REAL HELP

Posted on September 17, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Psalms – Prayers of Honesty
 
Psalm 3 sleepSometimes we run for our lives from dealing with perplexing problems in serious encounters of living this life. Sometimes we try everything to avoid it or deny it is even happening. When we finally face it and realize it’s too big for us to handle, we cry out. Humans typically cry out to family first because they are right there in your home. When that does not satisfy, we might cry out to our coworkers in frustration hoping they will console us, sympathize with us, “be our our side” and help us get through it. We see them every day, why not?
 
When our family and coworkers don’t help we turn to close friends we trust, friends at church, or friends of the family. If they go to church, they should be of help, right? When we finally come to the end of our rope of connections, we cry out to God…Who has been waiting for us, mercifully ready to listen. We tell our God who created the world and everything in it our problem. When we are really distraught we even tell Him how to fix it. (Just being honest.)
 
David is hemmed in from all sides from Absalom, his own son who wants to kill him. David prays a very passionate prayer for help…like we would if we were in his situation. Then he honestly tells God what he would like for Him to do to his enemy. Life is rough and David wants God to know that.
 
Psalm 3 from the mountainPsalm 3, The Message
A David Psalm, When He Escaped for His Life from Absalom, His Son
 
1-2 God! Look! Enemies past counting!
Enemies sprouting like mushrooms,
Mobs of them all around me, roaring their mockery:
“Hah! No help for him from God!”
 
3-4 But you, God, shield me on all sides;
You ground my feet, you lift my head high;
With all my might I shout up to God,
His answers thunder from the holy mountain.
 
5-6 I stretch myself out. I sleep.
Then I’m up again—rested, tall and steady,
Fearless before the enemy mobs
Coming at me from all sides.
 
7 Up, God! My God, help me!
Slap their faces,
First this cheek, then the other,
Your fist hard in their teeth!
 
8 Real help comes from God.
Your blessing clothes your people!
 
 
SOMETHING TO CHEW…
 
Talking out our problems with God, honestly, helps to to be at peace, grow in maturity, gain perspective, and see things more that way God sees life. God will help us work through it. God will work in us as we work through it. God will even provide the rest and peace we need for our health. He will also build our strength to fearlessly face whatever comes in this journey called life here.
Psalm 3 chambersHEART CHECK…
How honest is my heart when I talk with God about those around me who hurt me or battles with circumstances that I cannot handle? How honest am I when I tell him what went wrong as I describe the circumstances? Do I tell our God of the universe what to do?
 
God knows our situations. God knows the hearts of those who hurt us. God knows our hearts. God knows the outcomes. God knows. So, keep it honest, but then listen to God’s response and obey.
 
Cry out to God first, it saves a lot of precious time.
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
There are things that are disturbing here at times. But to know that You know already brings peace in the middle of it all. Please send real help that only You can provide. We trust in You for all that we need. We want what you want. Clothe us with your blessings so that we are blessings back to you.
In Jesus Name, Amen
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MAKE A RUN FOR GOD!

Posted on September 16, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Psalms – Prayers of Honesty
 
Psalm 2
 
1-6 Why the big noise, nations?
Why the mean plots, peoples?
Earth-leaders push for position,
Demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks,
The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers:
“Let’s get free of God!
Cast loose from Messiah!”
Heaven-throned God breaks out laughing.
At first he’s amused at their presumption;
Then he gets good and angry.
Furiously, he shuts them up:
“Don’t you know there’s a King in Zion? A coronation banquet
Is spread for him on the holy summit.”
 
7-9 Let me tell you what God said next.
He said, “You’re my son,
And today is your birthday.
What do you want? Name it:
Nations as a present? continents as a prize?
You can command them all to dance for you,
Or throw them out with tomorrow’s trash.”
 
10-12 So, rebel-kings, use your heads;
Upstart-judges, learn your lesson:
Worship God in adoring embrace,
Celebrate in trembling awe. Kiss Messiah!
Your very lives are in danger, you know;
His anger is about to explode,
But if you make a run for God—you won’t regret it!
 
Something to Chew…
 
God is God and we are not. No one on earth is like God. Only God is God, was God and will be God. God is unchanging though our world changes continuously. Many leaders will rise and fall. Nations will rise and fall in man assumed power. But One remains in control, unchanging in His desire to be with us, love us, and commune with us.
 
Nations of people try to push God out of all that is created by their own hands. God laughs at those tiny puffs of supposed power. “Let’s get free of God!”, they scream. Satan is after a whole generation who will not know the Name of Jesus Christ, but God laughs and gives His One and Only Son power and authority over all.
 
A healthy fear of God is sincere honesty with humility before God, knowing He is God and willing to follow Him. When the world seems on the attack, RUN, don’t walk for God, our protector, guide, and lover of our very soul. No one is like our God. No regrets in saying yes to God!
 
Psalm 2 trust in GodHeart Check
 
What evidence of rebellion against God do we see in international events? In national events? In local events? In the lives of our coworkers? How can we help reconcile at least one person to Christ?
 
What do we learn from this psalm about God’s sovereignty? How does knowing God is sovereign, help us face life’s challenges?
 
