Tag Archives: Procrastination

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“Today and the tomorrow that may never be”

“But exhort one another daily, while IT IS called TO day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.  While it is said, TODAY IF YE WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN THE PROVACATION (rebellion).” Hebrews 3:13,14 

Wouldn’t we all love to have a blank calendar or a calendar from the past that we could go back and “x” off certain days, days of hurt, sorrow, or days that we made tragic mistakes and maybe not make those mistakes again?

And wouldn’t we all love to have God’s calendar? You know that is why He tells us some much in His word, TODAY, TODAY, TODAY and even saying, in Matthew 6:34: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

What He is warning us against here, is our human habit of worrying about tomorrow, while not realizing that we may not even be able to handle today and EACH day comes with its own set of either joys, or heartaches, victories, or trails, but either way LET TOMORROW WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW and just be concerned with YOUR TODAY.

The REAL problem with the TOMORROW mentality is when people apply it to their spiritual health and salvation. Got to give my beautiful big Sis credit on this, I had called her for prayer about something I was going through and we got off on the subject of so many people that the enemy sells the same old line to, that THEY SHOULD WAIT UNTIL THEY FEEL LED TO GO TO GOD.

What kind of thinking is that? You know that is NOT from God, God said COME unto me and even in the end at Revelation AGAIN, the SPIRIT and the BRIDE TOGETHER are URGING ALL WHO WILL to COME!

I hope to give more than enough scriptural proof with this post that there should no longer be any doubt as to whether or not the Lord has sent out those invitations to ALL who will, ALL who will come to Him, His household, and His Kingdom.

So I want to go back to our starting verse to establish just what goes on here, with that deceived thinking, notice that is says “lest ANY of you be HARDENED THROUGH the DECEITFULNESS of sin” and what that means is that you are to call on the Lord TODAY, because sin will hardened your heart and LIE to you and have you “put off” salvation, “put off” the call of God, as sin tells you must wait on a formal invitation.

An invitation that has ALREADY been sent in the form of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ on earth, an invitation that has already been sealed by the blood of His Son bearing the approval of His signet, and invitation that was DELIVERED when His dead body rose victorious.

And the words “WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD, SHALL BE SAVED” recorded in His word for the ENTIRE world to receive.

So it is not that they have no invitation, they are simply REFUSING to open it!

We always use the thief on the cross to prove this out, the man WAS slowly dying, he had NO time, and he KNEW he had NO tomorrow and he KNEW that it was then, there, TODAY or never.

And as we all know Jesus response, pure gold and blessed with assurance so that not even one doubt could have entered the mans mind, Verily I say unto thee, to day thou shalt be with me in paradise. 

No going down to the altar, no church introduction, no baptism, no time to do “ministries”, not even time to tell any person that he was sorry for any wrong he had done them.

But time, that day, that was his last TODAY on this earth, and his first TODAY in glory with Jesus Christ!

We are all given ONE life, and we have ONE day, yesterday is gone, gone forever and ever and will never, ever come again, and tomorrow is NOT guaranteed,

James 4:13-14: ” Go to now (come, listen) ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain (make money) WHEREAS (because) YE KNOW NOT WHAT SHALL BE ON THE MORROW (you do not know what tomorrow holds); for WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR, THAT APPEARETH FOR A LITTLE TIME, AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY. FOR THAT (for this reason) YE OUGHT TO SAY, IF THE LORD WILL, WE SHALL LIVE, AND DO THIS, OR THAT.”

So you have TODAY, TODAY is YOUR responsibility and TODAY we have the responsibility to DAILY exhort those who may not have to tomorrow, that they should consider TO DAY, so for any who “lost” the invitation, that they failed to open, consider this:

Isaiah 55:6-7: ” Seek ye the Lord WHILE he may be found, CALL ye upon him WHILE he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and LET HIM RETURN unto the Lord, and HE WILL HAVE MERCY UPON HIM; AND TO OUR GOD, FOR HE WILL ABUNDANTLY PARDON.”

