Category: Revelation

Posted in Hosea, Isaiah, Revelation

Falling Off the Wall

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.” Hosea 9:7-8

Even though God sets people on the wall (Isaiah 62:6-7) to align with His purposes and to pray for His will to be done on earth, it’s easy to fall off the wall. Here are five reasons why people who are genuinely called to watch over the church in prayer, fall from the ministry God set them in:

  1. Self-doubt. Watchmen have prophetic experiences to inspire them to pray, but because everyone doesn’t experience the same things they do, they are called “maniacs;” or in our day, made out to be “weird.” It’s easy to question whether God really did speak and to question why He would tell you and not everyone. “Who do I think I am?” is often an accusing thought. 
  2. Rejection. “Hostility in the house of God” means everyone doesn’t appreciate your intensity. Sometimes church leaders feel threatened by people’s “revelations” and seek to shut watchmen down. 
  3. Suspicion. Revelation 12:10 tells us that Satan is “the accuser of the brethren.” He will mimic prophetic experiences (He disguises himself as an angel of light) to watchmen that sow suspicions in their hearts about leaders and churches. He uses things that have actually happened and were actually said to make the case that God is against His own church because of their many sins. 
  4. Discouragement. In a pragmatic world that supremely values action, it can seem like prayer is a waste of time. When Mary poured precious perfume on Jesus, the church leadership said, “Why this waste?” (Matthew 26:8) Needs will always exist and there will always be time to do practical things after prayer, but please know that the highest calling is to “waste” time worshiping Jesus. 
  5. Depression. In a place of intercession God shares some of His burden with us. We see clearly how wide the gap is between how things are and how they should be. Our burden must be prayed back to God because the government is on Jesus’ shoulders, not ours. (Isaiah 9:6) The enemy would have us be self-proclaimed martyrs who are carrying everyone’s burdens for them.
Posted in John, Matthew, Revelation

Twice His

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door I will come in…” Revelation 3:20

A boy and his father carved out a toy sailboat from a block of wood. The boy had great delight in his creation so he put his initials on the bottom, and the toy became almost like a friend to him. He carried it with him during the day and kept it by his side when he slept at night.

One day a tragic thing happened. While the son was playing with his boat in the river behind the house, it got away from him. He ran to the house to tell his father and together, they searched downstream to no avail. But months later they attended an auction at a neighboring town farther down the river, and the son saw that a toy sailboat was being auctioned. Could it be? He ran over to it, turned it over, and was overjoyed when he saw his initials. He put it back on the shelf and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would own that boat again. Whatever this toy was worth to someone else, it was worth more to him. He would gladly give all he had to own his boat again.

After winning the auction, we could say that the boat belonged to the boy a twice over – once on the basis of creation and a second time on the basis of redemption. God feels the same way about you and me. In great love, the Father and the Son created us by the Spirit and the mark of their design is all over us. Your brain, eyes, skin, muscles, and internal organs are all proof that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. But sin has taken us down the river from a holy God removing us from His presence, but not from His thoughts. He planned our redemption and paid for it when He gave His life for our sins.

He has already paid for our redemption but refuses to make us go with Him. He calls (Matthew 22:14), enlightens (John 1:9), draws (John 12:32), and knocks (Revelation 3:20), but He won’t push, grab, force, or manipulate. The part of our salvation He delights in is us saying, “yes,” in response to His grace, with our own free will. It doesn’t matter how far down the river of sin you are. It doesn’t matter how deep your doubts, how evil your thoughts, or how blasphemous your words have been. He still loves you and in His mind you belong to Him twice.

Posted in Revelation

Blood Colored Glasses

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Revelation 12:10-11

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “rose colored glasses.” It’s a derogatory term signifying that someone refuses to live in the real world. To protect themselves, people can simply choose to not acknowledge evil, pain, and tragedy that is happening all around them. This is a survival device and is convenient because if I don’t see problems, I am not responsible to help solve them. If I don’t allow for brokenness in human beings, I don’t have to be part of their healing.

God’s plan for us is not denial, but redemption. The enemy is an accuser and he’s very effective because of the truth in his accusations. Things really are bad; you really did commit that sin; that tragedy really did happen… His case seems airtight which allows us to justify a response of despair and even joining with his accusations of those around us in the name of, “I’m just telling the truth.”

