“THEY LIMITED THE HOLY ONE”

Psalm 78 records the history of disobedience in the children of Israel and the consequences of wrong choices. We can learn from their mistakes but human nature is such that we usually learn from our own mistakes and experiences.

Verse 34 says of God, “When He slew them, then they sought Him! and they returned and enquired early after God.”

Verse 38, “…but God being full of compassion forgave their iniquity…..” again and again.

Verse 41, “They turned back …….. and limited the Holy One of Israel.” The children of Israel turned back in unbelief and limited the Holy One of Israel, God. How can I limit God, the Unlimited One? By my choices. We are all on a journey, in a process. None of us are “the finished article” as yet. The word “process” covers the work from the beginning to the end. The work is not done overnight. My whole lifestyle is governed by the choices I make, not a “once and for all” choice, but ongoing challenges as God comes again and again. What I am today is the product of my past choices. God has done the very best from His side, in line with my choice. Praise God!…..I have not reached the end of my journey, therefore I still have opportunity to make right choices in line with God’s purposes for my life.

God hems me in with circumstances according to the condition of my heart. If my heart is hard, my circumstances will be more difficult. If my heart is soft, God only has to apply slight pressure of circumstance. Sometimes when the pressure is off it is easier to go astray, so the Lord has to use His “process” to keep me returning and on track, to bring my heart close to Him so I am soft and pliable.

Jeremiah 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep………..they have forgotten their resting place.” Hebrews 4 speaks of the “rest ” of God’s people. It is a functioning position of the trust of a child in his Heavenly Father, and His provision for him.

Verse 37 of the Psalm records, “neither were they steadfast in His covenant.” God is steadfast from His side and He works with me in the “process” that I become steadfast. God deals with my heart whose function is to believe that He is who He says He is, when He brings the great and small challenges of life. I can stand at the crossroads of choice in career, health, relationships, finance etc. – the list is endless. God checks the motives of my heart, in faith or unbelief of the choices I make. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Romans 14:23

Will I make right choices in faith, AS GOD LEADS, or will I turn back in unbelief and limit God like the children of Israel?

THE SPENDING POWER OF GOD ALMIGHTY IS LIMITED BY THE CHOICE OF HIS CHILDREN!

My choice governs!

GOD’S GOVERNING FACTOR

Our Lord Jesus said in John 14:13 – 14, “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name I will do it.” There is a need for a deeper revelation that springs from the page because so very often we ask, but do not receive. We tack the words “in the name of Jesus” on the end of our prayers quite sincerely. However, sometimes we are sincerely wrong in our asking. Why is this?

The answer lies in James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss.” The governing factor is that God will be glorified in the Son, (John 14:13.) Can I be trusted with what God wants to give me? Only God is the righteous judge of that. A man cannot and should not “bear testimony of himself.”

We are governed by what we believe. God is working with each of us individually IN our circumstances. If I did not have His restrictions of circumstance in my life, where would I be? He is there amongst it all teaching and directing me to bring me through with Him, learning to hear His voice. As I obey His voice becomes clearer.

My life speaks. We are “living epistles” for God and others to read. It is not WHAT I say, but how I live my life. God sees. God even knows me better than I know myself. He restricts, he ties me in to the Body of Christ to be accountable to Him and others, and He allows the restriction of circumstance to keep me on track, His track. I am in a learning process. We “Spend our years as a tale that is told,” Psalm 90:9. God sees the end from the beginning. God sees! God started His work in me and He will finish it. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will finish it, even to the day of Jesus Christ.” God is not a messy worker. He is faithful to complete what He starts. Let me get this fact settled: I did not start this work in me. God did! This was His idea, not mine. I just answered His call on my life. I am somewhere in the process that He is working in my life, for His glory. The restrictions He permits are part of my learning curves to keep my eyes on Him.

In the world of celebrity, politics and finance there is so much abuse of fame, power and money. These privileges, if abused, can destroy them. This should not be so in the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. The governing factor is that my life, more and more as I learn, should glorify God.

