The author is the noted Charles Dickens. I remember having to read or plough through this book…… I think the more appropriate word would be using a bulldozer to get through. My book report did not achieve a great grade at all…… The measure of my attitude reflecting the teacher’s choice in books….was revealed.
We can give glory to God as the Author of the two cities written through the Word….. I thank God for the Holy Spirit because we do not have to plow through the Word of God because He has quickened us to receive the revealed Word with understanding this day! Okay, maybe Leviticus -we need some added grace to see the loving purpose of God……..
One spiritual city is referred to is Babylon and the other is His city, the city of God. One city’s riches were revealed on the outside and the other’s riches were inside the city illuminating their King, His people. We are also included in knowing the end from where we stand today. Praise Him.
All cities hold court to their heart’s desire of their perception…….. One held its court to its outside wealth….. The other city held court to their True Wealth, their King….. The King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. This great King has each of His peoples name written on His hand. He even knows the number of hairs on each one’s head. This King has redeemed each one by His own shedding of blood. This King knows each one’s name…… He basks in the love of His people for Him and His people bask in His great love and His great might and strength. The King holds court with His riches, His people. The people have found their Treasure, the King. The city of God is His people and the people of the city of God were of the King…….. The walls and foundations were established and built by the King and His people.
The other city, there are many kings and they hold court with their valuables surrounding them. These cities are the reflection of the heart of men……. In each country, there are the tares and the wheat. In each one of our gardens, there are found flowers and weeds……. The days are here to choose the path that we want to be found on when we meet the Lord’s gaze.
As written in today’s Proverbs 18:10-11), The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem.
When we let go of vain riches of the eyes and turn our gaze to behold the King in His beauty. Our hearts soon lighten and enjoy our days with freedom….. The Lord Jesus spoke of Himself coming as a thief was not because He wants any one’s stuff….. For all of this universe is His, He was speaking about calling on our souls to show an account of our lives……on a day we do not expect…… He comes suddenly.
Joy is found in our giving and not getting…. I have found that over and over again. Haven’t you? Jesus Christ started out His teachings at the famous Sermon on the Mount…..He tells us in Matthew 6:19-21, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break and steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches, ( Matthew 6:24).
Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God a little child will be no means enter into it, ( Mark 10:15).
Children, only have themselves…… They have nothing to offer but them… When kids show up, their whole heart shows up and anticipates what is going on so they will not miss out. They will receive all that is around them because they have an open heart.
I do not know the mechanics of the heart but it seems when we hold on to things of this world our heart grows hard because things cannot love back……. People love back. People give and people have need…… People give and people love. The One True Living God loves us and wants us to love Him back….. Their heart remains pure as a child….A child does not weigh the cost to love or receive, the child just receives and loves. By the Holy Spirit, the Lord has empowered us to love Him and others like we want and yearn to be loved……. As a child craves for love and holds nothing back to giving love. so do we as the children of God. We then as children live for the wonder of Him and His kingdom…… A life of living in the unseen and having conversation with the God who created the universe…… Let us never loose our WOW for God.
Each person can choose to be like our King serving His people or can choose to be as King Nebuchadnezzar. One day King Nebuchadnezzar was walking through his kingdom commending himself on how big and great it was…… That instant it was taken away from him so that he ate off the ground like the beasts for seven years and at that time this king learned the God of the heavens ruled the earth and the sons of men. He raises up one and puts another low……. He raises the humble and puts down the proud.
There are so many parables that were spoken by the True King regarding hoarding riches and not entering into the kingdom of God. Greed can close the Door to our heaven as well as pride and envy…… The human heart as got to be taken out and the heart of flesh put in by our Heavenly Father at our rebirth from the salvation of Jesus Christ.
It would be a huge awakening if we really live as the Word says- we do not take anything out of this world as we did not bring anything into this world….. Our life is a gift from God. If we receive gifts of the Holy Spirit they are to bless and feed His people. If we receive riches of the earth, we are to be rich in good works and bless and feed His people.
When we acknowledge that all we have is from the Giver of Life and we are just vessels which He refills as we pour out to others, our sleep is sweet and we have the peace that is beyond understanding….. We are loving as we have been loved by the Giver of His Life for us. He will reward us for the gifts or talents He has given us and their multiplication.
