Author: hillturnfs

The spoken word of God is creative power. The spirit world is controlled by God’s Word. God’s Word is spiritual law. The natural world can be controlled by man speaking God’s Word. Therefore:

1. Choose your words carefully

2. Pray what you desire

3. Believe you receive what you pray for

4. You shall have what you ask for

5. Pray to the Father, in Jesus’ name, and receive it by faith

God and His Word are one. Faith-filled words in prayer release God’s ability to act. Imitate God by saying His Word. After affirming what God’s Word says…..STAND!…and wait. Keep affirming and thanking God as if what you asked for has been done already. God’s Word that is conceived in your heart, then formed by the tongue and spoken out of your mouth becomes a spiritual force releasing the ability of God within you. Words are the most powerful thing in the universe. What you desire when you pray, believe and you shall have it. God’s Word is spiritual law and functions like any other natural law. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Spoken words conforming to spiritual law release faith. Pray the answer not the problem. Prayer is your legal right to use faith-filled words to bring God on the scene in your behalf so that your joy may be full. Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask!

Pray because God commands it.
Pray because Jesus did it.
Pray because Jesus died so that we could do it.
Pray because God is worthy of praise and thanksgiving.
Pray because we need daily cleansing and forgiveness of our sins.
Pray because we need God’s guidance and protection.
Pray because others need our prayers.
Pray because God wants to communicate with us.
Pray because we need to communicate with God.

Make daily prayer a central part of your life because talking to God is the key to a successful life from a spiritual perspective. Only the spiritual perspective is eternal and all else is a mere flicker in time.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – The old has gone, the new has come.

Romans 8:31 – If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 5:8 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Rules for praying:

1. Have the right attitude
2. Seek God’s will
3. Bring everything to God
4. Pray at all times and in all situations
5. Trust God for the best outcome
6. Learn to listen for God’s answer
7. Wait on God because His timeline is not ours

Salutation to the Dawn:

Look to this day! For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence: The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty, for yesterday is but a dream. And tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day! Such is the salutation to the dawn.

A New Day:

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it. I want it to be a gain, not a loss, good and not evil, success and not failure, in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it.

Every morning when I get up there are a million things I want to do with my time. When I weigh the benefits of each thing and the opportunity costs of each action I wind up at the same place. There is no better use of my time than passive witnessing for Christ through my Christian blog.  Nothing is more important. There is nothing I do that will have a greater impact on the kingdom of God. I’m following through on the Great Commission in my own way. I’m retired so my time is short. Every day is precious to me and I can never get it back. Every day brings me closer to heaven yet I have so much left to do!

A Charge to Keep:

A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify. A never dying soul to save, and fit it for the sky to serve the present age. My calling to fulfill; O may it all my powers engage to do my Master’s will!

My Orders:

My orders are to fight; then if I bleed or fail, or strongly win, what matters it? God only doth prevail. The servant craveth naught except to serve with might. I was not told to win or lose, my orders are to fight.

We must pray on purpose and be disciplined in how we go about it. Waiting until you’re in bed after being dead tired and nodding off watching the news doesn’t cut it. All that does is give God a cursory few seconds of your time before your eyes close.  What we need is a regular appointment time with God in prayer to talk over our concerns. We need a quiet place where we are comfortable and we won’t be disturbed or hurried.  We should pray to God as often as we need to and as often as we can with our busy schedules. Nothing should have priority over talking to God. You don’t always have to be formal when talking to God. You can talk to God informally when walking or driving somewhere. God would rather hear from you informally than not at all. Note during your day things you need to discuss with God during your formal prayer time.

There are five basic types of prayers I think we should all be familiar with:

1. Prayers in praise of God’s mercy, love and grace.
2. Prayers for the confession of sins and asking for forgiveness.
3. Prayers asking for God’s protection from evil and harm.
4. Prayers asking for God’s understanding, instruction and guidance.
5. Prayers for rejoicing in the goodness of God Almighty.

