Gideon

What a great reply. Thank you brother. And you are right. Often, God's greatest gifts come from our walks reaching a crisis point. God is awakening His own to return to our first love, and if we have never left, all the better! We are told to count it all jot when we fall into diverse temptation knowing this, that the shakings and tribulations are for our benefit, not our harm. For many of us, our faith has never truly been tested and tried by fire. I pray we remember that on the other side of that obstacle is a deeper, purer, stronger faith, shining forth as pure gold. blessings to you, Sower Gids

.... we all know what comes next. The love of many shall wax cold. The AGAPE of many. These are indeed perilous times. The political landscape has blown fires of hatred and mistrust even within the walls of God's church. It is almost impossible to read the news and not find oneself picking sides, for news is no longer news. It is a profit-driven business on both sides and what we all read is skewed one direction or the other, not to truly inform but to get more readers, and the dollars that come with them, first and foremost. As believers, may we all be reminded that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We wrestle not against those in disagreement with our views, religious or political. It is our our enemy behind the scenes, hoping to infect us with his hatred and venom. Our calling is to pray for those we believe are in error. Ultimately, as His born again children, we are not of this world. God is neither Republican or Democrat. We are counseled to walk out our time here as sojourners, passers through, in the world, yes, but not of it. I myself am guilty of reading so much about current events that it begins to sour my own outlook on life. That is why we are told to keep our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus Himself, and to concentrate on whatsoever is good, whatsoever is pure, and avoid entangling ourselves with the affairs of this world. What God has set in notion cannot be stopped. May we all, myself included and at the forefront, remember that our primary calling is to live for Christ and shine so that others may see our peace, even in the eye of the storm, and seek the answer we possess, demonstrated by our victory, our peace, our joy, things that they do not know how to attain. blessings to all, Gideon

I have no doubts that what you say is true, dear brother. You are blessed. Gids

A warning of this magnitude cannot be delivered without the weight of it bearing down upon the one asked to deliver it. We have been taught that we will all be raptured away and never suffer in the least. I would love for that to be true. But just as we have not been immune to the effects of Covid, we will not be when things really go south. God is offering us a lifeline to safety, a way to overcome when the enemy comes in like a flood, but until we see the danger of staying where we are, many will simply not be moved to seek Him anew to not just save us, but to keep us safe from the attacks and temptations from the enemy that are surely coming our way as well. blessings, Gideon

