A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "TWO"

PART TWO I SEE ANGELS IN HEAVEN

Come walk with me, do you smell that? That sweet smell of incense rising up, is the prayers of us His saints (Revelation 5:8). Remember everything that was in the earthly tabernacle was a copy of what is in heaven. Wait do you hear that voice, it sounds like many waters, that's JESUS! That voice is the anionting of His authority. Wait I hear the song of the angels. Stop listen a moment "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come" they sing continually all the time, they are singing to Jesus (Revelation 1:15). And we here on earth don't want to sing more than 20 minutes, better get used to it.

Angels, Angels, Angels so many and they were created beings with a purpose. They're spoken of over and over throughout the scriptures. The world projects them in pictures as only finite minds can comprehend But here is what they are not:

1. They are never women

2. Cherubs are not fat little babies flying around with itty bitty wings. In fact they are called in scripture also Cherubim. 

3. They are not the believers when they go to heaven. We go in our spirit and soul, we haven't got our new bodies as yet.

4. They don't all have wings. We assume one cannot fly without wings but in Ezekiel 1:14 it says they move like a flash of lightening.

What they are

1. Angels were created to serve God and to be ministering spirits to those that are believers found in Hebrews 1:14

2. We find worshipping angels, the angels that guard the glory of God, we find warring angels led by Michael the Archangel, they war in the spirit realm and watch over Israel and us, we have the messenger angel Gabriel and probably he leads others, but he comes to bring the word of God, as we have read before, we have ministering angels, guardian angels and watching angels

 Since we spotted and heard the seraphim as soon as we entered, we will begin with them. These angels have one purpose, to praise God continually. They have 6 wings:

Isaiah 6:2-3 Above it (the throne mentioned in verse 1) stood seraphim; each one had 6 wings, with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Revelation 4:6-8 describe the different faces these created beings, seraphim, had each had a different face, but all had 6 wings and full of eyes and didn't rest day or night , saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come.

Revelation 4:9 whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever.

The seraphim angels are in our words of today the "Praise team of heaven".

The first mention of an angel is the cherubim mentioned in: Genesis 3:24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Again we find that above the mercy seat we saw 2 golden cherubim guarding over the mercy seat.

But we find a lot more about them by looking at Ezekiel. I screenshot a few verses and will add at the end. But suggest you open the word to Ezekiel 9 & 10. Now I read it in the NKJV but screenshot it in the NLT version.

Where the seraphim have six wings cherubim have four wings. Cherubim are the angels that guard the glory of God in heaven and on earth. Now these two are the only angels mentioned that have wings.

Warring angels, who are they? We would compare them as operating as a military led by Michael the archangel. They swiftly carry out the judgments of God and protectors of God's people. We see them mentioned at the beginning of Ezekiel 9 as six men:

Ezekiel 9:1-2 Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, "Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand". And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a battle-ax in his hand. One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer's inkhorn at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

Verse 4 tells the purpose of the writer's inkhorn.

If you go to 2 Kings 6:17 you will see Elisha prayed that God would open his servants eyes, that he might see in the spirit realm, what he saw were warring angels all around them. Anytime you read in scripture of God's army fighting on His people's behalf, that would be warring angels. Fairly certain that in the great tribulation these are the angels bringing judgment on the nations.

Then we have Gabriel, he is the only one mentioned, whether he leads more angels like himself we are not told, after reading a little deeper I realize there are several angels mentioned that came with a word and when it was Gabriel he was named, so he was probably positioned as their leader. Now Gabriel is the angel of the word, or the word angel. He is the messenger sent to give a specific word from God. Example of just a few: Hagar, Daniel, Abraham, Lot, Zacharias, Mary, Joseph, John the Revelator,  Mary Magdalene st the open tomb and then there are the three angels of Revelation 14:6 flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation, tribe, tongue and people.

Then we have ministering angels created to minister to others as God sends when we call out for help. Some may say guardian angels and they could be the same, I don't know, or they could be different. 

When you read Matthew 4 when Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, he had not had food or water for 40 days His human body was weak and hungry. In verse 11 angels came to minister to Him and literally fed Him. These were ministering angels.

Wait, Stop who are all those angels recording in the big books? Let's look a little closer. Those are the watchers/recorders always watching earth recording every single person ever born and their life, Daniel 4:13. There are five books mentioned in the scriptures:

1. The Book of the Living (not the Lambs Book of Life) every person born is written here and all they did in their life is recorded Psalm 139:16

2. The Book of Remembrance, Everything we have done in God's kingdom is found here Malachi 3:16

3. The book/bottle recording our tears, our tears shed in our suffering, tears shed for others is kept here Psalm 56:8

4. The Book of Alms, our giving into the kingdom of God, into His family is kept here Acts 10:4

5. The Lamb's Book of Life the day, the hour, the moment we accepted Jesus' gift of eternal life and surrendered to Him, our name was written in this Book. Revelation 13:8, Revelation 20:12, Revelation 21:27.

Psalm 103:20-21 Bless the Lord, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you hosts, you ministers of His, who do His pleasure

I believe it is an angel that comes to us as we leave this earth and leads us into our heavenly home. One thing is for certain angels are God's created creatures, they are mighty angels, and as soon as God says go they obey.

I could go on and on,  scripture after scripture about angels, but I will only add this in both Hebrews and some of the Epistles, many were worshipping angels and we are told not to worship angels, we are to worship Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. But aren't they beautiful creatures, to see and hear in heaven.

BUT I WANT TO SEE JESUS, IT'S NOT HEAVEN WITHOUT JESUS! While the angels are beautiful and all that, I WANT TO SEE JESUS! 

