Hi Brian!

This week I want to share something from Joseph Prince's "Grace Inspirations" devotional! 

A BRAND NEW BODY AT THE BLAST OF A TRUMPET!

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

All over the world, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Occurring usually in the month of September, this feast is celebrated with the blowing of trumpets—the shofar or ram’s horn. That is why it is also called the Feast of Trumpets.

The Jews observe seven feasts: The Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. The first four have been fulfilled literally by Jesus. He was the Passover Lamb (see 1 Corinthians 5:7), the bread of life (see John 6:35) and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (see 1 Corinthians 15:20). And when Pentecost had fully come after His ascension, He sent us the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:1–4).

So the next feast that we are waiting for Jesus to fulfill literally is the Feast of Trumpets. Why is this feast significant to us? Because when Jesus fulfills it, it means that we are going up to meet Him in the clouds!

I am talking about the rapture of the church. When the trumpet sounds, “in the twinkling of an eye,” we who are alive will be changed. We will put on new bodies that will be like Jesus’! Those who are dead in Christ will rise and also receive new bodies. They will go up first followed by us who are alive, and we will all meet the Lord in the air (see 1 Corinthians 15:51–55).

This means that there is a possibility that you might not see death! The Bible says, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). It is one thing to happen to be alive, but quite another to remain alive.

I believe that there is a generation of Christians who know the resurrection power of the Lord. They know how to walk in their inheritance and put off sickness and death until the coming of the Lord. My friend, may you be counted as one of them as you take the Lord Jesus and His finished work as your victory over sickness and death!

I LOVE this! We DO know how to stand on the Word of God to walk in health, but also to slow down the aging process of the body! Many older people have proven that you can still do amazing things by keeping your body healthy and moving, well into the older years. I have seen 70 year old body building women who look amazing and are very fit and active! And WE, who do know our God and His Word, have the added advantage of the supernatural power of God working on our behalf. But, as with any other promise in the Word of God, it will take a determined purpose, discipline, diligence and faith to accomplish it! I do believe that JESUS is appearing for the catching away of the Church sooner than we think, but I do NOT intend to go earlier! I plan on finishing my race WELL and completeing the course that HE has given me! Part of the plan for accomplishing this is to stay young at heart, so I am sharing "Wake" by Hillsong Young and Free for the song today!

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "outwent". It's found in only one portion of Scripture: Mark 6:30-33:

30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. 33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. KJV

This is the Greek word "proerchomai". Strong's Concordance says: to go onward, to preceed (in place or time). Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: to go forward, to go before, in advance of another. Vine's Expository Dictionary says: outgo; of the people who in eagerness reached a spot earlier than Christ and His disciples. What makes this word so important is what it says about the heart of these people who were unwilling to miss being in the presence of Jesus! He and His disciples were in a ship crossing the water and the people RAN to get there ahead of them, and made it! I will always remember what it was like before we had The Spoken Word Church when we had to travel to the Cities to be in meetings where the Word was being taught. Word ministries were putting their teaching on cassette tapes and we would order them as soon as they were available, along with ordering teaching books. We had built such trust with the owner of the Christian book store that was in Rice Lake at the time that we would simply call when we needed something and she would order it and send it out along with the bill and we would send a check back. We were UNWILLING to stop learning and growing! I don't want a day to go by where I don't think about or learn something new about Jesus and His Word. That attitude keeps my fellowship with Him fresh and new and vibrant! It helps increase my faith and stirs up my joy! The most important lesson that I have learned over these years is that there is no standing still in this walk with Jesus. We are either continually growing, or we are slipping back. My life verse has always been Philippians 3:10 from the Amplified Bible:

10 [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection. AMP

My prayer for you and Kristine and your beautiful girls is that Jesus will be more real to you every day and that He will continue to confirm His Word in your lives with great favor and anointing and signs and wonders and miracles! Here is Hillsong Kids again with "I Give You My Hallelujah":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "overcome". We find it in these verses:

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. KJV

Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. KJV

Romans 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. KJV

1 John 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. KJV

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. KJV

These are all the Greek word "nikao". Strong's Concordance says: to subdue (literally or figuratively). Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: to conquer, to carry off the victory, to carry off victorious. My very favorite of the above verses is 1 John 4:4! Because JESUS has already 'overcome' the enemy, we have the great confidence that because HE lives in us by His Spirit, we already HAVE the overcoming victory! In fact that verse actually says that we HAVE overcome them BECAUSE the greater One lives in us! This 'overcoming' is NOT something that will happen someday in the future. We are already counted as overcomers. The victory is already ours. Every situation and circumstance that we face is already WON. We simply allow Holy Spirit to guide us through it to the expected end! Doubt will simply fly away when we keep this perpsective! We are not the sick trying to GET healed. We are the already healed ("by His stripes we WERE healed") expecting the manifestation of it. We are not trying to GET God's favor, we ARE favored of the Lord, walking in HIS favor and anointing. Such a powerful and freeing attitude to have! It certainly does away with stress! Here is an old song by Hillsong called "This Is How We Overcome". (By celebrating as overcomers!).

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

I am going to do something different again this week! I came across this from Rick Renner's "Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2" about the angels of God and felt led to share it with you! It is rather long, but so encouraging to know that we have this kind of help and protection! 

Ministering Spirits

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? — Hebrews 1:14

October 3, 1993. It was our wedding anniversary, and Denise and I were in Murmansk, Russia, located just north of the Arctic Circle. We had been ministering there in one of the largest churches in Russia at the time. After several days of wonderful meetings, we concluded the last evening service and returned to the apartment where we were staying. Our plan was to begin preparing for our trip home early the next morning. As we packed, we decided to turn on the television to see the late-night news.

We sat nearly frozen in disbelief as we learned that there had been a major coup in the city of Moscow! The image of the Russian Vice President appeared on the TV screen before us. Looking disheveled, this man morbidly glared into the TV camera and stated that a coup had begun in Moscow and that Russia’s newly gained democracy was about to be lost. We were stunned when we heard him “beckon” people to go into the streets to fight using whatever they could find from their homes as weapons to oppose the pro-Communist faction — especially in the area near Red Square — that was trying to seize control.

While we had been busy ministering in Murmansk, a major conflict had erupted in Moscow. There was a clash between then President Boris Yeltsin and a pro-Communist political faction that had violently seized control of the Russian White House and had barricaded themselves inside it, refusing to come out.

The Russian White House is situated in front of the massive Novoarbatsky Bridge along the banks of the Moscow River. I found it so interesting that the entire day while we had been busy with church activities in another city, Boris Yeltsin had been busy ordering army tanks to line up on that bridge, point their cannons directly at the Russian White House, and shoot to drive those occupants out of the building! By the end of the day, those tanks had blown the top half of the structure nearly completely off. Although democratic forces shelled the White House with one bomb after another, the rebels refused to surrender their position.

It was late at night, and Denise and I sat in front of the TV dumbfounded and perplexed about what we should do. The mayhem in Moscow was spreading to other locations, and we didn’t know what Moscow airports would be like the following morning. Moscow was our only connection to Riga, Latvia, where we lived at the time. We didn’t know if flights would be canceled — or even if there would be potential attacks at the airport. And God only knew what might develop in the nighttime as we slept!

We arose early the following morning, took a car to the airport, and went inside to see if we could make our flight to Moscow en route to Riga. When the time came for passengers to board the plane, Denise and I were the only two passengers they allowed to embark. Everyone else with tickets for that flight was denied access to the plane!

The airline attendants seated us in First Class on the very front row of the plane. Denise and I were somewhat amused and discussed quietly that it looked like we had the whole plane to ourselves. That’s exactly what we thought as that large Russian aircraft took off from that runway and began to ascend — that we were the only two passengers aboard the flight.