Matthew chapter 4 records the temptations of Jesus. The devil tempted Jesus to tap into God’s power to do something as an individual to make a show of God’s power for his personal gain, that was not God’s will. That is our vulnerability, where we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to refuse such temptations for our own personal glory, as the moment we succumb, God’s power is withdrawn as instant as flipping the switch to the off position in an electric socket. God will not give His glory to another. Jesus prayed, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” God’s power is given for the extension of His Kingdom and for His glory. His power cannot be used for man’s glory or wrestled from His hand.

If I do not hold what God gives me by His grace, for His glory, He will remove it to teach me humility. A man must walk humbly with his God. A great lesson I must learn: God righteously will not give His glory to another.

A child asks his parent, “How can I hear God’s voice?” We teach our children that the first step is to listen and obey their parents. In the early stages the parents represent the voice of God to them. (We are accountable to God how we train our children in obedience and loving discipline – God sees.) As children learn to obey their parents they discover that God will speak to them personally as they grow older. A developing child may often ask for things that the parent may deny him because he has not matured enough or learnt how to handle. For example, a 10 year old is refused his request to use a chain saw. The child is loved but cannot yet be trusted with it. He has to be refused, he has yet to mature, to watch and learn from the parent until the day arrives when he is old enough to be taught to handle it, with great caution! Or he could destroy himself and others. So too, with us. God loves us but in some areas we cannot yet be trusted with God’s glory until we have learnt to carry and bear it to the glory of His great name, not mine. How much can God trust me with? Only God can answer that. He knows.

God is teaching us all by our individual circumstances that He is our Father, and we are His sons and daughters. Until we lose the belief that God has abandoned us we will never enter in to the abundance of His provision for us. His provision as my Father is there for me but I need to enter into His “rest” of the provision as I face my daily challenges. Otherwise, I will never enter into it.

Remember: Until we meet the impossible, we do not touch the resources of God.

Jesus declared and demonstrated to His disciples every aspect of God’s name e.g. Shepherd, Multiplier, Resurrector etc. which is His glory. At that time the disciples could not see it as their spiritual eyes had not yet been opened. God is purposing to bring me to a place to see, believe and prove that He really is my Father, and I really am His child. He wants to lead us into a place of maturity and responsibility so He can reveal Himself to us increasingly, in order that we may carry and bear, to the glory of God.

Yes indeed! In the purposes of God He is “bringing many sons unto glory.” Hebrews 2:10

THE DIVINE UNDERTAKER

Thank God we can celebrate Jesus Christ, the risen Lord of the Easter season every day of our lives. He lives! Our triumphant cry! The tomb is empty and we rejoice that we can live without fear amongst a fear filled world, because Jesus Christ is alive in our hearts. We are on the winning side! We have read the last page of the book and we know that “all things work together for good to those that love the Lord.” That is the reality of our salvation, we are not going to win, we HAVE won through the finished work of Jesus on Calvary.

Revelation 3:20 -21, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.” In order for me to become an overcomer I need an “undertaker.” Jesus is the great unlimited Undertaker. As He overcame, so can I overcome. Paul said, “I die daily.” As we die the great Undertaker undertakes for us.

Revelation 12:11 “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death.” The great Undertaker undertakes for me and thus enables me to become an overcomer. Jesus took the sting out of death. Hebrews 2:14 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that HAD the power of death, the devil.” (Past tense).

The devil has no more power of death in my life. Even in my darkest hour I can declare, by faith, that the living Christ dwells in me, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I lift Jesus higher by exalting Him to His rightful place: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I curse any God dishonouring function in my body that would seek to drag me down. I proclaim Jesus as my Saviour, a victorious, conquering overcomer!

It’s all about Him, it’s not about me any more. It is His glorious life – a new creation in me. The “old man” in me was crossed out at Calvary! I claim His risen life in me, by faith. Oh the fathomless depths of Calvary! Jesus freed me from sin and made me a joint-heir with Him, seated in heavenly places.

