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Posts Tagged ‘Revelation 4’

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Scripture reading: Luke 22:42

The soul of man is the prize of God. This is the one earthly item which we definitely know that God desires more than all others. Gold, silver, lands, cattle, angels? No! The soul of man is the great prize. When this is won, then all creation is won. God DESIRES SONS, not robots, not beings compelled to worship Him, but sons who willingly lay at His feet all the goodness He gave to them.

Luke 22:42 says, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

Gifts from the Spirit of God are to be given back to God. God is not making man independent of Himself, but by His goodness being poured out upon us, He is drawing us to Himself. There is nowhere else where the goodness of God can be MAXIMUM EFFECTIVE, but in the hand of God. Do you use God or does God use you? God is His own administrator and when man acquires the attributes of God and uses them for self, he is usurping authority.

There is another classic example in the Bible in Revelation 4:10 and 11, “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Here the beasts represent the souls of men changed from the beast nature to the nature of the Christ. They took off their crowns, came off their thrones, fell down before Jesus Christ, and worshipped Him.

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.”

This is what they say surrendering to Him all the power and glory He gave them by His Blood and sacrifice. This loudly suggests that they will not be their own, but forever be His and part of Him who redeemed them.

According to the promises of the Lord, we are to be made priests and kings. Revelation 4 shows this situation, when man is at last made priest and the soul is inhabited by the King Jesus Christ, thus, we also become kings. Even as Jesus surrendered all power and authority to the Father, and submitted Himself to the ignominy of the cross, so also the sons of God, true to pattern, surrender their crowns and their priesthood to Him who redeemed them. A very beautiful picture indeed.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 127-128)

Thought for today: The Great God and Creator of all is asking such a small thing of us – to give ourselves to Him. In return we get all of God! Do not let this life and the cares of this world rob you, but submit to God and trust Him today so that you may receive joy that is unsurpassed!

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:26-27

Ephesians 4:26a says, “Be ye angry, and sin not.” I know what it is to get hit hard with words. You should quickly submit yourself to God. We must be under the control of God! The anger must never come to fruition, never show itself or manifest. We must be able to conquer right in the midst of the tribulation. This is what God is saying to us.

Every time I read about the coming of Jesus, I see the warning, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Watch! Watch! Watch! What is the meaning of watching? It means I MUST WATCH MYSELF. I must watch my mind, what I think, what I believe, and what I submit to. I must watch the thoughts coming from the outside. I must watch the bombardment. Bless be to God, I must be delivered from my besetting sin or my familiar spirits, the spirits my mother had, or my father had, which made them do things contrary to God. These I must overcome by the power of God, by the Spirit of God.

Your first move, brother, sister, is to believe this word! Once you believe it, you can receive it. If you do not believe it, you will never receive it no matter how much you read your Bible.

The four beasts mentioned in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 are natures that are planted in the human realm, within us. They are in our flesh and in our souls trying to destroy the soul. But praise God, “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” The Spirit of God comes and bombards the soul with radiation, with lights of glory. He bombards the soul night and day, while you are asleep and while you are awake. You only have to leave your God door open. He sets a watch over you. There are guardian angels that watch over you. You should rise up in the morning and say to God that you are vulnerable and ask Him to see to it that you do not sin this day, to see to it that you think no evil or do no wrong this day! Then every time the incidence of evil approaches you, or you think to commit an evil act, or have an evil thought, SOMETHING WILL PRICK YOU, and you will remember that prayer. Sometimes we sin unconsciously. We are so accustomed to sinning that we do not have to think to sin. We just go right ahead and sin. We are not even conscious of it, but the God of heaven has set a watchman within you to make you conscious.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 83)

Thought for today: Watch, Watch, Watch! Pray that you might not enter into temptation.

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Scripture reading: Luke 22:39-43

Notice the beasts in Ezekiel versus the beasts in Revelation. The beast that was called an OX in Ezekiel 1 was changed to a CALF in Revelation 4. The implication is, instead of a big, old stubborn ox pulling a plow, we have a calf, humble and willing to suck milk. God is saying, the area of YOUR WILL is to become a calf. Jesus Christ told the disciples that all power was given unto Him in heaven and on earth.

Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jesus had that power and He gave that authority. He was in full charge of His will. A short time before, while in the garden of Gethsemane, He said to the Father, “Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me.” In other words, “Couldn’t we do it another way? Couldn’t we finish the devil right here and now?” Then He said, “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

The only hope for us and our will is that it be subject to the will of the Father.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 80)

Thought for today: Let our prayer be as our Lord’s, “O Father, Not My Will, but Thine Be Done.”

