The word today from the Holy Spirit is understanding the permutations (or arrangement) of Jesus in the End Times.

We will be examining the words of Jesus and avoid making controversial statements about the Tribulation.

Jesus has provided us with an overview of the future. We have to accept this without conjecture or attempting to project future events in a more specific time frame.

The disciples came to Jesus questioning Him about the future signs at the end of the age.

Jesus responded with a warning not to be deceived. Many imposters will appear in the future claiming to be Christ.

There will be wars but do not be troubled for they are not a sign of the end. There will be nations rising against nations.

The end times will consist of famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. All these calamities are the beginning of sorrows.

Then tribulation will begin and the the satanic leaders will kill many and believers will be hated by all nations for claiming the name of Jesus.

This will be followed by bitter division between believers and non believers filled with betrayal and hate.

Then false prophets will appear and deceive many. There will be lawlessness and the love of many will become cold.

Jesus says that those who endure to the end shall be saved. And, there will be an outpouring of the gospel message throughout the world.

Then the end will come and the start of the great tribulation.

Believers will see the “abomination of desolation” prophesied by Daniel. This is the evil work of Satan to bring desolation to the world and this vision happens in a holy place.

Then Jesus tells all to flee to a safe place with a sense of urgency.

This will begin the great tribulation with severe calamities. No flesh could be saved but for the love of God who will shorten the tribulation. In the Book of Revelation we learn that 25% of the world population will die during this season of tribulation.

According to Bible scholars the tribulation will last seven years but there are conflicting views.

Then Jesus warns all believers not to believe those who proclaim to be Christ. They are false christs and prophets who will demonstrate great signs and wonders to deceive believers.

They will attempt to get believers to look for Jesus in various places. Do not follow these false Gods.

Jesus will come as a bolt of lightning and appear to everyone from the East to the West.

After the tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not have light and the stars will fall from heaven. And, the powers of the Heavens will be shaken.

(As a footnote, several years ago Jesus let me see with my own eyes a star falling from Heaven and the resulting horrific destruction and death.)

Then Jesus will appear in Heaven and all the nations on earth will mourn for Him and see Jesus coming on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. Jesus will send His angels to gather together His elect from the four winds blowing from one end of heaven to the other.

At this point in time, all believers on the earth will live with Jesus forever.

Now what can we learn from the permutations of Christ. All believers will suffer to some extent through the Tribulation. No one can escape all the calamities.

We must be grounded in Jesus and submitting to the authority of the Holy Spirit. As believers we need to be aware of false teachers and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

There is a sense of urgency today to come clean with Jesus and commit our lives to Him. And, we must pray for the protection of Jesus against the powers of evil.

There is an urgency with God concerning salvation. This cannot be delayed anymore.

Many believers are mostly sleeping through the gift of salvation. They have a subtle or subdued attitude about Christ.

Today is a wake-up call. We are on a collision course with God and will have to face the consequences of our sin and apathy towards Jesus.

We are in the end times and the judgments of God are over all nations. God is unleashing His wrath through cataclysmic actions.

We do not respect or fear God. We take salvation for granted and give God mediocrity. Jesus is not the centerpiece of our life.

Last night the Holy Spirit spoke this Bible verse to me:

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

We must all examine our lives and make sure our thoughts, motives and actions are built on the foundation of Christ.

If you practice duplicity don’t expect help from God.

Salvation cannot be taken lightly. This precious gift gives you the ability to walk with Jesus every day of your life and hear His voice. Jesus lives in you through the Holy Spirit but is not a reality to most Christians.

The salvation of God is about today and will give you wisdom, strength and protection during the whirlwind of judgement. However, you have to be right with God and covered with the blood of Jesus. The attitude of pleasing self must be crucified with Christ.

Now is the time to return to Jesus and confess your sins and seek repentance. Put on the armor of light and give the Holy Spirit authority over your life.

Let Jesus do the housecleaning so you can stand blameless before Him.

Take God seriously and live in the presence of the Living Christ. There is no one like Him!

To discuss this subject we need to understand the nature of Jesus as described in the scripture above. I can testify through a personal meeting that there is no one like Jesus.