Most prayers should include, as a matter of course, introductory praise to God’s glory and majesty. We then should take the opportunity to ask for our sins to be forgiven by God followed by asking for God’s protection from evil and harm. These first three items in my mind are perfunctory for every prayer. Then we get into the reason for most prayers to God which is seeking God’s guidance in our lives.  Of course we always close by invoking the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who is our Mediator with God (i.e. in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen). The last prayer is a stand alone prayer of rejoicing in the attributes of the Lord God Almighty! I’m ashamed to say we don’t rejoice in God as often as we should but we need to start taking the time to revel in our great God.

Hebrews 12:2 – Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:12 – Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.

Mark 11:24 – Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

We must never lose sight of who sits on the throne of grace when we come before God in prayer. Yes, He is our Father who loves us, but He is also Almighty God, Creator of the universe, and He who deserves our praise, worship, reverence and awe forever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:7 – Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.

Hebrews 10:35 – Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

There is a model for prayer that is acceptable to God. Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer as an example. There are all kinds of prayers so all components of the model prayer are not needed on every occasion. Fit the prayer to the reason you are praying in the first place.

1. Confess you sins – If you are praying to God for forgiveness of sins always confess any sins you have committed and ask God to forgive you. Be specific if you know which sins you want forgiven. You’re in luck because God has promised in Scripture that He will forgive your sins if you ask Him and God never lies.

2. Praise God – Always offer up praise and worship in any kind of prayer to God. It acknowledges the glory of God and affirms your trust in Him as your heavenly Father. Be sure to acknowledge God’s mercy and call upon Him to grant it.

3. Ask for instruction – God is the source of all wisdom and if you ask God He will provide you with the instruction, guidance and understanding for what you should do in any circumstance of life. God may answer yes, no or wait. God doesn’t work on our timetable so don’t expect immediate gratification. It’s hard to hear God’s still small voice but you can with practice. God works all things to our benefit but it takes time.

4. Ask for God’s protection – Ask for God’s protection against Satan and his evil demons. We are powerless against the powers of darkness without the protection of God’s Word which He has graciously provided to us.

5. Rejoice in God – Always give thanks to the Lord, rejoice and be glad that the Lord your God is Sovereign over His creation and nothing can take you out of His hand. You are God’s cherished possession now and forever in the heaven to come. Rejoice!

Thessalonians 5:16 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 4:2 – Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Ephesians 5:20 – Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 3:15 – And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Prayer is not optional. As believers we are commanded to pray and to witness for Christ. In this way we emulate Jesus in our walk with God and provide an example for the unbeliever. An attempt to comply with any of God’s commands on our own will be minimally successful because we are weak. We must have God’s help if we are to be really successful in our prayer life, which is one of the reasons believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit of God. Prayer is the key to everything because it’s how we communicate with God. Prayer is the mechanism through which God’s power is unleashed but we have to ask for it. If we pray for something it has been documented in Scripture that God will do it if it’s His will. We have to pray for something to happen.

Philippians 4:6 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Hebrews 13:15 – Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Ephesians 6:18 – And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

1 Peter 4:7 – The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

Once we have believed in Jesus unto salvation the truth has freed us from the fear of death. We were crucified with Jesus and He now lives in us as our Lord and Savior. When we pray to God it is Jesus who is our mediator between God and man. We must look to Jesus and present ourselves to God for Him to use our bodies not only as temples for the Holy Spirit but also as vessels to further the kingdom of God on this earth. If we don’t know how to go about that God tells us to pray for wisdom and lean on God through prayer for the strength to accomplish the purposes of God in our life.

James 5:16 – The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Romans 12:1 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

James 1:5 – If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without fault, and it will be given to him.

Gal. 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

John 8:32 – And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

A vibrant prayer life is essential if you would be great in the kingdom of God. It is job #1 for all disciples of Jesus. Most of us pray to God the Father for only a few minutes a day at best and that is usually at bedtime when we’re dead tired.  I’m guilty of this too so when I discuss this topic I’m also exhorting myself to be better in my prayer life. However, I have started talking to God more during the day, without formality, and in more of a conversational tone.  We all need to grow our prayer life bit by bit and let it evolve into the powerful force it can be in our lives. Prayer is a precious gift of God to us, His beloved creation, and we sin by not fully utilizing what God has graciously given us.  Let’s face it, most of us are praying only a small fraction of the time we should be praying (less than 10%). Not praying enough will be the #1 regret of those going to heaven, along with not witnessing enough for Christ.

