http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/6.html

He loves you.  Not just when the chips are down, the jig is up, the carpet is pulled from under your feet or you have fallen into miry clay, He is there through it all.  I welcome the tragedies not out of some odd masochistic tendency toward pain and tragedy, but because each time, the LORD shows up in the midst of my chaos, it strengthens my belief and trust in His Word.  However, I pray that I have become strong enough to take it on faith and no longer need to be proven His existence as He periodically saves my keester from the fire.  I do not wish to be one of those who needs miracles to believe.  We must remember that an imposter will come upon the scene who will claim to be Messiah and will use signs and wonders to trick humanity.  Pray for discernment, stay close to home and remain vigilante with oil in your lamp.

Man’s love has grown cold, governments seek to suppress their people because they have no ready solutions for the problems that confront us and people embrace their despair for they don’t know God’s peace.  You tell me your review of today’s circumstance.  Have you subjected yourself to choosing intimidation, victimization or avoidance or have you accepted that there must be a truth that lay outside the current list of options?  I tell you that God is the only way for the salvation of mankind.  Drug dealers will never support wiping out addiction, politicians will never outlaw curbs to contribution and influence pedaling and greedy men will never resolve the plight of the poor nor will bloodthirsty men allow you to take away their power or instruments of destruction.  God alone provides the path to peace and reformation by believe in and reliance upon Jesus Christ our Lord.  

2 Timothy 3:1-9  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You want me to pray for you, but are surprised when I offer my hand to lift you out of your trial.  You laugh nervously when you realize I really did mean it when I said that I would come and help you through this time of trial.  It took you two days to decide to accept the kindness we offered because you had become jaded and disillusioned by the world’s conditioning into thinking no one would ever step out of their comfort zone to assist.  We are here, I am here, because you are worth loving.

God promised us so many things.  I will never live up to any of them, but the power of grace allows that I am not supposed to be worthy.  Great Scott, these are gifts and that is what makes them so precious, so glorious, so impossible to achieve by man through effort, thought or ingenuity.  Our job is to believe, that is it.  If you believe then Jesus has done the rest, just keep on believing.  Certainly it is more complex, in that we have to ask the Lord for longevity and fortitude in our faith so that we make it to the end of the race maintaining our focus upon Him.  But it still comes down to believing in what He has done and is still yet to do.  Believing for a lifetime is assured by really believing for a moment, then the Holy Spirit indwells us to make it possible to reside, abide and build upon our limited faith, stretching toward understanding.

This is not a chore, this serving Jesus Christ.  His yoke is light.  Do no fall prey to disinformation, tempting you to accept that it is arduous in any way to be Christian.  The Lord sets us free from the power of sin, death, the flesh and devilish machination.  I am sorry that the marketed story line offers an alternate view of this glorious and grace-filled gift.  It is wonderful to know, standing comfortably without doubt, that we are in one to one relationship with the Creator of the Universe.  There is no other avenue to peace than pursuance and edification of this foundational and pivotal relationship.  Yes, there are temporary pleasures associated with worldly victories.  You may even achieve a modicum of sensory satisfaction from whatever stimulant raises your boat in the surf, but like anything it life it is “always” temporary, remaining subject to the limitations of time, change and death.  The only achievements residing outside of the controls of time and entropy are those issues built upon the Spirit of God through belief in Jesus Christ.  Construct your eternal life through relationship with God, build things that will outlast your limited time on Earth, believe and be set free from the scientific laws and limitations of humanity.

Do not believe the line that you are being fed about your place in a collective valuation.  You were beautifully, uniquely and wonderfully designed, by God to display a panorama or gifts gathered within a single person to point everyone else to God’s Glory.  Our purpose is to show everyone else the possibility, peace and sole-sourced opportunities available through trust, relationship and love with God.  Do not fear man, for God has your back.  They may take this temporal existence, freeing you from this earthly shell only to realize that your life beyond this one is something exponentially greater.  They will never win, even if they are allowed to dispatch you that is the misery of despair which all those in opposition to God must eventually face.  Their gains will be sensory, fleeting and temporary ours are everlasting.

The price of truly knowing.  So many mock Peter, but they forget that he passed the test of true belief and was eventually martyred for his allegiance to Christ.  I can passively stand for Christ, comfortable in my arm chair, passing judgment on the world’s actions, working out my salvation with trembling.  Or I can go out and make a difference for the Kingdom, bearing Spirit filled fruit to the Glory of God, knowing that even if my life be forfeit, I am heaven bound.  Who are your enemies, are they people who simply don’t like you or are they the dark infested and fallen spirits who oppose God Himself?  The price of being Christian is being paid by our Brothers and Sisters, even now in North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, yet we remain idle, in fear, capitulation, ignorance or self-interest.  If we will not fight then we must Pray to Almighty God for intervention.  We are now facing Peter’s moment and the price of truly knowing.  What will history document on our behalf?

If I ventured this life without an original thought, memorable achievement or notable statement, but managed to preach the salvation of Christ upon Calvary’s Cross, then I will have overcome with resounding victory.  Lord, if You have chosen not to disclose a thing to my curious heart, should I continue to dredge up solutions, ideas or seemingly plausible explanation?  Or should I content myself in faith, knowing that if You intended such revelation that Your Word, Your messengers and Your promise would eradicate my confusion and question?  Am I Your man or are You a convenient design of my need, imagination and a lucky appendage by which I may leverage luck and effort?

