Jesus Fellowship: Is Your name written in His Book? 12/26/15

Day 359

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Rev.17

Revelation 17

The judgment of the evil woman announced

17 1-2 Then came one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls, and said to me, “Come, and I will show you the judgment passed upon the great harlot who is seated upon many waters. It is with her that the kings of the earth have debauched themselves and the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk on the wine of her filthiness.”

The gorgeous mother of evil

3-5 Then he carried me away in spirit into the desert. There I saw a woman riding upon a scarlet animal, covered with blasphemous titles and having seven heads and ten horns. The woman herself was dressed in purple and scarlet, glittering with gold, jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a golden cup full of the earth’s filthiness and her own foul impurity. On her forehead is written a name with a secret meaning—BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF ALL HARLOTS AND OF THE EARTH’S ABOMINATIONS.

The vision explained

6a Then I noticed that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs for Jesus.

6b-8 As I watched her, I was filled with utter amazement, but the angel said to me, “Why are you amazed? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the animal with seven heads and ten horns which carries her. The animal, which you saw, once lived but now is no more—it will come up out of the pit only to meet with destruction. The inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be utterly astonished when they see that the animal was, and is not, and yet is to come.

9-11 (Here we need a mind with understanding.) “The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman takes her seat. There are also seven kings; five have been dethroned, one reigns and the other has not yet appeared—when he comes he must remain only for a short time. As for the animal which once lived but now lives no longer, it is an eighth king which belongs to the seven, but it goes to utter destruction.

12-14 The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received their power to reign, but they will receive authority to be kings for one hour in company with the animal. They are of one mind, and they will hand over their power and authority to the animal. They will all go to war with the Lamb, and the Lamb, with his called, chosen and faithful followers, will conquer them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings.”

15-17 Then he said to me, “As for the waters which you saw, on which the woman took her seat, they are peoples and vast crowds, nations and languages. The ten horns and the animal which you saw will loathe the harlot, and leave her deserted and naked. Moreover, they will devour her flesh, and then consume her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by making them of one mind, and by handing over their authority to the animal, until the words of God have been fulfilled.

18 “The woman that you saw is the great city which dominates the kings of the earth.”

Supplied Life Devotional by Bill Freeman

December 26th

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his soul- life will lose it, and whoever loses his soul- life for My sake will find it." Matthew 16:24- 25
To lose our soul- life means losing our soul- life as the initiator! In these verses the Lord is saying, "Lose setting your mind on the things of men. Lose it! Take Me! You will find your soul when you take Me as your relationship with all things. Your relationship to your self is Me! Lose your self; do not find your self. When you lose your self to find Me, then you will find your self in a proper way." For the church to be in the reality of Christ, we need many experiences of starting to do something out of ourself and then stopping ourself by calling on the Lord. By this we bring our being back to Christ. We sink back into our mingled spirit. We stop ourself from initiating, thinking, acting, deliberating, and bring ourself back to Christ as our source. At that point, we lose our soul- life. The more we lose our soul- life, the more Satan comes out of our system, and the more Satan cannot destroy the church through our undealt- with mind and opinion.
When Peter took the initiative to rebuke the Lord concerning His going to the cross, the Lord looked at him and said, "Get behind Me, Satan!" That means Satan was in Peter's system. He was occupying Peter's soul. This is where the problems and division in the church really come from our undealt- with soul. Satan will be ejected out of our system if day by day and hour by hour we do not initiate anything, but lose our soul- life to find it in Christ. When the self initiates things, Satan is unrestrained in his attack on the church. We must all learn not to initiate! Do not live! Do not reason! Do not introspect yourself! Just say, "Lord, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" Then, like Peter, we will learn to eject Satan out of our system; and our independent, undealt- with self will not be Satan's door into the church

Pray Until Something Happens (PUSH)

Anna, Ariana, Ariel, Georgie, Linnette, Wes, and Zoe.