Peace, Joy and Righteousness Come from The Spirit of God

If we are hungry we look for food to eat.    More than physical hunger, our soul also should be hungry.   When our soul is hungry it craves  what we are hungry for and we call that craving passion.   Where does your passion reside today?   What you WANT to do, and what you NEED to do is DIFFERENT than what your LONG to do.   Do you have passion growing inside of you?  Jesus said it this way,    For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  (Matt. 6:21)   And also like this:   A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.   (Luke 6:45)

Jesus talked about finding the 'pearl of great price'   He was teaching about the Kingdom of God.  What is the Kingdom?  Is it prosperity?   Is it a specific way to believe or pray?   Is it our confession and spiritual practices?   The Bible says that the Kingdom of God is within you and comes in the form of righteousness, peace and joy IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.  For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 14:17)    The pearl of great price in this life is finding inner righteousness, inner peace, and inner joy and this can only be done IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Righteousness, peace and joy comes as we fill our lives with the Spirit of God.  If we fill our lives with other things they will not bring righteousness, peace and joy.    We often think that better circumstances would bring that inner peace, and joy but this is not true.   We can have the best of circumstances and still be missing these things.

How do we obtain the Kingdom of God within us?    By being filled with the Holy Spirit.    If you do not hunger for the Spirit of God it is time to repent of this lack of hunger and to ask God to fill you with a passion for the Spirit of God in your life.    You need the Spirit of God in your life abundantly and overflowing so that you can have the righteousness, joy and peace that you need to live a life of Godliness in Christ Jesus.    

Pray with me today:   Father God, give me a passion for the Holy Spirit.  A passion to have the Spirit of God fill my life.   Flood me today with your good Spirit and let the righteousness, peace and joy of the Holy Spirit envelope my soul.  For those things that I hunger for that are not of You, Lord, I repent, and I ask you to fill me with the Spirit today.  IN Jesus name, Amen.  

The Four Horseman of The Apocalypse, Are They Riding Today?

The prophetic Word for today will be long as I will be sharing a revelation that God has been giving to me since 1999.      What is going to happen in the USA?  What will happen in the rest of the world?   God began giving me unique revelation of the four horseman talked about in the 6th chapter of the book of Revelation in 1999, and it is still unfolding today.    

Revelation 6: 1-2 

1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

First we see that this is a white horse.   Always a "good guy" image when riding a white horse.   So the first rider at least appears to be a "good guy."   All four riders are on horseback.  When Jesus was upon the earth he walked, and most people of that day walked where they were going.   When upon a horse you are going to cover a great distance quickly back in those days.  That was the fastest means of transportation on land.  So these riders are going fast, speedily.   On this first horse, notice that the rider was carrying a bow, but no arrows.   This means he has the ability and the means of weapons, but doesn't really use them.    He was given and crown, a place of importance, ruling-and he was bent on conquering and to conquer was his intent.   

I believe that what we are seeing in the white horse of the Apocalypse is the United States of America, and each of it's presidents over the past 25 years has played a part in being the rider on this horse.    America went forth in the mid to late 80's to set forth a "new world order"   They had the vision to conquer the world, not through violence, but through peace and friendship just like this rider went out to conquer.  They put on the image of "the good guy"  here to help you, and give you money, and to use our weapons to secure you if your enemies rise up.   They tried to conquer the world through democracy and free elections instead of military conquest.   We had enough wealth and weapons at this time to conquer the world through fear and military conquest, but chose not to do that.    We chose instead to conquer the world through friendship, and democracy.    I feel that most Americans at that time believed in truth, and justice and the American way.   Some of our leaders may have had an ill-motive, but I believe the average American had found peace and prosperity and we wanted to share that with the world.   We tried out best to spread democracy and good-will through out the earth.   Through our noble efforts we saw Communism fall, the Belin wall fall, and democracy spread through out many nations.  Great accomplishments and all without entering into a major war or battle.     But, at the turn of the century a wrench was thrown into our plans to bring peace on earth.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

