Names of God - The Lord My Banner

 

JEHOVAH-NISSI

(pronounced yah-way nace)

THE LORD MY BANNER

Exodus 17:15

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it, THE LORD MY BANNER.

    God is a personal God. Belief must come on an individual basis. Each of us is presented with the opportunity to either (1) Believe in The Name of The Lord Jesus Christ for our Salvation and follow Him or (2) Refuse to believe in The Name of The Lord Jesus Christ and rebel against Him.

Those of us who choose to obey have built an altar and said:

    The Lord is My Banner (under Whose protection I am saved), is My Standard (by which I live), is My Flag (under Whose Name I submit and surrender), is My Ensign (Whose warnings I heed).

Isaiah 11:12

He will raise a Banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

John 3:14

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must The Son of Man be lifted up: that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

Isaiah 45:22

Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I Am God, and there is no other.

Mark 8:34, 35

Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and for the gospel will save it."

Isaiah 43:11

I, yes I, Am The LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.

Acts 4:12 "Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

    We need to build an altar, repent of our sins and transgressions against God for not acknowledging that He is God over all, first and foremost in our lives. We need to acknowledge that GOD IS GOD and THERE IS NO OTHER.

Psalm 80:3

Restore us, O God, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Isaiah 55:7

    Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to The LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I know now that You are indeed Lord of All creation, Lord of heaven and earth, Lord of all kingdoms and ruler-ships. Forgive me of this my sin against You. Lead me in Your ways, according to Your will and purpose for my life. Continue to teach me Your Word, planting it deep within my heart, and sanctify me with Your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' Most Holy Name,

Amen.

Names of God - 'EL

 

Isaiah 45:22

“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I Am God, and there is no other."

LOOK TO GOD FOR OUR SALVATION

Proverbs 4:27

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil. (Deuteronomy 5:22)

Matthew 7:13, 14

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. For strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it."

John 10:9

 "I Am The Gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture."

Isaiah 55:7

Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to The LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Hebrews 4:14

Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus The Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we profess. 

John 20:31

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is The Christ, The Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.

Acts 4:11, 12

This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus The Author And Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

GOD IS GOD

Deuteronomy 4:35

You were shown these things so that you would know that The LORD Is God; there is no other besides Him.

Psalm 86:10

For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.

2 Samuel 7:22

How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.

Isaiah 44:6

Thus says The LORD, The King and Redeemer of Israel, The LORD of Hosts: “I Am The First and I Am The Last, and there is no God but Me."

Revelation 1:8,17, 18

“I am The Alpha and The Omega, The Beginning and The Ending,” says The Lord, “Who is and Who was and Who is to come, The Almighty.”

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am The First and The Last, I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

Deuteronomy 32:39

"See now that I Am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand."

Exodus 3:14

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Isaiah 43:10, 11

“You are My witnesses,” declares The LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, and after Me none will come. I, yes I, Am The LORD, and there is no Savior but Me.

1 Corinthians 8:6

Yet for us there is but one God, The Father, from Whom all things came and for Whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all things came and through Whom we exist.

John 17:3 (Jesus' prayer in the garden before His arrest)

Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, The Only True God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.

The Color of Worship - Yellow

 

Do not claim the sickness or sicknesses which attack your body. Do not say “my disease, my disorder, my illness”; that is a proprietary phrase claiming ownership over. We are sick, but we do not have sickness: sickness is attacking us. And what do we do when we are attacked? We fight back! But we fight with spiritual weapons.

    I have been fighting back using worship, praise, thanksgiving, Scripture and prayer. There is no right order for using these weapons to fight against that which would destroy our bodies, our minds and our spirits.

    Yes, we may occasionally forget and say “my” but we can correct ourselves by asking The Holy Spirit to remind us. Being the good friend He is, He will. He does.

    I am healed in Jesus’ Name. You are healed in Jesus' Name. He is healed in Jesus' Name. She is healed in Jesus' Name. The Name which is above all names. ALL names. Names of diseases. Names of sicknesses. Names of disorders. Above the names of mental disease or mental defect. It is the Name Above All Names which heals those who want to be healed.

    We are enveloped in healing for The Sun of Righteousness has healing in His wings. Malachi 4:2 “But to you who fear My Name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves.” This healing is both curative (for the body) and deliverance (for the soul). It is the ultimate healing that we all desire, isn’t it? 

