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Posts Tagged ‘Divine Intervention’

Time of Crisis

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , , on July 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Joel 3:9-14

The word CRISIS comes to me as being most appropriate to describe the time in which we live. Webster’s Dictionary defines crisis as, “The decisive state of things, or the point of time when an affair has reached its height, and must soon terminate or suffer a material change; turning point.”

The Greek word is “Krisis” from the root word “Krino”, which means “judgment, final decision”. This adds somewhat to the meaning from Webster’s. It somehow shows the purpose behind every crisis: the culmination of a matter, or the final act of a pantomime, the revelation of purpose.

The CRISIS of our end time is more like the convulsions of a dying animal, wherein every part of its body is being shaken by sporadic tremors. We ask ourselves, “WHY?” And God Himself has an answer from the word, since HE designed it and created us for this very hour.

Joel 3:9-14

3:9 “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

3:10 “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

3:11 “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

3:12 “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

3:13 “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.

3:14 “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”

Three times in the 6000 years of human history, the world has come to the brink of extinction through the evil of Satan and the wickedness of man. Twice the world had to be saved in crisis, and this the third time, it will be again saved by Divine intervention. Each time however, it has been different, and the stakes have been raised. This time it is at its highest, and the crisis is upon us with a finality that must settle the question of evil forever and the whole question of human existence. In our future devotionals we will look at these three periods of time and see if we can more accurately understand our situation.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1987)

Thought for today: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”

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Divine Providence

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Philippians 4:19

“But my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory…”

On receiving this scripture, the first thought that came to my mind was in the natural. “Oh yes,” I thought, “God is going to supply physical and financial needs.” Soon, however, the Lord opened my understanding to realize that the greatest need today is that we may KNOW HIM, in His acts and ways. Yes, we stumble and falter and are discouraged, because we are not acquainted with His ways and His dealings with His creatures.

Surely, He provides for our physical needs, but sometimes He uses methods that cause us to be built up in faith and virtue. When these dealings are set in motion, the flesh or carnal nature (because of lack of knowledge) rises up and rebels and then breaks. Divine Providence is that which slays the MAN, so that the CHRIST might live and be exalted in our lives. He knows the ingredients and proportions necessary to do the job, but also, how we scream and squirm when the knife of circumstances begins to cut away the flesh. Sometimes we are unaware of the fact that “…it works the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”

God’s Providence proclaims His wisdom – beyond man’s knowledge and experience. No other could form the correct plan for man to gain the desired results.

HIS POWER: God alone has the ability to exercise authority impartially – He sustains the world.

On many occasions, Divine Intervention shows His power in miraculous deeds of deliverance. His mighty hand and outstretched arm, by which He brought His people out of Egypt, is still mighty and outstretched in our time. He showed His power over the power of Pharaoh, and now He has given us POWER OVER THE POWER OF THE ENEMY. No matter what your battle might be at this time, God has given you power through Divine Providence over that strong thing which oppresses you. REACH OUT AND LAY HOLD OF THAT POWER RIGHT NOW, AND THE GOD OF PROVIDENCE SHALL SET YOU FREE.

HIS GLORY: His wealth, splendor and honor – we are His product in righteousness through grace – we are His Glory, being His workmanship.

HIS PRESENTATION: Divine Providence presents God’s nature to mankind, that His Glory may fill THE TEMPLE. The temple must be emptied of all ugliness, that it might be filled with His Glory, which sometimes is like taking the bitter herbs, which the Israelites had to eat with the roasted lamb.

HIS GOODNESS: He is honorable, admirable and worthy. Oh, the beneficence of God extending far beyond what we ask or think. One writer says, “God is morally perfect and gloriously generous.” This is a very apt description of His goodness. Maintaining the thought that GOD IS GOOD is a sustaining factor throughout our walk and experience with God. What God does, creates, commands, gives and allows is done through His goodness, always mindful of Creation and His creatures. Thus, all things can work together for good – seeing, He through Divine Providence can cause what was intended for evil to work good, though sometimes after much cutting of the flesh. Total trust and total obedience is absolutely necessary as God deals with us, seeing His ways are past finding out, BUT one thing is sure, it works for our good to them that love Him. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” LOVE therefore is fulfilled in trust and obedience.

