- God Has Made Himself Available
Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far away. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, Lord, You know it all. You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot comprehend it. – Psalm 139:1-6 NASB2020
Omnipotent means having unlimited power, while omniscient means having unlimited knowledge. Here, we see our God as awesome, with all power. Nothing is out of His control, yet He knows me intimately, and He knows me in every way. Such power and yet such intimate knowledge of our every move, our every thought, and every way. David says simply that He knows it all. He knows us all.
He has made Himself available and calls us to know Him. His great power is manifested in His creation; we can see His wisdom in countless aspects of His great work. The heavens declaring His glory, the oceans displaying His power, the mountains His strength: all wisdom and might come together in Him. All of these demonstrate His greatness.
The one thing they cannot do is make Him available to us. His word governs nature, but He has given us His Word and His name—He is available to us. He knows us and desires to be known by us. All omnipotent and all omniscient. His beckoning us to, “Come unto Me and I will in no way cast you out.”
Keep on coming, keep on seeking, keep on being hungry and thirsting for His righteousness and Him alone. To know God and make Him known to others to glorify Him.
Thank You, Jesus, for Your name and Your word. Hallelujah to the Lamb!
- International Women’s Day
This morning all over the media much is being touted concerning the incredible women in the world. So many women I myself have encountered through my travels over the years, to five continents. So many believing women of faith have enriched my life and encouraged me. God, when He created woman saved the best for last. She is the coupe de gras of creation. God had seen it was not good to be alone, so He created the woman and brought His goodness to man.
Years ago, I was convicted about giving only messages concerning women on Mother’s Day and Mary on Christmas. There are so many woman of faith in the Bible that are testimonies to our God—Godly women. In fact, this week will be Purim, in which Esther saved the Jews from genocide. Women full of faith, courage, and great love for God. Such as the woman who broke the vile of perfume and poured it on Jesus.
“Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.” – Mark 14:9 NASB2020
This woman will be unforgettable. This one-time act of worship and love for Jesus has been preached in my hearing many times in many places as Jesus said it would be.
As I listened, many media outlets declared the greatness of woman from motherhood to every aspect of life. Not one mentioned the value of wives; mothers, yes, but wives, no. The world’s view, since feminism has been championed, has devalued the woman as a wife in the world.
Of course, for various reasons in her struggles. Yet the word of God holds her in high esteem.
“He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.” – Proverbs 18:22 NASB2020
So when God saw creation was incomplete, and created Eve, for man, Solomon writes, concerning woman’s first introduction, she is good and brings favor into our lives.
Today I honor and appreciate all woman everywhere, especially those of the Father’s house, and cannot go without acknowledging my wife Betsy and three daughters Olivia, Hannah, and Norah. I love you sooooo much. Thank you Jesus!
- Grafted In
The phrase “grafted into Israel” is an analogy from the Bible that refers to the inclusion of Gentiles into the spiritual blessings of Israel. It’s based on the agricultural practice of grafting, where a branch from one tree is inserted into another. As Paul writes, the grafted-in branch has become a rich partaker of the root.
For me, as part of the grafted-in wild olive branch, the revelation of this truth became so real to my spirit beginning October 7, 2023, when I was ministering in Lebanon. The Holy Ghost spoke to my heart:
“No longer just stand with Israel, but identify with the inclusion, as a believer.”
I am now part of the same spiritual family as Jews and share in the promises of God. Yes, it is absolutely based on my faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who happens to be a Jew who sits on the throne of God.
Since the ceasefire and hostage exchange, I have been getting up around 4 am to watch i24 news while watching and praying. During this time, I have been meditating on the verses above. Recently, as I prayed in the spirit—because I have run out of words in my own understanding—the Holy Ghost impressed upon me this word:
“It is not enough for me to stand with Israel, but to know I was grafted in, to identify as a wild olive, and partake of the rich root.”
I have never felt so grafted in.
It’s been over 500 days since Hamas began this horrific war. So many people have been lost due to the terrorists’ barbaric slaughter of Jewish civilians. Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, Ariel Bibas, and Kfir Bibas are four of those innocent lives now murdered and gone. The arrogant and celebratory transference ceremony that their family, their nation, and the world had to witness, just to receive back their remains, shows you everything you need to know about who these people are. They are controlled by a demonic spirit, a culture of hate, torment, and death. They revel and glorify in the death of Jews and anyone who supports them. They indoctrinate (train) their children, also. They brought whole families to watch the transfer of the Biba’s children’s bodies, Ariel and Kfir. They celebrate all death and long for their own. Especially if it means they’re able to take other people with them. It is a total disregard for life, satanic to the core.
In Proverbs 30:15 and Habakkuk 2:5, Sheol is described as being insatiable, always hungry, and never satisfied. This is because Sheol is the state of death and death is humanity’s final enemy. It cannot be satisfied.
