever died when God breathed into them. In Ezekiel 37 the question is asked about the dry bones in the valley “can these bones live?” And upon these bones appeared flesh and sinew but without the breath of God they had no life. It was God commanded breath that brought these dead bodies to life.
In countless churches across the world and institutions of men, there sits in the pew bodies, yet these bodies have not the breath of God in them. The church itself is like a ventilator. It does the breathing from them. And as in the natural ventilators these church ventilators force air into the lungs. These patients are also required to be sedated. They are lulled into a world where they are not required to move, little realizing that the longer this goes on their dependence upon the “ventilator,’ grows and every organ in their bodies begin to be damaged by this artificial air as opposed to God’s breath.
The roots of our understanding of the Holy Spirit come from the word “ruach,’ meaning wind or breath. People often speak of the wind of the Spirit and we see Jesus breath on His disciples in John 20:22 and they received the Holy Spirit. The essence of all of this is that we cannot do a single thing without the breath of God in us. It is how we operate as individual saints and it is how the Body of Christ was also designed. The Body needs God’s breath. The Body of Christ needs the breath of the Holy Spirit in them to operate. Without it they will die, or perhaps worse, end up “inside,’ a ventilator called church where the breathing is mechanical and counterfeit.
If you know that you are dying within the confines of a building that has sedated you, meaning all the teaching, all the preaching, all the sharing all the worship, all the Words of knowledge, all the exhortations and so on are done for you, the longer you stay there the greater the dependency and long term damage there will be and of course it will ultimately lead to death. The breath of life dwells solely within God and His Holy Spirit. Without that, our bodies of congregations will be no different than a body that cannot breath for itself.
Get off the ventilators and go find the breath of life. It is out there, it does exist, it is not mechanical, it needs no smoke machines nor does it need to dim the lights or entertain us. What we all need is His breath. Oh Father in Heaven blow upon your children, open up the eyes of those who are ventilated and yet who yearn to breath free. Can these bones live oh Lord? You know. Come from the four winds, oh breath, and breathe upon these dead that they may live.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 7 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 17, 2020
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
There was a famous group of warriors from the Highlands of Scotland. The “Highland Charge,” was one of the most effective field combat strategies in the arsenal of the Scottish army. Imagine facing hundreds of large screaming Highlanders coming at you at full tilt screaming their lungs out and swinging broad swords that measured six feet. Many armies who faced this charge simply broke ranks and fled. These front-line warriors always took great casualties but they were abandoned to the battle and they died with honor. Are you abandoned to the battle that you have been called to? Is the fear of life or death, success or failure, your standing in the community or rejection holding you back from serving the Lord with all of your heart.
The Spirit that was in David compelled him to not only challenge Goliath, but to run to the battle. The Hebrew children said to that wicked old king that their God would save them from the fire. Now, how many in Christendom would say amen to that? Yet, what is not often quoted in many circles is what they said after that which is truly a statement of faith “But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up.” (Dan 3:18) You see, whether they lived or died, they would glorify their God. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” (Job 13:15) Job is saying that even although he has lost everything and even if God would kill him, still he would trust his God. Paul says “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”(Php 1:21)
Can we say that brothers and sisters? Can we truly say that this is our chief end? Whether we live or whether we die we will glorify God? There is a Scripture often quoted by many in Christendom and it is this “By the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony,” and this is how we overcome the evil one. Yet the full Scripture says. ” 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.”(Rev 12:11) Brothers and sisters, this is the mark of the genuine saint, not that they are delivered from every situation but that they glorify God despite their circumstances, even in matters of life and death. This is normal Christianity. This is a witness to the world.
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 April 16, 2020
Every now and again there are scales that fall from my eyes and I catch a glimpse of how the Lord sees me. For the most part this is shrouded by flesh and insecurity and the noise of this world. If the heavens were a scroll and the darkness of the night was a veil and the stars in the heavens mere pinpricks of light from behind, then this light that pierces through is my glimpse. For a moment I see what lies beyond the darkness of space, not beyond it, behind it.
What lies behind the darkness? A light so bright that it renders our own sun to a mere flickering candle. In Rev 6 we are told that the stars of heaven fall to earth, what beautiful language. This happens when the heavens are rolled up like a scroll. Take away the veil of darkness and the pinpricks, the stars, they fall away for the light that is revealed behind the darkness is all consuming. Every mountain and every Island is moved. All men, rich and poor, free and slave try to hide in rocks and caves and cry out that the very mountains would fall upon them and hide them. Hide them from what? From the face of God Himslelf who sits upon the throne. The fabric of space is removed like the mere curtain that it is, and the Word tells us that suddenly all men can see the face of God.