Simply put, SEEK God, give up your ways that are leading to destruction, return to God and He will take care of the rest!  2 Corinthians 6:2: “( For he saith, I HAVE HEARD THEE IN A TIME ACCEPTED AND IN THE DAY OF SALVATION HAVE I SUCCOURED (helped) THEE:  behold (pay very close attention) NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME; BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.) 

So as you see, above there is a completely blank calendar, you did not know your beginning, you certainly do not know your ending, but YOU do know your TODAY.

Lamentations 3:22,23 : “ IT IS of the LORD’S MERCIES THAT WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT it is only because of  his mercy that we have not been destroyed). They (His mercy) ARE NEW EVERY MORNING, great is thy faithfulness.”

Chose, chose today and let that calendar represent a new life, a new hope, and a new future eternal, count every day, and count every day as the precious opportunity a gift that it is. 

Help us understand the full POWER of TODAY.

Psalm 90:12: “So teach us to NUMBER our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Hope you have a blessed today, tomorrow, and always! Love & Peace

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017   REVISTED 10/14/2022

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PLEASE WAKE UP !!!

How many of us have tried to wake someone and finally in complete exasperation utter that all familiar phrase, “Would you PLEASE get up?!!” The Beloved written about in Song of Solomon surely must understand this.

 ” I sleep, but my heart waketh: It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.”

” I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile(dirty) them? My beloved put his hand in the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him ( heart stirred with longing).

I rose up to open to my beloved: and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Song of Solomon 5:2-6

Ah, the most misunderstood book in the Bible. Most have difficulty reading it without misunderstanding it in the carnal mind and according to one Jewish tradition, men were required to be at least thirty years old and married and women were strictly forbidden to read it all.
It would seem that the American church suffers the same affliction as our lady in song of Songs.

Please do not take these remarks as attacks on any specific church, some of these attitudes and problems seem to creep into almost all churches at one point or another. That is why we must always stay on guard, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour..” 1 Peter 5:8

The church like our lady here, in comparison to what it was intended to be, having been built on diligence, fortitude, tenacity, and  above all the blood of  Christ, the prophets, and all the martyrs. The church also has become quite comfortable seeming to have forgotten where it came from and the astonishing  price that was paid for its continual existence.

Even though our lady is asleep, thankfully heart is still attentive to the voice of her one true love. He is standing outside a door that has been locked against his presence, beaten beyond recognition, the “dew” having fell during the tortures of the night he has just endured to take her punishment and to purchase a freedom she could have never been able to afford, even pleading with her to take note of the “drops of the night” his hair completed saturated by his precious blood, a result of the  excruciating  crown of thorns that encircled his head, each piercing thorn driving into his flesh, a crown he wore in torment to free her troubled mind, bringing all thoughts captive, buying her salvation, while ensuring that one day he would reign as her King.

All she can come up with as he pleads with her from behind that locked door, is excuses of why she can’t get up, why it would be such an inconvenience, a burden to get up and answer his call on her heart, her soul, and her life.
Her first reason being that she is quite comfortable, right where she is , tucked in the warmth of her cozy bed, her complacency of more value to her than the value of the love she has for him.

Her second reason is that her feet are clean, Oh, how can she possibly admit to maybe walking the wrong paths, imperfections, or heaven forbid, she admit any wrong doing or blatant sin?

There is no way that she is going to answer to him and let him see her without her coat, how can she stand humbly before him, bearing all that she is, her very soul, without the protection of her coat of self-righteousness? No, she simply can’t do it.

Thankfully the sound of his voice had stirred her heart, it was then that she remembered, she remembered all the shame, all the suffering, all the love and mercy that also poured out as the ground flowed red with his blood while his life was given in exchange for her.
She remembered that her precious coat of self-righteousness, had only be crafted from the filthy rags of her own righteousness and without being clothed in his righteousness, she was less than nothing.

She remembered that without him and the guidance of his hand to her every step, that those feet, that she so arrogantly believed to be clean would only lead her into temptation and swift destruction.

