July 22, 2006

The end times

Joel Akin

Exodus 15:3 The LORD [is] a man of war: the LORD [is] his name.

Lets begin with an idea that God is true to His word. And not only true to his word but to the idea of war. We know that he desires peace but when war is present or near then God takes on the mantle of leadership. The mantle we would call the head of all armies and all forces contrary to the forces of evil. If we had to fight on one side in particular I would chose God because I trust His leadership and His understanding of things.

But when we study the news today those such as George Bush and Israel are called the Hitler's of this age. Why? Because they fight against evil and are not afraid to stand up for sending out their armed forces against the hands of the enemy.

 But when we think of evil today its more those who fight and if we have to chose a fighter or stand for a side then we chose the underdog even when that underdog is evil. Thus we end up serving evil and encouraging those who do the hand of wrong.

 When I think of those who follow the hand of evil I wonder to myself "Do they really know or understand what they are saying?" Do they have a clue how twisted their thinking has become? Because if not they are men and women who follow after evil and know it not. Like the Blind leading the blind or the deaf giving heed to a lie they can't understand. So men follow after evil and give way to it and never comprehend that they are becoming evil themselves. For I believe that those type of people you hang around and those beliefs you cling to are the things that make you what you are. And in this day and age being contrary to the truth is acceptable because the truth is too hard too accept for some.

So has this belief entered into our churches? Yes. Has it come into our schools and workplace? Again the answer is yes. We are surrounded by the enemy and the works of the enemy and none of us really understand it. We 'allow' it to happen because fighting against it means that we might get hurt or we might not come back from it alive. And the end result is a man or woman who grows more and more afraid by terror and terrorists until evil happens on our street. And we close our curtains in shame and say "What has our world come to..."

So what difference can we make? If we want to see a difference in this world how do we do it? For some its hands on. Hands on is our 'gift' to the needy. Yet there is still more at stake here then one can understand. I have thought about this question for a long time. How do we make a difference in this world? By works or by faith? If by works then our hand is shortened by the strength we bear. If by faith then the hand of God must be present on earth to accomplish these things.

So how then do we fight? I think there is a measure I call works which is me writing this article. This is one of the means I use to fight against the enemy and is something I enjoy doing. Yet I have faith and that faith is Gods hand working with the faith I have. How? That is a question few understand and to be honest it sounds difficult but lets put it into perspective.

I, a man in the natural, learn how to have faith by spending time listening to God in prayer. As I learn from Him there is a spiritual warfare that takes place. Its like a scale of 1-10. If one is the beginning stage and ten is the ultimate stage then Gods desire is that you be brought to 10. But, here is the key. There are few tens out there simply because there would be more happening on earth if there were. So how then do you become a ten? By taking God at His word, following His steps, and moving forward into a place that is rare. And I do mean rare.

But what happens when you reach a place of ultimate faith? Well, I have this belief, that once you reach the place of ultimate faith it goes into the ground and 'dies' for a time so it might be reborn. After all a seed of faith isn't much but it can move mountains. And yet a seed needs to be reborn for it to grow because God wants us to come to a place of ULTIMATE faith. And that kind of faith means anything is possible.

So what would God do with ultimate faith? If I were Him I would find a way to eliminate evil from the universe and from all of creation. I would find a way to heal time and death and I would find a way to bring to pass all that you longed for, as God and for man. And if such a thing were possible then you can expect that person who has ultimate faith to come under such spiritual attack as has not been seen except perhaps but a handful of people since the beginning of time. For evil could not ignore such a person. They would have to be right in the forefront of the battle whether they wanted to be or not. And if they were in the forefront then the time would come when they would be known or recognized, not by earth, but by heaven for their faithfulness.

I think that is the ironic part of ultimate faith. With it God could change all things and yet not one person on earth would know it. Not one person would comprehend it and not one person would understand. But with it God would make changes first in the spiritual and then when all things were under His authority then He would move into the natural realm. And then He would begin to make changes from the top down perhaps. So while the enemy was engaged in fighting the man of faith God would be out destroying all their works. And that would mean that God would use any and all circumstance that He could to bring to pass His will in the world. And if that meant destroying Satan and evil it would happen. For out of this would come a new world which God would be in control of but the end of this old world would be destroyed with fire.

 So how can that happen? Think of it as a new house which is being built. God says I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am you might be also. But if that new place is finished he would come back to find that men had failed to live up to their part of the bargain and there would be no one on earth that had finished the course with faith. And if faith was the one thing that needed to be there for man to be right with Him then faith was the key to all things and all things meant all things. For men were found to be finished with faith and not with love. And in this they fought for faith but didn't fight for love or faith in love but instead fought for the right of love or the right of faith. And in faith there were none who understood the rights of faith for faith was the one thing that needed to be there for there to be rights of men. For if faith was on the earth then as Jesus said then there could be a change to mans condition. If faith was not found then men would perish and they would never know nor understand it.

