Sept 4
Seeking God's Blessing
According to a research report on Christian life, in any given week, 85 percent of Christians will spend some amount of time in prayer. In another survey, about two-thirds strongly agreed with the statement, "I believe in spiritual healing." Despite these high numbers, only about 25 percent of believers can cite a specific prayer that God has answered for them.
There is certainly no lack of Bible passages that support the effectiveness of prayer. Several passages imply that God is just waiting for an opportunity to bless His children. Here are a few examples:
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it]" (John 14:13-14).
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).
Rapture Ready is a shining example of how a faithful prayer-based ministry can be blessed by God. Most prophecy sites are lucky to receive a few hundred hits each day. RR averages 55,000 page hits each single day. Some internet ranking services list RR as the most visited website in the category of prophecy.
The blessings of God don't always instantly appear before us. Prayers have helped RR rise to prominence, but that intercession has been matched with many years of hard work.
The fact that all Christians don't live in mansions or lead carefree lives certainly indicates that God not operate like a magic genie, granting our every wish. In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that any blessing we receive from the Lord is totally up to His will.
"For God said to Moses, 'I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.'
So receiving God's promise is not up to us. We can't get it by choosing it or working hard for it. God will show mercy to anyone he chooses" (Rom. 9:15-16).
"...Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Rom. 9:20-21).
There are no absolute guarantees that God will answer prayer; however, I believe if we dedicate ourselves to serving the Kingdom of God, there is a strong likelihood that the Lord will eventually bless our efforts. What makes a response for God almost certain is the fact that He will never allow someone to say, "Lord we trusted in you and you never helped us."
A key Scripture is 1 Corinthians 1:29: "That no flesh should glory in his presence."
On Judgment Day, when all of humanity stands before the throne of God, we will likely find that "no flesh will be able to glory" because everyone failed at some point to handle the blessing that God was willing to pour out. Many ministries are so involved in pride and erroneous doctrine, they block the grace that might come from the Lord. Even worse is the fact that most ministries try to accomplish things through their own power.
Being a student of prophecy isn't about sitting on our rocking chairs waiting for the Lord to take us home. The day we become a believer in Jesus Christ, we take the responsibility of sharing our faith with others. If you were saved 20 years ago and the rapture happened tonight, God would certainly want to know what you were during all these years. My goal is to occasionally provide tasks to spare people from facing an embarrassing moment.
Here is list of prayer requests that I would like to ask everyone to take before the Lord:
We will be able to continue to expand the site's reach.
We will not stray from the foundation of the Word of God.
The site will meet its financial goals.
The Lord will continue to draw various media outlets to RR.
The site will help Christians to mature in their faith.
The site will encourage pastors to preach and teach the prophetic Word.
And one dear to my heart: The site will be able to witness to millions of people after the rapture.
-- Todd
Our Struggle…A Sure Signal
Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf while sitting out a jail term. He dictated to Rudolph Hess about “my struggle,” as the book title’s translation from German to English goes. The Apostle Paul told Christians about our struggle in this world. Strangely, it is the same struggle faced by arguably the most infamous mass murderer who ever lived.
The source of this struggle is at the heart of everything we do in this life. It is the source that must be dealt with, and that is why we see the many signals of the end of the age taking place around our lives, our neighborhoods, our nation, and the world. The increasing intensity of the conflict, and the wave after wave of assaults by the source point directly to Christ’s soon return.
“And, when ye shall see all of these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 21:28). This prophecy by Jesus should alert every believer who is attuned to God’s prophetic Word and who is keeping up with local and world conditions that these things, in combination, and with the frequency and intensity with which they are increasing, constitute a sure signal that we are at the end of the age; the world is on the brink of the beginning of the tribulation.
Spiritual warfare is the struggle; Satan is the source that keeps it stirred --indeed, is stepping up the conflict. Our struggle, like Hitler’s, is wrapped up in the following: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
The all-important difference between the fuhrer’s struggle with these dark powers in high places and the wrestling match experienced with them by Christians is that those who know Jesus Christ as Savior can’t be possessed by them. Hitler obviously was possessed by them, and he welcomed their guidance and influence.
He once told of being alone in his office when he came face to face with the “ultimate man.” From this supernatural visitation, the Nazi form of the Aryan Uberman (superman) was born. We know the result of that encounter. The terrors of Dachau, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and other hellish chambers of horrors were spawned.
There isn’t much I agree with the Catholic Church about, but regarding Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin being possessed by demons, I can find common ground. I found one interesting report in this regard:
“Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Stalin were possessed by the Devil, the Vatican's chief exorcist has claimed. Father Gabriele Amorth who is Pope Benedict XVI's 'caster out of demons' made his comments during an interview with Vatican Radio.
Father Amorth said: ‘Of course the Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and entire populations.
I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the Devil. You can tell by their behaviour and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders. That's why we need to defend society from demons’" (Nick Pisa, "Hitler and Stalin were possessed by the Devil, says Vatican exorcist." The Daily Mail, August 28, 2006).
We don’t have to think very hard or look very long to find Hitler-like atrocities in our own time. Consider Saddam Hussein and his now-deceased notorious sons. They committed heinous crimes against humanity that can only be described as demonic. Consider the militants of Islam who send their own children out with explosives strapped to their bodies to murder Jews and others. The struggle against the rulers of the darkness of this world isn’t getting any easier. It is observably increasing with frequency and intensity –the birthpangs that Jesus foretold in His Olivet Discourse.
Those rulers in high places are at the heart of the Iranian plans for the rest of us. The nuclear program is, no doubt, directly from the mind of the Prince of Persia, against whom the prophet Daniel’s angel wrestled.
This struggle that is growing daily is one of the reasons I wrote my novel,
The Rapture Dialogues: Dark Dimension. We must be aware of these creatures, who Jesus Himself foretold will again attack humankind like they did just before the Flood: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man” (Lk. 17:26).
We wrestle as never before against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The struggle is a powerful signal that we are at the very end of the age.
-- Terry
