Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It has been a VERY long time since I have posted; almost 3 years! The Lord has been taking me on a journey and I have fallen more and more in love along the way. The journey has been messy, but God knows our hearts; He made us, and we are His! "For grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." I am married and now have a wonderful 15-month-old son. Parenthood is a revelation itself in understanding a fraction of the fatherly/motherly love that He has for us! What a wonderful Savior and God we have!
For those of you that this is the first blog post you're reading from me, you may already know that I am a Christian. When I was ten, I saw an angel after asking God if He was real and if He loved me. (Check out my first post "Testimony" where I wrote about it a few years ago). Even though I had that experience, I didn't come to Jesus until I was twenty-three. I looked everywhere else for fulfillment. I dabbled in witchcraft when I was younger, I partied a lot, dated around when I was a bit older, I considered other religions and beliefs and found nothing but emptiness. I gave everything that I was to everything else but God, to the point of wanting to end my life. It was at the end of my rope where Jesus was my last option that I asked Him to take my mess. It was only then did I find restoration and peace for my soul. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
I plan on making other posts in the future of some of the lessons I have learned in the last 3 years but there is one conviction on my heart that brought me back to the blog. This post is directed towards believers. If you are reading this and are not a believer in Jesus Christ, I will be writing to you in a separate post, but please feel free to keep reading if you're interested!
"'Yet even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.' Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, and a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children; even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. "
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls."
Brothers and sisters, He is calling us to repent and turn back to Him.
"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you."
"But
I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did
at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place,
unless you repent."
"But
I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of
Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so
that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So
also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolations. Therefore repent.
If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my
mouth."
"But
this I have against you, that you tolerate that women Jezebel who calls herself
a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual
immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols."
"I
know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold
or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you
out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,
not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked."
I
believe we are in the days spoken about in Joel, Acts, and the Gospels. There
is a stirring in the Spirit and if you have a sense of it too, you understand
what I mean.
"And
there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of
nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,
people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.
For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of
Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin
to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is
drawing near.' And he told them a parable: 'Look at the fig tree, and all the
trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that
the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place,
you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I saw to you, this generation
will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and Earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away."
It's
time to wake up Church. He is coming like a thief in the night. We must be watching,
and we must be ready. Have oil for your lamps Church for the Groom is coming
for His Bride!
"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy yourselves.' And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
I want to share with you a dream I had. This was during the solar eclipse back in September. I was fasting for a few days prior to the total solar eclipse. I knew that this event was significant, but I didn't know what it meant so I prayed and fasted. After my fast and the night of the eclipse, I had this dream:
I was in a home, it was not the one I
am in now or one that I have been in the past, but it was familiar to me. I was
doing chores; dishes, cleaning, etc. While I was doing this, an older man (I
did not recognize him but in my dream, he was familiar.) called me to the back
door. It was a screen door looking out into the back yard. When I looked out,
the old man pointed to the scenery in the back yard. There was green grass,
trees and off in the distance were mountains. The old man pointed towards the
mountains and said, "Jesus is coming and He is coming soon. He is just
beyond those mountains." After he told me this, I was immediately excited
but also anxious. I was anxious because I didn't feel I had everything done yet
and was surprised it was so soon.
Brothers and sisters, He is calling to
us, He is pouring out His Spirit. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the Churches! If you have had a similar conviction, I would
love to hear from your or hear what He has been saying to you. May
the peace of the Lord be with you!
Love
in Christ,
Coree
*All scripture is in bold and in the
English Standard Version. Scripture in the order they appear in the blog:
1. Ephesians 2:8-10
2. Matthew 11:28-30
3. Joel 2: 12-16
4. Joel 2: 28-32
5. Revelation 3:1-3
6. Revelation 2:4-5
7. Revelation 2:14-16
8. Revelation 2:20
9. Revelation 3:15-17
10. Luke 21:25-33
11. Matthew 25:1-13