In the book of Revelation, the angel of the bottomless pit is Abandon, whose name means “destruction” in Hebrew. In Greek, his name is Apollyon, which means “destroyer.” The pit is cracking open in the Middle East.
Maranatha!
-Keith Curlee
- No Peace Without the Prince of Peace
Peace, Peace becoming an idol. Man is incapable of bringing peace without the Prince of peace.
This is such a critical time in the last days. The illusion, the utopian peace, man’s idea, world peace, will never be. The danger that is before us is the wariness and weariness of war and conflict in the world— it is taking its toll. The war in Ukraine and the Iranian assault by its proxies on Israel and Lebanon is dragging on. The nations of the world have not the will to take on wickedness and evil. Instead, they are fulfilling scripture:
This cry for peace comes from those who talk peace but have war in their hearts and it is prophetic in its end. The spirit of prophecy is the spirit of Jesus.
This is what Jesus, Paul, James, Peter, and John all warned concerning the last days. “Let no man deceive you.” It is interesting that in Matthew 24 Jesus did not speak of the deceiver, the devil, “but let no man deceive you.”
The continual conflict between Israel and Muslims advocating Sharia Law and world domination cannot be resolved. The sword of Allah has no sheath. First priority, the destruction of Israel and taking its land, then believers in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. There is no peace with such evil and violence. The spirit of antisemitism is rolling out the red carpet and will usher in “The Anti-Christ.”
Paul is warning Timothy, the younger generation, that it will go from bad to worse. After ministering and laboring in the Middle East since 1994, this is absolutely true.
Unless this spirit is met head on with resolve and strength, it is like leaven. Just a little spoils the whole loaf. There has not been one agreement, ceasefire, or boundary set that is not violated. Biden told them “Don’t,” and Iran did, firing an unprecedented barrage of 200 missiles directly into Israel on October 1, 2024. Hamas has launched 8500 missiles from the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah 10,000 from Southern Lebanon into the North. What country or nation of the world could endure such an onslaught? The UN would have called an emergency security council meeting and condemned it and would have put together a coalition to deal with it. Instead, we have the World Court accusing Israel of genocide and Netanyahu of war crimes. While Hamas and Hezbollah armed themselves, by Iran, for years, building a network of weaponized tunnels.
Israel, as well as Lebanon, have given way to both the Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah and their people. Yet these negotiations continue for kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered civilians, in which two innocent children were strangled, not condemned by the nations of the world, and not giving them an ultimatum, backing it up with action. Why is there not a Coalition of forces joining Israel and routing out this infestation of evil terrorists? It would be done quickly, they would surrender in no time and not be emboldened. Iran would stand down in a month and the network of weapons and tunnels would be irradiated.
The diplomats, no matter how good their intentions, could prepare for a real peace agreement, although it would only be for a time. Israel could have security and a season of peace. The gospel could go forth and a great end-time harvest would be gathered.
Since 1994: Gaza under the Palestinian Authority
In May 1994, following the Palestinian-Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians took place. Much of the Strip came under Palestinian control, except for the settlement blocs and military areas. How have they been relayed? Another failed cry for peace, only for sudden destruction to follow.
And those who repay evil for good, They become my enemies, because I follow what is good. – Psalm 38:20 NASB2020
Goodness is under attack and of course, the obvious conflict is, “God is Good!” Evil will always repays good with total disregard. No matter how hard you try or appeal, it cannot overcome the love of evil it is consuming, full of deceit and lies. It is the spirit of anti-Christ, lawlessness.
The love of many is growing colder and colder, as Jesus prophesied.
There is a time for peace and a time for war.
Woe is a judgment that is coming if what is being done is evil. It is inescapable. “Woe unto you” means “great misfortune or misery is coming to you,” essentially serving as a strong warning or condemnation, often used in a biblical context to express a severe judgment upon someone or a group of people for their actions.
This is the spirit of the antichrist that is gaining momentum in the world. The spirit of antichrist is in every generation and is manifested in many people, places, and things. It will finally be revealed in one man of lawlessness and one world system.
The message of the anti-Christ is false peace. Paul describes his coming on the scene in his letter to Thessalonians as follows:
As the spirit of antichrist, which has been moving in the world since Jesus ascended to the throne of His Father and sat down at His right hand until He makes His enemies His footstool, have been manifesting themselves in every generation, as the gospel has been going around the world, and now has come full circle. This I believe I can say—the more we are deceived, or are not sobered, or on alert, or sleeping, and dull of hearing, we are vulnerable to already have taken the spirit of the mark of the beast, long before the actual manifestation. It will seem very natural and beneficial to do so.It may seem farfetched, but who would have believed we would be confused by gender identification? Because of the proliferation of prophets and prophesies, we are in danger of discounting prophetically what is happening in the world. Paul tells us, “Do not quench the Spirit, do not utterly reject prophecies, but examine everything, and hold firmly to that which is good.” To discount prophecy is to quench the Holy Ghost. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Holy Ghost is saying to the people of God, Jesus’ Bride. Blessings.
