Apologies for the haitus, but the previous post is really the core of the message. Will anybody hear it, until it is too late? I do not know, but I will proclaim. Do you feel that the hour is late? Can you feel the storm clouds gathering? The economy, the social, the political; it is said the whole world will worship the beast and receive his mark. The world turns away in apostasy; what was unthinkable a generation ago is celebrated today. And we imagine that our comfortable existence will remain, when ALL that will be left is a hideous strength.

The axe is at the foot of the tree.
Matthew 3 v10-12
(John the Baptist speaking to the Pharisees and Sadducees)
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

There will be storms. There will also be grace. Please read this word from 2006 – ‘Such a time as this’.

The signs are there – we have seen the storms that are coming and they will rattle us out of our false security. There is, as ever, only one resting place and that is Jesus. We are given, by the grace of the Lord, time in which to prepare. Or time to pretend that everything will stay the same.

The storms to come will bring both adversity and revival, persecution and blessing. When our false securities are stripped away, so we will have to lean on our real Security. Or dance away to other false gods. Indeed, the very storm that will appear a curse will produce the greatest blessing – when we have eyes to see it.

So be of good heart. The devil does not have the final say. He lost – and lost a long, long time ago. All the smoke and mirrors, all the thunder and lightening, all the fierce roaring and raging are no more than the death throes of a wounded beast.

Even when the storm rages around you, when you are beset all around and the devil seems to hold all the cards from an unassailable position, remember it is simply a lie. He is a usurper apeing God. He has lost, and he knows it. His time is short, and getting shorter.

God has already procured the victory. The gates of hell will never prevail against the Church, His elect. Yes, the storm may rage, but press into Jesus and there you will find the victory, the victory that was won before the ages ever began.