Prayer of Honesty
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
We laugh with you at those who think they are in control of life’s challenges with only human conjured power. But our heart also breaks with You when others just wander around without You. Help us to always point the wanderers to You. You are God and we are not. We run to You with all that is in us.
In Jesus Name, Amen
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Yahweh

Posted on September 15, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Psalms of Gut Wrenching Honesty
 
Eugene Peterson’s heart for people stirred him to paraphrase the Psalms into a contemporary language. He writes, “As a pastor I was charged with, among other things, teaching people to pray, helping them to give voice to the entire experience of being human, and to do it both honestly and thoroughly. I found that is was not as easy as I expected. Getting started is easy enough. The impulse to pray is deep within us, at the very center of our created being, and so practically anything will do to get us started–“Help” and “Thanks!” are our basic prayers. But honesty and thoroughness don’t come quite as spontaneously.”
 
“Faced with the prospect of conversation with a holy God who speaks worlds into being, it is not surprising that we have trouble. We feel awkward and out of place: ‘I’m not good enough for this. I’ll wait until I clean up my act and prove that I am a decent person.’ Or we excuse ourselves on the grounds that our vocabulary is inadequate: ‘Give me a few months–or years!–to practice prayers that are polished enough for such a sacred meeting. Then I won’t feel so stuttery and ill at ease.'”
 
“My usual response when presented with these difficulties is to put the Psalms in a person’s hand and say, ‘Go home and pray these. You’ve got wrong ideas about prayer; the praying you find in these Psalms will dispel the wrong ideas and introduce you to the real thing.’ A common response of those who do what I ask is surprise–they don’t expect this kind of thing in the Bible. And then I express surprise at their surprise: ‘Did you think these would be the prayers of NICE people? Did you think the psalmists’ language would be polished and polite?'”
 
“Untutored, we tend to think that prayer is what good people do when they are doing their best. It is not. Inexperienced, we suppose that there must be an ‘insider’ language that must be acquired before God takes us seriously in our prayer. There is not. Prayer is elemental, not advanced language. It is the means by which our language becomes honest, true, and personal in response to God. It is the means by which we get everything in our lives out in the open before God.”
 
“But even with the Psalms in their hands and my pastoral encouragement, people often tell me that they still don’t get it. In English translation, the Psalms often sound smooth and polished, sonorous with Elizabethan rhythms and diction. As literature, they are beyond compare. But as PRAYER, as the utterances of men and women passionate for God in moments of anger and praise and lament, these translations miss something. Grammatically, they are accurate. The scholarship under-girding the translations is superb and devout. But as prayers, that are not quite right. The Psalms in Hebrew are earthy and rough. They are not genteel. They are not the prayers of nice people, couched in cultural language.”
 
“And so in my pastoral work of teaching people to pray, I started paraphrasing the Psalms into the rhythms and idiom of contemporary English. I wanted to provide men and women access to the immense range and the terrific energies of prayer in the kind of language that is most immediate to them, which also happens to be the language in which these psalm prayers were first expressed and written by David and his successors.”
 
“I continue to want to do that, convinced that only as we develop raw honesty and detailed thoroughness in our praying do we become whole, truly human in Jesus Christs, who also prayed the Psalms.”
 
Psalm 1 mugI’ve met Eugene Peterson and heard him speak. This work comes from the heart of a caring pastor. The Psalms is where The Message paraphrasing began…with teaching his congregation to pray honestly. God’s work, through Peterson, a humble man of God, with first the Psalms grew rapidly and exponentially to people seeking God all over the world. Peterson then tenaciously worked through the entire Bible, first with the New Testament and then, book by book paraphrasing the Old Testament into the language of the day. This is why I use The Message in my own devotions and writing of Daily Manna with Your Mug so extensively over the past year. I want to understand more. I want others to know God more, too. I want us to learn to communicate honestly with God.
 
NOTE: “As we go through, Psalm by Psalm, we will discover that Peterson uses the term Yahweh for God. Here is why: “Unlike most (but not all) English translations, this version uses the distinctively personal name for God that was revealed to Moses at the burning bush as ‘Yahweh’ (Exodus 3:13-14). Christian translators have commonly followed the later Jewish practice of substituting ‘LORD” or “Jehovah” for the unique name. The reasons for the Jewish practice is reverence (our lips are not worthy to speak The Name) and caution (lest we inadvertently say God’s name ‘in vain’ and blaspheme). In the Christian context in which ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,’ this no longer seems to me appropriate, and so I have returned to using the original Hebrew, ‘Yahweh'”. –Eugene Peterson
 
And we’re off!
 
Psalm 1 two roadsPsalms 1, The Message
 
1 How well God must like you—
you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon,
you don’t slink along Dead-End Road,
you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.
 
2-3 Instead you thrill to God’s Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
 
4-5 You’re not at all like the wicked,
who are mere windblown dust—
Without defense in court,
unfit company for innocent people.
 
6 God charts the road you take.
The road they take is Skid Row.
 
Something to chew on….
 
We read about two ways–the way of blessing and the way of judgment–which was the choice Israel had to make (Deut. 30:15, 19). Jesus used a similar image (Matt. 7:13-14). Bible history seems to be built around the concept of “two men”: the “first Adam” and the “last Adam” (Rom. 5; 1 Cor. 15:45)–Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, David and Saul–and Bible history culminates in Christ and Antichrist. Two men, two ways, two destinies.
 
Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm and focuses on God’s Word, God’s blessing on those who obey it and meditate on it, and God’s ultimate judgment on those who rebel.
 
Heart Check…
 
Where is my focus right now?
Where am I planted?
What do I think about most often?
What is my heart cry…honestly?
Two ways…which road am I on?
 
Psalm 1 tree by waterPrayer of honesty….
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
May our hearts be filled with gratitude, gut wrenching honesty, repentance and praise with a heart to listen. It is all about You first, Lord. We must make and choice and stick with You. We come in raw, sincere honesty before You, along with the men who first prayed these prayers. Bring our focus keenly sharpened on You! Yahweh, This is the cry of our hearts!
In Jesus Name, Amen
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TELL THEM, “I’M ON MY WAY!”

Posted on September 13, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
 
We all know how it feels to wait on something special. We know how it feels to wait on people we love and anxious to see. When we’re waiting on family members to celebrate Christmas or any other holiday it’s always reassuring to get that phone call from them telling us, “We’re on our way!” That gives our minds peace in knowing they are indeed coming and will be there shortly.
 
Revelation 22 coming soonIn our last passage of the revelation of Jesus Christ and His coming we find the same “call” is made to John (and us). However, commands from Jesus and his messenger angel accompany the “call” so we will know what to do, in the wait on the Coming of Jesus Christ.
 
Tell them, “Yes, I’m on my way.” –Jesus
 
“Worship God!”
(not me, for I am only a servant like you) –God’s angel
 
“Don’t seal the words of this book; don’t put it away on the shelf.” –God’s angel This could mean to keep it open, read it often, let it seep in and become a part of our being. The book is not be worshiped but lived out. We only worship God. –God’s messenger angel
 
“…let the righteous maintain a straight course and the holy continue on in holiness.” –God messenger angel
 
Revelation 22, The Message
 
1-5 Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they’ll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.
 
Don’t Put It Away on the Shelf
6-7 The Angel said to me, “These are dependable and accurate words, every one. The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them, ‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
 
8-9 I, John, saw all these things with my own eyes, heard them with my ears. Immediately when I heard and saw, I fell on my face to worship at the feet of the Angel who laid it all out before me. He objected, “No you don’t! I’m a servant just like you and your companions, the prophets, and all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
 
10-11 The Angel continued, “Don’t seal the words of the prophecy of this book; don’t put it away on the shelf. Time is just about up. Let evildoers do their worst and the dirty-minded go all out in pollution, but let the righteous maintain a straight course and the holy continue on in holiness.”
 
THE FINALE – COME!
 
12-13 “Yes, I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon! I’m bringing my payroll with me. I’ll pay all people in full for their life’s work. I’m A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion.
 
14-15 “How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the City. But outside for good are the filthy curs: sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters—all who love and live lies.
 
16 “I, Jesus, sent my Angel to testify to these things for the churches. I’m the Root and Branch of David, the Bright Morning Star.”
 
Revelation 22 last invite17 “Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride.
Whoever hears, echo, “Come!”
Is anyone thirsty? Come!
All who will, come and drink,
Drink freely of the Water of Life!
 
18-19 I give fair warning to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If you add to the words of this prophecy, God will add to your life the disasters written in this book; if you subtract from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will subtract your part from the Tree of Life and the Holy City that are written in this book.
 
20 He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!”
 
Revelation 22 Come Lord JesusYes! Come, Master Jesus!
 
21 The grace of the Master Jesus be with all of you. Oh, Yes!
 
 
SEE! Jesus IS Coming Back! The call we’ve been waiting for to reassure us has been made in this final chapter.
 
TELL others, He’s on His way!
LOVE on others like He loves us until He comes.
 
Revelation 22, come Jesus
COME, Master Jesus! We are waiting, living, growing, and being refined by you for the place you are preparing for us with anticipation and worship of You and You alone.
 
In Jesus Name, Amen. I believe.
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GOD MOVES US INTO HIS NEIGHBORHOOD!

Posted on September 12, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
 
John 1:14 The Message (MSG)
“The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.”
 
God sent a part of the Three-In-One, His Son, Jesus Christ to earth as a way for people to come back to Him. Jesus came to us as baby to a virgin named Mary. He grew in wisdom. He wiped tears from the faces of the brokenhearted, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind and made the lame walk. He came to the aid of those abused. His visit lasted only 33 years. He who was without sin became the Lamb of God who was sacrificed for our sin.
Jesus, who was God, “moved into the neighborhood” of mankind on God’s created earth. His purpose was to seek and save the lost without God and be the Savior (redeem us) and Lord (righteous guidance) of all who received and followed Him. Those who follow Him become brothers and sisters as children of God.
 
It is revealed to John that this will happen again! Only this time God moves us into HIS neighborhood to be with Him forever! “God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God.” THIS time we will go to Him! His neighborhood is without pain, suffering, tears from crying, all evil, no death and the mourning of death.
 
Revelation 21, The Message
Everything New
 
I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea.
 
2 I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.
 
Revelation 21 Gods neighborhood
3-5 I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new. Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”
 
6-8 Then he said, “It’s happened. I’m A to Z. I’m the Beginning, I’m the Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty. Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars—for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!”
 