Now! That’s worthy of celebration praise! Let us exalt and proclaim the wonder, the greatness, the goodness and favour of our wonderful God, in whom “we live and move and have our being.” Yes indeed!….He is risen, but the miracle is:HE IS RISEN IN ME! Thine, thine, thine is ALL the glory Lord!

CALVARY DESTROYED THE DEVIL’S POWER

The devil has lost his power! He lives by bluff, dependant on your believing. What you believe rules you. He is involved in deceiving and accusing. Once you believe a lie, he has a foothold, he rides in on the lie. HE IS POWERLESS in truth. Jesus says, “All power is given unto me,” Matthew 28:18.

At Calvary, the power of the devil was destroyed, Hebrews 2:14. But you and I often give back to the devil what Jesus took from him! The devil tricks us into doing this by the artificial, by imitation, by bluff, by deception, by lies. But then, while he may fill his shop window with these goods, he needs me as a customer. If I don’t go into his shop, he continues in his bankruptcy, powerless.

But he sets the window, he makes a show. Then I go in and give him back what Jesus took from him. According to Hebrews 2:14 Calvary means our Lord Jesus became one of us and through death, destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Fear is the imitation of faith. Fear is the substitute of faith. Just as faith goes into the Word, which is truth and becomes creative, fear goes into a lie and becomes creative – IF I RECEIVE IT! Fear is believing the devil’s lie. Faith is believing God’s truth. When I am in confusion I need to take stock of my life before the Lord, for God is not the author of confusion. I need to ask myself, “What does God say in these circumstances?” His word brings peace and direction as I put my faith into His proceeding word for my life. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” Matthew 4:4.

THE DEVIL IN TRUTH IS POWERLESS! He cannot abide in the light, he flees from it.

NOT FORSAKING ASSEMBLING TOGETHER

Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much more, as ye see the day approaching.”

This word from the Lord exhorts us to gather together in His name because it is meaningful and important to Him, and therefore to us, for our benefit. Even more so as the “day” approaches, the soon coming of the Lord. There are often many obstacles and excuses that could prevent our assembling together, but if we gather in simple obedience to His word, God will honour it.

Is there anything more important than being together in His presence? Our choice is pleasing to God as we gather together. We come by faith, expectant, as unto the Lord in our various communities.

Whatsoever we put our faith into, God will honour, as a man walks with his God. We come together, not to get into His presence, but to be an expression of it, to the glory of God. We should be carriers of His presence. Is the Holy Spirit of God comfortable in me, inhabiting me with His presence? God has placed within us a wonderful Holy Ghost thermostat: His peace. When the peace of God within me is disturbed, it is an indicator that something is wrong. My peace “bubble” triggers a godly warning to seek God in the situation for His direction and restoration of His peace level in my being. He is my Guide in life.

In Acts 7:38, Paul refers to Moses leading the journeying Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land as being the “church in the wilderness.” They were assembled together by compulsion, they had no choice. We, the New Testament Church, are under the New Covenant. We have a choice whether we assemble together, or not, “as is the manner of some,” Hebrews 10:25.

What does the “assembling of ourselves together” really mean? I meet with God on His terms, not mine. Some relationships are a one way street. One man said “I once knew God as Father Christmas, wanting everything to come my way. I didn’t know God as God in my foolish heart, but the Lord revealed to me that He is Father God, not Father Christmas.” This is a two way street, a two way relationship.

Is there a place where gathering together before the Lord is enough? It satisfies my soul. God comes alongside of our choice and enables us to function and be comfortable in His presence in our Gathering, but also in our everyday life. As we gather together the Lord brings revelation for daily living.

We are walking miracles having received the life of the Son of God within us. When we are assembled together we express our gratitude to the Lord from the overflow of His abundance in our hearts. If the Lord wants to manifest Himself supernaturally in our Gathering, we are expectant, but we are not going to insult the Holy Spirit by trying to conjure something up!

