Sonlight Devotional

Diligent and Obedient

April 27, 2023 by Admin

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-10

Let us go once again to Matthew 25. Some time ago, we brought the thought about “dead men walking.” It means people who are in the church (they seem to be alive and yet they are dead), but who will be out of the church at a certain time. We have already talked about people losing their salvation, but there is another set of losers in the church who will not lose their salvation, but they will lose their calling. I will tell you why.

Matthew 25:1-4, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. AND FIVE OF THEM WERE WISE, AND FIVE WERE FOOLISH. THEY THAT WERE FOOLISH TOOK THEIR LAMPS, AND TOOK NO OIL WITH THEM: BUT THE WISE TOOK OIL IN THEIR VESSELS WITH THEIR LAMPS.”

Verses 7-8, “Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.” You cannot give anybody the Holy Ghost, no matter what you do. There are some people today laying hands on other people and saying they can give them the Holy Ghost so that many talk in tongues; but they do not have the Holy Ghost.

Verse 9, “But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” Who is it that sells? Well, somebody says, “Jesus,” but in this sense here, they were going out into the darkness to get hit; that was going to bring them to their knees and give them the necessary deliverance they needed.

Verse 10, “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”

I want you to understand what we are talking about. We see people—some of us—who will not be included in the firstfruits company. A lot of people feel that I use that as a baton over their heads, as a weapon. I do not use it as a weapon. I would, however, love to frighten you into doing the right things. Oh, yes! I am not above frightening you. You see, I have tried everything, but you will not get frightened.

God is saying that some of us will not be included in the firstfruits company because the ones who are included in the firstfruits company are those who are diligent and obedient!

That is very simple. You do not need any great spirituality. All you need is humility to obey God. Yes! When the Lord speaks, you obey; and if you will obey God’s Word, God will put you in, because it says about the wise virgins (those who obeyed and gave themselves to God’s purpose) that they had oil in their lamps and OIL IN THEIR VESSELS.

Let me explain that to you: “Oil in your lamp” is “the Spirit of God in your spirit.” Proverbs 20:27 says that “…the spirit of man is the candle (lamp) of the LORD…” That means that man’s spirit is a lamp (because lamps hold oil) that holds the oil of the Holy Ghost; and when there is oil in your spirit, the Holy Spirit moves into your soul (vessel). When you are in the Spirit you can prophesy, you can do great things, you can dance, you can sing, you can tell people what is going to happen tomorrow—but all that does not pay you if you do not have this movement of God in your own soul. It is only when the Spirit of God is working in your conscious mind, making you to be conscious of sin and walk right and holy, and that same Spirit working in your emotions, in your will, and in your desires, that it is adding oil to your vessel that is going to be able to sustain you in the hour of the greatest darkness.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 24)

Thought for today: The ones who are included in the firstfruits company are those who are diligent and obedient.

Posted in The Firstfruits Company | Tagged Firstfruits, Foolish Virgins, Wise Virgins | Leave a Comment »

A Way to Escape the Tribulation

April 26, 2023 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Job 1:21

God has been warning us for a long time that we are heading for a fall—a very big fall! I advise you, brethren, set your affections on things above, so that when the fall comes, it will not matter to you. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). That is where we ought to be as Christians.

I just want you to understand that we are very close into the midnight hour. The Jewish day begins at six o’clock in the evening. The day begins with night! So we are indeed in the seventh day, but the night must pass first before the sunlight comes forth. It must get darker, and darker, and darker until it gets light! “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). We are entering into night and the night is getting darker and darker; and the day will dawn, but you have to endure the night. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved,” saith the Lord (Matthew 10:22)!

At “midnight,” the “beast” must reign (see Revelation 13). I do not know if you expect to reign and rule right now, but I am telling you it is not going to be right now. Right now, you must suffer, and be born—because it is the suffering, it is the travailing that is going to birth us. We are not yet birthed. We are still fetuses. We are not yet birthed, because what we are is not the thing that God had ordained to rule the world. What we are now is too much of a deep mixture with the flesh! We cannot rule the world in this condition for we would do exactly what they are doing in the White House today. We must be changed, and we must allow the working of the Lord upon us to change us!