I believe when we first enter heaven the first One we will see is Jesus!! How did John see Him? 

Revelation 1:12-15 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed in a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as refined in a furnace and His voice as the sound of many waters.

Jesus all focus, all attention is toward Him as He sits on His throne, the angels sing to Him about Him the 24 elders worship Him and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying "You are worthy, Oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created " Revelation 4:10-11

Even here on this earth, He should be our focus, He is worthy of our praise and worship everyday all day, He alone is worthy of our adoration, He gave Himself for a wretch like me, that I might be found in heaven with Him forever, and ever and ever. 

As Jesus Christ is the center of heaven and He should be the center of our lives on this earth. Amen 

A LOOK INTO HEAVEN "ONE"

 

PART ONE

A PLACE CALLED HEAVEN

Now today it will simply the basic foundation that most Christians already know. Yet, I felt we must begin here because this blog goes beyond my Facebook friends. In this world of today many, many people do not believe, God nor heaven or hell exist they simply believe when you die you just no longer exist. Some are under the false assumption that everyone goes to heaven and many other religions teach many different beliefs about heaven. We are going to look at what the Word of God says about heaven and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me and you as we search the scriptures. I will be peeking a lot into Revelation, as it reveals a clear picture of heaven. During this "Look into Heaven", here are the subjects we will be looking into:

1. A Place Called Heaven

     a. The sights we see in heaven's throne room.

2. The Angels In Heaven

3. The Redeemed in Heaven

     a. What we will look like

     b. How will be dressed

     c. Where will we live

     d. What will we do

4. The sights and sounds around us in heaven

Now this one may be included in several different subjects.

5.  A new heaven and a new earth

      a. What we will not see in heaven

And wherever else God may lead us to.

Heaven is where we find the throne room of God. It is in this throne room where Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

Isaiah 66:1 This says the LORD: Heaven is My throne, And earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for Me? And where is the place of My rest.

This heaven that is spoken of, the throne room of God, where Jesus sits at His Father's right hand, where is it? Let's look outside and see, as we read these words of Paul.

2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago----whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God, knows-----such a one was caught up to the third heaven.

Clue, third heaven, are you looking up? What do you see? The blue sky, clouds, the sun if it is day, and at night you see the stars and the moon. This is the first heaven. Now imagine we are traveling in a space shuttle, an traveling through outer space, what do you see? Now we are passing through the second heaven. The third heaven is beyond our reach beyond our ability to see, but it is here we find the heaven we are searching and longing for.

If we go back and read in Exodus 25-37 God is giving Moses very detailed instructions on how to build the Tabernacle, everything in it, and the Ark of the covenant (right here is something there important)

Exodus 37:1-9 is the construction of the Ark of the covenant. Here we find a mercy seat in the center and on either side, facing each other we find two cherubim:

Exodus 37:9 the cherubim spread out their wings above, and covered the mercy seat with their wings. They faced each other; the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.

Now let's fast forward to Hebrews 8:5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

God literally showed Moses what was in the Throne Room of heaven. Let's go to one more, as I was reading in Psalm 99:1 a few years back I read this and my heart skipped several beats as I realized God dwelled at the mercy seat.

Psalm 99:1 The LORD reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved!

Now what is between the cherubim? The Mercy Seat. Our God extends His love, grace and mercy. Now I saved the best for last, we will go to this multiple times as we take a peek into heaven.

Revelation 4 suddenly John is called up into heaven and let's see what he says, just looking at a few verses will look at the others later.

Revelation 4: 2-3 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set it heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Revelation 4:5-6a And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices . Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal..........

We sort of got into a little of the sounds around the throne room, but what does this tell us about God.

What can we see in these verses in Revelation 4:

1. God's position

2. God's power

3. God's perfection.

Though I purposely left out a few scriptures until next time, what did you see when you stepped into heaven's throne room?

1. God is the center of attention, all focus is on Him. We will look at closer next time. And He is beautiful.

2. God's great power, lightening and thunder coming from His throne. Representing His warning to those on earth.

3. His perfection, His purity seen in the crystal sea. There never was and never can be any sin in God.

Now take just a moment and imagine this sight as you step out of this world and into your eternal home. Our finite minds can not visualize that one sight. But it is very real and we will one day see it and our loved ones are seeing it now.

But a lot more to see. So until next time good day or goodnight for me it is 11:30 pm so Goodnight.

STRUGGLES ARE REAL

 https://anchor.fm/linda568/episodes/STRUGGLES-ARE-REAL-e17qdd5

GOD ALWAYS HAS A PLAN

 

THE RIPPLE AFFECT

Reflecting on Sunday's message, and reviewing all that God has brought together in my life for the last ten and half years, I am awe struck at seeing God's providential hand and plan for my life. His plan will propel us forward as we become obedient to each task He sets before us. Yet, it began before ten years ago, it actually began when I was around 53 years old that would be twenty years ago. WOW!! This is long, that's why it is a blog post 😁. And I have shared some from time to time, but this is a reflection of the Ripple Affect of God's hand in my life and I suggest that you also sit back and reflect how God has moved in your life. So let's begin.

1. At around 53 years of age, I had been praying and like normal I asked God this question "Is there anything else I need to pray?" And I heard in my spirit "You did not praise Me!" Now I knew how to thank Him for all He has done in my life, I understood singing praise and worship songs, but honestly I had no clue what God meant for me to do. But God knew I didn't know, He was planting in me what He wanted to reveal to me. So I remembered and I sought Him to understand but I still didn't get it. (Slow learner).

