First, I said yesterday in my post that the letters to these churches are meant for us today!! John is seeing this in a vision as he watches Jesus speak these letters to the leaders of each of these churches. It says “Write this letter to the angel of the church in…… ” Each letter starts out this way, the word “angel” is angelos in the Greek. It may refer to human or angelic messenger. This same word was used as “messenger” when referring to John the baptist in the book of Matt. and Mark. These letters are all written to the leader or leadership teams of the church.

The “messenger” of each of church was the one responsible with his leadership team to steward that message and not let it be neglected or distorted through compromise, fear, or neglect. They were to proclaim the message that Jesus spoke and then to establish an action plan to implement the truths. Jesus is actually showing how to “purify” the church. Why? Preparing the Bride, remember He is coming back for the church (bride) that is without spot or wrinkle. (we are FAR from that church)

With that thought in mind, I want to inject my thought on the church and why it is not ready for Jesus to return. The problem is the church “thinks” they are ready for Jesus to come back. Every time I think of this I ALWAYS think of a song by Misty Edwards, she sings about Jesus coming back, not as a baby in the manger but as a man with a sword — then says people walking around with their fingers in their ears singing da da da da da — so true!!! Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of good men and women preaching the word, that truly was to see people saved. Doing a good work!! BUT with that said there are churches that are treated as a business!! Growth plans, money budgets to run the organizations, lights, camera, action!! All along people thinking they are saved and ready to meet Jesus when so many “Christians” have no clue of the heart of God, a relationship with Jesus or even the purpose of the Church. Huge buildings with millions or dollars wrapped up in equipment and just maintaining the building, paying salaries to huge staff’s and well the list just goes on. I think Francis Chan has it right about the church. Look at your church budget and see how much is dedicated to just running the church and paying the salaries compared to feeding and helping those outside the doors. I know I sound hateful and judgemental about this subject but the bottom line is, what good is it to have a body that is a mile wide and an inch deep? Satan has his hand in the church as we know it.

I have been/preached in other countries and I can tell you that it’s not the same as it is here. I have preached in churches with walls made of material, hung over tree branches, with no sound system and hundreds of people HUNGRY for the WORD and PRAISE. The service would go on the hours and never once would people get mad and not come back because the services were too “long” — Preaching, dancing, healing and true excitement to be in the house of the Lord.

OK, enough of that back to the 7 letters. Each letter had these same things in common.

1. Revelation of Jesus: His majesty and His leadership
2. Affirmation for faithfulness: Jesus gave a specific affirmation to five of the churches. However, two churches did not receive an affirmation (Sardis and Laodicea). 
3. Correction for compromise KNOW that correction is not rejection!!
4. Exhortation to respond: Jesus highlighted specific actions that He required them to engage in.
5. Promise for overcomers: In Revelation 2-3, Jesus promised 22 eternal rewards

It is important to know and understand it is NOT about losing your salvation — these are written to believers and showing them how to overcome in their spiritual life. You have to look at each correction or compromise and each promise to understand.

Next the first letter to Ephesus

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~Ephesians 3~

I wrote about what I think we missed when it comes to leading others to the Lord, helping them become Christians. It’s really all about our family, friends, co-workers and class mates. The people in our influence. The scriptures in Ephesians 3 give us great insight and ways to help our circle of influence.

I fall to my knees and pray to the Father – This sounds so right, and we all like to think we are that type of person. BUT let’s be honest, when is the last time you fell on your knees to pray for SOMEONE? I mean not just kneel down and bow your head but to FALL on your knees with great conviction, CRYING out to the Father, begging him, seeking Him to see your child or friend. I remember when I was saved the first time when I thought I was saved. My life was a mess, I just lost everything, wife, career, money, friends and I was down down down. My family took to me to church and I went expecting to be saved. I didn’t really hear the message and at the end during the altar call to come forward I sat there, finally all my family looking at me and someone said “are you going up?” SO I DID, they prayed a prayer over me and I repeated some words, then the man pulled out a paper and pen and got all my information and congratulated me. I walked back to my seat, my family excited for me but I felt the same… NOTHING!! That was it, done I’m now a Christian. A couple weeks later I went to a Wed. service at church and I really didn’t hear the message again, BUT something happened, something was said that rocked my world and I don’t even remember what it was. But I could not wait for the invitation, I about ran to the front, tears streaming down my face, I could not even stand I fell to me knees and I prayer to the Father, I cried, I repented, I begged for forgiveness and I could have stayed there all night. That’s what I’m talking about, when was the last time you FELL TO YOUR KNEES on behalf of someone else?