Our two way relationship with the Lord is a two sided covenant. This is where sovereignty and human responsibility meet:

What MUST God do that I cannot do? (Sovereignty)

What MUST I do in choice, that God WON’T do? (Human responsibility)

The Living God wants us to partner with Him!……….in all areas of our lives……..but in this matter, “let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together,” for His glory and His purposes in our lives.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

Ezekiel 34 prophesies a stern reprimand to the bad shepherds of Israel over God’s beloved flock, His people. A God ordained shepherd of God’s people has a holy responsibility, in stewardship of his position, to be accountable to God for his actions. A true disciple of Jesus will encourage the “sheep” to learn to know the voice of God for themselves and direct them to the Good Shepherd, Jesus.

In John 10:7 – 16 Jesus not only declares Himself to be the “Door” of the sheepfold by which men come in to Him, but also, “I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and AM KNOWN OF MINE.” John 10:10 That is the goal, to KNOW HIM in a personal relationship. Jesus came to show us the Father, God. Our Heavenly Father desires for us to know Him intimately, to restore His relationship with mankind that was lost after the fall of Adam and Eve. It is every Believer’s birthright. The Good Shepherd redeems and restores from the great storehouse of heaven’s abundance. Jesus said, “………..I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

In Psalm 23 David said, “The Lord is MY shepherd,” not our shepherd. We each have a personal walk with the Lord but He will not allow me to function correctly as an island. He directs and dovetails me into a Body of Believers.

Some Pastors, most certainly not all, have sought to control the people, instead of encouraging them to learn to hear the voice of God for themselves. However, it must also be noted that for some this suited them because they did not want the responsibility of hearing God’s voice personally! Neither position is right. John 10:27, Here Jesus declares, “My sheep hear My voice: and I know them and they follow Me.” This is the Good Shepherd’s desire for me. As I obey the Lord, His voice becomes clearer. His voice becomes distant and eventually silent when I disobey. We have all walked that path at some stage but, thankfully, the Good Shepherd welcomes back repenting sheep who humble themselves.

So, let us be encouraged! As we follow the Good Shepherd and eat from His pastures of goodness, mercy and restoration, His voice will guide our daily steps, bringing peace and order to our chaos and glory to His name. Wonderful Jesus!

PRAYER:

Please help me to remember, Lord, if I don’t consult You, I insult You.

If You are not Lord of all, You are not Lord, at all! Amen

MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU…..

There is a clear distinction between revelation and a “proceeding word.” Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” Matthew 4:4.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7 – 10, Paul asked the Lord to remove his thorn in the flesh, which he termed “a messenger of Satan.” Paul had tremendous knowledge of the scriptures. His early life would have been trained and steeped in them. After his salvation experience and new calling, God gave him great revelations, of which much of the New Testament is made up from his letters. In spite of these great revelations he still needed a proceeding word from God for his situation, his “thorn.” God gave him one, it was not what he expected.:- “My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

There are times in our lives when we ask God to change our situation or our weakness, but God’s answer is to give me His grace for it, His strength, that it be a learning curve for me. What Paul once viewed as persecution in his life, he now saw God in it all. God moved him up to a higher gear.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God,” Matthew 5:8. When trials come, do I see God in them or blame the devil?

God’s word declares His grace IS sufficient. If I am finding an insufficiency I must take the blame and humble. God’s daily challenge is “Prove Me now!” There are untapped reservoirs of grace in Heaven at my disposal through the finished work of Calvary. I come to Jesus in my poverty and access God’s bountiful storehouse of grace and mercy.

Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was the ballast God permitted in his life “lest he became exalted above measure,” for the tremendous revelations God gave him.

2 Corinthians 12:7 “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” God knows what each of us needs in our walk with Him. He is God, I am not. I bow at the throne of His wisdom.

When Paul embraced God’s proceeding word for him, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness,” his spirit soared. He mounted up on the eagle wings of God’s strength and then declared, verse 9, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me.”

…..THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY REST ON ME! This is the glory of God in the divine exchange: His strength for my weakness.

I see that the way up, is down. As I humble myself before God, He will lift me up, enabling me to move in His presence, carrying it, dispensing it into the world, for “the kingdom of God is within you.”