There are so many scriptures regarding riches and watching our desires. As we die daily, our desires are transformed into the desires of our King….. We lose the desire for the tangible and live from a supernatural of life of the intangible. We glory in the cross and learn how as He poured forth, we also pour forth our life for the kingdom, not our fame or our fortune or our name….. but for His eternal glory because we have been given His glory eternally. What more could we need or want? We have all because He is our all…….
I suggest to do a word study on riches. Put one column for the Lord’s riches and the other column, riches of this world…..See then a report on where our heart falls….. Which tips the scales in our walk towards the Kingdom of God or our kingdom….. Be honest…. If we desire to change, the Holy Spirit will take us up on it.. Remember where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty as written in 2 Corinthians.
Our Heavenly Father’s intent for us all is to ascend to His ways and thoughts and leave ours behind…… Yes, it takes the courage and strength of God to follow Him in our cross and leave all behind…… But do not let evil deceive us, what we walk away from will be filled and replaced with the True Riches of God. There is no comparison. His measure is greater than we can think or imagine.
When the Lord walks through His vineyard, He is checking His fruit….. The fruit that is found in Him, that He will keep and tend….. All other will be found burning in the fire. Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility, ( Proverbs 18:12).
Our God is good and He is just……. He is holy and instructs us to be holy as He is……. Holy is to be set apart for Him…… Set our whole hearts after His heart which is His Word of God. If we are humble in obeying His Word with the Light He has bestowed on us, then we will not be found wanting by Him…… Our heart or our house will be founded on the Rock….. Our God who is our Stronghold or Strong Tower.
Remember our Lord only spoke highly of one little widow……..The scribes and Pharisees and kings, He warned His disciples of the leaven….. The little lady put in a small amount of money compared to the rich….. Her heart worshiped the Lord with all she had….. Not part….. but all……. Like Mary she worshipped the Lord with her whole attention and she chose the best part so did the little lady. She gave her all to Him…… Beloved, let us have hearts He takes pleasure in….. A whole heart……..given and remade into His heart. A heart that lives and dies unto and for His glory……. Sold out for Him and Him alone…… A citizen of the city of the King……
If we read the Gospels, we will see that everyplace a heart tried to show himself righteous, the Lord showed up their pride…… The Lord did not show up stuff for the sake of showing up our weaknesses, but to illuminate that there is none righteous, no not one……. Only the Son of God……… The Lord always lifted up the humble and the ones who seemed to have eyes to see His kingdom ways…….These see no other kingdom but His for they have had their heart broken and healed by His great love.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you, ( Titus 2:11-15).
We choose our lot by our own decisions. The Holy Spirit instructs us to which path leads to righteousness and yes, His path is hard on the flesh of man…… but yields great peace in His righteousness. As written in Psalm 119:2-4, Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently.
Psalm 119:10-11, With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh , let me not wander from Your commandments! Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:14-15, I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.
As we set towards the Lord in obedience, the Holy Spirit immediately picks us up to the high places in His strength so we may overcome and be found spotless before Him. This is the way of the Lord , and this is the process of sanctification of God in His people so there is nothing but a holy people worshipping a holy God. So we say, yes, Holy Spirit do Your work within our thinking and our ways that are contrary to our Lord’s…… Burn us with Your fire today so we may shine for all to behold the Lord. Let each way or thinking that is contrary to You, My King, be destroyed as You alone are our Strong Tower and Refuge.
This is the way the Lord behold’s a city that is contrary to His ways and commands…… 2 Kings 17:7-16, For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, which they had made.
Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars ( strongholds in our day-false belief system), and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying: Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.
Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them.
I realize this is the Old Testament but the first martyr, Stephen, was speaking pretty much the same thing in Acts 7 to the people opposing the Messiah being Jesus Christ and His Spirit……..Mankind’s hearts are deceitful until the Lord gets a hold of us and enlightens us by His love. Makes us reborn by His Spirit and we are cleansed by the Precious Blood of Jesus…Glory all to Him, who is worthy! We must obey or we will bear the consequences of a Holy, Just and very much Loving God. His love never fails us as He calls us to repentance every second of every day to all…… His love is calling out to come into the Refuge of His Son for this world will pass away and all that remains is the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of God….. Our Delight and Desire of all the nations.
God blesses the nations that call on Him as their God. In His Holiness, He does tear down all idols. It is His nature, for He alone is God.
