JOEL 3:16, “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” The Lord God carried us through Ezekiel and God’s own children to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and pagan gods and people. Now, He is taking us through Joel and out of Zion from Jerusalem to shake heaven and earth for the hope of His people! GLORY TO GOD, THANK YOU LORD for this hope which is in YOU!!!
His people, all mankind, all tribes, all nations, all denominations! We are all God’s people, but not all God’s children yet!
We, His children, have a job, a work, a war waiting for us! Are you prepared??? You had better be! Because it is going to take you and YOU and YOU over there to get off of your padded pews and out of your centrally climate-controlled church, rolled up sleeves, armour on, secured in your faith, Spirit filled, ready to break a sweat and dirty your manicured nails!!! Whether you like it or not, you are in a war, either with God or against God! You, now, must make a stand, time is soon!!! Can you be part of Jesus’ army binding together with others and fighting a common foe; or, are you going to be a foe, yourself!!! Either way, JESUS IS GOING TO WIN, it will be done HIS WAY!
We, as children of God, are grafted in as heirs with the Israelites, God’s chosen people. You are not just a part of your own little church and nothing else goes on around you, IF you are a Christian and not a Baptist, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Catholic or what ever, but a Christian then our war is here!!!
Where is yours? Where are you? As Joel says in 3:9 and 10, “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” It is time to gather together, draw near, all people, all Christians and come up! Beat your plowshares into swords, I like it when God told me to beat the dust of your Bibles!!! Take your sickle and stop just cutting and eating off the top, turn your pruninghooks into a spear and really dig in and let your weakness become strong!!!! GLORY TO GOD! In 3:11, “Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.” Where two or three are gathered together in My name, WHOSE NAME, in JESUS’ NAME, not Pentecostal, Baptist, etc., in My name, He says He will be in the midst of you, sort of like gather yourselves together and the MIGHTY ONES will come down!!!! Not one denomination can do it, it takes all of us, together, as Christians, bound together.
If you can not see it this way, then move over, because some other ‘denomination’ Christians will gather together and you will become a foe! Because if you are not for us, then you have to be against us, so saith the Lord!!!! LORD HELP! “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” 3:12. By their fruits you know their decision, there is no lukewarm ‘Christian’, just hot or cold; no gray areas, for Him. There are no maybes! Those that call themselves maybes or their fruit is maybe, then they are cold and should be treated as such. “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” 3:13. Lord, Lord, is this not the case today????
The harvest has never been so great, so full of sin as it is today! Your warriors that just sit around drawing their pay and their rewards or blessings, Lord, in the harvest, it is so great!!! It is just like the children of Israel upon entering Canaan land. They didn’t have to do anything but harvest! It is the same today. You don’t even have to go out of your churches to harvest, the sin is in the camp!!!!! But get outside and experience how it feels amongst so great of a harvest. We thought Russia was a great harvest place or China, but I know the hardest battle, as was Ezekiel’s being sent to his own people, the greatest harvest is right here on our own land and in our schools and governments and all around us!!!! JUST OPEN YOUR EYES! IT IS RIGHT HERE!!!!!
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” 3:14. How so ever true right now!!! So many, so many in the valley of decision, it is right now, make your choice, hot or cold, not lukewarm. NOT TOMORROW, NEXT WEEK, OR WHEN YOU ARE READY, BECAUSE THERE MIGHT NOT BE A TOMORROW OR NEXT WEEK FOR YOU WHEN THE MIGHTY ONES COME DOWN! It will have been too late, and you missed the harvest of the Lord. DECISION, then, “The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.” 3:15. You will know, not only by the multitude’s disappearance, but when God leaves, and you are left behind, and Satan runs amuck without the Spirit of the Lord controlling, keeping him, Satan, back and down; well, you will know you missed Jesus Christ!!!!
When this happens, “So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.” 3:17. No more sin will pass through her any more! GLORY TO GOD, THANK YOU JESUS!!! Do you want this? Do you want to be on the winning side, righteousness? Do you want to be counted for the harvest of the Lord? Are you ready for when “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall quake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” 3:16. Is Jesus your blessed hope??? Then, repent, Father, I’m a sinner, forgive me, I don’t want to be a heathen, a sinner, one ripe for the harvest any more for Satan. I want to be ripe for the harvest of the Lord!!!! I want You now in my heart, my life and my soul. Forgive me! Amen. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” 3:18.