Man always looks for a new way, a better way – but God made a way, the Way, His name is Jesus. I can only come to God just as I am, weak and needy – then the Royal Exchange takes place and I operate through the life of Another – Jesus. HIS strength enables me to stand where I would fall without Him, and I find and prove His all encompassing sufficiency for every area of my life. For all that I am not, He is that to me. He is the ALL SUFFICIENT ONE, Who gives of His sufficiency to the weak and humble, and transforms them into mighty sons and daughters of the Living God, manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven.

A HOLY SPIRIT INVASION PROMISED…..

As we were worshipping the Lord in our Fellowship Gathering this morning, the Lord brought a prophetic word: -

From street to street, from door to door, from family to family…………thus the Lord invades a community and all that seems so dead is alive, awakened, because of the Spirit of God……..in the very air! He shall come and we shall breath this air. We shall speak out the word that He gave us.

In every street, every door, every family….like a flood that floods through a community when the river breaks it’s banks and nothing can stop it. The very doors swing open on their hinges, people are touched not because they called out to God, but because HIS TIME COMETH to invade their private places, and their conviction of sin is reawakened in their hearts as they remember what they had heard in childhood of the love of God. Their ways are turned about. Who can resist the ways and might of God?

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As we were singing the chorus “Thou mighty Christ, come forth in me,” a sister saw the above vision. She said she saw the Spirit of God sweeping into a community. He came to every door in every street, and came against every door that would keep Him out. The doors swung wide open on their hinges. It was like an invasion of the Spirit of God.

He went to every family, every grouping within each house. All were being affected, stricken in their hearts by the Spirit of God. He was in the very air so people could not help but breath Him in, even if they wanted to resist. As they breathed they were drawn to Him like a magnet.

Consider the record in Daniel 12:9 “And he said “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”

Is God preparing us to be ready and expectant for the “time of the end?” It is a time to rejoice, not to be fearful. Are we on the brink of such a time? I believe so. What is your witness within the depths of your being? Is God about to break the afore mentioned seal and open up that which He sealed in the time of Daniel? Is God’s stirring and quickening within us heralding the approach of the new season of Tabernacles…..fullness! There is something coming far more wondrous than we have seen thus far. All creation is groaning in birth pangs!

What is my part? To live each day with a prepared heart, to be ready, to keep short accounts with God in that I forgive those “who trespass against me” and endeavour not to trespass against them, to judge my own judgements and to be a quick repenter, to walk in humility, to relate and stay accountable to the Body of Christ and to obey the promptings of the Spirit that His voice may become clearer and louder……and to stay expectant! We are living in a glorious day! As the children of Israel lived in the Land of Goshen, so we, as the children of the Living God can walk in His glorious light and fullness amongst the darkness of our nations and governments and be the “light and salt” in demonstration and power of the Kingdom of God on this earth. Jesus did it, He was the Pattern Man. Let the sons and daughters of the Living God come forth in demonstration and manifestation of the Living Christ within us! IT’S TIME!

PEACE AMIDST TURMOIL

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The road along life’s highway takes many twists and turns. As we journey on we encounter the joys and sorrows of mountain top, valley, and sometimes, wilderness, experiences. In my darkest hour, in the depths of despair, is where I prove God is right by my side and I can walk with Him. The wilderness is not a place to set up home, to stay and live there, it is a place to travel THROUGH, on my journey to the Promised Land. It is, however, the place where I prove God. In the midst of all the turmoil, (not the absence of it), I can enter into God’s rest and find “….the peace which passes all understanding,” a proven reality in my life.

Daniel proved God IN the Lion’s Den. God delivered Daniel IN it, not FROM it. Surrender to God AMIDST the conflict is the answer.

God permits in His wisdom that which he could prevent in His power………I bow to God, surrender my limited understanding to His omniscient one. He is the all knowing One, not I. At the burning bush the Lord told Moses to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground. How often do I tread roughshod on holy ground? God bade Moses to remove the shoes of his “UNDER STANDING.”