-Keith Curlee
- Foundations
Foundations, the beginning, the First Thing.
The uproar in our nation over the long overdue call for accountability of our government spending is indefensible. How many election promises by all candidates and all platforms have called for the end of wasteful spending and corruption? No one in Washington can cast the first stone. It is being shouted from the housetops. The light has come and the exposing of all representative parts of government and its bureaucracy must be transparent. As of February 7, 2025, the national debt of the United States is $36.22 trillion. This is the total amount of money the federal government owes, including debt held by the public and debt held by federal trust funds.
$36.22 trillion….and mounting interest.
This defies all financial reason or budget principles that anyone lives by. What economist or anyone who lives by their earnings can continue to exist without going bankrupt? The US government has violated, in a sense, counterfeiting laws. Printing money based on the tax-paying citizens and the working class tax revenues. Counterfeiting is against the law. How can our government make good on any loans? They have robbed one budget fund for another. The latest example is the FEMA funds for illegal immigrants. The American taxpayer has been reduced to a voter and a cash cow. We have become their honeyhole.
Let’s take the tax rate from 2013 – 2017. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 increased the highest income tax rate to 39.6 percent. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act added 3.8 percent to this making the maximum federal income tax rate 43.4 percent.
From 2018-2024 the highest income tax rate was lowered to 37 percent for tax years beginning in 2018. The additional 3.8 percent is still applicable, making the maximum federal income tax rate 40.8 percent. To think that anyone, or body, or entity could think that overseeing such a trillion dollars is the height of arrogance. To think that the USA is not on the verge of financial collapse is total denial.
In 2023 there were 418,724 bankruptcy filings in the United States, a 16.2% increase from 2022. It is time the cash cow, the golden calf, of Washington DC, is melted down. The god of mammon will never be satisfied and if we, as a people, do not repent from our neglect of holding all of our elected officials to their vow to the constitution and to God, we will fall. You cannot take an oath, a vow to God, and not uphold it.
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
The continued delay of our government to keep its promise to God and the people they represent warrants the solemn warning of this truth. If we, as a people, do not see the enemy of our national debt and do not put this nation first, the final consequences are inevitable. Perry’s words after a naval battle:
“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”
The updated version was first used in the comic strip “Pogo,” by Walt Kelly in the 1960s and referred to the turmoil caused by the Vietnam War. Which will it be: the defeat of our enemy or the defeat of us?
My Lord and my God save us from this corrupt and wicked generation.
Respectfully submitted. This came to me after I heard an interview with Senator Tubberville this morning!
As was spoken years ago, the Authorship of God. In the beginning God!
Hallelujah!
-Keith Curlee
- Wider, longer, higher, deeper
Jesus releases us to the Holy Ghost. He has more to say:
As Jesus walked on the earth, He realized how vulnerable and helpless man is in his daily life. Often, He is taken aback by the disciples’ inability to see and hear the words of life from day to day.
“Have I not been with you this long, and you do not know what I am saying.”
So vulnerable to doubt and unbelief and, no matter how many times He told them about His death and that He had to leave, they were not able to comprehend. Just as the men of old, when the Holy Ghost came on them they ascended and did great exploits, but when the Holy Ghost lifted, they returned to their own ways.
In the book of Judges, Sampson is an example of the ups and downs of Israel. So often such victory was short-lived, and then came defeat.
Circumstances changed but not their ways.
Jesus, in His last days with them, spends time introducing them to the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Godhead. When He, the Holy Ghost, comes, the spirit of truth, He will lead you into all truth. Our lives are the laboratory where the Holy Ghost’s primary purpose is to lead us into, not about the truth, but a continual revelation of all truth: Jesus.
There was so much that Jesus had to say, but they were maxed out and could not bear any more. Without the Holy Ghost, everything was going to end with them. Oh, they would have lots to remember, and while He was with them their hearts burned within them, but they would be lost. To go back into the old system would not be possible. In their minds, it was over. It did not matter that He was so clear that He would send to them another Helper. They would not be without leading, they would not be without truth, and they would not be without knowing what is to come. It was to their advantage that Jesus should go. God the Holy Ghost would take up from where Jesus left off, and now they would know who Jesus was, is, and is to come.
Our lives are to be lived by the Holy Ghost leading us into the truth of knowing Him. We so often look for our circumstances changing rather than being led into the truth that is hidden in them. Jesus said He will take from Me and give to you. Not theology, not doctrine, but all things that pertain to life and godliness. He, the Holy Ghost, leads us INTO truth, which one could say is deeper into Jesus, who is the truth.
