House of Faith Ministries
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John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

When Jesus uttered these words to His disciples it became immediately clear to them that Jesus was making a very special promise to tPsalm 33:18-19 “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.”

Without a doubt these are clearly perilous times that we are living in, and I know that there are many people out there who are preparing themselves for the hard times that are swiftly coming upon us.

The two basic things that everyone would need in the midst of the breakdown of society’s infrastructure are food and safety.

When there are no law enforcement agents available to protect you or your property, your life is in great danger. And even if you are able to hide for a while and survive the first few days of mob rule, you are still going to need food and water to sustain you once you run out of your existing supplies. That is why so many today are storing up ample supplies that would enable them to survive for a longer period of time.

But take a good look at the promises of God for those of us who believe in His Word. We are told that He will deliver our lives from death, and that He Himself will keep us alive in the days of famine.

What are we to do in the face of all of this?

Should I prepare myself by finding a safe place to hide in case of an all out descent into lawlessness? And should I invest in storing enough food and water to keep me and my family fed for a reasonable amount of time if the worst were to happen?

I read an article that said that over fifty percent of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck, so that for those who lack the resources to prepare for such a future event, they cannot really do anything about preparing themselves for the chaos which may someday come.

Psalm 33:15 “He fashions their hearts individually; He considers (understands) all their works.”

The beauty of the Lord is that He understands every single one of us individually, He knows all of our personal needs and what our situation is in any given circumstance.

So that when everything is said and done, it does not really matter what situation we might find ourselves in, what is important is that we are trusting Him completely, and not what we prepared or failed to provide for a future day of need, for if we fully trust Him, He will provide for us His salvation.

Psalm 33:16-17 “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man in not delivered by great strength. A horse (mobility, our ability to escape the chaos) is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.”

There are things that we can do to prepare ourselves for the coming destruction that is going to be revealed one day, but they are not physical things, but rather spiritual.

Psalm 33:20 “Our soul (life) waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.”

Since much of the impending doom that is coming our way has to do with the events that will precede the return of Jesus our Savior and Lord, and if our lives are invested in His soon return to deliver us, then we do not fear that which is coming, but rejoice in the fact that His return is getting closer and closer.

So that our help and shield are not made of material things that we have stored up, although there is nothing wrong in saving provisions for the day of trouble, as long as we are not putting our trust in them but in the fact that the return of Jesus is getting closer and closer.

Psalm 33:21 “For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.”

We put our trust in the name of Jesus!

Why do we trust the name of Jesus?

Acts 4:12 “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Jesus is our Salvation, our Redeemer, and our restoration! That is why we trust Him.

He is also our Great Deliverer!

Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

He will keep us from the hour of testing, if we just keep trusting Him, His Word, and His promises, no matter what.

Psalm 33:22 “Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You.”

We hope in His mercy to deliver our souls from death, and to keep us alive in famine, not on our own personal plans that we’ve devised ourselves.

Psalm 33:10 “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.”

But there is also another component into what we are learning today, and that is our influence upon others who witness how we have decided to prepare ourselves for the devastation that is coming.

Psalm 34:2 “My soul (life) shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.”

Whether we know it or not, as Christian believers, the world is watching us, they are noticing how we react to all this talk about how the fibers of our present-day society are coming apart at the seams.

They are watching us to see whether what we proclaim to believe is real to us or not, by the way that we respond to all the nonsense out there.

So that how we prepare ourselves, and how we conduct our lives in the face of so much uncertainty, will be a witness to those around us, if we are truly trusting the promises of God for us, and walking in His peace.

Psalm 34:4 “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

How can we walk in fear if we are certain that the return of our Lord to deliver us is getting near? For fear has to do with torment, but we walk in love, His perfect love for us, and it is His perfect love for us that casts out all of our fears.

1 John 2:5 “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

So the key in all of this is that when we are trusting in God’s promises so firmly, we will have peace in whatever situation we may find ourselves in, and when we have peace in the midst of the storms of life, those around us will notice and they will be drawn to the Jesus in us who is the author of the peace in which we are walking.

Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”

As we rapidly approach the inevitable end of the age, we do not really know how things will evolve around us personally, but we have His uncompromising promises to strengthen us, and hopefully we can take advantage of the situation, when things begin to get bad all around us, that we may be able to lead to the Lord those around us who do not know Him yet as their Savior and Lord.

Psalm 34:11-14 “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”

Let the peace of God flow like a river from deep within you!hem.

When you promise to manifest yourself to someone, it means that you will reveal yourself to that person and not to others.

Because if everyone can see you there is no need for you to reveal yourself since you are already visible to everybody.

John 14:19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.”

It is within the context of Jesus leaving them and promising them that He would reveal Himself again after His departure, that this conversation is taking place.

And it prompted this question by one of His disciples:

John 14:22 “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’”

It is obvious that the disciples wanted to make sure that after Jesus left them, that they would be able to know how and where they could see Him again.

Now for those of us who never had the opportunity of meeting and serving Jesus before He went to the cross, these passages of Scripture are very important, for they detail how we can also experience the personal manifestation of Jesus after His resurrection from the dead.

