Ed Christian's World

Lights Of The End Times…

Jesus gave the parable of the ten virgins that was based on the ancient Hebrew Jewish wedding. These ten would be waiting with the bride because no one knew exactly when the groom would arrive.

They had to keep oil in their lamps for any time the groom would come. Five virgins weren’t prepared and their oil ran out at the time of the groom’s arrival.

There is a general principle here, also linked to the end times, because we are near the coming of Jesus. The end times means we have to be like the good virgins, the faithful ones.

It is crucial for believers to keep that light of faith growing and standing strong because for many it goes out. It’s easy to let your light get snuffed out. How?

The love of God gets snuffed out by the world with distractions, money, or busyness. How do you avoid this?

Get away from the distractions. Refill your oil in prayer, in the presence of God, in the Word and in rejoicing in Him. Refill your oil today and every day, and your light will shine bright through the end times.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Matthew 5:1

Set today to be continually in the presence of God and filled with the Holy Spirit. Be prepared and ready for Jesus to come for His bride

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

At-One-Ment…

The holiest day in the Bible was Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Now the day of atonement is linked to three words. Atonement comes from at-one-ment, to be at one.

The blood of God was shed; it’s the blood of atonement; but it’s also the blood of at-one-ment. He gave His blood so you could live in atonement. That means to live in a state of At-one-ment with God.

If you live by the power of the blood, you can live in at-one-ment. The blood of Jesus is to break every veil; the veil of unworthiness, the veil of condemnation; whatever keeps you from God.

The blood of Jesus is the power to break every veil that separates you from God. The blood is for that purpose. It’s not that we deserve it or warrant it, but by grace.

By the blood of at-one-ment you can break through and be at one with God, and it will bring you to the at-one-ment–the presence of God.

And the blood of atonement is the blood of at-one-ment, the power for you to live at one with God. Break through the veil.

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided. Proverbs 16: 6

Today live by the power of the blood. By it, enter through any and every veil of separation, to live at-one-ment with God in all things.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Closer Than A Brother…

Proverbs says that in the casting of lots, contentions cease. But what does that mean? It means that arguments can be resolved by the casting of lots, which is like flipping a coin.

Suppose you have an argument with someone that is difficult to resolve, and the two of you agree to flip a coin. If the flipped coin lands “heads up,” then whoever calls “heads” prevails in the argument.

The lot principle works because all parties agree to let the final outcome be determined by the “lot” or coin toss. The original disciples actually used this method to pick the apostle to replace Judas.

They trusted that the lot would reveal God’s will. This doesn’t mean you should toss a coin or cast lots over every dispute. But often we’re in conflict because we trust in our own understanding, not in God’s will.

Just say, “Lord, let your will be done!” Peace will come to you and to the situation as you trust Him for the outcome He desires. Cast your lots before God, yield to His will, and have peace.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

Surrender your will to God’s will. Trust Him in all things, and be at peace as His ways are the best for you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Aiding Your Enemy….

If you’ve ever heard the story of Chanukah, you probably know that it was about a foreign power overtaking Israel and desecrating the temple. But that’s not the whole story.

The real story is that long before the nation was overtaken and the temple defiled, some Israelites began imitating the ways of gentiles, brought in foreigners and collaborated with the enemy.

The enemy would never have gotten into the temple if certain Israelites had not opened the doors and guided them in.

The desecration of the temple happened because the High Priest guided the enemy into the Holy Place. This is profound! Your real enemy, the enemy of your soul, cannot gain victory over you unless you let him in.

Every time you give into temptation and sin you are collaborating with the enemy of your soul. Why should you aid your own enemy? In God, you cannot help but win as long as you trust and obey Him.

The enemy can’t stop you from doing God’s will unless you let him stop you. Stop aiding your enemy! Resist him and get back on the winning side. Do God’s will… and win!

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Resist the temptations of this world, refuse to allow sin to enter in your heart and deny the enemy any foothold inside your soul.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

Against Desecration…

What will the end times be like? The story of Chanukah, a foreshadowing of the end times and the battle of the anti-Christ, provides a key. Chanukah centers on the desecration of the temple.

But the Bible says that our human bodies are now God’s temple. So end times will be characterized by desecration, specifically desecration of the human body.

We are now witnessing the selling and exploitation of sex and human sexuality, the explosion of pornography into a multi-billion dollar industry, and an increasingly blurred line between pornography and mainstream culture.

People are no longer seen as sacred, but as cheap commodities to be used and abused. As end-time believers, we need to consecrate our lives, our hearts, our bodies, and our sexuality to God so there is not even a hint of immorality.

Keep your eyes, your ears, and your thoughts from what is unclean. You are an end-time believer living in an age of desecration.

Therefore, live sacred, think sacred, act sacred, and be sacred because you are the temple of the living God.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

Dedicate your heart, mind and soul today to holy things. Continually be cleansing your thoughts and maintain purity in what you see and hear, as you are God’s holy temple.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Doer Of Our Deeds…

The story of Joseph reveals him as a foreshadow of Jesus. Genesis 39:22 says, “when he was put into prison, he was made leader of it; responsible for whatever was done there.”