2. Now I am around 62 years of age, active in a church I loved, cleaning houses and keeping my grandchildren. When an opportunity came up for me to clean the Daycare area and the church in the evening, so I took the job, but let me tell you how that opportunity came, I don't listen to the radio and I was working cleaning a house when my daughter called and said she had heard on K Love that this church was hiring someone to clean in the evening, then she said "You need to get that job", so I applied. Now think about it if she hadn't heard and God had not led her to call me or I did not follow through God's plan would not have come to pass as He wanted it to. Though when my mother passed away (who lived with me and I cared for) in my time of grief I found working both day and evening had become too much for me so I quit my evening work at the church.

3. Approximately a year later God removed me from the church I was at and the Sunday after Easter I went to visit the church I had been cleaning the year before. I heard my now pastor say "Church can we not just love on Jesus for a moment?" Then I heard very softly praise being lifted up throughout the room, to my ears it was harmony and beautiful and very different from what I was used to. (I remind him of that every now and then and he says "how do you do that") and I smile.  So I stayed and continue to stay. I said to Jesus one time "I came here to work but I never made a lot of money" His reply "You came for a job I brought you here to worship".

4. I love my church family, and I have served in the kingdom of God as God has lead me right where I am, my family has listened to the leading of the Holy Spirit and have given their love for me in many many ways. As I have given my love for them.

5. When I learned I had a lung condition that had no cure, but life was approximately five years, and I had to quit my job of cleaning and only had my Social Security, my church family never let me down and they continue to pray for my complete healing and are still there for me. I am walking in my healing and did not die three years ago when the doctors said I would. Well praise God! 

6. Then came COVID and Angela got sick and my church family together prayed for her healing and when she died they were there for me. When my adversary began to attack me they wrapped their arms around me and helped me through it all. As my other daughter, Amy, continues to battle cancer they are right there praying with me for her. When I thought why did I have to live to see this, and voiced it even to my pastor, no one judged me they just loved me through it. And God spoke, and showed me why He has kept me that my children needed a mother they could call on and say "pray for me" and my church would never have been praying if I were gone and God wanted them to pray, and my children knew and know they are praying even now.

7. There were times I literally could not see what my purpose was anymore in God's kingdom, and God would gently remind me with these words:

"Pray Linda just pray, pray for your pastors, your church family and speak confidently the truth of My word". So I continue to obey and do that simple thing God asked.

8. In March two months after Angela went to be with Jesus, I asked Jesus "What can I do to bless people?" So He gave me an assignment, some would say a task, in obedience I set out to do this one small task, but it blessed me and gave me back my joy, probably helped me more than the others 😁. It was a costly task, yet, God had already prepared me for that in advance back in April of 2020 my pastor had said inflation was coming we need to stock up on food items, and I did just that and when I used something I replaced it. Now when I needed to fulfill this task money I would have needed for groceries was available to buy the items needed to do what I needed to do. Plus when people began to realize what I was doing many have contributed to the project. The original task was completed on Father's Day 2021. But God changed the task.

9. God then gave me specific instructions on what I needed to be doing now. And in obedience I am doing exactly what He asked. Now approximately 3 or 4 years ago I was asked to take on the responsibility of our card ministry, I said yes, now watch this if I had said no I would not have been able to do the new task God has given me.

10. I almost left God's protection out, not almost I did 🙄. About 3years after I was at my church, I lived in an apartment. One night I was awake all night listening to the neighbors upstairs fighting about 5 am I had a thought to get up and get on my laptop, I sat up and immediately I heard "Don't do it". So I laid back down and fell right to sleep. Twenty minutes later I heard this loud noise on investigation I found a bullet had come through the ceiling where my laptop was and had ricocheted from behind my chair into the living room. The police said if I had been sitting using my laptop I would have been killed. See how good God is.

The Ripple Affect began when at 53 I listened to God and sought understanding, then I accepted a job at the exact church God desired for me to be a part of. And the Ripple flowed in everything I did, when we are fulfilling what God has given us to do all around us will be affected. Our motivation and our behavior is never for our personal glory but to bring glory to God, to willing serve along side our pastors and our church in the kingdom of God. Never to be a taker but to give back into the body according to our ability and to do it cheerfully. Not just to talk a good talk, but put our talk into action.

Hope you have enjoyed my simple testimony of God's faithfulness, His goodness is not just in my life but also in yours. I only went back a short way but could have gone all the way back to my childhood and shown God's hand in my life. Take the time and sit down, if you have never done it before, and allow the Holy Spirit to show you God's providential plan being played out in your life. Never forget God is always working on your behalf even when it seems all of Hell is coming against you. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.  

May God bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you and bring you peace.

THE PURE INTIMACY

OH TO BE HELD IN HIS ARMS!!!

The word the Lord gave me about, His words: "Pure intimacy"! This began on July 14 and continued through Sunday July 18.

Our church on Sunday and Wednesday had been looking at intimacy with our Father, that spending time just us and Him, turning off everything that distracts us. My pastor compared it to a husband and wife relationship; how he and his wife spend time talking between the two of them in their private time, that they don't involve their children in. 

But Jesus began to paint me a picture of the wife in relationship with her husband. This is a tangible physical relationship, (not sexual). There are many times a wife may need the nearness of her husband, times when she can't pray another word, she can't read another word or play another song, she needs her husband. In the privacy of their room and perhaps even in the midnight hours, that in her tears she will curl up next to her husband and say "Hold me", she doesn't need him to ask questions, she just needs him. For a wife this is how those moments feel, "she smells his aroma (not body odor) a smell that says 'that's my husband' best described as an aroma of love, she hears his heart beating as she lays against his chest 'that's his closeness' as she lays in his arms she feels the strength in his arms holding her she feels secure, comforted, resting and she begins to be calm, and if it is in the night she will drift off to sleep".

