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“Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." (Revelation 19:9-10, NKJV)
Amazing isn’t it – a wedding that cost $45,000,000! And I thought $10,000 for such an event was extravagant (which it is, for many families.)
That, I repeat, was a mere $45 million as the estimated price paid for the marriage ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England, according to some reports (CBS). About $40 million went to cover security needs, with over 100,000 as the estimated spectator size lining the route after the wedding, and thousands more invited guests gathered in and around Windsor Castle. So overall about $5 million was spent just for the wedding itself. (Still unfathomable!)
The UK taxpayers cover those security costs, leaving the family to reportedly pay for the wedding themselves. (Doesn’t the father generally cover most of that, as here in the USA? I guess it is different among the royals.)
Meghan’s dress was reported to be around $340,000 alone. I am sure the military provided Harry with his uniform, so they saved there if that was a concern.
When I see such grandeur (meaning splendor and impressiveness, especially of appearance or style) I get somewhat cynical and judgmental at the very use of such funds. After all, could not that money have been spent on the needs of the poor, which I am sure also line the streets in the nation’s cities? (Didn’t England’s own Scrooge say that once in regards to the poor?)
And yet I recall a message once given by a Bible teacher, outlining the ways the Lord demonstrates some of His majesty through the specifics each nation represents of His glory, if only as just a glimmer. What England and other monarchs through the ages have shown is quite royal, and yet even that is nothing compared to the overwhelming glory of the King of the universe. By their earthly demonstration of a kingdom and its royalty, we are able to see, again as if only a glimmer, how much our Eternal King, His Only Son and Holy Spirit are preparing for those who believe and have accepted His salvation. That salvation, by the way, paid in full, bought solely by the precious Blood of Jesus, the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach.
When I take some time to ponder the majesty and glory of heaven, I simply cannot comprehend it all. And yet, the grandeur it represents will certainly cause this temporal world’s presentation to be far short of that which is to come.
“Who compares with you
among gods, O God?
Who compares with you in power,
in holy majesty,
In awesome praises,
wonder-working God? (Exodus 15:11, THE MESSAGE)
What a hope we have, for those who are trusting in the saving grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, He Who came sinless, lived among us, was brutally crucified, dead and buried, and then Who magnificently rose on the third day, fulfilling all prophecies to that point concerning the Messiah. He Himself is soon to return on His mighty steed, taking up His throne in the city of the Great King, Jerusalem,Yerushalayim. What a day that will be!
Nothing compares to that which is to come, and yet He allows us to see some glimpse of it while we remain here on earth.
While I still have a bit trouble with such immense wealth some have here for a few decades of life, my Lord tells me that the mansion and eternal life laid up for myself and many others far exceed that which we know now.
So while it is good to celebrate marriages (between one man and one woman) as we await the mighty big one that is yet to come, between Jesus and His Bride, we say “Even so, Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus! Your marriage supper will have it all!”
Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.
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"For this reason you also
must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He
will.” (Matthew 24:44, NASU)
I was still troubled when I woke up that Friday for the start of the
ending work week day. I wasn’t quite sure what the dream meant, but it
disturbed my spirit. I thought I was ready.
In remembering the dream, I recall that a wedding was that day,
and I had prepared as well as I figured I should. What seemed to be my final
preparation was to finish the grilling of the fresh meat for the dinner
reception. Being it was already on the grill, all seemed well.
But then I found out that more people than I had expected were
coming. As I began to fret on that note, I realized that the amount of beef which
I had determined for the original count was not going to be nearly adequate.
Even what I did have now on hand began to shrink as it cooked on the outdoor
grill. It was a dilemma.
I wasn’t panicking quite yet, but I was getting real nervous,
knowing this was not going to be enough. There were more coming to the
celebration than I had planned on, and there would not be the food to feed them
properly.
In the dream my eldest son was about 12 at the time. (Considering
he is now over 38, at the time of this dream and writing, this let me know that
this was a spiritual dream.) He had been helping with the preparations. Trying
to think fast as to what should be done, I began to pull out money from my
wallet to give to him, to run to the store and get more meat.
At first I had thought that just plain hamburgers would do at this
point, but then I realized that besides the additional meat to get, there would
be the necessity to get the buns, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions and such.
No, that wouldn’t work. I knew we had not the time nor the means to get it all done
in time.
So my next thought was, “We’ll just have to go to McDonalds and
get 50 hamburgers.” Great. How was that going to look at a wedding reception?