To this day, we still don’t know why we were the only two passengers allowed to board that flight, but that is exactly what happened. We speculated that perhaps the person in charge knew us from our nationwide television program — or that we had received special treatment because of our American passports. All we could do was guess. But for the duration of that flight from Murmansk to Moscow, Denise and I sat alone on what looked to be an empty aircraft, musing over our strange situation.

That entire, very large commercial airliner was completely empty — except for us and the flight crew! At least that’s what we thought until it was time to disembark. When we arose from our seats to leave, the flight attendant abruptly pulled back the curtain that concealed the whole back half of the airplane. To our utter amazement and shock, there stood in front of us 85 Black Berets, Russia’s highest-trained land-combat soldiers!

What a scene that was! It looked like 85 “Rambos” standing there, with machine guns hanging off their shoulders, handguns strapped to their waists, strips of hundreds of rounds of ammo draped around their necks, giant knives fastened to their boots — and their faces completely smeared with greasy black “war paint”!

Denise and I stood there, nearly paralyzed, for what seemed like minutes. As much speculating as we had entertained about why we were alone on that flight, the thought never crossed our minds that we were not alone — and that we had flown all that distance to Moscow with 85 trained killers!

Sitting in the car that transported us from the plane to our terminal, we watched spellbound as those soldiers quickly disembarked that plane in unison and boarded jumbo helicopters that we later learned were assigned to fly them to the Russian White House. By the time we entered the terminal and made our way through passport control, we saw on TV monitors those same 85 soldiers being lowered by ropes onto what was left of the roof of the White House!

We later discovered that those killer troops were ordered to retake the Russian White House, arresting rebels who surrendered and shooting those who didn’t. By the end of that standoff, 124 rebel soldiers had been killed and 348 had been wounded by those Black Beret soldiers — soldiers with whom Denise and I had unknowingly flown on a plane!

At times in life, we’ve likely all been oblivious to what’s happening around us. Had Denise and I known we were flying with 85 trained killers that day, we would have experienced some apprehension about getting on that flight. But we thought we were the only two people on board. We actually enjoyed the experience, laughing and talking during the entire flight to Moscow. We only realized 85 “Rambos” were riding with us when it was time to disembark. By that time, it was too late to worry because we had already arrived safely at the airport in Moscow!

As Denise and I watched the monitors from inside the airport terminal and saw those soldiers being lowered into the remains of the White House, we hardly spoke a word. We were stunned that we had been that close to those armed and trained killers and yet completely unaware of it. As we awaited our next flight, we each sat quietly, pondering the events that had just taken place. It wasn’t until we were securely on board our flight to Riga that we finally began to talk again. Excitedly, we began talking about the situations we all find ourselves in at times, that we don’t fully comprehend until later. And we particularly talked about the ministry of angels — that just as those Russian killer soldiers had been dispatched to restore order and peace, God sends His angels on “covert missions” to oversee and protect us in times of danger and uncertainty.

Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are they not all [angels] ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” You and I are the heirs of salvation, so this means that angels are sent forth to minister to you and me. But what exactly does the phrase “sent forth to minister for them” mean?

Notice the verse includes the word “minister” in some form twice. It says, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” In both cases, the words “ministering” and “minister” are a translation of the Greek word diakonos, which depicts high-level, top-notch service of various kinds. As we look at the ministry of angels in the New Testament, we find that angels provided especially high-level, top-notch service to the saints when they experienced various types of need.

The following is a condensed list of activities that angels perform. Please keep in mind that this Sparkling Gem is about God’s care over us when we are oblivious to things that are happening around us. In such moments, angels step in to provide certain kinds of high-level, top-notch service for us — including the list of angelic assignments that follow in this teaching. Of course, angels also have other roles, but for the purposes of this discussion, we will focus on the role of angels to minister to believers — heirs of salvation.