What is it going to take to change you? It depends upon your case. It depends upon who you are. The worse the case is, the harder the blow. You are not going to go through the same tribulation that I am going to go through. There is, however, a way to escape the tribulation. Did you know that? You can escape it completely—just give up everything to Jesus. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? Just give up everything to Jesus right now and you will escape the tribulation. As the poet says, “He that is down needs fear no fall. He that is low no pride.” If you sleep on the floor, you cannot fall off the bed.

Therefore, you need to understand what God is doing. We are entering the midnight hour and there are certain things that must happen. Firstly, the Church system must be destroyed. I know that you do not like to hear that, and you say, “What kind of preaching is this—that the Church system must be destroyed?” Let us look at it in the Scriptures.

Daniel 12:7, “And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and WHEN HE SHALL HAVE ACCOMPLISHED TO SCATTER THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE, all these things shall be finished.” Yes! That means that there is to be a scattering of the power of the Church.

Let us take Daniel 8:24, “And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, AND SHALL DESTROY THE MIGHTY AND THE HOLY PEOPLE.” I think that this is enough to answer the question.

Daniel 7:21-22, “I beheld, and the same horn MADE WAR WITH THE SAINTS AND PREVAILED AGAINST THEM; Until the Ancient of days came…”

Now, I want you notice the “until” here in this verse. There will be a coming against; a beating of the church; a destroying of the people of the church, “Until the Ancient of Days came….” In other words, brethren, until you get the fullness of Christ, you are going to be under the pressure of the enemy. There is a people who will rise up, defend the church, and bring deliverance to the church; and that people is what we are talking about, and that is what God is creating now!

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 22-24)

Thought for today: There is a way to escape the tribulation. You can escape it completely—just give up everything to Jesus.

Posted in Time of the End | Tagged Ancient of Days, Church's Power, Midnight Hour, Tribulation | Leave a Comment »

At the Midnight Hour

April 25, 2023 by Admin

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Scripture reading: 2 Peter 1:19

We understand that God is telling us that we are the people of the last time, and that a lot of things are going to happen in the last time. Matthew 25 tells us of a separation in the church, and that there was a time for the separation. I do believe, personally, that this is what God is warning us about, and each person needs to make sure that you are on the right course.

Matthew 25:6-7 says, “At midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.”

In my vocabulary, the word “virgin” in the Bible means “clean, spotless, God-anointed Christians.” We have passed the state of dealing with the Christians who are half in and half out. We are now at the stage where we are dealing with those who were born again, who are sanctified, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and walking with God in purity! These virgins were dressed. They had on the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness. That means that they were well prepared and ready and waiting for the Lord. More than that, they had “oil” in their “lamps.” That means they had the Holy Spirit in their spirits. They were well equipped. They were ready! However, guess what? Trouble comes. Distress comes. The time that the Bible calls “midnight” comes.

The word “midnight” in Scripture has a specific meaning. It means problems of the worst kind. In Exodus 11, it was at “midnight” that the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, and those who were under the blood were sheltered. If God did not shelter them under the blood, they would be dead. In Ruth 3, it says that at “midnight” Boaz woke up, and found that a woman (Ruth) was lying at his feet; the Bible said that he was afraid, and he took off his coat and covered her. This woman is a picture of the Church, and at midnight we are going to need a covering from Jesus Christ, our Boaz! So then the Bible tells us what the meaning of midnight is. Look for midnight through the whole Bible and you will see that at midnight there is destruction, but also there is salvation. Always!

In the whole Jewish calendar, the Jewish year from Passover at the beginning of the year right back to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) represents the action of God for the whole 2,000 years from Jesus Christ to the end of the age. If you take everything that happens in the Jewish calendar right down to the last with the High Priest entering into the Holiest of All, you will find that it is depicting everything that is going to happen to us, the Church, from the coming of Jesus until His return at the end of the age.

