Jesus said, “This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse,” (Matthew 12.30 The Message). 

Whose side am I on? Am I in or out? Am I hot or cold? Am I with Him or not?

When I was a little boy waking up in the middle of the night and afraid of the dark, I would crawl into my parent’s bed. There was no place safer than between Mom and Dad. I could sleep with the absolute assurance that they would protect me from any possibility of harm. 

The doubting disciple previously boasted, “Unless… I put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe,” (John 20.25). It took far less than he thought to believe. There is no textual evidence that Thomas actually touched Christ’s wounds. Rather, upon seeing the risen Lord, Thomas spontaneously blurted a statement of faith and erased all his doubt...

“My Lord and my God!”

“…the one hundred and forty-four thousand… These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes,” (Revelation 14.3b, 4b).

I may not be one of the 144,000, but like Matthew, I am learning to obey His command to “Follow Me..”

“As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him,” (Matthew 9.9).

God’s “only begotten Son” did not die for the world in general, but for you and me in particular. He always knew who would respond in faith to Christ. Those of us who have received God’s gracious offer made a surprising discovery… our names have always existed on the pages of the Lamb’s eternal book.

This podcast is an overview of week 51 in the Word Traveler Bible reading plan and covers the following chapters in the Old and New Testaments: Amos 5 – 9; Obadiah; Jonah 1 – 4; Micah 1 – 7; Nahum 1 – 3; Habakkuk 1 – 3; Revelation 13 - 17.

The devil’s strategy is to accuse you “before our God day and night,” (Revelation 12.10-11). You are without defense, of course. Every terrible thing Satan tells God about you is true and yet his words contain nothing of the truth. His strategy ignores the infinite gulf between what is true (you are sinful) and the truth (you are forgiven).

That’s your testimony. That’s your story. It’s really His story in you. You are making His-story each time you utter this testimony. His-story makes you fearless in the face of your enemy’s ultimate weapon… death itself. 

“…the accuser of our brethren… accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death,” (Revelation 12.10b-11).

How do you get up after Satan knocks your wind of confidence, strength, or life out? How can you stand again after the death of a loved one, the death of a vision, or the death of hope? It is sometimes impossible to rise to the occasion, even when you know you must.

Going through religious motions of the walking dead will only drive you more deeply into the abyss of despair, which is where the god of discouragement wants to take you. Go instead with “the Lord of the earth” who is also “the God of heaven” (Revelation 11.4, 13). He alone can breathe life back into your battered soul and re-ignite the fire of your lost passion. 

Jesus can raise you up from death, drudgery, defeat, and disappointment.

The people of prophecy must give. They must share. They must tell. Or, they will perish with the pain of God’s word tearing at their guts. Speaking God’s word is the prophet’s only relief.

“I took the little book from the Angel's hand and it was sweet honey in my mouth, but when I swallowed, my stomach curdled. Then I was told, ‘You must go back and prophesy again over many peoples and nations and languages and kings.’ ”

The 9th chapter of the book of Revelation describes in horrific detail what the Bible calls “the first woe” (v.12). While this portion of scripture does not make for pleasant family devotional fare or popular elementary Sunday School curriculum, I assume there is a message here for me and all Christians.