RAINMAKERS

As someone who didn't really do well at school, I never thought that I would ever become an author, to date, of five books. In early highschool I never read books, but then around the age of fifteen I bought my first Christian book called, "Make your Faith Work" by Paul Yongi Cho. It was a shorter book, and I finished my first book. I wanted another book to read, then another, then another.  I also began to read books that had been turned into movies, or the published version of the movie. I devoured those books because I loved movies.  After reading many shorter Christian books, I remember having a thought that someday I would like to publish books like these because they had helped me learn so much. Rather than investing a lot of time on one long book, which for me could take months to read as I'm not a fast reader, I found that I could get the gist of a subject in a shorter book and be set. I did read longer books, for sure, but it took time to build up the discipl...

  "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come...Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things; by Your will they exist and were created.” (Revelation 4:8, 11) Here we end our 10 Day Devotional with the cry of heaven. There are two groups that seem to flow in this "call and response" between eachother. The first are the Four-Living Creatures, their cry is a declaration of the Holiness of God. It does not seem to be addressed to the "One" sat on the throne, but a verbal fanfare of Truth. This, in turn, provokes a response from the Twenty-four Elders who are sat on thrones around the Throne. They fall down before the Throne, either on their knees, or on their faces. Then they cast their crowns before the Throne while declaring praises to the "One" sat on the Throne. There is a misconception that when we get to heaven that it will be one big worship service FOREVER! John w...

  "And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!' And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever" (Revelation 4:6-9) I'm going to introduce these Four Living Creatures. But, first, something LIKE a Sea of Glass captures John's attention. Moses experienced this on Mount Sinai, "Under his feet was like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself" (Exodus 24:10) I keep a small sapphire...

  "Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven spirits of God" (Revelation 4:5b) Here's where we get some "Where's Wally?" Theology going on. Many times we automatically accept teachings as being true because many teachers impart wrong information. For example, did you know that the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 was an actual King, and not Satan, as is commonly taught. Just read the chapter before and after and you'll see! There's no Scripture to support that false teaching. Also, in all of Scripture there is not one single verse that teaches us to "Plead the Blood" when we pray! Yet, this is a common teaching in the Church. AND, there is a whole segment of the Church called Cessationsts, who believe the gifts of the Spirit have "ceased" and miracles etc ended when John died. However, they haven't a single verse to support this false teaching! AND, the "Prosperity Gospel" camp, preach a false mes...

  "From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder" (Revelation 4:5a) When me and my father were talking about doing this 10 Day Devotional, he called it "The Sights and Sounds of Heaven". John is SEEING (flashes of lightning), he's FEELING (rumblings), and HEARING (peals of thunder). We need to seek, and let the reality of heaven overwhelm all of our beings. Let me ask this question, do you think that if we each had an experience like John that we would live more fearfully or more trusting of God? Would we be moved by earthly things whereby we are overwhelmed, or would we recall the sight of flashing lightning, the rumbling feeling, and the sound of thunder, all coming FROM the Throne? It would change how we lived on earth, right? What I love about this account in Revelation 4 is that John is not on his face worshipping. He's permitted to see all of this. The YouTube critics say that IF this and that were of God then we'd all...

  "Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads"  (Revelation 4:4) There are many opinions as to who the twenty-four elders are  . When reading Revelation we have three filters that we must pass the text through. Do we interpret it, 1) Literally 2) Metaphorically 3) Parabolically For me, I'm always looking for Jesus in the text, as all of Scripture speaks of Him. Revelation is like the "Where's Wally?" series ("Where's Waldo?' for my American friends). Except, instead of looking for a man in a red and white striped sweater, we're looking for Jesus, sometimes amidst a bunch of weird imagery. No wonder Martin Luther wanted to remove the book of Revelation from the Canon of Scripture. Let's just agree that we don't really know what it all means, especially since John doesn't share any explanation with us. So, I choose to accept ...

  "The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne" (Revelation 4:3) I've added two pics below of jasper and carnelian. It's amazing how they look alike. Have you ever seen Jesus looking like the colour of red gemstones? Me neither! What a sight that must've been. And to add to that, a rainbow that gleams like an emerald. Wow! Throughout Scripture the writers who saw into the Spirit realm used the word "Like" a lot. They fumbled around in the bag of their knowledge to grab earthly items to compare with what they were seeing in the Spirit. John says "a rainbow" with certainty, but wait a minute, it's gleaming like an emerald. And the "One" on the throne is like a combination of two different gem stones. John still doesn't realize that this is Jesus! I find that amusing. Now, I DO mean to labour the point that we need a fresh revelation of who Jesus is NOW. N...

  7 Days... "I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it" Rev 4:2b Here is the central focal point of all of the created realms. A Throne, and "someone" sat on it! In Revelation chapter 1 John had to see Jesus as He is now (1:12-16). John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23), had to have his spiritual eyes recalibrated to see Jesus as He is now, not how He was when John walked with Jesus on earth. Do you think that we need this encounter too? Yes!! Even still, when John sees the Throne in heaven, he sees "Someone" on the throne. I find this fascinating and insightful. WE know it's Jesus, but John didn't recognize Him. How I interpret this, is that we must live with fresh revelation of who Jesus is NOW. A rolling, unfolding revealing (revelation) of His personhood and nature. This happens when we sit and wait and enter into that spiritual realm where Jesus resides. I said two days ago that one minute in the Spirit...

8 Days... "At once I was in the Spirit" Revelation 4:2a 1) Sit, ask for Him to open your eyes, and wait. 2) Treat encounters as Holy, journal them for your education. 3) Repeat until you can enter at will. The other night a group of us met to pray. His presence came. That's one example of being in the Spirit. The goosebumps, the tingles, the weight. That's how our physical bodies react to His presence. Other times are when you have had a vision, or a prophetic word for someone, or prayed a prayer for someone (publicly or privately) that seems to have more weight on it. That's also being in the Spirit. It can also be a sense of His peace coming upon us. So, many of us have experienced what it means to be "in the Spirit". There are, however, other levels of being in the Spirit. God, in His mercy, does not reveal Himself fully as our physical bodies would not cope. We'd probably vaporize. I had one encounter in 1994 that was so painful I begged for it ...

  "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” Rev 4:1b Jesus is calling John to go up to where He is. A lot of times when we gather we ask God to come down. Have we ever considered the option to "go up"? Setting apocalyptic interpretations aside, I simply want to suggest that by going "up" Jesus is able to "show" us things. Not just prophetic things, but practical things. The view from His perspective changes our perspective. Years ago, when my children were little, I asked Jesus how I could better train them in the supernatural ways, in order for the supernatural to become more natural to them. At the time they were learning basic maths. The Holy Spirit said to me, "Tell them that in My realm 2+2 doesn't always equal 4!" I was blown away by this. Simple yet profound. Even though God has set laws in place to govern the universe, He is able to circumvent, suspend, or override those laws for His purpose (we have mor...