Should God withdraw outward prosperity from His people, and hardships are experienced, there is still a sense in which He is doing good.

Divine Providence is always working THAT WHICH IS GOOD. Being afflicted yields correction for subsequent benefit, and is an exercise in strength, faith, patience, obedience and endurance. Anything that drives man closer to God is for good, therefore, temporary distresses work for the Christian an eternal weight of glory. The ungratifying circumstances can be numbered among God’s good gifts, and the expression of His beneficence if rightly used to lasting profit.

Jacob’s divisive thinking was changed from vanity to profit, through Divine Providence. He is a God of present help, present power, present refuge. Jacob or no other could have thought out that plan for present help – Divine Providence took care of it all, and Jacob must have rejoiced in such a deliverance from a plotting, scheming mind, into the mind of one who could rightly be called Prince of God (Israel). This brought him into the place of a more personal experience with God, thus the expression – THE GOD OF JACOB (the God that Jacob experienced – the God of power and might).

Jesus Christ, our Providence, does not only see ahead, but watches over His people. He has a concentrated attention that extends to every place and circumstance, seeing into the minutest as also the largest situations, caring for the smallest as well as the greatest, watching over the affairs of men (their success and failure, even the most insignificant things), protecting and caring in every way.

Divine Providence has a restricting and preventing hand. Though man may be allowed to cherish and manifest his evil desires, it causes him to either hate and despise the evil, or through God’s providence, submit his will to be united with God’s will in the operation of righteousness, or love and embrace evil to his own destruction.

God is in perfect control of good and evil, yet every man is free, but justice must be meted out to the rebellious and mercy for all who seek mercy.

Divine Providence secures moral order in the world, a power to discourage vice and encourage virtue. The circumstances that govern man from birth (environmental, etc.) are not humanly controlled, and man, being a creature of choice, is able through Divine Providence (God’s intervention) to escape destruction or whatever is determined against him. God is directly involved with His creation, and will always allow particular events to work His perfect will – whether it be in working virtue in, or evil out of us.

Rejoice therefore, and let the circumstances work in us that which nothing else could do. Circumstances change things for good or evil, but God’s intervention will always cause that change to be FOR GOOD.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pages 65-68)

Thought for today: Divine Providence presents God’s nature to mankind, that His Glory may fill THE TEMPLE.

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In All Thy Ways Acknowledge Him – Part 1

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , on April 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Psalms 19:1

In seeking the Lord about certain hard, unfortunate or painful experiences we encountered over a period of time, the LORD brought vividly a sense of awareness that is indelibly impressed on my mind. A few words of Scripture, which have been read over and over, all of a sudden come forth with a great enlightenment and a new perspective, “In all thy ways acknowledge Him.”

God expects His creatures to love, honor, respect and recognize Him as the Creator. After all, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork,” Psalm 19:1. These are abundant evidences of His presence, power and authority. He is infinitely greater than anything on earth, and, undoubtedly, well able to supply all man’s needs, far beyond our wildest dreams. It takes, however, a knowledge of the nature of God and the revelation of the scripture, together with the supernatural working of the Spirit, to awaken, confirm and enlarge our knowledge of God’s friendship and communion, seeing that our love to Him has been greatly obscured since the fall.

One of the most important points of revelation which the Lord brought to us, was that He desires that we love, honor, obey, respect, esteem and recognize Him as Creator. This is not for any benefit to Himself, but that these attributes, when given to God, create in us a VIRTUE, which we could not obtain otherwise.

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,” John 17:3.

Knowing God, in all His attributes furnished by nature and scripture, will result in trust and confidence, that through love, man’s free will becomes one with Him – this is the Victory.

MAN’S FREE WILL – GOD’S CHANNEL: God can accomplish His purpose on earth for man only through man’s free will (the choice is ours). In so doing, God makes available to man an immense and limitless realm of power, but we limit God and retard our progress by not appropriating God’s goodness. See Psalm 78:41.

God’s plan is that man be the channel through which heaven is released and expressed on earth. When our will is totally submitted to the will of God, then we will be in tune with Him and whatsoever we ask will be according to His will and He will direct our path.

