The Scroll with Seven Seals

1 And I saw on the right hand of the One sitting upon the throne a scroll, having been written inside and on the back, having been sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll, and to break its seals?”

3 And no one in heaven, nor upon the earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the scroll, nor to see it. 4And I was weeping loudly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll, nor to see it.

The Lamb is Worthy

5 And one of the elders says to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God having been sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took it out of the right hand of the One sitting on the throne.

8 And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls being full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they are singing a new song, saying,

“Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and You purchased to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 and You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reigna upon the earth.”

The Lamb Exalted

11 And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and of the living creatures, and of the elders; and their number was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying in a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb having been slain, to receive the power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature which is in heaven, and upon the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and everything in them, saying:

“To the One sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb, blessing and honor and glory and might to the ages of the ages.”

14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped. — Revelation 5 | Berean Literal Bible (BLB) The Berean Literal Bible © 2016 by Bible Hub and Berean Bible. All rights Reserved. Cross References: Genesis 49:9; Numbers 7:57; Numbers 7:62; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 33:3; Psalm 40:3; Psalm 141:2; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 29:11; Isaiah 53:7; Ezekiel 2:9; Daniel 7:10; John 1:29; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 14:16; Philippians 2:10; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 1:1; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 4:4; Revelation 4:11; Revelation 10:1; Revelation 18:21

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross 

The Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross in 614 from Persians, intending to carry the cross to Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb & became a barefoot pilgrim. {website}

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2023 OCTOBER 04 Wednesday

"If I forget you, [my God], may my right hand wither. May my tongue stick to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt [God] beyond all my delights."

~ Psalms 137:5-6

Today we celebrate the Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. On this day in the year 326AD, the Holy Patriarch Macarius, along with the Holy Empress Helen the Equal to the Apostles, raised up the newly found Cross of Christ, chanting "Lord, have mercy" while piously venerating the holy wood. May the Cross of Christ save us through its divine power + #cross #crucifixion #jesus #christ #jesuschrist #exalt #exaltation #holycross #holy #exaltationoftheholycross #timiostavro #stavros #patriarch #macarius #eleni #helen #empress #orthodox (at Jerusalem Palestine) https://www.instagram.com/p/CidTdrdr0VS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

September 14 the Exaltation of the Cross

#DailyDevotion What Chair Do You Seek Out?

#DailyDevotion What Chair Do You Seek Out? Luke 14:7-11 7Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” So Jesus was watching the guests jockeying for the places of honor. Those spots were probably those closest to the guests and/or closest to any known honored guests. So Jesus takes this moment to teach them a parable. It hits them squarely in the eye considering their behavior. When invited to something don't sit in the places of honor by your own choice. If given a choice, choose a lower place. If you choose a higher place of honor and someone more important than you comes in, you'll have to give up your seat to him, go to the lowest place (because it's the only place left) and you'll be dishonored in front of everyone. If you take a lower spot and the host sees you there and thinks you are a person of greater honor than that, he will tell you to move up higher and you will be honored by all present. But this parable is not just about dinner parties and the like. It is to be our lifestyle if we put our faith in Jesus. Jesus tells us, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Jesus, of course, is the one who humbled himself most of all, dying for all people on a cross. Here he served everyone in the most humbling of all deaths at the time. As a result, God the Father exalted Jesus to his right hand and gives him a name above every name in heaven, on earth or under the earth. We likewise should humble ourselves. Paul tells us to think of others of having greater honor than ourselves and treat them as such. We should humble ourselves to be of service to our fellow Christians and where possible, other people. We are called to strike back at people in revenge but to suffer even as Christ suffered when men insulted him. Most of all, we should humble ourselves under the almighty hand of God, as 1 Peter 5 says, “All of you, be clothed with humility before one another because God opposes the proud but is gracious to the humble. 6Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand so that He may honor you at the right time.” Humbling ourselves before one another is humbling ourselves before God because other people are God's image and likeness. But more so, humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, confessing your sin to him, confessing your need for his help in every aspect of life and giving him thanks for every good thing you have. Most of all, confessing and giving thanks the Father has given us Christ Jesus as our gift of salvation, through whom we have forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Heavenly Father, give us true humility of heart and mind so we may humble ourselves before our fellow man and humble ourselves under you mighty hand so at the appropriate time we may be exalted by you through our faith in Jesus Christ in whose name we pray and have our hope. Amen. Read the full article

I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your... [ Read devo thought and prayer for this Bible verse ]

Broaden Your Holy Horizons

Psalms 99:9[9]Exalt the Lord our God,    and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem,    for the lord our God is holy! Early in dawn, it is best to rise with praises and worship, then surrender the entire day and your whole life to Christ. Be thankful at all times and any place, pray the devil away before the day starts for everything to turnout golden. Meet Christ before you meet the devil,…

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End Times Prophecy Headlines: November 4-6, 2022

End Times Prophecy Headlines: November 4-6, 2022

End Times Prophecy Report HEADLINES FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY November 4-6, 2022 And OPINION “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” —Matthew 24:4 “The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he’s in prison.” —Fyodor Dostoevsky ===INTERNATIONAL UKRAINE: Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy says Putin U-turn on grain shows ‘failure…

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2023 MARCH 18 Saturday

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

~ Luke 18:14b

In a world that is addicted to carrying grudges, Christ chooses to forgive

In a world which abandons its friends when they become a liability, Christ chooses to never abandon those whom He loves or His promises to them

In a world where rulers become despots or fail to pursue the best interests of their citizens, Christ chooses to reign in total goodness & charity

In a world which exalts the strong & the wealthy, Christ chooses to raise up the weak & the poor

In a world that views others as simply a commodity or a means to an end, Christ chooses to sacrifice Himself for the good of mankind

Christ chooses you

Infertility in the LDS Church is such a weird place to occupy because it's the place where so much of the Church's messaging on sex and gender, on complimentarianism and divisions of labor within the Church, completely fall apart.