Jesus desires to have a symbiotic relationship with you which is defined as a mutually beneficial partnership between two parties.

You do business with Jesus in many different interactions including prayer, reading the Bible, listening to His voice, and worshipping Him in Spirit and Truth.

Initially, you must commit your life to Jesus and make a decision to live for Him above all else.

As a believer, your life is an open book to Jesus. He is omniscient and knows your every moment from the beginning through the future. You cannot hide anything from Jesus.

Jesus knows you better than you know yourself. He sees all your weaknesses and limitations.

You can contact Jesus directly at any time through your words in a prayer conversation.

As a caution, remember Jesus is holy and without any imperfection.

I would suggest you approach Jesus asking Him to cover you with His blood and seek repentance from your sins. This will allow you to stand blameless before Him.

The subject of transacting business with Jesus is a reality. He desires to have a very personal and embracing relationship with you.

Speak candidly to Jesus and listen for His voice. Jesus speaks to believers through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

You have the freedom to ask of Jesus and He has the freedom to ask of you.

In this relationship you can claim all the promises of God by faith. Reach out with boldness and confidence in dealing with Jesus.

Jesus has the right to convict and correct you of sin. He wants you to seek out His will for your life and live in obedience to His instructions.

Jesus operates on the principle of faith. He asks you to trust His promises and not what you see with your eyes.

Jesus also makes personal promises to believers. You must accept the prophetic promises by faith and have confidence and hope they will appear in His perfect timing. Do not despise prophesy or lose hope. This will make your heart sick and take away the vitality of your faith.

Jesus can do for you what you can never do for yourself!

The challenge to walking with Jesus is to give the Holy Spirit authority over your life. Commit each day to God and he will be in all the moments of your life.

Jesus tends to be controversial and unpredictable so be open to a roller coaster journey.

Jesus does not think or act like you. Jesus has no ego and we are consumed with our own needs.

Jesus transforms believers into a new creature filled with the character of God.

The upside of Jesus is living in His presence here on earth and forever.

Jesus is alive and He is the real deal!

The title for this blog came to me last night from the Holy Spirit along with the word recalcitrant which means having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline. In the context of this narrative we are speaking about rebellion against God.

Jesus has clearly laid out the instructions for His disciples in the Bible. Briefly, we are to love God with all of our heart and strength and love others as we love ourself.

There are many other precepts but probably the most important is to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you.”

Another way of interpreting this truth for a Christ follower is to zealously seek the will of God above all else.

What happens to most believers is they examine the life of Jesus and accept what is comfortable and discard the more difficult and demanding words of Jesus.

There are two reasons this happens:

First, you and I are self driven people who desire to live our own life and make our own decisions.

Secondly, we have a recalcitrant nature and reject the authority of Jesus.

At times, we all discard the teachings of Jesus in some way. The cost of obedience is just too expensive.

It is difficult and painful to give up your rights and independence to Jesus. For many this is just asking too much.

How does Jesus fit into this human predicament?

First of all, Jesus knows you better than you know yourself. He is aware of all your weaknesses and fleshly desires to live for self.

Jesus is not looking for perfection. He is just asking you to be willing to change.

As a starting point, find a quiet time and place to meet with Jesus.

Speak candidly to Jesus and express your doubts about trusting Him. Ask Jesus what you need to change in your life? Then listen to His response.

The advantage of accepting the fullness of Jesus!

Jesus will create a personal and embracing relationship with you. He will become your best friend and speak to you frequently.

Jesus will enhance the quality of your life including your marriage and family, your work and your special interests.

Jesus will do things for you that you can never do for yourself.

The Holy Spirit will give you spiritual gifts and revelations from Christ.

Jesus will share His life with you through the Holy Spirit. Jesus will fill you with His attributes of strength, joy, wisdom and protection.

Jesus is omniscient and will protect you from evil.

Jesus will reward your obedience with an abundant life filled with the goodness of God.

The Holy Spirit spoke to me today about this subject.

This started in the Garden of Eden with God asking Adam and Eve how they knew they were naked. They both had defied God and sinned. This caused a cataclysmic wave of sin to enter into the lives of all humanity.