The saints must possess the Kingdom, but this can only be accomplished as the people of God put the world behind them, and set their faces upon the eternal values. The world, the flesh and the devil are against the reign of Christ in the earth – thus, “the heathen rage” to destroy God’s richest graces and (the) true value of humanity. To love, to honor, to respect and obey are endowments of God which place man above the beast.

REDEEMED, BEING REDEEMED, SHALL BE REDEEMED: God is in the process of redeeming man – spirit, soul and body, through Christ, “who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life,” Hebrews 7:16. Therefore, those who seek Him will find Him, through the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in His knowledge.

There is a place in consecration, as one progresses in God, where the unfolding of God’s plan and purpose demands a further and deeper offering of one’s self; the willingness to make such an offering is the law and principle by which God takes us from victory to victory. This willingness, which is the free-will offering of the soul, gives God the authority to manifest His purposes in our lives. The impartation of Christ’s Spirit of obedience to the believer, which brings him in communion with this work, must be ratified in the believer’s life and experience. This obedience removes fear, but embraces trust and confidence. When exercised, these experiences become easy and joyful; thus, OBEDIENCE is God’s plan to deliver man from the corruption and enslavement of the FALL.

Self-confidence and self-reliance are often used as tools of the enemy to cause us to forfeit our blessings. God-confidence and God-reliance are better. There is a subtle working of the enemy of which we must always beware. The enemy will oppress a believer to make him or her feel “I am nothing,” “poor me,” and surely the counselors will try to get such a one to believe in himself, only to find that he makes a 180-degree turn and is the greatest Christian in town. The enemy keeps an eye out for weaknesses, for they are dark spots, and he does everything to get us in our weak place. We are encouraged, therefore, to “lay aside every weight and the SIN (that weakness) that doth so easily beset us,” so he will have no power over us.

This word “SELF” seems to be the greatest mountain between us and God. So many stories in the Bible show us the danger of the lurking monster.

  1. David numbered the people.
  2. Saul offered his own sacrifice.
  3. Joshua and the elders sought not of the Lord regarding the Gibeonites, etc.

It is evident that God’s people must always be conscious of the fact that He is the AUTHORITY – He is in supreme control, and that is the victory. Therefore, when one fails to acknowledge Him in all things, the concealed pitfalls and the snares of the enemy (known only to him) will catch us unawares.

Sometimes, praise God, we escape the hidden dangers by divine intervention, while another time, we might experience the consequences of not seeking the mind of Christ in a matter; pain, regret, remorse, loss of goods and credibility follows.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, 1997, pages 42-45)

Thought for today: It is evident that God’s people must always be conscious of the fact that He is the AUTHORITY – He is in supreme control, and that is the victory.

Read Full Post »

Divine Providence

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 12, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Philippians 4:19

“But my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory…”

On receiving this scripture, the first thought that came to my mind was in the natural. “Oh yes,” I thought, “God is going to supply physical and financial needs.” Soon, however, the Lord opened my understanding to realize that the greatest need today is that we may KNOW HIM, in His acts and ways. Yes, we stumble and falter and are discouraged, because we are not acquainted with His ways and His dealings with His creatures.

Surely, He provides for our physical needs, but sometimes He uses methods that cause us to be built up in faith and virtue. When these dealings are set in motion, the flesh or carnal nature (because of lack of knowledge) rises up and rebels and then breaks. Divine Providence is that which slays the MAN, so that the CHRIST might live and be exalted in our lives. He knows the ingredients and proportions necessary to do the job, but also, how we scream and squirm when the knife of circumstances begins to cut away the flesh. Sometimes we are unaware of the fact that “…it works the peaceable fruit of righteousness.”

God’s Providence proclaims His wisdom – beyond man’s knowledge and experience. No other could form the correct plan for man to gain the desired results.

HIS POWER: God alone has the ability to exercise authority impartially – He sustains the world.