    I choose Jesus. JEHOVAH-ROPHE --THE LORD MY HEALER.

Luke 18:33 “They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.” And Jesus did rise…with healing in His wings. Not literal wings, like a bird, but spiritual wings, for He is, after all, The Sun of Righteousness, as stated in Malachi 4:2. Romans 6:4 “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.” And in our newness of life, we are healed. We are delivered. We are cured. We are made new in every way. Isn’t God good for allowing us to be made new in Christ?

Did you know that the color yellow in the Bible is the color for healing? Think of that when you bang your shin on the coffee table and this magnificent bruise begins to form. First it is a darkish purple, almost black. Then blue and red. Then yellow. Yellow is the last color of the bruise to be visible on our bodies. And then the bruise is gone.

 Isaiah 53:5 tells us that JESUS was bruised for our iniquities. John 19:1 JESUS was scourged, or flogged, if you will. In verse 2, a crown of thorns was put on his head. In verse 3 the soldiers beat him with their hands. You think his body was bruised from that? Mark 15:16-20 describes the mock worship and beating he received at the hands of the soldiers. Not just a few, either. A whole band, the Word says; the group of soldiers assigned to the military governor.

    Beaten, beard ripped off His face, bruised, whipped/flogged, crucified. That’s my Jesus. He was crushed in spirit and body. The sins of the world weighed heavily upon him. He who had done no wrong would now be punished for the wrongs of the world. From Eve’s sin to the sins of this generation and the next, Jesus would die. His blood is on me.

    That whipping He received in the Praetorium (courtyard) that day healed me. Isaiah 53:5 With his stripes we are healed. I believe that Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son. I believe that I am healed in His Name. Bless that wonderful Name of Jesus!

The Color of Worship - Blue

    

 I love the color blue, all shades. Blue represents the color of grace. The curtains in the tabernacle of God in the Old Testament were blue, purple and scarlet (Exodus 26:1). There were 10 curtains. Each curtain was 28 cubits long ( 1 cubit = 18 inches) and four cubits thick. {42' L x 6' D). The curtains which met in the middle had fifty blue loops on each edge and were attached to each other with fifty gold taches, or knobs.

Isaiah 53:5 & 6 He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Matthew 27:28-31 And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit on Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head. And after that they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. Matthew 27:50 & 51 Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;.

Wounded. Bruised. Chastised. Stripes. Beaten. Smote. Blood didn't just drip from His wounds: it poured. Blood ran down His face, oozed from His chest, matted His clothes to His back. Surely some of that blood was on His persecutors and tormentors. Some dripped into the ground where He stood, where He fell. Some blood seeped into the cross He was forced to carry after being beaten nearly to death. Some blood fell on the man who helped Christ to carry the cross. Some blood got on the men who nailed His hands to the cross and on the men who nailed His feet to the cross. Some blood splurted onto the men around Him as the cross was raised up, with Christ on it, and placed firmly into the ground, for all the world to see. Some blood fell on those who came near to see the worst criminal of all time: The Man who was given the title King of the Jews, The Man who claimed sovereignty as The Son of God. And some of that blood fell on me.

The wounding of Christ, the bruising, the chastisement (punishment), the whipping, the mockery of Christ was for us. He was wounded for our transgressions, our sins, our rebellious thoughts and hearts. For our blatant disobedience and disregard for The Word of God. God punished His own Son instead of you and me. Only The Son of God could take our place in that regard. He was a Man without sin. He was the firstborn, without blemish, without stain. When He died the veil, the curtains, in the tabernacle was ripped in two. Six feet of fabric was ripped like a piece of paper at the exact same time as Christ's last breath left His body. Instant access to the holy of holies was made available to everyone now. (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45)

Hebrews 10:19-21 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way opened for us through the curtain of His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth (say it out loud) that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Romans 10:13 For whosoever (anyone) shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.

 Every single person across the face of the earth has the opportunity through Christ to come into God's presence. He is the doorway. His bruises and His wounds, colors of blue and scarlet and purple created a permanent entryway into the throne room of God.

    

The blue gemstone in the wall around the New Jerusalem is Sapphire, Lapis Lazuli. Revelation 21:19 The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald. 

