Multiplied Time! by Peter Kreeft

AUGUST 4, 2011

Multiplied Time

By Peter Kreeft

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Recently I was late getting a manuscript to an editor. My excuse? By far the most popular one in [this day and age]: I had “no time.” Let’s examine that excuse. Why do we all seem to have no time for anything, much less for prayer?

I am constantly feeling guilty about this, and I suspect most of you are too. I think the single biggest obstacle to our relationship with God (after sin, of course) is “no time.” If I gave my children as much time as I give God, I could be prosecuted for child neglect and abuse. If I spent as little time with my wife as I spend with God, she’d have grounds for divorce for desertion.

Yet we all know from experience that when we give God time, we are happy. When we cheat God, we cheat ourselves. We know this from thousands of repeated experiments. And yet we keep running away from God, from communion with God, from prayer, as if it were bitter medicine. We are so afraid of silence and solitude, which are necessary for private prayer, that we give it to our most desperate criminals as the most horrible torture our mind can conceive—“solitary confinement!”

Why don’t we seem to have as much time as our ancestors? In fact, we all have exactly the same amount: twenty-four hours each day. Technology should have given us scads of extra time. Our lives should be oozing with leisure. All those time-saving devices! Yet they’ve done exactly the opposite. The more time-saving devices we have, the less time we have. (The only way to get time is to turn the clock back, not forward!) What went wrong?

Our great-grandmothers took many hours to scrub their clothes on a handheld washboard; we just push a button on a washing machine. Our forefathers had to grow, hunt, and slaughter their own food; we buy it at the supermarket, open the microwave door, and push a button. Yet we are far more harried and hassled by time than they were. Why?

In most ancient societies, the rich had slaves to do their manual work so that they could enjoy leisure. Today, machines have replaced slaves; yet we have less leisure, not more. Why?

This is not the place for a general diagnosis of our society’s sickness. But it is the place for a diagnosis of our excuse for not praying, and I think this diagnosis has many other applications too.

“All that we are begins with our thoughts; it moves as our thoughts move, and it ends where our thoughts end.” So says Buddha, wisely. We must begin here with our thoughtsabout time. We don’t have time for prayer because we think wrongly about time and prayer.

We have time and prayer backwards. We think time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack of time.

When a little boy offered Christ five loaves and two fishes, He multiplied them miraculously. He does the same with our time, but only if we offer it to Him in prayer. This is literally miraculous, yet I know it happens from repeated experience. Every day that I say I am too busy to pray, I seem to have no time, accomplish little, and feel frazzled and enslaved by time. Every day that I say I’m too busy not to pray, every time I offer some time-loaves and life-fishes to Christ, He miraculously multiplies them and I share His conquest of time. I have no idea how He does it; I know that He does it, time after time.

And yet I resist sacrificing my loaves and fishes to Him. I am an idiot. That’s one of the things original sin means: spiritual insanity, preferring misery to joy, little bits of hell to little bits of heaven.

We must restore our spiritual sanity. One giant step in that direction is to think truly about time.

Time is like the setting of a play. The setting is really part of the play, contained by the play, determined by the play. But we often think the opposite: we think the play is contained by the setting. We think that the theme, the meaning, the spirit of the play is inits material setting instead of the other way around.

That’s like thinking the soul is in the body. In fact, the body is in the soul. So says St. Thomas Aquinas. And since time measures the movements of material bodies, while prayer measures the movements of the soul, time is really in prayer rather than prayer in time. Prayer determines and changes and miraculously multiplies time (the loaves and fishes).

But prayer multiplies time only if and when we sacrifice our time, offer it up. There’s the rub. We fear sacrifice. It’s a kind of death.

Our Lord repeatedly taught us that unless we took up our cross and followed Him, we could not be His disciples. This probably means some terrible and difficult things; but one of the simple and easy things it means is to sacrifice our time to God. For time is life—“life-time.”

The point is very simple: in order to create time to pray, we must destroy time to do something else. We must kill something, refuse something, say no to something.

To what? Let me make a simple, obvious, radical suggestion: the TV. Kill the TV. Go cold turkey for a month. I dare you. If you can’t do that, then TV is your drug and you’re an addict. “A man is a slave to whatever he cannot part with that is less than himself,” said George MacDonald.