Hebrews 4:16 – Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10:19-20 – Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.

We were made by God to seek His face and prayer is the mechanism God has chosen for us to speak directly to Him. God speaks to us through nature and His Word. Scripture confirms we are God’s children, He loves us, and He wants to hear from us about anything, everything, all day long.  That’s why God has given us 24/7 access to the throne of grace. It is impossible to pray too much. You cannot bore God or get on His nerves. God has infinite patience, kindness and gentleness toward us.  We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Remember that God sent His Son Jesus to redeem us from our sins so that we could have restored fellowship with God. Restored fellowship with God means renewed communication with Him through prayer.  Look at it like this, Jesus died on the cross so that God can now hear our prayers due to our restored fellowship with the Father.  If Jesus died so that we might have a restored prayer life we’d better use it to the maximum.

James 4:2 – You do not have because you do not ask.

1 John 3:22 – And whatever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

1 John 5:15 – And if we know that He hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have what we ask of Him.

The whole intent of this two-part blog on Revelation is to reveal the prophetic message of hope contained in the following verse of Scripture:

Revelation 2:10 – Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.

The book of Revelation is prophetic because it’s about the conditions of the world in the end times, which many of us consider to be right now. I know I do. In Revelation 2:10 God is warning the Christians of our time what is coming and how to handle it.  The church will have already been raptured but many of those left on earth will turn to God and be saved.  It is those Christians left behind who Satan will persecute unto death.  Let’s break it down and evaluate what it says. During the coming tribulation Christians are going to suffer “things” which means death but may also include other hardships such as thirst, hunger, beatings and torture. God tells us not to fear what is coming because we are His possession.

God tells us that Satan is ultimately be behind the imprisonment of Christians for a period of ten days during which we will have tribulation and be tested,  which is another way of saying we’ll be tortured. The whole point of Christian incarceration is to get them to renounce their faith in Jesus and take the mark of the beast.  Those Christians that cannot be broken will be beheaded publicly. God tells us if we bear up and remain faithful unto death He will give us a crown of life in heaven.  These are the tribulation saints the Bible mentions as crying out to the Lord to punish the nations for their murder.  The conditions in Revelation 2:10, are predicted to happen and Scripture always comes to pass because God cannot lie. It’s clear those conditions have never occurred in the past nor are they happening right now.

Obviously the events can only happen at some future date and since we’re in the book of Revelation that future date is in the end times.  To narrow it down further, mentioning the word tribulation in the verse ties it to that seven year period known as the tribulation which covers the last seven years of human history.  It is my heartfelt desire that when these evil times do come the people left on the earth after the church has been raptured will turn to God and latch onto the lifeline contained in Revelation 2:10, as they are hunted, tortured and killed for their faith in God. The Holy Spirit will be there to give the saints the faith needed to overcome those evil times.

Most of the books of the Bible you can read and literally accept as written without any hidden meaning. That’s not the case with the book of Revelation written by the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos around 95 AD. Jesus appeared in His glory to John and instructed him to write to the seven churches in Asia and record the visions he received about the end times.  This Revelation of Jesus Christ contains metaphors, symbolism and allegories that obscure and hide the meaning from the casual observer yet reveals the truth of God’s Word to the believer when the time is ripe for that revelation to be revealed. For 2,000 years people have argued what the book of Revelation actually means and everybody has their opinion. I have my own thoughts on Revelation too.

80% of my blogs are a repeat of things Christian scholars have written about that I also believe and report as my own with my personal commentary making up the other 20%. What I’m going to say now is all mine. Revelation was written while the center of Christianity was in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and the most prominent churches were in the seven cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea and Philadelphia.  It makes sense any letters from God to Christians would be addressed to those centers of Christianity. However, God knew those cities would eventually disappear from the faith so the intended audience for those letters was the Christian faithful worldwide in the end times which is right now. The revealed meaning of Revelation was meant for our time for those who seek the truth.

