Be Anxious For Nothing

Phil 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

1 Thess 5:16Rejoice evermore. 17Pray without ceasing. 18In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19Quench not the Spirit. 20Despise not prophesyings. 21Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22Abstain from all appearance of evil.

The Lord is near today.  The Lord is answering prayer today.  The Lord is performing miracles, today and every day.  That is the testimony of the nobody in Christ who writes to you today.  This nobody can verify all these things to you, the Word of the Lord is true and can be trusted.

Pray about everything, all the time.  Trust the Lord, He will come through for you.  He will come through for you in His time, not yours.  He will come through for you in His way, not yours.

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

If we will trust the Lord and do what He told us to do, you will prove to yourself that everything He told us was true.  Encourage yourselves in the Lord today.

1 Sam 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters:  but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

grace and peace

Tell The Lord That You Love Him

We tell our spouses and children that we love them, because we do love them and they need to hear it.  If we love the Lord (which we do), we need to tell Him "Lord, I love you."  Why?  Because we do love Him and He needs to hear it.

grace and peace

What happens when you dont get what you asked for

The Lord always answers right?  The answer is yes.  So what happens when I asked the Lord for:

a,b,c,d,e and f and instead, not only do I not get a,b,c,d or e, but one or two of the things I asked Him for, He did the opposite?  I know He hears my requests, so when I did not get what I asked for but received the opposite instead I was upset with Him.  Is being upset with the Lord okay?  Yep.  Is being angry with the Lord okay, yes again as long as in both cases we keep coming back to Him.

So, to start we have to understand its okay to be upset as long as we make up our mind that we are going to take our complaints back to the Lord.  What happens when you are so upset, you can't really pray or kind of don't want to pray because of what happened?  You pour it out to the Lord like this "Lord, I'm upset with this, I am not happy about this, but You are the only One who can help me with this so here I am.  I'm asking you to help me."  That's a recent brother D prayer to the Lord.  Not happy, don't really want to pray, but realize He is the only help I have.

After pouting and pondering for awhile the dust starts to settle and this emerges from the situation you didn't ask for and don't want but are forced to live with:

1.  He knows better than we do what we need and when we need it.
2.  He is also interested in our reaction to not getting what we ask for or want.  Will we continue to come back to Him.  Will we time after time respond in faith?
3.  We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  All things?  Yes, 100%, everything, all the time.

Matt 7:7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

The Lord answers prayer, that is this brother's testimony.  We may not always like the answers, but He answers.  And before we get too upset and allow bitterness to enter our spirit we need to remember to be patient.  We need to allow our God, the Almighty to work things out in time.  We almost never (if ever) see the end from the beginning, He does.  If we allow patience to do its perfect work and give love and trust the benefit of the doubt we will see and understand why our Lord did what He did.

Brother D asked for something recently and not only did not get it, he received the opposite.  Brother D was not happy but thankfully in His mercy the Almighty is helping this nobody to understand why (generally) this happened.  We have to keep coming back, on our knees, angry, upset, weeping and feeling like we had our guts rolled over, we keep coming back.  When we cant articulate anything else because we are so upset, "help me" is enough.

grace and peace

A Note of Encouragement From The Lord

Romans 15:13  Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

As this world proceeds down the pathway toward the time of Jacob's trouble, we are not to be discouraged.  How are we to walk in these dark days as we are surrounded on every side by the powers of darkness?  We are to walk in hope.  What does walking in hope mean?  Let us start with what it does not mean.  It does not mean walking in fear or despondency or depression.  It does not mean walking in worry or despair.  Ok then, what does walking in hope mean?  What are we hoping for?  Our primary hope is in the promises of our God.  We hope in His faithfulness, His tender mercies toward us who believe and in His loving kindness.

Psalm 25:6 Remember, O LORD, your tender mercies and your lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

What has the Lord promised us?  One of the big promises is an escape from all that is about to happen.

Luke 21:34And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Nowhere in the Bible can this ^^ be linked to the rapture/harpazo of the Church although it could be the rapture, maybe its not.  Why is this great news?  Because now the escape deniers have two escapes to deal with, not just one....I know it must vex them terribly that the Lord our God is providing escape for His people.  The only way this writer can understand these people who go out of their way in anger and rage to deny the escape of the Lord's people is, it is demonic.

The Lord could have made it very clear that the Church will be the spearhead of God's people through the tribulation, but He did not.  In fact, all the evidence points to an Israel spearhead through the tribulation, not the Church.  When the Lord is speaking to the Churches directly, by name in Revelation 2-3, He could have used that time to prepare the Churches for their entry into the tribulation, but He did not.  Why not?  To be fair, the Lord does talk about some conditional entry into tribulation:

Rev 2:9I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 10Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Being cast into prison for ten days is a bit different from being cast into the tribulation for 7 years...