Come, let us journey into the valley, watered by God!!!! PRAISE YOU JESUS!!!!!!
N
NAHUM 3:16, “Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.”
Today, our ‘merchants’ are lifted up above the stars of heaven. THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR!!!!
In Joel we had to get prepared for war. Remember, when all the men of war were called near, this is to mean women also! Today, if the call comes; no, when this call comes, there will have to be said all women of war were called because Nahum says in 3:13, so as are churches today, mostly women! “Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.”
This war, this battle, is it in jeopardy of being lost? Where are the men today, men of war???? “Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the bricklin.” 3:14. All things to get ready for today, lace up your army boots, don your helmet, put on your armour, and grab your sword!!!! But can we? The prayer from prayer mates as the power from the Spirit of God is missing and are exponentially down!!! Where one can make a thousand flee, two can make ten thousand flee, it also works in reverse!!! Where are the men? Working, sleeping, too tired, don’t bother me, I don’t need it, divorced, dead!!!!? We need them as soldiers, not victims! We need them as warriors, not prisoners!!! We need, what the heck, we need you!!!!
“There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.” 3:15. The sword shall cut you up. Instead of using your sword, the Bible, you will be destroyed by the worm, the cankerworm, little by little till there is nothing left! Our men, even to pastors, layman, men of the congregation, when it comes to the almighty dollar, they jump!!! The question is not why; but, how high!
A long time ago, in my high school years, I tried out for the football team’s trainer position. It didn’t matter how good I could tape an ankle or a knee or give someone a rub down, I didn’t make the grade! I didn’t become a trainer. Why? I didn’t jump when they screamed frog!!! Actually this happened, it is not an analogy! What good was this in what I was doing? I couldn’t be just a part of the crowd and follow peers and or worldly ideas or ‘fun’. I wasn’t even serving God then and didn’t even need Him in my life, I didn’t care! In the middle of practicing wrapping an ankle and some upper classman creamed frog, I was to throw it down and jump! I didn’t, and I didn’t make the grade! Our men today, even at the slightest smell of the almighty dollar, they jump, chase it, even if they are in the middle of a great Bible study, revival or just a church service or working on something for the church. The church and God are put last!!! The men of Nineveh, the leaders, were weak like this in their faith that God would provide their needs. This is the reason for this 3:16 in this order, “Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth and fleeth away.” 3:16.
Your dollar, your quest for your dollar, it says has multiplied above the quest for God in your life. And the enemy, the cankerworm, is your battle and not even you knowing about it. You will be destroyed and then it will flee you. It is not going to stay and help you, it will not hang around, once you are destroyed, your battle is lost, and in decay!!!! See if your idol, the dollar, will protect you, and take you to heaven? It didn’t pay the price of Calvary for your soul. Instead lots will be cast for your money and your possessions, the same as Jesus’ possessions were. If you do not want to gamble on your salvation then stop it. Stop chasing that almighty dollar and chase God, He will provide your needs, if you will chase Him instead!!!! DO YOU BELIEVE THIS????
This witness doesn’t have but a few cents left after each payday or exchange day after paying our bills on payday! But, God sees to it that we do not do without!!!!
You read where I didn’t make a trainers position in high school because I didn’t play their games. Well, Satan played with this in my mind for years. What if I had played their silly little game, would I have gotten what I wanted? So when I went to work for an oil company, I played their game, I worked on Sundays, even though I wasn’t going to church, it bothered me. I worked every hour offered me, overtime, and I mean OVERTIME! Money, money and more money! But what do I have for it now? I worked hard and did what they said, by playing their game. After 11 years I became a supervisor, went to that school you read about earlier, making one half of a six figure income in 1985. Paycheck after paycheck came and went, they didn’t stay around long, sort of like the cankerworm, destroying and then fleeing. Many, many birthdays, anniversaries were canceled, I had to work! I never gave another thought about it being on Sundays anymore!
Satan just took that thought, because I let him while I was chasing that almighty dollar, I just let him! I let him steal it away from me! But now, I have my insurance, JESUS CHRIST; my retirement, JESUS CHRIST; my salvation, JESUS CHRIST; my eternal life, through JESUS CHRIST, HEAVEN!!!!! Repent, ask Jesus into your heart and life. Father, I’m a sinner, forgive me of my sins. Let my faith be in You!!! Amen.
6
HABAKKUK 3:16, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when He cometh up unto the people, He will invade them with His troops.”
