New Thing
Jeremiah 31:28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord .
God is doing a new thing in the earth. 1st, He is "watching over" His beloved by "breaking down, throwing down, destroying, and afflicting" everything that hinders wholehearted love between Him and those who would choose Him. THEN, He will "watch over" those who remain by building and planting. He is remaking the earth back to what the Father called very good. Jesus came 2,000 years ago to literally make "all things new." He started in the heart, but He will finish with the physical world we live in.
Revelation 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
When Adam and Eve said "no" to God's leadership, they literally killed God's perfectly created world of God and man living in a Garden together forever. God could have prevented it by choosing forced obedience...slavery...rather than love. But God chose love, tethering Himself to the choices of the object of His love. Free will MUST exist for love to exist. God refuses to violate free will...so Adam and Eve were allowed to destroy the very thing they were made for. But, God has made it possible to reconnect with Him. This is the brilliance of God: in a stunning array of brilliant calculation beyond the depths of my imagination, God uses the least intense means necessary to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level...all the while never violating free will. This is wrapped up in this simple promise:
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Anyone who desires to be reconnected to God may be through His own willing sacrifice of His son...Jesus' willingness to become a man, even though He is God, to lay the privilege of that power aside, live forever by the Holy Spirit as a man to show us the way, so that anyone who desires can live in wholehearted love with the author, creator, and owner of everything:
Philippians 2:6-10 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
In this amazing act of love, Jesus openly demonstrated his wholehearted love for those He had created. God cannot love any less than fully. He doesn't love one more than another. God desires to be "equally invested" in the relationship of love. Therefore, He has a plan to rid the earth of everything that gets in the way of wholehearted love. This plan is described in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Many things stand in the way of wholehearted love. These things, like idolatry, material possessions, comfort, lust, pride, anger...these are tools used by the enemy to place emnity between mankind and God at worst, or to produce a "lukewarm" heart for God, at best:
Revelation 3:15-19 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Jesus is going to remove every heart tie to these things that people have learned to lean on...the very things that keep us in slavery...that keep us from wholehearted love for Jesus. This is what He did in the Exodus story. Many of God's people didn't believe what God was allowing was actually good, and they rebelled against Him...even though He was saving them!:
Exodus 14:11-12 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
God called that entire generation "unfaithful."
God is going to do this again...globally. He is going to "shake everything that can be shaken" one last time...this is Him "watching over us"...making us, not breaking us:
Hebrews 12:25-27 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
One of the first things to be severely shaken will be the financial system. The antichrist intends to force people into His plan by threatening to take away their ability to trade if they don't worship Him by participating in a globally enforced currency system. God is not willing to allow this to happen without first demonstrating to His people that they can live outside of this system.
Revelation 13:16-17 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
Before that happens, for love, God is going to demonstrate that the world economy many of His people have come to trust in is unreliable. This will be a warning. A "shaking" to cause people to let go of money and hold tightly to God and His PROVEN record of supernatural provision. Many who name the name of Jesus will not understand that this is what God is doing in love to prepare His people for the hard choices coming soon.
This is His promised way of love: to watch over us first by uprooting the lesser things, so that He can plant the greater thing: wholehearted love and trust for God.
God, give us eyes to see what you are doing in the earth. Let us value what you value, and believe what you say.
Matthew 19:21-30 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.
Matthew 17:27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
Matthew 14:19-21 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
God is doing a new thing in the earth. 1st, He is "watching over" His beloved by "breaking down, throwing down, destroying, and afflicting" everything that hinders wholehearted love between Him and those who would choose Him. THEN, He will "watch over" those who remain by building and planting. He is remaking the earth back to what the Father called very good. Jesus came 2,000 years ago to literally make "all things new." He started in the heart, but He will finish with the physical world we live in.
Revelation 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
When Adam and Eve said "no" to God's leadership, they literally killed God's perfectly created world of God and man living in a Garden together forever. God could have prevented it by choosing forced obedience...slavery...rather than love. But God chose love, tethering Himself to the choices of the object of His love. Free will MUST exist for love to exist. God refuses to violate free will...so Adam and Eve were allowed to destroy the very thing they were made for. But, God has made it possible to reconnect with Him. This is the brilliance of God: in a stunning array of brilliant calculation beyond the depths of my imagination, God uses the least intense means necessary to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level...all the while never violating free will. This is wrapped up in this simple promise:
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Anyone who desires to be reconnected to God may be through His own willing sacrifice of His son...Jesus' willingness to become a man, even though He is God, to lay the privilege of that power aside, live forever by the Holy Spirit as a man to show us the way, so that anyone who desires can live in wholehearted love with the author, creator, and owner of everything:
Philippians 2:6-10 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
In this amazing act of love, Jesus openly demonstrated his wholehearted love for those He had created. God cannot love any less than fully. He doesn't love one more than another. God desires to be "equally invested" in the relationship of love. Therefore, He has a plan to rid the earth of everything that gets in the way of wholehearted love. This plan is described in the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Many things stand in the way of wholehearted love. These things, like idolatry, material possessions, comfort, lust, pride, anger...these are tools used by the enemy to place emnity between mankind and God at worst, or to produce a "lukewarm" heart for God, at best:
Revelation 3:15-19 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Jesus is going to remove every heart tie to these things that people have learned to lean on...the very things that keep us in slavery...that keep us from wholehearted love for Jesus. This is what He did in the Exodus story. Many of God's people didn't believe what God was allowing was actually good, and they rebelled against Him...even though He was saving them!:
Exodus 14:11-12 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
God called that entire generation "unfaithful."
God is going to do this again...globally. He is going to "shake everything that can be shaken" one last time...this is Him "watching over us"...making us, not breaking us:
Hebrews 12:25-27 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
One of the first things to be severely shaken will be the financial system. The antichrist intends to force people into His plan by threatening to take away their ability to trade if they don't worship Him by participating in a globally enforced currency system. God is not willing to allow this to happen without first demonstrating to His people that they can live outside of this system.
Revelation 13:16-17 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
Before that happens, for love, God is going to demonstrate that the world economy many of His people have come to trust in is unreliable. This will be a warning. A "shaking" to cause people to let go of money and hold tightly to God and His PROVEN record of supernatural provision. Many who name the name of Jesus will not understand that this is what God is doing in love to prepare His people for the hard choices coming soon.
This is His promised way of love: to watch over us first by uprooting the lesser things, so that He can plant the greater thing: wholehearted love and trust for God.
God, give us eyes to see what you are doing in the earth. Let us value what you value, and believe what you say.
Matthew 19:21-30 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.
Matthew 17:27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
Matthew 14:19-21 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
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