So what is my glimpse? How does the Lord see me? I can see that the Lord loves me just as I am. And just as suddenly as it came, it vanishes. I am left with the lingering warmth of what lies behind the fabric. A cloud of witnesses indeed who dwell beyond the veil, who dwell in the majesty of impenetrable light. Yet the light penetrates the darkness, penetrates the flesh, penetrates the noise. When all the world is silent then I can hear the choirs of heaven. They reverberate in my soul and they penetrate my spirit and I am left with a longing.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the deeper life, the gospel, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 15, 2020
It is said that love covers a multitude of sins. It is said in 1 Peter 4:8. It is not just any kind of love that covers a multitude of sins, it is a fervent love. No where should we see this more than between a husband and wife. A love that overlooks the imperfection of the other and focuses on the good. And not just focuses on the good but fervently focuses on the good. A love that would defend and sheild the other come what may and always think the best of the other. The opposite of this, and therefore the opposite of love is a desire to expose the other. A fervent desire to focus on the bad that we see. This is self love. Self love has a fervency all of its own and it is always driven by self. If you love yourself above all things then you cannot love Jesus and you certainly cannot love your spouse. True love, as personified on the cross is sacrificial. It is willing to die for the object of its love.
It is said that love keeps no record of wrongs. It is said in 1 Cor 13:5. It is worth pondering on that for a moment. It keeps no record of wrongs. It is patient and is kind. It is not envious and it is not boastful nor is it proud. It is not rude nor self seeking and it is not easily angered. It does not delight when the other falls but rejoices in their goodness. It is always protective, it always trusts and hopes and it endures. Now the Word of God says that we can have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and be right and even have a faith that could move mountains, yet without this kind of love, it would mean nothing. You could give all that you have to the poor and even give your body to be burned. All of it would gain you nothing if you do not have a fervent love. Above all things, love prevails.
The question then is this. How do you love? How do you love your husband? How do you love your wife? How do you compare to the Word of God when it comes to love? If we cannot love the people that are closest to us in the fashion described above then what have we gained from our walk with Jesus? If we go back to 1 Peter 4 and look at verse one. For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. The word flesh when it used to speak of Jesus signifies the Lord’s human nature. The second use of the word flesh in this verse is a reference to man’s fallen nature. When we arm ourselves with the resolve of our Lord Jesus Christ as personified by His enduring and overcoming on the cross, then we can cause our own flesh to suffer, suffer defeat. When you take up your cross daily, then the flesh suffers and is put to flight and sin is put to flight. Will you suffer in the flesh to love your husband in the manner prescribed? Will you husband suffer likewise to love your wife? Love is the greatest battle of them all and it is so because it is love that conquers the fires of hell. Lets enter the battle today, follow the instructions above. We shall give an account for it to the Lord Himself.
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Posted by appolus on April 15, 2020
1 Sam 17:48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
For Christians, victories are won in the depths of the valley for this is where strongholds are broken down and conquered. This is where the fight is taken to the enemy. This place is his dark domain. This is a place that we would never voluntarily go to. We would never come to this place willingly. Yet this place is where we see the gates of bronze broken down and the bars of iron cut in two. Perhaps you are in the depths of a deep valley today and surrounded by darkness? Be of good cheer and be encouraged, for this place where the enemy would see you destroyed is actually the place where you will see victory in Christ. Your mourning shall be turned in dancing and He will put upon you a garment of praise and this spirit of heaviness shall flee before His presence.
The Christian walk is a violent one spiritually speaking. There is nothing passive about what you have been called to. There is an enemy of your soul and the Lord is the Lord of your whole life. Under no circumstances will He allow a stronghold of the enemy to exist in the depths of who you are. Consider young David as he runs towards Goliath. David runs to where the enemy is and destroys him. The Lord takes us to places that in the natural we would not go. Confrontation is the way of the Lord. It is no surprise that most folks hate confrontation yet the Lord leads us into confrontations.
Will you confront your fears today? Will you stand for the truth today? As Christians we are spiritual soldiers. We have been called to battle. And even although much of modern Christianity has been feminized this does not change the true nature of who we are. There can be no co-existence between light and darkness, whether that is inner darkness in you or in the world. Light will have its way and in this place there can be no room for darkness.
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Posted by appolus on April 13, 2020
Psalm 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks so my soul longeth after thee oh Lord. It cries out in a dry and thirsty land. Revive me oh Lord. Feed my soul that hungers after heavens food, refresh my spirit that longs for waters that flow from heavens throne. I have tasted this food, I have drank of this water. I am ruined for all of life’s food and all other waters are foul tasting to my spirit. Lord Jesus, you are beautiful beyond description, to marvelous indeed for words. The moments I have spent in your sanctuary rob me of all of my words and render them all perfectly meaningless. I feel heavenly words running through me, it’s in my very essence.
When I am in your presence you penetrate my very DNA. I know that I cannot dwell there for I would that I would never leave that place. And so that I can go on living I must only dwell there for a moment, but oh what a glorious moment. It is these moments that help strengthen me to endure all things for I know that there will come a day when it will not just be moments anymore. Eternity will stretch out its arms and usher me in and there will be the eternal moment, the eternal now, the eternal Lord my God. And it makes me tremble all the more when I realize that this place of eternity, this uninterrupted unadulterated presence of the living God has not even entered into the hearts of man.