But the accuser never tells the whole truth. The whole truth includes the fact that God loves us and Jesus died for us. My sins have been paid for on the cross and so have yours and so have the sins of everyone you know. Evil is happening but it won’t win. Tragedy happens, but God can also work in and through all things if we allow Him to.

When we put on blood colored glasses, we see the world as God does; through His redemption. There’s no person so lost they couldn’t be saved; there’s no problem so big, it can’t be solved; and there is no death that can’t be the seed of a greater resurrection. Let’s take off the rose colored glasses that cause us to be blind, and let’s take off the dark glasses of accusation that cause us to despair. It’s time to embrace our redemption and bring the good news to all who are hurting around us in this difficult world.

Posted in John, Revelation, Romans

Intimacy with God

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“This is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You sent.” John 17:3

We had an amazing conference a few years ago called “Intimacy with God”. We had incredible speakers, but the highlight was a strong awareness of the wonderful presence of God. Here are some of the truths highlighted from our speakers.

  1. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) One of the great hindrances to intimacy with God is the feeling that we are only tolerated by God. The truth is that we are not only accepted in Christ, we are a delight to Him. God doesn’t just love us, He likes us.
  2. God is a Father who wants us to succeed, not just for a little while, but until the end. He wants us to become godly people who overcome the sin nature through vigilance and perseverance. Intimacy with God does not mean everything will be easy for us, it means that God loves us enough to train us for righteousness.
  3. Intimacy with God does not mean that we will be famous in front of people. God will give a stone to those who overcome that has a name on it that no one knows accept the one who receives it and God Himself. (Revelation 2:17) There is a privacy in intimacy where you and God share things that no one else gets to share with you. Our culture is often about publicity and appearance before others, but God values those who live to please Him regardless of whether people recognize them.
  4. Ultimately intimacy is not about our pursuit of God, but about His pursuit of us. The greatest road to intimacy is in a commitment to following these three words: “Follow the light.” As God pursues you, purpose to respond quickly and you will discover an adventure where God reveals Himself to you again and again.
  5. There are two wings to the Christian life: Intimacy with God and activity for God. Without both of these wings we will not be able to fly the way we want to or in the way God wants us to. It is easy to focus on one or the other but we need both. James said that faith (intimacy) without works (activity) is dead.
Posted in 1John, 2Corinthians, Revelation

Overcoming the Accuser

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The accuser of the brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” Revelation 12:10b-11

The enemy of mankind tempts people to justify their sins and independence before they come to Christ, but when they become believers, he switches his strategy to persistent accusation. Notice in the text that he doesn’t accuse all people, but only those who call themselves believers. All believers succumb to accusation once in awhile, but it is possible to live overcome by so much accusation that there is no joy or sense of victory in our faith. God doesn’t want us to live under accusation so He tells us specifically how we overcome it.

First, by the blood of the Lamb. The power of Satan’s accusations is the truth in them. We have sinned and failed in the past. He can bring back something we did twenty years ago, or a bad attitude we’ve had recently, or a failure last week and make it seem like any victory is beyond us. It may be true that we’ve sinned in the specific way he is accusing us of, but that’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is that God loves me anyway which is why Jesus came and died for my sins, and now, His blood washes me completely clean when I confess my sins to Him. (1John 1:9) Remember the song: “Oh happy day, oh happy day, when Jesus washed, He washed my sins away.” That’s the other side of truth and must be what we agree with to find victory. Trying to defend yourself and your actions will only lead to deeper condemnation. The power to overcome is not in our righteousness, but in His. When we really believe in His cleansing, every day can be a happy day!

Second, by the word of their testimony. We must never lose the power of how our story intersects with God’s. His story is the gospel, sending Jesus to die for our sins. Our story is how we were drawn to Christ and became saved. Our testimony is a reminder of the new identity we have in Christ. The enemy will try to tie your identity to your old life in sin, but whenever we recite our testimony (to ourselves or others), we are reminded that our identity isn’t in our sin, but in His new life in us. 2Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Posted in 2Peter, Hebrews, John, Luke, Matthew, Psalms, Revelation, Romans

Stored Wrath: A Look into Hell

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath when His righteous judgment will be revealed.” Romans 2:5

God wants us to contemplate hell now, so we don’t end up there. We are told to behold both His kindness and His severity (Romans 11:22) as a protection from us ever having to experience His severity. In His mercy toward us, Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven, not as a threat to His enemies, but as a warning to His friends. Jesus doesn’t want any of us to go to hell.