That is a physical reality with a lot of spiritual meaning, but we won't mention that as yet. BUT, there are many of us women who no longer have a husband to call on when we need them. Oh we can call and talk to a friend, or send a text but it isn't the same. Our family, our friends, our pastors can never replace that intimate moment we once had with our husbands.

 For me I used to say "Jesus can I just sit at Your feet awhile and You talk to me"; but I don't know the exact date when a shift happened, but I found myself saying, especially in the middle of the night when I was awake, couldn't rest, tears and thoughts I couldn't tear down bombarding my mind. I couldn't pray, I couldn't read, I couldn't worship, I could barely breathe, and I would say "Jesus can you just hold me and talk to me for awhile."

And then I felt Him, His aroma of love, His heart resting against me, the strength in His arms that brought me such comfort, such peace, such security that I just began to rest. He begins to speak to me, oh He doesn't bring up all my sins, my failures, my screw ups, no He begins to show me by talking to me about particular scripture, scriptures that revealed my inner man to me. I don't know if I fell asleep while He was speaking or whether I was just so at rest, but I heard every word He said and I found comfort.

Again I heard "That is pure intimacy". 

Now the heart of the matter; we are the bride of Christ, we are His wife and He, Jesus, is our Husband. The bride/wife of Christ includes ALL who are saved and born again, both young and old, male and female. That simply means that in Jesus WE take the position of a wife and HE is our Husband. See it!

Jesus says; "We, His bride, must put aside any preconceived ideas on what intimacy should look like". Each true child of God will have those moments that in their most private time with Jesus, we can only articulate these words, "Hold me, just talk to me"!

When king David brought the Ark of the Covenant (which represents the presence of God) back into Jerusalem, it is written that he took off his kingly robes and put on a linen ephod. It said he put on, that means it wasn't part of the king's garments, but it was part of the priest under garments a gown worn under their priestly garments. How is this significant to things. When we come into our Lord's presence we do not come in wearing our titles, our positions, our calling to be on display; No, we come in humbly needing and seeking only Him, not based on who we are but who He is.

Our relationship and our walk is based on how much time do we spend in intimacy with Jesus, not bringing our petitions but bringing in our heart of love for Him, our hunger for Him, our thirst for Him. In that time we ask "Lord reveal all that is in me that is hindering my walk with You". Then listen as He speaks.

I gave you two different looks at what the intimacy with our Lord Jesus is, 1. Is our private time when we remove all distractions to meet with our Lord a time of conversation where we both talk and listen 2. Those times in our storms that come on us when all we want and need is His arms wrapped around us, both are needed, both are pure intimacy.

Hope someone is helped by this.

ALWAYS VALUABLE

 

TESTIMONY

As we examine and reflect on our lives to look a little closer and go a little deeper, God will continue to reveal strongholds that continue to take our thoughts and actions captive.

2 Corinthians 10: 4-6 (you can read it, this is me just putting it in my words) tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (flesh, of man) but mighty in God. In this we tear down strongholds that taken up resistance in our minds and keep us captive, by wrong thinking. These strongholds have even begun at a young age, could be wrong thinking about ourselves, about others, about God, about church people. In reality even what we thought was right and Godly could only be a religious training or experience. We are told to take all these wrong thoughts captive and bring them into obedience to Christ Jesus. We cannot stop a thought from coming, but we can control whether we catch that thought and accept it as truth. We must capture these rebellious thoughts and put them in their place. How can we possibly do this?

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The only way we can identify these thoughts are they of our flesh, of our enemy, or of God, is by putting His word into our hearts, by knowing His truth that we may recognize the error. Now that was just a backdrop for the rest that I am going to say. For me, at this time, it's the lies I had believed about myself from a child up. Won't give a lot of detail, I have done that before, but another revealing of Linda to bring us to what God has shown me just a few weeks ago.

Because of things I experienced in my early childhood, I saw myself as ugly, and I could not love myself, this was by the age of six, and continued over and over again throughout my life. A spirit of rejection had entered into my thinking and controlled my thoughts. Thoughts that said "I had no value, no worth, unlovable to myself or anyone else" and when this demonic spirit begins to feed into our thinking we can even get convinced of how others think about us, when they don't think that way. Saved at 27 years old but it would be in my 60's before I would learn how to tear down this ungodly stronghold. 

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus tells the scribes the two greatest commandment 1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. 2. To love your neighbor as yourself.

On a Wednesday night as we gathered and were talking about these scriptures, I asked my pastor this question, "How can we love my neighbor when we can't love ourselves"! Now I don't recall what he said all I can say it helped me and changed me, not because he spoke it, but it lined up with scripture and the Holy Spirit worked in me to receive it.

Now let's flash forward to 2020 at my young age of 73. As we sat on a Wednesday night in what we call (well I call lol) our upper room, discussing this once more. I thought I had that covered, yet by Thursday morning the Holy Spirit began to work in me and revealing that in these latter years I had once more devalued who I was in Christ with wrong thinking. What was this wrong thinking?

When we are born we have God given talents when used for ourselves is for ourselves and not God's kingdom; but when we are born again, we receive spiritual gifts that work along side our talent/talents to be used together in God's kingdom. Example: seeing I couldn't sing, etc I for years did not see a talent in me, but then in my late sixties God showed me my talent was "Creativity", shown in my writing, my teaching and in my baking. I know my spiritual gifts, and I know the word says in Hebrews 11:29 that our gifts are irrevocable, these means God doesn't take away from us what He has given. So now we get to my problem and perhaps could even be part of your problem.