When I woke, I was asking the Lord to give insight as to the
meaning of the dream. This is what I felt He wanted me to know.
Even though the ages of my son and myself in the dream were in
time past, I sensed in my spirit that this was for a time yet to come, and sooner
than expected. In my current spiritual state, and in the natural I believe, I
thought I was ready, but He was indicating to me that my preparations thus far were
not enough. More would be needed to have what it would take to be ready – for the
large amount of people that were coming.
Coming for what? Coming to participate in the Lord’s wedding, as
He Himself had been preparing for that soon coming time.
There is more to be done. I thought I was ready. He is indicating
I am not.
Are you?
Nowthink on this,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People, Inc.
P.S.I would be most grateful if you'd
share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it.
You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve
We are blessed when the ministry
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Hungary, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can
share out of the abundance you have been given.
Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit
USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father
in the nations.
If these messages minister to you,
please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each
month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help
through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions
receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
Now Think On This - In the Year of our
Lord 01.13.17 - #272 –“I Thought I Was Ready” – Friday 6:00 pm
All previous editions of Now
Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
Again, I would be most grateful if you'd
share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use
the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve
"Give me oil in my lamp, keep it burning, burning, burning; give me oil in my lamp, I pray; give me oil in my lamp, keep it burning, burning, burning; keep it burning till the break of day ..."
I had a dream.
I was awakened in a dream by a Man with jet-black hair, and He said, "Follow Me." So I got up from my bed and began to follow Him into a room filled with people. It was as if I walked right from my bedroom into another house. This Man stood in the corner of the room and gestured with His head for me to watch what was taking place in this room.
I realized, as I looked around the room, that I had stepped right into a parable. I was literally "in" Matthew 25. I was just an observer; no one seemed to know I was even there except for the Man with jet-black hair that brought me. He kept gesturing for me to keep watching.
I saw something very interesting as I began to look around the room; every person in the room had a lantern. Everyone was carrying their own lantern. Some of the lanterns were very beautiful. Some of them were very simple. Some were very old; some were shiny, almost to the point that I wanted to just look at how beautiful these lanterns were; and every person in the room had one. But what I would soon see for myself is that it is not the outside beauty that is needed but what is on the inside. For I saw very quickly that beautiful, unique and shiny lanterns are of no use when the inside is empty. For some lanterns were beautiful on the outside, and I could see they were filled to the brim of oil; and some lanterns, though beautiful and though so unique, were in much need of oil.
This was a very interesting sight that my eyes were beholding, for everyone carried lanterns—some full of oil, some almost empty of oil.
I had stepped into a parable that I had read a thousand times. I noticed the hour become late and everyone began to sleep. Now, being in the parable, I could see that falling asleep was not the main point of this—for in this life and in our natural bodies we get tired and sleep is a part of living in this life; but the key was sleeping not with just a lamp but with a reservoir full of oil.
Suddenly, when all was still and silent and everyone was sleeping, we all heard a cry: "The Bridegroom is coming!"When you hear this cry, well, it is just time.
Now everyone in the room awoke and began to get ready very quickly. Everyone heard the cry, everyone was awakened and got up, everyone grabbed their lanterns, and everyone began to trim their lamp. Everyone had a lantern, and everyone got up to trim their own lanterns, and everyone began to prepare to go out and meet the Bridegroom. The other thing I saw was, at thispoint, everyone's lanterns were shining. Everyone had lanterns that were shining. It was not like some were shining and some were not, but everyone got up and everyone began to trim their lamps, and every lantern was shining.
In the dream, I began to look at their lamps very closely. They were very simple lanterns. Some were not as beautiful or extravagant as other lanterns in the room, but my eyes fell upon not the outside of the lanterns but the oil on the inside. For some were full, and this oil had a fragrance; these lanterns was so full that there was oil running down on the outside. I saw in a clear picture that it is not the outer shine that is the most precious, but it is that which is hidden inside. This is the place I saw the necessity of the oil itself.
As I was pondering all of this, the Man with the jet black hair that was quietly watching in the corner of the room came over to me and said, "This oil is a sign of every 'yes' that they ever said when no one was looking. This oil is a sign of all that is done in secret. All of their yeses, drop by drop, have given oil overflowing. No one can take this from them and they cannot give this away; for though many people shine, no one can sustain the shine without oil, without a secret life."
He said, "Look around the room."
Then, suddenly, this Man became very clear to me as the Lord. At first He was a visitor in the room just watching everyone, and then in an instant, He stepped into a place where I knew exactly who He was. He was there watching the whole thing, very silent, but always watching.
