CALM BEFORE THE STORM

CALM BEFORE THE STORM

                This morning I was greeted with a picture of President Trump and a group of His military and political staff, enjoying a photo op. During the photo shoot, Trump gave warning that this may be the calm before the storm and he asked for his military advisors to come up with immediate options concerning both Iran and North Korea.

                We are living in a specific timeframe when never a day goes by in which there is not a devastating announcement either in nature, or the military arena or in the political arena. In every one of these arenas Bible prophecy is being fulfilled so fast that we can barely keep up with it.

                It takes many puzzle pieces to make up the big picture and indeed there are other elements that must be included in fulfilling prophecy. One of these involves the harvest of those who are being called out of Babylon and the other element involves the growing relationship between the Bride and the Bridegroom.

                In that latter subject, I have begun to write a daily journal of my conversations with the Lord. I would love to share some of them with you, but some of them are too personal while others include Yeshua speaking in the first person, because our conversations are 2 way and He speaks to me even as I speak to Him. I have promised not to speak directly for God or to put words in His mouth and so these conversations will remain private. However, the insights I gain from these conversations I will try to share from time to time.

                When it comes to hearing God’s voice, Jesus said, “My Sheep hear My voice.” And while people claim to believe every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, they nevertheless scorn the idea that we can actually hear Him speak to us.

                In reality God is speaking to every one of us all the time. Whether we hear Him or not, He is constantly shaping and forming us with His words. Just as He spoke into creation, so He speaks into His New Creation and in our New Birth we have been equipped to hear Him if we will listen.

                In reality, hearing His voice in our hearts is not as farfetched as we might think. There are three voices speaking to us on a constant basis. They are the voices of the world (Satan), of the flesh (self) and of the Holy Spirit. Now if you stop and think about it for a minute, you pretty much know when it is the devil speaking. He always calls you away from faith and faithfulness. It calls you to please the flesh. He calls you away from the Bible and prayer. It calls you to get busy doing things that don’t count for eternity. We invest way too much of our time working for things that we can’t take with us.

                So if your flesh and the devil agree with each other, you have chosen the devil as your father and you will become like him. But if you have chosen God as your Father, then you will listen to His Holy Spirit and you will become more and more like Yeshua. You will walk in the “Spirit and not in the flesh.

                So you know what the devil sounds like and you know what your own thoughts sound like as you daily, or even moment by moment choose between Christ and Satan, so that is 2 out of 3. How much harder can it be to begin to sort out the voice of the Lord as He calls you into fellowship with Him?    Once you do begin to recognize His voice, (Usually not audible, but as a flow of thoughts that seem to come from outside of you) you will realize that He is providing much more information than you dreamed. Up until now you have prided yourself in your own clever solutions, thoughts and insights, but as you learn to recognize His voice you will begin to understand that your body is the temple of God and as such He is very much integrated into your spirit. The two of you have become one in spirit. His thoughts have become your thoughts, but His thoughts are always higher, better, bigger than your own.

                With this in mind then, read the following text:

                Speaking of the mysteries and the wisdom of God Paul says: “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him. Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor. 2:10-16”

                Friends, we need to meditate on and pray over that text until we receive a divine revelation of its meaning. Paul is not just talking about himself here. He is talking about every born again child of God.

                Unfortunately a large portion of the church is made up of “natural men.” The things of the Spirit are foolishness to them because they are spiritually appraised.

                I hate to think what a monumental chore it would be to get up and write an article every morning if the Lord did not help me. He floods my mind with thoughts and ideas, concepts and perspectives. He helps me to see things through His eyes. He helps me to put all of the disparate pieces of this complex puzzle we call life into a big picture that somehow makes sense. We begin to see everything as it appears within the divine flow of His grand purposes. If you feel conviction when you read, it is the Holy Spirit, not me. Worship the Lord and give Him all glory and honor and praise!

                This does not make me a prophet either. Everyone can hear God’s voice if they will listen. And it doesn’t make me infallible. Remember, that which the Lord teaches us in our spirit still has to pass through the filter of our fleshly mind. The message can get muddied up. It can even get distorted if our hearts are not right with the Lord. We will bend the message to please our own flesh.

                So in order to become clean carriers of God’s truth, there must be a constant dying to self and to the flesh and a constant hungering after the Spirit of God and the truth of His Word. We must lay down our lives so that the greater life of Christ may be seen.

                Like Donald Trump said above, we are in the calm before the storm and we desperately need to hear God’s voice in our own hearts. Just like that man that came on Facebook the other day, Satan and his followers are going to mock you and ridicule you and say all manner of evil against you. Can you imagine how twisted they are to put born again Christians on their list of terrorists? Well, this is the way the tide is going to turn and if we do not have a relationship founded upon the Person of Jesus Christ we will be in danger of falling away. Every war and every bad thing that happens in the near future will be blamed upon Christians just like the United Nations irrationally blames everything on the Jews.

                We somehow need to look above the little problems we have from day to day and prepare ourselves to face much bigger problems. Of course, the little problems are there for our training, but we need to have that perspective so that we don’t become obsessed with the little things. We will be thankful for every small problem over which we gained the victory through Jesus Christ. These things will prepare us to face the bigger things if we face them rightly.

                I believe that we are in the calm before the storm. (And it isn’t really that calm if we look around us, for everything is reaching a boiling point.) I believe the blood moons and the solar eclipse announced to us that we have entered the general season of the tribulation. Everything from now on will slope towards those final events. You had better believe that God is fine tuning all of earth’s events so that they fit the pattern of prophecy. He speeds up things in one place and delays them in another. He is guiding the nations and their peoples to their personal and corporate destinies.

                 He is shouting to us from the sky:”Get ready. Don’t focus on what you’re going through… Focus on what you are going to. Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.”