Revelation 21 newThink about it…imagine it!
“He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good, tears gone, crying gone, pain gone–all the first order of things gone.”
 
“Look! I’m making everything new.”
 
If this isn’t enough to get us to find and follow Christ, then what is? But wait, there’s more! Read about WHERE we will live….the neighborhood is amazing…just like God!
 
The City of Light
9-12 One of the Seven Angels who had carried the bowls filled with the seven final disasters spoke to me: “Come here. I’ll show you the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb.” He took me away in the Spirit to an enormous, high mountain and showed me Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God, resplendent in the bright glory of God.
 
12-14 The City shimmered like a precious gem, light-filled, pulsing light. She had a wall majestic and high with twelve gates. At each gate stood an Angel, and on the gates were inscribed the names of the Twelve Tribes of the sons of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the west. The wall was set on twelve foundations, the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb inscribed on them.
 
15-21 The Angel speaking with me had a gold measuring stick to measure the City, its gates, and its wall. The City was laid out in a perfect square. He measured the City with the measuring stick: twelve thousand stadia, its length, width, and height all equal. Using the standard measure, the Angel measured the thickness of its wall: 144 cubits. The wall was jasper, the color of Glory, and the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. The foundations of the City walls were garnished with every precious gem imaginable: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate a single pearl.
 
21-27 The main street of the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. But there was no sign of a Temple, for the Lord God—the Sovereign-Strong—and the Lamb are the Temple. The City doesn’t need sun or moon for light. God’s Glory is its light, the Lamb its lamp! The nations will walk in its light and earth’s kings bring in their splendor. Its gates will never be shut by day, and there won’t be any night. They’ll bring the glory and honor of the nations into the City. Nothing dirty or defiled will get into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will get in.
 
Revelation 21 live with Christ**Our Lord, God and the Lamb, Jesus Christ is the Temple. There is no need of anything or anyone else. Evil cannot get in. We are safe forever in God’s witness protection paradise forever.
Be sure, be very sure your name is The Book.
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
What a day that will be, like the song ringing in my thoughts this morning. There are not many words to be added to this prose other than, Thank you. Thank you for saving my soul. Thank you for saving our souls. It is You we adore and worship. It’s all about You and only You. May our eyes stay tenaciously focused on the goal to move into your neighborhood some glorious day!
In Jesus Name, Amen
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FINAL HURL

Posted on September 11, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
 
Just when you think you have it all together, you forget where you put it. Right? Just when you think you have it under control, all your ducks in a row, something happens to disrupt it. “It” is called life. As children of God, life must be lived knowing God is always in control. To think that He is not is to live life walking on the edge of disaster with insecurities, anxious thoughts and troubled minds that lead to questionable and sometimes destructive actions.
 
No matter what happens in our small part of our world or to the world at large, GOD is in control. We may not and probably won’t understand it at the time, but He is in control. What others do to hurt us is not unseen by God. What we say and do to others is not unseen by God. God is in control. God knows. God knows before we know.
 
Revelation 20 its all about God
In our next passage of the revelation of Jesus Christ, we wonder why God would unleash Satan, the Beast, and his cronies when all seemed “under control”. But “Satan will be let loose from his cell, and will launch again his old work of deceiving the nations, searching out victims in every nook and cranny of earth…” Satan will begin one more war against God and his people. But, God is in control, leading Satan to his final, forever torture, “for ages without end.” We don’t have to know why. God knows.
 
Revelation 20, The Message
A Thousand Years
20 1-3 I saw an Angel descending out of Heaven. He carried the key to the Abyss and a chain—a huge chain. He grabbed the Dragon, that old Snake—the very Devil, Satan himself!—chained him up for a thousand years, dumped him into the Abyss, slammed it shut and sealed it tight. No more trouble out of him, deceiving the nations—until the thousand years are up. After that he has to be let loose briefly.
 
4-6 I saw thrones. Those put in charge of judgment sat on the thrones. I also saw the souls of those beheaded because of their witness to Jesus and the Word of God, who refused to worship either the Beast or his image, refused to take his mark on forehead or hand—they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years! The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were up. This is the first resurrection—and those involved most blessed, most holy. No second death for them! They’re priests of God and Christ; they’ll reign with him a thousand years.
 
7-10 When the thousand years are up, Satan will be let loose from his cell, and will launch again his old work of deceiving the nations, searching out victims in every nook and cranny of earth, even Gog and Magog! He’ll talk them into going to war and will gather a huge army, millions strong. They’ll stream across the earth, surround and lay siege to the camp of God’s holy people, the Beloved City. They’ll no sooner get there than fire will pour out of Heaven and burn them up. The Devil who deceived them will be hurled into Lake Fire and Brimstone, joining the Beast and False Prophet, the three in torment around the clock for ages without end.
 
Judgment
11-15 I saw a Great White Throne and the One Enthroned. Nothing could stand before or against the Presence, nothing in Heaven, nothing on earth. And then I saw all the dead, great and small, standing there—before the Throne! And books were opened. Then another book was opened: the Book of Life. The dead were judged by what was written in the books, by the way they had lived. Sea released its dead, Death and Hell turned in their dead. Each man and woman was judged by the way he or she had lived. Then Death and Hell were hurled into Lake Fire. This is the second death—Lake Fire. Anyone whose name was not found inscribed in the Book of Life was hurled into Lake Fire.
 
