Personal thoughts as we prepare for the New Zealand trip

As we make final preparations to go to New Zealand (February 25 to March 17), there are some news worthy items to bring to your attention.

First, multiple reports indicate that Iraq finally published the complete budget on February 23, the last watch date regarding victory over “Jericho.” They had published a partial text of the budget in their Gazette last Sunday, but only now have they published the complete text.

Congratulations to Iraq. It’s their first legal budget since 2003. Perhaps now they can implement their plan to implement taxes and tariffs on their “deadline” March 1. Many are also hopeful (and emphatic) that their currency will finally become internationally tradable and will revalue to what it was before the 1991 UN sanctions. That would be nice, but we will see. From the prophetic perspective, I have no watch dates until March 18, the day after we return from New Zealand.

My sons will carry on the routine work in the office while I am gone. They will send out book orders and go to the bank and post office. But I may be delayed in answering letters or emails.

The series on Luke is now complete, and we have copies to send out. The final book on Luke (Book 8, “The Climax”) will be posted shortly online in the Books section.

I plan to put The Two Covenants into book form when I return from New Zealand. I took the blogs and formatted them into a booklet that is 40 pages. But I still need to proof it and make any final additions, clarifications, and corrections. I did not have much new material in this series, but I repackaged it in a way that clarified the distinctions between the two covenants. In a few areas I took some teachings further than I had done before.

The Father also gave me some new insights in the book of Malachi over the past week end. Right now, I do not know if this means I should cover Malachi in the next series and then put it into a book. I am still hoping to get into the book of Daniel, but I may be led to do Malachi first.

Malachi is to the Old Testament what the book of Revelation is to the New Testament.

Malachi prophesies of the conditions that would develop in Judah leading up to the ministry of John the Baptist. His prophecy covers the so-called 400 “silent years” between the testaments.

So it seems that before I get into Daniel and Revelation, I may have to do a shorter study on Malachi. At any rate, I will pray about it further and see how I am led when I return from New Zealand.

I only have 60 more books of the Bible to go. My goal is to finish before I am 120. Perhaps then I will have a better understanding of the Scriptures. Then I will have to rewrite all of the old books in order to account for a more complete perspective.

I figure that I have to live long enough to complete my assignment on earth, and at the present rate, I will live forever.

It appears that the Ukraine cease fire agreement is slowly stabilizing and taking effect. No doubt there will yet be some violations as the two sides growl at each other, but for the moment it seems to be holding, except for some private armies that do not feel bound by any cease fire agreements. According to Dr. Jim Willie, the US Blackwater mercenaries who were surrounded by the pro-Russian troops and being threatened with annihilation were allowed a “safe corridor” to leave Eastern Ukraine, thanks to Russian President Putin. Willie suggested that Obama give up his Nobel Peace Prize and give it to Putin. He was at least half serious.

With news from Ukraine becoming sparse, AOL News has returned to its usual silliness, reporting pseudo-news and trivia and gaining revenue from advertising that they present as “news.” I really don’t care what Reese Witherspoon wore to the Oscars, and I certainly don’t care how Neil Patrick Harris stripped down to his skivvies at the Academy Awards. These reports are for amusement, not for serious news.

Yet even these reports tell us about the world we live in today and what is important to so many people. The mission field is increasing, and we have a lot of work to do. When I look at the condition of the world, it seems hopeless, but when I look at what God has said He would do, I am greatly encouraged. The power of flesh cannot turn this world around, but I have seen enough glimpses of the power of God to know that He is more than capable of doing what He promised.

Those who believe in God’s capability ought to prepare themselves, not to build a church but to build a Kingdom. Think big. You can think only as big as the size of your faith. Your faith is only as big as your understanding of the mind of God. Your understanding of the mind of God is only as accurate as He reveals it to you, as you study to show yourselves approved unto God (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).

In the big picture, we have crossed the threshold from beast rule to the rule of the saints of the Most High. We are yet in transition insofar as world conditions are concerned, but insofar as the divine court is concerned, the saints of God have received the Divine Mandate to form the government of the Kingdom of God. We are preparing for this even now in whatever way we are able, as led by the Spirit.

We have seen a shift in the heavens and are now feeling a shift in the earth. It is still quite early, but it is a seismic shift. The movements of tectonic plates are minute, shifting perhaps an inch per year, but the immense land masses that are moved each year can result in massive earthquakes and volcanos. So also with God’s movements in the earth. We are nearing a great eruption of the Holy Spirit and an invasion of heaven that will bring to naught all of the plans of men.

I know quite a bit about the plans of men, for I study them carefully. Many of those plans I do not share with you, because I do not want to spread fear. My mandate is to build your faith, not your fear, to rejoice in what a good God is doing, rather than to be frightened by what bad men are doing. If we can be in the place of faith where we can see the bad news of the world and yet have no fear, then is our faith strong. We can then do our work from the position of rest.

We have no escape plan, because we do not intend to flee from the bad people. We intend to stand firm and watch the Father subdue all things under the feet of Christ.