No eye has seen nor ear heard nor spirit experienced the full measure of our God. It is above and beyond human description or even imagination. I come to the end of myself and it thrills my soul to know that at the very end of everything that ever was, everything that has ever been or ever will be experienced by man is the very beginning of you. My soul’s journey into eternity renders all mere trials momentary and light, I shall count them all as rubbish for the goal that is set before me. to be found in you. Oh the glorious wonder of a world that cannot be imagined.
You tell me oh Lord that it has not even entered into the hearts of man what you have prepared for us and I compare that with the moments I have spent in your presence and based on this alone my mind is staggered to a point that I cannot even comprehend the beginning of what you have said. Today brothers and sisters, God is ready to be encountered by the man or woman who has readied themselves, who has a desperate thirst for Him, who would draw near to Him. Do you hunger and thirst after the Glory of God? This great treasure is found by those who diligently seek Him, pray today to God to give you such a hunger and a thirst.
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Posted by appolus on April 13, 2020
I have noticed over the years that most of the encouragement we give to other saints is outcome based. What do I mean by that? Well, the most basic example would be ” there, there, everything is going to be okay.” It is very hard to say anything against this kind of encouragement because, on the one hand, it is spiritually true. Yet, what holds true for us as saints in the spiritual realm, does not necessarily hold true in the realm of this world. Let me give you an example. Someone is dying of cancer. Do you tell them everything is going to be ok, meaning they are not going to die, or is everything going to be okay because Jesus rules and reigns in their lives? I believe that is the fundamental difference between spiritual encouragement and what is often just a very human reaction to someone in a difficult situation. When Jesus was talking to the thief on the cross, in the natural realm, everything was not nor was it going to be ok. Yet, the encouragement that the thief gets is two-fold. First, he is in the presence of Jesus and he recognizes it, secondly, his encouragement from Jesus was that this very day he would be with Him in paradise. Obviously that is an extreme example but I believe the principles and the applications are sound. First and foremost, the greatest help for any saint is to be in the presence of the Lord. Secondly, the sure knowledge that no matter what happens, we will be with Him eternally is our firm foundation. This is why there is no victory for death and the grave has indeed lost its sting. Unless that foundational truth rules and reigns in our hearts, then the enemy will always have some kind of access to our hearts and minds, set up some kind of stronghold in our flesh, and from there could mount daily attacks.
We are called to comfort one another with the very comfort we ourselves have been comforted with. What is the greatest, or should I say who is the greatest comfort? The comforter, the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we bring Him to bear in every situation then we are in a good place to encourage one another. A focus on Him, He being preeminent in every situation, brings the power of God right into every situation. It is from that place we may well say to someone “there there, everything is going to be ok.” We may say that the Lord is going to heal you, if the Lord said that. We may say that this very day you will be with Him in paradise. There are many things we may say in the midst of comforting someone, and when it flows from the Holy Spirit of the Living God it will never be wrong. Where we often go astray is when we replace the Spirit of God with wishful thinking and positive thoughts. The key of course, for this and for all things, is to be walking in the Spirit of God and not to get ahead of Him. This is where we run into trouble. We feel the need to say something so we say the first positive thing that comes into our head. Yet, when we actually allow the Lord to go before us, then He becomes a cloud by day and a fire by night. Let Him ever go before us.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, 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 April 10, 2020
The darkest moment in history can be found in Matt 27:45-46. We are told that from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. Jesus was not unaffected by this. In fact towards the very end of this supernatural darkness, when hell seemed to rule over the earth and all seemed lost as our precious Lord and Saviour is dying on the Cross, from the very depths of His soul, and oh the depths there was He cries “My God , My God, why has thou forsaken me.” Ponder that just for a moment…………Hell seems to be victorious. All seems lost. Every saint I believe will go through something of that in their lives at some point. And every saint that is called to be the generation that is alive at the coming of Jesus will experience the gross darkness of hell and seeming defeat.
In Exodus 10:21 we are told that the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. Imagine that brothers and sisters, a darkness that can be felt. A darkness that touches you to the depths of your very soul, so much so that it can be “felt.” Imagine living through that. Yet in the very depths of such a darkness we read in verse 23 that they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. So dark that they could not see one another, for three days, symbolic of the three hours of gross darkness on the cross, yet, praise the Lord God in heaven the children of Israel had “light in their dwellings.”
Jesus is the light in our darkness. We are His dwelling place and His light in us is the light to the world in the midst of gross darkness. We hold this light, we hold this treasure in broken vessels. He was broken for us on the cross so that we may have light in the darkness. Before that scene is over He cries out in Luke 23:46 Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Now brothers and sisters we are told that He cried this out with a loud voice. With a loud voice and a cry from the same depths of His soul he commits everything to His Father.
