God's End Time Purposes

 God views the past, present and future as one event. He knew man's penchant for depravity and our eventual need for Jesus as our Savior. He crafted His end time plan prior to establishing the earth. He dwells in eternity and is not restricted by time as we are. He had a major plan for humanity and it has now almost entirely unfolded.

The anti-Christ's rise to power may be happening as I type. However, God will remove His Saints from the earth before the anti-Christ is ever revealed (1 Thessalonians 5:9). God will judge our works and reward us at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). We will be dressed in our wedding garments, which are made from our righteous works for God, while we are alive on this earth (Revelation 19:8).

Then we will have a wedding feast with Jesus in Heaven (Revelation 19:7-9). At this same time, the torment of the Great Tribulation is taking place on the earth. Jesus opens the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments, which bring devastation and destroys the corrupted earth and the people on it (Matthew 24:4-31; Revelation 6-19).

During the Great Tribulation, the two Jewish witnesses will preach in Jerusalem while 12,000 from each of the Jewish tribes will go out through the earth to win the lost Jews to Christ. God will save those in Israel who choose to believe, and these Saints will give their lives in martyrdom. At the end of the seven-year Great Tribulation, Jesus will return to the earth.

This is called The Second Coming of Christ (Revelation 19:11-21). We, His Bride, are coming with Christ in our immortal, glorified bodies at this same time. The Word of the Lord defeats all the armies of the world assembled by the Anti-Christ at the "Battle of Armageddon" (Revelation 19:11-21). Then He will lock up Satan with all of his demons in the lake of fire. We will rule and reign with Jesus during the Millennium (Revelation 20:3).

Prayer:

Father God, You never send judgment without first sending warning. Noah believed Your counsel about his time's coming Day of Judgment and he built the Ark. He preached Your plan for 120 years. He and his family heeded Your forewarning and were saved from Your wrath (Luke 17:26; Hebrews 11:7), while everyone else perished. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the end times (Matthew 24:37). Thank You for saving us, and making us part of your eternal plan. Please, draw our loved ones, who do not believe, to come to Your loving heart now, before it is too late.

Thought for the Day:

God has not yet poured out judgment on evil, because He has been storing up the cup of His fury since the sin of Adam and Eve; He will dispense it during the Great Tribulation. - Revelation 14:10

Part 1 - Is Satan Real?

Satan is not the little man in a red suit with a pointy tail and pitchfork, but he certainly is real. God created him as an angel of mighty power. Yet, this was not enough for him. He led a rebellion of angels against God and he lost (Isaiah 14). He only won the distinction of “ruler” of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), “spirit” of this world (1 Corinthians 2:12), the prince of the “power” of the air (Ephesians 2:2), the “enemy” (Matthew 13:25,28,39) and the “god” of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4), but his end is to be bound up in the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10). 

Satan inspires humans to seek gratification, ambition, status and the riches of this world to the detriment of our relationship with God and our family. He encourages us to enable others, boast in pride, take what we want, give in to the desires of our flesh, and make life miserable for everyone around us (1 John 2:16). He whispers lies into our mind, and we react to them with accusations, unforgiveness, bitterness, spitefulness and revenge.

Satan keeps us living in fear, so that we abandon our responsibilities, thwart our blessings from God, and escape into the fantasy of addictions. Self-indulgence becomes our motive behind our every action. Self-preservation causes us to build walls around our heart, which makes us run when confronted or easily angered to keep people away. He condemns us until we hide behind masks, because we are afraid of people seeing who we really are. (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5)

Satan loves to make us blame God for all the ills in the world. He gives us foul names to call Him and encourages us to disrespect Him and diminish Him in the eyes of others. He encourages us to believe His lies as the truth, and to consider the truth of God’s Word as the lies (2 Thessalonians 2:11). He undermines God’s purpose in our lives. He keeps us in turmoil and causes us to fear God. God never tempts us to sin; however, Satan’s favorite pastime is tempting us to indulge in our favorite transgression (James 1:13-14).

The last thing Satan wants us to realize is that although we live in the world, we do not have to live as part of the world (John 17:11,14,16). He encourages us to fit in with the crowd, and to covet our neighbor’s wife and goods (Exodus 20:17). Spiritual warfare is very real and constant, but Satan would rather make you believe it does not exist (Ephesians 6:10-20). He tempted Jesus on the mount three times, but Jesus contradicted every word Satan spoke by using the Word of God (Matthew 4:1-11). We can follow in Jesus footsteps.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You were tempted in every area that Satan tempts us (Hebrews 4:15), with the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Yet, You remained faithful. We too can stand against the wiles of the devil by the dynamite power of the indwelling Trinity within us (Colossians 1:27). I’m glad that Satan does not have Your powers of omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience. He’s impotent at best and his only weapon is deception. Keep us from believing his lies, because You rule and reign forever and ever. Amen.

Thought for the Day:

Every Christian battles with the Adamic nature, sin nature, self-nature, human nature, the "old man" or "old self" (Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9); but God is able to deliver us and will continue to deliver us as we submit to Him. – 2 Corinthians 1:10