Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus…
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Paul’s Chains Advance the Gospel
Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly…
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
I got up out of my seat to take care of something and then I remembered a dream I had in the night, which is a very familiar theme to me from many previous dreams. THE DREAM: I was planning to sell our house, and then I decided to take some money we had to renovate the house first, and then I would put the house on the market to sell. I could see very old wallpaper on the walls that was peeling off. I believe the wallpaper was a flower print. END
My Understanding: In praying for understanding of this dream, in relation to this passage of scripture and its practical application to our lives today, I read several news stories, two of which I will reference below.
In the dream I was planning to sell our house. To sell something means to unload it or to get rid of it; dump it; market it; and/or retail it. A house is a place where you live. This was not my physical house or a house that I recognized. So, the house either represents the USA, the US government (if I am representing someone in the US government, which I often do) or the church, as the house of God, I suspect. Or, it could be a house that we own or that we possess in some fashion somewhere outside the USA, and thus it belongs to us.
I decided to take some money I had come in possession of to renovate the house before selling it – before putting it on the market for retail sale. To renovate something means to recondition it; repair it; revamp it – give it a facelift or overhaul it; and/or to remodel it. Oftentimes this process involves tearing some things apart first – removing the old to make room for the new. Once the renovation was complete I would put the house on the market to sell.
The only visible thing I noticed that needed to be repaired in this house was old wallpaper that was peeling off the walls. The wallpaper was of a flower print. A wall is a barrier or a divider; a fortification. Paper can be news, a document or article, so this is perhaps speaking of some kind of news story or a document of some kind that serves as a barrier to something or that serves as a kind of fortification or that has been covering or serving as a cover for the wall. A flower is the symbol of something that is flourishing, developing, blossoming, and/or budding. And, in I Peter 1 it says that “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” The wallpaper was peeling. To peel something means to cut away or pull off the skin or outer layer of something.
Clinton in Libya
I read a news story about Clinton in Libya offering a new aid package. I saw this new assistance packet as this money I had that I was going to use to renovate the house before selling it. Aid is also a word used for the word “support” and the article also spoke of increased U.S. assistance for Libya’s new leadership.
I believe the Lord has shown me many times over that the U.S. government is working in cooperation with the international community (the New World Order) in Libya to overtake this nation, to gain control of its government and all its natural resources and lands and that we are involved in killing innocent civilians, believers in Jesus Christ who are taking a stand for their faith, and anyone who stands in the way of the goal of the New World Order in taking control over the entire world and all the governments and people of the world. So, the new leadership in Libya is the N.W.O., I believe, and the U.S. has increased their support for the N.W.O. and what it is doing in Libya to take control of the country. And, I believe this is the “renovation” being paid for by this “aid” money.
These articles about Libya paint a picture for us of troops and people loyal to Gadhafi against those who want a new government in Libya and that we are over there in Libya to help facilitate the Libyan people’s freedom from their oppressive leader and to help pave the way to yet another democratic government and free and fair elections. The Lord continues to paint a different picture for me and that is one of the New World Order (international community) of which our government is a part taking over the nations and peoples and governments of the world by force through trickery, war, faked and staged uprisings, not-so-natural disasters, and/or staged terrorist attacks or foiled attacks to instill fear in the people so we will believe that we need to be in these wars to protect the people of America.
So, when these news articles speak of strongholds (the wall) and resistance (the peeling of the wallpaper, perhaps), and they talk about Gadhafi’s forces against the uprising, this is really speaking of the New World Order, or whatever you want to call it, coming into countries not theirs and taking them over by force, killing at will, raping, pillaging, etc. We are not the good guys and we are not there to offer aid to the people of Libya. We are there to take them over and to “renovate” them before we “dump” them. Yet this is about much more than just Libya. This is happening all over the globe and it is coming to America, too. It is just a matter of them having all the right people and plans in place and then the hammer will strike. So, the resistance is really those who are pulling away (peeling) from the stronghold of the New World Order, which includes believers in Jesus, and they are being killed because they are not willing to bow.