You have read so far from the start to now of God’s plans, ways and things to help us through His 3:16’s. Different topics, different ways, but they all come down to doing His will and commandments. This is what we are supposed to do, it is our reasonable service. Let us get down to really thinking! Do you know what salvation is? Is it just being able to escape soon the wretched holds of Satan? Is it just to leave this world and its’ sin? What does salvation mean to you? What is going to happen to the rest of the people and to this earth when Jesus calls His church home? Out of here!!!! The things before now have led us up to this point, shortly before Jesus made His first appearance as man’s Saviour, around 607 B.C.. We have traveled a long way and have been on the road for around 3400 years now. Are you tired yet? Growing weary? We still have a way to go, about 2600 more years. At least we are over half way there? TO WHERE??? To your salvation, perhaps!
Man’s interpretation of when the rapture or Jesus Christ’s coming for His church, is not of my concern. It will happen WHEN and ONLY WHEN God says it is to happen. Not even Jesus Christ knows, only God! So I do not fret myself with this SMALL DETAIL!!!! A much LARGER one looms more eminent to me, my own personal salvation and staying where I am supposed to be WHEN IT HAPPENS, instead of trying to be ready when I think it will happen!!!!! And also, this should be your philosophy! Man’s denominations believe in different man’s ideas and thoughts on this matter and has put at variance one against another!!! THIS IS SIN!
When you read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego telling King Nebuchadnazzar in Daniel 3:17 and 18, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Regardless if the rapture is now before the tribulation period, or in the middle or at the end of the tribulation period we will serve God!!!! Just as if it will be today! Are you saying this or are you letting it cause strife among man’s denominations???? THIS ALSO IS SIN!!!
Here 600 years before Christ, only 200 years more to hear from God, He is starting to tell us in His 3:16’s to get prepared for salvation. This is where the past and present are the same and expecting the same future, God’s wrath!!! ON A SINFUL MAN!
Habakkuk starts in 3:1 and 2, “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the middle of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.” Today Lord, in my crying out loud to You in my prayer, remember mercy Lord, show us mercy in Your years of wrath to come. Lord God, forgive me, I’m crying out loud to You, have mercy, save my soul! Is this what he is crying?
As Habakkuk gave praise to God, have you? He recognized God’s power, this horn in 3:4, and gave God the glory. Have you recognized just how important your salvation is to God? He doesn’t need us other than to love us, we are the ones needing Him and He is always there when we need Him!!! GLORY TO GOD!!! His power, read it in 3:6, “He stood, and measured the earth: He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: His ways are everlasting.” Have you ever really stopped and thought just how awesome and powerful God is???? And yet He desires us, you and I, to offer salvation to? What are we that ______ ______ ______ ______ _______? Well, God just does!!!!
When this witness was in my second adult hood, my teenage years, for the longest in my mind, I would imagine that we, earth and it’s population, were inside of a terrarium, where we were being watched to see where and what we were doing and what we would do with this or with that. Kind of odd, wasn’t it? Sort of like what we do and make of our lives now, isn’t it? God, with all His power, omnipotence, this is all power!!!! Scriptures tell us that all our deeds whether good or bad are written down. We just read that also, didn’t we?
With all this might and power and love, God is getting us ready for something! Are you listening? Are you seeing? Have you figured it out yet to be your salvation? Habakkuk said, “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine anointed: thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.” 3:13. All of these Habakkuk saw in a vision of the Lord’s, He said in 3:16, “When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when He cometh up unto the people, He will invade them with His troops.” You and I. Your salvation, does it have this kind of affect on you as it did Habakkuk???? Just hearing about it, did your stomach tremble, your lips quiver, knees shake and your body went spastic on you???? Look at yourself, how important to you is your salvation???
As Habakkuk said, have you said to yourself, in 3:17, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fall, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:” If you do not get your raise, or your paycheck and your last check bounced, your freezer is empty and your checking account is empty as well as your savings, will you say the same as he did in 3:18, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Is it enough for you just to have God’s salvation? Is this enough to joy over??? If it is not, then repent! Father, I’m a sinner, forgive me of my sins, doubt, greed, and mistrust. I repent, I want my salvation over anything and I will joy in it forever more. Amen.
Truly the Lord God is my salvation! 3:19, “The Lord is my strength, and He will make my feet like hind’s feet; and He will make me walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.” Now, how important is your salvation??? Now, what is YOUR prayer???
J
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