Rev 2:19I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 26And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28And I will give him the morning star. 29He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Again, we some tribulation here ^^ but is it "the" tribulation?  The only way we could answer yes to that is to speculate.

What does not require us to speculate and is evidence that the Church will not enter the tribulation.  There is evidence everywhere but how about the sealing of the servants of God.  Sure we have been through this before but we know that at some point in the tribulation, the angels will be tasked with sealing the servants of the Lord (all of them).  Now, where exactly in the book of Revelation or in the writings of the prophets do we see the Church being sealed by angels?  You cant find it because it is not there.  What we can find is Israel being called out by tribe, by name and being sealed (by angels).  The Church was sealed before the tribulation ever started, by the Holy Spirit (not by angels):

Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

And to add to that, we have a not so minor detail that should not go unnoticed.  We are sealed for what?  For the day of redemption.  Those in the tribulation are sealed for what?  They are sealed for protection from this:

Rev 9:1And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.6And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

Bottom Line?

There are many reasons we should walk in hope today and the hope of escape is only one of them.  As long as we walk this earth, the Lord our God walks with us here.  Is that reason to hope?  You bet it is.  Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is great reason for hope.  The power to part the waters, remove mountains from their place, heal the sick, raise the dead, turn water into wine, and perform the variety of miracles that have already been performed in this servants life and the lives of others, that power is with you and in you in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, there is reason to hope.  Even in the dark days ahead, the enemy will be plagued at every turn.  No, they wont get their communist, anti-Christ world nirvana without trouble.  They will be hammered at every turn.  Sure, the can lie and defame those who walk in the truth of Jesus Christ our Lord, but they will pay dearly for it.  They will be bombarded from above with rocks, hail and fire.  They will find death of the earth, sea, animals and plants to be their reward.

So yes, they can reject the truth, but at a terrible price.  The people of this world are getting away with nothing.  The lies and deceit come with a price.  Why is that reason for hope?  Because those living in deceit and denial of the truth, they are not us....

Noah did not share the same fate as those outside the ark.  Lot did not share the same fate as those who remained in Sodom.  Israel did not share the same fate as Pharaoh and his armies at the red sea.

What do you have to hope for?  The answer is another question:  what did the Lord promise?  There is hope in every single promise the Lord made to us.  If you are wondering about a promise and how it applies to you, take that promise, along with your faith to the Lord in prayer and let Him cement it into your heart and spirit.

The Lord has made us many promises, let us conclude this post with the following promises:

Psalm 91 My Refuge and My Fortress

1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

And thats just the promises contained in one Psalm!

Be encouraged today.  The Lord our God is with us and for us.  He loves us with a love that defies our understanding it is so great.  Lift up your heads, trust the Lord and see what He will do.

May the grace and peace of God our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ and the precious Holy Spirit be with you in abundance as you hope and trust in Him.

Encouragement From The Lord, Answers to Prayers/Miracles

This is a promise the Lord made to us:

John 14:12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

^^These are some weighty promises.  This writer is here to tell you that the Lord meant every Word He said above.  The Lord has proven Himself and His Word above to this writer.  It has been battle tested, it is true that is my testimony.

There are two unstoppable forces in this world that should be made a moment to moment part of our lives:  1.  our faith and 2. His Word.  Our faith and His Word are infinite in scope and power to do what needs to be done.  Higher than the heavens and farther than the east is from the west is the power these two things hold for us who believe.

We all face problems and troubles that never seem to end.  One goes away and another shows up to take its place but we have not been left without resources to deal with our troubles.  We have His power, His presence, our faith and His Word to shatter every mountain that stands in our way.  Be encouraged, rise up, take hold of your faith and keep His Word in your heart, mind, spirit and mouth.  Never be caught without these things.  In the end, with enough patience and perseverance you will stand in victory, 100% guaranteed.

Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.


grace and peace

Will You Trust Me Now?

Have you ever seen that tv commercial, I think its verizon where the guy goes all over the place then asks at each point "can you hear me now?"  The Lord does something similar with us but its called "will you trust Me now?"  It works like this:  we have problems and we cry out to the Lord for help.  He delivers us again and again.  After each time we tell the Lord "this time Lord I will never doubt you again!"  Then lo and behold, another problem, another issue, another insurmountable obstacle for us to face and what happens?  "Lord, can you hear me?"  "Lord, when are you going to answer?"  "Will the Lord deliver me this time?"  Right?

Life is a problem.  It is full of them and they never stop coming.  If its not one thing, its another.  Question is, at what point do we say "You know what?  Thats it, I have had it with playing games.  I'm going to trust the Lord or go down in flames.  There is no middle ground anymore."  How can we get to that point?  Does it take superhuman faith?  Do you have to be a 'supersaint.'  No and no.  It starts with the realization that we have no where else to turn to for help.  Think about it really hard.  Many times we need more than just an answer, we need a miracle.  That makes things quite easy doesn't it?  How many people do you know who can work miracles?  None, zero.  People cant get it done.  The Lord can work through people but people themselves are just vessels.