In the span of time it took for her to realize this, he was gone, but in his desire that one day the locked door between them would open, he left her the key. As the myrrh dripped from her hands, it let her finally see that the door could only be opened by the purification of her own heart, soul and spirit and by dying to her flesh, her desires, and humble herself completely to him, giving every single thing in her, both good and bad, over to him until they became one.

We are living in the midst of the most exciting time that has been or will ever be. The last day outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a harvest of souls to end it all.
But so many have grown comfortable or are just simply asleep, proclaiming Christianity while those in the world around us are lost, enslaved to drugs or alcohol or one of the many addictions that snare and trap.
Sometimes  we refuse to reach out because of the lifestyles of others, we can’t be seen talking to them or associating with what hypocritically we refer to as “that kind” of person, this comes from wrongly believing that we are so holy, and so good that we forget we were once in those shoes.

“Therefore let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night (spiritual night on earth) and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us who are of they day, be sober (minded), putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8

As Jesus said in John 9:4: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

I  have often heard people say they believe in Jesus but they don’t accept him because they don’t want to be a hypocrite or they feel like they can’t change. I respect that to the utmost measure, but the good news that we can never change ourselves, he does that for us! All he requires is a reasonable service, no one is perfect, nor will we ever be on this earth. When the Bible uses the word “perfect” it means “blameless” doing the best we can and some days that may be not so good, this is why his mercy is renewed every, single day and when we make mistakes, we ask  for forgiveness, get up and go on! 

If you don’t want to be a hypocrite, that’s a good indication that you would never be anyway! But I am pleading with you as a servant of God, we are in the last days and if you have never committed to the Lord, Please, please, hear his voice, hear his invitation, before all hell breaks loose on this earth, and I promise you, it has already begun.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20

Simply put just answer him! Let him come in! He doesn’t give a list of requirements there does he? Ask forgiveness for your sins and ask him to be Lord of your life and save you! End of story, your sins are washed completely away and he never brings them up again.

As we all will stand before the Lord and give account for the lives he has given us, the saddest excuse we will ever give for not completing the work he has entrusted us with is having to say “Lord, I just couldn’t get up.”

 Φλογίζω /   Nina BrownJohnson/ baresoulphlogizo 2015 all rights reserved
Original post:11/21/2013 FOWC/THE AVENUE  REVISTED 01/22/2022, This was originally written for a church site, but it is the VERY FIRST post I had written, I hope you enjoy it and that it is thought provoking because that clock  has counted down to mere seconds now and we must do what we are called to do before the trumpet calls us home and there will be no more time to work or do those things that we could have.  Thank you for reading!

Podcast available at: https://anchor.fm/phlogizo

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“Today and the tomorrow that may never be”

“But exhort one another daily, while IT IS called TO day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.  While it is said, TODAY IF YE WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN THE PROVACATION (rebellion).” Hebrews 3:13,14 

Wouldn’t we all love to have a blank calendar or a calendar from the past that we could go back and “x” off certain days, days of hurt, sorrow, or days that we made tragic mistakes and maybe not make those mistakes again?

And wouldn’t we all love to have God’s calendar? You know that is why He tells us some much in His word, TODAY, TODAY, TODAY and even saying, in Matthew 6:34: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

What He is warning us against here, is our human habit of worrying about tomorrow, while not realizing that we may not even be able to handle today and EACH day comes with its own set of either joys, or heartaches, victories, or trails, but either way LET TOMORROW WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW and just be concerned with YOUR TODAY.

The REAL problem with the TOMORROW mentality is when people apply it to their spiritual health and salvation. Got to give my beautiful big Sis credit on this, I had called her for prayer about something I was going through and we got off on the subject of so many people that the enemy sells the same old line to, that THEY SHOULD WAIT UNTIL THEY FEEL LED TO GO TO GOD.

What kind of thinking is that? You know that is NOT from God, God said COME unto me and even in the end at Revelation AGAIN, the SPIRIT and the BRIDE TOGETHER are URGING ALL WHO WILL to COME!

