Emy Oliveros

Q4. Why should we continually ask forgiveness? How can unforgiveness on our part block God's blessing? How can unforgiveness block God's forgiveness? We should continually ask forgiveness so that our prayers will not be hindered. For the Bible says that "If we regard iniquity in our hearts, He will not answer us". God will only forgive us as we forgive those who sins against us.

Q3. Why do we seek to be independent of asking anyone for help? Why do we seek to be independent of God? Why should we ask God to "give" us daily bread so long as we can earn a living for ourselves? We do seek to be independent of asking anyone for help for reasons sometimes we don't even want to admit. Like we don't want to appear poor, giving the impression that we can manage whatever comes, not showing them our weaknesses. Same is true with God, we do seek to be independent of God, as if we can do all things without God in our lives thru our own wisdom and strength. We should ask God to "give" us daily bread to show our dependence of Him. That apart from Him, we cannot do anything. our sustenance is dependent on Him. we should only concern ourselves for today because our tomorrows are already in His hands. Like the manna in the desert given to the Israelites, they are asked only to take food enough for them for a day, more than that it gets spoiled. God knows what we need but wants communion with us so we need to go to our Abba everyday!

Q2. In what sense are we asking that the Father's kingdom should come? Why are we asking for the Father's will to be done here on earth? How should this prayer affect our living? We are asking that the Father's kingdom should come when we do ask Him to reign and have a full control of our lives, trusting and believing that this is what should be the reality if only sin has not entered in the garden and man did not fall short of the glory of God. We are asking for the Father's will to be done on earth (because something is already settled there in heaven, that's why we say... as it is in heaven), when we ask Him to let His glory and power be manifested in our midst. Adding your word from the lesson: "When we pray, "Your kingdom come," we are asking God to manifest the power and glory of his kingdom in us, and throughout our world. What a prayer! We are praying that Christ might reign over all. We are also asking the Father to hasten the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Amen!" We should look forward to this time with expectancy as we pray to the Father to hasten the return of our Lord Yehoshua Ha Mashiach to the earth, our hope of glory!

Q1. What about our lives and words "hallows" the name of our Father? What desecrates and besmirches it? How should we "hallow" the Father when we begin to pray? Answer: Our lives and words "hallows" the name of the Father if we give Him the due respect that His name deserves as a holy God even in knowing He is our Abba, Father! Give Him the highest praise for who He is, for what He can do, and for what He has done as He alone is worthy, there is none else! Using His name in vain desecrates and besmirches it. Not just the words "Jesus!" or "God!" but also the word "Gee" or "Jeez" as an expression used with disrespect (in ignorance?). Also in whatever way we use God's name lightly like swearing in the name of God. I begin to pray by saying, Oh Father, I give You praise, I give You glory and honor that You alone deserve! King of kings, Lord of lords... The Great I Am! I worship You. How I love You! Mighty God!... Of course it varies from time to time as it depends on what you have experienced of Him from everyday life. What have you known about His character, about His greatness? You know why I like the New King James translation? Because of their use of capital letters to every word, pronoun that refers to God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. That's already showing reverence to God, hallowing His name! Amen!

The scope, and extent, and boundaries of "everything we need for life and godliness" is all in all. It includes our lives right now and the life eternal. His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. Whatever we need to live this life given to us here on earth were already given and provided for....all things, everything. Even to live a life for God was already given us only that we have a responsibility to fulfill, obligation to do and for all we know it is all by God's grace. Knowledge or knowing God have a lot to do with this promise, it is the only way for us to understand the things that the Lord had prepared for us. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 1 Cor. 2:9-10. If we know God, we will receive Him in our hearts and with that His Holy Spirit will reside in us and He will teach us into all His truth. Our faith grows and we trust God's promises and these promises will keep us through times of testing and as our verse says: that we may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through ****. Amen!

Shalom! "Received a faith as precious as ours" means that we have received a faith that is very much as privileged as Peter's -- equal in honor or value through God's standard. Our faith is equal to St. Peter's faith in a way that we have received this from God. It is a gift from God, a received faith due to God's righteousness. Now, considering another aspect of St. Peter's faith, our faith is not equal to his because our experience with God is different from his. He walked with God, witnessed the mighty works of God, performed the works of God and learned directly from the Master. Though he had failures, he learned from them well. As Jesus told him that Satan had ask to sift him like wheat but Jesus said, He already had prayed for him and if he overcomes this sifting, to strengthen his brothers. I can personally say that his faith is very much grounded on his deep knowledge of his God and of Jesus, his Lord on which he is trying to impart to us through this letter, though having an original audience it could all be true to our time and lives. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. My faith is growing everyday. Praise the Lord!