Paul writes,
May our comprehension take hold of and contain, to enlarge our capacity. This is what going wider, longer, higher, and deeper in Him means. He, the Holy Ghost comes, and will lead you into all truth! John prophesied, He, Jesus, will baptize you in the Holy Ghost and with fire, His truth is fire. Hallelujah to the Lamb!
-Keith Curlee
- Thawing
Good morning, Holy Ghost spoke a word in me. The nation has been in winter these last four years. The hard freeze these past couple of weeks is a sign that the hearts of this nation have grown cold. Hardened like frozen, and a thawing has begun. I will thaw out hearts and there will be a return to me. This will not be a warming, but my fire shall melt the hearts of many. The melting away will wash the hearts and those that are mine who have been cold and indifferent will return to me as their Lord again. Bring your fire that I have put in you near them, I will bring those to you and in your path. Now is the time, the cold heart I will thaw. Hallelujah!
-Keith Curlee
- 52 Years Ago
52 years ago we declared, before God, our love for one another, and believed it was His Will. Today I am even more certain she was and is the only one for me. I love you Elizabeth Jane Heard Curlee. You are God’s confirmation of His love for me. I love you now and forever. Thank you my Lord for your covenant promise to us, the two shall become one. Hallelujah!
-Keith Curlee
- The Water of the Word
“Washed by the water of the word” is an expression from the Bible describing one of the truths that godly marriage is built on as well as our first relationship with our God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The important place, responsibility, and function of husbanding. It appears in Ephesians 5:26. It refers to the truth that God’s word cleanses people’s souls, thoughts, motives, and consciences.
When a husband neglects God’s word and expects his wife to submit, it makes it difficult to endure. Paul says this is a picture of how the Bridegroom and His Bride function. We know there is no neglect in our Bridegroom for His Bride concerning His washing and cleansing of her. The letters to the seven churches in Revelation confirm this.
Marriage is designed from the beginning, before the fall of Adam and Eve, and their relationship becoming dysfunctional. Blame and accusations come from one source: the serpent: Marriage cannot survive this demonic onslaught. The picture in Ephesians of a husband washing His wife speaks of beautiful intimacy in the marriage covenant.
This is the Bride He is coming for, who will rule and reign with Him.
The promise of the Holy Ghost and His sanctifying truth comes only by His leading us into all truth. Jesus said,
It is the two, each one’s own desires, their flesh, that is detrimental and of no benefit. They are in juxtaposition to becoming one. They need the Word, to do so.
• The word is linked to water baptism, (washing) which calls a believer’s death to sin and new life in Christ and His word.
• The word emphasizes the power and authority of God’s word to change our soulish minds. Renewing us and our lives.
• The early Church believed that the word of God was central to spiritual growth and maturity. It is living and active.
• The word brings spirit and truth, God’s word brings cleansing power, renewing people’s minds, character, attitude, and conduct. It feeds the spiritual man in all of us.On Monday 1/13/2025, Betsy and I will celebrate 52 years of covenant. I am grateful to the Holy Ghost who was sent from heaven and led us together. He sealed us and has kept us and guided us all these years. Hearing His word to us and remembering our vows before Him has kept our covenant that cannot be broken. He is the messenger of the covenant,
It is He and only He who is able to keep covenant and two people, man and woman, husband and wife, God’s mystery, to walk together for a lifetime.
I thank you for Betsy, for finding her for me and I for her, according to Your unchanging will. I want to thank so many brothers and sisters over these 52 years who have been friends to our covenant, who prayed and stood with us and blessed us. So many to thank. Hallelujah!
-Keith Curlee
- This Revelation
As John records this revelation of who the ascended, victorious King Jesus is. So changed, transfigured, and transformed to the point He did not recognize Him.
He encourages us to read this book by declaring a blessing when we do. I would venture to say that if we don’t, I wonder if we really believe in His prophetic return.
There is so much to hear and keep and to stay ready, for the time is near. I would encourage us all during this time of prayer and fasting to read this wonderful revelation of Jesus our coming King and our Bridegroom, the Head of His Body.
Maranatha!
-Keith Curlee
- Birds: God’s Faithful Sign of Trust
This Christmas, my family gave me this new bird feeder. It not only feeds but videos them as they come to feed. How wonderful the tech world can be.
I have always been a bird watcher and my favorite urban bird is a cardinal. When I lived in Nashville for eight years, a male and female cardinal came to my office window every morning. Cardinals are generally monogamous and mate for life, reminding me of my covenant with Betsy.