I don't enjoy being tested just like you don't.   But when I think about all the things that could go wrong, and the problems that never stop coming in one form or another, I fall back over and over again to the same thing.  Its just all too much for me.  There are too many problems, too many bad possibilities, too many enemies, too many people that hate/dislike/could care less about me, for me to try to do something about all of it.  So what then, give up?  Hardly, we were told by our God that He will never leave us and never forsake us:

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."


We have a God who made us limited, dependent beings.  Why?  So we can fail?  No, so we can lean on and count on Him.  He is our answer, He is our solution, He is our warrior against the foe, He is our deliverer.  The problems and enemies and obstacles will just keep coming while we are on this earth:

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."


We know the problems keep coming, so we should make up our mind to trust Him no matter what.  Not because its easy to do, but because we have no other help like Him!

If I told you I needed a million dollars and only one person in the world was willing to give me a million dollars would you think I would agonize over the problem of getting a million dollars?  No, I would not agonize because only one person in this world could help me!  The same is true for us in our daily, weekly, yearly lifelong problems.  I can tell you that I do not have people stepping up daily to help me solve my problems.  There is only one Being there to help with it all and it is our Lord God.  There is no other help.  When there is no where else to go and no one else to turn to it makes things easy.  Either our God comes through for us or we go down in flames.  I can tell you that our God has come through for me and I am getting older by the day.  Year after year He does it again and again.  No I am not special, what is special are His promises to us.  His tender mercies and loving-kindness toward us who believe.  That is what is special.

Will you trust me now?  The next time the Lord whispers that in your ear while you are facing yet another problem answer "yes Lord, who else can I turn to?  There is only you...."

The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father be with you.

Encouragement From Revelation 3:10

The closer we get to the hour of the escape, the more the enemy is going to throw his people and his lies at us to attempt to kill, steal, and destroy our hope.  What is our hope?  Our hope is in His promises, period.  Our God promised us things, we trust His promises.  Its that simple.  Nothing gets the enemy and his servants more stirred up than the promise of escape our Lord has given His Church.

The Lord made it as straightforward and simple as He could for us.  How so?  What has He told us?

Rev 3:8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

First this:

behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:

This one is 3rd grade logic.  What did the Lord tell us? 1.  He is putting an open door right in front of our face.  That's what "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:" means. Now, do we really need a doctorate of theology degree to figure out what it means when the Lord opens a door right in front of us?  Gee, I wonder what the Lord wants us to do with that door He just opened in front of us?  Do you think we might want to debate among ourselves for a few years to figure out what the Lord is suggesting we do next?  No, we dont need to debate because its in our face obvious.

And yet there are those who would argue "just because the Lord opened a door right in front of your face doesn't mean you have to go through it!"  Right, that is stupid....and stupid arguments like that are what the enemy falls back on time and again.

So, first the Lord tells us He is opening a door for us, then what does He tell us?

Rev 3:10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Because it was not obvious enough for some that people actually walk through doors, the Lord spells it out for us.  Why did He open a door for us?  What is the purpose of that door? To keep us from the hour of temptation.  Now lets be very clear, the Lord God said He will keep us from the hour of temptation.  It just so happens that this hour of temptation is going to come upon the entire world to test the inhabitants of the earth.  What could this hour of temptation be considering that a.  its coming upon the inhabitants of the entire earth and b. its purpose is to test them?

Again, one has to be willfully ignorant to attempt any argument that does not point directly to the time of Jacob's trouble.

Now consider what the Lord taught us here:

Ecc 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.


Revelation 3 is strand one:  we will be kept from the hour of temptation.

Luke 11 is strand two (the Lords prayer) :  4Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.^d ’ 

2 Peter 2:9 is strand three:   The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:


And here my friends ^^ is your cord of three strands directly from the Word of our Lord.  Also notice it did not take a thousand page e-book to prove the point.  The Lord is not wordy.  Liars and frauds are wordy:

Prov 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.


Be encouraged.  The Lord told you to pray not to be led into temptation (trials) for a reason.  The Lord told us He knows how to rescue the godly from temptation (trials), and He told us He is going to do what He knows how to do (rescue us from tempation/trials) in the days ahead.  He did it for Noah, He did it for Lot and He is going to do it again for His Church.  That is not my opinion, that is promise based FACT from the Word of the Lord in Revelation 3.

What we have to do between now and then is hold on.  We have to use the days left to us for good, to do whatever good our hands find to do and to walk with the Lord our God. 

grace and peace