I had devalued my gift and my value in God's kingdom, because I no longer saw my God given gifts being used as they once were. Now because I couldn't see beyond how they used in my younger years, they must not be used today (that thinking was a whisper from Satan into my thoughts that I received and accepted. So it set up a stronghold in my mind). As the Holy Spirit revealed this to me, He reminded me of two scriptures:

Psalm 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, tea, we went when we remembered Zion

Now this new generation was rebuilding the temple (spiritually representing the new thing God would do in Christ) while the young rejoiced the elders wept because it was not as the old)

Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted for joy.

As I looked within myself, I saw that in my latter years and seeing I was not as I once was, the reality was I was looking back at how much better my gifts were once used and not used in the same way as today. The reality is that, though I didn't realize it, I was complaining to God that He was not using me as He once did for His kingdom and therefore I must not be of any value.

So once more I had to take captive that lie from the pit of Hell and align my thoughts and my actions in agreement with God's word and in agreement with His goodness and plan for me.

I hope that all who read this and have been born again in Christ, know you are of great value to Jesus Christ and are invited to serve along beside Him in His kingdom. Our gifts may look different as we age but He uses them as He always has. You are loved and God's favor be with each of you. Keep pressing forward, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

OPEN THE GRAVE

 

I'M COMING OUT

Studying about the grave; Hosea 13:14, the grave also known as she'ol (the underworld, the place of hell) comes from sha'al meaning to demand, to ask, to require. Therefore hell is hungry, greedy devourer of humanity, is never full or satisfied, never says enough. 

Proverbs 30:15 The leech (the devil) has two daughters Give and Give! There are three things that are never satisfied, Four never says enough.

1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The grave is also known then and now as the resting place of those whose soul and spirit have left this temporary home we call earth, and for our saved loved ones are in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen, and I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

Hades, was known as the place where all the souls/spirits of the dead awaited judgment. That was before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With the resurrection of Christ all true believers souls/spirits enter into the presence of our Savior.

2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Those who are unbelievers are kept in Hades some say Hell both are temporary holding places waiting for the Great White Throne Judgment.

It is said that when Jesus died He entered into Hell/Hades to take back the keys of Death, Hell and the Grave that is recorded in the scripture above from Revelation 1:8 and found in Ephesians 4:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:18-22.

In Matthew 16 we find these words; verse 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

What are these keys that keep showing up? The keys represent "authority". Jesus has all authority and through His death and resurrection He took away from Satan any authority, he had been given by Adam and the fall of man, and gave His authority over the spiritual realm to His church/His followers.

Hosea 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave (translated from the word sha'al); I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.

Jesus Christ was the ransom paid on our behalf that Death, Hell and Grave would no longer have authority over us and we would no longer have fear of death! Because we know this body, our earthen vessel, is both aging and dying and has been since the day of our birth. 

Search the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50.

Though Hades/Hell is a temporary holding place for the unbeliever, their final destination is the Lake of Fire; read Revelation 20:11-15

Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

The valley of decision rest for every person while we are still in our current earthen vessel, because once death has come we cannot change our destination. The word tells us in 1Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18,  that a day is coming when Jesus will call His bride to come up, when that happens then both the dead in Christ and the ones alive in Christ will receive our new bodies, bodies that are not corruptible but designed for eternal life. As we will receive bodies fit for life eternal with Christ Jesus, the unbeliever will receive, at the Great White Throne Judgment, new bodies that are fit for eternity in the Lake of Fire, burning in torment yet never consumed.

Well what brought me to studying about "The Grave"? Sunday February 21,2021 while worshipping to the song "Rattle" a verse says "Open the grave I'm coming out, Live, Live", I heard God say to me "Too many want to enter the grave with their loved ones, the grave is not for the living"! I was stunned and also remembered the scripture says "He turns mourning into dancing", which is in another song I like, but God said to me as I thought on this"You can't dance in the grave". I do not know the purpose of why God spoke this; but, I know 2 things 1. God never speaks without a purpose and 2. I do know grieving is different for everyone, and some find themselves in a deep state of depression, unable to come out of their loved ones grave and keep on living, grieving is not to be this way. Their memory will never leave us, there will always be moments in time when we cry, desire another conversation, another hug, just a little more time. Yet, we must keep on living and moving forward, always loving them, never forgetting them and yes our lives and our holidays are forever changed. But we are still alive and we are looking forward to that reunion in heaven and we will never be apart again.

Go back and read John 11 about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, notice when he came out of the grave, he still had his grave clothes on. Jesus told those with him to loose his grave clothes that he would be free. We know that before we were saved we were in fact spiritually dead because of our sinfulness. At our salvation Jesus resurrected in us a new life, or also called "we became a new creation". The grave clothes from our bondage is to be released because we have been set free. But at times we want to hang on to some things that Jesus has actually freed us from, and Jesus will have mentors, pastors, spiritual leaders, followers of Christ, to come along beside us and help us take off our grave clothes, it's called discipling. 

 In the spiritual we die daily to self (this process is taking off our grave clothes) and as we place our self desires, will and way in the grave, we are resurrected as Jesus intends for us to be, it is a place of total surrender, as we know when Jesus died He was placed in a tomb/grave and from there He was resurrected from death. With death comes resurrection, and there rest our hope. Whether in our spiritual dying to self or in our physical dying. Never forget as a believer we in the physical only do a change of address, we trade this earthly home for our heavenly home, and in the spiritual we take on the characteristics of Jesus and our forever home.