Every single person and family I know who has done this (voluntarily) has been very happy about it. TV is largely a sewer pipe anyway; why fill your brain and your soul with the waste products from the most bigotedly antireligious elite in our society? Even if there were nothing to sacrifice TV for, it would be good to sacrifice it, to save your moral sanity and intelligence. All the more reason to sacrifice it for prayer. Find out how many hours a week you watch TV and use just half of that time for prayer. You get a threefold benefit: garbage cleanup, prayer time, and extra time left over.

The alternative is the mental slavery we see around us, the juggernaut—the worrying and rushing and never getting there because “there” is not in time at all but in eternity. The modern world is unhappy because it does not touch eternity. All true happiness is a foretaste of eternity.

Eternity is not in the future but in the present. The future is unreal, not yet real. One of the Devil’s most ridiculous and successful lies is the idea that we should devote our lives to pursuing and acquiring goods we do not yet have rather than enjoying the ones we do have. This makes us slaves to time, to the unreal future, forever, for “tomorrow is always a day away.”

The first rule for prayer, the most important first step, is not about how to do it, but tojust do it; not to perfect and complete it but to begin it. Once the car is moving, it’s easy to steer it in the right direction, but it’s much harder to start it up when it’s stalled. And prayer is stalled in our world.

So stop reading and start praying. Right now.

By Peter Kreeft, from www.peterkreeft.com. Republished August 2011.
Read by Simon Peterson.

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Pre-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation Rapture?

The Future

Pre-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation Rapture?
Scott MacGregor

One of the major controversies regarding Endtime Bible prophecy concerns when Jesus will return to “rapture” all those who have received Him as their Savior. Will it be before or after the coming three-and-a-half-year period of worldwide trouble known as the “Great Tribulation”?

The term “Rapture” is not found in English-language Bibles, but made its way into Christian terminology as a transliteration of rapiemur (from rapio, or raptio), the Latin word used by Saint Jerome in his Latin Vulgate translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, which describes how the saved from all ages, both dead and living, will be “caught up” to meet Jesus in the air at His Second Coming.

Jesus placed His return after the Tribulation period. He couldn’t have made that point clearer!

Those who believe in a pre-Tribulation Rapture contend that Jesus will return in secret to whisk all born-again (saved) Christians out of this world and into Heaven. Depending on when they believe the Tribulation starts, this would be either at the beginning of the Antichrist’s seven-year rule or at its midpoint.

Central to this pre-Tribulation doctrine are several Bible passages that liken Jesus’ Second Coming to a thief in the night, and also the supposition that the Second Coming and the Rapture are two different events.

Regarding His return, Jesus told His disciples: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, but My Father only. … Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:36, 40-44).

Here we have Jesus coming like a thief and people going up to Heaven in the Rapture at the same time. There is no indication that these are separate events.

In another “thief” passage, the apostle Paul states: “Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).

“Sudden destruction” and the labor pain analogy make it clear that Jesus’ return will be a shocking, woeful experience for those not taken—certainly not the secret, stealthy Rapture of pre-Tribulation doctrine.

The point that both of these “thief” passages are making is that Jesus’ return will be sudden and unexpected, so we need to watch the signs of the times and keep our hearts right with Him so we’ll be ready.

A third “thief” passage that is often applied to the Rapture is, in context, a specific warning to Christians in the city of Sardis, in Western Asia Minor (modern Turkey) who lived in the apostle John’s day. Jesus says, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you” (Revelation 3:3).

There is a lesson in this passage for us too, of course, and it is the same one that the previously quoted “thief” passages make: We need to keep our hearts right with Jesus so we’ll be ready to face Him when we die or are caught up with Him in the Rapture.

A fourth “thief” passage that is sometimes added to the mix isn’t referring to the Rapture at all, but rather the destruction and re-creation of Earth’s surface and its atmospheric heavens about 1,000 years later, at the end of the Millennium: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

Now let’s look at some of the passages that support the post-Tribulation Rapture theory.

Just prior to His “thief” analogy, Jesus told His disciples: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31).

Jesus placed His return after the Tribulation period—then His angels will gather His elect, all those who have received Him as their Savior, in the Rapture. He couldn’t have made that point clearer!

