“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

This is an imperative statement. From the many letters Paul wrote, we know that he did in fact pray continually. We too need to talk with our Heavenly Father every day and tell Him our fears and ask Him for guidance. We live in a time when the powers of darkness surround us and evil seems to be winning. The battle may seem difficult and sometimes it’s hard to find words to express our heart to the Lord. In those times the Holy Spirit will intercede.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” Romans 8:26-27.

God warned of the times we live in and that fact brings mixed feelings. Jesus will call us Home soon and that’s exciting but until then the world becomes treacherous for Christians, and that can bring fear. God’s word never changes and we can trust Him to hear our prayers and guide us through difficult times. Standing strong on Biblical truth takes study and prayer. Brothers and sisters, don’t waiver.

The apostle Paul wrote many letters while he was in prison and we can take strength knowing that God used Paul’s imprisonment to continue spreading the gospel. Like today the times in which Paul lived were filled with powers of darkness, and most people reveled in that darkness. When he wrote to the Christians in heathen city of Ephesus he urged them to put on the full spiritual armor of God, then ended that passage telling them to pray.

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:18-20.

We all need to take Paul’s words seriously. Pray for each other and also pray for boldness in sharing God’s truth. Set aside television, video games, and secular books and prayerfully study God’s word. Then pray for your pastor as he may face prison for standing on God’s Word.

Pray for your children, no matter how old they are, that they will draw nearer to God. Pray for your neighbors that they may come to know the saving grace of Jesus. Pray for that Christian police officer who will be asked to arrest a pastor for upholding God’s law instead of Man’s. Pray for your nation.

As I was searching through notes and computer files, a commentary that my husband, Ron Graham, wrote in September 2010 popped up and it seems as if this prayer is relevant for today. Ron was a strong Christian man and he took everything to our Lord in prayer. I don’t know the particular crisis that prompted him to write this, but as always he took his concerns to God in prayer.

Ron was grieved over American “leadership” and the world situation; as I do, he yearned for the Lord to call His Bride Home. Since the day he prayed this prayer Ron has gone Home to be with Jesus. Also since that time, the world situation has deteriorated and evil is stronger. Why are Christians silent? The time has come for us to pray.

“But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them…” Luke 5:35.

Time Has Come – Let’s Pray

(Blessings to all my Christian brethren as we pray together).

Lord God Almighty, Your Bride has been patiently, sometimes impatiently, awaiting Your soon return. I and many of my brethren are so very tired of Man’s attempts at governing this world; please Father send the Bridegroom to take over where Man has so dismally failed. Surely the time has come for Man to receive his final instructions as to who You are.

This world has embraced every form of evil, no doubt in similar fashion to those who occupied space on earth during the antediluvian era. Your promise is that You will never again destroy the world with a flood, thank You for that promise Lord. But God, those of us who still read and study Your word know that You have every intention of destroying this world one last time, only this time by fire. God, this tells us You are fully prepared to unleash Your judgment once again; only this time on a Christ rejecting, evil, depraved and wicked world.

We are all guilty of sinning and deserve to be punished for our inequities. How can we ever thank You enough Lord Jesus for receiving that punishment in our stead. Over the past 2,000 years many people have placed their faith and trust in You Lord, but we also realize that many, many more have gone on to inhabit eternity fully removed from Your fellowship.

We are very sorry God that that same situation is so prevalent and remains a growing phenomenon today. And as we look out on earth’s inhabitants we realize that most today are earth dwellers. In other words their home is this earth and they have no intention of leaving it for something they can neither see or touch.

Lord, Satan’s pride has now been grasped by humanity at large and has become a major stumbling block for receiving the truth of the gospel. As Your children, we find performing the great commission given to all saints exceedingly more rejected than ever before. So Father, we are wondering if by chance the time has come that You are at the very cusp of removing Your children from off the face of this deteriorating planet?

Please Father, we are not complaining as we pray and ask these questions, we are only affirming our readiness to be received up into glory. Man cannot see into the future, but by Your word we realize we are in for some pretty tough times ahead. Men’s hearts and all the evil at hand will only get worse as the days proceed. Therefore, the only eye opening events being played out before Your Church are more and more evil continually.

Abba Father, it is our sincere prayer that apart from all the wonderful blessings You continually provide to Your children here on earth, and for which we are all extremely grateful, that we may now enlist Your full intervention in our governmental situations. If that is not Your plan then we ask You Father to provide us with a most speedy exit form planet earth. Of course Father we do understand that we are to hold fast and occupy until You come. It’s now become our most sincere hope that that hour is upon us and that our extraction will soon be complete.

As this world government falls further and further into the abyss Father, know this, Your saints remain steadfast in their resolve to proclaim Your gospel to all nations, and we know that before the very end comes when our Lord returns with us, His saints, to rule and reign for 1,000 years that that gospel will have been preached to all the nations worldwide. So all the nations of the world will have had the same opportunity to hear the gospel and respond.

