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Running With The Horses, Part 5

We want to continue looking at our series, “Running with Horses.”

Jeremiah asks God this question in Jeremiah 12:1-4, “You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before You. Yet I would speak with You about Your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. Yet You know me, Lord; You see me and test my thoughts about You. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, ‘He will not see what happens to us.’” In Jeremiah 12:5 God asks Jeremiah this: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?”

Over the last several months we have been looking at each of the seven seals as we look at God’s response to Jeremiah.

Revelation 6:12-17 tells us, “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

We have seen the intensity of these seals as they have been opened. The last line of this passage is what we want to zero in on, and it has to do with God’s response to Jeremiah: “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” That question is for us today. Will we be able to stand? If we find ourselves having a difficult time dealing with what has been happening over the course of the last several months, what will we do when things only get worse? God wants us to be overcomers. It’s the overcomer that He will bless.

I think we can find the answer in the last seal. Revelation 8:1-5 says, “When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

Yeshua told His disciples all they needed to know on how to overcome in chapter 24 of Matthew. Briefly, He told His apostles that many would come in His name, but they should not be deceived. He also told them that when they see the abomination that causes desolation (referring to the book of Daniel), if they were in Judea then they were to flee to the mountains. Well, this happened in the third Jewish revolt. One did come saying he was the Messiah, and people followed him. The abomination did come, and those who heard Yeshua’s warning knew that they must flee to the mountains. Everyone else followed the false messiah in the revolt against Rome and were all killed.

We must know the Word of God, but we must also know His voice. He will lead us, for He is the Good Shepherd and He will show His sheep the way (John 10:27-28).

Matthew 24:42 tells us, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

Luke 12:35-37 says, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.”

Proverbs 12:7 says, “The wicked are overthrown and are no more, But the house of the righteous will stand.”

So, how do we stand? We see that the angel has a censor full of prayers. We must be praying.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Messiah Yeshua for you.”

This is God’s will, that we never stop praying. Ephesians 6:18 tells us that after putting on the full armor, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”

We will go into all of this in more detail, and more, in part 6. But for now, remember this: “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be His God and he will be My son” (Revelation 2:17).