Spiritual Opposition and End Time Events

Welcome to Running With Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible.

Surely Weaver wants to take you there. And now here's today's episode. Disciplined Faith, a title within our book, Running With Horses. This piece speaks to the importance of discipleship in the life of a believer, which as you know is really important in our ministry, certainly an integral part of this podcast. And the idea in this entry is, disciplined faith is distinctive. It's a marking on the life of the disciple, trained and mentored in the things of the faith.

The second paragraph reads this way. Like Ezekiel's river, the marking of our discipleship corresponds to depths of revelation and revelation knowledge until suddenly the water gets too deep to cross or to navigate on foot and we become one with the river. We become one with the will of God. The goal being to become more and more like Him. John the Baptist said, I must decrease. He increases in my life.

So that's the principle. I want to marry two important thoughts I think are so important when we talk about revelation from the Lord, understanding of His will, you know, so that we can do His will. Two things. First of all, obeying the Lord just as a foundational part of our life. And secondly, an understanding of the time. So that like Issachar in the Old Testament, we have an understanding of the times, we know what to do. We understand the times and so we know what to do.

First of all, obeying the Lord. And you might even put it this way. Okay, I've obeyed God.

Now what? You know, because there is pushback. The enemy doesn't just let that lie.

He doesn't just let that go. There is a corresponding backlash, I would say is another word. It's actually the opposition to the light advancing in the way that you are obeying God in whatever the matter is.

Something small, something large. It would be like the idea of swimming upstream against the current. Because we know from God's Word, the days are evil.

So our goal is to redeem the time. Your obedience, it says in the Word one place, it says, your obedience punishes disobedience. That's a powerful thought. So obeying God is powerful in the way that we advance His kingdom. And we should understand that the pushback, the opposition from the darkness is a given.

It's just the way it works. But because we are able to be strong and do exploits in the Lord, we're not crippled by that. And I'll just say my baseline for every instance, when the opposition comes to any stand that I take, or any venture that I launch out into by faith, the baseline is the cross.

No question. That's where every provision was made. It is why I believe the way that I do, why I believe for the things that I do. And it actually is confirmed in my experience. So that when the prayer, or the dream, or you might even say desperate cry that I release before the Lord does not appear to be answered or responded to. You know, people say, okay, God, I'm out here. I've done what you've told me to do.

Where are you? Well, He is right there. That is my experience. And my proof, my baseline is the work at Calvary and the promise that the blood of Jesus cleanses all sin, right this minute or in the future.

It's just a fact. These are the ways that God moves in our lives. So first of all, obey the Lord, do it with all your heart so that you can do the will of God. Do not be discouraged by the opposition that comes. And then let's springboard right there into something really important to the life of a disciple. And that is, and this is my opinion, an understanding of the times.

And I'll touch on just two things that are pretty, we're living in proximity to these two events. First of all, the Gog and Magog conflict. Now I'm not an authority, I'm not a specialist, but I have read the Word and I do see clearly that this war or this conflict or battle, whatever you call it, really could happen at any time. It seems to me everything is in place for it to happen. This is something, a conflict that will be disastrous for the enemy armies attacking Israel because you know they ganged up. They will gang up as the expression goes. Basically it's Arab nations will cry out against Israel, nothing new to see here, right? And they'll reach for a natural ally in Russia. Russia will respond because they've always coveted Israel's natural resources, their oil, their gas, to plunder. We see that in Ezekiel 38 12. Have they always known those resources were there? Possibly not, but they've always coveted that particular area so that they can really dominate the whole Middle East.

I mean that's the ultimate, right? So they have an ulterior motive to take plunder, again Ezekiel 38 12, and this invasion will be launched against Israel, and get this, for the stated purpose of helping the Muslims destroy Israel. We've said before here, an enemy of Israel is an enemy of God.

You can just plan on it. It is not a good place to be. Initially, this outer ring of Muslim nations that are surrounding Israel, like geographically, really with the exception of Saudi Arabia, will want to capture and spoil and seize plunder. But here's the result of this conflict, of this attack, of this battle.

Here's the outcome. God will utterly defeat them. This combined enemy army will be defeated on the mountains of Israel. Research that expression in your Bible, the mountains of Israel, and everyone will know that it was God who did it, has done it before for Israel and the Jewish people. How many thousands of years has God been intervening on their behalf?