As we take a look into hell from this text, we can see three things:

  1. God doesn’t send anyone to hell; we send ourselves there. “You are storing up wrath against yourself.” Jesus died so we could be forgiven; He’s already tasted death for us. (Hebrews 2:9) No one needs to go to hell when God’s expressed will for all of us is to be saved. (2Peter 3:9)  If we end up in hell, we will have only ourselves to blame.
  2. God’s anger and wrath against sin is being “stored” now, but will be poured out then. We all outlive our bodies and will face the day of judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) Those who have rejected Christ’s love and payment for their sins will make their own payment in the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
  3. God’s judgment will be righteous. Those who have not received eternal life will eventually be destroyed in the lake of fire, body and soul. (Matthew 10:28)  They died physically once, received back their bodies before final judgment (Revelation 20:13), and then will physically die again in the lake of fire which is called the second death. They will eventually perish in hell (John 3:16) but not before they pay, by conscious torment, for every sin they committed against humanity. (Luke 12:47-48)  They will ultimately be consumed by eternal fire and will eventually be remembered no more. (Matthew 3:12; Hebrews 10:27; Psalm 37:38)

C.S. Lewis said in The Great Divorce, “Some would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven. And to those who reject Christ’s rule He will say: ‘Your will be done.’”

Posted in 2Corinthians, Luke, Revelation

The Rudder

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“My house shall be a house of prayer.” Luke 19:46

In the spring of 2009 the woman leading our weekly prayer meeting requested prayer because the burden of leading was heavy on her. She was in charge because she was a known intercessor and I knew I wasn’t. Early one morning while praying for her, I received an impression of a large ship with a small rudder. A sentence came into my mind, “Lead the church from the prayer meeting.” With this thought came an immediate understanding of three things:

  1. I had been trying to lead the church from Sunday mornings to that point.
  2. Because of this I was leading the church politically (human effort) instead of spiritually (trusting God).
  3. The large ship represented the church and the small, unseen rudder; the prayer meeting. God was asking me to take my place as the leader of the prayer meeting.

From that time until this I have tried to lead our prayer meetings. From that time we tell all who come to our membership classes that we consider the prayer meeting our most important gathering of the week.

If you’ve ever been to a Tuesday night you know it’s not very impressive. Yet it’s the prayer meeting that gives me confidence God is in all the other ministries at church, including Sunday mornings.

Jesus said: “My house shall be a house of prayer.” Until we’ve prayed, we should do nothing. Once we’ve prayed, we should only go forward as God directs. This is true of a church, but it’s also true for individuals. We are the house God lives in today. (2Corinthians 6:16)

So what’s the rudder in your life? What is the underlying motivation for all you do? Is it money? Fun? Selfish ambition? Family? Responsibility? The same Jesus who turned the tables over in the temple knocks on our door today asking for our permission to enter. He is still filled with zeal to make us a house of prayer but has chosen to wait for us to make prayer a priority in our lives.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)

Posted in 1Samuel, Ephesians, Galatians, Revelation, Romans

Understanding Authority

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“All authority comes from God so the one who resists authority is resisting God.” Romans 13:1 

“We have been seated with Christ in heavenly places.” Ephesians 2:6

I fear that most American Christians don’t understand how God feels about positional authority. We tend to honor those who we feel are honorable while withholding honor from those we don’t think deserve it.

All authority has been instituted by God and therefore should be unconditionally honored. It doesn’t matter whether your dad is an alcoholic; if you learn to honor his position, God’s blessing for those who honor their parents will rest on you. David, the man after God’s own heart, refused to raise his hand “against the Lord’s anointed.” (1Samuel 24:6) Saul was demon oppressed at the time, so the anointing was not on the man, but on the position he held. (Notice, honoring authority does not mean remaining in a place of abuse as David fled when Saul started throwing spears at him.)