Obama
I read another article about Obama on the campaign trail in N. Carolina and Virginia. The article spoke of him selling himself, which brought to mind that I was going to sell the house after I renovated it. Money was mentioned here, too, for infrastructure spending. An infrastructure has to do with the structure of an organization and the foundation of that organization. I saw this as related to the wall from which the wallpaper was peeling (the resistance). And, then the article mentions that, on the campaign trail, Obama had the freedom to engage in retail politics, which made me think again of the sale of the house. Obama represents the USA, he signifies the office of the president, he is the chief over our government and thus he is a figurehead for the USA government, so what is being renovated and eventually sold, I believe, is the same as with Libya, i.e. our government and form of government within the USA is being renovated and is being sold out to the N.W.O.
The Word
Paul stated that he was in chains (imprisoned) for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet, he said that what had happened to him had really served to advance the gospel. He said that, because of his chains, most of the brothers in the Lord had been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. He prayed that Christ would always be exalted in his body, whether by life or by death, for to him, to live was Christ and to die was gain, because that meant he would be with Christ. He longed to be with Christ in glory, and I so empathize with that longing, yet he also knew that God had work for him to do yet on this earth and that he was to continue what he had been doing for the spiritual progress, encouragement and joy in the faith of the believers.
When we read the New Testament of the Bible we learn that those who gave their lives to Jesus Christ often became the targets for persecution and even were killed for their faith. We don’t know much of that yet in the USA, but it is there and it is going to get worse. Yet, people of other nations for generations have experienced this kind of persecution and targeting for death because of their faith in Jesus Christ. And, in the Bible times and even now, I believe, this kind of persecution has the positive effect of furthering the gospel, which could very well be related to this wallpaper, as flowers were a picture of something budding, growing, and blossoming, as well as flowers Biblically represented man and the idea that just as flowers will die, so men die, but the word of God is what remains.
Paul offered many words of encouragement to the believers, and I believe one of the main purposes of this writing is to encourage the church, too, to stay strong in the faith because God, who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until Christ returns. We should be growing in our faith and in our love for God and others so that we may be able to discern what is best and may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns, not willfully giving into fleshly desires which war against our spirit. As we grow in our understanding of who Christ is and who we are to be in Christ, we should be encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly, even in the face of great persecution and the real possibility of being killed for our testimony.
Paul also offered words of encouragement and counsel when he said, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” For many of them, the “whatever” was great persecution and the martyrdom for their faith in Christ and their testimony for him. So, even in the face of this, we are not to shrink back in the sense of pulling away from our true foundation, Jesus Christ, but we are to continually conduct ourselves in a way that is reflective of the life of Christ within us and the truth of the gospel. We are to be unified in our unrelenting stand for Jesus Christ, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel and we are not to be frightened away, by those who oppose us, from our pure devotion to Jesus Christ and from testifying about our Lord.
If we are not living for the Lord and our Christian experience is more like a social club, religious activities we perform, and/or rituals we go through, but our hearts are far from God or they are certainly not where they should be, we will not be able to stand when this kind of persecution and the true takeover of our nation by the New World Order hits America. We have to stand as one man, contending for the faith of the gospel and not frightened easily by opposing forces for our own sakes, as well as for the advancement of the gospel and for the sake of the salvation of human lives for eternity. So, I pray we will all examine our hearts before God to see if we are conducting our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ or if we are just going through the motions but our hearts are far from God. I pray we would all make the conscious decision of our will and heart today to pray for God to move us to worship him only and for him to teach us how we can live for him.
Lord, Move Me / An Original Work / October 16, 2011
Be my desire, my heart set on fire,
Lord, move me to worship You only, I pray.
Fill with Your Spirit, my heart overflow.
Lord, may I long for You; Your word to know.
Teach me to walk with You, Lord, in Your power,
And may I serve You, Lord, right now in this hour.
Lord, how I want to obey You forever.
Help me to hear You, Lord, so I will not stray.
Teach me to love You; adore You always.
Envelope me, Lord, with Your grace today.
Meet me in my need, and show me Your mercy.
Forgive me for all things, as I humbly pray.
Counsel me, lead me, direct me, and guide me,
So I follow You, Lord, where’er You lead now.
I love to hear You speak Your words to me.
I am so grateful that You set me free.
Wash me, and cleanse me, and make me like You, Lord,
And I will live with You for eternity.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music at:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs2/home/songs/lord-move-me
Song on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-0kezkuEg
Resources:
Clinton in Libya to offer new aid package
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_US_CLINTON_LIBYA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-18-08-11-41
Obama basks in Southern hospitality on bus tour
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_ON_THE_ROAD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-10-18-06-52-18
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