There are Christians being killed by others who think they are doing God a service.
Just like Jesus warned.

Jesus warns us of many things.
He did that so that we would not lose heart, so we would remember when they happened.
His words will give us strength to endure if we love the Truth.
His word is powerful and will come to memory.
There are many such warnings in the bible, that Jesus spoke while He walked on the Earth.

The mysteries in The Book of Revelation are also warnings.
Without them, we might not even have a chance, but when we see the things prophesied in God’s word,
we will remember that we will have much turmoil and upset as we draw near to The End.

Take heart. He will still be with us as long as we are here. Jesus will not leave us nor forsake us.
As we watch Biblical Prophecy being fulfilled in real time,
we can hide ourselves in the shadow of the Almighty.
His word is faithful and true.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:35

Those words were spoken by an unbelieving Roman Centurion. He was there at Jesus’ final moments,
He witnessed Jesus’ death. Maybe it was the Earthquake?
In Matthew 27:45 toward the end of the Crucifixion, the sky was dark from the 6th hour to the 9th hour
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour
It seems likely he did not see the other things the saints rise from the dead and appear to people.
He knew who Jesus said He was before the crucifixion, but still was not convinced.
God’s word never comes back empty. It accomplishes what God sets it forth to do.
Jesus said He was the Son of God and the Centurion realized it after he had directed the crucifixion.

it takes much for us to realize who Jesus is. Jesus Himself has to show us.
Many of the others there witnessed the same events.
The others who were there with the Centurion also realized Jesus was who He said he was.
And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done,
smote their breasts, and returned. Luke 23:48

This Centurion had likely seen or even directed many crucifixions.
He had never seen such a display of natural events that couldn’t be explained in human terms.
Jesus calls who He calls and it was a great blessing for that man to see the power of God.
That Centurion believed. As hard as his heart was to direct crucifixions,
he believed when God opened his eyes.

We might wonder why God opens the eyes of some and not others.
It will help to remember God sees all hearts and He knows all intentions.
Jesus desires that all men come to the truth. Some reject it. We might not see the rejection or understand it, but God sees it and He is not fooled by good deeds or impressiveness.

Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:21

When Jesus walked on this Earth, there were many who followed Him. There were some who wanted to see what all the interest was about, the healings, the miracles, the signs and wonders they heard of.
Some wanted the excitement. Some wanted Jesus.

Some wanted to honor the God of All Creation.
Some wanted to see the commotion.
God weighs hearts.
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts. Proverbs 21:2
God measures the heart, ponders its contents.
Those whose hearts are not toward Him will never see. He sees and decides but it is not His choice.
The choice of salvation remains theirs. If they respond to His Holy Spirit that moves over all the Earth,
nothing can stop them from coming to Him.
If they respond negatively to His Holy Spirit,
they will not receive the gift of sight to see who Jesus really is.

And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:15
He also said:
And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable. 
And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God:
but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 
That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand;
lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. Mark 4:9-12

This explains why all are welcome but not all will come. All are invited but some will refuse.
Whether now or later, all will know: Truly this was the Son of God.

Yesterday my coworker was my enemy. She likely still is today,
but what if my mercies for her were new every morning, like God’s are for us?
This is a sort of maturity I have yet to attain, even with God’s help.
I have to be a willing subject. I’m not there yet.

Each day, can I work toward my mercies being new every morning? They aren’t even my mercies.
I don’t have any mercies that amount to anything.
It is borrowing from the Lord, letting Him be merciful through me. Can I do that? I can try.
I can at least think about it and see what happens from there.

What a wretched soul I am. Now I know why the guy that wrote that verse in Amazing Grace,
that famous song by Joshua David Harris:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

It’s so easy to forget that we are wretches.
I am always so busy considering my enemies to be the wretches.
I’m a greater wretch than most, I’d say.

It isn’t until we can accept God’s mercies that we can learn to extend those mercies to others.
It’s still hard to do. It takes persistence, dedication to the Lord and what He is asking
and resolution to follow His ways and allow ourselves to think like Jesus thinks.
How can we do all that at once?
Impossible.

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible;
but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26

That scripture tells us we must be humble.

So, where do you get faith in the first place?
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12:3
God has given to every man faith.
We decide what to do with that faith we have been given.
Some squelch it or refuse it or think of it as rubbish.
Some follow after it and do whatever it takes to get more.
Just like the seeds that are spread on the different ground, we allow it to grow in our hearts, or not.

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 
Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil,
and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 
They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth,
and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 
But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Luke 8:11-15

So, the seed is the word of God.
And this scripture fits in nicely right here:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

Quite simple. Our part is to be humble before the word of God.
To hear the word of God which means if we want our faith to grow,
we must be actively participating by reading it, applying it in our lives and accepting it.

