TITHING OUR TIME PART III

Image by David Gomes (Pexels)

    Tithing my time is a whole different level to my walk in Christ. As a Christian I belong in His presence. He is God, He is my source of everything. I go to God with everything and for everything. I do it in prayer. But His request has taken me on a journey of discovery. Believe me when I say, it has been an eye opener. I found myself asking questions. How do I spend time in His presence? Am I doing what I am supposed to do?

To find out more about my journey and the answers to my questions, you can read up on:

• How the idea of tithing my time came about 
• How to tithe time  

Spending time with God is seeking His presence. In His presence our posture is key. Our posture is our attitude. It starts with 'And I looked' (Ezekiel 1:4). Seeking is an act. We will find Him when our attitude is right. We must have an attitude of reverence.

 We have to want to find Him. This is another step to reverencing God. God looked for Adam and Eve, now we have to look for Him daily. It is very humbling but necessary to show reverence to God. We have to accept that we are only human and have a nature to sin. But we must seek His face and the knowledge of His grace daily. 

Reverencing God is the fear of God. The fear of God is pure (Proverbs 19:9). To the carnal or worldly mind, fear is a negative emotion. But to the Christian it is fear in reverence of God. We don’t ask for things now we seek His face and touch His grace. His grace is sufficient and it is His presence with us. Having awe in knowing He is all powerful and worthy of everything. Let everything that has breath praise The Lord! He is worthy of it all. 

The fear of The Lord is multiplication and abundance. We have longer and better quality life and we have wisdom and knowledge.

The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. Proverbs 10:27

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10

Knowing who God is strengthens me. I am sure of who He is and who I am. I am His people. Like a father's relationship to a child. The father tends to be stern, loving and solid. A child is sure of a father's protection.

I am made strong in His presence. Being in His presence, I become more aware of how I fit into that space, that I occupy on earth. There is no doubting when I stay in His presence. I am complete and whole. But, I have always wondered what it would be like when Jesus returns. Can I love God for eternity or stay focused on Him always?

Being the researcher I am, I looked at people who did spend time with Him. In the Book of Revelations I saw that everybody falls down. They bow down or lie down and they declare who He is. This is worship. Submitting myself to God acknowledging who He is to me. Wow! That is not difficult for me. But they are positioned in heaven already. 

What about those on earth? There are men and women of God who often speak of being still and waiting on Him. Waiting, not always asking for something. For me this is the hardest part. Not the asking part. I don't spend a lot of time asking for things. But I do spend a lot of time praising and worshipping Him. Sitting still is what I believe I have to work on (sigh). 

When I tried to push myself to sit still for longer periods, I ended up asking this, Do I really love you Lord? Then it started to unfold for me. For a relationship to work, one must want to spend time with the other person. This is how I can know if I really love God. The answer echoed in my heart, 'YES!!!'. God responded to me, He said, we will work on it, and if I burst out in praise and worship, I just have to stay focused on Him. 

A prophetess once told me to focus on His throne. I try to picture it as described in Revelations. This has been very helpful to me. Also, the prophet Ezekiel describes an amazing thing. The four creatures and the four wheels. Trying to figure that out keeps me quiet (hahaha).

Do you think you can stand in front of God without His help? When Ezekiel saw God, he fell down. He could not stand up. 

And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. Ezekiel 2:1-2

When I saw the face of Jesus, I blushed and looked down. I saw me, through His eyes. I had to own up to, or face who I was. That was a very humbling and beautiful experience, like a meet cue in a movie. I had to train myself to look at Him in the face. It was a reality check for me. 

Prophet Tomi said that when you look on Him, you begin to look like Him. We are supposed to be in His image. We honour and worship by reflecting His image. Emulation is the highest form of praise. The relationship is both ways. How He sees us and how we see Him. 

God has no equal. We have to keep this as our reality or focus. Teach ourselves to reverence Him by aligning with Him. I have to make sure that what He sees in me is pleasing to Him. By living in His presence, I have to see things through his eyes. This is different to spending some time with Him or just praying. 

By tithing our time we build a relationship with God. Maybe this is not for everyone. Maybe some people can only spend one hour. But Christianity is based on a personal relationship with God. God visited Adam and Eve everyday to commune with them. This is living in His presence not just being in His presence. It was a committment.

I have learnt that the more time I spend with God the more things work out. All things work together for a good for them who are called to His purpose and love The Lord (Romans 8:28). Our purpose is why we were created. His will must be our will. His purpose is our purpose. This way we reflect Him in us. 