Think of the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation as God’s seven commandments to Christians living in our day. Nothing in Scripture is ever out of date so if there were letters to the seven churches and those churches no longer exist then God’s message has to be intended for all Christians wherever they are.  And since the letters are in the book about the end times we know they also apply to us Christians here at the end of time. I will briefly list what I think God is commanding us to do in each of the seven letters, in no particular order:

1. Live a pure life and do God’s work until Jesus comes again.
2. Watch for the second coming of Jesus.
3. Be passionate about Jesus until the second coming.
4. Persevere in your faith until Jesus comes again.
5. If you worship false gods, repent, and worship the true God while there is still time.
6. If your fellowship with God is broken, renew it through repentance and return to the Lord your God.
7. Be faithful to God until the end and though you lose your life a crown of life awaits you in heaven.

As of today I’ve published 177 blogs since 12-12-2019. I knew the point would come when I couldn’t remember what I’ve posted. I had to review what I’ve previously done. When I publish something from my files I usually make a notation as to the date published but I don’t see anything on my Apostle files. I want to discuss how the Apostles died. I feel like I’ve blogged about this already but I can’t find it so bear with me as I go over it, possibly for the second time. I just find it fascinating.  Here we have twelve disciples of Jesus and their leader had been put on trial, convicted and then crucified on the cross. They are fearful, possibly disillusioned, and they have all scattered out of fear the authorities will kill them too (except John). When Jesus was dying on the cross only John and the women followers of Jesus were there. There was no way these weak-kneed men were going to spread the gospel throughout the world!

Then a funny thing happened. Their Lord Jesus appeared to them after He was crucified, died and was buried. Then they recalled Jesus had said He would be killed and rise from the dead three days later. Everything became clear to them that their Jesus was God. That was reinforced when Jesus was talking in their midst and suddenly started rising from the ground and disappeared into the clouds.  If I saw those two things happen with my own eyes I would have done what they did.  When the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost the Apostles had all they needed to boldly proclaim the truth to all the world.  They had certain knowledge of God , the Scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else was needed. The fact that every single Apostle willingly suffered and all but one was martyred based on their eyewitness accounts of the glory of God is a powerful testimony in itself for believing in our faith.

I personally got the same feeling about the conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.  You don’t go from being the worst enemy of Christianity to its greatest advocate over the course of three days on your own.  It’s not human nature.  The only logical answer is Paul came face to face with Jesus just as the Scripture said.  At some point, the truth hits everyone who believes and we understand that we are free from the fear and sting of death.  We are immortal beings who received our eternal spirits from God at conception.  God’s plan is for us to spend that eternity in heaven with Him  but it’s our free will choice.  If we don’t choose God we’ll wind up spending eternity in hell instead where we’ll be tormented 24/7.

1. Matthew – While preaching in Ethiopia Matthew was run through with a sword.
2. Mark – While not an Apostle, the disciple Mark did preach the gospel. Mark was drug through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt until he was dead.
3. Luke – Luke was also a disciple and not an Apostle. Luke also preached the gospel and was hanged in Greece because of his preaching.
4. Peter – Peter was martyred in Rome by the Emperor Nero. Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross because he said he wasn’t worthy to die like Jesus.
5. James the lesser – James was a leader of the church in Jerusalem. When he refused to deny his faith James was thrown down from the top of the Temple pinnacle (100 ft.). When James survived the fall his tormentors beat him to death with a club.
6. James the greater – James was beheaded in Jerusalem by the Romans.
7. Bartholemew (Nathaniel) – Bartholemew was martyred in Armenia (present day Turkey) for preaching. He was flayed to death with a whip.
8. Andrew – After being whipped, Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece.
9. Thomas – Thomas was stabbed to death with a spear while preaching in India.
10. Jude (Thaddeus)- When Jude refused to renounce his faith he was killed with arrows.
11. Matthias – Matthias was stoned and then beheaded.
12. Paul – The Apostle Paul was beheaded in Rome on the order of the Emperor Nero.
13. John – John was the only Apostle to live to old age and die peacefully. John did survive an attempt to boil him alive and he was sentenced to the prison mines on the Island of Patmos. John was later freed and went to Edessa in modern Turkey.  

* Judas Iscariot – Judas was one of the original disciples before he Jesus to the authorities for thirty pieces of Silver.  Afterward,  Judas went and hanged himself.