I saw that when the shout at the midnight hour came, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes!" that they all had eyes to perceive His coming, they all got up and took notice of His coming. They all turned their attention and began to observe His coming. "Behold," was said to everyone in the room, and everyone looked up to see Him coming. Everyone looked and perceived, and everyone trimmed their lamps.
They put in order their lamps, their "shine," their "glow."
Sustain Your 'Shine'
As they all got up and put in order their lamps, they made ready their shine; they began to prepare their shine to go out and meet the Bridegroom.
I began to look around the room, and I saw everyone with their lanterns, and everyone at this point had "shine." But very quickly the "shine," the "light" coming forth from the lanterns, began to fade in those whose lanterns had little oil.
Then suddenly the great struggle began, for many people had beautiful lanterns but they did not have oil. I saw that the key is to sustain your shine, your light. For many lanterns were lit and shining, but the key is to be able to sustain your "shine." The key to sustaining the shine is by carrying a reservoir of oil with you (within you).
I saw that everyone who took their lamps and took no oil with them had just enough oil to make their lamps burn for the present, but no bottle of oil with them to sustain their shine.
I woke up from the dream, and I knew thatwe are in a season to get oil. Many of us have "shine," but the key is to have that which will sustain our "shine."
Every season is the right season to get oil, that we would be able to sustain our shine. And the oil comes from the simplest of things: it is simply having a heart that says "yes," a heart that says, "I love You, and I trust You, God." It is mostly the little things that fill our vessels with oil; it is simply a heart that is not offended and that rejoices with those who rejoice.
How to 'Buy' Sustaining Oil for Your Lamp
I began to study this parable. When studying the Jewish marriage ceremony, when the bridegroom literally came for his bride, it was a custom sometimes used among the Jews that the bridegroom came, attended with his friends, late in the night, to the house of the bride, where she was waiting for him, attended with her bridesmaids; who, upon the notice given of the bridegroom's approach, were to go out with lamps in their hands, to light him into the house with ceremony.
The office of these virgins is to meet the bridegroom; they come to wait upon the bridegroom when he appears and, in the meantime, to wait for him. Their chief concern is to have lights in their hands when they attend the bridegroom, thus to do him honor and do him service.
As the parable goes, they all went out to meet Him and they took their lamps; this word "lamps" comes from the root word meaning "to shine." They took their "shine" and went out to meet the Bridegroom. Everyone could see shine at this point.
The five foolish took their "shine" and went out to meet Him. You can "shine" for a little while, even with a little oil, but the key is the ability to sustain that "shine," and that takes "oil" in your lamp. They all trimmed their lamps, they all had a flame, but this flame needs to be sustained with oil. But the wise took oil in their "vessels." They took a reservoir of oil. They took with them that which would sustain their shine.
At this point the five foolish realize they do not have that which will sustain their shine; they do not have a reservoir of oil and only have enough "shine" for the moment. "Our lamps are going out," they said. "We want what you have. We want you to give to us that which sustains your 'shine.' For the flame which sustains our shine is going out. Our shine is beginning to 'go out,' to extinguish. Our divine influence has 'gone out.' I don't know His voice anymore. I don't know what He is saying. Tell me, what is He saying?"
The foolish virgins were told to go and buy oil. That word "buy" is agorazo. It is the same word that is in Revelation 3:18: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be dressed, that the shame of your nakedness may not appear, and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see."
It is also very similar to the other word "buy" in 1 Chronicles 21:24: "Then King David said to Ornan, "No, for I will surely acquire it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.'"
And this word means:
to get, acquire, buy, posses, to obtain of God originating, creating, wisdom
to buy
This is our season to buy oil, to purchase from the Lord that which is tried in the fire—that which costs us everything.
To acquire of God
To buy
To redeem
To obtain of God what you can never receive or get from man.
In this season, trust God is in control. Let every sting lead you straight into His heart, and buy gold and oil by trusting and being unoffended if you are overlooked, if you get thrown under the bus, when you are mistreated by your peers or when you are demoted.
In the middle of all of this, talk to Holy Spirit. Right in the middle of it all, you can redeem and acquire knowledge. You can get oil, drop by drop, filling your lamp and running over right in the middle of a hard season. You can sustain your shine. You can get oil.
