Monthly Archives: April 2019

April 30, 2019 · 7:31 am

Prayers for Businessmen (4/30/2019)

What’s our number one goal as Christian businessmen in the marketplace?

To be the next Bill Gates? Or Steve Jobs? Or Jeff Bezos? Or John D. Rockefeller? Or Henry Ford? Or whomever?

No, absolutely not!

Our number one goal is to wholeheartedly follow Jesus. Anything less than this and we should consider ourselves unsuccessful.

You see, when we stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus won’t look at our bank accounts or our business successes in the marketplace, He will only look at one thing: did we deny ourselves, pick up our cross daily and follow Him.

We businessmen should look at ourselves in the mirror and make up our minds now. Will we will go 100% for Jesus and His ways? Or are we going to sell ourselves out to the world system and its ways? Halfway and lukewarm doesn’t work with Jesus. It’s either all-in or all-out!

Do you remember Demas?

Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica… (2 Timothy 4:10)

Maybe Demas was a businessman. Maybe he enjoyed attending businessmen’s breakfasts and giving his testimony about how the Lord had prospered him. But there came a point in time, when he had to choose to be all-in or all-out. His decision is forever written down for all to see.

One day, the books for our lives will be opened for everyone to see the real us. Nothing will be hidden. We will then have to live for all of eternity with what’s written after our names, just like Demas.

My prayer today:

Lord, bring every businessman to a decision point right now about denying ourselves, picking up our cross daily and following You. Then, pour out Your grace on us so we can answer, “Yes,” and then follow You all the days of our lives.

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the workplace.

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April 29, 2019 · 7:30 am

A Simple Prayer

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Some people can be asked to pray by someone and then they pray for ten minutes without ever thinking or stuttering and stammering. And then there’s people like me. Maybe you, too.

If the Holy Spirit fuels my prayer, it might sound like heaven walked into the room and spoke through me. Now, this would be great if it happened all of the time, but sadly, it doesn’t occur often enough.

So what does an average believer like me do, right?

I do my best to memorize Bible verses. You see, one of these verses will usually fit into a prayer of some type for most any occasion. And after all, what could be better than praying God’s Word to God for Him to handle the situation I am praying about, right?

One of my favorite prayers:

Lord, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to (name or names) the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of (his, her or their) understanding being enlightened; that (he, she or they) may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. In Jesus’ name, amen. (Based on Ephesians 1:17-20)

PS If you’re not good at memorizing verses, open your Bible and use it as your prayer book. God won’t care and the people won’t know. All will be blessed though.

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April 26, 2019 · 6:47 am

Friday’s End-Times Bible Study (Part 6)

 

How do we know the tribulation will last seven years?

27 And he [Antichrist] shall enter into a strong and firm covenant with the many for one week [seven years]. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and upon the wing or pinnacle of abominations [shall come] one who makes desolate, until the full determined end is poured out on the desolator. (Daniel 9:27 AMP)

This is one of the few verses that most End-Times theologians and scholars agree upon. Their thinking is that the word “week” refers to a week of years, or seven years. It was an old Hebrew phrase used in that time period, obviously not a modern English one.

What’s also important is the phrase “in the midst of the week.” There are numerous verses to back this up in the Old and New Testaments —

But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.(Revelation 11:2)

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he [Antichrist] was given authority to continue for forty-two months. (Revelation 13:5)

Forty-two months is three and a half years. Matthew refers to this time period as the Great Tribulation because it will be much rougher than the first half of the tribulation.

Revelation 11:3 and 12:6 use the number “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” to describe this three and a half year period. If we divide 1260 by 30 days in a Jewish month, we will end up with forty-two months or three and a half years.

Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 12:14 use the phrase “time, times and half a time.” Once again, this is an old Hebrew phrase with a “time” equaling one year, “times” equaling two years and “half a time” equaling six months. Altogether, they add up to forty-two months or three and a half years.

So, there we have the reasoning for a seven year tribulation time period.

(Continued in Part 7…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.

 

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April 25, 2019 · 9:19 am

Prayers for Eyes to be Opened (4/25/2019)

Jesus said, “Go into all of the world and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to everyone.”

If you look up all of Jesus’ words in the above verse in the Greek, you will discover, He didn’t say,”Go into all of the world and take over its governments for My sake.”

Did Jesus make a mistake?

Absolutely not!

Jesus knew the best written Constitution, like ours, and the best form of government, like ours, will always be under the power of the Prince of this world — Satan. It’s a world system and always will be. Period!

You see, it won’t be until the seventh trumpet is blown during the Tribulation that all of heaven will proclaim, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

And the reason Jesus won’t need America’s governmental system or England’s or Israel’s or any nation’s will be because He will be the government. There will be no others! He will be an absolute monarch, ruling in love and holiness.

This does not mean we should not vote for the best people or pray for those who are in office because the Bible clearly states we should do that. But let’s chill out and not get so angry and excited over politics and the media, which are ruled by the Prince of this world.