This stone represents the divine presence of God communing with His people. Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel 1:26, 10:1. With this gem God’s plan of a permanent covenant relationship with His people is complete. For it is only through Christ, God’s redemptive plan of salvation, that we are able to commune with God at all. It is by grace, God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s willingness to die for us, that we can be saved from eternal damnation and begin the holiness phase with which we will be equipped to make our entrance into God’s eternal, holy presence. 

The God of Our Salvation, My Salvation

 EL YESHUATENU   

(pronounced  ale yeh-shoo-ah teh-noo)

The GOD Of OUR Salvation

EL YESHUATI

(pronounced ale yeh-shoo-ah tee)

The GOD of MY Salvation

God desires to save everyone. 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Psalm 68:19

Blessed be The Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our Salvation! Selah. 

But He also desires to have an ongoing daily personal relationship with each one of us, individually. God's only begotten Son Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, both collectively (all of us) and individually (each one of us, the whosoevers wherever we are). 

Isaiah 12:2

Surely God is My Salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For The LORD GOD is My Strength and My Song, and He also has become My Salvation. 

Romans 10:11

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 

Romans 10:13

For, “Everyone who calls on The Name of The Lord will be saved.”

1 Peter 2:6

Therefore it is also contained in The Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a Chief Cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 

Though He calls nations to repent and turn to Him, God also calls each person within that nation to turn away from living a sinful life and live a holy life in Him and His Word. But He's not asking us to do this alone: He gives us His Holy Spirit to lead us through a deeper walk, a deeper understanding of Who God Is and what He wants from us. 

We just need to talk to God and ask The Holy Spirit to lead us. 

TALKING TO JESUS

SPIRIT LEAD ME 

The Feet of Jesus

 

The feet of Jesus are beautiful. 

    Isaiah 52:7 

    How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 

    Romans 10:14-15

    How then can they call on The One in Whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in The One of Whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? 

    And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” 

    The feet of Jesus walked everywhere.

    From the time His ministry began ( Matthew 4:18), Jesus walked everywhere He went. Cities, towns and coastlines in Galilee. Beth-bara (where He was baptized in the Jordan). Jerusalem. Everywhere He taught, preached, healed and did miracles Jesus walked to get there. All this walking did not help to keep His feet clean, so they needed washing:

The feet of Jesus are washed, kissed and anointed.

    Luke 7:37-38

   And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 

    John 12:2-3

    So they hosted a dinner for Jesus there. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 

The feet of Jesus were pierced.

    Psalm 22:16

    For dogs surround Me; a band of evil men encircles Me; they have pierced My hands and feet.

    The feet of Jesus are embraced.

    Matthew 28:9 

    And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 

    The feet of Jesus are baptized.

    Matthew 3:18; Mark 1:9; Luke 1:21; John 1:29-33.

    The feet of Jesus are sat at.

    Luke 10:39

    And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 

    Matthew 5:1; Matthew 13:2; Mark 4:1; John 8:2 are references where crowds followed Jesus to hear Him, requiring Him to sit down and teach them. 

    The feet of Jesus shine brightly, like polished bronze (burnished/brilliant).

    Revelation 1:15

    His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.

 

    

    

He Shall Be Called - Lawgiver

 

NOMOTHETES

(pronounced no-mo-the-TAYS)

LAWGIVER

ISAIAH 9:6

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

James 4:12

There is one Lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy: who are you to judge another?  

Isaiah 33:22

For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our Lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us.

John 5:22, 23

Furthermore, The Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to The Son, / so that all may honor The Son just as they honor The Father. Whoever does not honor The Son does not honor The Father who sent Him. 

Matthew 5:17

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 

Galatians 4:4, 5

But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, / to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. 

Though Moses received the Law of God written on tablets of stone with the finger/power of God, Ezekiel knew that the day was coming when the Law of God would be written on hearts. This Law of God is THE WORD OF GOD come to us in flesh (John 1:14), crucified for our sins and resurrected for our eternal lives (John 3:16), The Law and The Lawgiver now reside within us through the power of God's Holy Spirit, Who has written, with the finger of God, THE WORD OF GOD, on the hearts of we who believe  that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. 

There is no one higher, no one greater, no one more able to save than THE WORD OF GOD. None other deserves our praise, our worship, our obeisance than THE WORD OF GOD. 