In addition, the apostle Paul explains that the Antichrist will already be in power and “sitting in the temple of God” when the Rapture happens, and we know from other passages that this happens after the Antichrist breaks the “holy covenant,” which triggers the Great Tribulation: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [Jesus’ return] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin [the Antichrist] is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

Paul also states that it will happen when the last trumpet sounds—the same trumpet Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:31: “The Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we [saved] who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

And finally, it is clear from the prophecies in the books of Daniel (c. 538 bc) and Revelation (c. 90 ad) that the saints—all those who have been born again—will be around in the Tribulation, because the Antichrist will war against them. In fact, several passages are even very specific about the length of this period.

“I was watching; and the [Antichrist] was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days [God] came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. … He [the Antichrist] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time [three and a half years]” (Daniel 7:21-22, 25).

Yes, the Great Tribulation is going to be a trying time, but God will turn it to our good and help us come through it victoriously. Concerning that time, Daniel writes: “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many” (Daniel 11:32-33).

The Great Tribulation will also be a time when many people will turn to the Lord, as those who know their God and understand what’s happening will manifest great powers and win to God’s eternal kingdom many of those who are disaffected with the Antichrist and his regime. The Tribulation trumpets will signal judgments on the wicked—not the just, who will be under God’s seal of protection during this time.

“These [the great multitude standing before the throne of God and Jesus] are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation” (Revelation 7:14). In other words, they were there during it. God will deliver His own out of trouble, not from it!

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I Will Always Prove Sufficient

By Jesus, speaking in prophecy

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I am able to care for whatever you entrust to Me. Sometimes you voluntarily leave things in My hands because you know that I have your best interests at heart, and will always do what is right for you. At other times, you put things into My hands because all of your other resources have failed, and I’m the last option left.

Regardless of your reasons for leaving things in My hands, whatever you give Me to take care of and whatever you rely on My help for, I will always prove sufficient. I am strong enough to bear your burdens, rich enough to supply your needs, and loving enough to work all things together for your good.

*

Since I am helping you to get through today, you can trust Me for tomorrow. While you don’t know how everything is going to turn out, and you may not even have a concept of how things could possibly work, I’m already there. I already know how I’m going to take care of you; simply believe that I will.

You’re making it today, aren’t you? Life is challenging, but you’re making it, right? Trust that I will be sufficient in your future also.

*

When you leave something in My control, you not only exercise faith that I’m going to take care of it, but also that the way in which I will take care of it, and the timing of when I will take care of it, is going to be sufficient. When you leave the whole kit and caboodle with Me, you can then safely bet that while everything isn’t going to happen exactly the way you thought it would, I won’t let you down.

Just back up a little and give Me space to work. I’ve heard you, I’ve understood, and I’m going to take care of what concerns you. Do what I’ve shown you to do in the meantime, but leave the heavy lifting to Me.

*

I’ll do My part while you do your part. But first, we need to divvy up the work. Ask Me what I intend for you to do for yourself, and what I want you to trust Me to take care of for you.

Once you know what your part is, do that part and I’ll take care of the part I told you to trust Me for. Be faithful to do your work, and don’t feel that you have to meddle in Mine. I’ve got it covered. I’m going to hold up My end of the deal.

*

In Hebrews 11 [the chapter describing many men and women of faith] you’ll see that not every person’s faith was the same. But in the lives of all My heroes, faith was central to the performance of the most important act of their life.

I don’t call everyone to have the same kind of faith. But I do call you to hold on to your faith, because through it, you will perform your greatest work for Me. Faith will produce the most lasting accomplishments in your life.

*

You gain peace of mind as a result of your times of deep communion with Me. That is something that will never become outdated. Fight to maintain your connection with Me. That’s how you can have the peace of mind and spirit that you need in order to face every twist and turn along life’s path.

*

It was a drastic change for the children of Israel to leave behind their homes and head for the Promised Land, not knowing exactly what they were going to accomplish in the desert, just knowing that I had promised them a better life.

It will take faith for you, as it did for the children of Israel, to continue moving forward toward the future I’ve promised you. But keep putting one foot in front of the other as you follow the path I’m leading you on, and you will arrive at your destination: a better and more successful life and work.

*

Whenever you’re tempted to worry about the future, that’s the time to make a beeline for Me and to strengthen your faith. Everyone is tempted to worry and fear; that’s human nature. But you don’t have to accept being in a state of worry and fear if you fortify your spirit with faith. Seek Me for My help and answers. Sometimes it can take a lot of time in prayer before you find that place of calm and peace, but when you do, it will bring rest to your mind and spirit.

