Because I am GOD, your personal God, The Holy of Israel & Your Savior.
I paid a huge price for you…That’s how much you mean to me!
That’s how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,
I’d trade the creation just for you.
“So don’t be afraid:
I’m with you. I’ll round up all your scattered children, pull them in from east & west.
I’ll send orders north & south:
Send them back. Return my sons from distant lands, my daughters from faraway places.
I want them back, every last one who bears my name, every man, woman, and child
Whom I created for My glory, yes, personally formed & made each one.’”
Isaiah 43:1-7 MSG
Hearing how God feels should free us from fear.
God says over & over to us, “Do not fear.”
He is working out His plan. We’re called by His name to display His glory (v. 7).
This regathering is the gathering of Judah from their captivity in Babylon which happened under Cyrus the Great.
But these words soar beyond this.
This redemption will be greater than what God achieved when he led Israel through the Red Sea and slaughtered Pharaoh’s army.
This is greater then the small band of 42,360 Ezra 2:64 that returned to Palestine under Cyrus’s edict.
They came from the east (Babylon), not from all points of the compass.
The reality of this regathering is found in Christ, in the gathering of God’s chosen elect from every nation by the call of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and not for that nation only, “but also to unite the scattered children of God” John 11:51-52
Therefore, Isaiah 43:5-7 displays the sovereign decree of almighty God to gather the elect from the ends of the earth under the call of the gospel, all who are called by his name, whom he created for his glory. And no fiery trial they undergo will destroy them, only purify them.
But this promised gathering together and bring them back to their promised land.
Is to in the millennium, this will become a reality.
Israel will again rest in peace & he chosen people of God will occupy their promised land as all that is theirs.
WE’RE TO BE READY
We also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when we don’t expect Him.
Matthew 24:44
WE’RE TO BE LOOKING
Blessed happy, fortunate & to be envied are those who Jesus finds awake, alert & watching when He comes. He will gird Himself & have them recline at table & will come & serve them!
Luke 12:37
There’s laid up for us the victor’s crown of righteousness for being right with God & doing right which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to us & recompense us on that great day– and not to us only, but also to all those who have loved & yearned for & welcomed His appearing at His return
2 Timothy 4:8 Amp
WE’RE TO BE PURE
And everyone who has this hope resting on them cleanses purifies themselves just as He is pure He is chaste, He is undefiled, and He is guiltless
1 John 3:3 AMP
WE’RE TO BE TELLING
And Jesus said, Go into all the world & preach & publish openly the good news to every person in the whole human race
Mark 16:15
God will ever bring glory to Himself is by bringing us to glory!
Heaven is a city that is transparent in its appearance Rev. 21:11, 18-23.
A city with multi-colored stones & materials with the glory of the Father and the Son shining through it.
God’s brilliance will be bursting out from our glorified bodies!
And God will glorify Himself in us!
We will See Him & Be With Him Forever
Here we’re in trials, depressions & anxieties.
In Heaven we’ll be in a place of endless praise & ceaseless worship of a worthy God. Rev. 4:2-11
O LORD, You have examined our heart & know everything about us Psalms 139:1 NLT
GOD, you completely investigate our lives
Lord, You get all the facts firsthand.
We’re an open book to You;
And no matter where we are or what we’re fantasizing about,
You know exactly what we’re thinking.
So do you think God talks to us today?
I mean, do you suppose He can talk in complete sentences?
Does He actually take a phrase or section of His Word in the scriptures
and make it jump off the page at us?
Does He also individualize those remarkably prominent pronouncements
in personalized, customized tones to our peculiar predicaments?
I believe He does with all my heart!
If I didn’t believe He gave specialized direct expressions to my life,
I’d totally quit memorizing and meditating on God’s Word.
Sometimes it’s just a gentle nudge from Him.
At other moments it’s a peculiar prompt of His presence to let us know
He’s with me continuously. He’s nice to have around you know.
Last night as I was going to bed I was letting my imagination run wild.
Then the Lord give that slight nudge.
He said: Hey, Steve;
I have searched you, and I known you
My imagination had gone a little off the rails
I was fantasizing about being the wealthiest individual on the planet
Of course with all these immense assets,
I was wondering over how I could solve the problems in the USA.
Naturally I’d have to pick a side. So here we are. We have two major political groups.
So which political group has both oars in the water?
Which one has only one oar in the water churning in circles down a vapid drain hole?
Should I back the police? Are all our authorities now hog tied?
So where are the hotspots of turmoil and disarray?
Are their violent forces on the loose?
Whose encouraging commotion and confusion?
What’s the end game in what appears to be a violent pandemonium of raging revolt?
So with these unlimited funds should I hire a army of mercenaries
Should I dispatch my forces for some targeted Shock and Awe?