Angels Meet Physical Needs

Matthew 4:11 and Mark 1:13 tell us that when Jesus concluded His 40-day fast in the wilderness, angels appeared to Him and ministered to Him, thereby meeting Jesus’ physical needs after that 40 days of fasting and being tempted by the devil. In both of these verses, the word “ministered” is a translation of the Greek word diakonos. Wherever this word is used in the New Testament, it pictures a servant whose chief occupation is to meet some kind of physical or tangible need.

Angels Give Strength

The Bible provides many examples of angels strengthening the weary, but the best New Testament example is found in Luke 22:43, where an angel strengthened Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane during the most difficult time of His earthly life. It says, “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” This word comes from the Greek word enischuo, a compound of the words en and ischuos. The word en means in, and the word ischuos is the Greek word for might or strength. When these two words are compounded, the new word means to impart strength; to empower someone; to fill a person with physical vigor; or to give someone renewed vitality. In other words, a person may have been feeling exhausted and depleted, but suddenly he receives a robust blast of energy that instantly recharges him.

This means that when Jesus’ disciples and friends couldn’t be depended on in His hour of need, God provided an angel who empowered, recharged, and imparted strength to Jesus, thus renewing His vitality so He could victoriously face the most difficult hour of His life. Thus, Luke 22:43 provides a vivid New Testament example of how angels strengthen the weary.

Angels Can Give Supernatural Guidance

Examples of how angels provide supernatural guidance are abundant in the New Testament. Matthew 2:13 says an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to quickly take Mary and the young Christ Child into Egypt because Herod would seek to kill Jesus. Later when Herod died, an angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, informing him that Herod was dead and that he and his family could return to Israel (Matthew 2:19-23). In both of those instances, the supernatural angelic guidance occurred in dreams.

In Act 10:3, we find an example of angelic guidance that also changed the course of history. An angel appeared in a vision to an Italian centurion named Cornelius who lived in Caesarea.

Although Cornelius was unsaved at that moment, God heard this man’s prayers and intervened on his behalf by providing angelic guidance. The angel who appeared to Cornelius instructed him to send his servants to Joppa to summon Peter and his companions to come to him. When Peter arrived at Cornelius’ residence, the apostle preached the Gospel to those who were present. All who heard Peter repented and were filled with the Holy Spirit. At that historic moment, the door to salvation was opened to the Gentiles, and the Gospel message began to go forth into the Gentile world.

Angels Provide Protection and Deliverance

The Old and New Testaments are filled with evidence that God assigns angels to guard and protect His people. For instance, Psalm 34:7 says that angels encamp around those who fear the Lord to deliver them. Psalm 91:11 promises that God will give His angels charge over His people to keep them in all their ways. We see a New Testament example of how angels guard and protect God’s people in Acts 5:17-20. In this account, the high priest rose up against the apostles and had them arrested and thrown into prison. Verses 19 and 20 say, “But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”

A few chapters later in Acts 12, we find the story of Peter being arrested and thrown into prison. After Herod ordered the beheading of James (see Acts 12:1,2), he saw that many Jews approved of his action. Therefore, in order to garner more support and popularity with the angry mob of Christian-haters, Herod gave the order for the apostle Peter to be arrested next. The authorities may have recalled the previous time when a group of apostles miraculously escaped from prison because this time Peter was delivered to “four quaternions of soldiers” (Acts 12:4).

A “quaternion” refers to a group of four Roman soldiers. So four quaternions — or four different groups containing four soldiers each — successively took turns guarding Peter throughout the night. Verse 6 tells us that Peter was sleeping between two guards in that prison while two other guards stood watch at the prison door. Suddenly the angel of the Lord came into the prison cell and awoke Peter from his sleep, telling him to rise up quickly and leave the prison. Instantly, the chains that held Peter were loosened and fell to the ground.