I hope to give more than enough scriptural proof with this post that there should no longer be any doubt as to whether or not the Lord has sent out those invitations to ALL who will, ALL who will come to Him, His household, and His Kingdom.

So I want to go back to our starting verse to establish just what goes on here, with that deceived thinking, notice that is says “lest ANY of you be HARDENED THROUGH the DECEITFULNESS of sin” and what that means is that you are to call on the Lord TODAY, because sin will hardened your heart and LIE to you and have you “put off” salvation, “put off” the call of God, as sin tells you must wait on a formal invitation.

An invitation that has ALREADY been sent in the form of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ on earth, an invitation that has already been sealed by the blood of His Son bearing the approval of His signet, and invitation that was DELIVERED when His dead body rose victorious.

And the words “WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD, SHALL BE SAVED” recorded in His word for the ENTIRE world to receive.

So it is not that they have no invitation, they are simply REFUSING to open it!

We always use the thief on the cross to prove this out, the man WAS slowly dying, he had NO time, and he KNEW he had NO tomorrow and he KNEW that it was then, there, TODAY or never.

And as we all know Jesus response, pure gold and blessed with assurance so that not even one doubt could have entered the mans mind, Verily I say unto thee, to day thou shalt be with me in paradise. 

No going down to the altar, no church introduction, no baptism, no time to do “ministries”, not even time to tell any person that he was sorry for any wrong he had done them.

But time, that day, that was his last TODAY on this earth, and his first TODAY in glory with Jesus Christ!

We are all given ONE life, and we have ONE day, yesterday is gone, gone forever and ever and will never, ever come again, and tomorrow is NOT guaranteed,

James 4:13-14: ” Go to now (come, listen) ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain (make money) WHEREAS (because) YE KNOW NOT WHAT SHALL BE ON THE MORROW (you do not know what tomorrow holds); for WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR, THAT APPEARETH FOR A LITTLE TIME, AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY. FOR THAT (for this reason) YE OUGHT TO SAY, IF THE LORD WILL, WE SHALL LIVE, AND DO THIS, OR THAT.”

So you have TODAY, TODAY is YOUR responsibility and TODAY we have the responsibility to DAILY exhort those who may not have to tomorrow, that they should consider TO DAY, so for any who “lost” the invitation, that they failed to open, consider this:

Isaiah 55:6-7: ” Seek ye the Lord WHILE he may be found, CALL ye upon him WHILE he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and LET HIM RETURN unto the Lord, and HE WILL HAVE MERCY UPON HIM; AND TO OUR GOD, FOR HE WILL ABUNDANTLY PARDON.”

Simply put, SEEK God, give up your ways that are leading to destruction, return to God and He will take care of the rest!  2 Corinthians 6:2: “( For he saith, I HAVE HEARD THEE IN A TIME ACCEPTED AND IN THE DAY OF SALVATION HAVE I SUCCOURED (helped) THEE:  behold (pay very close attention) NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME; BEHOLD, NOW IS THE DAY OF SALVATION.) 

So as you see, above there is a completely blank calendar, you did not know your beginning, you certainly do not know your ending, but YOU do know your TODAY, and Lamentations 3:22,23 : “ IT IS of the LORD’S MERCIES THAT WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT it is only because of  his mercy that we have not been destroyed). They (His mercy) ARE NEW EVERY MORNING, great is thy faithfulness.”

Chose, chose today and let that calendar represent a new life, a new hope, and a new future eternal, count every day, and count every day as the precious opportunity a gift that it is.  Help us understand the full POWER of TODAY.

Psalm 90:12: “So teach us to NUMBER our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Hope you have a blessed today, tomorrow, and always! Love & Peace

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

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Prophets, Prodigals, & Puttin’ it off…

“Cry loud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew (show) my people their transgressions…. ” Isaiah 58:1(a)

“Son of man, SPEAK to the children of thy people, and SAY unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for THEIR WATCHMAN: IF HE SEETH THE SWORD COME upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people.

