There is a lot of debating going on online about the sequence of end-time events and whether the Rapture will happen before, during or after the Great Tribulation. 

In case you’re unfamiliar with the terms, let me explain what is the Rapture and what is the Great Tribulation.

The name “Rapture” is not found in the Bible, but is a term coined by believers to refer to this event:

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 WEB)

The Great Tribulation is a future period of 7 years of great suffering on earth due to the tyrannical rule of an evil global dictator called the Antichrist, and also God’s judgment and wrath being poured out into the world:

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22 NKJV)

These “elect” are not us. It’s talking about the people who become believers during the Great Tribulation. They are “elect” and not “saints” because they don’t have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them. ​

The Great Tribulation is shortened to only 7 years because if it dragged on longer than that, the elect would give up and renounce their faith in desperation. 
​
During the Great Tribulation, salvation is not "once saved always saved". Only those who endure in their faith in Jesus to the end without taking the Mark of the Beast will be saved. 

Hi dear reader,

A cherub is a type of powerful angel. Cherubim is the plural for it, and cherubim were stationed at the east of the Garden of Eden to prevent man from accessing the tree of life, after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

​“And each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Then the cherubim rose upward. They are the [same four] living beings [regarded as one] that I saw by the River Chebar [in Babylonia].” (EZEKIEL 10:14-15 AMP)

What exactly does the “face of the cherub” look like as mentioned in the passage? 

Knowing this truth will help you understand the true nature and essence of a cherub. 

The prophet Ezekiel wrote that these four cherubim in the passage are the same ones that he saw by the River Chebar. He described them here:

“Regarding the form and appearance of their faces: they [each] had the face of a man [in front], and each had the face of a lion on the right side, and the face of an ox on the left side; all four also had the face of an eagle [at the back of their heads].” (EZEKIEL 1:10 AMP)

Notice that this time it says “face of an ox” instead of “face of the cherub”? 
The other three faces tally in both accounts.

So why is the face of the cherub equated with the face of an ox? 
I was confused by this for a while, until I meditated on it and the Holy Spirit dropped the answer into my spirit. ​

It’s easy to fall into a downward spiral of sadness. I’ve been there. 
When you allow yourself to sink deeper into the negative emotions and let it fester in your heart, it’s difficult to pull yourself out. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that more than 300 million people worldwide have depression. 

The Bible says that laughter and a merry heart does good like medicine. Choosing to be in a state of happiness when you're feeling sad is actually good for your health! 

Thankfully, there are many ways that the Bible teaches us to guard the joy and happiness in our hearts. In this post, we’ll look at 5.

I was a victim of bullying in school. I admittedly had character flaws, and I struggled trying to fit in, to belong and be significant — stemming from my insecurities. At that time, I wasn’t a Christian yet.

Evil rumors had spread about me, saying that I was smoking, taking drugs, committing sexual immorality, etc. I was shocked to hear them — they were so absurd. 
When I entered a room, I could sense that everyone stopped talking like they were just talking bad about me. It was a dark time and I felt so alone.

Even today, I still get bullied, receiving hate mail from some self-righteous, unhappy people after they read my blog who want to strong-arm me into stopping what I’m doing. 
Why would I stop? It’s my calling and ministry that the Holy Spirit is leading me in. 
Without Him, none of this would be possible. He has given so much Grace and wisdom that it’s astounding. 

Bullying is a real problem and it’s demonic. 
When another person or group of people think that you are weaker and behave wickedly against you with evil intentions to harm you, that’s bullying. 

Today I’m no longer affected by the bullies because I have grown in Christ. If you are facing bullying at home, at work, among your peers, at school, or even at church (God forbid), I want to encourage you and give you some practical keys to overcome the bullies. 

This is an original devotional. Read more original works on my Patreon and join as a patron to receive valuable rewards to help you in your Christian walk with the Lord.

​I wrote the post below  to help you be established in the Gospel of Grace and not to be turned aside to false doctrines of demons. Keep on feeding on the truth until you receive your breakthrough! 

“You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.” (John 8:44 WEB)

Do you think that the devil tells truths some of the time and lies at other times? No Jesus said that there is no truth in him. Everything the devil says is for deception and trickery. 

The Bible doesn’t record many dialogues spoken by the devil, but in those few that exist, we can see that he always lies. 

Firstly, the devil spoke through the serpent in the Garden of Eden. 
He lied that Eve wouldn’t die from eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

“The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”” (Genesis 3:4-5 WEB)

His words directly contradicted God’s words. 

“Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”” (Genesis 2:16-17 WEB)

The devil just wanted to inject an unhealthy dose of unbelief into Eve’s heart. 

