General Articles

Do You Yearn for His Kingdom? :: By Nathele Graham

Published on: by RR7

The King is coming! Are you excited? If you claim to be a follower of Christ, then you should be very excited. Prophecy is being fulfilled faster than most people can keep up with.

Remember to keep your eyes on Israel to see prophecy come alive. There’s talk of a train from the Ben Gurion Airport to the Temple so people can easily go to worship there. The Temple hasn’t been rebuilt yet, but it will be. Five red heifers were flown from Texas to Israel. One of them just might be qualified and selected to be the sacrifice whose ashes will be used for the purification process.

“This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: and ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp and one shall slay her before his face: and Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times and one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn: and the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer” (Numbers 19:2-6).

The red heifer seems to have shown up in time to purify the coming Temple. God always provides, and He’s never late. This is exciting, and prophecy buffs are keeping their eyes on this. We know that the Temple must be built because Scripture tells us that the Anti-Christ will pridefully set himself up as God.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

He is not God, but halfway through Daniel’s 70th week, he will deceive those who have rejected God Almighty and convince them that he is God.

The signs of the times are happening quickly. Most people just go about life without giving a second thought to the increase in the number and intensity of earthquakes. We can’t turn on any news broadcast without hearing about war. Israel is the target of much hatred from the nations of the world, but they are in the land that God gave them, and there they will stay. There are many prophetic Scriptures that talk of Israel being back in their God-given land and never being uprooted again. The dry bones coming together, as described in Ezekiel, is exactly what began happening in 1947. The bones came together and are now coming alive. Israel is coming alive spiritually.

“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:4-6).

It’s exciting to see the Jewish people coming together with life and a fresh spirit.

“But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:15).

God is with Israel, and they won’t be driven from their land again.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:11-12).

It gives me shivers knowing that I am living in the time of God’s prophecy being fulfilled.

Christians should be very aware of what this all means. I remember cartoons of the past showing a scraggly bearded hippy-type holding a sign that said, “The end is in sight.” Guess what! The end is in sight! Actually, for Christians, the Rapture is in sight! Brothers and sisters, what do you yearn for? Do you want God to delay His coming so you can get a big promotion at work? Do you look forward to buying a new house and don’t want God to interfere with your plans? This life does hold many blessings, and we need to enjoy our life, but nothing on earth can come close to the glorious Home awaiting us in Heaven. Each and every one of us should yearn for Him to call us Home. There is a reward awaiting all who yearn for His appearing.

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

Do you love thinking about that glorious day when we hear His call to “Come up hither”? The more wickedness I see in this world, the more I yearn to be with Jesus.

There are those who may feel a little guilty for yearning for God’s Kingdom to come. The truth is, Jesus directed us to pray for it. We all know the words.

“And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth” (Luke 11:2).

That prayer is prayed so often, but it can become just words with little thought to the truth behind them. The disciples had been listening to Jesus pray and desired for Him to teach them, and us, how to pray.

The first thing to notice is that Jesus directed them to pray to God, the Father. Not to Mary, Peter, or any pope-appointed saint. Only God can answer prayer.

The next directive is that we are to recognize that God is holy, and He is deserving of our respect and honor.

The next part may be misunderstood. “Thy kingdom come.” What does that mean? When you pray those words, you are praying for God’s Kingdom on earth. It will happen whether you pray for it or not, but every Christian should yearn for God’s Kingdom on earth. If you don’t, maybe you don’t want God’s perfect rule over all things. Is your desire to continue with fallible rule by humans? My desire is for Christ’s perfect Kingdom on earth, and I yearn for that day. When you pray for His Kingdom to come, do you mean it?

What about the next words? “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Do you want to live under His perfect will? I hope so. Actually, you can start today to do your part by doing His will. First, accept the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation, then let go of the sin in your life and start living to please Him.

We all fail when it comes to living the way God wants us to live and the way we will be expected to live when Jesus is King. We easily lose our temper over nothing important, and we don’t forgive others. We suffer from pride, but God wants us to be humble. Jesus is our example. When He entered His creation, He left the glory and worship in Heaven. He could have been prideful because He was God; Jesus is much superior to mere humans. Instead of boasting and making sure everyone knew just how great He was, He became one of us and submitted Himself to the mocking, humiliation, and pain of death. He paid the price for your sin and mine.

If the God of all creation humbly became a man and was obedient unto death, can’t you see your need to set your pride aside and humbly serve Him? If you yearn for His Kingdom on earth, shouldn’t you be obedient to His will now? If you don’t want to follow Him now, what makes you think you’ll be happy living under His authority for eternity?

“Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine Heart” (Psalm 37:4).

That was David’s thought about life. He was right, but don’t misconstrue this verse to mean if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us anything we want. It does mean that if we earnestly desire things of God rather than the things of the world, we will find that our needs are taken care of and the desires of our heart center around Godly desires. If we yearn for His Kingdom on Earth, we will find ourselves living for Him.

Jesus also told us to seek first the Kingdom of God. Instead of seeking after fame and fortune and earthly pleasure, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

What things will be added? If you read the previous verses, you’ll see that He was talking about food, shelter, and clothing. If you yearn for God’s Kingdom to come, then don’t be double-minded. Start living as if it’s already here. This is not intended to validate the heresy of “name it and claim it.” If you seek after Godly things and live a Godly life, things like food, shelter, and clothing will be provided by God.

