No Repentance (Rev. 9:20-21)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

07/12/2005

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  No Repentance

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9:20-21

 

            Message of the verse:  “20  The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21  and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

            It is very hard for me to understand how the people of this time period, who have seen all of these things happen to their world, and they realize down deep in their hearts that God is the One who has brought all of these things upon the world, will not repent of the evil things that they have been doing, things that are described in these two verses. 

            As I look at our nation and in particular the liberal movement, I can see the very same thing happening, and not only in our country, but others around the world. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I must not look at this verse and see myself as a much better person than these, for if it were not for the grace and mercy of God I too would be in the same position as these people.  I must also learn from this verse that when I sin I need to confess and repent from the sins I have committed. 

 

The Word of God was convicting to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

 

 

Memory verse for the week:  Philippians 4:8

 

Finally, brethren whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

More Plagues (Rev. 9:18-19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

07/08/2005

 

 

My Worship Time                  Focus: More Plagues

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9:18 & 19

 

            Message of the verse:  “18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.  19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.”  (NAS95)  “18  One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and the smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.  19 Their power was in their mouths, but also in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.”  (NLT)

            The population of planet earth is shrinking because of these plagues, but these plagues only affect those who have turned their backs on Christ and have not sought Him out for the forgiveness of their sins even though they all know in their hearts that God is the One who is behind all of these judgments.  One third of mankind will be killed by these demons who are riding demonic horses.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “A couple of the things that I seen in these verses are that God will judge the ungodly people, even though at this time that I am living in now it does not seem that this will happen, and I believe the reason for this is that God’s cup of wrath is not full yet and it is not the time yet for all of this to happen.  I also see in this that God will take care of His own children, because they will not be affected by these plagues; however there will be many who will be killed by antichrist and his men, but not by these plagues. 

            I am thankful that the Lord is in complete control of all things, including those things in my life that do not seem, at this time, to be going well.

 

The Word of God was challenging to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  As my temper seems to be getting shorter because of all of the challenges that I am facing, I need and want to again completely trust the Lord for His guidance and for His peace that passes all understanding and will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Philippians 4:8

 

And finally brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Horses & Their Riders (Rev. 9:16-17)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

07/07/2005

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Horses and their riders.

 

Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:  Revelations 9:16 & 17

 

            Message of the verse:  “16  The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.  17  And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.”

            There has been some debate as to whether these horses and riders were human beings or whether they were some sort of demons like the ones that were described earlier that came up out of the pit and stung people.  Some believe that these are the armies of China, for China has boasted to have an army of two hundred million soldiers as far back as forty years ago. John says in verse 16 that someone gave him the number of two hundred million.  John again uses similes to describe the riders of the horses and also the horses themselves.   

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are many verses in this wonderful book that I do not understand, yet one thing is for sure and that is God is in control of all of these things that will take place, and He is also in control of all of the things that will take place in my life as well, and I can trust Him.

 

The Word of God was a challenge to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Because I believe that God is in control of all things in my life, I believe that He is also in control of the money that is owed to me by different people, and that He will work this all out for my good and for His glory.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Philippians 4:8

 

Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, and if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

 

 

The 6th Trumpet Judgement (Rev. 9:13-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

07/04/2005

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  The sixth trumpet judgment

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9:13-15

 

            Message of the verse:  “13 ¶  Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14  one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’  15  And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.”

            John said that when the sixth trumpet sounded, showing that the next judgment was ready to take place, a voice came from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.  This altar is the altar of incense, which is where the prayers of the saints go up before the Lord God who sits on His throne in heaven. 

