Prudence: A Language Shift

"I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion.PROVERBS 8:12 NASB

 I am struck today as I am often by the language shift in just a few hundred years.

Take the word prudence for instance. Culturally that was a strong and wise word until the 60s. I know this because it used to be what parents sometimes named their daughters back in my great grandparents day.

My parents generation associated that word it with "the establishment" and the free love movement shortened the word to "PRUDE" and turned it into something it was never meant to be.

 I was born after that and grew up on messages in the music that was defiant and angry, where those angry people protested war and checked out of responsibility.

Then the rise of birth control gave women the freedom of sex without the consequences of pregnancy. As a result the divorce rate soars. Suddenly the word prudent was seen as shackles to keep a woman in her place... barefoot and pregnant. Then they legalize abortion so it didn't hinder her ability to have choice. And suddenly we are not very far from the Aztec who threw their babies off the temples as human sacrifice.

I am also struck by the tension it creates for a translator who needs to speak to the heart of a passage to a generation of people who's social mores no longer recognize God's truth as absolute. The boundary stones of meaning have shifted so much in just my lifetime ... and I know that there is nothing special about this generation. Every generation slips this way.

Lord, I desperately need your wisdom -- the Holy Spirit to keep the truth clear from the semantics and cultural references I drag behind me as I read your word. I get a glimpse now and then of how our short life spans keep us from truly grasping and passing down your wisdom. It takes such careful thought to try to untangle what you say and the heart of your meaning when my worldly wisdom and emotional roots are completely knotted in my own experience.

Words matter. They define the container of our understanding and when they shift it breeds delusion. I worry for a generation of people who don't understand what Gods will is because the plain words are no longer plain.

Help me, Lord. I want to know you as you have revealed yourself in the Word. Help me let go of the cultural shackles and truly let Your Word define me. Amen.

The Innermost Parts

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.PROVERBS 20:27 NASB

To know in my head that the Lord searches my heart is one thing... but do I govern my heart in such a way that my life reflects this belief?  Do I ACT as though this is true?

When temptation comes, Lord, please give me the will to reject it and not allow it consent to stay. Give me clarity and strength to hold each thought captive!

He Who Separates Himself Seeks His Own Desire

He who separates himself seeks his own desire, He quarrels against all sound wisdom.A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.PROVERBS 18:1-2 NASB

This is how pride takes over and self delusion and self destruction begins. The word says that the enemy prowls around like a hungry lion.  Lions hunt herd animals by singling them out of the crowd; targeting those who are weak, hungry, lonely, tired... alone.  If we are isolated it's easier to wear us down, feed us lies, and convince us that no one else understands what we are going through.

It's why we are commanded to live our life in community, so that we can admonish and correct and love and support one another. It's why we are supposed to confess our sins to one another, so that we can live in the truth with one another instead of the complicated justifications we make to avoid our own sin and culpability.

I grieve for those who have withdrawn from fellowship with believers and now follow what is right in their own eyes. The reasons and the stories vary but ultimately, they don't want to be told that the thing they are doing, that is meeting their core needs, is wrong.  They don't want to give up this thing that God calls sin ...and they call precious.

The enemy encourages this by telling them they are smart, enlightened, empowered.  And by this time, many have burnt relational bridges behind them and used scorched-earth tactics to avoid the guilt and shame of their behavior.

I know and care about many who have fallen away some pick fights with me because they fear that I will preach at them or judge them.  I guess it's true, I judge that they have made some terrible choices.  Those decisions have consequences.  I will and I do preach the good news.  I have to. In my mind right now I am listing them by name, I do this every time I pray for them.  They are in my prayer list, and there are enough of them that they are their own line item for prayer, all grouped together and mentioned by name every time I pray for them. I haven't given up.

Why?

*Because their lack of belief doesn't make God un-true.
*Because HE knows them by name.
*Because HE loves them even more than me and he is faithful and just.
*Because if I take refuge in His judgments instead of my own, I must keep praying for them like one does CPR.  I cannot write them off and out of my life until death.
*Because He is the great physician, and they aren't dead until they are dead, I will continue to pray until He notes the time in His book of life.

What I haven't done is written them off.  I grieve for them.  Pray for me to have the right words to draw them back!

What about you?  If you have stuck with me on this journey I am on, I will assume that you too have a list of people that used to believe and now do not.  Let me encourage you to write their names down.  Pray for them regularly and often.  The bible says that there is no where we can go that He cannot reach.  The Prodigal Son found his way into a pig pen, at rock bottom and penniless .  King David committed murder by proxy to keep another woman through adultery.  Where are your friends and family that have fallen away?  Their story isn't finished yet.  HIStory, is still being written and there is still time. Because God can reach them even where they are.

