Stevemidkiff's Blog

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work;
but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so
till he is taken out of the way.

2 Thessalonians 2:7

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:
only he who now letteth will let,
until he be taken out of the way.”

John Phillips notes

The “mystery of iniquity” is the secret working of lawlessness.

From the beginning, it has been a goal of Satan & his demonic wicked spirits in the heavenlies
to overthrow God’s purposes regarding this planet.

The word for “work” here means “to work actively.”

Satan is tireless in his efforts to achieve his plans, but he is up against a major obstacle.

There is One who “hinders and will hinder, until he be taken out of the way.”

The word for “letteth” (hinders) in can be translated “withholds”
Satan encountered God’s restraint when he wanted harm to Job Job 1:6–2:8

There is a Restrainer.

The only One who can restrain Satan and his angels is the Holy Spirit.
The instrument of that restraint, us the mystical body of Christ the church all Christ followers

Nothing can happen, prophetically, until a change occurs and the mighty power
that is now restraining Satan & his demonic minions is removed:

He who now hinders will hinder until he be taken out of the way.

As long as the Holy Spirit and all Christ followers remain on earth, the day of grace continues.
As long as it is a day of grace, God won pour out His judgments & His wrath on our planet.

The Flood could not come until Noah was safely in the ark.
Fire could not fall from heaven until Lot was safely out of Sodom.
Judgment cannot come until the church is removed from this planet.

The removal means there’s no longer any hinderance to the rapid
acceleration of all the twisted wickedness in the world.
The way will be clear for Satan and the Antichrist to take over the world.
People will be left to learn for themselves what the world will be like once
unrestrained wickedness is given full rein.

The book of Revelation gives us the dread drastic details.
God’s Spirit will no longer restrain the development of the mystery of iniquity,

It’s my theory that there is a progressive lessening of restraining on the debacle
of perverse depraved wickedness. A gradual letting loose of the twisted armies
of the Devil. Once the complete removal all salt & light through Spirit in-dwelt
Christ followers all hell will break loose everywhere on everyone.

“The person whose biography is not worth writing has never yet been born.”

• F W Boreham, From his book Wisps of Wildfire, pg. 176

Every individual life is amazing.
The sad issue in social distancing is the spirit of avoidance that is being echoed
We are now walking wide circles around each other
Fortunately God is not a God of social distances.
He is infinitely attractive & He draws us each to Himself
He condescends to us
He embraces us
He bows so low to lift us so high

I met three people yesterday that had amazing & bold compassion for me

A Doctor, a nurse & a X-ray tech who hovered over my sickness & need & pain

They demonstrated incredible tenderness & comfort & concern

The picture Jesus gives of Himself bowing down washing feet
The picture Jesus gives of Himself bowing down praying over us
The picture Jesus gives of Himself tirelessly knocking at our hearts door
The picture Jesus gives of His touching us, evaluating us & asking question after question
of our feelings, are symptoms & our needs are so amazing

And Jesus is doing that always through His people
He surrounds us with others
He never avoids us
He doesn’t act like we’re ceremonially unclean
He touches us with amazing healing
He draws us to Himself
He embraces us
He never lets us go from His accepting, enveloping hugs

Because Jill & I have had our lives readjusted over these
disease challenges it’s easy to feel like we’ve lost a lot of ground.

Jill hasn’t been able to wear her prosthetic for over a month

It’s easy to feel like the ship is sinking

Gains & losses are at times impossible to assess

God has an amazing intrigue always working

He always supernaturally causes are losses to become gains

Jesus still walks the dusty path with us doing miracles

Jesus still approaches our sinking ships walking on top the wild waves

Jesus still is bidding us to walk on the turbulent seas with Him

Sometimes the greater the loss the greater the gain

Sometimes the greater others reject us & accuse us the greater our acceptance & endorsement

In Our Lord Jesus Christ all is made new & everything has intense value

Nothing is lost when Jesus takes the wheel

Don’t be committed to someone that only makes you feel like you’re a failed option in their life

Be committed to those that value you as a person & who see your worth at your worst

Everyday is an opportunity to tip toe through the glorious tulips

In the Bible flowers are often used as symbolism for beauty, growth, temporal things, fullness, and more.

Flowers are a beautiful reminder of our glorious God.

“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers & clouds and stars.”

Martin Luther

“Flowers are the music of the ground from earth’s lips spoken without sound.”

Edwin Curran

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

“Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch,
but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.”

“Every flower must grow through dirt.”

“Lovely flowers are the smiles of God’s goodness.”

“God is in all creatures, even in the smallest flowers.”