Then whoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul (save his life).  Ezekiel 33:2,3,5

So that is a pretty heavy job, a prophet is to warn of all the impending snares, and traps, and forthcoming woes that God has allowed them to foresee. But the major problem comes when the prophets pull a Jonah and decide that they are just not going to do it. Understandably, the fear, the rejection, ridicule, and constant state of having to keep a drawn sword that comes with the job. But understandable or not, you did not apply for this job, you were chosen and as the “gifts and callings of God are without repentance” you are forever in the position GOD has chosen for you in his army and you can’t request a transfer, you cannot retire and you are not allowed to check out at anytime.

The reality of this, whether you do YOUR job or not, that calling remains active and it will follow you to Hades.

Luke 15:11-32, We know it as the story of the prodigal son. As the story tells this gentleman had two sons and the younger son decided that he would not work for his father, nor would he wait for his inheritance. So the father divides everything up and the younger son leaves out on his journey to sow his wild oats, and he played, he drank, he raised Hades, and he rocked, he rolled, he partied, and he “boogie-oggie-oggied till he just couldn’t boogie no more” and oh the women, women, and never enough women.

Got to pay to play, and this was a high maintenance lifestyle. Soon the money was gone, and all his fair weather friends had soon flown the coup taking the hungry chicks with them. Hard times came and he hit bottom, he took a job feeding pigs, an animal considered so unclean it was forbidden to his family, no one offered him help of any kind and he became so starved that he would have delighted in just eating a little of the food that he fed to the pigs. Being surrounded by filthy pigs that are eating better than you can be a very effective wake up call. He started to think of how even his fathers servants fared better than he.

But he worried about going back home because he felt no longer “worthy” to be a son, but maybe he could be a hired hand.

Satan loves to do that to us, we all have made mistakes and plenty have backslidden and he loves nothing more than to tell you that you have gone too far, done too much, and that after walking out on your father to his face, that he will never take you back so don’t bother trying. He wants you to wallow around with swine and eats pigs food when your Father wants to feed you with manna! Even being a long way off, his father saw him coming back ( Just as God sees you, my wayward friends, because he watches for you) he ran to meet him, kissed him and hugged him.

He called for a robe (symbolic of course of God changing even swine dirt covered garments to robes of righteousness) and for a signet ring to be placed on his finger, declaring to the whole world his family lineage and that he was not a servant, but a son.

He ordered a huge feast prepared with the best he could offer placed before his son as a welcome home dinner.

The oldest brother extremely upset because he had never left, had worked, and worked, and had never been treated so lavishly, showing us that sometimes there are brothers and sisters in Christ who may not be so happy to see you return to the sheepfold.

Maybe it’s jealousy, maybe they hate seeing God bless you extraordinarily for returning to him, whatever the reason, you must always remember they are still your family, but don’t worry what they will say or how they will react.

Because the father NEVER ONCE ASKED the son where he had been, what he had done, or how he spent all the money. He welcomed him only with open arms and acceptance. Because his son “who had been dead was alive again”. That is how God sees us, and he is our father and the only opinion that matters is his.

So puttin’ it off, Watchmen know their job, we all know how scary it is. This was the main group all through the Bible that God had to constantly reassure to “not be discouraged nor dismayed” or “afraid of their faces”.

We know the world will hate you, it hated Jesus first. No one wants to be told that what they are doing is wrong according to the word of God, and they really don’t care what he has to say.

But God WILL NOT SEND JUDGMENT WITHOUT WARNING. “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil (calamity) in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?  Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but (EXCEPT) he revealeth his secret UNTO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS.” Amos 3:6

But as you step out God will bless each of those steps and as you proclaim his statues and his judgments, you really will start to develop a “streak”, sorta like the holy anger he allowed Ezekiel to feel, and if you need to ask him for confirmation over and over again, ask him! People often bash Gibeon (Judges chapters 6&7) because he asked for so much confirmation, I am not suggesting asking for “signs” but to pray and ask confirmation through his word or a word of wisdom. I personally think he was a wise man, because no one wants to “fall into the hands of the living God” !