Image by wallpaperflare.com

Once in God's presence we must be patient and attentive. There were saints in heaven and even in heaven they had to wait on The Lord.

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Revelations 14:12 

Ezekiel worshipped first by falling down and acknowledging he was in the presence of Almighty God. His posture had to be adjusted to stand up when God wanted him to receive a message. Then his attitude was to do anything as God desired and commanded. He did not argue, reason or resist. The LORD GOD said He will send him to speak with the children of Israel. Without a right attitude God would not have done that. Compare to Jonah. Jonah had to learn the right attitude. At what stage are you? Can God send you?

I pray your posture is right for God to use you mightily in Jesus name.  

If you have not asked Jesus to be Lord over your life you can pray the following prayer and attend a full gospel church near you:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I ask you to forgive my sins in knowledge or ignorance. Please forgive me. I accept Jesus as my Saviour. I ask that Jesus comes into my life as I live to be a witness for Him. Please change my life and make me into the person you want me to be. Guide me in these times so I can be used by you to help others in Jesus name I pray. Thank you Father.

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END TIMES ALMOST OVER

Jordan's King Abdullah said that his country
had been attacked by Iranian made drones

    In the next few weeks I want to focus on the end of times and I hope that is okay with you. So many of us want to learn more about this time that we are in. We have been hearing about the end for almost 2,000 years. From what I can tell it is the end of time, sinful life and the kingdoms of the earth. 

Praise God for giving us this time to work out our salvation. For centuries we have heard, Jesus is coming! But do you know that the end begins with Jesus? He is the beginning of the end. He is the fulfilment of Adam 

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45

This is how the New Testament started: 

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 1 Hebrews 1:1-2

Jesus brought a new administration or phase. He fulfils Messianic Judaism and he taught a gospel for the Gentiles. As He started His ministry, we are told that the end is coming. 

John the Baptist said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matthew 3:2. Yes, he ushered in Jesus's ministry. He spoke of the Kingdom. The Kingdom as spoken of in Daniel 2:44

And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

This prophesy has not happened as yet but it will soon. The Book of Revelation speaks of this kingdom. At the end of time after the tribulation the Kingdom of God will be fully established. Jesus's Lordship will no longer be in heaven only. His kingdom will not be simply on a personal level, it will be on a global scale.

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” Revelation 11:15

Before the kingdom of God can be established for eternity, there are several events that occur. Here are the key events that define the end of times:

• tribulations
• pre-tribulation war Ezekiel 38
• alliance against Israel
• rapture
• new order 
• anti-Christ tribulation
• apocalypse
• the Second Coming
• 1000 year reign
• devil loosed
• eternal judgement
• the third beast
• the second beast
• the first beast

It is important to understand the setting that pushes or catapults the sequence of events. The pre-tribulation war will be because of economics or innovation. It may or may not be because of chaos but it will add to the chaos. The build up for the anti-Christ is the chaos or problems overwhelming mankind. This will be the reason he is popular and looked on as the solution to the problems.

Can you name some contributions to a chaotic world? All over the world people are crying out for against pain, poverty, freedom, rights and justice. Protests for different reasons are occurring globally. Here are some of the scenes:

Military troops surround the Parliament in Tunisia
July 26, 2021, photo sourced from Behold Israel

Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelations 20:7-15

There will be only one King and one kingdom. King Abdullah would not have to worry about Iran and Iranian drones. After the final judgement there will be no more sin and no more time, only eternity.

Please do not think that you can be saved after the rapture or during tribulation. There are skeptics who think that they have to see the tribulation before they can believe Jesus is the Saviour or God. While this is possible it will be a very difficult life. In fact, when the Anti-Christ declares he is God, you will have to decide to accept Jesus as Saviour upon death. This is where the mark of the Beast comes in.

A little reality here. If you find it hard to believe now, it will be harder when you are faced with a life and death situation. During the tribulation, the evil will be great. Today there is so much wickedness. During the tribulation it will be worse. 

Thank you Father for waiting for us and for the plan of salvation. I pray every reader can submit to God with their whole heart. I pray that none will see the tribulation but will have eternal life with Christ.

If you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you may say this prayer;

Dear Heavenly Father,

I ask you to forgive my sins in knowledge or ignorance. Please forgive me. I accept Jesus as my Saviour. I ask that Jesus comes into my life as I live to be a witness for Him. Please change my life and make me into the person you want me to be, in Jesus name I pray. Thank you.

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