Revelation 20 controlWhat we read and do understand…
God was in control, is in control and will always be in control. God is our Creator. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord. So, repent of self control and let us humble ourselves before the Throne of His Presence. May we learn to live with flexible Spirits, moving with the flow and rhythm of His will no matter what is happening around us. Above all, may our names be written in the Book of Life as one who said yes to God and His Son, Jesus Christ!
 
Love God. Love Others like He loves us.
Don’t fall for Satan’s hate.
 
Revelation 20 book
If you do not know Christ as Savior, bow to Him now and ask for forgiveness for your sin with a humble heart ready to follow Him. Then your name will suddenly appear in the Book of Life. It’s promised. God does not lie.
 
I am an “out of control disciple” who believes God is in complete control of what is best for me.
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
We pray for humans who are troubled and anxious simply because we cannot seem to let go of what we think we can control. Help all of us to lay it all down at your feet. Help us to live life with wisdom, insight and understanding with flexible Spirits because of You living in us. Our eyes are keenly focused on You. Thank you for all You have done, are doing and will do.
In Jesus Name, Amen
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GOD

Posted on September 10, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
 
Life on earth brings trials, hurts, abuse, circumstances beyond our control, with situations too hard for us to comprehend much less handle and solve…on our own. We need help. We need a Savior. We need God.
 
Remember how it feels when that check comes in to pay off debt? Remember how it feels when someone you love is at the point of death then all of a sudden there is a miraculous turnaround and they respond to medication? Remember that moment when someone who was once full of hate is now full of love? Remember when you lost that job but found a better one later? Remember when a loved one you have spent years praying for their salvation finally repents and is saved by Jesus Christ and they begin to transform in and with God’s love?
 
What is our first response when God steps in? It depends on who is most important…ourselves, other people we admire or God. When life turns from bad to good, I literally shout Hallelujah! I sing a song of praise. So that’s why I am enjoying the beginning of our next passage of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Read and be blessed. Shout Hallelujah for all God has done, is doing and will do. It’s all about God! Here’s a peek…
 
Revelation 19, The Message
 
The Sound of Hallelujahs
19 1-3 I heard a sound like massed choirs in Heaven singing,
 
Revelation 19 hallelujahHallelujah!
The salvation and glory and power are God’s—
his judgments true, his judgments just.
He judged the great Whore
who corrupted the earth with her lust.
He avenged on her the blood of his servants.
 
Then, more singing:
 
Hallelujah!
The smoke from her burning billows up
to high Heaven forever and ever and ever.
 
4 The Twenty-four Elders and the Four Animals fell to their knees and worshiped God on his Throne, praising,
 
Amen! Yes! Hallelujah!
 
5 From the Throne came a shout, a command:
 
Praise our God, all you his servants,
All you who fear him, small and great!
 
6-8 Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, the sound of strong thunder:
 
Revelation 19 singHallelujah!
The Master reigns,
our God, the Sovereign-Strong!
Let us celebrate, let us rejoice,
let us give him the glory!
The Marriage of the Lamb has come;
his Wife has made herself ready.
She was given a bridal gown
of bright and shining linen.
The linen is the righteousness of the saints.
 
9 The Angel said to me, “Write this: ‘Blessed are those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.’” He added, “These are the true words of God!”
 
10 I fell at his feet to worship him, but he wouldn’t let me. “Don’t do that,” he said. “I’m a servant just like you, and like your brothers and sisters who hold to the witness of Jesus. The witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
 
A White Horse and Its Rider
11-16 Then I saw Heaven open wide—and oh! a white horse and its Rider. The Rider, named Faithful and True, judges and makes war in pure righteousness. His eyes are a blaze of fire, on his head many crowns. He has a Name inscribed that’s known only to himself. He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and he is addressed as “Word of God.” The armies of Heaven, mounted on white horses and dressed in dazzling white linen, follow him. A sharp sword comes out of his mouth so he can subdue the nations, then rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the raging wrath of God, the Sovereign-Strong. On his robe and thigh is written, King of kings, Lord of lords.
 
17-18 I saw an Angel standing in the sun, shouting to all flying birds in Middle-Heaven, “Come to the Great Supper of God! Feast on the flesh of kings and captains and champions, horses and their riders. Eat your fill of them all—free and slave, small and great!”
 
19-21 I saw the Beast and, assembled with him, earth’s kings and their armies, ready to make war against the One on the horse and his army. The Beast was taken, and with him, his puppet, the False Prophet, who used signs to dazzle and deceive those who had taken the mark of the Beast and worshiped his image. They were thrown alive, those two, into Lake Fire and Brimstone. The rest were killed by the sword of the One on the horse, the sword that comes from his mouth. All the birds held a feast on their flesh.
 
 
Think About GOD…excerpts from our passage…
–The salvation and glory and power are God’s
–God’s judgments are true and just
–God is the avenger
–God is the One and Only to be praised
–God is the reason for our Hallelujah’s
–God invites us to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb
–“These are the true words of God.”
–Jesus is the “Word of God”, KING of kings and LORD of Lords who fights for God, putting an end to the Beast and False Prophet and all who worship evil…forever.
 
It ALL about God…and not about us. God created us, loves us, abides with us and saves us.
 
