a letter to my young friends: overcoming dangerous times!

Having had long discourses with young friends and relatives lately, I realize how close the last days are and how unaware our young people are of the dangerous times. Subconsciously they have been alerted by their spirit and they desperately need help with seemingly no help in sight for them in their own world, mainly virtual and unreal. Even in the real world of their own home and neighborhood the grown-ups seem living in another distant world which they cannot reach. Indeed these lonely youth daily surf the internet to find answers to the many questions they are encountering in futility. What can a spiritual watchman do in this vast virtual space of emptiness? What do we have to fill the void? Today I am led to read Apostle Paul’s letters to young Timothy. Timothy was an exemplary godly youth in his time well brought up by his godly grandmother and mother. Yet, Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write to him and alert him of the requirement to pursue godliness and holiness. Why? Because Paul knew the end times will come and even godly men will fall. What is Paul’s answer to this great danger? Here is my quote of his timeless letter to my young friends.

Dear young friends, princes and princesses of God:
I am writing with an urgency compelled by the love of God. I pray you read what my friend Paul has written. His timeless letter has helped many young people in his time and throughout the history of mankind for nearly two thousands years. Believe me, I was a young person once .

“Difficult Times Will Come”
3 But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, 3 [and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. Avoid such people and keep far away from them.
(2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Let us all be vessels for honor!
Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God [which He has laid] stands [sure and unshaken despite attacks], bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord stand apart from wickedness and withdraw from wrongdoing.”

20 Now in a large house there are not only [a]vessels and objects of gold and silver, but also vessels and objects of wood and of earthenware, and some are for honorable (noble, good) use and some for dishonorable (ignoble, common). 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things [which are dishonorable—disobedient, sinful], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart for a special purpose and], useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

22 Run away from youthful lusts—pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those [believers] who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
(2 Timothy 2:19-22)

In summary: Let us run away from the bad, and run towards the good! It means running away in both our thoughts and in physical actions. We do not act unless we have been there in our thoughts. Guard our thoughts. Don’t let our thoughts go to places we should not go. Keep our thoughts pure by reading the pure words from God together with our godly friends. Bombard our ears with good songs based on the words of God from godly singers. Pray in tongue without ceasing just as the Apostle Paul taught us.

Love from your dear friend,
Watchman J
3/21/2017

Footnotes:
2 Timothy 2:20 Like Rom 9:20-23, the analogy here has its roots in OT poetry (e.g. Ps 31:12; Prov 26:23) and prophecy (e.g. Is 45:9; Jer 18:2-6). Paul speaks of believers and unbelievers in Rom 9, but here he seems to be describing God’s household or family, in which all the vessels (containers, utensils) represent believers. While the objects in Rom 9:21 do not change, the vessels here are capable of changing their status and the use to which God puts them by keeping themselves from sinful behavior and influences (v 21).

Bible verses are quoted from Amplified Bible (AMP)

Journey to see God: see His goodness and longsuffering

God's divine goodness and longsuffering come together. We are required to emulate God just as the apostle Paul has stated in his letters to Timothy. It is the sign of a new creation, a child of God, born of the Holy Spirit. It comes together with the other godly characteristics. It is manifested in the salvation of Christ Jesus, and a pattern for all believers in Jesus!
____________________
Here are the Bible verses to remember as we meditate on the goodness of God (http://kzlam36.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/journey-to-see-god-see-his-goodness-to-re-possess-our-grounds/)