*

My Word is your faith-builder. Whenever you’re tempted to fear change or fear the future, go to the faith-builder. It will give you the sure footing that you need for each step that I ask you to take.

I’m walking this path toward the future beside you; trust that I know where we’re going. Even if you’re not sure of the steps I show you to take, you can trust Me to lead and guide you safely and well. I love you and care about each step of your life.

*

During times of change and uncertainty, draw closer to Me, go deeper into Me. Let Me be the foundation that you build firmly upon. Many people are building on the shifting sand of this world, but as you build firmly and deliberately upon the rock of My truth, the building of your life and work will stand strong, regardless of the uncertainties around you and the crashing and unpredictable waves of life.

*

As you take hold of My hand, I will not let you go. As you stay close to Me, you have My assurance of supply and protection. As you stop, look, and listen, I will lead and guide you through whatever maze you find yourself in.

*

Don’t doubt for a moment that I will clothe, feed, house, and prosper you. Speak success, speak faith, speak miracles, and you will see them.

*

You may think that you’re in a difficult position, at a disadvantage, out of the loop, and facing great odds. That may be the truth. Men and women who are winners have a special attraction to difficulty, because it is only when faced with difficulty that they discover their power to overcome.

*

No matter where you are or what you’re doing, I’m always with you. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” is an eternal truth that never wanes with the times or conditions, or for that matter, even the seasons and cycles of the heart and spirit.¹

*

During a storm, it’s easy to be preoccupied with keeping your boat steady and above water. That’s understandable. But never lose sight of the fact that I am at the helm of your boat. The key is seeing Me in all things—even in the wind and the waves—and then, in a spirit of faith, trusting Me to see you safely to the shore of victory, just as I always have.

*

During times of big change, sometimes it’s hard to know which end is up. You feel as if you’re hanging upside down and everything in your pockets—the things you’ve held on to and carried around with you for years—are falling out and lying in a heap below you. You wonder if your faith has fallen out of your pockets as well. You’re not sure what to believe anymore. You feel shaky and uncertain.

The winds of change can come and go, and even seem to hang you out to dry, but nothing can change the fact that you love Me and I love you. Love is the cord that binds us, and our love is strong enough to steady your faith in times of change.

Originally published February 2010. Updated and republished May 2012.
Read by Maria Fontaine. Copyright@TFI2012

---

1 Hebrews 13:5.

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How To Fight The Devil!

How To Fight The Devil!

Compiled from the writings of D.B. Berg

Once we are "born again" (John 3:3), we not only find a wonderful new life of love, peace and happiness, we also find ourselves in a WAR!--A war of the Worlds between the World of evil and the Kingdom of God!

In the old World War I trench warfare, it wasn't until you came out of your trench and started attacking the enemy's territory, that he would really open up and let you have it with all of his big guns! Now that you're saved, as far as the Devil is concerned, YOU have "gone over the top", & he will do all he can to oppose and stop you! You are now a Christian soldier in GOD'S Army, and a potential threat to hundreds or thousands of others of the Devil's captives! He knows that you now belong to JESUS forever and that he can never get you back, so since he can't STOP you from being a CHRISTIAN, the next best thing he tries to do is to try to stop you from being an ACTIVE Christian. He'll try to make you a DEAD Christian, instead of a real LIVE one! He'll fight and try to stop you from SERVING the Lord, and defeat you from being a good sample to win OTHERS, because he's afraid that he might lose others from his clutches because of YOU!

GOD'S IN CONTROL!

God's Word says, "We are not ignorant of Satan's devices"--2Corinthians 2:11. We should BEWARE of the Devil's devices and be ON GUARD against the "fiery darts" (Ephesians 6:16) of discouragement, pride, fear, jealousy, selfishness, doubts, negative thoughts etc. which he hurls at us to try to hinder us! But the Enemy can't lay a finger on us unless the Lord ALLOWS him to!--And if the Lord does allow him to, it's only for our GOOD, to make us stronger fighters, to teach us lessons or to drive us closer to Jesus!

