OUR LORD WHO CALLS US TO JOIN THE WAR IN THE SPIRIT

Joel chapter 3 verse 9 says this;

Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war!

Rouse the warriors!  Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.

This verse is a call for preparations to be made for war in the spiritual realm.

Those who have been trained by the Lord for spiritual warfare must arise. The summons have been issued to draw near and engage the forces of the kingdom of darkness.

This call must go to the people of God in all the nations. 

Prepare.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHOSE DAY DRAWS NEAR

Joel chapter 1 verse 17 says this;

The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up.

The day of the Lord draws near as famine takes hold. Crops fail when they die beneath the surface of the soil. 

Crops stored up for shortages are ruined as the storage facilities are destroyed and torn down.  Grain silos are rendered worthless as the grain they contain dries up.

Such are the times leading up to the day of the Lord.

Let us call to him for the conditions will be dire.

Amen.

 OUR LORD WHOSE DAY APPROACHES

Joel chapter 1 verse 15 says this;

Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

The day of the Lord is near. It approaches rapidly and its harbingers will be famine and gloom in the house of God as it says in verse 16;

Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes—joy and gladness from the house of our God?

The day of the Lord will arrive amidst the signs of a breakdown of economic systems as agriculture and natural resources get decimated.

Remain on watch and pray. Call to the Lord as the prophet does in verse 19;

To you, Lord, I call, for fire has devoured the pastures in the wilderness and flames have burned up all the trees of the field.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE DAY OF JUDGEMENT AGAINST THE ARROGANT APPROACHES 

Malachi 4 verses 1 - 3  says this;

 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

The fearsome day of the Lord is described as a burning furnace where judgement will fall on the wicked turning them into ash.

This dreadful day is a day of the Lord's action against the arrogant who have dismissed the word of the Lord and have undertaken to bring about the rulership of spiritual darkness on the whole world.

But the remnant of the Lord will be stirred to shake the powers of darkness until their rebellious usurpation fails.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHOSE PROMISE OF SAFETY WE SHOULD TRUST

Genesis chapter 19 verse 30 says this;

Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 

After Lot and his family were evacuated from Sodom, they were taken to Zoar which was a small town on the plains.

When the fiery judgement of God fell on the cities of the plains,  the town of Zoar was spared because Lot was there.

However, Lot became afraid to stay in Zoar. He may have felt the same judgement that visited Sodom would also visit Zoar at some point because they shared a common civic culture. Lot fled to the mountains with his two daughters and they settled in a cave.

Lot, having lived in the fast-paced city of Sodom, was now living primitively in a remote mountain  cave.

Further to that, the lawless proclivities of the cities on the plains followed them to the cave so that Lot's two daughters plotted against their father and conspired to have children by him while he was inebriated out of his senses.

And thus Lot, without his knowledge, became the father of the Moabites and the Ammonites through his own daughters.

Lot should have trusted God's promise of safety and stayed in Zoar. He may not have been susceptible to his daughters' plotting.

May the Lord spare us from wicked plots.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO RESCUES HIS PEOPLE FROM JUDGEMENT

Genesis 19 verse 4 says this;

Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.

This verse records a ghastly scene where two visitors had come to the city to see Abraham's nephew, Lot, and to give him warning of an impending catastrophe.

As it was getting late, the visitors wanted to fend for themselves and spend the night in the public square but Lot, understanding the nature of the town in which he lived, insisted that the two visitors stay under the shelter of his roof.

What Lot did not realize  was that roving gangs of thugs in the town had noted the arrival of his visitors and that night, they surrounded his house in order to compel him to surrender his guests to them.

This frightening situation resulted from the brazen willingness of the men of Lot's town to assault anyone they wanted with impunity.

The visitors, it turned out,  were  angels sent to save Lot and they urged Lot and his family to flee the city before it was destroyed by the imminent  judgement.

Even as Lot vacillated on the decision to leave, the angels took the whole family by the hand and led them away to a safe place where they would be spared the judgement that was about to befall their town.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO FREES US FROM BONDAGE

Exodus chapter 5 verse 9 says this;

Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

When Moses came to Egypt on a mission to get the children of Israel set free from bondage, the Egyptian rulers were not eager to release the people who were working as slaves for them.

In fact, the opposite happened. The work load on the Israelite slaves was increased which put a rift between Moses and the children of Israel.

Pharaoh believed that increasing the workload on the slaves would keep their minds off of fanciful ideas like freedom but it also had the effect of Moses losing credibility with the people he had come to emancipate.

The situation became tense and Moses had to go back to God to seek  counsel on how to continue.

The Lord told Moses that  judgement would befall Pharaoh because he had dismissed the requirements of the God of Israel.

Bless our God who goes to great lengths to free us from bondage.

Amen.