Being a parent may be the most important thing some people will ever do. I have no issue at all with people saying this about themselves to describe their own journey through the world. But that's not universally true for everyone because of someone's gender or alleged propensity for reproduction. The fact that infertility exists at all is all the evidence you need of that. If it was somehow necessary for a person's salvation or exaltation for everyone to have children, it wouldn't be withheld from anyone.

So why do people, including church leadership, treat having children like it's essential to our salvation, when neither the gospel of Jesus Christ nor any of the covenants we've made present it that way?

Power consolidation. Boundary maintenance. Cultural curation for the kind of person who treats children as an identity marker and avatars for their own influence on the world.

It's how the Church is trying to ignore the problem of dwindling membership, which this exact messaging has caused, instead of addressing the gender disparities reflected in this messaging.

No one is entitled to have children, and to use those children as a means of self-fulfillment, spiritual education, or approximations to the divine experience of being God. Even if you can have children, this is a harmful way of viewing children because it makes having children all about the parents and their needs.

You don't have children to meet your needs. You have children to meet their needs. I didn't need to have children to learn that lesson, or many of the other lessons that people needed to become parents to learn. There is more than one way to approach that kind of selfless love, in all kinds of relationships. Parenting is one of many, not the only kind of selfless love, and certainly not the most important kind of selfless love for many people.

And what kills me in talking to members of the Church who try to push back against this perspective is this: they claim to be the arbiters of the ultimate form of selfless love because they are parents. But these are the same people who will pound on the single piano key about parenthood to such an extreme that it alienates other people. And when they do, and someone tells them it's harmful, they're the first ones to say that what they're doing is more important than anyone else's feelings. They talk of a selfless love they don't actually possess—not for people outside of their family and, I would argue, not for anyone inside of it either.

All this to say: the Venn Diagram overlap between people who don't respect or value people at church with infertility and the people who also enmesh themselves in disturbing ways with their own children is a circle. Catch neither one of us wanting to be at church with them as adults.

#DailyDevotion It's Better To Be Told To Come Up Here

#DailyDevotion It's Better To Be Told To Come Up Here Prov. 25:6-7 6Don't glorify yourself before a king or stand in the place that belongs to the nobles. 7It is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put down in front of a prince whom your eyes have seen. Not something you hear very often these days. I grew up hearing, “If you don't put yourself forward, no one else will.” Sometimes it is phrased, “If you don't talk about the great work you are doing to your superiors, no one else will.” I don't know. There may be some truth to that. At work maybe you should take credit for what you do. Certainly, no one else should take credit for your work. I suppose, when asked, it is probably a good thing, at that time, to speak clearly, without exaggeration, this is what I have done. But few people like a braggart. Perhaps that is what this is getting at to some extent. Don't glorify yourself before a king or stand in a place that belongs to the nobles. This section of Proverbs is a collection of saying King Hezekiah's men put together. It was intended for the people where as the first section was for the youth. So I can see how those reading it would not necessarily being among the nobles. Solomon then is instructing his people how to behave at court if they should happen to find themselves there. So if you perhaps find yourself among men of great note, in our context, say perhaps, millionaires and billionaires, or politicians, perhaps this might help you out with your behavior. If you have done something noteworthy, do not brag about it before such people. Don't be like, “Look at me, look at me!” Instead, conduct yourself humbly among them. If do get uppity, those who are in charge may indeed take note of you and tell you to move to a lower table because someone more important than you has arrived. Then you would be humbled before everyone—and no doubt tongues would be wagging about that. Let your work precede you and speak for itself. If you are really worthy of being noticed, those in charge will want to know who did it and they will praise you for your work. Then you will truly be honored by all. Now spiritually, what are you going to do when you are stand before the King, the LORD Jesus Christ and the Father? Are you going to brag about all the good works you do and how much God owes you? In Luke 17 Jesus tells us we should say, “We are unworthy servants. We have only done our duty.” There is nothing we can do before God and say, “Look at me!” Anything good we do we're commanded to do anyway. You cannot do more good than God commands. What gets the LORD's attention? Those who do not think more of themselves than they should. Those who do not compare themselves to others. When we humble ourselves and put others first and give greater honor to others than ourselves. Those who seek to humbly serve those they see in need. What gets our God's attention is when we follow Jesus and are humble like him. It is Jesus' humility that saved us and made us God's children. If we humble ourselves, the LORD will exalt us at the proper time. We most certainly should not boast before him. It will be far better for us, if we humble ourselves and the LORD praise us before the assembly of the righteous, which He most certainly has promised to do. Heavenly Father, may your promise of exaltation at the right time give us courage to be humble and to serve others instead of ourselves. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article

God exalted him [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every other... [ Read devo thought and prayer for this Bible verse ]