The beautiful creation of God became a blight and brought darkness, sorrow and suffering to all.

If you are a believer you are under the scrutiny of Jesus at all times.

The analogy used in this scripture is a winnowing fork which was used in ancient days to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Sin never goes away. You might be living a life pleasing to God but there is an undercurrent of sin in your nature.

We will all have to face God at the judgment seat. He will store the wheat (your good work) in Heavenly glory and the chaff (your sin) will be burned up and disappear forever.

God is holy and there will never be sin in heaven.

Getting back to the reality of life today, Jesus is omniscient and sees everything. He evaluates your thoughts, motives and actions with the values of God.

God sees the part of your personality hidden from your eyes. It is not a pretty picture. The Holy Spirit is constantly at work to convict and correct a believer.

Most importantly, God wants to deal with the underlying core issues driving your sin. He accomplishes this by intercession and the fires of God.

The role of a believer is to confess your sins and ask Jesus to cover you with His blood. You must also have an open heart asking God to convict you of sin and then seek repentance.

At times, Jesus will bring up your past sins as a reminder of your disgusting actions and the mercy of God. The wake up calls confirm the importance of walking with Jesus under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus desires for a believer to be a fountain of Living Water touching all those in his life. Remember, yours is not to judge for the measure of your judgment of others will fall upon you.

It is not about having a depth of knowledge about the Bible or spending hours in prayer and meditating on the Bible. This is helpful to developing a strong relationship with Jesus but is not the end goal.

It is much more than sanctification. The transformation of your personality to be more like Jesus is not designed for you. It is to make you a powerful light drawing non believers to Christ.

The life of a Christ follower walking in oneness with God has no end or goal in sight.

Your life is characterized by dealing with calamities, sorrow, intercession, sleeplessness, and at times being barely able to walk.

Faith is the cornerstone to a life with Jesus!

Jesus is at work to teach you the principles of faith. Your faith has to be tested and found reliable by God. And, your faith has to be proven to meet the standards of God.

Abraham believed God and was obedient to His voice. He gave up his homeland, family and inheritance to obey God.

This is why Abraham became the Father of many nations.

As believers we have this idea we can be a great ambassador for Jesus utilizing our strengths and talents. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The reality is Jesus does not need you. You need Him. We are all impoverished souls void of the qualities of God.

The challenge of God is to get self out of the way so your motives will be pure and consistent with the values of Jesus.

Your ministry must be totally dependent on Jesus and led in demonstration of the Spirit and Power.

The authenticity of Jesus working through a believer saves souls and is life changing!

We think we have the ability to manage our life without seeking the wisdom of Jesus. Most of the time this attitude will bring misery and destruction.

This narrative deals with making decisions presuming they are in accord with God without inquiring of Him or having verification through the Bible.

You and I cannot think like God. The Holy Spirit examines our decision making to determine if our motives are correct and that we are not acting out of emotions.

We get in trouble making hasty decisions without checking in with God. Some decisions are very difficult to make and some seem like a no brainer.

We all get caught up in the rush of life and make decisions thinking they are good.

God is omniscient and sees your future. And, He knows you better than you know yourself.

As a believer, you have a safety check sealed inside you. The Holy Spirit will give you perfect wisdom and keep you out of trouble.

God sees the big picture!

The wisdom coming from Heaven is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

This is why you and I need to inquire of God in making decisions.

Begin each day with prayer and reading the Word. And, learn to take time to listen for the voice of God. You have the mind of Christ and He wants to fill you with His thoughts and bring the order of God into your life.

Lean not to your own understanding or buy into the ways of the world.

Walk under the authority of the Holy Spirit and build a strong consciousness with Him.

Jesus will never fail you if you walk in oneness with Him!

Satan is your invisible opponent hiding in the darkness! He is looking every day for a way to destroy you.

Satan cannot hear your thoughts but he can see your emotions, hear your words and look at your decision making. He is very skillful in finding your weaknesses.

Satan utilizes temptations and deception to lure a believer into darkness. He can also put thoughts in your mind that are opposed to God. As an example; “Does God really care if I take a short cut? Everyone else does.”