Have you ever cried out to God from the depths of your soul? I believe every genuine saint has and will. When we are surrounded by gross darkness, even a darkness that can be felt then the light that shines from the depths of our dwelling, this tent in which we dwell, shall be seen by a lost and dying world which is literally drowning in darkness. We hold out hope to them for we ourselves have been plucked from the ravages of such gross darkness. The key to our lives and the delivery from such darkness is to shout out loud to our Father in heaven that we commit our hearts and our minds and our souls and our very spirit to Him. And from the midst of that commitment, light penetrates and overcomes the darkness.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 10, 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.
Brothers and sisters, are you ready to wash your robes and make them white by the blood of the Lamb? How shall we overcome the wicked one? 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.” The devil has a short time left. The Son of man, the Bridegroom is coming back shortly for His bride and the devil knows it. This is why a worldwide persecution of the saints is coming upon us soon.
Yet the devil is going to run head-long into a people prepared by the Lord through many trials and afflictions, refined by many fires, having been brought through many deserts. They are shining bright and they love not their lives unto death. Imagine an army of saints who would rather die than give one inch to the devil. They will reflect, in the very midst of the great tribulation, the glory of God in every nation. Out of every tribe and every tongue and every peoples God has called His remnant so that in martyrdom they will be a witness to every single person on the planet of God’s glory.
In this sense, God’s glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea in the very midst of judgement. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14) How many of us know that when the sea moves it moves with incredible power? The waves rise higher and higher as the wind blows stronger and stronger. Can you see it saints? Can you see walls of incredible water rise up like the glory of God rising as the winds of the Holy Spirit roars. One can only look on in awe, nothing can stop these waves.This is our calling. We were born for such a time as this.
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Posted by appolus on April 8, 2020
I feel in my spirit that there has been a monumental shift in the world. I do not believe this virus will draw the world closer to God. Perhaps some individuals scattered across the planet will, but society has shifted in ways that we have never seen before. The Holy Spirit continually lays upon my heart that we have entered into the days of Romans one. In Romans one verse 18 it says something very profound, it says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Now, to the ancient world, this truth revealed was his eternal power and Godhead. They knew of this, they were all decendants of Noah. At some point they had exchanged the glory of the uncorruptible God for that of creatures and trees and things that demanded nothing of them. They created gods that would serve them rather them serving the living God.
Now when Romans one is applied to us in the modern age, we who have known the truth of God through His word and through His disciples and through the Holy Spirit, those who now hold that truth in unrighteousness are so much more guilty. We are more guilty that the ancient world. God Himself came and walked this earth and walked among men and gave to those men and those who would follow Him the Holy Spirit of the Living God. In every generation since then we have been the visible conscience of mankind. And in very generation God’s people were killed all the day the long as men reacted violently against the truth revealed by a Holy God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This generation that is now alive, for the most part are doing everything they can to shut the mouths of the saints. Dare to stand up and speak of the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and see what happens. Dare to speak about the life-styles of people that run counter to and in direct violation of Gods word and see what happens. The truth tellers have for the most part been silenced. In this situation we find ourselves in today, with the virus that has literally shut down the whole world, is society humbled and crying out to God? I wish to God that they were. No, the story of this virus is doctors and nurses and scientists and world organisations. Not God.
We have very recent history of what happens when God is thrown of by men in favor of science. Starting with science and Darwin, then eugenics and great leaps forward in knowledge, we see a country like Germany totally embrace this and plunge headlong into the abyss on a wave of pride. When men become so proud of their own achievements and are so puffed up with their own abilities and throw of God, then hell is loosed. Can I tell you, I believe even as we speak hell is being loosed. The pride of man is the key to the gates of hell.
We see the very fundamentals of God’s creation challenged. God created man and woman. Science says no. Science says it is fluid and you can choose. God said that He made the heavens and the earth, He created it all. Science says no. It gives us various theories but what it is very certain of is that God did not create everything that exists. God created the union of a man and a woman and the world, including science says no. Science and medicine, even in the midst of this pandemic, continue with the killing of babies in the womb. God says it is an abomination, science and medicine and the world say it is merely a choice of woman and in fact, they say it is morally right.
Now, all around the world, not only do they teach these things among others, they teach it to the children. There is a generation of children around the world being raised in direct rebellion against God. Our wickedness has risen to the heights of heaven. How then shall we respond to those who hold the truth in unrighteousness? We must hold up, high, the truth in righteousness. This is the calling of the saints who find themselves in a Romans one world. It is no mistake that Paul is writing this to the Romans. To those who dwelt in the very seat of power on the earth. We saints in America are living in the modern day equivalent of ancient Rome.
Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. Now brothers and sisters, that is the whole Gospel, not just what the world would consider to be the palatable parts. The power of God resides with the unashamed. If you are ashamed of any part of the Gospel, if you are scared of the mocking or the ridicule or the undoubted labeling that comes when you stand for the truth, then you have no power. If you are ashamed of any part of the Gospel, any part of the truth, then Jesus will be ashamed of you before His Father in heaven.