He wants you to work and offers on the job training! Prodigals believe in their father and his work, they are just puttin’ it off till later on.

Sorry, there may not be much later left to put off until! WE ARE IN THE END OF DAYS, IT IS THE END TIMES, HENCEFORTH, THE END OF THE WORLD.

No other way of saying that.

The world is so wicked that it is coming under divine judgment. Babylon will without warning (well, secular warning) be destroyed from the face of the earth immediately after the rapture. And then all of Revelation will be fulfilled. It is time to pack it up and come back home to your father’s house. We are not promised our next breath, but we are promised that we will stand and give account for our lives and what we accomplished with the gifts he has given us.

As I write this and as you read it, and every second of every minute of every hour in every day of every year, year after year  there are people who are very much ALIVE and in HELL. Just as the “rich man lifted up his eyes in hell.” They are really there, and they are really suffering and they will never, ever have the chance escape that fate again. If he ever allowed you to hear those cries (and he just might) and make you painfully aware of their eternal presence there (and yes, he can arrange that too) you may look at your jobs a little more seriously.

Prophets, ever time you resist that fire that is trying to come from your mouth, this is what you are doing “BUT if  the watchman see the sword come, and BLOW NOT the trumpet, and the people BE NOT WARNED; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; BUT HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THE WATCHMAN’S HAND.” Ezekiel 33:6

You will be held personally responsible for the deaths of all you fail to warn.

Prodigals who refuse to return and “be about their father’s business” could very well get a bird’s-eye view of what became of those that they were to minister to and the consequences suffered in the lives their disobedience affected. Maybe see the eternal fire and hear the eternal screams of someone YOU were supposed to witness to, or someone whose suicide that could have been prevented had you been in the place of the will of God, where you could have been used to stop it. “He that gathereth in summer is a wise man:  but HE THAT SLEEPETH IN HARVEST IS A SON THAT CAUSETH SHAME.”

So end of story, THIS IS NOT ABOUT US! It is not about our comfort, our fear, our shame, our vices, or things we just don’t wanna let go! This is not about fitting in with the crowd as opposed to being singled out. IT IS NOT YOUR LIFE! YOUR LIFE BELONGS TO THE ONE WHO GAVE IT! It is about helping the wounded be healed, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and lead the lost back home. It is ABOUT PUTTING THE SOULS OF OTHERS BEFORE YOURSELF. It is accountability, the book is written, that will never change, so  never put off today what you are not promised tomorrow to do!  

εν Φλογίζω  N.Brown Johnson 2015  / REVISTED 03/18/2021 because if there has ever been a time to step out in faith, now is beyond time!

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PLEASE WAKE UP !!!

How many of us have tried to wake someone and finally in complete exasperation utter that all familiar phrase, “Would you PLEASE get up?!!” The Beloved written about in Song of Solomon surely must understand this.

 ” I sleep, but my heart waketh: It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night.”

” I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile(dirty) them? My beloved put his hand in the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him ( heart stirred with longing).

I rose up to open to my beloved: and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Song of Solomon 5:2-6

Ah, the most misunderstood book in the Bible. Most have difficulty reading it without misunderstanding it in the carnal mind and according to one Jewish tradition, men were required to be at least thirty years old and married and women were strictly forbidden to read it all.
It would seem that the American church suffers the same affliction as our lady in song of Songs.

Please do not take these remarks as attacks on any specific church, some of these attitudes and problems seem to creep into almost all churches at one point or another. That is why we must always stay on guard, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour..” 1 Peter 5:8

The church like our lady here, in comparison to what it was intended to be, having been built on diligence, fortitude, tenacity, and  above all the blood of  Christ, the prophets, and all the martyrs. The church also has become quite comfortable seeming to have forgotten where it came from and the astonishing  price that was paid for its continual existence.