What You have said makes sense and even in the instances where my flesh and the fallen spirits attempt convincing confusion and contradiction, faith rises above inquiry.  The enemy knew that his head would eventually be crushed by the seed of this woman.  Therefore, his only opportunity for destiny avoidance was to taint the pure blood line, cut off the seed or eliminate through genocidal anger the nation into which God would be born into the material world.  Nothing else explains the unjustified anger of so many nations against the Nation of Israel.  They have been pursued, harangued, imprisoned and murdered at each historical opportunity for no other plausible explanation than that they are promised of God, destined to call out again to the Saviour and welcome His coming Kingdom.  God’s enemies only have one option left to prevent His people from crying out to the Saviour for return.

I am no prophet, men wish me no pastor, for I will only speak the truth about the church and those that practice the rituals of the Nicolatians covet religious authority.  We who believe are the temple, the Holy of Holies of the Most High God, no building, business, supper club or membership trumps that truth.  There is no man, or woman between me and God, nor I standing upon an elevated dais between you and He.  We are all the same in our connection to the Father through the Saviour, the Pure and Holy Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world, once and for eternity, the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no other door, no other Saviour, no other God, no other way to eternity whether through belief and salvation or disbelief and judgment, Christ awaits all men at their passage from this life.  None shall escape, most shall wish they had listened and some shall hear now and become new creatures dedicated to His purpose.  I pray the latter for all, especially those who have been graced to know the truth and respond in faith.

• Those who are called
• Sanctified by God the Father
• Preserved in Jesus Christ

What does it mean to be one of those who are called?  Charles Stanley, a beloved Pastor and speaker, well known for his classic preaching style, gives us a solid description of this topic.  http://www.jesus.org/following-jesus/evangelism-and-missions/what-does-it-mean-to-be-called.html Beyond that wonderful explanation, we all clearly understand what it means for anyone to “call” us, to reach out to a particular person with a specific request, desire, favor or command.  Are you one of “those who are called”?  In many cases this refers to Christians or the Church to those who have been called out of the world for service to God’s Kingdom.  Do you feel the calling?  Can you put it to words and if so have you included it in your discipling or testimony?  What could be a more effective conversation about your salvation than the moment that you felt God’s calling upon your life?

Sanctified, set apart, made Holy for God’s intention.  We who have been called of God, have been set apart from the world, or sanctified for God’s Purpose.  We have been included in a new grouping of humans, made righteous by our belief and subsequent redemption by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  Sanctification to some literally means for a thing to be employed toward its intended purpose, as evidenced here by the following; http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sanctification/  Sanctification is nonetheless a work of the Father, the designer, so it is something that was codified into the original plan for our redemption.  God calls us to be Holy and we are naturally called saints, “the sanctified ones”.

Preserved in Jesus Christ.  Protected, maintained, kept safe for the duration of time deemed necessary by the coming Kingdom of God.  Do you feel preserved, kept, covered, kept alive until the coming of eternity through the Glorious Appearing of Jesus Christ.  What do these first two line of the Epistle of Jude do for your hope?  Does it strengthen you to know that you have been called, sanctified and preserved?  If just two lines of the book edify you so, what then would happen if you were to  read several paragraphs?

Be alive in Christ, be Holy, Righteous and True as you have been called.  Praise God in Jesus’ Holy Name.

Maybe.  Maybe, I could accumulate a whole bunch of stuff, gold, silver, cash and property, then I would be at peace.  Perhaps, I could indulge my sin, my wildest imagination let loose to pursue its own desire, this would most certainly bring a sense of completion to my wanton heart.  Maybe, I could ignore the world and find some desolate or hidden grotto in which to encapsulate, this would stop the pestering of worldly wants, emotions, taxes and temperament.  Perchance, I could gather up favor, power, authority and position, such that no one would dare question my pursuits, this would give me control, influence, lasting peace, through which no opinion could venture.  Maybe, I could find my soul mate and lose myself in her eyes, dreaming, protected, safe in the essence of her magical and endearing love.  Paris really looks perfect on a post card doesn’t it, and in the daydream guide book there is nothing but free stuff, smiling people and streets without the homeless.  Why can’t I sell myself the elixir of delusion and forgetfulness?  Why must I see things for what they are and what they might be, rather than just carving out tapestry of my own fairyland wanderings, musings and mysteries?  You see we all know the truth, yet even now my nation is lost in the collective delusions regarding each of these fantasies.  People have bought the lie that somehow a position, power, wealth or romance will fill that empty space in each of us that was reserved for our God intended purpose and relationship with our Creator.

I have traveled each of these roads and found as reward, dust or despair.  It is a sad reality that one may not be filled by the accumulation or realization of our own desires, but it is what gives this life that robust quality beyond mere existence.  This is not all that we get, that idea is freeing to some and confounding to others.  For many of us cannot see beyond the horizon through faith to an eternal promise beyond self actualization.  If I were my own God then this life and its resultant fulfillment or despair would depend entirely upon the limits of my capacity, birth right and chance.  If you inspect it from a distance you see that the ethical relativist pursuits actually commit us to a complete loss of control, leaving all to luck and effort.  Yes, I may see abundance, yes I will work to achieve great things utilizing each of my God given talents, but I know that the outcomes are from God.  Look at those who have been deemed the most successful throughout the ages and the greatest of these were always those that chose to serve others eschewing self.  For we were not designed for self fulfillment, although that is built into our componentry as a characteristic, we were meant for God’s Good Purpose.  Without it we are left to minor fulfillment, successes and settling for less than our best.

Seek God and His Purpose for your existence.  In this relationship is the only fulfillment for this mortal life and the only access to eternal life.  Chase daydreams if you must but understand that none of these will ever fill that emptiness within your God designed spirit.  Praise God for His loving kindness, mercy and wisdom.  Jesus my God.