I pray also for you, that you do not give up doing good.  Hold the hope for them for a while if they have lost their own.  Hope is a powerful thing, and one of the three that remain (1Cor. 13:13).  My prayer for you, dear friend, is that the Holy Spirit stoke your hope.  May the breath of God breathe new life into your hope and make it burn bright.

I pray it light the way home for those lost in the dark and alone.

Amen.

3 months ago

Deliverance and Justice

But You, O God, the Lord, deal kindly with me for Your name's sake; Because Your loving kindness is good, deliver me;PSALMS 109:21 NASB

 I can't help but marvel at how the Israelite viewed injustice as coming from man and God as the one who delivered justice. Today in our culture man is so quick to blame God for all wrongs and then use it as the excuse to not trust or believe in Him.

Lord, help me to trust in your justice, help me lean heavy on your mercy.

Perfect, As Your Heavenly Father is Perfect

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.MATTHEW 5:48 NASB

This whole chapter is just hard. No one can be perfect! It's an impossible command if we try to do it on our own.

And maybe that is the whole point, that we can't do it on our own resources.

Could it be that the whole point is that the Holy Spirit is to be what is perfect within us? That rather than being perfect in and of ourselves, we submit to Him and let Him be what is perfect in us?

How To Break The Cycle

For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; And they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.PROVERBS 4:16 NASB

 Submission to the Lord means that we adopt his rubric for right and wrong, not our own.

The world (our sinful nature) does not submit to him and continually seeks a flawed and short sighted vengeance for personal wrongs. It chews us up. While in pain we lash out -causing even more harm, continuing the cycle on others. When we accept that God will settle the accounts without causing residual harm, it frees us to break the cycle.

You can be RIGHT or you can be in RELATIONSHIP. If you are so focused on the the things done that were wrong it's very difficult to release it to the Lord and allow Him to make it right. Proverbs tends to make everything so black and white for teaching purposes, but people are complicated and never all of one thing or another. I've had my share of times when I couldn't sleep for wanting to make someone pay for something they'd done. This observation isn't just about "the world" but about me too.

The lesson in this for me today is to remember who has my back when I am wronged. He sees the heart of the people around me when I am blinded by my own emotions. Lord, help me trust you with my outrage. Help me lay my own agenda down, to submit to your leading and take up your cause instead of my short sighted and emotion - fogged one. Amen.

Hate Evil Psalms 97:8-10

Zion heard this and was glad, And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced Because of Your judgments, O Lord.For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.Hate evil, you who love the Lord, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.PSALMS 97:8-10 NASB

 There is a theme ringing through Psalms 97 and 98 and reflected again in the first part of Proverbs 31 about God's Righteousness and His judgments. In both cases all people's and even creation is happy to see it come. God's judgment is something to rest in and long for. They rejoiced in it.

Judgments made by anyone in today's culture are not received that way and I wonder if it's a lack of trust in Him... or that the Enemy has taken the gift of discernment between right and wrong and made it suspect ...  I mean, does this politically correct culture really hate evil?

Likely it's both and many more things I haven't looked at from this angle long enough to see yet.

 Lord, teach me to trust you more. Give me a discerning heart that can see your truth from the lie of the enemy. Help me make right judgments and the courage to quietly stand on them even if I do it alone. Amen

Slow To Anger

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.PROVERBS 16:32 NASB

Wow. This flies in the face of what the world has to say. We just aren't encouraged to do this today. I love the echoes of this thought in the father character in Little Women who encourages his children to "conquer themselves"(The book version, not the movie) . I wish more of our stories held the bar up and showed us how to rule our spirit instead of following our own desires.

Life Is Messy Proverbs 14:4

Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.PROVERBS 14:4 NASB

In my mind I hear the ancient telling me in his own colloquial way that life is messy. But despite the mess, the effort is worth it.  You can apply this to a work model, as the proverb suggests, and also to all life interactions.

I think the point is that we need to be in the harvest, metaphorically speaking.  We need to be engaging with people, tending the relationships, binding the hurts and being willing to enter into the mess that comes with it.  It's part of storing up our treasures in heaven, maybe.

What do you think?  Do you agree with my take on it?  Do you have another thought to share?