You would think, you know, the world would get it, you know, that they could wake up and smell the coffee, as it were. But this victory will be so supernatural, such a divine intervention by the hand of God, that it will be no question. That will be so important in the outcome because, you see, the God of Israel is after the heart of his people, the Jews. And I believe that the demonstrations of God's power are really demonstrations of his love. In this case, poured out on Israel to attract and draw them to his love, but also to push back against the invading armies.

So important to know. So that's Gog and Magog, conflict, battle, war, whatever. And see, many people believe, as do I, this could happen at any time. You know, the ingredients are in place. So this kind of end time view is important to have. We've always been in a place of looking for where we stand in the outworking of the end times.

But we have never been where we are right now. Never, ever have we needed a solid understanding of the times as we do now. And really, as a believer, you and I need this understanding and revelation, really, from the Lord of the scriptures that apply. We need this in our theology.

We need it because we are bumping up against the... We're seeing these things about to come about. So besides Gog and Magog, the rapture, the rapture of the church, most Christians agree that being caught up to meet the Lord in the air is a biblical truth. And really, all views of the rapture, this catching up to meet the Lord in the air, all views really believe that there is a purpose there to escape the wrath that God has released in what we call the tribulation period. But the different views really depend on the timing.

That's the real issue. The timing of when all of this will take place is what distinguishes the different views. 1 Thessalonians 1.10. And again, I'll just say here, all views believe in this catching away principle and being delivered from the wrath of God. Just three scriptures right here. 1 Thessalonians 1.10. We are waiting for his Son from heaven who delivers us from the coming wrath. 1 Thessalonians 5.8. You have not been appointed unto wrath, but to salvation. Revelation 3.10. The Lord will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming on the whole world. So those are some foundational scriptures.

There are so many. Again, you need to know these passages. You need these verses so that you will understand. The pre-tribulation rapture is the first category. Those that hold this view of this catching up of the church to meet the Lord in the air, this view believes that the wrath starts at the beginning of a seven-year tribulation period and that the rapture occurs just prior to the beginning of the tribulation. That's the pre-tribulation rapture. Another view, mid-tribulation rapture. Anyone who holds this view basically thinks, believes, only the last half of the seven-year period, that would be three and a half years, is really the area of God's wrath. Thinking that the first half, the first three and a half years, are man's wrath. Man mistreating man in things like war, famine, cruelty, abuse, trafficking of human beings.

Make a list, you know? And other destructive activity, but it will be heightened at that time, but it will still be man's wrath distinctive from God's wrath in the last half of the tribulation. The next view would be pre-wrath tribulation. Let me say it again, pre-wrath tribulation period. And again you see this points to when the wrath begins. Those who hold this view believe that the wrath begins with the seventh seal in the book of Revelation and it's when the day of the Lord begins. So wrath is confined to the last fourth of that seven-year period. So pre-trib at the beginning of the tribulation, mid-trib three and a half years in, pre-wrath trib would be three quarters of the way in, and then we have the last view, post-tribulation rapture. This would be post-tribulation. The wrath of God in this view is concentrated right at the very end of the tribulation period and God will keep us through that time. So that's the belief. The wrath is at the end, but God keeps His people all the way through to the very end. That means that when Jesus comes, His second coming, His second advent, at the end of the tribulation period, the believers would be caught up to meet Him in the air as He is coming and then they come right back down with Him to fulfill the scriptures about God's people being with Him when He comes at that point. So again, all views hold that we are exempt from God's wrath. The question is, when does the wrath begin? What is the level of God's protection?

You know it's important. You need to take a look, see what you believe. There's also another whole area about the millennial period that you should look at. Today we're just looking at Gog and Magog and the doctrine of the rapture.

Get these things settled in your understanding. Your eschatology, which is your understanding of the end times, should be an important part of your theology. These are really, really critical times that we're living in. And as we seek to obey the Lord and hear what He is speaking so that we can do and obey what He is saying, as we said in the first half of today's show, understand when the opposition comes from the enemy, it's there to stop you, to thwart you. Don't be fooled and think, oh my, I must have been wrong here. I need to back up. You need to apologize, you know. No, no. See, because you know the Lord and you discern His voice, you know His word, you know the hour we're living in, you put it all together, you have the disciplined faith that is distinctive of the disciple.

And that is a possibility for every believer. I could not encourage you enough to pursue discipleship, pursue obedience to the voice of the Lord, and get an understanding of the times so that you know what to do and are not apologetic about it. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others. Post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list. Download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time. .