When Jesus first appears and begins to teach and show us the Father, He speaks about two of the most delicate and vulnerable species in creation: The birds of the sky and the flowers of the plant kingdom. I want to share concerning the birds.
Some years ago, a very dear brother was led to get up very early, just before daybreak, and walk his dog. In our fellowship, he shared how at a specific time the birds would begin welcoming the morning. He was astounded by how loud they were and the silence of the night being broken with their singing.
At least once a week I am up at around 4:30 and the birds of our neighborhood begin their chorus of greeting the day. It is not just a few peeps, but every bird making its powerful sound filling the dawning of the day. Jesus reveals their complete freedom from worry. They are a sign to us of their total trust in the Heavenly Father. He says,
Webster’s 1828 definition of reason: “The cause, ground, principle or motive of any thing said or done; that which supports or justifies a determination, plan or measure.” All of creation declares and reveals the glory of God.
In Genesis 1:28, the first time God blesses, are the birds of the air and fish of the waters. Be fruitful and multiply is also His first command, as He later spoke to Adam and Eve. They are blessed and are a sign of the Father’s eternal power and divine nature given to every part of creation. Every morning, they faithfully declare and sing His praises for His faithful provision.
The Bible includes passages that describe creation praising God, such as Psalm 148, Psalm 69:34, and Luke 19:40. Psalm 148 records a list, including the winged fowl, of all of creation praising Him, declaring, “Praise The Lord!”
So, every morning the smallest of creation sing their chorus of praise and their message includes the reminder to not worry. For if He cares for the birds, how much more important are you than them. Oh you of little faith, see the birds praising the Father as the great provider.
Praise the name of the Lord! Hallelujah!
-Keith Curlee
- Five Freedoms: Let Go Of!
1. Don’t worry
At Jesus’ first public teaching, Matthew records,
Worry leads to doubt and doubt to unbelief and then the cares of this world spring up in us as weeds and thorns, choking out the word of God. As in the parable of the sower, the cares of this world.
Worry and anxiety are a constant pricking of thorns. They immobilize you and keep you from moving on, causing you to turn to the god of mammon, the deceitfulness of riches, the god of this world. Uproot the thorns of worry and anxiety in our mind in the name of Jesus!
2. Don’t live in the past
Seeing we are a new creation by being reconciled to God, old things have passed away: BEHOLD, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW. The old man has been put to death, our sin nature canceled, he has been buried, never again to live. We are not only raised to a new life, but we are now in Him, Jesus Christ, righteous, holy, living eternally now and forevermore. Father, cast off the chains of my past, who I was, I renounce in Jesus’ Name!
3. Don’t please man
Paul’s letter to the Galatians concerning our relationship with the Holy Ghost for our times is all the more vital. When the disciples asked Jesus what the sign, not signs, of His coming would be, His response was, “Let no man deceive you.” He did not refer to the devil, as before, but to man. Man-pleasing and living one’s life to do so is detestable to God.
Trust the Lord with all your heart, and love the Lord with all your heart and strength. Pleasing man is impossible to attain, Jesus proved this every day during His time on earth. How many times have we thought, “There is no pleasing him or her.”
Some years ago, the Holy Ghost spoke to my heart, “Go get your heart back.” Our hearts are made to belong completely to Him and Him alone. If that is not so, Jesus would have not commanded us to do so. Love God with all your heart! Besides, He never intended for anyone to get man’s love, but His love, Agape. He will love through us as shed about in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.
Father, I take back my heart from any man or woman who I gave it to by trying to be a pleaser of them. In Jesus Name!
4. Don’t blame others
Blaming others is one of the clearest signs of immaturity, childish and adolescent. This was the first reaction of Adam and Eve’s fallen state in the garden. The denial of our accountability for our behavior and actions in our lives keeps us from maturing spiritually as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. We are His children, yes, but His intention in sending Jesus was to take many sons and daughters into glory.
Blaming is shaming someone else for your shame; hiding from our own shame. How this age-old spirit has continued in generation after generation. It was not me, but the……. Ultimately we are blaming God, which, as in the beginning, keeps us from Him and grieves the Holy Ghost who is the spirit of truth. Father, make me a lover of truth and when I am convicted help me quickly confess my sin. I renounce the spirits of blame and shame in Jesus’ Name.
5. Don’t try to be perfect
There is a vast difference between perfection and maturation. Even when a man came to Jesus and called Him Good Master, He deflected the praise,
As long as we are in these mortal bodies we are subject to our daily struggle of denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him.
The true prize is to know God intimately and be His friend.
Father deliver me from self-righteousness and my own perfection. I renounce my zeal and works in Jesus’ Name!
May we cast off every encumbrance that so easily besets us and fix, focus, our eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Happiest Heavenly Blessings in the year to come.