When the people of God in a nation, turn and repent, He will hold and may even relent on the judgment coming. Remember, every day His mercy is new, yet men insist on rejecting the mercy of God.
Let it be said of this generation, that we heard and turned and repented. We let go of our wicked ways and asked for His great mercy to make His path known to us. May we be granted to see our King’s footsteps go before us in triumph in His overcoming power that He has given to us within each heart….. Blessed be His name forever.
I do not remember anything about the Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, but I am in receipt of the fear of the Lord for the finish of any opposing city to the Lord and His Kingdom which will have no end…… Let’s see…. what shall we choose this day? Life Eternal and accept the wisdom of His warnings or not……Let us live and react to the Lord as a little child beholding all of our God through His Son, Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit. Running to Him because of His WOW!
As written in Psalm 119:33-37, Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness,. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.
P.S. If anyone does not know the outcome of Babylon and the city of God, please refer to the last book of the Bible, Revelation of Jesus Christ, chapters 18-22.
Selah!
Children,
What more can I have done for you? None more……. My grace is sufficient for you to hear and obey My calling you. As I AM has spoken over many days ago, oh how My heart longs to gather you under I AM as a hen does her chicks, but you would have none of I AM…… Is this still the condition today, My beloved? Your ears are straining to hear voices that are here to day and gone in the morrow. Yet, you do not strain and make room for My voice who quickens the dead and calls those things that are not and not are? Yet, man takes precedence of Your All Knowing God. The God who keeps watch over your sleep and keeps your protected. The God who know the end from the beginning, even I, the Everlasting God, knows your end from your beginning, yet……. You leave to follow the wind of every reed bending, but not the One who has knowledge of the greater coming your way this day?
I AM has rent open the veil of My heart and I AM dwells today with you. Do you not see? Do you still not perceive?…. I AM with you this day. My hand moves and your eyes are blinded for you are not still and watching. Do you not know I AM hears your words…….alas, faith is My pleasure in My children…… Delight Me…..
I AM God over all and all My Words are being fulfilled. Why do you not delight in the signs and wonders I AM revealing this day? Come into My step and the rhythm of My heart….. then your eyes shall behold the plans I AM has……and are being completed. Nothing of My Word will be left unfulfilled…… I AM does not need coaxing to perform My Word. Does a husband return from a journey speedily because of the love He knows is there ? Faith is My desire to hear from every heart.
Some plants grow quickly and sprout up bountifully. Other plants need their ground to be softened by the rain and sun. Even then, they grow so slowly to the sun….. But both are growing in the direction that I AM has spoken.
Even Esther knew how to reach the heart of her king, as the Spirit assisted her in her seeking Wisdom, so will My Spirit quicken you to My heart. My scepter is within My name. But alas, I AM has exalted My Word above My name. Fools are thought wise when they cease speaking . Be wise, speak when you hear My Word spoken within. Do not resist your rest by the pressure of the fear of the enemy. Be ever still and listen…… Know your God will be exalted…..
My Script will be played out according to My plan and purpose for all……. I desire good out of all evil….. Rest in the knowledge of your God. I AM holy! The Everlasting God is calling you to rest. Delight I AM by your faith. Trust the All Knowing God to guide you.
Why do My children desire hardship? If not, then come quickly to the table I AM prepares for His beloved. Pride will make you a home with all others who tried to outlast My love and walk in their own stubborn hearts. I AM is known as gentle innocent Lamb as well as a Hammer…… Which do you desire today? For I AM is calling you back to Me. There is a cliff up ahead and with out I AM you shall fall. Will you not allow I AM to carry you over the chasm into peace today?
My blood speaks forever: you are Mine. I AM has called you with a holy calling that will not cease all the days of your lives. Come to I AM today. Leave your foolish ways and pride behind. Do you not know or perceive every knee will bow to the King of glory. Come into the pleasure of your King today. I delight Myself in you, My child. Come Home! I AM is watching for your glance My way so I AM may come and cover you with My everlasting love and mercy. You are My beloved…… Dwell in My presence this day. Come into the Promise of My Beloved…… Hear My heart cry for you and let the drops of rain touch your brow remind you of My tears of your walking away……. Alas, will you turn to I AM today? Yes, I know the day you will….. Do you? Come! I AM loves you!