I believe what we are seeing of the red horse represents terrorism, and those that have lead terroristic groups have each taken their part in being the rider of the red horse.  Just like when one president has fulfilled the term another rises to take office,  so when the leader of a terroristic group dies, another rises up to take his place.   Notice the horse is red.   Red is symbolic of blood, terror, horror.   And he was given power.    Notice the white horse was given a crown.   A crown means rulership, or consent by people to govern.  There was no crown given to the rider of the red horse, but he was given POWER.   The power to do what?   To take peace from the earth.    Notice it does not say to make war, or start a war, or conquer anything.   The rider of the red horse was only given the power to take peace from the earth, so that people would kill one another.   This is the role of the terroistic groups of today.  They don't really conquer anything, they just take away peace.  They encourage people to kill one another, and often use a sword to do it.  So in the rider of the first horse, you see a nation bent on peaceful conquest, to bring peace and a new world order, and in the rider of the second horse you see terrorist bent on taking that peace from the earth.  

I beieve this brings us up to date to current events.   Ever since the turn of the century and the escalation of terrorism around the world I believe the red horseman has been ushering in the rider of the next horse.   I feel this rider was released this past fall, at the time of the blood moons.  I feel that this was the warning of the blood moons, and why God gave us blood moons at this time in history. 

5  And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The stage is set around the world to see an economic collapse and this is the saga of the third horse.   If you have not read any of my previous articles here is a link to an article about the coming economic collapse.   I received revelation in 2008 that the coming economic collapse would start in other parts of the world and engulf them first and then would eventually take down America's economy as well.    Here is a couple of links to those articles.  

http://praiseag.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-vision-of-coming-economic-collapse.html

http://praiseag.blogspot.com/2015/08/this-is-season-of-new-beginnings.html

(note that these articles were written in May and August of last year, before many of these events took place, though some of them have now already taken place now)

The third rider is on a black horse.    Often black is associated with darkness and badness.  We often depict the good guy in white, the bad guy in black.  And the rider of the horse had a set of balances in his hand.   When you think back about the past decade this has been what the world desires, balance, but instead of balance we have become more divided.   We had hopes when President Obama was elected that he could bring balance and stability between the nations, the religions, between nationalities and races, between liberal and conservative.   He was given a Nobel peace prize just for entertaining the idea that we could bring all of these groups together as one world in harmony.  The Nobel committee awarded the 2009 peace prize to Barack Obama  "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".   Now stay with me,  I'm not saying that Barak Obama is the rider of the third horse, I am simply making the point that we were a world on track for peace, then the red horseman (terrorism) came and took away that peace and now we are a world greatly out of blance.   This generation is looking for someone or something to bring balance and stability to this world.  We see the world is looking for balance they are looking for another rider.  Scales and blances are the symbolism of liberalism, and I feel this is why the world has taken a sharp turn towards liberalism the past decade.    Still today in the media people are talking about finding more balance and equality among peoples groups.  But instead of finding peace and harmony, we have found more tension, strife and hostility between people groups and nations.  To the point that we are right now on the road to a civil war in the USA, and the brink of WW3 among the nations.  

The motive of the first rider was peace, the second rider terror, and the third rider has a motive of bringing balance, but all the efforts of the third rider lead us to economic downfall instead.   The third rider does what he does because he is trying to bring balance and stability to the world.    The Scriptures says he carrys a set of balances in his hands.    The first rider wanted to bring peace, and had some success in that he was given a crown and went out to conquer.  The second rider wanted to bring terror and was given a sword.  The third rider wanted to bring balace, and was given a set of scales in his hand, but the end result of his efforts will be economic collapse.     I believe the rider of the third horse is the nation of Russia, who is currently lead by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.    If Putin's time in office ends before the third  horse finishes it's ride through history, than the job will fall to whomever takes his place.   I believe the riders are not specifically one person, but whoever fills the office title at the time.  

