A MESSAGE TO THE REMNANT
"Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant, according to
the election of grace (chosen by grace)."
(Rom. 11:5)
"THE KINGDOM" - The Millennial Kingdom
What are you going through? What is it that gets under your skin, and brings out the worst in you? Whatever feeds our flesh, will make it stronger. But if we "starve" it; if we no longer give it what it wants, and refuse to yield to temptation when it comes, then it will get weak, and eventually, die. We are to grow in the Spirit, and renew our minds with the Word of God - daily. We struggle with sin, the devil, our flesh, and the world, but God is on our side - the Holy Spirit is the Father's gift to us to dwell in us, to help us, and to empower us to overcome. Without God, the Holy Spirit; without Jesus, we can do nothing. Each day, we are in spiritual warfare, and the battleground/battlefield (the devil's playground) is in the mind. Before we even get out of bed, we must have the mindset that we're going to start the day on our knees, we're going to put on our spiritual armor, and we're going to walk in love; we must prepare ourselves for action/offense & defense, understanding that there is an enemy who wants nothing more than to steal, to kill, and to destroy us. (John 10:10) The secret is this: the devil wants to steal our peace. I had a dream years ago, of Satan, pridefully, declaring that to me. So, I tell you, child of God, keep your peace, and don't let anyone or anything steal it. Peace is so valuable to have. And remember, the battle has already been won for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. We're just passing through. Yet, we are also being trained to reign. Did you know that? "No pain, No gain; No train, No reign." Hardships are good for us...that's if we're walking close with the Lord. A professional athlete, a runner, a boxer, and a wrestler, all have this in common - THEY MUST TRAIN. No one wins a prize, a trophy, a belt, or wealth without going through pain, endurance, training, and perseverance. The feeling of victory that a champion has when they win in the end while holding their prize, is the same feeling God wants us to feel when we enter Heaven's glory. A sense of accomplishment, and a heart of thanksgiving to the One, who alone is God; the One who deserves all the honor and praise for His Amazing Grace in seeing us through to the end. Who would not like to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant," when all is said and done? (Matt. 25:23) If we, who are to win JESUS - the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, as our prize, how much do you think He's worth to you? Shall we meet Him without overcoming certain sins in our short life here on Earth? Shall we meet him by holding onto one of the greatest lies from the enemy, "once saved, always saved" or say, "I can continue in my sin because I'm sealed?" And then never try to give it our best in life because we're simply just taking His love and death for granted? How much is Christ worth to you? Is He worth you picking up your cross, turning from your sin, not looking back, and pressing through? Is He worth your knees hurting from praying? As for me, I use a pillow...I let nothing stand in my way of honoring the King! Yet, I have a "fighter" spirit in me, as I have fought for my life since I was a small child. I know that I am here on purpose for a purpose, living out a specific story that God has laid out for me to finish, woven perfectly into His much larger story for the world - "God's Love Story - Jesus Christ." And you...you are here at this time, in the latter days, to play your part, too, in the same story, and He has set a prearranged/predetermined race for you to run - an assignment on Earth, that only you can fulfill and do. We want to try our best in pleasing Him, don't we? Not to use our freedom to satisfy our sinful nature, (Gal. 5:13) but rather, our conduct, and our walk, should be worthy of the gospel of Christ, and of our calling. (Eph. 4:1; Phil. 1:27) Indeed, we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, (Phil. 2:12) in submission to the Spirit, as He is working in us, giving us the power and desire to do what pleases Him (v.13) We are not saved by works, but by grace - Thank God! But salvation is serious, with the understanding of the reality of Hell, for without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14) And Jesus is serious about how we live; here are a few verses where He is speaking to the Churches...
"Yet I hold this against you: You have left your first love. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the first works. If you do not repent, I will come to you quickly, and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent." (Rev. 2:4-5)
"I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! (Be watchful) Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold fast, and repent. Therefore, if you do not wake up (watch), I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." (Rev. 3:1-3)
"Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown." (Rev. 3:11)
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten (discipline). Therefore, be zealous and repent." (Rev. 3:19)
And only those who overcome, will He NOT blot out their name from the Book of Life. (Rev. 3:5) We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Eph. 2:10) God desires His people to show their faith and love for Christ by bearing fruit in their lives. And the love He has for each one of us - if we only knew, our hearts would melt within us; just as I am feeling a small portion of that right now. We cannot contain His love. But, in His grace, He gives what we need for the day, according to His purpose and plan. At the very beginning of this writing, the Lord said to me, "THE KINGDOM." He desires us to continually, have our minds set on the Kingdom. That is our future! Don't look at what you see in the natural. Don't look around you. Don't even look at yourself. You're not going to look like that much longer:) You're not going to be living where you are much longer, and you're not going to be in that situation you're in, much longer. We're going to rule and reign with Christ! Our race may seem long, but compared to eternity, we have a very short time here on Earth - this place where we groan is called, "our training ground." We will also be training to reign on Earth in Heaven before we return with Christ to rule with Him. (After the 7 year Tribulation) As we're here for this short time, be careful what you look at. Try hard to work on your weaknesses, (asking the Holy Spirit to help you, always) because our enemy, Satan, and his demons, have studied us since we were very young, and they know us very well. (In the spiritual realm, everything is known) You better believe he knows your past; ready to even remind you of what you did 5 minutes ago. He enjoys bringing up your imperfections (even though none of us are perfect), if he learns that it hurts you. Once we move forward with God, here comes the devil, whispering in our ear any word to bring us down; attacking