Revelation 17 (May 2)

Revelation 16 (May 1)

Revelation 15 (April 30)

Revelation 14 (April 29)

Revelation 13 (April 28)

Revelation 12 (April 27)

7 Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. 8 And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. 9 This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.

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Wow... okay, so I'm wondering if this is when Satan and the 1/3 of the angels were thrown onto earth. This revelation seems like it is the revelation of what happened before time began...before the world was created.. or before Adam and Eve ate from the fruit. There is a mystery here that is really deep and I would love to understand what all this means. I have always wondered where the story of Satan taking one third of the angels (fallen angels) down to earth came from...Is it this chapter? If I remember correctly there is another book in the Bible that has this story. Anyway, the devil has little time and is trying to devour all of us who belong to Christ! But praise be to God...that will never happen because God has a hold on our lives!! He is faithful and just!! He has forgiven us from all our sin and has snatched us out from the depths of death!

Revelation 11 (April 26)

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven:
“The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,t
and he will reign forever and ever.”

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Wow what a trip this book is... there are some crazy visions I don't even understand! But I chose this verse because it is cool that part of the Hallelujah chorus is derived from this verse. "And He shall reign forever and ever!! Hallelujah. These elders and heavenly beings will be singing in the midst of destruction...that God reigns forever and ever. God is a great God and even though we may not understand what lies ahead... especially in the end times...we must always believe that Jesus Christ is Lord! We must worship Him alone!!

Revelation 10 (April 25)

7 When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.”

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Alright, honestly...this is just getting crazy. Eating a scroll? Why does it turn sour in his stomach? Anyway, I chose this verse here because it says that God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled. What is that? It says that it was revealed tot he prophets. I wonder if that is Jesus. I'm not exactly sure what this chapter means. But it is good to know that we serve a loving God...one who is just...therefore, we should not fear what His mysterious plan is...rather we should hope for it and live for Him while we wait for it to be revealed!

Revelation 9 (April 24)

20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

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This has always been so interesting to me. People just don't get it even when it's so clear. God tries to discipline His people and gives them chances...but they still continue to worship other things that are not God! God is a jealous God and He hates when people worship anything else but Him. Yet, He throughout the history of the Bible, gave people chances over and over again...but the people just wanted to cling to their sin. I don't necessarily see people worshiping idols now-a-days...however, I do see how when all things start going bad and the world starts ending...people are not going to say that it is God doing what He is doing....people are going to say it's due to global warming, or a bad economy, or its just what the Universe is doing to us, it's fate...it's etc. They will not look to the word of God and see that it's His discipline and His time of saying repent and turn to me!

"Lord, may our hearts and minds be open to the revelation that is taking place in our time"

Revelation 8 (April 23)

4 The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. 5 Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.

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I don't really get this part. It seems like the prayer's of God's holy people are lifted up in verse four and then rejected in verse five and then all these bad things start to happen to the earth. I wonder if all these things will happen while God's holy people are on earth. Will he protect us? Or will he give us strength to endure the tribulation. This is also interesting because it seems like it's the tribulation, but then again we just read in the previous chapter that those who endured the tribulation were sitting at the foot of God's throne wearing white...so I don't know if this is the tribulation. It's interesting and scary nonetheless...

"God protect us from all that will happen to this world. May we honor you in everything we do. We accept the blood of Jesus over our lives! Cleanse us and keep us! We love you."

Revelation 7 (April 22)

14 And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.”
Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died int the great tribulation.t They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.

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This is just crazy! It says they have dipped their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. How could this be? Jesus blood is what cleanses us from all of our sin and makes our lives and our hearts as white as snow...clear from any blemish. Again, those who are persecuted seem to have a special place in heaven. So you've got those, and then you have the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel...where does that leave us? I pray that God will reveal His purpose to us when we read this book because it has some beautiful aspects.

Revelation 6 (April 21)

9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony. 10 They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisterst—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.

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This is just amazing. I think this is my favorite chapter so far. I mean, the one about heaven is AMAZING, but this one has some great prophecies. The first couple of horses are our hope. I chose this verse because it is amazing how Martyrs will be raised up and will be given white robes! God is so proud of those who do not turn their backs on Him...those that remain faithful!! This is incredible! They cry out to God and God tells them to wait...but the awesome thing is...they are at the feet of the throne!! What better place to be?! Worshiping the Lord who they died for...finally able to see Him in person. Their faith will be their eye!! They will rise! This is amazing! God is faithful!