-Keith Curlee
- The Importance of Remembering
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the word ‘remember’ in the standard works. ‘Remember’ is used 352 times in the scriptures. When its variants are counted, that number jumps to more than 550. The root of ‘remember’ is to keep in mind or to be mindful. It has the sense of being “concerned about” and is related to the word “tradition.”
The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘remember’ as “to retain in, or recall to, the memory; to bear in mind; to recollect.” ‘Remember’ also means “to think of or to recall the memory of something with some kind of feeling or intention.” ‘Remember’ can also mean “to have mind of and mention someone in prayer.” Importantly, ‘remember’ can mean to commemorate or “to preserve in memory by some solemnity or celebration.”
‘Remember’ is often used in connection with covenants between God and man. The word ‘remember’ is first used in the Bible in Genesis 8:1, when God remembers Noah and the passengers on the ark after the flood. God set a “bow in the cloud” as “a sign of a covenant” to not again destroy the earth by water and “that I may remember the everlasting covenant between me and every living creature” on the Earth.
We are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy “as a perpetual covenant … between (God) and the children of Israel forever” (Exodus 31:16-17).
When Abraham entered the promised land of Canaan, he built an altar to commemorate the Lord’s appearance to him and the renewal of the covenant the Lord made with him (Genesis 12:6-8).
This could be one of the most overlooked commandments. All of us have made covenants, vows, promises, and commitments to God and one another and our greatest need is to remember.
‘Remember’ is the word.: “This do in remembrance of me.”
God has a perfect memory. It is so perfect He can even forget, as in our sins. Clearly remembering is a choice we can make, as well as forgetting.
Genesis 19:29 tells us that, “God remembered Abraham” and rescued his nephew Lot. “God remembered Rachel,” Isaac’s wife, and she conceived (Genesis 30:22). Psalm 9:12 tells us that God “remembers…the afflicted.” Many times God is said to remember His covenant or His promises.
This attribute is plainly seen in the Godhead. Jesus says this concerning the Holy Ghost:
Jesus told them there were many things He wanted to share with them, but they could not bear it now. Sometimes we lose perspective because we are thinking concerning tomorrow. This is detrimental to remembering and we forget all that He is and has done.
Communion has been reduced to a small part of our services. We read what Paul wrote, the blood and wine, pray, and move on. Little reflection, recollection, or giving the Holy Ghost time to move on our hearts. To take communion without introspection is most grievous. We are explicitly told not to take with unforgiveness in our hearts. There is a stern warning: many sleep because of not taking it in the fear of the Lord.
As we approach the New Year, take time to remember not just what was difficult, or trying, but what He did to bring us through.
He always leads us in triumph! Hallelujah!
-Keith Curlee
- December 25 – God Enlarges Heaven and His Family
Abba Father
Read the rest of the series: December 2 | December 3 | December 4 | December 5 | December 6 | December 7 | December 8 | December 9 | December 10 | December 11 | December 12 | December 13 | December 14 | December 15 | December 16 | December 16 | December 19
Paul, in just a few verses, sums up what both Luke and Matthew recorded. The great fulfillment of the prophets, the angelic announcements, Mary, Joseph, and the child born to us, Christ the Lord. Elizabeth, Zachariah, and the shepherds tending their flocks. Lastly, as the scripture says, Bethlehem of Judea, the city of David.
Paul marks the birth of Jesus, “in the fullness of time.” Since creation, there is nothing in previous time that has ever happened like this new creation. God, not just intervening in time, but now time has been fulfilled. Everything that has happened, the glorious storyline from Adam to now, has served and come to this moment in time. Born miraculously and perfect under the Law. He will not only redeem His people but all those who will believe in Him for generations to come.
He will show us the Heavenly Father and His desire to adopt sons and daughters into His heavenly family. They too will be born again, when the same Holy Ghost overshadows their hearts and convicts them, and they will cry out, “Abba Father.”
They will be born again.
We now have entered into the Eternal Family of God, our names written into His book of life. We now pray, “Our Father which art in Heaven.” Our Father is God, Jesus is our elder brother, and the Holy Ghost is with us and in us. Receiving a great inheritance, all of the promises of God:
This morning we celebrate the fullness of time and Jesus the fulfillment of all that God has promised, who is the fulfillment and filler of all things. Jesus, our Emmanuel, Glory to God in the Highest and Maranatha, to He who is coming again!
-Keith Curlee
- December 19 – Angelic Hosts Proclaim the Message From Heaven
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The traditional depiction of angels by humans contrasts sharply with Luke’s account. These are not fairies or Disney renditions. These angels carry all of the awe and awesomeness of God and His heaven.