The only recorded conversation between God and the devil is in the Book of Job. The devil lied that Job would renounce God if Job lost his material possessions. 

“But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”” (Job 1:11 WEB)

It turns out that Job did not renounce God.

“In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.” (Job 1:22 WEB)

Then the devil lied that Job would surely renounce God if Job lost his health.

“But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”” (Job 2:5 WEB)

Yet Job did not renounce God. 

“But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10 WEB)

The devil just wanted to gain access to kill, steal and destroy in Job’s life. 
He hates nothing more than seeing a blessed, righteous person who follows God’s ways. 
If you seek to live a godly life, you will definitely be persecuted by the devil. 

Why did God allow Satan to attack Job so terribly? 
I believe it’s because He looked into the future and saw that Job had the strength of character to persist through the trials - a virtue that stems from having “the fear of the Lord”. Job saw God as awesome and to be praised. 

God planned a great restoration for Job at the end of the trials, and Job will undoubtedly receive great eternal rewards before the Judgment Seat of Christ in the future.
What an honor he also received to have a book about his life written in God’s word! Job is a blessed man. 

Finally, the last recorded time of the devil’s dialogue is when he tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. 
For forty days and forty nights, the devil tried every trick up his sleeve and yet he failed every single time. 

Jesus refuted every manipulation and lie of the devil with God’s word. 
Whenever a thought arises in you and you’re unsure whether it’s God’s will or not, check with the Bible. 
The Bible contains the revealed will of God. 
If anything contradicts the Bible, then it’s definitely not God’s will. 
This is why it’s important to know God’s word. You can’t apply truths that you don’t know about. 

“The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”...The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”” (Luke 4:3-4, 6-12 WEB)

The devil tried to taint the sinless Son of God - If Jesus did as the devil requested, Jesus would have become the devil’s slave. 
Satan was so proud that he believed that he had the power to cause anyone to sin. He didn’t believe that Jesus was incorruptible.  

Dear brother or sister in Christ, the devil is a master at the art of lying. Never believe in anything he says or anything that belongs to him.
He is so good at lying that everything he says seems to be true. 
Whenever you cut a deal with him, you’re always on the losing end.
If he allows you to have something good (that comes from God anyway - every good and perfect gift descends from our Heavenly Father), he will definitely take away something more valuable from you. 

Instead, trust in the Holy Spirit. God’s word calls Him the Spirit of Truth. He tells only the truth. 
Whenever the devil comes with a lie wrapped in eloquence, listen out for the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your heart. 
He will help you combat the lies by burying them with the truth. 
When light shines into the darkness, darkness scatters. 

The number of young adults and children that claim to be Christian has been falling. According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, a majority of millennials, or people between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that faith in God isn’t necessary to be a good person with fine morals and that the number of young people that are confident there is a God has diminished over time.

This is possibly because the younger generations haven’t been able to connect with God and their faith in a way that makes sense to them.
Nowadays, millennials want to see and experience things for themselves and not just be told what to believe.

If you’d like to help your child connect with God, you might want to bring them to see their faith up close and personal directly from the source.
By taking a trip to Israel, you can show them 2,000 years of Biblical history and help them identify with God at some of these inspiring sites.

God has provided you with many opportunities to serve in His house. You have risen to meet the call and now you have experience to show for it.

Psalm 90:17 says “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands.”

​God wants you to prosper and acknowledge Him in all ways in the running of your household.  Apply that principle to your CV and you can show future employers how valuable your contribution can be.

​Passage of the Day:
“Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.”” (1 Samuel 17:17-18 WEB)

I think we can probably all agree that David’s calling was to become the king of Israel. 
However his journey to the throne did not happen instantaneously, but was a turbulent, drawn-out process. 

Today I want to focus on the beginning of his journey. Prophet Samuel had anointed David as king in replacement of Saul.

By God’s sovereign will, the soon-to-be warring armies of Israel and the forces of the Philistines encamped in the region of Judah, where David lived. 

“Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.” (1 Samuel 17:1 WEB)

When God has a plan for you, He will even orchestrate world events to create an opportunity for you.

As we can see in the passage of the day, God created an opening for David by leading Jesse to send him into the battlefield to deliver a “lunchbox” to his brothers and the soldiers. He was tasked to be a humble delivery-boy.

Maybe you’re feeling like God has prepared you sufficiently and you’re raring to serve the Lord in a grand way. 
“Lord, let me start a revival leading to millions of salvations. I will stand on a huge stage and evangelize for you!”, you might be thinking. 
Or, “Lord, I’m ready for the next level of success. Prosper me and make me a millionaire! I will be generous and plant many new churches, halfway houses, and orphanages for You!”. 