Revelation 5 (April 20)

4 Then I began to weep bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll and read it. 5 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne,t has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

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This is amazing. John knew the importance of the scroll. I don't remember at this point what the scroll contained, but it seems like John knew that it revealed life and salvation. He wept because no one could open the scroll...This is interesting in and of itself...The awesome part is that one of the 24 elders told him to stop weeping. He then revealed the gospel to John! Jesus has won the victory!! He is WORTHY to open up the scroll and its seven seals. This reminds me of "The Sword in the Stone"....how only one person had the ability to take it because it rightly belonged to Him...there was a purpose. Only one being can take away the sins of the world and that is Jesus Christ our Lord!

Revelation 4 (April 19)

Revelation 4:11 NLT

“You are worthy, O Lord our God,

to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created all things,

and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

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Is this our prayer every day? To give our Lord glory and honor and praise because He is the Creator? We are nothing but mere humans created by the Almighty God... He loves us and cares for us! We need to be thankful to Him by leading lives of.worship and of praise. We serve the Almighty!! what a privelege!

Revelation 3 (April 18)

19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

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This reminded me of Hebrews 12:6 "For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child."

This is so important to know. I think this serves both as a justification of why we go through hard times sometimes and as a warning to those who belong to God, yet turn away...God will never let us go and he will do whatever he has to do to get us back. I remember the 100 sheep and how the shepherd goes to find the 1 lost sheep...That's who God is...he goes out of His way to find us, to turn us back to Him, and sometimes He has to do what He doesn't want to do...punish us...but it is for our own good...I'm also reminded of Israel and how God had to punish them over and over again...they experienced many wars and much destruction because they had turned from the path that God had for them...but God always ended up blessing the nation in the end. His promises were true and were alive! He disciplines those He loves and punishes each one he accepts as a His child... Now, honestly...I don't want to be punished by God...however, I'd rather face His correction now than His righteous judgement later. Discipline is good!

Revelation 2

26 To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,
To them I will give authority over all the nations.

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This chapter was very interesting. Jesus is telling groups of people that they are doign well in some areas but not in others. They were not selling themselves completely over to Christ and He was not please with that. Now, it's the same thing. We need to live lives in complete surrender to Christ...not partial surrender because that will not get us anywhere. He calls the obedient ones victorious! The ones who obey him to the very end. These are the people that He will give authority over all the nations! We need to stand up in His name and glorify him with what we do every day...it's an act of worship and it pleases Him!

Revelation 1

Revelation 1:3 NLT

God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time Is near.

Are we ready for his coming? Have we really been following his will in our lives. We need to obey our Lord and Savior...not in order to get into heaven but to be prepared for his coming...that he might find us honoring him instead of having our backs turned towards him. God has .done.so.much for us and he deserves our lives and our deveotion!! Lets read the word every day and pray to our Lord that we may follow his will every day of our lives!! Its the least we can do!

1 John 5

14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

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I love this! This, I believe, is the answer to the question about having faith and moving mountains...will they really move? Do we really have the faith they don't move? I think that we have to ask ourselves....is it really pleasing to God that the mountain would move? What glory does it bring to Him, except an massive earthquake that might kill people. Honestly, when we pray, we will be answered only when we are within God's will. When we seek his voice and honor him with our decisions and thought processes. We need to ask for anything that pleases Him--this is when He will answer us. IT is when we have communion with God that we fully get to experience this unity with God that allows us to know what pleases God and make request of Him that are within His will! And when we are that close to God, we will know and trust that He will provide what we ask for!

1 John 4

18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each othert because he loved us first.

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Love, love, love...this chapter is all about the love of God and how we are supposed to reflect that in our lives! It shows how love is important of all things. I think it shows that after the description of God being a holy God, He must be described as a loving God--because that is what makes Him, the invisible, visible to us. Right here we see that we should not fear God or being separated from Him if we have a clear conscious through experiencing his perfect love...if we truly understand His forgiveness and can forgive ourselves...we will be able to experience His perfect love and will never fear punishment and separation from our Lord! It is such a beautiful place to be in...to know that our Lord will never let go of us! This reminds me of the story of Joseph and his brothers...his brothers were afraid of what he would do to them after their father died and pleaded to Joseph saying "don't kill us"...and Joseph wept..I think it's because they did not understand the reflection Joseph had of perfect love and forgiveness... So let's reflect this in our lives and love each other because He first loved us!