A brother in the Lord messaged me today and in conversation, this thought was placed upon my heart. I believe it is from God. I pray you do not let pre-conceived opinions about me from the past hinder you from examining your walk as you read these potentially profound but wholly inadequate words.. What if, for some reason, Christians could no longer meet together? There was no more church services. Heck, there is no more "church" as we know it. No Christian T.V. No Christian Radio.. Just Jesus, with the world falling apart outside your door. Your level of intimacy is what it is. How would you fare? Are you convinced you would still thrive spiritually? I believe for many, they would wilt away. God's love would remain steadfast, , but their "receptor" would be severely limited, hampering them from receiving God's comfort and assurance. Perhaps in your case, you disagree and if so, that is wonderful. But I believe that as a whole, we are far more comfortable talking "about Jesus", than being with Him. our prayer time more of a duty than a pleasure. Scripture, doctrine fellowship all wonderful. Reflections of light But not the source of light. They assure us we are AOK, not Jesus whispering it to us Himself. For most, spiritual "re-filling" happens on Sundays and yes, by Christian friends and family too, all talking "about" Jesus. These are our sources of life and light. These are the power that fuel us on our Christian path. not Christ Himself. If our prayer time is our true reflection of depth of Christianity, how do each one of us fare? Why do I bring this up? Because much of what I just shared may soon be in our future. I know I am not popular in some circles here, and I hold no animosity. Despite what many believe, my heart is towards every single person here. I pray you at least consider that what I am sharing could indeed come to pass, and I am led to believe that in what could happen within months, an immense shaking or shakings involving all of society's fabric will occur. These shakings for believers are not God's anger at us, but God's provision to insure we are brought to where He wants us to be, safe from satan and his minions. Our foundations are about to be examined and It will reveal how deeply our roots go down into Him, so that, if we are found lacking, we can fix it. Glory! I do not mean to scare anyone. I simply want people to not be caught unaware. The Lord knows my heart in this matter. We are about to discover how deeply the good news actually goes. God wants us to know Him in such intimacy and power, that our peace in the midst of upheaval will literally lead others to know Him. Our shield, our safety is not to be our church, nor our pastor, nor our saved friends. Life is from Him alone, and He wants to have a relationship with you that puts after-burners on your process of sanctification. My friend recommended a video and it concerned a pastor who has been receiving dreams. A very humble guy. The constant message was "Brace yourself". Months. The question is... How?? God has an answer for us, a place in Him where we really are kept... kept from sin, kept from falling, kept by the power of God through faith. A true abiding in the vine relationship, all day, every day. And He is calling all who hunger and thirst for more of Him, and all who desire true victory in Him. He is calling all who are filled with fear as to what is coming, and he is calling all those who have tried their best to be content right where they are, convinced that this is the best God has to offer. He calls, pleading with us to return unto Him, return again to our first love, admitting we have lost our way, crying out for deliverance from our carnal natures and our blasted contentment with less than true intimacy with Christ Himself. He simply asks that we want it as much as He does. Perilous times are coming into view. Normal Christianity will simply not suffice. I say this not to anger, offend or judge. I say it because it is true and we finally will be forced to admit it. The only question is "How much pressure before each one of us breaks and cries out for more?" There is a scripture that says in effect. "If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, what will you do when the horsemen arrive? A very relevant question, and one we all need to ponder on. Our hearts and what we have made our treasure is about to be tested. It is fairly easy to be a Christian in good standing today. Not much is expected. No one sees us on the inside, or what we do in secret. So we find it pretty easy to "make a fair show in the flesh" when the skies are sunny. But the winds and rain from the approaching storm will reveal how deeply we are rooted in Jesus, and how much we have grown roots into this world, THIS life. Do you remember the parable off the servants who were told to make themselves ready, for their master returns, and how they all responded? They all made excuses why they could not come right at the moment, too busy with their own lives here on earth. Are we so blinded that we cannot see that this parable could be about US? There is a place of safety. A place where peace replaces fear. Where our trust in Him to do as He has promised is so set in stone, that nothing can shake us. A place where, despite our fleshly bodies, our natures ARE new, and they rule that body and keep it under, for here God actually does cause us to obey. Glory! This walk has been seen in the past as "optional". For those fringe dwellers with a 'religious bent', lol. But that is soon to be changed for each one of us to "absolutely essential". We are told that the name of the Lord is a strong and mighty tower, and the righteous runs in and is safe. God is awakening us, just as He promised us Faithful God! Thank you Father. blessings, Gids

Brother, I shared much that shows that the current church is failing miserably in comparison to the early church. You simply do not want to admit it. Do you honestly think the body today is as healthy as in the early church? I fully understand why there is resistance in the body of Christ to admitting lack. But at some point, as the skies become darker and the temptations greater, the shakings will have their desired effect on God's own. They will seek God's face afresh so that they can walk in full obedience, pleasingHim rather than pleasing themselves. If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. However, if we refuse, confessing we have need of nothing, and all is well with our souls even as sin and self love still run rampant, our blindness shall increase. Do we not see? Hearts hardened by continued sin and refusal to admit need will prove themselves to be tares. At present, all grow together, but the day comes when the two shall be finally separated. A great falling away is coming, as the righteous awaken and begin to shine in holiness. The key question is ..... do we hate OUR life, our continuance in sin, our inability to truly do those things that are pleasing in His sight? Refusing to examine ourselves does not reduce our guilt. it magnifies it. blessings, Gideon

There is however, the natural process of growth from small seed to bearing much fruit. And if fruit is absent, does it not behoove us to seek God as to why this is the case?

Always a way out from under the microscope. Always a reason to not seek for the answer as to how to truly walk in obedience. How do we know that we know Him? Again, one more time. We obey Him. And if we find we cannot, is it not prudent that we cry out to Him as Paul did to save us from our self-willed, sin-loving, rebellious old natures? blessings. Gideon

To him who has eyes to see, what I shared gives the evidence needed to see the truth. If you choose to ignore it, I doubt even if one specific scripture showed what you ask, you would find a reason to ignore it. Seven letter, seven churches, each urging the saints to walk as overcomers. The Word tells us "Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." It is good advice. The only question is HOW? How many there are who right now do not want to ask that question. And until that question is asked, no answer can be received. blessings, Gids

When you read the scripture that tells us that the way we KNOW that we know is if we obey His commandments, how do you fare?