Psalm 103:7 God “made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.”

Isaiah 55:8 – 9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord…………As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways……”

God can bring forth something beautiful in the lives of His children from the most heart rending conflicts. If I recognise God’s ways, my prayer life is radically changed. I cannot always understand, but I can enter into God’s peace and rest and trust amidst the turmoil. This is where I prove God. Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee.”

It is my responsibility not to listen to the voices,(other than God’s), that would seek to control my life. When my heart is not Christ ruled, (peace ruled), it has an ungodly voice, so does the devil! Learn to recognise and disregard these voices for only what God says is true. James 3: 17 “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle….” This scripture bears testimony to God’s character when He speaks to me. His voice speaks with heavenly wisdom that does not bring confusion and the purity of His words bathe me in His peace – infallible proof as to whose voice I am listening to.

A hallmark of Tabernacles is peace, rest and trust in God’s TOTAL control.

Revelation 21:3 “The tabernacle of God is with MEN, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.”

The Psalms testify to God “inhabiting the praises of His people,” but there is something greater. Will I surrender my will and my life to the Living God, that He would inhabit me and dwell there comfortably?

As the indwelling Christ within me progresses to full stature, He will be evidenced by the overflow of my heart and mouth with His praises to His glory.

TEST WHAT I SAY!

John 5:31 Jesus said, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true,” therefore an independent witness outside of myself is needed, I cannot bear testimony of myself. Words spoken by folks that glorify themselves, “blow their own trumpet”, or declare that what they are saying is truth and cannot be challenged should make us wary of them. Jesus’ words warn us that he who bears testimony of himself is not true.

It is far better that a man declares what he believes to be true, and then invites you to test it, witness to it by the Holy Spirit in you. The Holy Spirit will only witness to truth because He is ALL TRUTH. We are on a journey to ALL TRUTH but have not arrived there yet. During the journey, as the years go by, we have to change some of what we have previously believed to be true as it has not worked. What we believe has to work! We prove what we believe.

Scripture is often used “out of order” to confirm the truth of what people believe, but what I am in demonstration testifies far louder than what I say. Jesus demonstrated His believing in performing miracles. In John 1:6 – 8 Jesus had the earthly witness of John the Baptist and an independent witness from Heaven, outside of Himself. He declared, “I can of mine own self do nothing,” John 5:30, yet the Father’s power and will was manifest through Him in miracles, bearing testimony to all in a demonstration of God’s power and witness.

Jesus did not seek the honour that came from man. In John 5:44 He declared, ” How can you believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which comes from God only?”

If what I am declaring is truth, I don’t have to prop it up or refuse to have it challenged. It stands by itself and has an independent witness outside of myself – the Holy Ghost, Who only witnesses to truth. I can invite people to test what I am declaring.

Jude verse 3 speaks of “contending for the faith”. Problems arise, however, when men contend for their personal expression of the faith causing contention. What a man does of faith, he does to the Lord so in God’s eyes I am “inexcusable” when I judge him for it, Romans 2. I need to stop judging others for what they do and discern that their expression of faith is different according to their believing, as what a man believes rules him.

Romans 14 talks about men’s different expressions of the faith, doctrines etc. which are an outward manifestation of an inner motive of faith known only to God. At the end of Romans 14 we are asked the question in verse 22, “Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.”

Part of the “Bride making herself ready” is to stop judging. When I judge I am in unforgiveness and God does not forgive unforgiveness, – so I need to repent before Him of it.

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THE TEN VIRGINS Matthew 25

In the parable of the 10 virgins, all 10 were asleep when the Bridegroom came. When they were awoken it was dark and they needed the oil for their lamps in order to see. God has given me His oil to apply in the “dark” to see the way I should go in God’s light. My responsibility before God is to walk in the light He has given me, otherwise the light becomes darkness, John 12:35. God gives me light to walk in, not bask in!

The Bridegroom returns at midnight but He does not want to come for a sleeping Church………..get ready!