Philippians 2:9-11

Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him The Name above all names, / that at The Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, / and every tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the glory of God The Father. 

 

JESUS NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES Terry MacAlmon

He Shall Be Called - Child

 

ISAIAH 9:6

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

    

Matthew 1:23

“Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”).

Luke 1:32, 33

He will be great and will be called The Son of The Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, / and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!”

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

    Though believers become sons of God after they believe on His Name for their salvation, there is ONLY ONE only begotten Son of God: His Name is JESUS. He is The Christ Messiah - The Anointed One (John 4:25). 

    God took His HOLY powerful WORD and wrapped It in frail flesh and bone, and placed It in a young virgin's womb. That had to be some pregnancy, carrying God's only begotten Son under her heart and in her heart at the same time. 

    He came from heaven so we could go to heaven. He came to die on the cross and resurrect from the grave. He came to tell people to "repent and be baptized". This Child of God is The Son of God Which is THE WORD of GOD. THE WORD IS ALIVE and thriving in the heart of every believer who has heard THE WORD. 

    He came to bring us near to God, His heavenly Father. He came to deliver us from the bonds of sin, to ransom us as His own. We are the people of God because we have JESUS CHRIST as our SAVIOR. The Son of God is living in us through the power of God's Holy Spirit. We are breathed upon by God, Who gave us His only begotten Son to die in our place. 

    For the punishment of sin is death. And death is eternal separation from God. For after death there is no coming back, nor crossing over. Once a person dies without believing on THE NAME of JESUS CHRIST for their salvation, there is no other chance given to be saved from eternal damnation. There is no limbo, no purgatory: we cannot pray a person out of the grave and into heaven. Now, while we have breath, is the time to acknowledge the sins in our life, repent (confess them to God and stop doing them) and begin to walk out our faith in a holy lifestyle led by God's Holy Spirit. 

    This is your day, your hour, your moment. Will you accept and believe that JESUS CHRIST is LORD and give Him your heart and your life? 

O COME TO THE ALTAR   - Elevation Worship

GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN: 

He Shall Be Called - Isaiah 9:6

 

WONDERFUL COUNSELOR

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

Matthew 11:28

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Isaiah 55:6

Seek The LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

THE MIGHTY GOD

John 1:1 

In the beginning was THE WORD, and THE WORD was with GOD, and THE WORD was GOD. 

Isaiah 42:8

I Am The Lord, that is My Name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven (carved) images. 

THE  EVERLASTING FATHER

Daniel 7:13-14

In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached The Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. / And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

THE PRINCE OF PEACE

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Philippians 4:7

And The Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The Two Fears - Part One: Fear Not

 

Isaiah 41:10

Fear not, for I Am with you; Be not dismayed, for I Am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.' 

    The first time we see God saying to one of His chosen servants to not fear is in Genesis 15:1, when God tells Abram, "After these things The Word of The LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I Am thy Shield, and thy Exceeding Great Reward." 

    The last time The Lord speaks these words, "Fear Not", is in Revelation 1:17, when The First and The Last speaks to John in his vision: "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I Am The First and The Last." 

    In this day and age, we who believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that The Word of God is Truth, are daily bombarded with unChristlike behaviors and attitudes. We are attacked on every side and must be able to hold onto the cross (the place of saving grace) and the empty tomb (the place of eternal life revealed), when we go about our day to day lives. 

    Everybody has a story, and in our stories are chapters: the situations we find ourselves in, whether through our own decisions or the result of someone else's decision(s) which impacted us in some way. But in every chapter God is there. Sometimes we see Him working in our lives, sometimes we are completely unaware that He is there. 

    I say all this to remind you (and myself) that God Is Present: He is The Omnipresent God -- everywhere at the same time. If you are a born again Christian, then God is with you: leading us, guiding us: revealing to us His purpose for our lives. If we would just listen to Him and follow His lead, He will work everything out for our good. He said so. Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." His purpose, His will, for our lives. We just have to wake up and pay attention. 

    There may or may not be 365 verses pertaining to not being afraid. I don't know, I've only just started this study. But I'm expressly searching out the two-word phrase "fear not". The rest can wait for another day. 