Actually these are only a tiny bit of an overview of the grave from the physical and the spiritual. Hope it helped someone, perhaps it was just to help me 😁♥️

Be Blessed, Linda

 

PRAY JUST PRAY PART 2

 

 HEARD A WISE & GODLY MAN SAY SOMETHING THAT CHANGED ME!

Just so you know, I will always pray for people, I will storm the gates of hell in prayer for you. I pray when I am silent, and I can pray softly and I can pray loudly. But weeping doesn't come! I assumed it was not as God created me to pray, or possibly because my tear glands are stopped up and I have dry eyes. But I accepted the way I prayed. P.S. there was nothing wrong with how I was praying, but I was about to learn something very important to my prayer life, something God was doing in me when I heard my pastor say.

My daughter Angela, was in the hospital with COVID, fighting for her life, we were at church praying for her, and with great passion in his voice I heard my pastor say; "When I pray for Linda's daughter, Angela, I pray like she is my daughter. We are family and we pray for one another as family". I don't recall every hearing someone say that before, if they did it must have went in one ear and out the other. But this has not left me. Even last night as I slept it was in my thoughts and I had to repent, because I have not prayed as if you were my child, my parent, my sibling, my flesh and blood.

You see when it is my flesh and blood "I weep". I cry out non stop. God reminded me during the night hours of a scripture "We rejoice with those who rejoice, we weep with those who weep." It is found in Romans 12:15. Now this doesn't mean that everytime we pray we need to be weeping. It does mean that when my brother or sister in Christ are hurting so badly that I hurt with them, I don't sit myself up to judge whether their hurt is overly exaggerated, that doesn't matter, what matters is to them it is great pain and I pray as if their pain is my pain. 

We are to pray, some call it "Travail in prayer". I looked up what that meant and here is the definition:

Travail tells God that this is important.....that this matters to you....that you will do whatever it takes to see God move on behave of the person you are praying for.

Do we pray like that for those who are not our blood relatives? God forgive me, for I have fallen short in this. 

I do not believe the "name it and have it" theology that a lot have fallen for. But I do believe in aligning my prayers with God's promises and praying His word over all I am praying for. I have often heard "just pray Your will be done". That is a true statement, but what is His will? We learn His will through His word, so we pray His word, we speak is word, we hold onto His word, we trust His word. We pray expecting God to hear and to answer even when someone is dying we keep praying for their healing until they take their last breath. 

FOOTNOTE: There are times a person may have suffered many years from a disease and the family realizes that it is God's grace, and mercy that Jesus take them home to be completely healed and whole in heaven. But the pain of their loss to us is still great.

On November 24, 2020, I heard God say; "This is not unto death". I knew it was scripture, and for a few days He kept speaking it, so I looked it up, found in the account of Lazarus death, John 11:4. But I held onto that word, I prayed it, I expected it, I believed it. We saw miracles where the doctor said no hope but God stepped in and I held onto that word and I expected it and I believed it, I prayed it and I spoke it. Then came the call on December 26,2020, Angela left us for her heavenly home. And I looked at that word and I said "Do I even know Your voice?"

 "But I read on in John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

As a believer in Christ death does not happen, instead we just have a change of address, our bodies are left here, but our spirit, our soul continues to live. And one day when the trumpet sounds we will be raised in our new bodies and connect with our soul and spirit. We will be known as we were, we will know our loved ones and they will know us. Do you believe this?

But here right where we are we persevere in prayer, we align ourselves with God's promises found in His word, we pray as if they are our family member and we weep with them and for them.

John 11:35 Jesus wept

John 14:14 If you ask anything in My name I will do it

1 John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked Him for.

My finite mind cannot comprehend all of this, but I know who my God is and I have placed my life and my families lives in His hands. Though there are many times my prayers didn't appear to go the way I planned, there were more times they did. So irregardless I pray, and I battle and I weep and I praise. Because the greatest sacrifice we can make is to praise Him when we can't find a reason to.

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Be blessed and keep praying, keep expecting, keep trusting.

 Love you all, Linda

PRAY, JUST PRAY, PART 1

Does God hear our prayers? When do we pray? What do our prayers sound like? Do we expect God to answer or do we just hope He does? What do we do when we hear in our minds "What difference does it make, what will be will be!"

Hopefully we will address these, and more in this short study. But first I want to give you just a few bible verses where people prayed:

David: Psalm 141:1-2 LORD, I cry to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry to You. Let my prayer be set before you as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

(More from David Psalm 142:1-7, Psalm 143:1-12 and many more)

Revelation 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints (All born again believer), ascended before God from the angel's hand.

In Exodus 30 when God gave Moses instructions on building the tabernacle, there was an altar of incense, both morning and night the priest would burn this particular incense with a particular fire, as he would offer prayers up to God for the children of Israel, in this way the incense was to burn continually. This symbolized by the sweet smelling smoke ascending into heaven as our prayers. Today we don't need to burn incense because Jesus Christ is our bridge to our Father's throne. But prayer is to come up to God continually

1Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing

How in the world can anyone pray continually, without ceasing? Well we must be open to the drawing of the Holy Spirit, to enter into prayer. Whether during the day when we suddenly start thinking about someone, or to suddenly wake up at night feeling an urgency to pray. Another thing is we keep praying for someone, or about something in particular, until God answers or God releases us.

Luke 18:1 Then He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.

