SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/9/2015
11:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Certainty of the Second Coming
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
1:8
Message
of the verses: “I am the Alpha and
the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the
Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)
God is putting His approval of all
of what we saw and learned from verse seven in this eighth verse. He begins by saying that He is the Alpha and
the Omega, and these are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. Now what does that actually mean? John MacArthur writes “All knowledge is conveyed
through the letters of the alphabet; thus God’s designation of Himself as the
Alpha and the Omega affirms that He has all knowledge. He knows, therefore, the certainty of this
promise.”
As we look at the next statement “who
is and who was and who is to come” we see that God is eternal, and His eternal
presence is not confined by time or space.
Why is that true? Well God
created time and space, thus He is in control of it. God knows all about the future and He knows
that His Son will return to planet earth exactly when He determined it to
happen.
Lastly we look at the words “the
Almighty.” This refers to the fact that
God is all powerful, as one of His attributes is being omnipotent. This is why I continue to stress that all
believers study the attributes of God, and the overall reason is that we cannot
know Him without studying His attributes, and once we know His attributes we
will be in a better position to worship Him in a more intellectual way. The following are the attributes that I
praise the Lord for most every day in my prayer time: “God is holy, glorious, pure, sovereign,
good, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, truth, measureless, omnipresence, omnipotent,
omniscience, all wise, immutable (unchangeable), wrath, God who pardons, God
who is Jealous, faithful, who is love & just and peace.
John MacArthur writes “Jesus came
the first time in humiliation; He will return in exaltation. He came the first time to be killed; He will
return to kill His enemies. He came the
first time to serve; He will return to be served. He came the first time as the suffering
servant; He will return as the conquering king.
The challenge the book of Revelation makes to every person is to be
ready.
“John Phillips writes,
“One of the most stirring pages in English history
tells of the conquests and crusades of Richard I, the Lion hearted. While Richard was away trouncing Saladin, his
kingdom fell on bad times. His sly and
graceless brother, John, usurped all the prerogatives of the king and misruled the
realm. The people of England suffered,
longing for the return of the king, and praying that it might be soon. Then one day Richard came, He landed in
England and marched straight for his throne.
Around that glittering coming, many tales are told, woven into the
legends of England. (One of them is the story of Robin Hood.) John’s castles tumbled like ninepins. Great Richard laid claim to his throne, and
none dared stand in his path. The people
shouted their delight. They rang peal
after peal on the bells. The Lion was
back! Long live the king!
“One day a King greater than Richard will lay claim
to a realm greater than England. Those
who have abused the earth in His absence, seized His domains, and mismanaged His
word will all be swept aside.”
“Only those ‘who have loved His appearing’
(2Tim.4:8), who love Him and acknowledge Him as the rightful king, will enjoy
the blessings of His kingdom.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Jesus spoke some parables that spoke of His
return and one of the points was that we are to be ready, we are to be busy
doing His work while He is gone, for one day He will return and will ask each
true believer what they have done for the cause of Christ while He was in
heaven caring for His church, His bride.
I want to be about His business so that He will be pleased with what I
have done, things that He has planned for me to do from before the earth was
formed (See Eph. 2:10).
My Steps of Faith for Today: I have been
writing down in this space something that one of our Pastors preached on for
what we should be doing in this new year, and that one thing that I chose was
to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, and strength, along with responding
to the Lord that He has for me in the correct manner. One of my favorite authors is Warren Wiersbe
and I have been reading a book by him entitled “The Strategy of Satan.”
I want to quote from this book now about the subject of loving the
Lord. “The Christian life is basically
a matter of the will. We are to love the
Lord with all of our heart (the emotions) and our mind (the intellect) and our
strength (the will). The Holy Spirit
wants to instruct the mind through the Word, inspire the heart with true holy
emotions, and then strengthen the will to do the will of God. A dedicated Christian prays whether he feels
like it or not. He obeys the Word of God
regardless of his own feelings. The
believer who lives on his emotions is repeatedly up and down; he lives on a
religious roller coaster. But the
believer who lives on the basis of ‘spiritual will power’ has a consistent
Christian life and a steady ministry that is not threatened by changing
circumstances of feelings.”
Memory
verses for the week: 2 Peter 1:5-8.
5
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply
moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your
knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your
perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in
your brotherly kindness, love. 8 Now if
these qualities are yours and increasing, they render you neither useless, nor
unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “The
devil” (Luke 4:8).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who said ‘Behold, I
have dreamed a dream more and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars
made obeisance to me’?”
Answer
in our next SD.
1/9/2015
12:49 PM
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