Let me ask you a question. If God cannot change, and in the early church, Ananias and Saphira were judged for their pride, simply for wanting to look better to others in the church, does He not feel the same way, with the same intensity concerning such a heart, that He did when the church was first birthed? And if we were told that same standard were to be held up in our next church service, how many would have the confidence to attend? If those in the world would exclaim concerning the early church "Behold how they love one another!" and yet today, most of what we hear from the world about Christians is concerning their religious hypocrisy, do you not agree a gap deeper and wider than the grand canyon exists between the glory of the early church and the church at present? If Paul rebuked Christians for choosing who they followed, Paul or Appolos, telling them they were yet carnal, how pleased do you think he would be today, when we have 500+ denominations, all claiming their way is the correct one? If the early rain were never ending, with no more needed, why the need for the latter? Whether or not you will admit it, we as His people are in no way prepared to meet our Master. If God could rebuke the Laodecians for their contentment without godliness, thinking they have need of nothing, how can we even dare to believe we do not need deep repentance and for God to somehow deliver us from US at any cost? As we speak, the agape love of many is waxing cold. Multitudes are drawing near Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. How many there are who possess a form of godliness, but in their hearts, they deny God truly possess the power to deliver them from evil? And yet, with all this, if you do not see one specific verse to declare to you the church, God's church, is in deep need of repentance so that she might be freed from the grip of self and secret sin, will you proudly declare it untrue? I can only share what I have been given to share. I cannot make you see. But I can pray that you do, and I will. blessings, dear brother Gideon

And how do we KNOW that we know Him, scripturally? As I said, the tares do not presently know they are tares. They are deceived. Thus, we have been safeguards against being deceived, an acid test to insure we know we are on solid, unshakeable ground. What is this test? "And hereby we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments. He that saith, “I know Him,” and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:3-4 Many in the elect, if they were to truly apply this to their lives, would recoil from the results, and Satan will tempt them to run back to the assurances of other men, of their pastors, of what they have been taught. But what seems like an impossible test to pass is not impossible at all. God has promised to make a way when there is no way. That is why He is now awakening us to he HOW of walking in righteousness and holiness. Those who will let God's declaration that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord, bear its full weight upon their hearts, will come to the point of brokenness as their hunger for more of Him, of doing what pleases Him exceeds their desire for self to remain in control. Those who will not will be crushed under the weight of that truth. Let us understand it is this brokenness that allows us to ONLY believe. A crisis point must be reached in the life of every child of God. The shakings will bring this about if our own wills will not. God loves us far to much to allow us to walk into the approaching storm unprepared. Many will withstand this truth initially, but God will make sure that all of His sheep hear His voice. Huge changes are coning. As the scriptures exhort us.... "Let all who name the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." The key question, unanswered or ignored so far by our modern take on the gospel, is HOW? How does a man, still living in a sinful body with sinful desires, walk as a true overcomer? There is an answer, an amazing one, but only he hungry will be given eyes to see it. blessings, Gids

Was the Laodecian church a church of God's children or a church full of tares? David, we are told plainly that in the last days, because sin shall abound, the love of many will wax cold. That word is not "phileo", human love, but "agape", the love only. Christians can experience. One cannot fall away unless they had once "fallen toward". I fear many err in thinking that somehow God sees us through Jesus covered glasses. Do we not realize judgement will begin at the House of God? He sees the true intent of our hearts, does He not? Are we merely after forgiveness and securing our place in Heaven, or is there a deep hunger in us to lose our lives, our wills, and to glorify Him by our doing those things that please Him? Do we not realize that tares do not presently know they are tares? But when they hear the exhortation to 'examine themselves whether they be in the faith', when they read the verse that urges them to make their calling and election sure, they blindly refuse to do so, and thus give satan opportunity to deceive them further. God is awakening us to satan's devices, and wants to equip us in preparation for what is coming. My sole desire is that His children hear the call of the Spirit and seek His face for full deliverance from their old nature, for it is only in that place where we will find true safety. blessings, Gids.