from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit – This is what we should be crying out for when it comes to our family and friends. That they will know his glorious, unlimited resources and with them he will empower them with INNER STRENGTH!!!! “Lord, I pray for my daughter children, that you would fill them with your Spirit, they would know without a shadow of doubt your glorious, unlimited resources!!! Lord strengthen their inner man and empower them, that they will know who you are and you are what you say you are”

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. Did you catch this? THEN — Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him – YOUR ROOTS will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong!!!!! Come on man that is good stuff right there.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Take a look at this….. the power to understand his LOVE in all aspects and EXPERIENCE it. Even though we can’t really understand it fully. THEN you will be made complete with all the fullness of LIFE and POWER that comes from God. WOW, isn’t this what you want to see in your children? Grand Children? Friends? Family? Can you imagine a church full of people living these scriptures out. ALL because of prayer, that someone prayed for them?

I am convinced we as Christians have missed the mark, with all of our schemes to get people in the door so the church can lead them into salvation. Our prayers are POWERFUL and make a difference. I am talking about if it takes a lifetime of the same prayer. He is SO SO GOOD

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~Ephesians 3~

So a few days ago I read this scripture as I was thinking about the spiritual aspect of this journey. I have read this a thousand times, I have prayed prayers using this section of scripture. I have preached this and taught this, but this day I see it as brand new.

As parents and grandparents we do everything we can to try and make sure our children grow up to be people that love the Lord, serve the Lord and are involved within the church body. We send them to christian schools, we make sure they go to church every week, we send them to summer Christian camps, we teach them about morality, don’t let them date until a certain age, don’t allow kissing or even holding hands with the opposite sex. All the while living our lives in front of them.

As a pastor growing a church is the most important job we have (so it seems) and if a church is growing we are having new converts, more baptisms, better attendance and bringing in more money (of course to help the community) Every service “with all eyes closed, nobody looking around, just slip your hand up” the pastor “I see that hand over and over again”, there are times there is not one hand up. For years this has driven me nuts, what happened to repentance, being forgiven? There is a HUGE difference between someone telling you that you have been forgiven and hearing from the Father, “You are forgiven” and Nowhere in scripture do I see anyone raising a hand and being led in a prayer. (you tell me what you see in the word) It is not all bad and people do find the Lord during these times, every day, week in churches. But I can’t help but think this is why the church is weak and fading into the sunset faster than anyone really understands. But at the same time the church will rise up in GREAT POWER in the last days (I believe we are in) (Could preach and write on this subject for days)

Bottom line, I do not think we can really for the most part lead anyone into true salvation with our rules and our energy trying, as parents and as church leaders. And today I come across this Scripture and see it in a brand new light……new hope……new mindset. I have often wondered how in the last days there will be the GREATEST falling away and the GREATEST revival in the history of the world both at the same time. I believe with all my heart that what I am talking about is a key to understanding this and a key to security in our salvation.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~Ephesians 3~

The following days I will break down these few Scriptures to show you!

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ~Ephesians 3~

I have been trying to write this since Saturday, on Sunday I finished it finally and went to publish it and it would not publish. I couldn’t figure out why and finally realized that we had NO internet. So I go and unplug the router, wait a few and then plug it back in. BAM the internet comes alive!!! I hit the “publish” button to save and publish and when it published everything I had written after the internet went down DID NOT PUBLISH!!! grrrrrrrrr so I let it sit all day Sunday and Monday.