So I could hire every available black ops asset.
Then of course hire every special forces combatants.
Might as well get all the available attack dogs.
How about a squadron of water cannon tanks.
What tools could be used
There are various methods of riot control There’s An Anti-Vehicle Sticky Foam Gun which demobilizes people & vehicles. It can be used to coat a building in a forest fire to fireproof a structure also There’s Pepper Spray Drones For Dispersing Unruly Crowds There’s a Skunk Gun that’s guaranteed to Disperse Protesters whether long range squirts of this gagging stink or personal canisters for close range stink soiling
There are 239 biological agents that can be employed to cause crowd submission we just witnessed one called covid-19 Of course there’s the trusty Water Cannons That Paint You For Future Arrest There’s mysterious cloud fogging with sedative materials for Drugging Mobs There’s sharpshooter long range Tasers & Shotgun tasers There’s vehicle mounted intense Heat Rays For Dispersing Crowds There’s Lasers Designed To Blind And Potentially Sicken crowds There’s extreme noise Sonic Weapons Designed For Crowd Control There’s even noise weapons that can cause uncontrollable vomiting & defecation
The majority of these deterrents won’t end in a lot of body bag issues.
These are just neutralizing tools to redirect these hordes of unmanageable mob types.
Now that’s where the Lord came and interrupted my fantasy
He said hold up. You’re not hiring an army to solve problems.
He reminded me that He hasn’t put me in charge of solving these issues
He reminded me that He’s in charge!
He pointed out that prayer is my connection to His throne at command central.
It’s all in His time and in His way.
God, has completely investigate every life & no one gets a hall pass.
He’s the only one that has all the scientific facts on us firsthand.
We’re all an open book to Him.
He knows whose sneaking around & destroying others.
And no matter where we are or what we’re fantasizing about,
He knows exactly what each of us are thinking.
And He’s going to write the final chapter in our little Ant hill called earth.
You joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods,
You knew that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. NKJV
You suffered along with those in prison
You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property
because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. Hebrews 10:34 NIV
You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. NLT
Remember the days after you first saw the light?
Those were the hard times!
You were Kicked around in public,
You were the targets of every kind of abuse—
some days it was you,
other days your friends.
If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them.
If some enemies broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile,
You knew they couldn’t touch your real treasure.
Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set you back.
So don’t throw it all away now.
You were sure of yourselves then.
It’s still a sure thing!
But you need to stick it out, staying with God’s plan so you’ll be there for the promised completion.
It won’t be long now, Jesus is on the way; He’ll show up most any minute.
Doing what’s right makes us thrive on
Doing what’s right proves our loyal trust;
So don’t cut and run,
we’re not quitters who lose out.
No, no, no!
We’ll stay with it and survive,
We’ll trust Jesus all the way.
When things appear sour & bad please Lord, please activate us to take the spoiling of our goods joyfully
I have an old wheat mill from the 60s. It has two mill stones that grind the wheat as they rub together
And the wheat berries are gravity fed through the stones.
We are like hard wheat berries. We can’t be used to become bread for the world’s hunger until we are broken in Christ’s hands.
“Wheat berries are bruised.”
Christ’s blessing often arrive through sorrow.
So us sorrow too great a price to pay for the privilege of touching other lives with blessings?
“The sweetest things in this world today have come to us through tears & pain”
J. R. Miller.
“God has made us bread for others & if it is needful that the bread must be ground in the
teeth of the lion to feed His children, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Ignatius.
“We must burn out before we can give out. We cease to bless when we cease to bleed.”
“Poverty, hardship & misfortune have pressed many live to moral heroism & spiritual greatness”
“Difficulty challenges energy & perseverance. It calls into activity the strongest qualities of the soul.”
“It is the weights on a grandfather clock that kept it going.
Many a head wind has been utilized to make it to port.
God has appointed opposition as an incentive to faith & spiritual blessings”
Selected
“The most illustrious characters of the Bible were bruised and threshed and ground into bread for the hungry. Abraham’s diploma styles him as `the father of the faithful.’ That was because he stood at the head of his class in affliction and obedience.
“Jacob suffered severe threshing & grindings.
Joseph was bruised and beaten & had to go through Potiphar’s kitchen & Egypt’s prison to get to his throne.”
“David, was hunted like a partridge on the mountain, bruised, weary & footsore,
He was ground into bread for a kingdom.
Paul never could have been bread for Caesar’s household if he had not endured the bruising,
whippings and stoning. He was ground into fine flour for the royal family.
“Like combat, like victory. If for you He has appointed special trials, be assured that in His heart He has kept for you a special place. A soul sorely bruised is a soul elect.”
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