The days are upon us when the world demands that you capitulate to them and to their sin. It is not a day when we live and let live, no the enemies of the Gospel demand that we bow down to their idols. They demand that we call that which is an abomination, holy. They demand that we send our children to be taught gross error. We will come through the pandemic but God will not have been petitioned. And so, like waves on a sea that is in the midst of a building storm, the next wave will come and it will be bigger and it will be stronger. Men will celebrate their “victory.” It will seem like peace has returned and “suddenly,’ the wrath of God will be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Christendom is very quiet and every day it grows more quiet. The enemy demands that we shut our mouths, he screams out threatenings and has growing power to destroy the lives of all those who stand against him. Shall we remain quiet saints? Shall we be ashamed of the Gospel, the full Gospel? If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.(1Pe 4:14) There is a Spirit of glory and of God that rests upon the one who is unashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God. The question is, do you really want to move in the glory and the power of God? Then it is time to stand and make your voice heard.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, prophecy, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on April 8, 2020
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
God has called His children out of darkness into His marvelous light, the light of freedom. Religion is the deadliest enemy of Gods freed children. It spies out their liberty and seeks, with much patience, to again enslave and control them. In these days God is releasing a generation to come forth and live in the freedom that He has called them too. The shackles of the old religious systems are being exposed and broken down.
It can be scary to begin to think for oneself and to walk into open fields of freedom having been so restrained for so long. So confined by that pew that you sit on, year after year nothing but a spectator. Brothers and sisters you were called into a royal Priesthood. He who the Son has set free is free indeed. Free to walk with Him, free to be taught by Him, free to hear Him, free to be directed by Him. Our call is a radical one and it is to Jesus and Jesus alone. This is where freedom begins.
Many years ago I was walking in the suburbs of Kansas where I live. Walking through a wealthy neighborhood I saw gardens with meticulously planted flowers. A lot of work had obviously went into them. They had a design and had undoubtedly been measured exactly, every flower planted the exact distance from each other. Each home-owner knew what they wanted and it had been achieved. There was a regimentation in these gardens and they certainly had some kind of beauty. Then I heard the Holy Spirit telling me to look across the street.
There was a large field. At the far end of the field was an open drainage system for water run-off and a large culvert. All around this area was full of wild flowers of all kinds. No hand had placed them where they were. They were wherever the wind had blown their seed. It was truly a magnificent sight and had a beauty that was unmatched by the little regimented soldiers all standing to attention, watching from across the street, now seemingly entrapped and longing to breathe free.
Brothers and sisters, where are you? Did the wind of the Spirit blow in your life? Did He lead and guide you to where you are now? To be where the Lord wants you to be and to be part of a garden that the Lord Himself planted is to have ridden the winds of the Holy Spirit. Can you just stand and let go? Can you let the updrafts of His presence and Spirit carry you? Can you breathe free today? It is your birthright and that freedom from a crushing religious system of control and man centered activity was wrought for you on the bloody battle field of Calvary. To live in anything less than that freedom is a tragedy.
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Posted by appolus on April 4, 2020
The word “Christian,” has become a real problem in our modern world, especially when it is used as a label rather than as a description of a living reality. C.S. Lewis proffered the notion that the word Christian was rendered meaningless a long time ago. The theory being that if everyone uses the title of Christian whether they are or not, then it empties the title of all meaning and what we end up with is religion rather than relationship. People who merely turn over a new leaf rather than being born again. These people are then constrained in their actions by the confines of the strictness of their own particular brand of religion. To complicate it further, it then becomes about degrees. So even within the broad realms of the religious world there is a vast degree of different levels of compliance, so some appear holy in comparison to others yet is is still just degrees and not the new birth.
In genuine Christianity there are no constraints. There is only love and reverence and respect. A love so deep that you would never want to disappoint the object of your love. That is relationship, everything else is religion no matter how shiny. Now there will be objections to the notion that there are no constraints to the genuine saint, yet those objections would be unfounded because within the confines of love itself lies the answer to the question. Love is the motivator of everything that we do, and when we mess up, when we sin, love is the answer to the problem. It is love that draws us before the throne of grace, it compels us to come and confess and repent and be reconciled. For who would ever want to be separated from the grand love of their lives.
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Posted by appolus on April 3, 2020
Hab 2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
There is a great multitude today who are desperately hungry and thirsty. All over the world the people dwell in great darkness and the darkness increases every day. Hell has opened up its vaults and is beginning to spew forth its contents with increasing speed and urgency because it knows its time is short. There is a desperate darkness coming and it is coming at us with alarming speed. Yet just as in the time of Noah, the world is ignorant of the impending disaster about to befall it.
Like the children of Israel when Jesus says “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!” Jesus wept because He knew that less than forty years after His death and resurrection that the whole system would come tumbling down. The Temple would be destroyed and the Israelite’s would be no more as a nation and they had absolutely no idea.