            This judgment is letting loose of four angels who are bound at the Euphrates river, and if they are bound then this would indicate that they are not good, but evil angels, for good angels would not have to be bound.  John tells his readers that these angels have been prepared for this very time to kill one third of the earth’s population.  John will go on with this judgment in the succeeding verses.  In Revelations 6:8 we read that one fourth of the earths population have already been killed by that judgment and now in this judgment one third of the earth’s population is killed so that means that there have been on half killed and one half left, so there is only one out of two people left on earth who were alive when the tribulation started, and when it started the people of the world had such great hope that peace had finally came, yet there is no peace unless it comes from the Prince of Peace. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that from seeing things like killings and other sinful activities on TV, both in fictional and real settings that come from the news, this kind of desensitizes me from really grasping all these judgments that will go on during this time of judgment that will come upon the whole world.  Late last year a great tidal wave killed many, many people in Indonesia, and other countries in the far east, and this will be like a Sunday school picnic compared to these judgments that will send millions of people to there final place of judgment and I would pray that God would allow me to give out the Word to the ones that He brings my way so that they can be saved and not have to go through this awful period of time full of God’s judgments.

 

The Word of God has brought conviction to my heart as I read it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I trust that the Lord will give me more opportunities to give out His Word so people can be saved. 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory verse for the week:  Philippians 4:8

 

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

End of the First Woe (Rev. 9:12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

07/01/2005

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  End of the first woe

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9:12

 

            Message of the verse:  “12 The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.”

            There are many commentators of the Bible that either says that all of these judgments have already taken place in the past, and most of them say that they were fulfilled in the days of Rome, or they say that they will never be fulfilled and are only figurative in scope.  Some say that they will be fulfilled in the future, however that the Church will go through this time of trouble too.  Then there are some who say that the Lord will come in the “rapture” and take His bride home to be with Him and then shortly after that these judgments will begin.  As one reads about these judgments they are at best hard to understand, yet if someone would have read in advance about the judgments that God sent upon Egypt in order to set His people, Israel free they probably would not believed or understood the either.  Just as it was difficult to understand about all of the prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ, so, for some, it is difficult to understand all about the prophecies concerning His second coming. 

            In verse twelve John says that the first woe has passed, and yet there are two more woes to come.  This first woe is the fifth trumpet judgment and the last two are the last two trumpet judgments, of which the last one will begin a whole new series of judgments called the vial or bowl judgments.  John is just announcing that there are two more “woes” coming.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I read this book of revelations I can see that God does have a plan concerning these judgments in order to execute His wrath on the unbelieving world and once His plan is executed it will be complete.  God always has a plan and He has a plan for my life as well, and it seems that part of that plan for my life is in my continued trust in Him for the outcome of our financial woes, and I do trust Him, yet there are times of late when I have become frustrated that nothing has been done for I would find it hard to find a job around here at this point in my life, yet if the Lord finds the job he wants me to have and gives me peace about it then I will obey Him and take it, but I would still hope that He will have my funds returned to me.

 

The Word of God was a bit convicting and also a challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and try not to lean upon my own understanding, in all of my ways acknowledge the Lord as He has promised then to lead my paths through this life here on earth.

 

Memory verse for the week:  1Thes. 4:3-4

 

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.

           

King of the Demons (Rev. 9:10-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

06/29/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  King of the demons

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9: 10-11

            Message of the verse:  “10  They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.  11  They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.”

            Verse ten gives a further description of these locust demons that have a tail like a scorpion which can give a bit that will cause much pain, and in the case of these demon locusts they can hurt men for five months, but will not cause death.

            In verse eleven there can be seen a order of power in the demonic world as it mentions there is a king to rule over these demon locusts and it gives the name in both the Hebrew and in the Greek, and in both cases it means destroyer.  The question arises as to who this king is, and it could be that this king has been kept in this pit for a long time and is probably one of Satan’s most trusted of his demons.  Dr. Macarthur says in his commentary that this is not Satan who is this king that is spoken of here in verse eleven.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know from reading Scripture that Satan has always wanted to be like God, and that is one of the reasons that he fell from the position that he was in when God created him and so it is no wonder that he copies things that God does and one of them is the levels of beings that are under His control.  In the order of the good angels there are ranks and thus in the order of the bad ones Satan has made ranks too. 

The Word of God was a bit confusing to me as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Trust in the Lord who has the right to rule over me and have Him lead me into the areas in which He wants me to minister and not push to try and go where I want to be.

Memory verse for the week:  1Thes. 4:3-4

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.

The Description of the Creatures (Rev. 9:7-9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

06/27/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  The description of these creatures

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9:7-9

            Message of the verse:  “7  The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.  8  They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.  9  They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.”