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Scripture reading: Revelation 4

Here we are in Revelation 4 with the four beasts and WE ARE BEING CHANGED. We are being metamorphosed. A gradual change is taking place in us. God wants us to give way to this change – GIVE WAY. The caterpillar craves food and it eats green leaves and everything. It eats and eats and eats until it goes into a chrysalis or a long sleep, then awakes as a beautiful butterfly. We must feed upon the Word of God until the time of final change comes. The change begins right now, gradually. Sometimes you cannot even see it. You look like an old caterpillar outside, but a beautiful butterfly is being formed within the soul, THE THRONE OF GOD.

The twenty-four elders sitting around the throne represent the priesthood. We are becoming priests IN OUR SOULS. The four beasts, the four natures of the soul, are being changed. Hallelujah! The PERFECTED IMAGE is shown in the white robes and the crowns worn show kingship. For God has promised us kingship. The lightnings and thunderings that proceed “out of the throne” room are the massive power of God’s energy and life which will come forth to change the world in which we live, bringing us into total union and oneness with God.

“The seven lamps” that burn are “the seven Spirits of God.” The Spirit of the churches will be in us and it will be all perfected in us. One church will NOT be in charity and another one in evangelism and another one in praise. We will ALL be in charity, in evangelism, in praise, and in love, and ALL THE ATTRIBUTES of God will come forth in the soul nature of man.

The “sea of glass” means there will be a clearness, a purity that you can see right through. There will be nothing to hide. No one will have secrets. It will be just one pure nation of people, one holy nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people. There will be clarity. This heaven is the heaven WITHIN US, the place from which Christ is going to reign and rule in the earth.

In Revelation, “the four beasts” are “full of eyes.” When you look in Ezekiel 1, there are wheels outside. The wheels represent the Holy Ghost. In Revelation 4, instead of wheels, gyrating wheels moving with the spirit, the eyes came into the beasts themselves. The wheels had incorporated themselves into the beasts. The Holy Ghost had now incorporated the soul of man. Remember, the Holy Ghost is in the man’s spirit at this present time. HE IS WORKING IN THE SOUL. He is preparing a place in the soul FOR THE CHRIST. When the fullness of Christ comes, then we will have Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

When the beasts give glory to God, the elders fall on their faces. At this point man does not want any more glory. HE GIVES IT ALL TO GOD. “THOU art worthy…for THOU…hast redeemed us.” GLORY TO GOD!

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 84-85)

Thought for today:  Give way to God changing you. Let His metamorphose begin in you today.

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Scripture reading: Revelation 4:10-11

The soul of man is the prize of God. This is the one earthly item which we definitely know that God desires more than all others. Gold, silver, lands, cattle, angels? No! The soul of man is the great prize. When this is won, then all creation is won. God DESIRES SONS, not robots, not beings compelled to worship Him, but sons who willingly lay at His feet all the goodness He gave to them.

“Not my will, but thine, be done.” Luke 22:42.

Gifts from the Spirit of God are to be given back to God. God is not making man independent of Himself, but by His goodness being poured out upon us, He is drawing us to Himself. There is nowhere else where the goodness of God can be MAXIMUM EFFECTIVE, but in the hand of God. Do you use God or does God use you? God is His own administrator, and when man acquires the attributes of God and uses them for self, he is usurping authority.

There is another classic example in the Bible in Revelation 4:10 and 11.

“The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Here the beasts represent the souls of men, changed from the beast nature to the nature of the Christ. They took off their crowns, came off their thrones, fell down before Jesus Christ, and worshiped Him.

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power.”

This is what they say, surrendering to Him all the power and glory He gave them by His blood and sacrifice. This loudly suggests that they will not be their own, but forever be His and part of Him who redeemed them.

According to the promises of the Lord, we are to be made priests and kings. Revelation 4 shows this situation, when man is at last made priest and the soul is inhabited by the King, Jesus Christ, thus, we also become kings. Even as Jesus surrendered all power and authority to the Father, and submitted Himself to the ignominy of the cross, so also the sons of God, true to pattern, surrender their crowns and their priesthood to Him who redeemed them. A very beautiful picture indeed.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 140-141)

Thought for today: The soul of man is the great prize. When this is won, then all creation is won.

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