I am doing well with the cleanse and the fast, the hunger pains for the most part have gone bye bye and now I’m on cruise. AGAIN most of the time hunger is because I’m bored or habit. When it comes to social media, not that big of a deal now. I am amazed by all the extra time I have though lol.

A few days ago I ended on the Scriptures I have above and I have a TON to say about them, So I hope later today or tomorrow I can get started on them. It’s good stuff. EPH 3:14-21

Well the 3rd day has come and gone, it was much better today!! I went into the day from the moment I woke up thinking how hungry I will be throughout the day. In the back of my head I’m thinking how I could cheat and how nobody would know. A couple things about this thought: First, how stupid of a thought is that? I mean really, come on who really cares, who would I be hiding it from? ME? I could walk away from this today and honestly nobody would even care. In my head I went back to a time in my life when I did a 30 day fast, nothing but water for 33 days. It was an AMAZING and life changing time for me. I remember about a week into this fast, I was going to cheat and eat something in secret and nobody would know. As I sat in my car in the parking lot of a store fighting this urge, the Lord gently spoke to me about this. He said that my entire life has been like this, I would do everything I desired to do in secret and it would affect nobody in my life if they didn’t know about it. He first let me know that HE see’s it and knows it, but even deeper he let me know that everything I do in my life, in public or in secret affects those in my life.

If I am in California and my daughter is in New York, my actions affect her physically and in the spirit. I had a hard time understanding this thought but as I struggled through it, it started to make sense to me and as I walked back through my life I could see it. Over the course of my life I have done some pretty stupid things and just about all of them were done in secret. There is NO secret life at all period!!

Secondly, I started this thing with 3 goals, Body, Mind and Spirit. So I was reminded what about the spiritual part of this 30 days? What are you going to do? I’ve read it, I’ve preached it, I’ve taught it. What can I do?

Prayer!!! Pray for my family, my friends. Pure and simple. Here is what I came across this morning:

¹⁴ When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.^{[f] 16} I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3

My hope is tomorrow to expound on these scriptures

Well, I was a little surprised by how hard yesterday was. I was starving all day, well actually I was hungry all day. Again I realized how much I eat every day. My normal day of eating consist of: Breakfast at home, usually oatmeal, cream of wheat or shredded wheat, I don’t eat a large breakfast. After I get to work at 8:30 about 10:00 am or so I will have a banana, then I start snacking, a few chips, a handful of trail mix, a yogurt, always something, the thing is I just take bites etc….. very little. Then for lunch I always have a protein shake. Then back to snacking until I go home. Once home I would usually eat a bowl of soup but add hamburger meat or chicken to it. Snack a little more rest of the night and end it with a halo ice cream bar.

Yesterday I had an Arbonne shake for breakfast, a banana for a snack, another shake for lunch, a banana for a snack and then for dinner I had 2 taco’s, with whole wheat low carb tortilla’s, grass fed hamburger meat, fresh tomatoes and avocado. For a snack last night I sliced some strawberries and a banana and drizzled a little honey over it. I drank 2 cups of Arbonne detox tea and had 2 Fizz drinks. That was it for the day. I went to bed hungry lol

For me when it comes to food, it’s about being bored and habit. Snacking all day is NOT needed, I think it is more of a habit than being hungry. I am sure after about a week that will be behind me! It’s not that I am over weight, I do want to lose about 10lbs no big deal, buy it is more about health and feeling good.

Now let’s talk about Social Media! Man that was hard but again I think it is more of a habit than anything else. At work during the day I will pick up my phone and check FB, Gram, twitter, snap and tick tock all day long. It was a way to take a quick break from having my face in my computer. Do I need to do this? NO!! But out of habit. At night when I am home and watching TV, every commercial pick up the phone and check things out. Or if my dinger dings I pick it up to see who is saying what to me or about me. LOL — Yesterday 1 time I picked up my phone clicked on FB and started scrolling, before a minute was up I caught myself and had to shake my head!! Again by the time a week is up I am sure this will all change. I will spend more time interacting with people, how is that for an idea?