Julie Meyerhas spent over 15 years in Kansas City working alongside Mike Bickle to help establish the International House of Prayer. She is part of the leadership team overseeing the Global Prayer Room. She is a worship leader, songwriter, author and has also been a part of the staff at Forerunner Music Academy teaching vocal lessons and pouring into the next generation of worship leaders, singers and musicians. Julie is a popular conference speaker and singer. She is the author of two books and many CDs, and she travels internationally, ministering at churches and conferences, leading worship and sharing on revival, God's heart for raising up the house of prayer and worship. To connect with Julie, visit juliemeyerministries.com.
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עוד ישמע בערי יהודה ובחוצות ירושלים - קול ששון וקול שמחה קול חתן וקול כלה
Thus says the L-rd, Yet again there will be heard in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy & the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom & the voice of the bride!
Dear Friends and Prayer Partners,
Oh, how we thank you for praying for us during the wedding of our son Avi-Asher and his beautiful bride, Liora. The L-rd truly anointed Richard as he presented the Good News during the ceremony! Enjoy photos from Yad HaShmona near Jerusalem and thank you for praying for Avi and Liora's destiny in the Land!
The Harvest and Signs of War
The beautiful love story of Ruth and Boaz was acted out at Kehilat Ha Carmel by Shayla and Ariel (Carolyn played Naomi) followed by a clear presentation of the Good News by Ariel. At the end many came forward to receive Yeshua - praise G-d for an incredible Shavuot blessing!
Recently I picked up a hitch-hiker who confirmed what we're hearing. The young man, who was returning from war exercises in the Golan, repeatedly exclaimed, "You won't believe what's coming!" He was referring to the chaos happening with ISIS in Syria and about how Israel might find herself in the midst of it. I told him that I know what's coming because the L-rd has shown me. He didn't understand. So I told him to keep his eyes on the L-rd and gave him a Psalm 91 bandanna and the "Supernatural or Just Remarkable" booklet while sharing with him about G-d's promises and the Messiah of Israel. He gratefully thanked me and yet continued to exclaim, "But you won't believe what's coming!" L-rd have mercy and open our eyes to see You!
Journey to France, Switzerland and Germany
The L-rd has called us to return to Europe to continue to call Jewish people home and to raise up more Jeremiah 16:16 fishermen among the Body of Messiah. We're continually amazed when we respond to G-d's call about how He opens doors that we could never imagine! Just before the wedding, I was incredibly busy and yet the L-rd called me to go up to a conference in Jerusalem. So I went and I discovered that G-d had prepared the hearts of several French believers to receive me. As I spoke with them I could see a light in their eyes when they realized that G-d wanted to use them in a significant way to call the Jewish people home. Many are already playing an integral part in this journey! Here is our schedule, G-d willing of course!
June 14: Gemeinde in Konstanz, Germany
June 17: Internationale Christengemeinde, Freiburg, Germany / info@icg-freiburg.de
Then Venice to Trieste, Italy - please pray for divine appointments
We're also planning a journey from Florida to Texas along the Gulf Coast this November so thank you for prayerfully considering us coming to minister in worship and Word...
MDA, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, is the #1 emergency medical service in Israel and continually sends first responder teams to disaster areas around the world. Please support the new CFMDA - Christian Friends of MDA as they stand with Israel and bring medical help and comfort to our people Israel in times of distress.
Come to our home in the beautiful Galilee for worship, Israeli folk dancing and hear how the L-rd is moving in Israel today. Enjoy dinner from our balcony with its beautiful view of the Kineret (Sea of Galilee), Golan and Jordan Valley!
Worship CD's from Israel with songs in Hebrew, English and some German and Spanish!
We are so grateful for your love, prayers and support as we reach the lost with the love of our Messiah! At the wedding alone one out of three were pre-believers in Yeshua and they all heard the Good News of the Holy One of Israel!
We write L-rd and G-d in this way because it's a Jewish custom that Carolyn grew up with and it's done only out of reverence and honor for the name of the L-rd. Thanks for understanding.
Nothing compares to that which is to come, and yet He allows us to see some glimpse of it while we remain here on earth.
Now think on this,
Recently I picked up a hitch-hiker who confirmed what we're hearing. The young man, who was returning from war exercises in the Golan, repeatedly exclaimed, "You won't believe what's coming!" He was referring to the chaos happening with ISIS in Syria and about how Israel might find herself in the midst of it. I told him that I know what's coming because the L-rd has shown me. He didn't understand. So I told him to keep his eyes on the L-rd and gave him a Psalm 91 bandanna and the "
Blessings in Yeshua's love, 
