On the Edge

The last Thursday of 2020. 
There is no magic in turning the calendar from one year to the next although I have often acted as though it were. 
New Year’s has been a favored holiday to me because it gives the sense of a new start. A fresh canvas. 

So, do you have your brushes and paints ready for your 2021 canvas? 

How about black-eyed peas and greens? 
Cornbread and iced tea?

New starts. 
New goals.
New dreams. 

JT and I want for you a Romans 8:28 kind of year. 

Romans 8:28  (AMP) 28 And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.  source

This is a good one to comment to memory if you have not already.

LORD willing I will see you back here in 2021!

Perhaps There is Time

First I am set to remind you, those of you who might not know me well enough, I am neither a Scholar nor a Theologian, barely a Layperson. Today’s post is a WHAT IF post. A What if for you to consider prayerfully. A What If post that I hope encourages you to dig for yourself. That’s what I am doing. I dare say many may not like this post. I surely don’t. Let’s begin.

What if learned Scholars and well-studied Theologians have missed the message of Scripture? 
What if what we have believed is not actually borne-out in Scripture? 
What if The Rapture of the Church is not any day now?
What if The Rapture of the Church is not until Revelation 11?
I’m not saying it is, I’m saying What if?
I’m still mulling it over; still asking Adonai to talk to me about it.

What would it mean if this What If is what will be? 
Perhaps you have read my suggestion that 2020 is a trailer to the Tribulation. A means for us to gain more clarity on how the coming days will play. 
If The Rapture is not until after the Last Trumpet, that means we (unless we die prior) will see The Mark of the Beast. UNLESS, of course, the Last Hour is still many years away. 

I am wondering how faithful, how strong would I be? How strong would you be?
Many Churches closed their doors because the Government said close.
The Government said, isolate, put on a mask, shut down your businesses, stay home. 
We did.
We did that for a virus that has at its least rate of survival for aged persons with one or more comorbidities a 94.5% survival rate.  (And don’t forget the Vaccine. It’s already mandatory for some.) 
I am confident what we have done so far is not equal to the Mark of the Beast, but it should tell us something about who we are, shouldn’t it?
How would we tell the Government no I will not let you put that chip in my hand? No, I will not bow to the god of this world even if you starve my children and me to death. The survival rate then is not 94.5%. And surely not 99.997%.
For those caught refusing, 100% die. 

What if? What if many, many of us have been wrong? 
Should we not today start preparing? 
How do we even prepare for such an unthinkable event? 
That’s a good question. 

We have believed, many of us, that this passage is not talking about us because we have believed we won’t be here. What if we are? 
I’m not learned enough to argue either way today. I thought I was. Now I am not so sure. Shouldn’t I be? Shouldn’t you be?  

Revelation 12:11  (AMP) 11 And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death. source

I do know this: it is not The LORD’s will for us to be afraid of this.
It is not The LORD’s will that we be sad, borrow trouble, have downcast faces and worried spirits.
It is His Will for us to overcome TODAY by the Word of our Testimony that The Blood of JESUS is enough to cleanse and save a wretch like any of us. 

One more question. How much Scripture do we have sealed in our minds that we could call on it, lean on it and be embolden with it even if we didn’t have a cellphone to look it up or a Bible to hold in our hands to read?
I confess I am lacking BUT perhaps we have a few years to study and show ourselves approved

Let Me Look that Up

It’s late. The day is far spent. That sounds like a Scripture text.
Let me look that up. 
Well, actually it reads this way:

Romans 13:12  (NKJV) 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.  source

Hmm. What does this say in context? 

11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. source

Sounds like it was written for us today, Tuesday, December 29, 2020, doesn’t it?

A Considerable Debt

Romans 8

Verse 18.
As I read this verse a couple of days ago, it is still with me.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  source 

The question is, do I? Do I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with what shall come?
It’s a fair question and deserves the best answer I can give. I’m working on it — slowly, apparently. 

Then there was verse 34. 

34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.  source 

And to this one, I can only say, “Thank You, Adonai, for making intercession for me daily! Thank You for praying for me AND paying my debt! A debt I could NEVER pay.

A Good Monday Morning to you.  .  .