In those days, it was unimaginable that their Temple, their country, their way of life would be swept away and that they would be scattered to the four corners of the world. It is equally unimaginable to so many that the church system as we know it today, will be completely consumed by Babylon and turn on God’s remnant children. Yet brothers and sisters, that is exactly what is coming as this great Babylonian whore church evolves and worships the anti-Christ. And despite all this, God’s children will shine brightly in the darkest days the world has ever known. Full of the Holy Spirit and walking in the presence of God.
A blood bought remnant people whose desperate desire is to follow Him to Calvary and beyond. Their eyes will see the Glory of the Living God cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This persecution upon the saints will rend the heavens and the glory of God will fall upon them. Because this persecution will be worldwide therefore the glory that falls will fall all over the world and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. Jesus will be manifested to the world. It will be clear to the world what they are rejecting and then He shall appear. Oh for the day of His appearance when every eye shall see Him and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God.
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 | 8 Comments »
Posted by appolus on April 1, 2020
Heb 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place.
For anyone who has experienced the presence of God everything else will inevitably fall short. In many ways it is a double edged sword. It’s not good enough to stand outside the door, it’s not good enough to remain in the courtyard, one must enter in. And the only way to enter in is to pass through the altar, the brazen alter. What will we bring as a sacrifice? How will we humble ourselves? What state are we in? Are we able to look at ourselves?
The only way we can humble ourselves is to be like David. When the prophet identified David as the man who was guilty, he was broken and contrite. He knew that against God alone he had sinned, it started there. He may have committed adultery and murder but his real crime was against God. And so the sin has first to be identified and after that it must be recognized and then it must cause a realization in the depths of our heart that we have fallen from grace.
If the Galatians had fallen from grace in that they sought to complete the work that was begun by the Spirit by the works of the flesh, then are we not today fallen from grace if Christ is no longer the preeminent one in our lives and in our gatherings? How would those who had went down a wrong road find themselves once again on the right road? They would have to repent, do a 180 and go back to the fork in the road. Could the Lord ever justify continuing down the wrong road? This is not only true in our personal life, but also in our corporate settings.
The Holy place is the Holy place. God is God and He never changes. He must be worshiped in Spirit and in truth. In truth, not just in Spirit, but in truth. Outside of truth there is no Spirit. Without truth there can only be religion, that is true personally and corporately. Oh foolish Christendom. Where is Jesus Christ our Lord? Can you complete that which was begun in the Spirit when you walk in the flesh? Can routine and liturgy and programs, the traditions of men complete you? Would you not exchange all of that for just one moment in His presence? One moment behind the curtain? Today is the day to turn away from whatever keeps us from entering in to His presence. No golden calf is worth the price of standing outside in the courtyard and not behind the veil in the Holy place before His throne.
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 Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on March 31, 2020
What is a corona? If we are talking about astronomy, then it is the rarefied gas that surrounds the sun, in other words it is the “glow,” from the sun. Interestingly you can only see it when there is a total eclipse. When the moon completely blocks out the sun, we can then see the glow from the sun without being blinded. In effect, it is the glory of the sun that we can see when the world is plunged into darkness by a total eclipse. If we are talking about anatomy then the corona is the part of the body that resembles a crown.
A virus that shuts down the whole world and it is called Corona? Rather than the sun being hidden so that we can see its “glory,” we now have the world as we know it taken away so that we can see what? The true nature of why we were created that can only be seen when the whole world stops? The life that you led last week before the world stopped, was that really life, was that really living? Can you now see what you could not see before? Do you see your children? Do you see your wife? Do you see their smiles and their needs? Can you now see the glory of God and all that He has created? Your purpose in life was not to get up every day and go to work and everything revolve around that like the planets revolve around the sun.
Can you see that it was a lie, an illusion. “I am doing it for my family.” It is the most common refrain as to why we spend so much time apart from that very family. The rat race. The illusion of a life created that actually replaces the life that was intended. An alternative world. The greatest illusion of them all? A life apart from God. God not being the center of your universe. Somehow He has to be blotted out for you to actually see a glimpse of Hos glory and what is truly important. If you waste this present isolation then that would be tragedy of monumental proportions. Soon enough the world will begin to turn again. What will you do? Business s usual? What a waste that would be. In the shadow of this present darkness, this eclipse of the world we know, many are dying alone. Life is for the living. We work to live, it is merely a means to put bread on the table and a roof over our heads. So many live to work.
Perhaps the world has not been turned upside down, perhaps we have been turned the right way up? Let us look at what lies behind the corona, the center of the universe, the Son of the living God and His glory. Let us take this opportunity and discover who He His and what He really wants from us? He wants to know us and He calls us, He reaches out to His creation, He reminds us who we are and why we were even created. To walk with Him in the cool of the day. As so many children right now are getting an opportunity to really hold their fathers hand and have him present, then we too have an opportunity to hold our Father’s hand and know that this is why we are here at all.