In Hebrew it reads, whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. It’s ultimately the foreshadow of Jesus; of salvation. Jesus became the doer of our deeds. Whatever we did in sin, He became the doer of it. It was imputed to Him.

It’s amazing; He became as the doer of our deeds…a perfect foreshadow. He became as the doer of our sins that we would become the doer of His righteousness. Our deeds were imputed to Him, but now His deeds can be imputed to us.

Let His good deeds become your good deeds. Let His righteousness become yours. Just as your sins became His, now let His deeds of love, and His actions of compassion become yours.

For He became the doer of our sins that we would become the doer of His righteousness. Let the work of Jesus come through you now. Let it be counted as yours as you do the work of the Lord.

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

Fill your day in doing the works of the Lord. Do your works in His doing and let Him do His doing in yours.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

He Will Do What?

Psalm 37 says, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” It says in Hebrew, “Whuw Hoo Ya Aseh,” He will do it. It doesn’t say what He’ll do, but simply He will do it.

There’s no limitation with God. If it’s in His will, He will do it. Outside His will, everything is limited. The more you are in His will, the more you commit- inside His will, the more unlimited He will show himself to you. There is no limit to what God can do.

We limit God, even in our prayers. We pray, Lord, do this or do that, but He may have a better way. Instead say, not my will, but Thy will be done. He will do what? He will do whatever is needed; whatever is good.

Open your faith, open your heart. Believe God for beyond what you can think. Commit your way to God, and He will do whatever is needed. He’ll do whatever He wills, and it will be good, whatever is wonderful; beyond what we can ask or imagine. Trust the Lord, open your heart and He will do it.

I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8

Align your will with God’s will; commit all your ways to God, and then be at peace and trust God to do even better than anything you ask for.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The River Of Infinity…

Psalm 46:4 says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” It doesn’t say there’s a pool, a lake, or even an ocean that makes glad the city of God, but a river.

A pool, a lake, and an ocean have limits. Though an ocean is gigantic, it still has length, width, and dimension. A river might look smaller, but is actually infinite because it can keep going on forever. There’s really no length to it; it’s endless. It flows. That’s what feeds the city of God; not an ocean, but a river.

The Bible is a river. It’s unending; it’s flowing. The life of God is always flowing through the Word of God…the river that makes us glad. We need to come to God continuously and draw from the Word, the Bible, from God, from His love.

We always have to draw newly, not from what is finite, but what is infinite, what is eternal, what is ever-flowing. Get into the river of God. Get into the ever-flowing mercy, love, blessings, mysteries, and wonders of God. It’s forever. The nature of God is like a river–with no end.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders. Psalm 107:31-32

Draw continually from the living waters of the Word. His will, His blessings are all there; let His grace and love flow through you.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed

The Rashah Principal…

In Hebrew, the word “Rashah” means to judge or condemn. “Rashah” also means evil. It means to condemn evil, and also means evil itself. It’s the very judging of people, and evil becomes in itself, evil-doing.

If you dwell on evil, you will dwell in evil. The Pharisees thought they were the most holy people because they were judging everyone. Actually they were the most sinful.

We fall into the enemy’s trap; we judge people, we dwell on their sins, and we end up sinning. We fall into sin by judging them in sin.

Those people who dwell on evil are not the holy people. Bitter people and gossips dwell on evil. People who are enemies dwell on evil. People who are self-centered dwell on evil.

If you dwell on the evil, then you will end up dwelling in evil. Instead, dwell on the good and you will dwell in good; you will become good. The Bible says, “dwell on the good things.”

Replace that judgment with praise, blessing, and love. Dwell on the good and you will dwell in the good, for the Lord is good.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Take care in your judgment of people; it is a snare. Stay away from gossiping and holding any bitterness. Instead focus on the good and on love. And as you dwell on the good, you will be good.

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always

Ed

Don’t Go For The Tail…

The most dangerous part of a snake or serpent is not the tail. If you go for the tail, it may turn around and bite you with its head. It’s the same when you fight the serpent, the enemy, the devil; don’t go for the tail.

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of darkness, against principalities, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

It’s saying, we war not against flesh and blood; that’s the tail of the sin, but the head of it are the spiritual principalities. Our fight is not with people, it’s against sin itself–that’s the head. Believers often mistake this principle and we end up wrestling with the tail.

We fight people, flesh and blood–that’s just fighting the tail. You’re going to get bitten. When you fight flesh and blood, the enemy is going to bite you and corrupt you with sin. You see the flesh is the tail, the spiritual is the head. Don’t fight the tail–fight the sin which is the head.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Fight your fights today, not in the world, not in the flesh; but in the spiritual realm – go for the head!

Walk daily with God at your side!

Love always,

Ed