““Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one–third shall be left in it: I will bring the one–third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ””
Zechariah 13:7-9 NKJV
“And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.””
Revelation 15:2-4 NKJV
Remnants
Looking upon the nature of the world we are living in, it is easy to feel as if the victory belongs to the evil one. Everywhere we look, the evil seems to prevail and the very fabric of our world seems to be corrupted. If one did not look to the Lord, and deeply into His word, one could easily lose hope. But we have word of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the promise that He gave to Abraham, that His offspring would be as plentiful as the sand of the sea, and numerous as the stars in the heavens.
“Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.””
Genesis 22:15-18 NKJV
We have been called to have the faith of Abraham, who when asked to sacrifice his one and only son, obeyed God, and upon that action, driven by faith, Abraham and all his descendants received the blessing. Upon the children of Israel was bestowed the promise of a land, and upon those who have been grafted in through Christ, a heavenly kingdom.
When one looks back at all that has transpired over the last two thousand years, one can easily feel as if there is no way the promise will be fulfilled, but we who are followers of Jesus and born again, have the presence of the Holy Spirit as a reminder.
Even Israel, now wholly secular and not following the Lord, has been delivered through great holocaust, where the God of promise provided the world with a foreshadowing of what He will do in the latter days, for out of great persecution came a remnant, and the rebirth of a nation.
In the coming trouble they will again fall under attack, but the Lord is faithful.
“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.”
Revelation 12:13-14 NKJV
A remnant will again be preserved.
Brothers and sisters, in the coming days, weeks, months and perhaps…years, there will be great trials and I tell you the truth, some of you who may read this today, will not make it through to the end. But know this, some of us will, and all of us, those raptured, those martyred by the Harlot and the Beast, the resurrected saints of old and new who came to the Lord by faith, will all stand in glory with those who are the overcomers, who withstood the persecution, and did not take the mark.
“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.””
Revelation 19:6-9 NKJV
In that moment, I am sure we will look back at these times, shaking our heads at any doubt we may have had, for even then we had the promise of God written down for us. The Scriptures which demonstrate His faithfulness through the ages. We also had our own stories, testimonies of all the great things the Lord has done.
Our Lord keeps His promises, and we need not worry about what is to come. We know the journey will be hard, but we also know that the Lord will be with us each step of the way. Let us be employed, with great eagerness, in going out and sharing the Gospel, and even more eagerly about the business of being and making disciples. May we set aside the freshly things of this world in pursuit of the holy.
On the cusp of the desperate times to come, we have been set apart as ambassadors, stationed in wartime, representing Jesus before a world at war with God and with itself.
May we stand as forerunners of the remnants soon to come, faithful in completing the work the Lord has set for us to do.
Have a Fantastic Friday!
#prayfortheharvest
#prayforthepersecuted
#prayforthepeaceofIsrael
#prayforthegospeltospreadeverywhere
Musings from an idle mind 
Absolutely! So incredibly grateful for a God willing to sacrifice his son to pay for my sin. May the Lord hold us fast to the end? May we be found faithful? Hope you have a great day, Bernie.
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