Midnight comes just before morning, so we find therefore that that this “great tribulation,” this great darkness that is coming down on the earth, must finalize itself before Jesus Christ returns, because Jesus is our Morning! He is our Daylight. He is the Light of our lives and He is the Sun of our righteousness. It says in 2 Peter 1:19, “…until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” The Daystar will arise after midnight, and we are first going to go through this great suffering of “midnight,” which is the “great tribulation” (see Matthew 24:21) that we have already entered.

It has already begun, but you do not feel it because you were born in it. To you the things that are going on now have become so natural, but the happenings of today are very unnatural! Nobody could have thought that the things that are happening around us would happen. It is very unnatural, but we are being “desensitized.” The Devil so fixes it that he creeps upon us gradually so that we do not really feel the tribulation. However, though we are not feeling it, the tribulation is here.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 21-22)

Thought for today: Let us be sensitive to the time we live in and prepare ourselves for the midnight hour.

Posted in Time of the End | Tagged Great Tribulation, Matthew 25, Midnight Hour, Wise Virgins | Leave a Comment »

God Loves Everybody, but He Delights in Some

April 24, 2023 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Jeremiah 4:3

I am constantly reminded about my calling: that God called me and who He sent me to. I was sent to go to a special people of God; not just in the United States, but in the world. You see, there are those who are the “ekklesia” in Greek (the “called out”; the church) but then, there are the “eklektos” (“the elect”). There are the “called out” people, who were called out by God, but there are also a “called out” of the “called out.” All of us are called. All the people in the churches are called people. The ministers are anointed people. I have lived with them, I know that they are God-anointed men.

Sister Mavis said in her book Nuggets for the Needy, “God loves everybody, but He delights in some.” I want to be one of those who God delights in, and there is only one way to be, and it is by being obedient. If you can obey God with whatever He tells you to do, you will be among the “Number One” called of God.

I want everyone who finds himself to be wrong in anything, turn away from it and turn to God. True repentance must have three turns. The first turn is to STOP. The second turn is to TURN AWAY; and the third turn is to TURN TO GOD. I have known men who have repented bitterly over things they have done wrong. Sure, they did repent. They were sorry for it and they turned away from it, but they never TURNED TO GOD to fill the vacancy. They found another way, and therefore they went right back into the same error.

We must be “conscious.” God has made some people conscious: sensitive, able to hear, able to feel and able to see spiritual things. I am talking about spiritual things. There is a man who is as much a man as you are, but he is blind. He lost his eyes, but he is every bit as much a man as you are! He lost his eyes; he is not one hundred percent conscious physically, because those eyes were serving a purpose. There are some people who have been so beaten emotionally that they have lost the right touch, the right feel of God. The Spirit of God will come into the church and move, but it does not move them to the extent that it will move the others. So, there is a losing out with God. You can lose out little by little, and you never know when you lost feeling. You never know when you lost touch. You never know when you lost that spiritual God-given divine emotion. You do not feel as you should feel.

One young man came to me one time. He said, “I notice the brethren are clapping, some of them are dancing; some of the young people seem to be alive, and I do not have that feeling. What is wrong with me?” Do you know what was happening? Sin was in his life.

This brings us to Matthew 13 where it says that some seeds “…fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them.” The thorns grew and the seeds grew. They were growing together in God, but the thorns choked the seeds and they brought forth no fruit.

I sometimes used to plant on the hillside. We found out that the places occupied by the thorns were the richest soil. If you see a field of thorns, cut it down and burn it out, and you will get some lovely fruits and vegetables coming up, because the thorns occupy rich soil. The same way, if you see a man with thorns in his life, help him to get the thorns out of his life, and he will be a great Christian. You see, we had to put fire on the thorns. The fire would burn the roots in the ground, and no more thorns would grow there. I want you to remember, you never get the thorns out until you burn them.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 17-18)

Thought for today: Burn the thorns in your life so that the seed of Christ would grow and God would not only love you but also delight in you.

Posted in Christian Walk | Tagged Calling of God, Divine Emotion, Ekklesia, Eklektos, Spiritually Conscious | Leave a Comment »