Martin Luther

Has the hand of providence been amputated?

Do we grope alone in a hostile indifferent universe?

No! We’re progressing through every unscheduled, unplanned & uninvited occurrences

From glory to glory,

Everything that happens to us & around us is a glorious eternal welcome from Jesus

We are living on the cusp where

The pain,
The sorrow &
the groaning of creation around us &
the groanings within us
will finally be no more.

The ransomed of the Lord shall return & come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness & joy,
and sorrow & sighing shall flee away

Isaiah 35:10

Not only that, but we shall be gloriously perfected.
The whole person—body & soul—
will be made completely new, flawless.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared;
but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him,
because we shall see Him as He is

1 John 3:2

The seeds of Christlikeness are planted in us at the moment of conversion.

Colossians 2:9-10 says that in Christ

“the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

we are complete in Jesus

He is in us by His Spirit
We let Him in our hearts
We want Him at home in us
He continuously asks to fill us & we are filled in Him
filled up with all the fullness of God.

Now for us, everything is used for us to transform us

“all things that pertain to life and godliness”

2 Peter 1:3

God dwells in your soul, & with Him we have all that we need

The principle of eternal life is in us,
Our title to heaven is our present possession.
The real estate of our eternal mansions has been bought & paid for
It is all ours. A dwelling in glory.

We are daily in every experience going from glory to glory

We are daily in every experience going from faith to faith

We have already passed from death to life

John 5:24

We are a new person

2 Corinthians 5:17

We are no longer enslaved to sin,

We have now become a slave of righteousness

Romans 6:18

Instead of receiving the wages of sin—death—

We have received God’s gift of eternal life

Romans 6:23

We have eternal life & we have abundant life

John 10:10

We live before an an eternal artesian well of spiritual power within us by God’s Spirit in

He is continuously satisfying us & enabling us to live the life He’s called us to

John 7:38

The old has passed away; behold, check it out, the new has come

2 Corinthians 5:17

God’s hand is not amputated

God’s hands are everywhere working good for us

Since God is for us nothing is against us

Because Jill & I have had our lives readjusted over these
disease challenges it’s easy to feel like we’ve lost a lot of ground.

Jill hasn’t been able to wear her prosthetic for over a month

It’s easy to feel like the ship is sinking

Gains & losses are at times impossible to assess

God has an amazing intrigue always working

He always supernaturally causes are losses to become gains

Jesus still walks the dusty path with us doing miracles

Jesus still approaches our sinking ships walking on top the wild waves

Jesus still is bidding us to walk on the turbulent seas with Him

Sometimes the greater the loss the greater the gain

Sometimes the greater others reject us & accuse us the greater our acceptance & endorsement

In Our Lord Jesus Christ all is made new & everything has intense value

Nothing is lost when Jesus takes the wheel

“The word meditate has the idea of being consumed or preoccupied with something.

The blessed person just can’t get God’s Word out of their mind. ..

They love God’s Voice

Worldly meditation seeks to empty the mind of everything,

biblical meditation seeks to fill the mind with the Word of God.

I read the book of Ephesians yesterday. It only takes about 5 min. To read it’s 6 chapters

I recalled reading about a person who read Ephesians 200 times.

That would take 16 hours. Not a lot of time.

The person said they read until they read until

they felt they had a grasp of what God’s Spirit is expressing

Then they read until what God is expressing had a growing grasp of them

According to that biblical definition of meditation we need to meditate more

Meditating is thinking,

Thinking takes time; thinking is work.

But thinking time is not wasted time

We need “deliberate meditations”

We have to find regular time each day for meditation

Being guided by God’s Spirit in finding a specific text or idea to meditate on

And staying on that one idea throughout the day –

We need to trust God in life’s situation & trusting in God’s providence,
we recognize, that God is the First Cause of everything.

And that by deepening our meditating on His Word we will hear His voice

Go inside & shut the door behind you & your sons

2 Kings 4:4

The widow & her two sons were to be alone with God.

They were not dealing with the laws of nature,

They were not concerning with the politics of human government,

They were not focusing on religion around them

Actually they weren’t even dealing with God’s great prophet, Elisha.

They had to be isolated from everyone, separated from human reasoning,

They were removed from the natural tendencies to prejudge their circumstance.

They were to be as if cast into the vast expanse of starry space, depending on God alone—

They were to be in touch with the Source of all miracles.

This is an ingredient in God’s plan of dealing with us.

We are to enter a secret chamber of isolation in prayer & faith.

At certain times & places, God will build a mysterious wall around us.