Examples fill the scriptures.
David who at the shewbread when he was hungry.
Michal who was angry that David danced before the Lord.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego choosing not to bow to the god of the King even though it was law.
The list goes on and on.
God requires obedience, which is better than sacrifice.

And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22

This does not mean we should not obey God’s commands.
What it means is that we cannot always do so and God does not want us caught up in legalism.
He wants us to be free to serve Christ, to carry our cross
and to disobey man’s perceptions of what it means to follow Christ.

We have no excuses to not obey the word of God. We have no excuses to sin.
Sometimes, obedience to God might be different than our interpretation of scripture.
It is important to be listening to the Holy Spirit, which can be different from what we are taught by men.

It is interesting that from both lines, Joseph and Mary that Jesus’ lineage was similar. Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of Abraham, Seth, David, Noah and many others as their genealogies were closely related.

God brought those two together, Joseph and Mary, and gave them both faith that she truly was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. The Lord often pointed out things to Joseph and Mary as they were raising the Son of God

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 1:20

And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him,
Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 
And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me? wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? 
And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them. 
And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth,
and was subject unto them: but His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Luke 2:48-51

There is a lot to study in the Bible if one were to choose to study Jesus’ lineage.
Nothing with God is by chance.
All is very well planned and thought out and things fit together like a most incredible puzzle.

My son, keep my words, and lay up My commandments with thee.
Keep My commandments, and live; and My law as the apple of thine eye.
Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Proverbs 7:1-3

Write them upon the table of thine heart.
That is a way to love Gods word, to love the truth, to love His commandments.

On the surface, proverbs 7 is about an adulterous woman.
When you think about God’s word, He has said many times people go a whoring after their other gods.
He likened the Israelites wanting their wonderful delicacies in Egypt as lust.
So the idea that an adulterous woman might be symbolical of temptation of the flesh in many forms of sin,
or even the temptation of deception .
The kind of deception that itches ears, that satisfies earthly mortal thoughts that are against God.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;
but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4

The adulterous woman who lures you into her trap might not be a woman.
She might symbolize something much larger than we can imagine.
Temptation is real and it is seducing us all the time to stray from God and His ways.
Be solid with God’s word. Be solid with Jesus and always keep His word above your own thoughts.
Watch for those things that are hidden on the surface.

Sometimes when we read the word, we wonder if it is applicable to our life.
Almost like a hypochondriac who might search the internet to find their diagnosis,
whether that be good news or not-so-good news.
“I have not found thy works perfect before God”
That is a scary thought. How do we assure our works are perfect before God?

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

With the word of God, we must be listening, in case His word is dividing the soul and the spirit,
the joints and the marrow. It’s not always for the other guy. it might be for us.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.
Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Cortinthians 13:5

We are told to examine ourselves, to judge ourselves.
In the scripture in Revelation, when Jesus tells us to strengthen that which remains,
He is warning, there are people who have mingled with the world,
people who have given up and are not sold out for the Lord Jesus anymore.
There are also those who have not let their first love be given over to the lusts of the flesh,
who have continued to endure for Christ during hardships and difficulties,
but scripture is still an encouragement to check, to make sure we are right with God.

When you hear God’s word, let it search your heart
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:24
Jesus might very well be talking to you.

Yes, resist the devil and he will flee, but you have to be submitted to God.

There are many scriptures that reflect that God is stronger and God does protect us from Satan.
There are spiritual conditions to that promise.
If we are choosing to dabble in the occult, that does not give us all power.
We do not own the power that God has. He retains His power that He lends to us.
Satan has power. No place in the bible does it say he does not have power.
Can he exercise his power over us? Not if we are in the perfect will of God. Not if we are protected by God.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2
We have to remain under God’s protection, submitted to Him.
The minute we stray, we are in unchartered territory.

The sin that is hidden is not hidden.
The sin that we like, the thing that we ignore,
that sin we cannot get the victory over is exposed and bare before God.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight:
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:13

Once sin is exposed to us, let us not cherish it.
Sometimes it might be something that is a part of us, that we are so used to, we have given up.
Even if that is the case, let it not be cherished.

God gives us lots of guidelines about how we should serve Him.
Excusing and ignoring our sin is a way of cherishing iniquity.
We can’t see it until the Holy Spirit shows us.
Even then, it can be hard to see or easy to ignore.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

God has been cleansing hearts since He created man upon the Earth.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness,
and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. Ezekiel 36:25-27

Jesus is coming for a spotless bride. (Ephesians 5:27)
We can help by responding to His leading and obey what He asks of us.
These thoughts are just an overview.
Certainly the Holy Spirit will teach each of us what it is He wants us to know.
Be open and listen. Hide nothing as that can hinder His work in us.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8