Let’s instead, focus ourselves on the kingdom of God.

My prayer today:

Lord, open our hearts up to the love of the truth so that we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and no longer worry about tomorrow and its problems. (Based on 2 Thessalonians and Matthew 6:33-34)

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for the Body of Christ in America.

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April 24, 2019 · 6:55 am

Simple Word for Today

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Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3 ESV)

Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves]. (Philippians 2:3 AMP)

My prayer:

Lord, forgive me for my selfish ambition, empty arrogance and conceit. Help me to be humble and count others as more significant than myself. Help me to be more like You.

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April 23, 2019 · 7:10 am

Prayers for Businessmen (4/23/2019)

My emphasis today is on praying specifically for men in the various business arenas. This does not mean I am discounting the importance of women in the workplace because I’m not. But I believe it’s time for American men to quit sitting on the sidelines, to stand up, walk onto the field and be true sons of the living God.

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

Our Lord has placed His emphasis on men before.

The last time being the Businessmen’s Prayer Revival of 1857. In this move of the Holy Spirit, businessmen came together over a lunch hour to pray and encourage other men. The outcome of this revival was that 6% of the population of America gave their lives to Christ and believers rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ.

All of this was done outside the confines of traditional religion at the time and without clergy leading the groups. It was a laymen-led move of the Holy Spirit.

My prayer today:

Lord, I ask Your Spirit to open the hearts of American men in the workplace to yearn for fellowship with You and other men so the Kingdom of God’s fruits of righteousness, peace and joy come forth in our nation. (Based on 2 Thessalonians 2:10 and Romans 14:17)

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the workplace.

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April 22, 2019 · 7:24 am

Friday’s (But Sometimes Monday’s) End-Times Bible Study (Part 5)

Sometimes our prophecies and our teachings are wrong. Hey, this happens! But usually it’s not  because of any sinister reasons on our parts, it’s just because we didn’t have enough light at the time. When it happens, we need to humble ourselves and say, “Forgive me. I blew it.”

Now, let’s look at the parable of the fig tree prophecy.

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Matthew 24:32-35)

The prophecy concerning the above verses in Matthew 24 as proposed by Chuck Smith, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, Tim LaHaye and many others in their popular books stated that the fig tree represented Israel. And that when Israel became a nation in 1948, the countdown began for that generation. So that some of those living in that generation would see the rapture of the Church by Jesus within forty years after 1948. (All presumed a generation was forty years.)

Thus, when 1988 arrived and left, what did most of these men do? Almost everyone said that his mistake was not in the fig tree representing Israel, or the year 1948, but rather, they misinterpreted the length of a generation. It should have been seventy to eighty years and not forty years.

Okay, 2018 has passed. The next date in which this prophecy can be confirmed as a true prophecy will be 2028.

Hello! Don’t hold your breath. This prophecy is wrong!

I don’t have any idea what revelations and insights Smith, Lindsey, Van Impe, LaHaye and the others had in mind when they pronounced their “parable of the fig tree prophecies.” These are good men, but somehow they missed it.

Maybe each overlooked Luke 21:29-33, where Luke states: “Look at the fig trees, and all trees.”

Or maybe their inner alarms were ringing so loud about us living in the last days that they ignored other Bible passages. This happens, you know!

Yet, it doesn’t matter because when the rapture didn’t occur in 1988, each should have stepped forward and said, “Forgive me. I blew it!” But none did!

Of course, that’s easy for me, an obscure nobody on the backside of the desert, to say. I don’t have millions of copies of books sold and millions of believers looking up at me, thinking, “He’s a somebody.” I don’t have that type of pressure laying on my shoulders to make it really hard for me to humble myself.

Hal Lindsey was once asked, “But what if you’re wrong” by a professor. His answer was perfect:

Well, there’s just a split second’s difference between a hero and a bum. I didn’t ask to be a hero, but I guess I have become one in the Christian community. So I accept it. But if I’m wrong about this, I guess I’ll be a bum. (See here)

The parable of the fig tree prophecy is wrong. So, let’s move on, okay?

(Continued in Part 6…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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April 19, 2019 · 7:22 am

Friday’s End-Time Bible Studies (Part 4)

If you’re going to write about the End-Times, you eventually must mention the Antichrist. So, why wait? Let’s talk about him today.

Is Barack Obama the Antichrist? Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, the Antichrist? Is George Soros the Antichrist? Is Donald Trump? Is the Pope? Who?

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)

The term Antichrist is only used four times in the Bible. All of them appear in the Apostle John’s first and second letters to the churches in Asia Minor.

Yet, the Antichrist appears all through the Bible, but with different names. He’s also known as the Assyrian, man of sin, son of perdition, the lawless one, the beast, the adversary, the little horn and the king who shall do according to his own will in various verses throughout the Old and New Testament.

The Antichrist must for sure come out of the territory in the old Roman Empire and most likely will be out of territory in the old Assyrian Empire (northern Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and southeastern Turkey).