            As I read through these three verses I cans see that the word “like” is seen some seven times in them and this makes me think that in John’s description of these creatures he could not identify the as to what they were but had to use other things that were familiar to him to help describe them.  As I have studied these verses before I have seen a number of ideas as to what these verses were trying to describe, and one of them was helicopters that would have some kind of gas in them to inflict the pain that is spoken about in this section.  Others have described them as some kind of creature that was very small like a locust that came and stung its victim.

             The point of all of this is that God is sending a judgment upon the unbelieving people who are alive during this tribulation period in order to open the eyes of some of them so that they will look up and see their need for Him and also to take out His wrath upon the sinful people who live upon the earth during this time period where sin will be the order of the day.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can think of the verses in Hebrews chapter twelve which talk about discipline not being pleasant but necessary from time to time in the life of the believer.  My attitude when going through the discipline of the Lord must be that He is doing it for my good, and learn from the mistakes in the past and correct them.

The Word of God was a challenge to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord during this time of troubles that have come into our lives, trust Him to work it out for my good and for His glory as He has promised.

Memory verses for the week:  1Thes. 4:3-4

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel with sanctification and honor.

The Locusts at Work (Rev. 9:5-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

06/23/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  The Locusts at work

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Revelations 9:5-6

            Message of the verse:  “5  And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.  6  And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.”

            It seems that those who are bitten by these creatures who are actually demons will not die nor will they be able to die as verse six reads, “and death flees from them.”  It is not clear but it could be possible that some of these people who that have been bitten by these creatures will be saved.  It is possible that these people will be able to see those who are not affected by the bites and will wonder why and thus accept the forgiveness of the Lord.  I do not know why they will be tormented for five months but that is surely a long time to be tormented by such severe pain which is described in these verses, but it has been suggested that the life-cycle of a locust is five months from May to September.  

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This judgment described in this portion of Revelations chapter nine will happen in God’s timing and not before.  The same holds true for the events in my life, for it is God who brings about the things in my life when He wants them to occur.  As I think about the events in my life that have happened to me over the past two plus years regarding my investments with Andrew Lech I have to believe that they have been sent to me through God’s gracious hand, even though I do not know all of the reasons why Scripture assures me that God is in control and will work things out for my good and His honor and glory.

The Word of God has been a challenge to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord through this difficult situation that He has given to me to follow through by His grace and mercy.

Memory verses for the week:  1Thes. 4:3-4

For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to process his own vessel with sanctification and honor.

God will Protect His Children (Rev 9:3-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

06/22/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God will protect His children

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelations 9:3-4

            Message of the verse:  “3. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.  4. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

            The judgments up to this point have been upon the earth which affected mankind indirectly, however this judgment is different in that it affects only unbelievers which is similar to the judgments that God judged Egypt with, for some of the judgments were directed only upon Egypt and Israel was not affected by them at all.

            It seems that these locusts that came out of this pit are demons and were told that they could only harm the unbelievers that are upon the earth.  The details of how they do this are given in the proceeding verses as it only says in verse three that they are given power like scorpions which gives a hint of how they will harm the unbelievers. 

            Another interesting thing that is brought up in verse four is the mention of the sealing of the believers on their foreheads.  This was mentioned when speaking of God sealing the 144000 Jewish Evangelists and now is again mentioned hear.  All believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, but as far as this sealing is concerned there is no mention of if other believers can see this sealing or not however it seems that it will be fairly easy to tell the believers from the unbelievers at this point for the believers will not be able to be stung by these creatures and therefore will not have any of the affects they give out.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God has always taken care of His children and in this section of Scripture that can be clearly seen.  As a believer I am under the protection of God, however Scripture says that by sinning I can loose that protection, so it is important for me to continue to walk with the Lord so that I can benefit for this wonderful protection.

The Word of God was both refreshing and convicting to my heart as I read it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust that the Lord will continue to protect me and that He will guide me and direct me through this very difficult time in my life.

Memory verses for the week:  1Thes. 4:3-4

For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to processes his own vessel with sanctification and honor.