OK, on to day 2 LET’S DO THIS

I have done this cleanse three or four times over the last 4 years, the first time I did it I was blown away by the results, by the way I felt, my body felt clean for the first time in years, my mind was clean and sharp. It was amazing and I LOVED it. It was very difficult the first time because I didn’t know what to expect, I had no idea how I would feel. The HUNGER was huge for the first 5 days and then it all became normal and I just flew through it. YES I missed so many food, deserts, going out to eat etc but at the same time my eyes were open to how much I DID NOT need to eat and put into my body.

So this cleanse I use Arbonne products, all natural ingredients designed to cleanse your body, your liver, kidneys, blood, and well you get the idea. By day 30 all the toxic junk is gone and your body is functioning as it was designed. People say to me “I can cleanse my body in a day or two, you don’t need to do 30 days” and well that just is not true. You can cleans your colon in a day but not all of your organs.

So why? Why am I doing this again? I did this July of 2022 exactly a year ago. I have eaten pretty clean for the last year, but as time goes by it is easy to just start eating like I used to. Today I feel bloated, low energy, and not very happy with myself. And this year I am adding a fast to this program. BODY, MIND and SPIRIT – I have noticed that when my body is out of wack, my mind is too and along with that my spirit is too. It’s all connected.

BODY – I’m feeling bloated and weighted down. I KNOW my body, I have lived with it for 7 decades. I am a pretty healthy man, but I know when it’s out of wack. I have lived with this body weighing 225lbs and weighing 150 pounds. For me I feel my best and my strongest at about 160lbs. But it’s not always about the lbs, it’s more about how healthy you are and feel.

MIND – When my body gets dirty (I will use that word for my organs and fat) for me everything goes south. My mind between what goes on in the world, social media, news, crazy people, a society where language and sex is crazy loose and the norm. My mind goes places I do not want and fight to keep focused. I get angered easily, I can get opinionated, and my thought life can go down a lot of rabbit holes.

SPIRIT – Same with my Spirit man – as my body and my mind are heading the wrong direction so does my Spirit. My connection with the Father starts to become normal and a part of my life, but NOT my life. Things become dull instead of sharp as a double sided sword. I DO NOT like when I am like this at all.

So, all these and many other things are connected in our bodies, for me it’s time to clean house and get my mind, body and spirit aligned once again. Live the way I was designed to live. ON FIRE making a difference in the world around me.

So here I go — DAY 1

There is so much happening in our world right now. I know, I know there always has been and for as long as man has been around the end is near, the signs are there. I get that but today is DIFFERENT, we are watching things unfold right before our eyes day by day.

There are a lot of things to look at right now. First, the financial world, going digital is HUGE and most just shake it off. Secondly, Wars and rumors of wars, yes there has always been wars in this world, I understand this but as we look deeper into todays happenings around the world and see how it aligns with Scripture, WOW. And Third, the Church, not only in USA but around the world, although USA is the spotlight of it all. How the culture and the church intertwine together and what it all means.

Let’s take a look at the WORLD financial situation and what it means to us.

23 Countries Now Abandoning US Dollar

A new world monetary system is being set up right now which will completely kill the US dollar, which is the world’s reserve currency.

23 countries (60% of the world’s GDP) are setting up swap lines which bypass the dollar and SWIFT, which is the dollar-based worldwide financial transaction system.

These countries include Russia, China, India, and even Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

Once the new system is in place, our dollar won’t be needed in these countries and a new reserve currency will come into being. All those dollars in foreign accounts will come home, which will annihilate our monetary system.

Also, China just announced that it will stop purchasing our debt (holding dollars in reserve). This will force The Federal Reserve to print even more dollars than the $85 billion it’s currently printing.

World reserve currencies have always had a limited life span and ours is up.

Historically, new world reserve currencies are backed by gold.

Prices just dropped on gold and silver. NOW it the time to buy! Protect your wealth my friends.