1. Exodus 34:6
   And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
   Exodus 34:5-7 (in Context) Exodus 34 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
2. Numbers 14:18
   ‘The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’
   Numbers 14:17-19 (in Context) Numbers 14 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
3. Psalm 86:15
   But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
   Psalm 86:14-16 (in Context) Psalm 86 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
4. Romans 2:4
   Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
   Romans 2:3-5 (in Context) Romans 2 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
5. Romans 9:22
   What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
   Romans 9:21-23 (in Context) Romans 9 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
6. 2 Corinthians 6:6
   by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,
   2 Corinthians 6:5-7 (in Context) 2 Corinthians 6 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
7. Galatians 5:22
   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
   Galatians 5:21-23 (in Context) Galatians 5 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
8. Ephesians 4:2
   with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
   Ephesians 4:1-3 (in Context) Ephesians 4 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
9. Colossians 1:11
   strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
   Colossians 1:10-12 (in Context) Colossians 1 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
10. Colossians 3:12
    [ Character of the New Man ] Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
    Colossians 3:11-13 (in Context) Colossians 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
11. 1 Timothy 1:16
    However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
    1 Timothy 1:15-17 (in Context) 1 Timothy 1 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
12. 2 Timothy 3:10
    [ The Man of God and the Word of God ] But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,
    2 Timothy 3:9-11 (in Context) 2 Timothy 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
13. 2 Timothy 4:2
    Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
    2 Timothy 4:1-3 (in Context) 2 Timothy 4 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
14. 1 Peter 3:20
    who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
    1 Peter 3:19-21 (in Context) 1 Peter 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
15. 2 Peter 3:9
    The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
    2 Peter 3:8-10 (in Context) 2 Peter 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
16. 2 Peter 3:15
    and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
    2 Peter 3:14-16 (in Context) 2 Peter 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations

 

Journey to see God: be Strengthened with all might

Today the 5am Bible reading brethren in Christ read Colossians 1 and John 14, referring to Ephesians 1& 3, and 1 John (on praying God’s will).
Here are diagrams that help us to understand and memorize God’s words.

Colossians 1:2-12 Be filled with the knowledge of God’s will

Colossians 1:13-20 The beloved Son of God -Jesus

Colossians 1:9

King James Version (KJV)

⁹ For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

Colossians 1:11

King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Journey to see God: God's Accounting -obedience counts

Romans 6

English Standard Version (ESV)

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, butpresent yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Journey to see God: see Christ in me, my real life!

Today’s message is Galatians 2:20, a new song being sung over and over in the spirit of the watchman. This was the first verse from the Savior Lord, Jesus Himself, when the watchman was first converted and born again in the Spirit and in Word. This is the first love. The second set of verses is from Colossians 3:1-3. What a wonderful reminder and fresh revelation!


All verse in NKJV: ___________

Galatians 2:20 Crucified with Christ; Christ lives in me

2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Colossians 3:1-11 Raised with Christ and hidden with Christ in God!

(Psalm 91:9-10 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10 No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;)

3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.


Ephesians 2:1-6 We were dead in sins, but God made us alive together with Christ

2:1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,


Romans 6 Dead to Sin, Alive to God: the power of sin was broken by Christ in us, the hope of glory. All who have been united to Christ in His death have been set free from slavery to sin. We are free to live the New Creation Life (Christ is our real life).

6:1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Holy Spirit of Truth asks: What will you wear on that day?

Around 3am the watchman woke and when he asked the Lord to reveal to him His words for the following meeting (at 5am) with the Lord, he was shown the vision of the prophet Zechariah in the following Bible verses: Vision of the High Priest, the essential clothing that each Christian must wear on that day when Jesus comes for the churches: the white robe. He was also shown what an overcomer means, what testimony the overcomer give to the world and what an overcomer needs to overcome the world.

Zech3:3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. ⁴ Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” ⁵ And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.
⁶ Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts:‘If you will walk in My ways, And if you will keep My command, Then you shall also judge My house, And likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk Among these who stand here. ⁸ ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you,For they are a wondrous sign;

After that, he was shown today’s theme is ‘be overcomer’. The song as follows is sung in his spirit.
Revelation 3: ¹⁰ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.¹¹ Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.¹² He who overcomes, I will make him… ¹³ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
More about white robes in Revelation 7: A Multitude from the Great Tribulation ⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands…¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴ And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb...”
But who are the overcomer? Revelation 12:11 has given the answer: ¹¹ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
A further revelation on the testimony of the sons of God, the overcomer:

1 John 5: 4-9 (NLT) ⁴ For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. ⁵ And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.  So we have these three witnesses— the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.

The word of testimony of an overcomer must agree with the testimony of God. God has testified His Son. Surely there is no other testimony greater than that of God. What testimony can an overcomer give that is worthy of mention? The same testimony: The Son of God -Jesus Christ.