Leah, here is where the shakings are promised. "See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, for if they escaped not who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from Heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now He hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” And these words, “yet once more,” signifieth the removing of those things which can be shaken, such as things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." Hebrews 12:25-27 God has promised to restore His bride to her former glory, so that she is without spot or wrinkle at His appearing. If one is walking in lukewarmness, content to be saved but with no desire to walk totally pleasing to Him, this brings no glory to the Father. Rather, it stands as a stumbling block to those in the world from coming to God. Our lives are the only Bible many of them will ever read. If they do not see the fruits of our walk with Him outwardly expressed, how will they ever be drawn to Him? I believe that the shakings that will awaken us to seek His face for more than simply being forgiven have already started, but are in no way over. Like birth pangs, they will grow in both frequency as well as intensity. God loves us and is determined that we not be caught unprepared for what is on the horizon. The sole purpose of the shakings is to drive us deeper into Him as we flee our old carnal nature and look for Him to deliver us from evil altogether, not just from its penalties. I pray this helps. blessings, Leah Gideon

When the vast majority of Christians are living out their lives in captivity to their old nature, imprisoned in Romans 7 so deeply that they think anything promised more than that is either embellishment or impossible, they are left living their lives in the wilderness of unbelief, robbed of any hope of ever walking in the land of promise. Paul once lived in Romans 7.... and HATED it. And that is the purpose of the Romans 7 experience, where obedience is fleeting at best, where fellowship with God is always interrupted by sin and self desires. It is to finally bring us to hate OUR life, OUR weakness, OUR pride, and OUR contentment with less than the life God has purchased for us.... total victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. O, that we might awake to the promises of our Father to set us free from our old weak, rebellious natures. Yes, we still have fleshly bodies which have a propensity to sin, but.... BUT..... we do not have fleshly carnal spirits anymore that steer those bodies. We have been given brand new natures, natures that can steer those bodies.... every time. New natures that can bring every thought into subject to Christ, can fellowship with God non-stop all day.... every day. We are told to keep our bodies under because we CAN. Where is it then, if this be the case, that we have erred and gone off track? What is the fly in our sweet smelling ointment that keeps us from enjoying the FREE INDEED God has purchased for us? it is simply this. We do not hate our old life. Yet. All that is about to change. And what happens when our hunger for godliness overrides our contentment without it? What happens when His children cry out to our Heavenly Father to save us from our sins.... not in them? It is at that magic moment that God takes the blinders from our eyes and breathes on our hard, dried, shriveled up faith, melting away the unbelief that has come from years of sin hardening our hearts. How will God bring about this change in our heart's desires? One of the ways is through shakings. The coming shakings are not meant to hurt us, but rather to drive us to our knees, crying out as Paul did to free us from our wretched, contented 'I have need of nothing' Christianity. They are to being us to the place where all that is not of Christ is shaken out of us. Do not fear, dear saints. God has our best in mind, even if at present, we are found content without it. Our tears, our fears, our loneliness are soon to replaced with shouts of joy, as we have our feet planted on the highway of holiness, where we are kept from falling by God Himself. Do not lament your weakness. It is your awareness of that weakness that qualifies you perfectly to walk as an overcomer, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil. It is to those who have NO strength that He increases might. Look aware from your weaknesses and the sins from which you cannot escape, and look UP. Cry out for Jesus to do what He promised to do for you.deliver you from evil, just as Paul did in Romans 7. To all who do so, they will find to their amazement and delight that the promises of God are real, and sure and mighty. We, dear brothers and sisters, ARE new creatures.... right now, this very minute. What has hindered us is simply unbelief doubting that God can and will deliver us from our fallen nature. Cast off that doubt, as a filthy rag, and despite what you might see, what you might feel, what your logic tells you is possible, come into agreement with your God! He tells us that we are dead and our life is hid with Christ. Agree with Him! Yield yourself to Him, but not as a wretched sinner unable to overcome. Yield yourself to Him as one who is alive from the dead, as one who an do all things through Christ who strengthens us. To your amazement, Christ WILL solidify the churning waters beneath your feet, as you walk on the waters to Him as an overcomer, not as the overcome. blessings, Gideon