Can I get an Amen and Hallelujah???
 
Revelation 19 praise to GodDear Heavenly Father,
This journey through your revelation is mind boggling at times but brings extreme joy and praise with hallelujahs to follow. You are God and we are not. We humbly submit to Your will, Your time, and Your solution to our circumstances. We repent of our selfishness and surrender to Your Son, Jesus. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. Prepare your church, your people, your Bride so we are appropriately dressed for the Wedding Supper. Hallelujah. All praise to You!
In Jesus Name, Amen
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ENOUGH!

Posted on September 9, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
 
When do we have enough? When are satisfied with what is? How far will we go to get what we think we need and want? When will it all stop being that important and of value to obtain?
 
Better question, perhaps, is what is so valuable in our eyes now that we cannot live without? Compare that to what God has in store for us. Now ask this question again. What is so valuable to me now? Will it have value to God? Will it raise His value of me to have and to hold it?
 
Humanity needs God. But many go after anything and everything but God to be satisfied and complete. There will be a time when all we think is valuable will be worthless and useless. There will be a time when the traffic of humans will be no more. There will be a time when God steps in and says, “ENOUGH!”
 
Before the Hallelujahs, God’s final judgement of sin provides an act of justice for all who believed and were martyrs for believing. This passage helps us see a glimpse of the final clean up of His Created world in which many of his created destroyed with their sin and selfishness. Those who believe are warned to get out of the way.
 
Revelation 18, The Message
Doom to the City of Darkness
18 1-8 Following this I saw another Angel descend from Heaven. His authority was immense, his glory flooded earth with brightness, his voice thunderous:
 
Revelation 18 babylonRuined, ruined, Great Babylon, ruined!
A ghost town for demons is all that’s left!
A garrison of carrion spirits,
garrison of loathsome, carrion birds.
All nations drank the wild wine of her whoring;
kings of the earth went whoring with her;
entrepreneurs made millions exploiting her.
 
Just then I heard another shout out of Heaven:
 
Get out, my people, as fast as you can,
so you don’t get mixed up in her sins,
so you don’t get caught in her doom.
Her sins stink to high Heaven;
God has remembered every evil she’s done.
Give her back what she’s given,
double what she’s doubled in her works,
double the recipe in the cup she mixed;
Bring her flaunting and wild ways
to torment and tears.
Because she gloated, “I’m queen over all,
and no widow, never a tear on my face,”
In one day, disasters will crush her—
death, heartbreak, and famine—
Then she’ll be burned by fire, because God,
the Strong God who judges her,
has had enough.
 
9-10 “The kings of the earth will see the smoke of her burning, and they’ll cry and carry on, the kings who went night after night to her brothel. They’ll keep their distance for fear they’ll get burned, and they’ll cry their lament:
 
Doom, doom, the great city doomed!
City of Babylon, strong city!
In one hour it’s over, your judgment come!
 
Revelation 18 depression11-17 “The traders will cry and carry on because the bottom dropped out of business, no more market for their goods: gold, silver, precious gems, pearls; fabrics of fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet; perfumed wood and vessels of ivory, precious woods, bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon and spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine and oil, flour and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots. And slaves—their terrible traffic in human lives.
 
Everything you’ve lived for, gone!
All delicate and delectable luxury, lost!
Not a scrap, not a thread to be found!
 
“The traders who made millions off her kept their distance for fear of getting burned, and cried and carried on all the more:
 
Doom, doom, the great city doomed!
Dressed in the latest fashions,
adorned with the finest jewels,
in one hour such wealth wiped out!
 
17-19 “All the ship captains and travelers by sea, sailors and toilers of the sea, stood off at a distance and cried their lament when they saw the smoke from her burning: ‘Oh, what a city! There was never a city like her!’ They threw dust on their heads and cried as if the world had come to an end:
 
Doom, doom, the great city doomed!
All who owned ships or did business by sea
Got rich on her getting and spending.
And now it’s over—wiped out in one hour!
 
20 “O Heaven, celebrate! And join in, saints, apostles, and prophets! God has judged her; every wrong you suffered from her has been judged.”
 
21-24 A strong Angel reached for a boulder—huge, like a millstone—and heaved it into the sea, saying,
 
Heaved and sunk, the great city Babylon,
sunk in the sea, not a sign of her ever again.
Silent the music of harpists and singers—
you’ll never hear flutes and trumpets again.
Artisans of every kind—gone;
you’ll never see their likes again.
The voice of a millstone grinding falls dumb;
you’ll never hear that sound again.
The light from lamps, never again;
never again laughter of bride and groom.
Her traders robbed the whole earth blind,
and by black-magic arts deceived the nations.
The only thing left of Babylon is blood—
the blood of saints and prophets,
the murdered and the martyred.
 
 
Think About It…
 
Who are what are we hanging onto so tightly, that is so valuable and worth giving all we have to get and keep it? Look around right now. What do we need most? If all is to be wiped away, what is left? WHO do we cling to? Who are we living for? Our honest and sincere answer is a matter of life and death.
 
“Everything you’ve lived for, gone!
All delicate and delectable luxury, lost!
Not a scrap, not a thread to be found!”
 
““O Heaven, celebrate! And join in, saints, apostles, and prophets! God has judged her; every wrong you suffered from her has been judged.”
 