On many occasions, Divine Intervention shows His power in miraculous deeds of deliverance. His mighty hand and outstretched arm, by which He brought His people out of Egypt, is still mighty and outstretched in our time. He showed His power over the power of Pharaoh, and now He has given us POWER OVER THE POWER OF THE ENEMY. No matter what your battle might be at this time, God has given you power through Divine Providence over that strong thing which oppresses you. REACH OUT AND LAY HOLD OF THAT POWER RIGHT NOW, AND THE GOD OF PROVIDENCE SHALL SET YOU FREE.

HIS GLORY: His wealth, splendor and honor – we are His product in righteousness through grace – we are His Glory, being His workmanship.

HIS PRESENTATION: Divine Providence presents God’s nature to mankind, that His Glory may fill THE TEMPLE. The temple must be emptied of all ugliness, that it might be filled with His Glory, which sometimes is like taking the bitter herbs, which the Israelites had to eat with the roasted lamb.

HIS GOODNESS: He is honorable, admirable and worthy. Oh, the beneficence of God extending far beyond what we ask or think. One writer says, “God is morally perfect and gloriously generous.” This is a very apt description of His goodness. Maintaining the thought that GOD IS GOOD is a sustaining factor throughout our walk and experience with God. What God does, creates, commands, gives and allows is done through His goodness, always mindful of Creation and His creatures. Thus, all things can work together for good – seeing, He through Divine Providence can cause what was intended for evil to work good, though sometimes after much cutting of the flesh. Total trust and total obedience is absolutely necessary as God deals with us, seeing His ways are past finding out, BUT one thing is sure, it works for our good to them that love Him. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” LOVE therefore is fulfilled in trust and obedience.

Should God withdraw outward prosperity from His people, and hardships are experienced, there is still a sense in which He is doing good.

Divine Providence is always working THAT WHICH IS GOOD. Being afflicted yields correction for subsequent benefit, and is an exercise in strength, faith, patience, obedience and endurance. Anything that drives man closer to God is for good, therefore, temporary distresses work for the Christian an eternal weight of glory. The ungratifying circumstances can be numbered among God’s good gifts, and the expression of His beneficence if rightly used to lasting profit.

Jacob’s divisive thinking was changed from vanity to profit, through Divine Providence. He is a God of present help, present power, present refuge. Jacob or no other could have thought out that plan for present help – Divine Providence took care of it all, and Jacob must have rejoiced in such a deliverance from a plotting, scheming mind, into the mind of one who could rightly be called Prince of God (Israel). This brought him into the place of a more personal experience with God, thus the expression – THE GOD OF JACOB (the God that Jacob experienced – the God of power and might).

Jesus Christ, our Providence, does not only see ahead, but watches over His people. He has a concentrated attention that extends to every place and circumstance, seeing into the minutest as also the largest situations, caring for the smallest as well as the greatest, watching over the affairs of men (their success and failure, even the most insignificant things), protecting and caring in every way.

Divine Providence has a restricting and preventing hand. Though man may be allowed to cherish and manifest his evil desires, it causes him to either hate and despise the evil, or through God’s providence, submit his will to be united with God’s will in the operation of righteousness, or love and embrace evil to his own destruction.

God is in perfect control of good and evil, yet every man is free, but justice must be meted out to the rebellious and mercy for all who seek mercy.

Divine Providence secures moral order in the world, a power to discourage vice and encourage virtue. The circumstances that govern man from birth (environmental, etc.) are not humanly controlled, and man, being a creature of choice, is able through Divine Providence (God’s intervention) to escape destruction or whatever is determined against him. God is directly involved with His creation, and will always allow particular events to work His perfect will – whether it be in working virtue in, or evil out of us.

Rejoice therefore, and let the circumstances work in us that which nothing else could do. Circumstances change things for good or evil, but God’s intervention will always cause that change to be FOR GOOD.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pages 65-68)

Thought for today: Divine Providence presents God’s nature to mankind, that His Glory may fill THE TEMPLE.

Read Full Post »

In All Thy Ways Acknowledge Him – Part 1

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , on October 1, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Psalms 19:1

In seeking the Lord about certain hard, unfortunate or painful experiences we encountered over a period of time, the LORD brought vividly a sense of awareness that is indelibly impressed on my mind. A few words of Scripture, which have been read over and over, all of a sudden come forth with a great enlightenment and a new perspective, “In all thy ways acknowledge Him.”