    When God gives the instruction to "fear not", He is preparing each person He speaks this to for a mighty move of God. God spoke to Abram and promised him that his seed, his heirs, would be in the multitudes, just as the stars that covered the night sky. God also informed Abram that his heirs would be enslaved by a people whom God was to judge at a later time (four hundred years). In all this Abram is to "fear not", for God is his Shield (his protector, his defense) and his exceeding great reward (not just Abram's Rewarder, but Abram's Reward). 

    Because of what took place in Genesis 14, God found favor with Abram and chose to visit him, speak with him, promise him many things and form a covenant with him. This great honor may be given to each of God's people when they obey God and believe His Word, as Abram did. Following God faithfully, we, too, may find ourselves in situations He places us in. Not for our comfort, but for our spiritual growth. God wants to speak to us. Are we listening for His voice? Are we in a place where we can hear Him clearly? and know which decision is the right decision? Only you and I and God know the answer to these questions. For He knows our hearts and our thoughts. 

    Let us "fear not" as we prepare to take the next step in our journey on The Way of Holiness in which we walk. 

Friends, Not Servants

 

JOHN 15:15

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 

    See the difference between being a servant and being a friend? A servant is obedient and does as instructed, but a friend knows why and does as he is instructed with joy and understanding. 

    Proverbs 17:17 tells us that a friend loves at all times. We know that when no one wants to be around us for the Truth we speak of God's Word, then it is not so much us they are avoiding, it is God in us. 

    Yet, David wrote in Psalm 2:11 that we are to "serve The Lord with fear and  rejoice with trembling." Is this contradictory? No. To serve The Lord with fear is to honor Him; it is to put God first in every aspect of our lives; it is to make no decision without consulting Him first. It is to seek the will of God, know and understand the will of God and to act upon this knowledge with such joy that we are overcome by the emotion of being in His presence. 

    It is the love of God for us that has caused us to put our faith in Him. It is the hand of friendship being extended towards us through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ that has caused us to come near to God, that we may hear Him speak more clearly. Both Isaiah (Isaiah 1:18) and James (4:8) inform us that God says we must come close to Him that He may come closer to us. Employees/servants do not do so. Friends, however, transcend the employer/employee relationship. 

   Isaiah reminds us in 1:19, 20 that it is our willingness to obey/follow The Lord that brings about this wonderful blessing of friendship. Yet, a warning is given in verse 20 that to ignore this magnificent gesture from God, of drawing close to Him, is to sign our own death warrant. 

    James (4:8) tells us that our words and our actions need to align with our hearts, and that, as Christians, our hearts must align with The Word of God. A person whose heart follows after the teachings of Christ wholeheartedly leaves little room for doubt and faithlessness. In Christ, we are His friends. Outside of Christ, we are His enemies. 

    I am a friend of God, for I am in Christ. Where are you?

I AM A FRIEND OF GOD - Israel Houghton 

GOD WITH US - Mercy Me

Prepositional Faith - Peace Through Christ

 

ACTS 10:36

He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. 

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now The Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. 

    Without Christ there is no peace....of any kind whatsoever. There is the illusion of peace, or the delusion of peace. We live in a world that strives for freedoms, but at another's cost. This world imitates but does not deliver on true peace, for only Christ Jesus can give a person real lasting peace: peace of mind, peace in our hearts. 

    Inner peace does not come from within ourselves, nor does it exist outside of God's Word. "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace," as the hymnist wrote, comes down from The Father above. 

    In The Word, as listed above, we read that not only is Jesus Peace, but He shares His peace with those who believe that He is God's only begotten Son, sent here by His Father to be our Redeemer: He would take the punishment intended for the sinners who disobeyed God's Word upon Himself. Why? Because of God's great love for the people who inhabit this world we live in. 

    It's Amazing Grace, isn't it? It's almost too wonderful for words, yet many a song has been written praising God for His lovingkindness towards us. Too many to number, for that would actually be impossible. Not all songs written for God were recorded through the ages. But God knows. 

    All those reckless thoughts that attack a person's mental stability through what we see and hear and feel have to go through the blood of Jesus Christ, when we come to the cross and believe that this Man is, indeed, the Promised Redeemer from God. And when we come out on the other side, our thinking has changed. For the blood has washed our hearts and our minds clean. Now we have Peace, the Peace Christ promised to give the people who believe Him and follow Him wherever He leads. We have His Peace within us now. 