If we only honor authority that we feel is worthy, we will never take the place God has given us unless we feel worthy to take it. How often does that happen? The gospel isn’t about us being good enough, it’s about God’s grace and about a position He wants us to take in Christ. You have been made a child of God (Galatians 4:6), a priest of God (Revelation 1:6), and have been given the “the gift of righteousness,” so that you can “reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)

We need to understand and honor positional authority, so we can honor the position God has given us in Christ. The late Reinhart Bonkhe didn’t begin to walk in the miraculous power of God until one day when God said, “My word in your mouth is just as powerful as My word in My mouth.”  Africa was never the same as unprecedented miracles led to millions of recorded salvations. 

I believe God and the world are waiting for each of us to take our position in Christ!

Posted in Ephesians, Revelation, Song of Songs

The Proposal

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“I am dark but lovely.” Song of Songs 1:5

I love to officiate weddings because engagement is such a beautiful picture of what is happening on planet earth right now. Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and we will sup together.” (Revelation 3:20)  Jesus’ knock is His proposal to the human race today.

When Paul gives the original marriage text of a man leaving his father and his mother to be joined to his wife, and the two becoming one he gives this explanation, “This is a mystery, but I speak of the relationship of Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:32) Every earthly wedding is pointing to another wedding; the wedding feast of the Lamb. Right now, everyone who has said “yes” to Jesus is engaged to Him and called to be part of that eternal partnership.

The reason I preach the gospel at weddings is that many people who don’t regularly come to a church assume God’s not interested in them, and nothing could be farther from the truth. They don’t feel like they’re “the type” of person Jesus loves because of sin they’ve committed or shame they’re carrying or because they haven’t been to church lately. On a mission trip, I gave the example of a $20 bill to demonstrate our value before God. First I held up a crisp $20 bill and asked how much it was worth. Then I stepped on it leaving a footprint. “Now how much is it worth?” I asked. Then I crumbled it up in my fist and threw it away. When I found where it had gone, I picked it up, unwrinkled it, and asked for a third time, “How much is it worth now?”

When people betray us, abuse us, or belittle us, it’s easy to feel we have less value. When we sin against others and against God and experience the shame and regret of having done things we can’t take back, we naturally feel devalued. But before God we’re like that $20 bill. Nothing we’ve done, or had done to us makes God love us less.

We are dark, but lovely to Him. You are the one He desires and He is knocking. He’s knocking through pain, through beauty, through sin you can’t conquer on your own… even through weddings, church services, and weekly devotionals! But no one gets engaged just by someone asking; we need to say “yes.” We need to open the door by saying from our heart, “Jesus, come in, love me, wash me, and make me who You want me to be.”

Posted in Revelation

Coming to the Table

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20

I want you to think about a housewife who loves her husband and knows her husband loves her but feels emotionally disconnected. Her husband works hard, long hours and is usually exhausted when he gets home. Even when they do get a chance to be alone together, there’s so much family business to discuss that they rarely get beyond the mundane. They still have sex, so it’s not like there’s an unmet physical need; she’s just looking for a renewal of intimacy that transcends living together. She longs for first love again.

So she plans a night for just the two of them, and her husband agrees to come home at six for “something special.” She arranges babysitting for the kids, makes his favorite meal, puts on her best dress, gets the lighting and the music just right, and then… comes the phone call. He can’t make it – something’s come up and he’s sorry. She packs the food up in the refrigerator, blows out the candles, turns off the music and can’t help being disappointed. Something has been lost and that particular moment will never be regained. All he had to do was come home and take his place at the table.  She had done all the work to make it happen, but he missed the appointment.

The church at Laodicea had stopped coming to the table. They were saved and had correct doctrine but they had decided in their hearts that they now had all they needed from God. (Revelation 3:17) Jesus had set the table with everything they liked and needed; eye salve, garments of white, gold refined by fire.  They were all ready for Him to serve, but they had stopped keeping their appointments.

But it’s not just about their loss. Jesus Himself says that He wants to dine with them.  Why does He want to be with us so much? I don’t know, but I do know that I don’t want to disappoint Him.