our minds/emotions, stealing our prayer life, our finances, sowing strife in the home, afflicting our bodies with sickness, enticing us into temptation, and scheming all sorts of evil to cause us to backslide, once again. We must be like the bulldog that doesn't let go of the bite in the fight. We must get to the point where we hate the sin that so easily entangles us (anger, lust, addiction, and the list goes on - Heb.12:1); and we'll always struggle, yet, if we yield to the Holy Spirit, and lean on Him, daily, for help, He will come along side of us, pick us up, and make a way where it seems to be no way. He is our faithful friend. A lot of times, we are our own worst enemy; our flesh is lazy, complains, and is complacent when it comes to making any positive changes in our lives. It takes a strong will and determination - a mind that refuses to quit, to put that flesh into submission to the Spirit. It is like a baby that cries when it doesn't get its way; it is like a boy/girl who never listens/never obeys, and so must be corrected and disciplined. Discipline is painful at the time, but afterward, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:11) We must cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and align our character with God's will and purpose. The Bible is our Life Instruction Manual. It is a mirror of what our spirit looks like. But our soul (mind/will/emotions); our flesh, is where we struggle. Take two hands; one, holding the Word, and the other, praying. Now, a person can work towards becoming like Jesus. If we only pray, without reading the Bible, life is hard. If we read the Bible, without praying, life is hard. How much worse it is for a child of God to not use both hands! How can they do anything? Yes, the Bible and prayer go hand in hand. Let us begin to read more in the Bible, and to discipline ourselves to pray before we start our day; and let us work on ourselves, in the area that God is dealing with us about. As we do these things, God will make His move, and we will see Him show up in our life - it excites Him to watch us do something new, as we break out of our comfort zone. We want to be ready for Jesus, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. (1 John 2:28) And He will give to every one according to his work." (Rev. 22:12) Remember, we must be careful that we do not lose the things which we have done, but that we may receive a full reward. (2 John 8) Therefore, let us rise up, get back in the race, and finish strong; this life is almost over, our story is at the end, and our fight is nearing the last round...Here is my dream: I saw myself on Earth, with a white light emanating/shining out from my whole body, reflecting Christ's glory. I am in my early twenties. My physical weaknesses, and all imperfections are no more. I am brand new. I am wearing clothes on Earth that I personally like to wear. My eyes looked as if I was wearing mascara, although, this isn't earthly makeup, it is my new, natural appearance; and my hair is down; I am very pretty. This is how the Lord wants me to look. (I always wear my hair up, and I do not use mascara because of allergies, and my eyes are weak; have been my whole life, so this is the Lord's doing) (All saints with glorified bodies are attractive...we will be made perfect! He will have each of us, looking our best.) My countenance and demeanor is calm, peaceful, joyful, confident, and exhibiting love. My spirit is hovering over this scene in the dream, and I am watching myself speak Christ's teachings and laws to the people: love, unity, holiness, and righteousness, with wise instruction. In the Millennial Kingdom, the people on Earth will not have glorified bodies like we will have. And they will need to be supervised, guided, and taught; they will need our help. Our hardships and experiences here now, will benefit these people, as we will have gone through much harder times than they, and so we will be a great example of faith to them, and will offer them advice from what we've learned here on Earth. We will be guiding them through our example and influence. Their life, in the Millennial Kingdom, will be much easier than what we've suffered here, as Christ will be their King. Yet, they have much to learn, and will, too, struggle with the sin nature, (their bodies are mortal at this time; ours are immortal) and they will continually, need help with their minds (thoughts), as we need help in that same area right now. In my dream, I am in the area on Earth where I grew up; a place where I am most familiar with. We will dwell in the Holy City (The New Jerusalem), and will work in the Earth, per our specific assignment(s) given to us by the Lord. Therefore, I believe our clothing will change, depending on where we are, and what we are doing. So to each of us, our bodies, our character, and our service, will be exactly what the Lord wants...everything about us will be for His pleasure; we are His.
"But God gives it a body as He pleases."
(1 Cor. 15:38)
For those who overcome, will be given authority and power; they will primarily function as priests and rulers (1 Pet. 2:9, Rev. 2:25-26, Rev.5:10), reigning with Christ in His Kingdom, and there will be no end. (Luke 1:33) After the 1,000 years, the Holy City (The New Jerusalem) will come to Earth, and there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. (Rev. 21)
What Will the New Jerusalem Look Like? - Dr. Jack Van Impe (Q&A)
P.S. Here is a secret: For those who are walking closely with the Lord in these last days, they will know around the time of their departure. As we see in the Scriptures of 3 men who were "caught up" or "caught away," they were: Enoch, Elijah, and Philip, the Evangelist - in the book of Acts. It doesn't say that Enoch "knew" of his departure, but that he walked with God, and pleased Him; knowing this, it is safe to say, that He, most likely, knew of his leaving. Elijah, did know, as written in the Scriptures, as did others, and he asked his helper, Elisha, what he wanted before he left. Philip, the Evangelist, walked closely with the Holy Spirit, preaching, and being used by God. He was continually, being led by the Spirit, obeying His voice. Knowing this, those who are led by the Spirit of God, obeying His voice, will, undoubtedly, know of Christ's coming, at least within a 24 hour notice. This is my belief, based on Scripture. Additionally, in (2 Pet. 1:19), we read, "which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." Therefore, this is showing us, that those who are alive and remain - the remnant, will be aware of His coming, right before He arrives, such that, in our hearts, we will feel a heightened sense of excitement and expectancy. We will know on the day, but not before. And as time is now drawing nearer to the rapture, those remaining in fellowship with the Lord, will recognize something unusual in their spirit - a subtle transformation taking place - that is, a spiritual discernment of our lives on Earth in our mortal bodies, are now coming to a close.
"Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God."
(Heb. 12:15)