Always remember, that as a Christian, you have nothing to fear from the Devil or his forces because JESUS is WITH you! In fact, YOU have POWER over all the devils of Hell, including Satan himself! God's Word tells us, "Greater is He (JESUS) that is in YOU, than he (the Devil) that is in the World!"--1John 4:4. Jesus also said, "ALL POWER is given unto ME in Heaven and in Earth!"--Matthew 28:18--And YOU have JESUS and all of HIS power! He says, "Behold, I give unto you POWER over ALL the power of the Devil!"--Luke 10:19. So through the power of prayer in JESUS' NAME you can rebuke the Enemy & order him to "go jump in the lake and get the Hell out of here!" when he tries to oppress or distress you by speaking to your mind and tempting you with negative or discouraging thoughts!--And he HAS to obey you and FLEE!--James 4:7.

DON'T LET THE DEVIL GET YOU DOWN!

One of the Devil's favourite tools with Christians is DISCOURAGEMENT! He tries to get you looking at your own mistakes, sins, weaknesses and failures! He just picks and picks at all your little flaws and shortcomings and exaggerates and blows them up out of all proportion! This is one of the Devil's favourite tactics. He knows that it's impossible for him to defeat you as long as you keep on fighting, so he tries to persuade you that you're a hopeless case, so you might as well surrender and give up.

What is discouragement? It is a loss of courage resulting from a lack of FAITH. "Faith comes from hearing the WORD of God" (Romans 10:17), so when you feel discouraged, the quickest remedy is to start PRAYING and QUOTING SCRIPTURES and reading the Word and telling the Devil he's a LIAR!--John 8:44. You have to FIGHT discouragement with PRAYER and the WORD! Then your faith will grow, the doubts will flee, and you'll be on the road to victory!

HOW TO RESIST TEMPTATIONS!

A temptation is the thought or desire to do wrong. Nobody can keep temptations from coming, but you DON'T have to YIELD to them! As the wise old saying goes, "You CAN'T keep the birds from flying over your head, but you CAN keep them from building a NEST in your hair!" In other words, you can't keep the Devil from saying things to you and TEMPTING you with his bad thoughts, but you CAN keep from YIELDING to him!

A lot of people condemn themselves & feel bad and wicked because they've thought or been tempted with sinful thoughts, but even JESUS was tempted in all points the same as we are!--Hebrews 4:15; Matthew 4:1-10. It's NO sin when the Devil tempts you to do something, it's ONLY a sin if you yield to temptation & DO it! The way to resist and get rid of temptations and negative thoughts is to read your BIBLE, PRAY and think about the LORD & good, faith-building, encouraging thoughts instead! "Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and good, think on THESE things!"--Philippians 4:8. Isaiah says, "Thou wilt keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose mind is stayed on THEE, because he trusteth in Thee"--Isaiah 26:3. If you keep your mind on JESUS you won't have time to think about the distracting lies of the Enemy!

PRAISE POWER!

The best defense is an OFFENSE, & if you really want to get the Devil on the run, just start PRAISING the Lord! Count your blessings and THANK and PRAISE Jesus for all that He has done for you! The POWER of POSITIVE PRAISE is just terrific and really puts the Devil on the run! Chase the Devil and his darkness away by simply letting the Light in! The Enemy hates songs of prayer and praise to Jesus, and he ESPECIALLY hates our positive, active SERVICE for the Lord! So don't just sit there, do something POSITIVE! Resist, defy & attack the Enemy by taking positive action & doing something good! Go on the attack and THINK positively, TALK positively, SING positively, PRAY positively, ACT positively!

SOCK IT TO HIM WITH THE WORD!

When you're being attacked by the Enemy, don't just stand there & take it, hit him back! Quote Scriptures & sock it to him with the WORD!--That's the way JESUS fought back when the Devil tempted and lied to Him! He just quoted Scriptures: "It is WRITTEN!" He fought him with the WORD!--Matthew 4:1-11.

When it comes to fighting the Devil, God's Words are almost like spiritual bullets or death rays, and they just BLAST him! Every word absolutely ZAPS him! In the Bible's description of a Christian soldier's armour, the one OFFENSIVE weapon described is "the SWORD of the Spirit, which is the WORD of God"!--Ephesians 6:17. In fact, it is "QUICK (alive) & powerful, and sharper than ANY two-edged sword!"--Hebrews 4:12. The Word is the most powerful thing you can use! The Enemy can't take the Word! He'll turn tail & RUN! So the next time he raises his ugly head & tries to tempt, hinder or slow you down, pull out the white-hot sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and cut the Devil to the heart!