But As For Me Psalm 59:16-17

But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress.O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.PSALMS 59:16-17 NASB

As is often the case in the Psalms this song starts out with vitriol against those who "wait in ambush for his life". and then here in verse 16 (as so many of them do) it changes gears and says "but as for me" and it gives all the opposite emotions of ardor, trust and even joy.

Never once does the Psalmist blame God for the hard thing in their life. They don't throw out to God that he could have stopped the evil thing if he'd only loved him enough.

How vastly different we respond to terror than so many of the psalmists.  Isn't our first reaction to bad things to blame someone else, especially God, who is supposed to be in control of everything?

Reading the psalms over and over I see the pattern that we are supposed to follow while in distress.  God is very interested in what our troubles are, and invites us to spill them to Him.  What the Holy Spirit inspired scripture presents to us is a way to cope through the struggle by trusting Him even when we are under persecution.

Lord, help me to cast my disquiet and fear at your feet without blaming you for my lot. Teach me joy when things look bleak. Teach me to take refuge with you instead of fighting my own battles.

You Who Forget God

“Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”PSALM 50:22-23 NIV

 So many of us humans have mistaken his mercy and patience as involvement.

We have bought into the lie that God has no power or that He really is is the made up version that we created.  We've remade him into a personalized genie to focus on our happiness.... to get us out of trouble or help us with our addictions.

But there will be a reckoning. And every breath we draw - yes, our very life is borrowed from Him.

I urge you to read the word and find out who he really is, and what he came to do.  Let him speak for himself, and then deal with him!  Don't forget him or remake him into something that is less offensive or controversial.

Justice For Man Proverbs 29:26

Many seek the ruler's favor, But justice for man comes from the Lord.PROVERBS 29:26 NASB

 One of the side effects of thinking of God as an Un interested force or an impersonal one, is that the unbeliever doesn't really trust God for justice.

Flattery

In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their own sin.
Psalm 36:2

 It's so easy to read verses like this and think that it applies to someone else.  But I will tell you this, every time I make excuses or justify my own sin, I have my focus on something else that I thought I was doing well or was blameless of.

Sometimes I am aware I am doing it and it feels hollow.

 But I am shocked at how often this seemingly contrived response to sin happens without my conscious choosing of it. It is a defense mechanism that roots itself itself in my flesh to avoid having to look at it square.

Without the word of truth to light up the lie I would be so much more self deluded than I am. So *raises coffee cup in a cheer* here is to looking intently into the Word and asking the Holy Spirit to continually convict and give us the courage to look at ourselves square on. *clink*

Proverbs 4:23 Guard Your Heart

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.PROVERBS 4:23 NIV

As a mother of girls, this verse I would tattoo on them if I could. It's in a girls nature to just want to be loved... guard your heart! Discipline it to see first the strength and maturity of the young man's own life before you give him yours.  But this verse goes even deeper than this top layer that I went to first.

The world works hard at teaching people to listen to their heart and follow it's dictates blindly, as though it were some great authority,and following it a virtue.  How many movies have you seen that follow this script?

Like a child, our hearts (the seat of our emotions) come into the world undisciplined and  always hungry.  Hungry for love, for acceptance, for respect, for belonging.

But somehow in our world we have it backward.  We believe that our hearts - our emotions are incourruptable, and it's everyone else who needs to change or understand or accomodate us.  So we go from one emotion to another always in search of validation to justify our decisions and  postitions.

Proverbs 29:17 Peaceful Children

Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.  Proverbs 29:17

There are companion verses that go with this, "Train up a child in the way he should go" is the most famous of them. My favorite is found in Proverbs 19:18 and says "Discipline your sons, for in this there is hope; do not be a willing party to their destruction."

The axiom here is that when we give children limits and boundaries, then hold them to it, they are just nicer people to be around.  They interrupt less, they are more careful of the space they occupy and the impact they are making on the people around them, they are generally quieter and less demanding.

I remember when my kids were small and they wanted my attention.  I'd trained them to come beside me and wait until they had my attention.  If I was in the middle of speaking to someone else, or they were speaking to me I would hold one finger up to tell them "One minute"  and then I would put my hand in their lap or take their hand so they knew I hadn't forgotten them.  They knew they were next for my attention and just quietly touching them helped them control their impatience.

Another trick I learned when they were fighting, was to put them on the couch and not let them up until they'd worked through the problem themselves, without making me the referee.  They had to talk through their frustration with each other, admit who was in the wrong, ask forgiveness, grant it, and then get up from the couch and play together again.  It put all the power in their hands to navigate the peace.  It especially helped the victim, as they couldn't get up until the one who was wronged was ready to forgive.  The one who'd behaved badly had to convince the one she'd hurt that she was sorry or they didn't get up from the time out.  It was exhausting when they were little, because I had to walk them through each step over and over, but now as teenagers and adults, they are still close and enjoy not only each other's company but I am consistently told by others how much they are respected.