“The only thing left of Babylon is blood—
the blood of saints and prophets,
the murdered and the martyred.”
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are God and we are not. We know and believe there will be a day when you will declare, ENOUGH! May we cling to You, abide in You and live for You reflecting Your glory. May we stayed focused and ready for the day when all the getting and obtaining is over and what remains is only You. I look forward to that day.
In Jesus Name, Amen
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DOES THIS SURPRISE YOU?

Posted on September 8, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
 
“How can life get much worse?” “Just how bad will things get?” “How much more sin and degradation will God tolerate?” “How much more can evil invent and dish out?” I have heard these statement and more with a similar theme. We see the horrible actions of humans to other humans in real life, not just in the imaginations of movie producers, and shake our heads in disgust and sickness. Our hearts are broken.
 
Revelation 17 surpriseDoes this surprise you? Sin, unrestrained, is on a rampage now and in the future. BUT, God will step in. Life will get worse before it gets better. We must not take up residence in the middle of the revelation of Jesus Christ’s return and final battle with our enemy. Who walks out in the middle of the movie?
 
While we walk through each passage of John’s vision of things to come, don’t let it surprise you. Today we are reminded to “Don’t drop your guard. Use your head.” Don’t let anything surprise us. No matter what happens, God is in control. Nothing in our lives or in lives to come passes His notice. God will bring justice as only He can provide.
 
We will be tempted in all kinds of ways to turn away from God and compromise our lives through disobedience and distractions. If do not use our heads and let down our guard sin will quickly present itself in all kinds of ways. It will begin in small ways at first and then our disobedience will escalate to sin that seems out of our control. Suddenly we will be controlled by others. We are captured and bound by our own sin and satan who led us there.
 
Does this surprise you?
 
Those who turn their focus and attention to evil “will be dazzled when they see the Beast that once was, is no longer, and is to come.” Does this surprise you?
 
What distracts us now from living God’s ways? What takes our focus off Him and onto things or people? Is our name in The Book of Life? It is if we have accepted, believe and follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. His salvation cannot be taken from us. Does this surprise us? It can if our focus is blocked by distractions.
 
“Don’t drop your guard. Use you head.” Need help?  Ask God for wisdom (skills for living life well with Him), and He will give it. He promised. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. He is God and we are not.
 
As we read the continuing saga of things to come, stay focused of WHO WAS, IS AND IS TO COME. It’s not over, yet.
 
Revelation 17, The Message
Great Babylon, Mother of Whores
 
1-2 One of the Seven Angels who carried the seven bowls came and invited me, “Come, I’ll show you the judgment of the great Whore who sits enthroned over many waters, the Whore with whom the kings of the earth have gone whoring, show you the judgment on earth dwellers drunk on her whorish lust.”
 
3-6 In the Spirit he carried me out in the desert. I saw a woman mounted on a Scarlet Beast. Stuffed with blasphemies, the Beast had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, festooned with gold and gems and pearls. She held a gold chalice in her hand, brimming with defiling obscenities, her foul fornications. A riddle-name was branded on her forehead: great babylon, mother of whores and abominations of the earth. I could see that the woman was drunk, drunk on the blood of God’s holy people, drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
 
Revelation 17, don't hide6-8 Astonished, I rubbed my eyes. I shook my head in wonder. The Angel said, “Does this surprise you? Let me tell you the riddle of the woman and the Beast she rides, the Beast with seven heads and ten horns. The Beast you saw once was, is no longer, and is about to ascend from the Abyss and head straight for Hell. Earth dwellers whose names weren’t written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will be dazzled when they see the Beast that once was, is no longer, and is to come.
 
9-11 “But don’t drop your guard. Use your head. The seven heads are seven hills; they are where the woman sits. They are also seven kings: five dead, one living, the other not yet here—and when he does come his time will be brief. The Beast that once was and is no longer is both an eighth and one of the seven—and headed for Hell.
 
12-14 “The ten horns you saw are ten kings, but they’re not yet in power. They will come to power with the Scarlet Beast, but won’t last long—a very brief reign. These kings will agree to turn over their power and authority to the Beast. They will go to war against the Lamb but the Lamb will defeat them, proof that he is Lord over all lords, King over all kings, and those with him will be the called, chosen, and faithful.”
 
15-18 The Angel continued, “The waters you saw on which the Whore was enthroned are peoples and crowds, nations and languages. And the ten horns you saw, together with the Beast, will turn on the Whore—they’ll hate her, violate her, strip her naked, rip her apart with their teeth, then set fire to her. It was God who put the idea in their heads to turn over their rule to the Beast until the words of God are completed. The woman you saw is the great city, tyrannizing the kings of the earth.”
 
Revelation 17 Jesus
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are God and we are not. You loved us first, you love us still. I love you with all my heart, mind and soul. We are assured that we will live with you forever. Lead us away from the temptations of following anyone but You or to be distracted by the events and people of our time. Show us Your will and your ways continually as we focus our eyes on you, ready to be and do all you intended for us as your people.
In Jesus Name, Amen
 
***IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER THE BOOK OF REVELATION IS A REVELATION OF JESUS AND HIS TRIUMPHANT RETURN. BE OVERCOMERS WITH HIM!
 