God expects His creatures to love, honor, respect and recognize Him as the Creator. After all, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork,” Psalm 19:1. These are abundant evidences of His presence, power and authority. He is infinitely greater than anything on earth, and, undoubtedly, well able to supply all man’s needs, far beyond our wildest dreams. It takes, however, a knowledge of the nature of God and the revelation of the scripture, together with the supernatural working of the Spirit, to awaken, confirm and enlarge our knowledge of God’s friendship and communion, seeing that our love to Him has been greatly obscured since the fall.

One of the most important points of revelation which the Lord brought to us, was that He desires that we love, honor, obey, respect, esteem and recognize Him as Creator. This is not for any benefit to Himself, but that these attributes, when given to God, create in us a VIRTUE, which we could not obtain otherwise.

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,” John 17:3.

Knowing God, in all His attributes furnished by nature and scripture, will result in trust and confidence, that through love, man’s free will becomes one with Him – this is the Victory.

MAN’S FREE WILL – GOD’S CHANNEL: God can accomplish His purpose on earth for man only through man’s free will (the choice is ours). In so doing, God makes available to man an immense and limitless realm of power, but we limit God and retard our progress by not appropriating God’s goodness. See Psalm 78:41.

God’s plan is that man be the channel through which heaven is released and expressed on earth. When our will is totally submitted to the will of God, then we will be in tune with Him and whatsoever we ask will be according to His will and He will direct our path.

The saints must possess the Kingdom, but this can only be accomplished as the people of God put the world behind them, and set their faces upon the eternal values. The world, the flesh and the devil are against the reign of Christ in the earth – thus, “the heathen rage” to destroy God’s richest graces and (the) true value of humanity. To love, to honor, to respect and obey are endowments of God which place man above the beast.

REDEEMED, BEING REDEEMED, SHALL BE REDEEMED: God is in the process of redeeming man – spirit, soul and body, through Christ, “who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life,” Hebrews 7:16. Therefore, those who seek Him will find Him, through the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in His knowledge.

There is a place in consecration, as one progresses in God, where the unfolding of God’s plan and purpose demands a further and deeper offering of one’s self; the willingness to make such an offering is the law and principle by which God takes us from victory to victory. This willingness, which is the free-will offering of the soul, gives God the authority to manifest His purposes in our lives. The impartation of Christ’s Spirit of obedience to the believer, which brings him in communion with this work, must be ratified in the believer’s life and experience. This obedience removes fear, but embraces trust and confidence. When exercised, these experiences become easy and joyful; thus, OBEDIENCE is God’s plan to deliver man from the corruption and enslavement of the FALL.

Self-confidence and self-reliance are often used as tools of the enemy to cause us to forfeit our blessings. God-confidence and God-reliance are better. There is a subtle working of the enemy of which we must always beware. The enemy will oppress a believer to make him or her feel “I am nothing,” “poor me,” and surely the counselors will try to get such a one to believe in himself, only to find that he makes a 180-degree turn and is the greatest Christian in town. The enemy keeps an eye out for weaknesses, for they are dark spots, and he does everything to get us in our weak place. We are encouraged, therefore, to “lay aside every weight and the SIN (that weakness) that doth so easily beset us,” so he will have no power over us.

This word “SELF” seems to be the greatest mountain between us and God. So many stories in the Bible show us the danger of the lurking monster.

  1. David numbered the people.
  2. Saul offered his own sacrifice.
  3. Joshua and the elders sought not of the Lord regarding the Gibeonites, etc.

It is evident that God’s people must always be conscious of the fact that He is the AUTHORITY – He is in supreme control, and that is the victory. Therefore, when one fails to acknowledge Him in all things, the concealed pitfalls and the snares of the enemy (known only to him) will catch us unawares.

Sometimes, praise God, we escape the hidden dangers by divine intervention, while another time, we might experience the consequences of not seeking the mind of Christ in a matter; pain, regret, remorse, loss of goods and credibility follows.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, 1997, pages 42-45)

Thought for today: It is evident that God’s people must always be conscious of the fact that He is the AUTHORITY – He is in supreme control, and that is the victory.

Read Full Post »

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