The significance of the fact that in heaven "God himself will be with them" is that no longer is man be separated with His Creator. The full communion of man with God is restored. The tabernacle of God is with men, and they shall be His people, and He will be their God. And this will be our destiny to come if we continue to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. The promises in 21:4 will only be fulfilled in heaven because this is what God had said in His word and as the former things will pass away, God will make all things new then. Paradise is restored. Hallelujah. I look forward to all these promises of God. In God's presence there is fulness of joy. Maranatha, Jesus!!!

Right now we are still living "in the world" where generally speaking is about our living together with all kinds of people from all walks of life with different kinds of views and beliefs - believers and unbelievers at that. Not "of the world" means that as professing Christians, we should not live as the world lives who doesn't know Jesus in their lives, satisfying their fleshly and worldly desires without the fear of the Lord. Rather, we should serve as salt and light to them, sharing the good news of salvation through Jesus the Christ - the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We should live our lives by example - what we confess, we also do and act on it by God's grace. There should be a difference shown from a life "taken out of darkness into His marvelous light" - a life "in the world" but not "of the world". Hallelujah!!!

I have learned that appropriate worship is praising and worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. The message is about WHO God is and WHAT He had done. It is all about their experience of God in their lives. The same truth that we apply today in our songs of praise and worship unto the Lord, thanking Him for WHO He is and for everything that He had done for us, still doing and will still be doing. Glory to God!!!

Everlasting punishment is so difficult for us Christians to accept because we cannot imagine how a God of love can do such thing that will contradict His attribute as a God of love. But we forgot that as He is the God of love, He is also the God of wrath. Eternal punishment is considered a just punishment because He is our just Judge, He knows what He is doing. Hebrews 9:27 says "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the JUDGEMENT." Where we want to go will be decided on how we live our lives here on earth, who have we worshipped? Is it the only one True God? Or a false god? It is our choice to make. But let our choice be to worship the Lord and serve Him with all of our being. Praise the Lord!!!

The 144,000 provide an ideal for all Christians to emulate because they gave us a glimpse of the greatness to be an overcomer and to be faithful to the Lord. They gave us an example to follow as redeemed from the earth: they were chaste, followed the Lamb wherever He went, they were the firstfruits of the harvest wholly dedicated and given as an offering to God, they were spotless and blameless and truthful. From them and by the grace of God we will know how to live our lives while still here on earth for the glory of our God.

What I have learned from these two passages, Rev. 13:1-18 and 2 Thes. 2:1-12, about the Antichrist and the False Prophet are: 1. The first beast is the Antichrist. The second beast is the False Prophet. 2. The Antichrist exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped - he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The False Prophet demands worship for the Antichrist from those that dwell in the earth by deception. 3. The Antichrist will show power and signs and lying wonders and will make war with the saints and all people. The False Prophet has the same power and will deceive those that dwell in the earth and caused them to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. My prayer is that we may not let anyone deceive us in any way, let us know our God and His word and test every spirit that comes our way. May we continue to overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony and remain faithful witness until the end. May our God help us!

It means that the people of God were able to overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony and for not loving their lives unto death -- holding on to what they have believed since they were born again, their confession of faith to God, and surrendering their everything even their lives into the hands of God believing that God will honor His word and fulfill His word and His promise to them that believed. Hallelujah!!! The enemy is overcome. Satan is defeated. If we die in the process, we have the victory in the sense that knowing who our enemy is, we fought a good fight, kept the faith and pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. We remained faithful witnesses even in times of hardships, trials and persecutions, by God's grace. Glory to God!!! The blood of the Lamb was the sacrifice for the atonement of our sins and we were made at-one with God. We can overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, he (the enemy) can no longer accuse us of our sins because Jesus took them all by dying on the cross for us. Hallelujah!!! Loving our lives prevent spiritual victory today because we will not be able to do the will of God fully. We can't go freely where God wants us to go spiritually. We can't fully trust God to do His will in our lives.

What this vision tells us about the cosmic battle in Jesus' day and in our own is that satan will always go after the people of God. He will still go his way to deceive God's people. Satan is already defeated so he has no power over us for greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We should know our position in Christ Jesus, that holds the key to our victory in Him, through Him and with Him. As disciples, we should understand that though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. (2 Cor. 10:3-4) Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph. 6:12) We will overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony and not loving our lives so much unto death. Praise the Lord! (Rev. 12:11)

The positive characteristics I see in their actions that we should emulate are their obedience to god and their faith in Him and holding on their testimony until the end. They were given powers to do miracles and although the beast attacked, overpowered, and killed them and the whole world gazed at their bodies for 3 1/2 days, they were brought back to life by the breath of God after that and then they were called up to heaven at the attention of their enemies. Glory to God!