Revelation 17 no surprise
All of these and the hundreds of other prophecies about the rise of the antichrist serve to do at least two things: Warn of what is coming so we will not be taken by surprise.
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THE CUP

Posted on September 7, 2018 by randscallawayffm
Revelation – Jesus IS Coming Back!
Revelation 16 airplane girl
Just before take off a little girl was running around, up and down, the aisle of the plane. People were complaining as she run into them. The flight attendant told the mother she was going to have to restrain her child. The mom settled her into her seat with a strong warning to behave while tightly buckling her in for the journey. The feisty little girl was smiling broadly. Her exasperated mother asked why in the world she was smiling and even giggling. The defiant little girl said, “I may be buckled down but in my mind, I’m still running around!”
 
Are there people in and out of the church who are like this little girl? Are there people who look good and have it all together with God to the outside world, but on the inside of their hearts and souls are still “running around”, living as the world dictates to them? We find in our passage today that God will pour out the Cup of His wrath on those who refuse to follow Him, who continue to run from Him.
 
“Keep watch! I come unannounced, like a thief. You’re blessed if, awake and dressed, you’re ready for me. To bad if you’re found running through the streets, naked and ashamed.”
 
God knows our hearts well…better than we know them. Are still “running around” bumping into people, hurting them with our actions, making life difficult for others and worse still…refusing God? Who we think we are hiding from? This is God!
 
Revelation 16, The Message
Pouring Out the Seven Disasters
16 I heard a shout of command from the Temple to the Seven Angels: “Begin! Pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on earth!”
 
2 The first Angel stepped up and poured his bowl out on earth: Loathsome, stinking sores erupted on all who had taken the mark of the Beast and worshiped its image.
 
3 The second Angel poured his bowl on the sea: The sea coagulated into blood, and everything in it died.
 
4-7 The third Angel poured his bowl on rivers and springs: The waters turned to blood. I heard the Angel of Waters say,
 
Righteous you are, and your judgments are righteous,
The Is, The Was, The Holy.
They poured out the blood of saints and prophets
so you’ve given them blood to drink—
they’ve gotten what they deserve!
 
Just then I heard the Altar chime in,
 
Yes, O God, the Sovereign-Strong!
Your judgments are true and just!
 
8-9 The fourth Angel poured his bowl on the sun: Fire blazed from the sun and scorched men and women. Burned and blistered, they cursed God’s Name, the God behind these disasters. They refused to repent, refused to honor God.
 
10-11 The fifth Angel poured his bowl on the throne of the Beast: Its kingdom fell into sudden eclipse. Mad with pain, men and women bit and chewed their tongues, cursed the God-of-Heaven for their torment and sores, and refused to repent and change their ways.
 
12-14 The sixth Angel poured his bowl on the great Euphrates River: It dried up to nothing. The dry riverbed became a fine roadbed for the kings from the East. From the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet I saw three foul demons crawl out—they looked like frogs. These are demon spirits performing signs. They’re after the kings of the whole world to get them gathered for battle on the Great Day of God, the Sovereign-Strong.
 
15 “Keep watch! I come unannounced, like a thief. You’re blessed if, awake and dressed, you’re ready for me. Too bad if you’re found running through the streets, naked and ashamed.”
 
16 The frog-demons gathered the kings together at the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
 
Revelation 16 cup of God's wrath
17-21 The seventh Angel poured his bowl into the air: From the Throne in the Temple came a shout, “Done!” followed by lightning flashes and shouts, thunder crashes and a colossal earthquake—a huge and devastating earthquake, never an earthquake like it since time began. The Great City split three ways, the cities of the nations toppled to ruin. Great Babylon had to drink the wine of God’s raging anger—God remembered to give her the cup! Every island fled and not a mountain was to be found. Hailstones weighing a ton plummeted, crushing and smashing men and women as they cursed God for the hail, the epic disaster of hail.
 
Think About It….
When I read about The Cup of wrath I am reminded of another Cup, the Fourth Cup at the Table of the Lord on His last night on earth before He offered up his life as a sacrifice “poured out” for our debt of sin. He told his followers, “I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” What a blessed thought! (There is much significance here with the cup.)
 
Revelation 16 cup of Jesus
We have a choice of two cups…The Cup of God’s Wrath or the Cup offered to us in communion with our Savior. It’s pretty simple, cut and dry.
 
Jesus paid it all…and yet, people still refuse this wonderful, incredible gift of salvation, freedom to be all God created us to be. God provides a way out of the misery, injustice, pain and suffering we bring upon ourselves because of our own sin. And yet, people refuse. We will suffer for our faith and in our faith because we live in a fallen world, but God sees us through it all. He will also pass the cup of judgement to those who refuse to follow Him and wreak havoc on his people. The revelation causes us to commit. What cup will it be? From what cup will we be drinking from forever?
 
“Done!” The last bowl is poured out. “Great Babylon had to drink the wine of God’s raging anger–God remembered to give her to cup!”
 
In my heart and mind, I am not still running around, I’m running after my King, Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord.
 
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your salvation. Thank you for helping us over all the hurdles of this race to You. Sometimes the journey is hard, confusing and takes patience and wisdom, but You are quick to respond for you are always with us, abiding in our hearts. Continue to guide us as we walk with You.
In Jesus Name, Amen
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