Putin met with President Obama in Washington DC close to the time of the blood moons this past fall.   Since then Putin has become much more aggressive, and his actions so far has pushed us closer to WW3 than what we have seen in the past several decades.  Notice that  the text in v. 6 it talks about wheat and barley.   This is talking about everyday living expenses for people, and it would take a 'days wage' ( a penny) just to get basic needs met.   Many around the world do live day to day for food, or paycheck to paycheck for their needs.  Yet it says not to touch the oil and wine.  I believe this means that even during this period of the third rider the "rich" people won't be effected as much, but the poor would suffer.   America is the richest nation, and while many people were calling for "judgments to fall on us" this past fall, I have been saying that this is not in God's timing for us.  It grieved me last fall when everyone was saying that September would be our time of judgments.   I knew that September would come and go and little would change for the USA, and when we give warnings that fail, we do much harm.    If you want to read that article here is the link to that.  

http://www.praiseassemblyonline.com/prophetic-word-for-september.html
(Note that this article was written in August of 2015, before the Shemitah or the blood moons took place)

The average wage worker around the world works for 3.00 each day.   The person living on welfare checks in America would be at the top of the social economic levels in India.  We are a wealthy nation.    If you own a  house and a vehicle to drive you are in the top 5 percent of the richest people in the world.  I believe the third rider will unleash economic collapse, and also may bring war to the earth but I don't believe America will face the brunt of the impact, but the poorest of the nations will suffer greatly.  

Right now an army is gathering from several middle eastern nations in Saudi Arabia in what many think will be a joint effort with Turkey to invade Syria.  Putin has warned that if this happens it could be the start of WW3.   We are truly living in a time where the world cannot seem to find balance or stability of any kind.  I believe the legacy of the third rider will be an economic collapse that comes upon the world because of his efforts to bring stability and balance to the earth.  

77  And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

88  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

The end result will be a fouth rider that comes to us, and during his time to rule 1/4 of the the people on this planet will perish.   There are 7.4 billion people on the planet.  So that would mean the death of 1.85 billion people.   That is hard to imagine.   Notice the horse is pale.  We often see pale as sickness or death.  So this will be a time of great sorrows and sufferings.   Many people will suffer and die at this time.   The name of this rider is DEATH.    To kill with sword (war or terrorism)  hunger (food will be scarce, and yes, I believe with this rider even the "rich" will suffer economically)  death, even the animals will begin to eat mankind as food will be scarce for them too.  When you see the "rich" talked about in connection with the end of days, the passage is talking about America.  

These four riders are a chain reaction of events.   The first one to conquer through peace.   The second who does not want to be conqered through peace, brings terrorism and takes peace away.  The third who wants to restore balance and stability to the world, and the fourth that has the task of seeing 1/4 of the world's population perish.  

After the four horseman ride three seals remain.

9  And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11  And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

Many of the Saints will be killed during the ride of these horseman.  We are already seeing this in some of the third world countries, but eventually it will spread world wide.  

12  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

13  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

14  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

15  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Also, these events will usher in the return of Jesus.

Jesus said, "When you see these things begin to happen it is only the birth pangs."  Many sorrows await us, but with birth pangs come a new birth.   Jesus said to Nicodemus, "you must be born again"  I believe  many will come into a new birth during the trials of these days as they call upon God.  

 Will you pray with me today?   Father God, I ask that you open our eyes to see greater revelation of what you are doing on the earth, and what man is also doing.   Expose every secret and all the deals done in the back room by world leaders who only think of themselves instead of what is best for humanity.   Give us leaders that will govern with justice and humility.  Help us to honor you and to not neglect those who are in need.   

 Now pray this prayer with me today.  Father, forgive me of my sins and failures, give me a new birth today and open my eyes to the spiritual things, forgive me of my past and help me to move forward in your love.   IN Jesus name.  Amen.  

Six Things that Will Help You Avoid the Ptifalls of Life

I have spent  my whole life doing what I "should do"    We all have times when what we should do is not the easiest course of action, at times it is so much easier to just "go with the flow" of society.    I have come into many blessings and avoided many pitfalls simply because I did what was right, and what was expected.   I know today there are many struggling with doing what is right.   Doing the right thing doesn't always feel good, and it doesn't always come easy, but in the end it is always worth it.   You will never know the pitfalls and the tragedies that you save yourself from when you do what you know is right instead of doing what comes easy.