MEMORISE SCRIPTURES TO RESIST THE DEVIL!

Often the only weapons you have immediately on hand to fight the Enemy with are the Scriptures that you've MEMORISED. This is why it's so important to memorise and fill your mind and heart with positive, encouraging, strengthening and faith-building thoughts from God's Word, Scriptures that you can continually quote to yourself and even to the Enemy when he attacks you! Fill your mind with the Light of God's Word, and the darkness will flee! Quote Scriptures and really REBUKE the Devil and declare your faith and trust in the Lord & His Word by even quoting it OUT LOUD! Drown his lies out! Just shout! Don't doubt! Kick him out!

ASK FOR PRAYER!

Sometimes we really need HELP from our brothers and sisters to fight the battle TOGETHER against the Enemy! "One can chase a thousand, but TWO can put TEN thousand to flight!" (Deuteronomy 32:30), and it is often a great help to have someone else pray WITH you when you feel oppressed, distressed or attacked by the Enemy! Jesus said, "Where TWO or three of you are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them!"-Matthew 18:20. There is great power in UNITED PRAYER!

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!

The best way to stop an attack is to COUNTER-attack! The best defense is an OFFENSE! Fight the Devil positively! Attack, attack, attack! The Bible says to "RESIST the Enemy and he will FLEE from you"!--James 4:7. We can't just be passive and expect GOD to do it all! We have to be good fighters and RESIST the Enemy! We have to wage a MILITANT warfare against him!

The only way the Devil can possibly defeat you is if you surrender! So KEEP FIGHTING and you CAN'T lose! Keep wielding the weapon of the WORD and you'll WIN! Keep on holding on to God's promises!--Don't let go! Keep on going for Jesus!--Don't stop! Keep on keeping on!

May God help us to be FIGHTERS who like to fight for the Lord with the weapon of his WORD, who enjoy defeating the Devil!

Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family International

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God´s Love

The Heart of It All: The Nature and Character of God

By P. Amsterdam: 

In earlier articles I’ve written about different attributes of God, including holiness, righteousness, justice, wrath, mercy, patience, and grace. Now we move on to God’s love. One of the best-loved Bible verses is 1 John 4:8, which states that “God is love.” And He is. This fact is seen over and over again throughout Scripture, and is clearly manifest to those who know and love Him. His love is seen in many ways in our personal lives so that we can, from our experience, say that God is love. Of course, love is not all that God is. God is each of those attributes that are His nature and character.

God’s love is seen in the triune nature of God. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are love, and they love one another. Jesus spoke of the Father’s love for Him and His love for the Father.

Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.[1]

A voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”[2]

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love.[3]

I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. [4]

While there are no specific verses referring to the Father and Son loving the Holy Spirit, it can be inferred. Scripture does speak of the love of the Spirit.

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.[5]

When commenting on the love which exists within the Trinity, Ravi Zacharias offers the following insight:

If God ever says He loves, who was He loving before the creation? If God says He speaks, who was He speaking to before the creation? So communication and affection, or love, is contained in the Godhead right from the beginning … you see the love expressed within the concept of the Trinity, and Jesus’ prayer is that you and I would be one, even as He and the Father are one.[6]

God’s Care and Provision

One aspect of God’s love is His concern and care for His creation—His divine goodness toward all living things.

The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made. The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.[7]

God’s love extends to every human. Ever since He created human beings, He has loved them. No matter where they stand relationally with Him, He loves them. They may not believe He exists; they may believe He exists but hate Him; they may want nothing to do with Him; but nevertheless, He loves them. His love, kindness, and care are given to them by virtue of their being part of humanity. Human beings were created in God’s image. He loves every single one of us, and His love for us translates into loving action on His part—His care and blessings given to humankind.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” ... So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.[8]

Male and female He created them, and He blessed them and named them Man when they were created.[9]

God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”[10]

The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.[11]

You visit the earth and water it; You greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, for so You have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with Your bounty; Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.[12]

When Jesus told His disciples to love their enemies, He said that in doing so they would be imitating God’s love, for God shows love to and is kind to all, even the ungrateful and the evil. He makes His sun rise and the rain to fall on everyone. God’s love and His loving actions are extended to all people, no matter what their moral standard.