Not only did the angel of the Lord set Peter free from the chains that held him, but it seems the angel also temporarily blinded the guards so they were unaware of what was happening. Peter followed the angel through the first and second ward until he came to an iron gate, which supernaturally opened in front of him without anyone touching it. An angel delivered the apostle from the horrible destiny that had awaited him at the hands of Herod.

Angels Perform Superhuman Feats

Perhaps the best New Testament example of angels performing superhuman feats is when the angels rolled away the massive stone that lay before Jesus’ garden tomb. Matthew 28:2 says, “…the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” The word “stone” is the Greek word lithos, which simply means a stone. It is known, however, that the stones placed in front of such tombs were immense in their dimensions — impossible for a human being to move without the assistance of several people.

Another remarkable example of an angel’s superhuman strength is recorded in Revelation 20:1-3, where John writes: “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, And set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”

At the appointed time, an unnamed angel will seize Satan, bind him with a great chain, shut him in the bottomless pit, and seal it so he can’t escape. No natural human being would ever be able to perform such a feat, but this passage of Scripture clearly states that a day is coming when an angel will single-handedly accom

And to think — such “ministering spirits” are dispatched to “minister” to those who will inherit salvation. That’s you and me! God has specifically sent angels forth to meet our physical needs, to give us strength, to supernaturally guide us at times, to provide us with protection and deliverance, and to perform superhuman feats on our behalf.

Flying from Murmansk to Moscow with 85 hidden trained killers — while Denise and I were completely oblivious to that fact — reminds me that wherever we are and whatever we’re doing, we have a group of “ministering spirits” that are assigned to watch over us and care for us. In fact, looking back on that incident, I realize that a “special-forces unit” of angels is always assigned to Denise and me! And these trained spiritual combatants pose a far more formidable threat to unseen devilish forces than the threat those 85 trained soldiers posed to rebels occupying the Russian White House that day!

If you look back over your own life, I’m sure it won’t be difficult to recall moments when you experienced angelic assistance to help you overcome in the midst of what you were enduring. You may not have seen those ministering spirits with your physical eyes or even felt their presence, but it is certain they were there, for that is God’s promise to you and to me in Hebrews 1:14!

I am sure that we will have many things revealed to us in Heaven that angels did for us that we were not even aware was happening! It gives great confidence, though, to hear testimonies like this, and to know that as God is not a respecter of persons, He WILL do the same for us! No need to ever operate in fear, for there are ALWAYS more that be with us than that be with the enemy! And ours are much more powerful! So, with the child-like faith that God desires us to operate in, here's Hillsong Kids with "As The World Shakes":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "narrow". It's found in the New Testament only in Matthew 7:13-14:

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. KJV

This is the Greek word "thlibo".  Strong's Concordance says: to crowd. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: to press. Vine's Expository Dictionary says: hemmed in, like a mountain gorge; the way is rendered "narrow" by the divine conditions, which make it impossible for any to enter who think the entrance depends upon self-merit. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says: Literally: to press, squash, hem in, be narrow. Some people think that they have to try to do and be good enough to enter into Heaven. I remember sharing the Gospel with my mom, who was raised Catholic. When I asked her what she would say if she died that day and was asked why she should be allowed into Heaven, she said, "Well I have tried my best to be good." When I shared the Truth with her that JESUS took upon Himself ALL of her sin and shortcomings, and that the ONLY way into Heaven was to receive Him and His free GIFT of Salvation, she was overjoyed! She prayed right then to be born again, and she told EVERYONE she saw that she was a BELIEVER! 

The WAY is VERY "narrow" in that there IS only one way! But that WAY costs us nothing but our pride in admitting that in and of ourselves it cannot be done. Acts 4:12:

12 And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.

I see such a light of love and life in each of your beautiful daughters and I know that others see that, too! As I pray for you and Kristine and your family, I really sense that there are going to be many who want to know about the hope that is in you, and the light, life and love that they always see! Keeping things simple will help tremendously in answering these things! Here is Hillsong UNITED with "Here's To The One":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!