The discipline that the bible is talking about is less about spankings and punishment and far more about giving them tools for mastering themselves.

A Question about Boundary stones

Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.
PROVERBS 22:28 NIV

This is a verse I would like to study more.

Ancient boundaries... is this a word picture for the solid commandments that God gave to us? Is it a cultural reference for inherited land (as in what was promised through Abraham)? I just don't know and think I'd like to find out.

If anyone reading this has any comments or insights, I'd love to hear them.

Stage One in Echo Edit

Today I am trying to unravel the Gordian knot that is my novel. Its the last push, only seven more chapters left in the original draft, and I've hit a wall.  So, I'm procrastinating, writing an update here instead of doing the two revised character sketches that might provide the answers to my plot problems. 

You see, after several years of floundering, feeling whelmed by the task of editing this 540 page monster, I've been blessed with a lady who is graciously  giving me her time and expertise in the larger editing, not line by line, grammar or word choice stuff, but the bigger picture things. I think that the actual editing, rewrites / cuts will come easier than this painful process.  (Easy for me to say from this side of the outlining. *grin*)

Stephanie has given me a breakdown of my novel in cards, detailing each scene and providing reactions, feedback, and pointing out logic errors and asking pointed questions.  This has proved to be an amazing tool. Using this this as my checklist, I'm literally driving the new outline by the answers to those observations and questions.

In  anycase, to have this resource, after all these years of whining and avoiding, to NOT make use of it, would be wrong. There would be no excuse left for me to hide behind.

Okay. That it. I just spanked myself back to staying on task and going back to the outline.

Next time I update I'll tell you about the other projects I have on the burner.

Thanks for stopping in to check on my progress.

Winter, Writing Projects, and Photography Updates

Photo by Deanna Rittinger

It's cold!  Polar Vortex storms, sub degree weather ... brrrr!  I'm ready for winter to be over. I found these snowmen in my town on the way to dropping off my girls at school.  I'm gonna guess that the people who live here are tired of winter too.  That or they are really huge fans of Calvin and Hobbs cartoons.  *grin*

It's been a long time since I used this blog for anything other than devotionals.  Mostly because my husband felt that I over-shared with my posts and while I tend to live my life like an open book, he's much more private.  This illustrates one of the many places that you learn to bend when you are inside a marriage that works hard at two becoming one. So I let the personal stuff sit for a few years and took up the commitment to write an article once a week in tandem with the church as a whole reading through the bible. I spent those years building into my character how to write to a point, within a format, and to a deadline.  It did good things for me.  One of the biggest things I learned is that I can share the truth I know in a form that doesn't over-share.

After a few months of playing hookey, I'm back to writing again.  I have two projects in the hopper that are keeping me busy.  One is a book of wisdom I'm writing for my kids.  My legacy to them: things God has taught me about life, being a wife, parenting and friendship.  It's patterned after the scripture found in Deut. 11:19 "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  It's coming along, resembling a big slab of clay right now.  I keep tossing stuff in the document I think I want to cover, but it's not got much shape yet.

The other project is a rewrite of Echo.  The 540 page monster I wrote several years ago needs block editing before I can even begin to work on a polish.  So I've secured the help of a wonderful friend and fellow writer, Stephanie Gillett.  She's written her own novel and you can purchase On Edge at Amazon.com.  Go check it out, I'll wait for you to come back. *smile*

Anyway, she helped me by pulling the novel apart into various scenes and giving me detailed thoughts and asked pertinent questions regarding them.  I'm now using this tool to rework the outline, and create a checklist of scenes to rework, create, or delete.  This will keep the pesky details roped in to wrangle when I do the rewrite and force the novel to conform to the new outline.  Right now, as I go back through the outline over and over making changes it doesn't feel like I'm making much progress.  But I am working my way through her notes, and though each hard question I make the decision on means amending my outline the shape of the novel really is coming through with more clarity.

Oh!  Also, my photography business, Ritt's End Photography LLC made enough this year to break even on what I'd invested into it for equipment and marketing.  Yay me!  Along those lines, I've been approached by the high school Drama Club to take a more official stand with my photography and meeting their needs for documenting and archiving their productions.  How cool is that?  They are going to meet again and make some decisions, but even being approached for consideration is an honor to me. 