Here are some things I have learned over the past 30 years of doing what was right.

1.  When what you want conflicts with what is the best course of action, and the wisest course of action it will feel like you are dieing to go ahead and do what is right.

Here are a couple of examples:
Like when you know you need to leave a relationship, but you really don't want to...
or, when you know you need to stop doing something but it is hard to put down,  or when you know you should stay, but you really want to leave...

To do what is right even when it conflicts with what IS THE EASIEST thing to do is one of the hardest things you will ever do in life.   Most people will only do what is right if it is also the easiest course of action for their lives.  Sometimes we even deceive ourselves and pretend that the things that are bad for us are REALLY what is best for us - just because we want them so bad.   Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.    
The only way to overcome the desires of the flesh is to crucify them, and that never feels good.   The Apostle Paul said, "I die daily."   I have lived this way for over 30 years and it has saved me from myself, keeping me from making costly mistakes in life.  

2.  If you stay on course with doing what is right even when you would rather do what is easiest in time you will find a greater peace and happiness with that decision.

A good example of that is like when a child is told to clean their room.  That is not what they want to do in that moment at all.  But, if they do clean their room they will be in line to get an ice cream later.  But, they will get disciplined and miss the ice cream if they fail to clean the room.    While this is a simple example it still applies when we reach adulthood it just manefest in a different form.  There are so many people that go through life "missing their ice cream" and getting some sort of restriction instead all because they didn't do what they should, or because they did things they should have never done at all.  Hebrews 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are trained by it.   The hardest form of discipline is self-discipline, it can seem harsh at first, but in the end the rewards are great.

3.  If you overcome your desire to do the wrong thing, in time that desire will return and you will have to face it and overcome it all over again.

No matter how many times you "lick" a habit and put it out of your life, in time temptation for that very habit will return and you will have to "lick it" all over again.    Life is a fight.  Paul said, "I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, and now there is laid up for me a treasure in heaven..."  If you don't fight your bad habits, you will have to fight the BAD CIRCUMSTANCES those bad habits bring to you, so either way you are in a fight.   When you fight your bad habits and WIN this will allow you to stay IN CONTROL of your life.   When you allow your bad habits to take control of your life than the CIRCUMSTANCES of those bad habits will be in control of your life.

4.  If you chose to do the "right thing" people will pressure you to do what you know is wrong and sometimes they will get mad at you for standing your ground.

Most people in the world do what they want to do instead of what is the "right thing" to do.  Most people do not live their lives by a moral compass, but instead just follow whatever their own heart and desires lead them.  People around you will feel convicted if your follow convictions instead of just doing "whatever" and this makes them uncomfortable and can lead to persecution.   Galatians 1:10 For do I now seek the favor of men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

5.  Greater blessings and prosperity will come to you as you continue to make wise choices, your life will be taken to a good place, filled with good things, but it will be a struggle at times.

In the end we will all reap what we sew.  If you make wise choices, you will stay in control of  your life.   If you make poor choices you will eventually find that your circumstances are so bad that you are greatly hindered in life and don't have many options left.   You either pay now or pay later, but everyone pays.  If you want good things it will cost you something.   Making wise choices require you to put away what you "really want" to do at times, but in the end you can reap big rewards for your obedience.

6.  It takes great faith to do the "right thing"  

When you make wise choices  it show you have a greater faith.   When you lay aside the easy path and make better choices it shows that you believe that good things come to those who chose wisely.   It is our faith that redeems our life, and doing what is right must stem out of our faith.

Dreams and Visions

Today we are looking at the life of Joseph.   At age 17 he was sold into slavery, betrayed by his own flesh and blood.   What had happened before that time in his life?    He had been given dreams by God.  In those dreams he witnessed the sun, moon and stars bowing down to him.   God was showing him that he would someday be elevated to a high position in which his family would be subject to his leadership.

There are people reading this right now that when you were young you also had many dreams.  Dreams of what your life could be, dreams of hope and a future.  But just like Joseph somewhere along the line those dreams were shaken by overwhelming circumstance.  