1 John 3

15 Anyone who hates another brother or sistert is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

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This is awesome because we were trying to find this verse in D-group the other day...we found this mentioned in Matthew during the sermon on the mount...hating a brother is equivalent to murder...this says that murderers don't go to heaven. This can be used to talk to someone about Christ and the reality that Jesus loves us and sees past the sin and is waiting for us to repent and go to him....even the murderers...Turn and repent from all your sins are follow Christ!

1 John 2

Sorry guys! I fail! For some reason I got confused with the johns and thought 1 John only had one chapter. Well, We will continue this thread. When we get to Jude, just go an find the post. Well get back on track on Revelation.

3 And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

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We will be known by the fruits of the spirit. We know that we have Christ because holiness and purity will result from our abiding in Him. When we obey his commandments, it is merely evidence (a symptom) of having Christ as the center of our lives. On the other hand, when we disobey, it is merely evidence ( a symptom) of not having Christ as the center of our lives! I love how it says here that when we obey we love! Whne we follow what He says...we love. Do we really love God? Are we following His will for our lives every day. We need to always monitor this and abide in Him! God is good!

Jude 1

22 And you must show mercy tot those whose faith is wavering.23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others,t but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.t

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"Hate the sin not the sinner." We are put here to keep each other accountable. If we see sin in our brother's lives we are responsible for helping our brothers out and help them keep their path straight. Iron sharpens iron. But it's important to know that we must show mercy to those that we are correcting/rebuking! Lord help us love our brothers!

3 John 1

3 John 1:7 NLT

For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers.

This was really interesting because it showed a very distinct separation from the world. These people that were serving the Lord were told not to even accept gifts and support from people who didn't know the Lord. We talked about this in our devotional this morning and just think that it is because when someone gives you a gift...even if there is no intention in tying one person to the other...there is a bond that is created. On the other hand...there is an amazing bond created when we as Christians support our brothers and sisters in the field.

2 John 1

2 John 1:9 NLT

Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.
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This is awesome! I've really been struggling with understanding the reality of the concept "once saved always saved.' Andy and I have been discussing it a lot and I feel that this verse has the answer. If someone says that they are Christian and yet they fall away...they really.weren't Christians to begin with. It says here that anyone who falls away frokChrist never had a relationship with the father and son...but those who temain in the faith have a relationship with the father and son! This is really important to understand. Are we abiding him and seeking a relationship with him?

1 John 1

7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

--This is just an awesome verse talking about the assurance we have o fellowship with Christ! If we live in the light of the Lord, we will follow his purpose for our lives!

2 Peter 3

9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.

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The Lord is patient with us. We may ask, why are we still here suffering in this world. Why hasn't Jesus come back although his coming was prophesied ~2000 years ago? I think this chapter holds the answer...the Lord is patient and wants more and more people to join Him in heaven. He wants everyone to have time to know the Gospel! He wants everyone to know the truth! Why is He patient with us even though we don't deserve it?...all I know is that it is a beautiful thing. A day is like a thousand years to our Lord and a thousand like a day! Understanding God's mercy and patience with us makes me love Him more and more everyday! If you think about it in there terms...every day that passes is another day that more souls got saved and will join us in heaven!

2 Peter 2

1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.

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This verse reminded me of what I just read in Jeremiah a couple days ago. There were false prophets in his time that were preaching prosperity left and right. People were living aweful lives and still were being told that it was okay and that judgement wasn't going to come down on them...this was ridiculous and Jeremiah knew it and tested them. Eventually Jeremiah prophesied over their deaths and they died shortly after. We have many false prophets preaching the awful Prosperity Gospel today and it is so sad to see. They are brainwashing our society, telling everyone that everything is going to be okay...when people don'to want to change their walks. Which Gospel are we living under? What are our intentions? The Lord knows our hearts...let us come to know him more and more so we can teach and proclaim the Gospel of grace!

2 Peter 1

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

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First off, the reason I selected yesterday's verse is because it is in one of my favorite songs..."He will carry you". Today's verse is also in a song that I really like: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness!" This verse is so amazing...it talks about the transfiguration of a Christian soul. It demonstrates where our motivation comes from--our motivation to do well and pursue Christ and do good in the name of Christ. The fruits of the spirit in our lives will be evident when we truly come to know God by acknowledging his marvelous glory and excellence and his great promises which he has give us. This entails loving God for who He is and for what He has done! When we allow this to sink in our natural/sinful humanly desires fade and are replaced with godliness! I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for this very fact!