Dexter Drama just finished up their production of Crazy For You, and will be rounding the corner on their yearly Student Directed Shorts; several one act plays that are entirely created, directed and produced by the students. Megan got cast on one of them, and I'm looking forward seeing what she does with the role.

Well, that's enough for today.  Thanks for checking back with me.

Death Dies

Revelation Chapter 21

Scripture:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.  But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death.  (Revelation 21:7-8)

Observation:
The reason why some of the scripture here is in quotes is because the references made by John link back to Isaiah chapter 65, where he talks about the thousand year reign, the life span of those during that time, and the new heaven and new earth that comes after.  This explanation of heaven isn’t a new concept, but rather, an ancient one, one that God has promised all along and is the fulfillment of prophesy.

Application:
No matter if some of us are living and reigning with God during that thousand-year span, mentioned in the previous chapter- Revelation 20, or whether we join him after he remakes all things, we who have believed by faith and have our names on the Lamb’s Book of Life will join him.

But not all roads lead to heaven.  I know this isn’t politically correct for the current thinking of our society, but it really does matter who you believe in (the object of that faith), and the substance of it.  (Is it mature and strong enough to survive testing?).  As hard as it may be to hear, being a “good or moral person” isn’t enough to get us into heaven.

Believing in a thing doesn’t make it real.  It’s who you place your belief in, and HIS power that makes US real, and brings us into His reality.  He provides a list of those who won’t make it into heaven: the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, those who practice the magic arts, the idolaters and all liars.

It’s easy to look at that list and check them off as not applying to us, but I want to focus on two things from this list that might very well apply to us.

First: He is truth, and His truth sets us free from the chains of our self-delusion of believing in the lies we tell ourselves.  You know the ones I’m talking about, we say them to ourselves to keep us feeling comfortable and safe; justified in our positions, and always right - since we filter it through our own, one-point experience it comes out sounding like “that’s just the way I am”.

Second: Once we believe the lie that we can go our own way and still get into His heaven, Idolatry takes over.  This is expressed in our behavior when we fashion our faith into something that makes us feel good about doing good things, projects, or programs.  It comes out sounding like “That’s something I can get behind”. Instead, we should find out what He has to say about a subject and getting behind HIM in it.  (If you are doing it right, the world will reject you.)

Do you say you believe in God?  Then find out what he has to say about himself, and follow him instead of what feels good or right to you.  Your mother may only want you to be happy, but God says that the heart is deceitful and wicked (Jer.17:9).  Your feelings are bound to your flesh and are constantly at war with the Holy Spirit.  If following God is comfortable and easy for you, then you should take a strong look at what you believe in, what you are conforming to with your time, energy, and resources – because only those who do not practice idolatry get to inherit the heaven he has planned.

Prayer:
Father, I pray for the people of my generation who are like cold-blooded animals that adjust to the ambient temperature around them.  They cannot tell the truth from the lie …and so they lie comfortably.  I pray for those who believe in you, that the Holy Spirit within them brings conviction to their actions so they are found approved by their testing of faith.  I pray for those who do not believe, that you would prepare the soil of their hearts to hear the gospel.  I pray it is spoken to them clearly, and for their heart, soul, mind and strength to respond; for it will require strength, endurance to stay the course until the end when you usher us into our new homes with you.  Amen.

The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath

Revelation Chapter 16

Scripture:
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

Observation:
There are a series of three judgments poured out on man. Each of the judgments are successively more severe in area, duration and number of people affected. Those judgments as listed in the book of Revelation are: The seals, the trumpets and the bowls. In today’s chapter we cover the final series that are ushered in by the last trumpet sound, the bowls speak to judgments that bring on literally the end of the world.

Application:
Here is what Peter had to say about these times in 2 Peter3:1-13:

3Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. 

You know what? I couldn't have said it better myself.

The question Paul wrote lingers and echoes in my mind "What kind of people ought you be?" I saw today a quote today that said "Jesus did not die to give us peace and a purpose in life; he died to save us from the wrath of God." (Attributed to Jerry Bridges, but I thought the quote timely for today.)

On the day that our savor died, the words "it is finished" were the last words from his mouth. Then where was a n earthquake and the temple veil was torn, ushering the way for God to live in us. Here in this chapter we get another echo of that day where a loud voice from the throne says in verse 17 "it is done!" just as the final earthquake hits the earth and the earth is literally torn and we are ushered in to live with him.

Prayer:
Father God, help us be the kind of person who takes your word seriously. Help us be the kind of people who love you and reach out to save your children from the fire, instead of basking in the glow of it. Amen.