Jesus gives us a very important key in verse nineteen: Because I live, you will live also.

As we read the previous chapter Jesus is clearly telling them that where He is going they cannot follow, because He is going to the cross to die for their sins. But then He says to them, because I will live, you will live also, meaning I will die for you so that you can live, and if you are willing to die for My cause, you too will live to see Me again.

John 13:37-38 “Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’”

Peter understood the part about dying for the Lord, but he failed to understand the part about living for Him at that time.

How many Christians have given their lives for the sake of our Lord’s Gospel this past year alone? It's not easy to die willingly, but for most of those who have given their lives for the Lord, they just did not have the choice to continue living for Him, and they surely were not willing to deny Him, that is why they were killed.

Now we know from Scripture that those who are martyred for the sake of their testimony of Jesus are immediately welcome into His glorious holy presence.

Talk about manifestation, those who remain faithful to their confession of faith in the face of imminent death, cannot help but to see the fullness of Jesus’ glory revealed to them as Jesus joyfully receives them into the fullness of His joy, before their bodies even hit the ground.

But for those of us who remain the lesson is very clear, if we want to see the manifestation of Jesus in our lives we need to die to ourselves.

What it really comes down to is love.

John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’”

I hear so many people say how much they love someone, but by their actions that sentiment is betrayed. Can persons that abandon their spousal or parental obligations for the sake of following their own self interests really say that they love the ones that they are leaving behind?

This is what Jesus has to say about that:

John 14:24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

From God’s perspective true love can only be manifested by our commitment to carry out our obligations to His Word. We can say how much we love God all day long but by our actions we will be judged.

Matthew 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children (the eventual manifestation of her good works).”

And the consequences of our actions work both ways, if we are doing what is right and people falsely accuse us of doing wrong—like they did to Jesus—eventually those who do right will be proven right, and those who do wrong will be proven wrong.

But those who do wrong will not experience the manifestation of Jesus in their lives, for those who do wrong, do so for selfish ambition and have not died to themselves.

We are not talking about perfection here, for if only those who are perfect can expect Jesus to manifest Himself to them, then you can be sure that there will not be any personal manifestations any time soon.

What did Jesus mean when He said: He who has My commandments and keeps them...If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word? Now let’s take a look at His words from the perspective of the imperfections of our human nature.

When you show up to work everyday, can your boss really say that you are the perfect worker? Even in the remote possibility that you were the perfect worker, they would never say that about you, for if they did, they would have to give you a raise. Ha, Ha!

This is what an employer is looking for in an ideal worker: that he/she shows up on time, every time, all the time. That he/she has a general knowledge of what they are expected to do, and a willingness to do it. And that they have the capacity to learn and to progress to a point where they get better and better at what they do.

What are the ideal qualifications for a parent or a spouse? Does anybody really expect a husband or a wife or a parent to be perfect? I say not! But a husband is expected to be there for his wife, and the wife to be there for her husband. And how can a father or mother raise a child if they are absent?

It is the same in our service to God! We do not get saved to continue in our own selfish way of life. Now that we are saved our responsibility is to the Word of God, to follow His commandments and to keep His Word. We are not perfect when we start, and we will not be perfect when we finish our Christian journey here on this earth.

We will be judged by our faithfulness to His calling!

Did we show up; in time, all the time? Did we show willingness to serve, and were we willing to change and learn new ways of living?

If you work for a big corporation you may notice some apprehensiveness on the part of some of the workers when they know that the big boss is going to be around. That is how some Christians feel when the manifestation of God’s presence is all around them.

If you believe that Jesus expects you to be perfect, it would be natural to feel uncomfortable when He manifests Himself to you. But what if He is just looking for you to be honest with Him?

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

Jesus does not really need perfect workers, does He? He does not even need any workers. What He is really looking for is for you and I to have a trusting relationship with Him. A relationship that is based in mutual love for one another instead of the dread of fear and failure.

And there is no better place to have a relationship with Him than to share with Him in the things that He loves so much: He loves us! Humanity, He is for us, wants to be with us, and wants to be in us.

He is such a gentlemen that He will not manifest Himself to us if it will make us feel uncomfortable. If we want His presence, then we must truly desire the manifestation of His presence.

There may be some of you out there that feel that, perhaps you will never be comfortable enough around the manifestation of His presence. Maybe you were brought up to see our heavenly Father as a fearsome Judge instead of a loving Savior. But think about what is at stake here!

John 15:1-4 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean (we need not fear our frailties) because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

After reading all these Scriptures I hope that you came to the same conclusion that I did, and that is that, intimacy with Him is not really an option, but the essence of life itself. That is if we truly want to be fruitful in our service to Him.

The first step is getting down on your knees with a humbled and honest heart saying "Lord I don’t have much to offer you, but what little I have I give to you completely and irrevocably", then show up before His presence in the same manner, everyday, for the rest of your life.

There is no greater joy than to have the privilege of experiencing the manifestation of His presence within the inner sanctum of our hearts.