Often when you receive a word of prophecy or a dream or vision from God the first thing that happens is the OPPOSITE of what God promised.   Here Joseph had a dream of being a great leader that everyone would bow to, the top of society, and the first thing you know he is the opposite of that, he is a SLAVE, the bottom of society.    And then when you think it can't get much worse, often it does get even worse.   Next he was charged with what our society would call a felony, and thrown in prison, though he had not comitted the crime he was accused of at all.    How could it be that God gave him dreams of being at the top of society and here he was living at the very bottom of society instead.   Where the dreams wrong?   Did he miss God?  Was it too late?  Was everything so messed up that the prophetic dreams had failed?  

On the contrary.  God gave him dreams that he would someday fulfill a great destiny, at the very highest leadership positions,  to help him GO THROUGH the tragedies that would fill his life BEFORE he was elevated.   God has given you dreams and prophetic words, those have NOT failed, they will surely come to pass, they will be your destiny!   That prophetic dream, vision, word, inspiration that came to you was God's promise to you that the hard times that you would face would not forever rule your life.  God was showing you that there would be hope for better days, just like he showed Jospeh his greater destiny in his dreams.

Some of you have given up on those dreams, but it is time to start dreaming again.   It is time to start believing again.  It is time to start hoping again.  It is time to know that God who is the author and finisher of your faith is not done working in your life yet.  

Are You Struggling Today? Here is help with your struggle.

On Sunday nights I have been teaching a series called, The Tribes of Israel.   Each of the twelve tribes have a banner, and each of the sons of Jacob was given a name with special meaning.    When we look at the blessing that was upon Abraham's life, the keys to this blessing was spoken in the names of these great-grandsons.

Most everyone has heard of and knows that the name Judah means "praise the Lord"  and his banner is the LION.   We learn from the name and banner of Judah that our strength is found when we praise the LORD.   And the Scriptures declare the joy of the Lord is our strength.    But, do you know the meaning of the name Naphtali, and the banner of his house.  Naphtali was the fifth son of Jacob.  His name means, "my struggle, or my wrestling"  and the banner of his house is the gazzelle.

What can we learn about his name that will help us walk in the blessings and favor of his great-grandfather Abraham?  

Ephesians 6 tells us that our 'struggle' is not with flesh and blood but against principalites and powers, wicked spiritual beings in high places.   And Paul said, "I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith."   Furthermore in Ephesians 6 we are told to put on the whole armor of God.   We are told these things because we have an adversary.    Your struggles are not against flesh and blood.   What are you made of?  What are the people around you made of?   We are all made of flesh and blood, but this is not the struggle, the struggle is with the dark forces of this world, the wicked spirit beings that tempt all of mankind.

The banner for the house of Naphtali is the gazzelle.  Look at the gazzelle.  This is the opposite of the lion.   Large cats and cougars and such chase and eat things like gazzelles.   So also, we have an adversary that wages war against us, that chases us, that tries to wear us down.   The gazzelle is blessed with great speed.   If a gazzelle is alert and sees it's predator in time a gazzelle is fast enough to outrun a larger predator, even though the gazzelle is a small animal by comparison.  So also we must be alert and sober, and ready to move quickly when God gives us direction so that we can avoid the enemies pitfalls.

Naphtali's father Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord all  night, he refused to let go until he received a blessing.  Here again, the blessing doesn't come from our efforts, but comes when spiritual beings in high places put their help and blessing upon our lives.  Yes there are wicked spiritual beings, but there are also angels that help us.  Often we are unaware of the help they bring.

What is your struggle and your wrestling today?   You must stay alert, and quickly move in obedience to God to escape the trap of the enemy just like the graceful gazzelle.    You must be willing to resist (wrestle against) the adversary, and also to ask, seek and knock (wrestle with) the Lord until he comes and rains down a blessing upon your life.    Sometime like Jacob you have to pray for a long time before you see your break through, but you must be willing to wrestle in prayer,  in the spirit realm if you want to see God move!