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Posted by appolus on March 30, 2020
A higher view of God. Before all the churches shut down, do you think that the vast majority of them had a high view of the Living God? Do you believe that in the vast majority of our assemblies that the God of Isaiah and the God of Ezekiel and the God of John the revelator was being worshiped? Did we consider His majesty? Did we consider the goodness and the severity of God? Was the God who did not spare His Son, who saw His Son crushed and broken in body and tortured and killed, worshiped? Did we only worship the goodness of God, did we even worship the goodness of God. Was a lot of it routine? Is there anything routine about God and His presence? Does the hand of the sovereign God rule and reign?
Is it actually possible to come into the presence of God without trembling? Have you read of many encounters in the Scriptures where men encountered God or the angel of the Lord and not fallen flat on their faces? To encounter glory, to have the high view, to see Him high and lifted up. To see His magnificence, to weep openly in the presence of such beauty and such purity, was there anything like this in your last visit to church before all the churches of the world were shut down. For just one single moment, do you suppose that might have something to do with our present position? Most of us now have the time to ponder on that. Can I ask you, can you go back, will you go back to business as usual? Oh Lord help us for what comes after this if we simply go back to business as usual. I tell you brothers and sisters, we are going to need to know Him in the fashion that I have described above if we are to stand in a world hurtling towards the ultimate encounter with the Lord our God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on March 30, 2020
2Ch 5:14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
The world has such a low view of God. Some kindly grandfather? A benevolent Santa Claus? A buddy? Of course He is none of these things. For the most part Christendom also has a low view of God. Can I ask you a genuine question? The last time you went to church, were you actually expecting to encounter the Living God? I am not talking about singing loud and jumping up and down. I am not talking about being really interested in a sermon and taking notes. I am talking about meeting God almighty.
The God that is high and lifted up and the train of His robe fills the temple. The God that is majestic in holiness. The God that is full of awe and marvelous. The God that is so overwhelming that He floods our spirits with His glory and those around His throne can only cry out Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Is that what you were expecting? If not why not? Unless the people have an encounter with such a God, they will continue to have a low view of Him and worship some weak anemic cultural god of their own making.
What cannot be learned by a thousand excellent sermons can be learned in the genuine presence of God. Just one moment in His presence is better than a thousand elsewhere. If all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.” (1 Cor 14 24-25)
The church in the west is starving to death and they are dying of thirst. The tragedy is, that for the most part, the majority that are called after His name do not even know that they are in the midst of a famine and a drought. I thank God for His remnant people who do know. Who agonize over the state of the church. Who cry out to God and who want nothing less than for the multitude of people to experience the majesty and the glory and the anguish and the joy of falling down before the throne. Who desire all men to be ruined for this life and to walk with the grand obsession of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is coming a time, and we may be there already, when God is calling His people, His remnant people who have experienced the presence of God, to rise up and testify to it. To testify of what they know of Him. Of how they come into the presence of a Holy and majestic God. Of how it ruins them and changes them. Of how they tremble before the throne of the almighty God.
This is what the people are starved of, this is what they are dying from. There is a famine of the Word of God in the land, not the Word preached, but the Word preached with the power and the presence of God. The crisis of the age is a lack of God’s empowering presence in our assemblies. May the glory of the Lord fill His house.
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Posted by appolus on March 27, 2020
A sieve is an apparatus that allows the finer particles through while trapping the courser elements. The process is known as sifting. In Isaiah 30:28 the prophet describes God in this way “His breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity.” This sieve is designed to catch and separate vanity-the proud. The sieve requires shaking in order to find what it wants to reject and to let pass through what is desirable. His breath is like a raging river which reaches up to the neck. Imagine that. In a flash flood it only takes six inches of water to knock a man off of his feet, yet here we see the raging river of the breath of God reaching up to the neck. Who can stand when the Lord moves? Only those who stand upon the Rock.
What particular pride are we seeing here referred to by Isaiah? In the previous verse, verse 27 it says that: Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. The name of the Lord had been blasphemed against by Rabshakeh, the Assyrian general. He likened the one true God to every other god whom had fallen before them. Now that name, the name he took in vain, has come and He would be like a devouring fire who would overthrow their pride and they would be helpless in the midst of it all.
The world has mocked the one true God. They want nothing to do with Him and in their vanity they ridicule Him. They have systematically violated His word. He says that Homosexuality is an abomination, they say that no, in fact this is merely an expression of Gods creation. He says that He made man and women, they say no, there are many genders and you can be anything you like. He said that those who pass their children through the fire are an abomination, they say,no, it is a moral right to be able to kill your unwanted children. He says that He is the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by Him. They say that there is no heaven and if there is there are multiple ways to get there. He says that the name of Jesus is high and lifted up, they use that name as a curse. He says suffer the little children to come unto me and woe to them who hurt them. they indoctrinate these children from the early age in defiant rebellion against the one true living God.