In the Body of Christ the spirit of religion is an agent of Satan. He torments believers with laws, works and religious pretenses. Remember, religion wants to control you and God wants to set you free.

Religion tells Christ followers the calamities in their lives are caused by lack of faith and failing to keep the precepts of God.

Satan will also attack you through unbelievers and individuals posing as Christians.

At times, we all make mistakes but the Holy Spirit is quick to convict and forgive us with the blood of Christ.

Satan is terrified of Jesus. The Christ follower must commit his works each day to the Lord and live under the authority of the Holy Spirit. Speak against temptations in the name of Jesus and when in doubt take questionable thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.

Satan will always flee from the name of Jesus.

At times God will bring trials into your life so don’t blame God.

There is no condemnation in Christ for those who yield to the Holy Spirit.

Condemnation comes from living through the flesh or trying to please God by keeping laws.

If you open the door to Satan and allow a temptation to become a desire then sin is conceived within you and will eventually be lived out. This can also easily lead to a stronghold and then you are in bondage to Satan.

Satan will also disguise Himself using religion to teach you false truths. He wants to discredit Jesus and remove His influence from the world.

Satan never stops prowling looking for an open door to attack or destroy you. This is why prayer and the study of the Word is so important.

God speaks to believers so you must take the time to listen to His instructions. You have the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit desires to protect you from evil.

You might want to review the instructions in Ephesians about the helmet of salvation. The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God is a very valuable tool in defeating Satan.

He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world!

Finally, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph and spreads the fragrance of His knowledge everywhere.

As a Christ follower you can have a spiritual experience like Moses at the burning bush.

The highlights of your meeting will be similar to Moses interaction with God.

This took place after tending sheep for forty years. Moses had to be trained and disciplined for this important assignment from God.

Moses marveled at the sight of God.

Moses shook with fear and trembling and could not look at God.

Moses was ordered to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.

God gave Moses an important assignment.

“I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.”

Moses was overwhelmed by the greatness and glory of God.

To meet God in a burning bush scenario you must be willing to do whatever He asks of you.

The believer must accept that God has power and dominion over the heavens and earth

He cannot be encumbered in sin.

He must be humble and contrite.

He must have faith in God and be obedient to His instructions.

The point of this discussion is to remind you God is alive and wants to have a warm and personal relationship with a believer. He chooses the timing to share the majesty and glory of His transfigured identity.

It is possible to meet with the Living Christ every day of your life and hear His voice.

God dictates the boundaries of your relationship. The most important goal is to seek Him out each day through prayer and His Word.

Submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit and He will be in the midst of all the moments of your life.

I always ask God each day for His priorities in my life. This keeps me on track with Him.

Seek the will of God and His radiant glory will appear in His perfect timing!

Through the power of God and the obedience of Moses 600,000 Israelites were delivered out of bondage from Egypt.

This is what determines the strength of your relationship with Jesus.

God’s purpose for your life is impossible for you to grasp and not even close to your expectations.

The fundamental purpose of God for a believer has nothing to do with works. And, it does not relate to a specific journey in life.

God wants you to turn over your life to Him without any reservations. Jesus wants you to be obedient to His voice regardless of whether His instructions are logical or seem radical.

The cost to let go will cause you to lose your life and independence. You will belong to God and He can do with you as He pleases.

You can never be valuable to God unless you are genuinely seeking His will above all else and have no desires except to please Him.

God examines the heart of all believers. He looks at your motives, actions and decision making. This process of becoming “Christ like” takes a long time and is painful. We are self driven people with big egos. When I first met Jesus I was astonished. He has no ego.

The process of surrender to Jesus will upset your life. You might be placed in the desert for several years, denied the luxuries of life, or feel isolated. God is at work with a perfect plan. He knows you better than you know yourself.

Abandoning yourself to Jesus will not make you a perfect disciple. This is not what God is aiming for. He wants your absolute devotion to Him.

Your unyielding faith will bring the righteousness of God.

The Christ follower must get to the point where his only goal is “Not my will but Yours be done”.