    God is amazing. Only God can take The Words that He speaks and wrap them in flesh and bone and place It in a young girl's womb via the power of His Holy Spirit. Nobody in all of history has ever done that, nor will anyone ever be able to do so. This is an awesome feat! This is a God I can trust with my life and my soul, with my heart and my mind! This is peace. 

    Peace flows through me like a river meanders through the mountains. It covers every obstacle in my way, sometimes rushing down like a waterfall; at other times this peace narrows into streams which feed the ecosystems of life. And I am content. With Christ as my Shepherd, leading this sheep of His, what have I to fear? Nothing. I have Peace Like A River because Jesus is my Peace. 

    

 

The Fork In The Road

 

 

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

There is a point in every person's life when they will have to make a decision on whether or not they will choose to believe God and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. The decision to follow Christ or not follow Christ can only be made on an individual basis. We can pray for our families and friends to be saved, but ultimately it will be their decision just as it was ours. 

While some will believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, there are still so many people who believe otherwise, and they flaunt their sin not only in our face, but in God's face and they will answer for their sins against God. 

However, while we still have breath, we pray for their salvation and that The Holy Spirit would fill them, giving them power to walk out their newfound faith in these last days before Christ's return. We pray for them with the love of God, Who lives in us and is constantly changing us, filling us with so much love for others that it overflows and blesses not only us, but those on whom we share this love of God with. 

When you have come to the fork in your road, you will see two destinations: one on the left and one on the right: there is no middle road. Imagine one sign reading "The Way of Holiness" and the other sign reads "Self-Interest". The Way of Holiness is strewn with gravel, potholes, obstacles, hidden pits and other things we cannot yet see. The Way of Holiness is straight and narrow: just enough room for two people to walk side by side. There is danger on every side, and yet, we can see that there are other people on this road, not many, but enough perhaps to peak our curiosity. Some are dressed in rags, some are crippled in body, some are singing, some are calling us to walk in The Way of Holiness with them.

Self-Interest is filled with every goodie you could possibly imagine. It is a colorful, winding road with vendors hawking their wares for you to purchase along your journey. The sun is shining on this road and there is not a cloud in the sky. There are no apparent obstacles on this road. It is crowded and the people ahead are laughing and talking amongst themselves. They gesture to us and call out our names to join them on their merry journey. 

A decision must be made, for there is no going back the way we came. We must move forward but which road will we take? Only you can make that decision. Only you can choose your destination. 

Whatever God calls "sin" is nothing to be proud of.

Isaiah 3:9

The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

    Romans 6:23 tells us the destination of the unrepentant sinner and the destination of the repentant:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    But not a death where you just lie in the ground after your life ends. Nor does your body become one with nature. You are not reincarnated into something else: neither your spirit nor your soul will take on a new shape/identity.

    The death of the unrepentant sinner is a sorrowful event for those whom The Lord knows, but that person refused to know or even acknowledge.

The unrepentant soul will go to hell and there are no parties in hell. Friends and family might be there, but the lost soul will not be aware of others around him or her. In death as in life, their only thoughts will be selfish, while their bodies writhe in anguish.

    Luke 16:19-31 tells us the Parable of "The Rich Man & Lazarus". In life the rich man had everything but faith, while Lazarus had nothing in life except faith. The rich man lacked for nothing, but Lazarus lacked everything. Both died. The rich man went to hell and Lazarus went to Paradise.

    In hell a person will have their memories, their senses and their desire that their family would know Christ.

Luke 16:23 the rich man was in torment

Luke 16:24 the rich man knew thirst and was in agony

Luke 16:26 crossing from Paradise to hell after death is impossible

Luke 16:27 the rich man wanted his family warned about hell

But in Paradise there is comfort and rest.

     Repent And Believe The Gospel now, today, while today is still here. For The Bible says that tomorrow is not promised. We must take full advantage of today to believe that Jesus Christ Is Lord and begin to walk by faith this process of holiness which God would have us to live in. 

JESUS GOT AHOLD OF MY LIFE - Dallas Holm 

COME TO THE TABLE - Sidewalk Prophets 

THERE IS ONE GOSPEL - CityAlight