See that "lose heart" it is mentioned again in Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

"Lose Heart"means to become discouraged, to just give up because we do not see a change. God always hears our prayers and His answer is coming, sometimes while waiting we become discouraged and stop praying. Sometimes God's answer has been sent but there is a battle happening in the spirit realm to stop our answer. Recalling what happened to Daniel, in the Book of Daniel he had been praying and fasting for three whole weeks, then an angel reached him:

Daniel 10:12 Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

It goes on to say that a demonic force in the spirit realm had delayed God's answer. There is the natural realm we see with our eyes and there is a spirit realm that our natural eyes cannot see. Us in our normal prayer life, why would satan and his demons want to stop God's answer to our prayers? So we will become discouraged (lose heart) and stop praying, especially when we are praying for the lost, or the wayward, or healing. Ever been praying for a lost family member for years and then hear something like this in your mind, "He/she are never going to change, they are a hopeless cause" and then you find yourself stopping your prayers for them. That is exactly what the enemy wants us to do, just silence our prayers. Yet, God's word tells us to persevere in prayer. To pray expecting, believing, trusting, Amen.

Psalm 116:1-2 I LOVE the LORD, because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

Oh my my my, those verses so touch my heart. "Inclined" means He leans down toward us.  Do you get it, do you hear what is being said? God the Giver of Life, our Creator loves us so much He leans down to listen to us.

I have heard some say, "God doesn't care about the little things I just pray about the important things"! Let me ask you do you care about the little things in your children's lives? Our Heavenly Father cares about everything in our lives, why He sent Jesus to die for every part of us, He gave us His Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us, to help us in our prayers. We should be not just praying for others, but praying for ourselves. What do I mean you ask? I pray: " Father draw me deeper into You, examine my heart, reveal my sins, forgive me for the words I spoke in anger, the neglect I have given You, teach me Your ways, purify all that is in me that is of You and consume with Your fire all that is not of You." Just a little example. People we have both a gift and a privilege to pray, anytime, day or night, we must not neglect such a privilege that many do not have. God invites us, He beckons us to come into His Throne Room, into His chamber for a time of intimacy. There are times I just want to sit in His presence and not say a word, to be like Mary and sit at the Master's feet, to wash His feet with tears and the oil in my alabaster box. 

Have you been there, in that moment when everything is removed from your thinking, distractions are removed. You won't find that praying on your way to work or sitting in a parking lot at work, though it is ok to do that, as long as you don't close your eyes while driving. In those intimate times we stay until Jesus releases us. Quality time is better than quantity time. Because of where I am in this season, for me my times are shorter and more often, than perhaps some of you.

I think I may stop here, so much more to talk about so I think I will do a part two.

May God bless you and keep you, may His light shine upon you.

WHEN A DAUGHTER DIES A MOTHER CRIES

 

PART TWO

GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING!

As I left off in Part One, as soon as the text came in of Angela's passing, disbelief in what had happened, pain, hurt of HOW CAN THIS BE, and yes anger.

I began to cry out to God "You gave me a word and a scripture I have hung on to that word all this time, believing and expecting Angela to live. Where was my daughter's miracle? GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING! YOUR WORD SAYS, YOUR WORD SAYS, GIVE ME UNDERSTANDING, GIVE ME A SCRIPTURE I CAN HOLD ON TO! I had begun to doubt that I even knew God's voice. And I said You said "This is not unto death"! And I heard very clearly "Angela can never die she has eternal life, do you believe this?" I felt like Mary and Martha when their brother died, "If You had been here he wouldn't have died". And me I was saying "It wasn't suppose to end this way". 

More than I was grieving and in our weakness, the enemy began to whisper things to divide the family when  this is when we needed each other more. But things just kept getting worse, offense, assumptions, until even our gathering together for Angela was dissolved. I know forgiveness must come least the root of bitterness set in. I also know that God will need to bring His healing, His grace, His mercy, His love, His restoration into all our lives.

Before Angela died, I was reminded of King David and Bathsheba's baby when he died, I went back to read 2Samuel 12 to refresh my memory. But Angela was going to live not die, so I dismissed the leading. Until somewhere between January 10 and January 16. First let's back up to my need for understanding, i remembered how I prayed when Angela was placed on a ventilator, I prayed 1. For her healing 2. For her to have peace 3. She would have God dreams 4. And Jesus would sit and talk to her. And I knew all of that happened. Then I remembered a conversation Angela and I had on September 29, Angela called me (now that was historic) she said "Momma what will our heavenly bodies be like?" I told her what I had been taught and told her what the scriptures said. Then I sent her a text with the scripture references (that's how I knew the date), she responded to my text with these three words "I can't wait". Anyone who ever talked to Angela the conversation always went to Jesus and His coming again, she would say "I can't wait". Now Angela never expected to die from COVID what she expected was to go in the rapture of the church. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of a recent message, from 2Corinthians 5 it was how we have a yearning a longing to leave this earthly vessel (our earthly bodies) and be in our heavenly home in the presence of Jesus. Angela had this yearning. Remember I asked "Give me understanding and a scripture"? Well I went back to read and verse 8 jumped out to me, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord"! I now knew what had happened, understanding and scripture, by the way when I looked at my notes for the dates it said November 1. Both the conversation and the word given had taken place before Angela had gotten sick. You see God always prepares us for what is coming, those curves and bumps in the road. My pastor said Sunday "When we find ourselves in trouble times REMEMBER THE WORD". So the Holy Spirit took me back to remember and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that sometime between 7 & 8am on Saturday, December 26, Jesus showed Angela just a glimpse of heaven and I can almost hear Angela say "Let's Go"!