God also sifts those who are called by His name and there are multiple siftings. Fire and storm is a form of sifting. As the heat intensifies, many called by His name fall away. As the world makes ever greater demands for compromise, many more fall away. As the cost begins to rise for bearing the name of Jesus, more fall away. As Jesus reveals that His people must suffer, more fall. As He removes all of the trappings of religion, again the chaff blows away in the wind. God will have a refined people when He returns for His own. He will come back for a pure and spotless Bride. Brothers and sisters, we live in the midst of such days. We are called to withstand in the evil day, meaning to resist, stand against, and having done all, cloaked in the armor of God, to stand and not fall.
Stand against who or what? Principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but rather the spiritual reality of what lies behind flesh and blood. The battle takes place in heavenly places. It requires violent men in terms of the spirit. Men and women who can resist, and who will resist and who are covered by the Blood of the Lamb, have the word of their testimony and who love not their lives unto death. This is the few and our enemy is the spiritual reality behind the many. Remember brothers and sisters, greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.
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Posted by appolus on March 26, 2020
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
As I prayed this morning the Lord laid the above Scripture on my heart. The Holy Spirit spoke to me. From the moment we are born our life is the valley and death is the shade. As we walk through the valley, death is rendered to but a mere shadow to the saints. What is a shadow? What substance does it have? Is it the real thing or is it but a trick of the light? Death itself has lost its sting, where oh grave is your victory? And how could this be? “For thou art with me.” His presence destroys the power of sin and death and renders it to but a mere shadow. We often say that a man is a mere shadow of his former self. This is what it means when we speak of death for those who walk in the presence of God, for those who can say ” for thou art with me.” Can you say that?
Moses refused to go on in the desert unless the Lord was with him. The Lord said to Moses that He would do this thing because he had found grace in His sight and that He knew him by name. Brothers and sisters, our names are written in the Lambs book of life. We who know Him know Him by grace, through faith. We found grace in His sight, glory to God. Paul counted all of his trials and his impending death as mere rubbish, because? He was found in Him. Paul could go on in a perilous and persecuted journey because death was but a shadow. What creates a shadow? Light. We who stand in the light of Christ have rendered death to but a mere shadow of its former self. This is why we can walk through the valley. This is why we look not to this world but to the next. For thou art with me oh Lord through every valley. Every trial, every tribulation even death itself is but the means that draws us ever closer to the one who is with us.
We are more than conquerors in Him. When we suffer with Him we shall be glorified together. This is when all things work together for good to those whom He walks with who are called according to His purpose. What shall separate us from the love of Jesus? Trial or tribulation? Persecution or nakedness? famine or even the sword? For His sake we are killed all the day long, like sheep for the slaughter. Shall a virus or any pestilence or even death itself separate us from the one who is with us? No, nothing can, quite the opposite, it compels us to press on in. Saint, no matter what you are facing today, press on in to the One who is with You. He will see you through the fire. He will hold you in the flood. No matter how fierce the fire or how deep the flood, nothing can separate us from the Love of God which is in Jesus our Lord. –
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Posted by appolus on March 23, 2020
Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Jesus speaks of two kinds of houses in Mathew chapter 7:24-27. One is built upon the Rock and the other has no foundation. When the storm comes, when the flood rises and the winds blow with hurricane force,come dawns early ligth the house on the Rock still stands . The house without a foundation is swept away. Now consider this, the first word in Matt 7:24 is “wherefore.” The word wherefore means the answer or the explanation to a statement given. What was the statement Jesus had just made? In verses 21-23 Jesus says that not all who call Him Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, only those who do the will of my Father. So He will say to them “I never knew you, depart from me you who work iniquity.” He is talking to people who cast out demons and did many wonderful works in His name.
The test saint, is not the works that we do nor even the miracles that we are associated with. No, the test saints is how we stand or if we stand in the storm. It’s the storm that does the work. Who will praise Him in the storm? Who will do the will of the Father in the midst of the storm? To weather the storm with joy, with perseverance and with endurance is to prove which ground we stand upon. For those who stand upon the Rock, they shall not run from the storm, they shall not hide from the storm they shall stand tall in the midst of the storm in the might and the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is a huge storm raging around the world. It is the first of many such storms to come. The world will get over one storm and the next will quickly come. Yet those whose feet are planted on the Rock shall never be moved. They shall be able to enter into His presence, they shall go deeper into His heart, they shall stand upon the Word of God and the light of heaven shall shine through them like a beacon to a dark world. The Lord says that His kingdom is not of this world. We are part of His Kingdom and we do not belong to this world, we are merely passing through. We walk in the Spirit along the narrow way and He ever goes before us. Let not your hearts be troubled but rather rejoice. The praise of the saints from the depths of the dungeon is of so much greater value than those who praise His only from the mountaintops. A man can praise Jesus in the midst of good circumstances, it takes no foundation to do that. Only a saint standing on the solid Rock of Christ Himself can praise the Lord from the dungeon. What lies beneath your feet?
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A Call To The Remnant 