Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7.

“Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him, “…are You going there again?” John 11:7-8.

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3.

And our chapter, Revelation 12: A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time; from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Reading our chapter I was reminded of Jesus’ words: And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Luke 10:18. In My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers, I loved this this morning: “Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.” In our ladies Bible study we’re studying The Exodus and Moses. He felt so unworthy to do what God asked him to do in bringing out the children of Israel from slavery to Egypt and Pharaoh. What about the Exodus of all of us from the ultimate slavery described in our chapter? And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan – who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him…the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. Zeal and condemnation are rampant in our world today and God asks us to love even our enemies and pray for them. In our second Scripture verse cited above, the disciples sought to protect Jesus. As one of our ladies leading our Bible study pointed out this week, Jesus does not need us to defend Him. We need His help to trust Him when He asks us to do what we cannot comprehend – love your enemies and pray for them. And in just beginning to understand that, I feel just like Moses who felt so unworthy; because everything feels so big and we are so small. But reading our chapter, so beautiful in imagery, reminds me that Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, IS, and He is in charge and He is worthy and He knows perfectly everything that is needed and His Will will be done. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. And we can take great comfort in Creator God and in His Creation He created for a purpose. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb – and because of the word of their testimony – and they did not love their life even when faced with death. It is not a Moses who will bring the whole world out of the slavery of deception and lies. It is Jesus, the Son of Man, Creator God! He gave everything…by His blood…the blood of the Lamb…poured out for us His children dearly loved.