What if the Lord wants to kickstart your calling by starting small? 
Can you put aside your ideals of grandeur, humble yourself like David and be a delivery-boy?
Don’t miss out on becoming king just because serving your brothers with a package of food is something beneath you - in fact, kings are anointed to serve the people, not to be served. 
Thus says the Lord:

“Indeed, who despises the day of small things?...”” (Zechariah 4:10)

“Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.” (Job 8:7 WEB)

Don’t get me wrong, David wasn’t tasked with a menial job because he wasn’t ready. No, he was. 
He had prior training and preparation from the Lord when he killed the lion and the bear. 
David was able to kill a Philistine giant because the Lord had already taught him how to place all his confidence in Him, not in his own strength. 
All the men of Israel were fearful because they were looking at their enemies and at themselves, but David looked to the Lord. 

“David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after him, and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him. Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” David said, “Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go! Yahweh will be with you.”” (1 Samuel 17:34-37 WEB)

Before the Lord uses you for your calling, you will undergo a process of training and preparation just like David, where He will teach you how to trust in Him. 
He won’t use you out of the blue - there is an order to the way God does things. 
He will be the Judge of when you’re ready. Trust in His timing, not your own. 

“By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:24-27 WEB)

There was a man sometime back who said to me that it’s wrong to seek the eternal rewards when serving God.
He called them “toys” and said that he would rather serve out of pure love for Jesus. 

It sounds rather noble and pious of him, but what does the Bible say about eternal rewards and how we should view them in relation to serving the Lord?

The passage of the day shows Moses in the famous chapter in the epistle to the Hebrews featuring the ‘Heroes of Faith’.
The words of praise for Moses’ faith says that Moses looked to the reward. 
He counted the eternal rewards as far more valuable than the temporal riches that he could enjoy in Egypt, and the Holy Spirit recorded it as a demonstration of his faith. 

If it was wrong to serve the Lord and look forward to eternal rewards, then pray tell me why Moses is applauded for doing so? 
If that were true, he should be condemned for serving God with an ulterior motive and not be celebrated for his faith. 

Jesus Himself taught about eternal rewards, and told the listeners to lay up for themselves imperishable treasures in heaven instead of temporal treasures on earth. 

““Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 WEB)

If it were wrong to seek eternal rewards, then He wouldn’t have taught that. He would just say to focus on Him, love Him without desiring any reward other than Him. 

Passage of the Day:
“She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” When she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, his soul was troubled to death. He told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”” (Judges 16:15-17 WEB)

When you saw the title of this devotional, you may have wondered, “What can I possibly learn from that evil, traitorous woman?”

If you really meditate on the text, you will realized that she did something worthy for us to emulate, except in a good way. 

To give you a context about Delilah, she was a Philistine woman whom Samson (a judge who was anointed with great physical strength) fell in love with. 

The lords (leaders) of the Philistines bribed her to find out the source of Samson’s great power. 
Fueled by greed, Delilah proceeded to repeatedly ask Samson to tell her his best-kept secret. 

In the passage of the day, we see Delilah nagging so much that Samson was annoyed to the point of death. 
This woman knew how to “press-in” and “persist” - something that we need to apply when we pray. 

What motivated Delilah to be so dedicated to her mission? 
Her eyes were set on the reward that lay ahead of her. 
She was promised a generous amount of silver in exchange for her betrayal. 

“The lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”” (Judges 16:5 WEB)

She trusted that the lords of the Philistines would fulfill their end of the bargain so much that she didn’t give up, even when Samson lied to her three times:
She had put in the effort to arrange three ambushes for Samson and they all turned out to be failures. 
Delilah had great faith in her would-be rewarders.

When we pray, do we ask with unbelief in our hearts, or are we like Delilah, who had complete faith in the sureness of her reward? 

The Bible says that we must believe that God will reward us when we seek Him - whether in prayer, in studying God’s word or in service to Him. That kind of faith pleases Him. 

“Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 WEB)

Delilah bugging Samson for the answer she wanted reminds me of Jesus’ “Parable of the Widow and the Unrighteous Judge.

“He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man. A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”” (Luke 18:1-8 WEB)

To draw a comparison, Delilah is like the widow and Samson is like the unrighteous judge. 
By repeatedly coming to him with her request, Samson eventually gave her what she wanted. 

If you study the parable carefully, Jesus said that God will quickly avenge the saints who are crying out not once a day, but “day and night”! 
Pray and keep on praying - don’t give up until you see what you’re believing for.