COME UP OFF THAT GROUND

Back to 2 Samuel 12, for 7 days King David laid on the ground in sack cloth, fasting and praying. Then when word came that his son had died, David got up off the ground, washed himself, put on clean clothes, anointed himself, and went to the Lord's house to worship, then home to eat. When his servants questioned him, he said "I can go to him but he cannot return to me"! There is our example of how to handle grief, we get up off the ground, wash our tears away, walk in our anionting and we go to the Lord's house and we worship. And the last part is a promise for every believer, in Christ when our loved one dies and enters into heaven, we will one day go to them.

Both me and my daughters love praise and worship music. Angela when alone in the car, would have it blasting and since she had a heavy foot anyway she would go a little faster even more. Her story was she was worshipping and praising, a policeman pulled her over. Approached the car and said "ma'am do you realize how fast you were going?" Angela apologizing said "Oh officer I had my worship music going and didn't realize how fast I was going". She later told her sister "He wasn't impressed, he gave me a ticket anyway"! 😂

So Sunday, January 17, we said our goodbyes, we celebrated Angela's life, and we worshipped (so thankful for a church family that loves). And now I smile and at times I cry, because I know where my daughter is and I can't wait to join her and be in the presence of my Jesus. 

WHEN A DAUGHTER DIES A MOTHER CRIES

 

PART ONE OF A MOTHER'S JOURNEY

THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!

Let me just say these times from November until today, have been the most difficult and painful days of my 73 years. I really don't know where to begin, I sure don't want to ramble, so let's just start with the beginning. Around November 10 or 11, Angela unknowingly was exposed to COVID when the elderly man that she was a care giver for, daughter brought it with her into the home. On the 13th of November Angela was showing one symptom, a cough, which coughing was normal for both of us. So she came to my home with my other daughter to celebrate my birthday. We ate, laughed and talked and said our goodbyes with a hug. Little did I realize this would be the last birthday she would celebrate with me and the last hug I would give and receive from her and the last time she would be in my home and sit on my couch. (I didn't get COVID and had Angela known she had it or been exposed to it she wouldn't have come to see me that day). Then by Monday 11/17 she was sick, and tested positive to COVID. By 11/23/2020 she was in the hospital, fighting for her life. 

People were praying, and the a prayer group of more people than I can say, continued to pray, praying expecting a miracle, expecting her to live. Even my Angela, she would send a text in the middle of the night "Pray Now", and during the day "Send praise music". And we did that and more, then on Wednesday December 2 at 5:42pm I got this basically final message from Angela before she was placed on a ventilator on December 5,2020:

"I'm expecting complete healing right now!!! No more of this! God can heal me and I'm expecting it."

Expecting, Angela knew that our God, our Jesus was her Healer, she knew He was able and she prayed expecting Him to heal her, as did we also. When they placed Angela on the ventilator I had heard that some who had come off this machine had reported they had great nightmares unending dreams. Before I go any further let me share what they do to someone who has to be placed on a ventilator. First they have to give you heavy pain medication, they give you a drug that paralyzes you to keep your body from moving at all, then they put you in a deep, deep sleep. Angela was placed on a Roto Bed that fastened her in because the bed would rotate into different positions to enable the oxygen to flow through her lungs. The difference in oxygen levels for a normal person and a COVID patient is any oxygen saturation below 94% is considered critical. Angela spend two weeks on a Bipap machine with 💯 oxygen was being forced into her lungs, and when her saturation reached 88% they begin to talk about a ventilator, she held off until hers reached 67%. The ventilator continues to force 💯 oxygen into the lungs with the plan and hope that in time she would be weaned off and breathing on her own.

Immediately my prayer of expectation began 1. Healing, 2. Her Peace, 3. God dreams, 4. Jesus would sit and just visit with her.

I heard God say from November 23 on  "This is not unto death", over and over I heard until I searched for the scripture I knew it was from: John 11:4 and I held onto that word and that scripture I expected her to live. There is a difference in a God dream and a God vision, my first vision that God gave me was of Angela, her back was all I could see, but she was sitting beside the still waters of a river and I knew she was at peace. And I heard God speak to my spirit "She is beside the still waters but you all are beside the raging seas". I understood she was totally unaware of what was happening with her body. On many occasions, we needed a right now miracle to sustain her life, prayer requests went out and God sent His miracle that even shocked the medical staff. This happened 3 times to 4 times. Then at church I had another vision: I saw Angela standing by the river waving at me like she was trying to get my attention, I heard her say "I love you Momma". I sat there thinking the worst and the exact same vision kept coming, then I realized she had on her earthly clothes, she was trying to get my attention that she was still here. And we kept praying and believing and trusting. Christmas came, and on December 25, during the early morning hours before December 26, I had a very real dream: I was at the hospital praying over Angela, and speaking to her doctor about our God can make his impossible possible. I left the room got on the elevator and suddenly Angela was beside me in her hospital gown but she appeared younger. She said "Come back Momma". So I went back and again began to pray over her and played the song Rattle. I remember saying "Angela I need to know you are still here, I need you to respond" immediately she raised her arm and grabbed my wrist. And I woke up believing the dream said she was going to live, then came the text message at 7 am "two cardiac arrests, barely a pulse" next text "Angela died at 8:05". My heart stopped in unbelief. Broken, despair, not understanding, why no miracle for my daughter, what did the dream even mean? God showed me that He had allowed me to once more pray over my daughter and allowed her to tell me goodbye. Some of you may not believe God gives dreams and visions but I am here to tell you that He still does, what God did was show me Angela in her spiritual state not her physical. But oh God how it hurt, I cannot begin to explain the pain, the tears and yes the anger that was tearing me apart.

This only part one of a mother's journey, I will post the remainder very shortly. It helps me to write.