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.[13]

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.[14]

Jesus also expressed God’s love toward everyone when He made the point that if God takes care of the birds of the air and the grass of the field, certainly He will care for people, as they have more value than the birds.

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [15]

Paul, when speaking to the Greeks, made the point this way:

In past generations He allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.[16]

God’s Love Manifest Through Salvation

God’s love for all humankind is most clearly seen in His answer to humanity’s need for salvation. Every human is a sinner and in need of redemption in order to be reconciled to God. God, because of His love for each human being, brought forth the plan of salvation by which God the Son came to earth, lived a sinless life, and died, taking our sins upon Himself, thus making atonement for us. This means that humans can now be reconciled to God, no matter who they are or what sins they’ve committed. Jesus sacrificed His life for everyone, so salvation is available for all who accept it. He did this because of His love for all people, for the whole world.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.[17]

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.[18]

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.[19]

God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[20]

We can see from the above that God loves and cares for all of humanity, that He has concern for us, and that He takes action to care for us physically through His provision as well as spiritually through salvation. He has borne the full weight of our punishment, even though we all are sinners. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we can see that God’s love is self-giving love. It is God’s nature to give of Himself in order to bring about blessing or good for others.

There can be some difficulty understanding God’s love for all of humanity in relation to God’s wrath or righteous judgment of sin and evil-doing. God’s love can be seen in His patience with humanity, in His being slow to anger, in His longing for people to receive His gift of salvation and giving them time to do so. God postpones deserved judgment as a result of His love. He patiently restrains His wrath because of His deep love for those He created in His image. Theologian Jack Cotrell puts it this way:

If God determined to give us what we deserve as soon as we deserve it, we would all have perished long ago. It is His loving patience that puts the punishment “on hold” until it is either set aside (with regard to the one who deserves it) or ultimately applied.[21]

The reason for God’s patient delay in bringing judgment for sin is to give people time to repent, to receive salvation, and by doing so avoid God’s judgment or wrath. It is God’s nature to give people time to choose redemption. He doesn’t wish for anyone to perish, and His patience gives people time to receive His redemptive love through Jesus Christ.

Do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?[22]

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.[23]

Count the patience of our Lord as salvation.[24]

God in His love has made a way that people can avoid the just punishment for sin and be reconciled to Him in a loving relationship. He sent a substitute, His Son, to take that punishment for humanity. He doesn’t pour out His judgment and wrath on the sinner because He has taken it upon Himself in Jesus. All that is left is for individuals to believe it, and if they do, their sins are forgiven, atoned for. That’s God’s love, His gift to humankind. He makes forgiveness of sins possible through His self-giving love. He laid down His life so that people could be reconciled with Him. He doesn’t force them to accept His gift, because He has given them free will, but in His love He patiently waits, longing for all to accept it.

Those of us who have received salvation feel God’s love in additional ways. We have become His children. We will live with Him forever. The relationship we have with Him after salvation is different, more personal, than what we had before. We commune with Him, we grow closer to Him, we get to know Him better. His Spirit abides in us. We feel His love in ways that only those who know and love Him can. As His children, our job is to share the good news of His love with as many as we can, to invite them to become His children and the heirs of His blessings along with us.

You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.[25]

Notes

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Other versions cited are The New International Version (NIV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), The New Revised Standard Version (NRS), The New King James Version (NKJV), and the King James Version (KJV).

[1] John 17:24.

[2] Matthew 3:17.

[3] John 15:9.

[4] John 14:31.

[5] Romans 15:30.

[6] Ravi Zacharias, Ravi Zacharias Explains the Trinity, 2005.

[7] Psalm 145:9, 15–16.

[8] Genesis 1:26–27.

[9] Genesis 5:2.

[10] Genesis 1:28.

[11] Psalm 67:6.

[12] Psalm 65:9–13.

[13] Matthew 5:43–45.

[14] Luke 6:35–36.

[15] Matthew 6:26–30.

[16] Acts 14:16–17.

[17] John 3:16.

[18] 1 John 4:10.

[19] 1 John 2:2.

[20] Romans 5:8.

[21] Jack Cotrell, What the Bible Says About God the Redeemer (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1983), p. 358.

[22] Romans 2:4.

[23] 2 Peter 3:9.

[24] 2 Peter 3:15.

[25] Romans 8:15–17.

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