He will take away all the supports we customarily lean on,

He will remove our ordinary ways of doing things.

God will close us off to something divine, completely new & unexpected,

This place that cannot be understood by examining our previous circumstances.

We will be in a place where we do not know what is happening,

where God is cutting the cloth of our lives by a new pattern & He causes us to look to Jesus.

Most of us lead a treadmill life—
a life in which we predict almost everything that will come our way.

But when God leads us into unpredictable & special situations
We’re being isolated to Him.

All we know is that God is holding us & He‘s dealing in our lives.

This is the spot, this isolation to Him, where our expectations come from Him alone.

Like this widow, we must be detached from outward things

We are attached inwardly to the Lord alone in order to see His wonders.

from Soul Food

It is through the most difficult trials that God often brings
the sweetest discoveries of Himself.

from Gems

God sometimes shuts the door & shuts us in,

That He may speak, perhaps through grief or pain,

And softly, heart to heart, above the din,

May tell some precious thought to us again.

Why are specific things happening?

Why are particular things occurring to us?

Why are targeted things taking place around us?

Why are certain individuals getting coronavirus & others are just barricaded in their house?

Are science & statistical analysis leading us to the right solutions in this odd opportunistic germs?

Teleology is a reason or explanation for something

Teleology directs us in the function of these things & its end,

Teleology explains the purpose, or goal of a problem or a situation & it’s circumstances

Teleology is derived from two Greek words:

telos (end, goal, purpose) and

logos (words, truth, reason, explanation).

Teleology is research Into the truth of each purpose

Through Teleology we discover how events & developments are meant to achieve

a purpose & why they happen because of that purpose.

Was David predicting the Rapture when he wrote???

You will show us the path of life:

In Your presence is fulness of joy:

At Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore

The path of life begins at the very lowest point in the dark regions of the underworld.

That lowest point is (death) Jesus had to die. We have to die too.

We’re told to reckon ourselves dead. Acknowledge the fact.

We’re told to die daily. Really that means moment by moment through each day.

We’re told we’re going to, in this life, experience tribulations, trials, & adversities

We’re told to rejoice.

We’re told to count (reckon it) all joy when we stumble into this variety

this wide range,

this incredible assortment of tests,

this multiplicity of ordeals,

this assortment of hardships & catastrophes.

We’re told to be thankful in everything, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing

Jesus gave His life after enduring unimaginable rejection & torture

He was led up, out of hades, out through the portals of the tomb,

He resurrected & ascended up to the heights of Heaven, up to the right hand of God.

That is our ultimate prospect!

That is our daily, moment by moment exchange

We swap our death for His life.

Jesus is our life. We’re to rise by faith to Him.

Where is the Lord Jesus now? At God’s right hand!

(God’s right hand is the control center of the universe)

Where are we to seek Jesus? At God’s right hand!

Where is there fullness of joy?

Where are those “pleasures for evermore”? At God’s right hand!

We are blessed with ALL spiritual blessing in Christ in the Heavenlies

We are to seek those things that are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God

We are to set our affections on things above not on things of the earth

Now Then, back to this death issue

We’re to mortify the things of the flesh

Our old life is dead. Our new life, which is our actual true real life—

(even though all this is invisible to onlookers, spectators & everyone around us)

Our new life is with Christ in God. He is our life.

When Christ (our real life) shows up again on this earth here,

we’ll show up— the real us, the glorious us.

Meanwhile, while we wade through this obnoxious adversity here

we’re to be content with obscurity, like Christ was

we’re to be killing off everything connected with these activities that are the way of death:

promiscuity,

impurity, lust,

doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it,

the grabbing after whatever attracts our fancy.

That’s a life shaped by things & feelings instead of by God.

We’re to live by faith in our risen life in Christ

The rapture will take place. At any moment we can be removed from this crypt

This grotto of self quarantine limitations

What are these restrictions about. These shelter in place orders

These things that oppress us are to lift us to faith in Jesus & His life filling us

We know the reason for tyranny, torment, tests & tragedies

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us

By seeing & receiving that Jesus set us right with God & how Christ make us fit for God—

we have it all together with God this complete continuous access because of our Master Jesus.

And that’s not all: We throw open our doors of our heart to God & discover

that He has already thrown open His door to us.

We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—

out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace & glory,

here we are, unlimited (not quarantine with limitations)

No, we’re standing tall & shouting our praise.

There’s more to come:

We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles,

because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us,

and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue & Christlike character,

These trials & adversities keep us alert for whatever God will do next.

In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged.

Quite the contrary—

we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything

God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! …

Romans 5:1-5 MSG