Even though our lady is asleep, thankfully heart is still attentive to the voice of her one true love. He is standing outside a door that has been locked against his presence, beaten beyond recognition, the “dew” having fell during the tortures of the night he has just endured to take her punishment and to purchase a freedom she could have never been able to afford, even pleading with her to take note of the “drops of the night” his hair completed saturated by his precious blood, a result of the  excruciating  crown of thorns that encircled his head, each piercing thorn driving into his flesh, a crown he wore in torment to free her troubled mind, bringing all thoughts captive, buying her salvation, while ensuring that one day he would reign as her King.

All she can come up with as he pleads with her from behind that locked door, is excuses of why she can’t get up, why it would be such an inconvenience, a burden to get up and answer his call on her heart, her soul, and her life.
Her first reason being that she is quite comfortable, right where she is , tucked in the warmth of her cozy bed, her complacency of more value to her than the value of the love she has for him.

Her second reason is that her feet are clean, Oh, how can she possibly admit to maybe walking the wrong paths, imperfections, or heaven forbid, she admit any wrong doing or blatant sin?

There is no way that she is going to answer to him and let him see her without her coat, how can she stand humbly before him, bearing all that she is, her very soul, without the protection of her coat of self-righteousness? No, she simply can’t do it.

Thankfully the sound of his voice had stirred her heart, it was then that she remembered, she remembered all the shame, all the suffering, all the love and mercy that also poured out as the ground flowed red with his blood while his life was given in exchange for her.
She remembered that her precious coat of self-righteousness, had only be crafted from the filthy rags of her own righteousness and without being clothed in his righteousness, she was less than nothing.

She remembered that without him and the guidance of his hand to her every step, that those feet, that she so arrogantly believed to be clean would only lead her into temptation and swift destruction.

In the span of time it took for her to realize this, he was gone, but in his desire that one day the locked door between them would open, he left her the key. As the myrrh dripped from her hands, it let her finally see that the door could only be opened by the purification of her own heart, soul and spirit and by dying to her flesh, her desires, and humble herself completely to him, giving every single thing in her, both good and bad, over to him until they became one.

We are living in the midst of the most exciting time that has been or will ever be. The last day outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a harvest of souls to end it all.
But so many have grown comfortable or are just simply asleep, proclaiming Christianity while those in the world around us are lost, enslaved to drugs or alcohol or one of the many addictions that snare and trap.
Sometimes  we refuse to reach out because of the lifestyles of others, we can’t be seen talking to them or associating with what hypocritically we refer to as “that kind” of person, this comes from wrongly believing that we are so holy, and so good that we forget we were once in those shoes.

“Therefore let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night (spiritual night on earth) and they that be drunken are drunken in the night, but let us who are of they day, be sober (minded), putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8

As Jesus said in John 9:4: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

I  have often heard people say they believe in Jesus but they don’t accept him because they don’t want to be a hypocrite or they feel like they can’t change. I respect that to the utmost measure, but the good news that we can never change ourselves, he does that for us! All he requires is a reasonable service, no one is perfect, nor will we ever be on this earth. When the Bible uses the word “perfect” it means “blameless” doing the best we can and some days that may be not so good, this is why his mercy is renewed every, single day and when we make mistakes, we ask  for forgiveness, get up and go on! 

If you don’t want to be a hypocrite, that’s a good indication that you would never be anyway! But I am pleading with you as a servant of God, we are in the last days and if you have never committed to the Lord, Please, please, hear his voice, hear his invitation, before all hell breaks loose on this earth, and I promise you, it has already begun.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20

Simply put just answer him! Let him come in! He doesn’t give a list of requirements there does he? Ask forgiveness for your sins and ask him to be Lord of your life and save you! End of story, your sins are washed completely away and he never brings them up again.

As we all will stand before the Lord and give account for the lives he has given us, the saddest excuse we will ever give for not completing the work he has entrusted us with is having to say “Lord, I just couldn’t get up.”

 

Φλογίζω /   Nina BrownJohnson/ baresoulphlogizo 2015 all rights reserved
Original post:11/21/2013 FOWC/THE AVENUE