- Angels are messengers, especially the Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
- The multitude of angels that attend upon God
The heavenly hosts are God’s servants who obey his commands and carry out his will. - An armed company or multitude of angels and men
The word host is derived from the Latin word hostis, which means “stranger” or “enemy”. In the Bible, it’s used to describe a troop or military force, the army of God is angelic. The angels of heaven have these three basic functions. We know by the teaching of scripture they are completely obedient to the will of God and they clearly know and obey whatever they are sent to say and do.
Contrary to how they are depicted by tradition and man, they are more militaristic in nature. Their many appearances in scripture came when Israel needed to be delivered from their enemies. They are God’s army, and I believe they are arrayed in this way. It is evident when they appear to man they have to say, “Fear not.” They are nothing like us, nor do they understand us. They only know obedience to God and His will.
Since Satan’s casting out of heaven along with a third of the angels who rebelled with him and the fall of man, there has been a war waged against the prince of the power of the air and God’s angelic hosts. War originated in heaven and it was cast out and will never get back there again, including its rebellious pride. The source of all wars is Satan’s vengeance and man’s own will to exalt himself above God.
We see in this angelic birth announcement to the shepherds God’s intention to offer peace to men, whose will desires to make peace with God.
A few comparative translations: NASB “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.” NIV “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” NKJV Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
The righteousness of God and His ways is to offer peace first, always before His judgments are carried out. He is compassionate, longsuffering, and would that none should perish. With His continual appeal to Pharaoh and so many demonstrations of His ways, Moses sings of Him, “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. “The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.” – Exodus 15:2-3 NASB2020
We see in this passage the God of peace: - He is our strength
- He is our song
- He is our salvation
- He is our God
- He is our Father
- He is our Warrior
- He is Lord
When we are not at peace then it is not a stretch to say that we are at war. For the Spirit is against the flesh and there is no good thing in it. May we, like the shepherds, receive the message of God’s peace and His favor in His Son given to us.
Glory to God In the Highest!
-Keith Curlee
- December 15 – Swaddling Clothes, an Exact Sign
The Lamb of God wrapped in swaddling clothes, an exact sign.
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Once again, in this glorious account of this heavenly event we are given such wonderful truth. The prophetic picture of who this child is will be revealed.
She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes. Swaddling is not unusual, all babies were swaddled. Yet the real sign was what He was clothed with. It was not a blanket, not pajamas, nor a onesie. But strips of cloth that were taken from old priests’ garments and previously used on the sacrificial lambs for Passover. After birth, the male lambs would be bathed in a salt solution, dried, and swaddled to be kept clean and spotless. During that time, old priestly garments were cut up into small pieces to be used for wicks to light the Menorah in the temple and reused to wrap the sacrificial lambs at birth. Every morning, the Priest would change the wicks in the temple and replace them with a new one.
Here we see the word of the Lord in every way declaring who Jesus is. He is the light of the world and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You might ask where she got these strips of priestly clothing. Just a thought: remember Zachariah, Elizabeth’s husband was a priest. She had stayed with Elizabeth for six months. These strips were used as wicks to light up the temple. Even the time of His birth, at night, in darkness, is the backdrop of the world’s condition.
Arise, shine for your light has come, the light of the world is Jesus. Behold God’s light and God’s sacrificial Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world:
God’s gift of salvation, all wrapped up and ready to be revealed as the greatest given, for and to anyone who will freely receive Him. Glory to God!
-Keith Curlee
- December 14 – O Little Town of Bethlehem, Beginnings
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We continue in the report and testimony of the documented birth of Jesus. The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, chose and moved primarily on Matthew and Luke. I am often reminded of how God sees the beginning of a thing and the value He places on it—the importance. Ern Baxter, a wonderful mentor, once told me this, “The beginning of a thing determines its end.” As in Genesis, “In the beginning GOD ….” We see Bethlehem in this prophecy and the truth concerning its value. It is not viewed as little or the least of the cities of Judah.
Man and his flesh want to start with grandeur and great importance in their own eyes. He makes of himself a reputation motivated by powerful ambition and self-gratification. Here we see God is not impressed nor does He need great fanfare when He moves in the beginning of something. He begins with one,
Starting with one angel, one virgin, one barren couple, one betrothed man, and one town. All, by no means the least, but His beginnings. He needs not many or few, nor an advantage or fleshly help, nor man’s thoughts or plans. He simply looks for a heart that is completely given to Him.
When I was a summer missionary in my youth, we did backyard Bible Clubs. A song we sang with the children was, “All your heart, All your heart, Jesus wants to live in all your heart.” The smallest of all His beginnings is the heart of man, where His utmost desire to is dwell and make His abode.
May our hearts be completely given to Him. May we see what beginnings He brings about and the great things He has done and is going to do.
Glory to God in the Highest!