But Lord, we are in the here and now, and as such we have witnessed the exceedingly pervasive deterioration of Your once perfect creation. We’ve not seen any signs of a reversal of the second law of thermodynamics (entropy). On the contrary, everything is still falling apart exponentially, especially Father, these bodies You gave us. Even though we can remember a much more fluid gate in our step, many of us now have much difficulty in maneuvering these bodies.Again Father we’re not complaining only pointing out what You already know.

Certainly Father, this prayer could be misconstrued as the mere grumblings of spoiled children, but I would hope not in Your eyes. What we are praying for, Father, apart from Your immediate intervention in the affairs of man, is such a clamor of voices all praying this prayer that even our government leaders would hear and “change” their evil ways. That they would begin to follow Your precepts set forth in Your word. We know, Father, that there is a time and a season for all things under Heaven, and we are in hopes that this prayer is in perfect timing with Your will.

As You well know Father, Your children are not in perfect sync today, especially in regards to Your inerrant word. Many hold to the doctrines of men and place much more importance on those doctrines than in Your own words. This concept is especially hard to grasp for many of us as we are all supposedly born of the same Spirit. It’s becoming more and more difficult Father to find a pastor and a congregation that proclaim the inerrant truth of Your word.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is being replaced, in many churches, by something that feels good but which has no redeeming qualities. At a time when we, the body of Christ, should be standing firm and united as one body, we instead seem to be fracturing and splintering at an alarming rate. God, we need Your Holy Spirit more now than ever before.

The enemy is hard at work, Father, establishing his warfare strategy, recruiting leaders and infantrymen and women to fight against Your Church. The roadblocks and obstacles he throws at us are, at times, quite debilitating. Yet Father, we know You are with Your children through every day. Still Father, it is our continuing prayer that Jesus Christ will return and evacuate His Bride soon.

God, Your children fear nothing of this earth, it’s only our deep desire to be with You forever more. The corrupt lifestyles that are paraded before us, the ugly filthy contempt that many of our fellow citizens have for You and for us makes life, at times, almost unbearable. Evil continually bombards our minds, and is set daily before our eyes and has become a burden that none of us wish to endure further, but we will Father. We will hold fast ‘til Jesus tarries no longer. No matter what evil comes this way, our hearts and our souls are steadfastly Yours.

Lastly Father, we pray that You never lift Your covering of protection from upon the children you call sons and daughters. We resolve to spread Your Gospel of truth even until the very final moment before our Bridegroom returns, and may we do so as the body of Christ. This, Father, is our prayer today and every day until we are caught up to forever be with our Lord, Jesus the Christ. We praise You and worship You and glorify Your holy Name.

Yes, we need to pray continually for every part of our life. When asking for help, don’t forget to praise Him for blessings. When praising Him for blessings, don’t forget to ask for His guidance.
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” Philippians 4:6.

God bless you all,
Ron & Nathele Graham

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).

The “him” in this verse refers to Jesus. He created all things and he holds all things together. Anyone who thinks they are better off without God is foolish. If God were to let go of His hold on creation, everything would cease to exist, instantaneously. It is foolish for men to reject God, yet so many people deny He exists. Not only do they deny Him, but they also live in opposition to Him. They rage against Him.

In order to oppose God, a person must admit God exists. There is a big difference between knowing God exists (head knowledge) and faithfully trusting Him with your eternity (heart knowledge). Non-Christians know God exists, but they believe His laws to be a burdensome stone with too many restrictions. They don’t like His “rules” and believe He ruins all their fun. God set laws in place to protect humanity from disease like AIDS, yet God is mocked, His laws broken, and the heathen rage on and on.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” (Psalm 2:1).
Heathens are people who oppose God Almighty and they rage against Him and against those who love and follow Him. These heathens are like children who throw a fit if they don’t get their way, even if getting their way means aligning themselves with Satan. It isn’t only individuals who rage against God, but presidents, kings, and emperors also rage against Him.

“The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:2-3).

They believe that if they can just pass legislation to get rid of God they can do what they want with no consequences. How wrong they are. Without God and His love holding all things together, the heathen and ungodly nations would cease to be. America, which was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, has been turning against God for a number of years and is soon to face God’s judgment.

Prayer was taken out of schools and then abortion, the act of offering children to demonic gods who demand human sacrifice, was legalized. The homosexual agenda is the final nail in America’s coffin. We cannot continue to rage against God and expect Him to turn a blind eye to our sin. Christians either keep silent or they are ignorant of God’s Word, and so the heathens rage unchecked.

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (Psalm 2:4-5).