The Antichrist will be pompous, boastful, an aggressive warmonger, a sinister schemer, a cunning trickster, a liar, a deceitful murderer, prosperous, a blasphemer against God,  shall not regard the god of his fathers, have fierce features, have no desire for women, but have a regard for the god of fortresses. (These descriptions are from Daniel 7, 9, 11.)

As you can guess, Obama, AOC, Soros, Trump and the Pope can not be the Antichrist because they do not fit the biblical guidelines.

Thus, how can we be sure who is the Antichrist?

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [of the Lord] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.(2 Thessalonians 2:3)

The Apostle Paul stated that we would know who the Antichrist is for sure when the Antichrist sits in the Temple of God in Jerusalem, defiling the Temple.

But of course, we first need the Temple to be rebuilt.

There are a couple of other ways we can figure out who the Antichrist is, but we will talk about them in the future.

(Continued in Part 5…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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April 18, 2019 · 9:01 am

Prayers for Leaving All and Following Jesus (4/18/2019)

When I got saved on May 20, 1985, I almost immediately made up my mind that I wanted to abandon everything and follow Jesus. My reasoning was simple. You see, I had spent thirty-nine years of my life as an unbeliever, much of that as an agnostic, and I didn’t want to meet Jesus at the Judgement Seat of Christ empty-handed, with only excuses in hand for my lukewarm lifestyle.

I also knew me. I knew if I didn’t go 100% for Him, I’d back off into a barely-get-by mode. So, my choice was really one or the other. I chose to sell out for Him as best I could.

My heroes became William Carey, David Brainerd, C. T. Studd, Hudson Taylor, Praying John Hyde, George Mueller, William Booth, Leonard Ravenhill and others. I read every book that I could find on them because I wanted to be like them.

Do you remember the Burundi and Rwanda civil war during the 1990s? Hundreds of thousands of women and children were slaughtered. I asked the Lord to send me there almost daily for weeks because this is what my heroes would have done. Eventually, a prophetic friend of mine stopped by to let me know the Lord wasn’t sending me there. (Just so you know, I told no one about my prayers of wanting to go to Rwanda. No one!)

Instead, it turned out the Lord had different plans for me, long term ones with deserts to cross and mountains to climb. Then I met a wonderful Christian woman and got married in 1996. Wedded bliss, right?

In twenty-three years of marriage, we have moved thirty-five times to nine different states and more than twenty different cities. We felt all of these moves were instigated by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus.

Well, this morning I was praying for our four children and six grandchildren and it hit me: “I don’t really know our children and grandchildren.”

Oh, I’ve talked to them on the phone and have visited them a few times over the last twenty-three years, but we’ve hardly ever been there for any Christmases, Easters, birthdays, baseball games, school concerts, to babysit them, change diapers and so forth. They’ve grown up and we’ve grown old without them. These years can’t be replaced. They’re gone!

And what were we always doing? Moving and trying to survive.

You can probably imagine how sad and emotional I felt this morning. As I sat there looking at what we’ve missed the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: “Just know that I have not let one person down who has left all and followed me. Not one!”

I broke down and cried, realizing the Lord has never let us down. I had foolishly looked back at what we had missed, rather than praising Him for what He has done and will do for us.

Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. (Mark 10:29-30)

My prayer today:

Lord, raise up a generation of believers – young and old – who are willing to turn their backs on everything and follow you, no matter what it costs them.

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for the Body of Christ in America.

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April 17, 2019 · 10:22 am

With 60 Million Aborted Babies, Why Hasn’t God Removed America Yet? (Conclusion)

Fact # 1 Throughout history, every nation that has murdered its babies has been removed by God. Period.

Fact #2  Remember: God’s judgments are on the wicked, not on the righteous.

So, will the Lord send last-call prophets, like Jonah, to America before removing the nation from before His eyes because of abortion?

Yes.

Let’s review the Biblical precedents for God warning the righteous before pouring out His wrath on a territory.

1. Lot, his wife and two daughters before the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah:

At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”

16 When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful. 17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” (Genesis 19:15-17 NLT)

2. Jesus’ prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and the prophetic warning in 66 or 67 AD to the righteous to flee Jerusalem before God judged the city. (See here.)

3. The Lord’s future warning for believers to flee the city of Babylon before God destroys it.

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.  (Revelation 18:4)

Okay, these are three Biblical witnesses that we can hang our hats on, but we also need to heed the words of Jesus:

Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)

What do I think will happen?

The blood of 60 million babies cry out to God everyday in much the same way the slain martyrs do in the Book of Revelation: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?”

I absolutely believe God’s pent-up anger concerning abortion will be poured out in terrible judgments on America, especially certain states and cities. Unlike His mercy for individuals, there is always an end to God’s patience and long-suffering for nations, states and cities. It could happen soon!

For me, my heart is broken and concerned for California, Oregon and Washington. If I lived in these three states, I would seek the Lord about moving to another state.

(Conclusion…but if you want to read all of the parts, you can go here.)

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