God loves you and gave His life for your salvation. He will call us Home soon. Keep looking and listening. The signs tell us that blessed day is approaching quickly. I yearn for it. How about you? You should because it’s going to be wonderful!

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com
ron@straitandnarrowministry.com

Recommended prophecy sites:

www.raptureready.com
www.prophecyupdate.com
www.raptureforums.com

All original scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed.

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Jesus Longs for the Rapture :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR10

Wish I could claim the thought within this commentary as my own, but I can’t. The realization comes from the Holy Spirit, as do all thoughts that truly glorify our God. But, humanly speaking, I must give credit for sparking my thinking to Dr. David Jeremiah, whose program Turning Point I try to catch at 5:00 or 5:30 (Central Time) on either A&E or The History Channel each weekday morning.

So it was the other day that Dr. Jeremiah began talking about the compilation of evils we are now witnessing. How, if attuned to things going on in our nation and around the world, those who aren’t believers could easily be in a constant state of depression, or worse.

Those not paying attention to things going on—the majority of people going down that broad way along with all of humanity—have little awareness of the signals of catastrophe just ahead. They are busy going through the routines of life and don’t even want to understand why we are now supposed to believe, according to godless cultural corruptors, that man created God rather than God created man.

We are told that we, not God, must determine which gender we think we should be (or parents think we ought to be). Biblical order is now supplanted by political correctness and woke directives derived from social media acolytes who now more and more demonically govern from their basements and other dark, safe places.

Kindergartners should be taught the perversions of sexual activity by transvestites and outright pedophiles. Men, under the guise of transsexual metamorphosis, can interact with teenage girls in locker rooms and restrooms, and anyone who says otherwise is persecuted and even prosecuted as being phobic and haters.

Boys’ restrooms now must, by public school administrative rules, have tampon dispensers. Men must be acknowledged as being capable of being pregnant; else, those objecting can be hounded, harassed, and even legally charged with hate speech.

Our top leaders within the US government try at every legislative and judicial level to turn the greatest nation in history–in terms of liberty under our Constitution—into a third-world dystopia. The sellout to the New World Order minions, such as those of the World Economic Forum, continues to be a never-ending assault on this once God-blessed republic.

So it was that Dr. Jeremiah was painting the picture and pointing out that it’s no wonder that Christians who see and understand these things are praying that Jesus will call us home.

I, and many I know who have prophetic ministries, hear from those who want more than anything for the Rapture of the Church to occur. I get many such thoughts through email each week, and the numbers are increasing.

Prayers are going up incessantly to the throne, imploring that Christ step out on the clouds of glory and call believers to Himself. Yes. I frequently pray the same.

There are those who see, in every event reported, intensive hope of the Rapture taking place within days or weeks at most. These begin postulating on whether this or that event will be the proverbial straw that breaks the back of the camel. Will this event or that bring into God’s holy nostrils a stench from the corrupt world that will make His cup of filling wrath finally overflow?

Yes. I’ve had some of those thoughts as well…

Or will this or that happening with regard to Israel cause the Lord to call the Church out so He can again begin dealing with the Jews, where things left off with Christ’s crucifixion—thus bringing in Daniel’s seventieth week–the Tribulation?

Like, for example, do the five red heifers that are in the news at present indicate the Rapture can happen at any moment? Or the train that is being constructed to deliver Jews swiftly and en masse to Jerusalem–is this precursor to the building of the Third Temple, thereby showing how very near we are to the Rapture?

These things, I took it, were cocooned within David Jeremiah getting to the point of the many prayers going up to the throne imploring that the Rapture take place.

But it was when he brought into the message the words of the Lord Jesus that really caught my attention. Dr. Jeremiah said something like: “Even as much as we want the Rapture, did you know that Jesus wants that time of bringing us home even more than we want it?”

He then gave an eloquent dissection of perhaps my favorite portion of all Scripture. It is the section that most touches me. He went through Jesus’ Words in the Gospel of John, chapter 17.

This, of course, is Jesus’ prayer to His Father for each and every believer who will ever live. And I agree with David. He said that this section of the Bible, of all portions, is truly holy ground, and we must take off our shoes here (symbolically equating this time of Christ’s prayer to Moses’ time before God when receiving the Commandments).

The pastor then pointed to Jesus’ most profound expression of desire to God the Father and urged us to consider how much Jesus loves those who are His own — all believers. David spoke of how intensely Jesus desires to have us with Him — not to indwell us, as He already does, but to have us in the place He spoke of, as recorded in another part of John’s Gospel.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Jesus implored His Father:

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:22-24).

Jesus’ capacity for love, for intense desire, is far above any human love or intensity of desire. Jesus wants us with Himself even more than we are capable of wanting it. This is the message in this portion of His magnificent prayer directly to His Father. Is there any doubt that God the Father will honor the request of His Son in this regard? There is no doubt whatsoever from this quarter.

Like so many of you, I believe the moment of Christ’s call is very close. To go to the Savior, our Brother, our Bridegroom, our Lord and God when He calls, you must be willing to do the following:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).