Faith was found and it was found in one man who had listened to God. And if this one man heard God speak then it was possible that others could hear and understand what faith was. Faith was the things hoped for. If things were hoped for then things were not evil. If things were the substance of things hoped for then we have one thing we must do. Pray God will help us understand that things are not evil. If things are evil then so is faith and so is hope. But things are not evil and neither is faith or hope. Each one of these 'things' that we hope for are part of the story of creation. If I want you to have a library of books then how can it be carried to heaven? The answer is it will be brought there by faith. For heaven is filled with things. Gold for the streets, gems for the gates, stones for the stars that cover the land. For the stars are like the sidewalk in Hollywood which is filled with the names of those who have become famous. If they have names in Hollywood that are famous and called stars then there are stars in heaven who have to have their name imprinted along with their signature so they can be remembered for all time. For God likes to walk the street of gold and find the names of those who lived by faith. For faith is the one thing in heaven that is treated like a star. For those who live by faith have a name above every name that is written in heaven. And there is no name above His or Christ or the Holy Spirit but there is a name above men written. And that is your name if you have faith. And if you have faith then you have hope and if you have hope then you have things. For things is the substance of hope and hope is the carrier of faith. And if you have faith then you are a warrior and a battle scarred veteran of war. And if you are a warrior of faith then you are a guardian of all things gifted to you by God. Or in other words faith turns the world and it is the world which is the gift God gives to those who overcome by faith.

So if you are a man of faith then you write the one thing in time that no one else has heard before. That man shall live by faith and by faith shall man live.

Faith is the part of God that is meant to be broken open and it is the part that is meant to die but not to death but to life. For life comes forth from faith and from faith is born the part of man that is part of God. And if God is part of man then that part is the part that is meant to be of faith. For by faith the things of men were found to be broken but by faith the part of men is broken open by things that cannot be seen. For things are the substance of desire and desire is the hope of joy and joy is the key to the future of man. For if we can become more than we were called to be then we can see that we are but measure or measures of time. For time is like a friend who carries us to a star but that time we spend is with God and not man. If we spend time with man we grow in wisdom but not in knowledge. If we spend time with God then the time we spend is valued by time and not by men. For men will fight us for our time and for our place and for our value but not allow us to spend time with God. For God is a jealous God who loves us so much that He is willing to allow us freedom but not of anger or might. In other words if we are broken by sin then sin tries to steal us away. If we are called to God then we are meant to be part of His story.

How do we get sin to submit to us? By faith in God. If we have faith in God then we have faith that He will break sin open. If we have faith in ourselves then we worry about things and if we worry about things then we try to make things. Making things is like a chair we sit on. If we sit on it then we know that the chair is well made. If we buy it then we have to have faith in the maker of the chair. If we are given a stolen chair then we have to worry that someone may try to take that chair from us unless they are in the grave. So the chair then takes us back to their time so we can then take their authority. If we go back in time then we are given time to overcome sin. For sin cannot go back and sin cannot uncarry or disallow a position of faith or hope that we have. To have means to carry or to own and if we are men of faith then we are men of love. For love is the basis of all things good and like Paul who said "now abides faith, hope, love but the greatest of these is love" also said that love is that which sanctifies us. Sanctification is the purity of self by love through the Lord Jesus Christ. He then parlays us into a place where we can understand all things. For if all things are part of us then we understand that God is a God who understands us. For we are men, like Him, of war. And war is the key to this story. And if we fight the fight of faith then we are men who fight with faith. Faith is the battleaxe that stops the enemy in his tracks and makes him fold. Folding is like a chair that folds up and is carried to storage. Or in the case of a broken chair it is cast into the fire where it is of value to no one.

Yet if God is a God of war does not he do all the fighting? In such a case we fight with Him even if it seems He takes on the bigger jobs. We fight with faith as well and it is our faith that God uses to fight for us. We need not fear for things when God fights on our side. He takes our faith and breaks open the wells of time and in this we know that they are layered for us step by step in life so we are not overwhelmed and drowned. Such is the case for each of us who struggle to find faith. God takes that faith and breaks it over us so we might grow into deeper levels of faith. If we take tiny faith and break it over us it is like fertilizer which deepens the soil and makes it fertile to growth. If growth comes then faith comes by trusting in God. And God does hear our prayer every time. No one in all the universe knows it but not one man who has prayed has had their prayer ignored. Ever. It is written in heaven and it is written so that God has a record of it. And if our faith is the substance of things then think of prayer as the substance of hope. For our prayer is the key to opening a book that has our name on it. Every prayer to God is recorded and every thought to Him is made manifest so that we might keep it as a record for our posterity. People will come and they will read our prayers to God. And if we keep a record of prayers then they will become part of our story for our generations and if our prayers are famous to all generations. So the Bible is the record of men who fought with faith so they might become what God desired for them. Men of faith and hope so they might receive things not just on earth but in all time and space.

For men desire things even if they do not always understand the why of it. Things are not meant to be thrown out every few years but are meant to be treasured if God has given them to us. Think of things we own as blessings of God and not as garbage as we so easily do. For things are hope and hope is faith but the invisible part of things hoped for. The more you have faith the more you hope for things and the more you hope for things the more faith you accrue to your name. So if we ever get faith fulfilled then our life will be constantly growing with things. Not just answers to prayer but things fulfilled in our life which means the very desires of our heart will be granted.

So if I desire God to heal me of sickness and I have been sick all my life then faith is the key to my healing. So how can things be of help? By being a comfort to me during my sickness. This computer allows me to write as I desire but it is the thing I own. Yet it is a record of my walk with God and my talks with Him in prayer. Thus as I grow spiritually I keep a work of this spiritual growth by writing. I can't say that it is faith as in I am not 'really' taught by God by watching or listening to my computer. I grow in faith by listening to God. Yet it is you who are helped by reading these words because you are learning the secret of faith.

Now I started this story because I saw that God was the Lord of war, a man of war. A friend to me yet a veteran of battle to those who do evil. I wanted God to speak to you and I believe He did. I wanted His word for you regarding His return and I believe He spoke to you about that. Yet I want to see you grow, whoever you are. And that comes by walking with God. There is no other path or future for you unless you take that step towards Him. Take time today and give Him your best and watch as your name takes a step forward in heaven.