For several years, financial analysts, primarily those outside the mainstream of academia, have been warning that any day could be the black swan event that collapses the dollar, and ends U.S. hegemony as caretaker of the world’s reserve currency. That day has finally arrived as on Nov. 18, a former head trader for a major financial institution issued a harbinger and stated that 23 countries, and 60% of the world’s GDP, are right now setting up new swap lines which bypass the dollar, SWIFT, and the BIS, and will usher in a new global currency system which will kill the dollar.

The thoughts that are put into the minds of men that are aware of what is occurring on trading floors all over the world is when? When is also the question that I get asked about quite often by thousands of people. So what is the “when”? The “when” is what is the sure sign that this fraudulent sham that we call an economy is over? Folks the biggest sign is when those that trade in the dollar to acquire goods, no longer want the worthless paper because of US “bully” policies or they have totally lost faith in the US as a responsible steward of it’s currency and economy. That day has arrived.

All over the world economies that have not totally shot themselves in the foot by gambling in the Anglo-American casino are now moving to set up various currency exchanges by passing the dollar. – Rogue Money via Steve Quayle Q Alerts

The list of the 23 countries which are creating new swap lines outside of the dollar include China, Russia, India, and surprisingly, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. This means that the Eurozone itself is abandoning the dollar, and preparing for transition to a new central banking system.

To facilitate the transfer of currencies and swap lines, there needs to be a bank of sufficient size and stature to aid in handling of this monumental task. One year ago, China, along with the BRICs nations of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, loaned money to a new financial institution they established and labeled the BRICs bank. This bank was created with the intention of bypassing the dollar, and allowing free trade to occur between nations without the need to trade for dollars first, as is currently the format under the petrodollar system. In fact, the new BRICs bank will function both as a bank of international settlement, as well as a lender of last resort, eliminating the need for the BIS and IMF, which currently reside under dollar dominion.

The only thing that stands in the way of the world’s final rejection of the dollar is the wavering trust that Saudi Arabia and OPEC have with the U.S. in assuring oil transactions remain denominated in dollars under the 1970’s Petrodollar agreement. But as the world has seen recently, even the Saudi kingdom is hedging towards a new global system, and has publicly stated that their ties to the U.S. are open for re-negotiation.

What started in September of last year, when an agreement between China and Russia ended the dollar’s stranglehold over oil and how it was purchased, the past 14 months have seen a momentous rush towards setting up the infrastructure to replace the dollar completely in global transactions. And with 23 countries, including those from the BRICs nations and the Eurozone, preparing for new swap lines outside of dollar hegemony, the fuse has been lit on the dollar’s death rattle, and the when has changed into the now.

SOURCE: EXAMINER.COM

This is all done with purpose, and has been in the works for decades, and our government is part of it. WE MUST keep our eyes open and be prepared, I believe that they will go to any extent to bring us to a place where we will be happy to accept the one world currency that THEY control 100%. With the flick of a switch they can turn your money off and will not be able to buy or sell. Why would our Gov’t do such a thing? Total control, right now they silence you and me and call it “mis-information” just think of this in a few short years. Mis-information was not ever a “thing” until the truth started coming out.

BE AWAKE – not woke. Make no mistake they want to take your guns away, take your money away, take your rights away and control you (the population) 100%. Those that are asleep will be angered buy this, call me a “conspiracy theorist” and call me crazy. Dig into what is going on. GET off the news and get in the know. There are 100’s of broadcast and podcast to learn from.

The last thing I want to say about this, is that GOD is in control and it is mapped out 100% in His Word, that the world is laughing at! We should not be surprised and would should not fear. Fear what God can do not what the world can do to you. In the book or Revelation it says “

No one could buy or sell without this mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number. They could not buy or sell anything unless they had the mark. The mark is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Revelation 13:17 

Next I will look at Wars and Rumer’s of Wars – in the meantime check out this Video of Misty Edwars (from International House of Prayer) People walking with their fingers in their ears…Diane and I was present when she sang this at One Thing in Kansas City – this is how we brought in the new year!!!

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ^[a]ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.