Raging against God is not wise. God will soon pour out His wrath upon all nations and upon all people. It will be a time such has never before been seen. Though it was written long ago, the Psalm referenced above is relevant throughout generations. When Peter and John had been arrested for healing and man and preaching about Christ, they were subsequently released and admonished not to preach about Him again. They went to their fellow Christians and they all recognized the rage against Christ among the Jewish leaders.

“And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ” (Acts 4:24-26).
People have no reason to rage against God yet every generation and every nation opposes Him. This rage is specifically against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…the one true God. How often do we hear rage against the demon god of Islam? Who rages against the Buddhist god, or the Hindu god, or the god of the New Age folks, or any other false god worshipped by rebellious people?

Only the one true God—God Almighty as disclosed in the Holy Bible—draws the rage of the heathens.With their rage they seal their fate, just as Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and the first born in Egypt all died. That is, all except those who obeyed God and placed the blood of a lamb on their doorposts.
God’s judgment is coming and one day God will turn loose His hold upon creation. Who will these lost souls rage against then? Today the heathen kings and rulers stand in opposition to the Lord and His Anointed. They lead the heathen in rage against God the Father and God the Son. They are leading their nations to destruction.
It is simply astonishing to me that so many people have thoroughly hardened their hearts against God. Not only do they refuse to see the truth but they take great pleasure in denying it. It is comparable to a parent trying to teach a rebellious child not to touch a hot stove and that child defiantly placing his hands on the stove. Even though the pain is great it is more important to prove the parent wrong.

The heathen continually try to prove God wrong, but they are the ones who suffer. The pain and agony of spending eternity in the lake of fire will be sheer torture, but the separation from God will be unbearable. There will be no socializing in hell, no chatting with friends, and no peace. Satan, the liar who fell from grace long ago, is currently doing everything he can to convince people that God does not exist and that there is no right or wrong. Jesus was blunt when He confronted those who spoke lies against Him:

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).
Many people follow Satan’s lies, and that should break the heart of every Christian. Instead of sitting back and watching this lost world march into hell, we need to share the gospel with them. Like it or not, they need to hear God’s truth. God will always allow the heathen an opportunity to change their mind and repent.

“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).

God is full of grace and He is longsuffering. He is not willing that any should perish. Many will perish because of their hardened hearts and their refusal to repent. Their own choice separates them eternally from God, but that is not God’s desire nor should Christians desire that they perish. We need to speak boldly of Christ. We need to tell the heathen of His love and be sure they understand what the consequences of their choice to reject Him are.

They need to know that heaven is real and so is hell. Eternity is a long time to spend knowing you made the wrong choice. It is so simple to accept the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and live for Him on earth, but the heathen choose death. There is nothing to gain from rage and rebellion to God. Oh, how the heathen will regret the choice they’ve madefor their eternal existence.

There is a movement afoot to eliminate Christianity from the entire world. The heathens will soon get their wish, but it won’t be through their vile raging. One day very soon Jesus will call those of us who follow Him Home.

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter” (Revelation 4:1).

Christians will soon hear our Lord call us to Him. Once we are gone in the Rapture, the heathen will have their way and they will get the leader they have been clamoring for. They don’t have any idea what horrors that will bring.

“And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake” (Revelation 8:5).

Then things on earth will get worse. When the man of sin steps into the role of world leader, he will seem like a peace maker. It won’t be long until those non-believers who are left on earth after the Rapture will understand that God Almighty, who they raged against and rejected, loved them. God’s love was available to them, but they will have chosen to reject Him to follow Satan.

After the Rapture when God’s wrath is poured out upon those who remain on earth, there will be some people who may had been toying with the idea of repenting of their sin and realize they should not have waited. Anyone who accepts Christ after the Rapture will suffer much and it will be a moment by moment choice to follow Him.
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:9-10).

If you take the mark there will be no chance of salvation for you. If you refuse the mark you will belong to Christ, but your earthly life will not be safe.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).

Do you reject Christ today? Are you sitting on the fence trying to decide if it is worth giving up your life of sin and rebellion to accept Christ? Stop procrastinating. Any sin, doubt, or rage you hold on to is not worth facing life in the Great Tribulation or spending eternity in the Lake of Fire separated from God.
Forgiveness is available from God today…right now. No sin you have ever committed is so great that God will not forgive you. There is no hesitation or shortage ofgrace on His part when human hearts are softened and people repent of their evil ways. Our part is to come to Jesus with humility and loving submission, and to receive the forgiveness He offers by faith.

Set aside your rage toward God and ask for His forgiveness. Those who place their trust in God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, for their salvation are blessed for all eternity; those who continue to the end in their rebellious rage are without excuse. Where do you stand?

Why do the heathen rage? Maybe nobody has told them about Jesus and His love.

God bless you all,
Ron & Nathele Graham