-Keith Curlee
- December 13 – Joseph: Husband and Father
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How wonderful is this man who stood in the midst of misunderstandings and, I am sure of, accusations, and covered his betrothed with his heart? What kind of scrutiny he and Mary must have endured. As I meditate on this, I wonder whether I would have stood knowing such a situation. It is so easy to read and, because we know the whole story, not to judge.
We live in a society today where this is viewed as just a mistake and carries with it very little consequence. In fact, for a few dollars, it can be eliminated.
In the case of all the major players in the birth of Jesus, the Holy Ghost testifies of their righteous living before God. Joseph, a righteous man, looked to protect his betrothed, to send her away, and to secretly cover her.
It was only with the intervention of an angel and Joseph’s own faith-filled acceptance of the angel’s message that both Mary’s life and the life of her unborn baby were saved. The Incarnation of God.
Mary knew exactly what she would face in her home and community after she said her faith-filled, “Let it be done to me according to your word” to the visiting angel. And still, she said, “Yes.” She trusted that God would take care of her, and He did, through her holy husband Joseph. He was heaven’s intervention. Protecting the work of God from the satanic and self-righteousness of religious man. We can say that when Mary gave her account of how this was to come about, he believed her. The scripture gives insight into Joseph’s response and not reaction.
He was a man of thought. Setting his mind on what is above. How this would affect her, first, above himself. As we know from Ephesians 5, a husband’s love is manifested in giving himself up for her. We get a wonderful picture of the kind of family Jesus was to be born into. No matter how it came to be, He would have a mother and Father who loved God and one another. A righteous family where He would grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man.
Joseph was not fearful or did not feel inadequate. He stood in his place and did as the angel in his dream commanded. The confirmation of what the Holy Ghost had done in her was of God. The angel told him not to be afraid and, before His birth, to name the child Jesus.
The inclusion of Joseph is sometimes overlooked or minimized, but not by heaven. He is seen not as a stepfather, but as Jesus’ father. What faith and courage we can take from him. He awoke from his dream and did exactly what had been commanded of him. He took Mary as his wife and honored that which the Holy Ghost did in her and kept her as a virgin.
Righteous Joseph. Glory to God in the Highest.
-Keith Curlee
- December 12 – Jesus Is Born In Bethlehem
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Here we see Mary, as she endeavors to comprehend and wrap her mind around the angel’s word to her. The impossibility of such a supernatural and unbelievable thing happening. So many questions must have assaulted her thinking:
What would people think? Who would believe an angel appeared to her? Why would God choose me? What will my family say?
This is impossible. Yet she did not voice any one of these doubts and fears. Her response was one of the most powerful and clear answers in recorded scripture: “Behold The Lord’s servant, be it unto me according to your word.”
Many of God’s servants, when God called them, gave him excuses and why they could not say, “Yes” initially to him. They saw their limitations and failures and too great of a task. Mary shows us what our mindset should be when the Lord speaks to our hearts in her confession, “I am your servant, I am here for you no matter what you ask of me. I am yours. Be it unto me according to Your word.” She simply received and let the word of God have its perfect work.
For every believer, our place is to simply be a receiver. “Receive ye the Holy Ghost,” Peter declared.
When I think of Mary, I cannot but hear Jesus teaching us about our hearts being like soil. To the degree we receive the seed is to the degree it yields its intent. Some 30, some 60, some 100.
Her response as His servant was, “Be it unto me, according to Your word.”
May we become receivers of all He has for us and His promise of His good work He has begun and will finish according to His word.
Glory to God in the Highest!
-Keith Curlee
- December 11 – The Covenant Lineage of Jesus
Matthew records the covenant lineage of Jesus.
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Oh no, genealogies, more begats. Laborious to read but very important to trace. The redemptive line which runs through the lineage, carrying the promises of God and the prophetic hope of all the promises of God being fulfilled in Jesus.
Beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden after the fall, God curses Satan and He continues to resist and carry out His authority over the evil one, the serpent of old. He declares his fate, his end.
God reminds him that he is an enemy of heaven and all of creation and in every generation the war will continue. Through the descendents of Eve will come one who will bring his ultimate defeat.
Let’s start with the opening sentence of the book. Matthew tells us the two key people who are most important in this genealogy:
God recognizes the choosing of Abraham and His covenant to him and his descendants. From this opening statement, we expect this family tree to help us understand not only the ancestral past of Jesus, but also his identity and mission. Jesus is called the son of both David and Abraham. Starting with Father Abraham and his barren wife Sarah—does that sound familiar? By calling Jesus the “Son of Abraham,” the author is connecting Jesus to the father of the people of Israel. Abraham represents the moment when God selected and separated his family from the rest of the nations all the way back in the book of Genesis. It was through these Israelite people that God promised to bring blessing to all of humanity (Gen 12:1-3). Salvation and restoration of mankind.
Secondly, “Son of David,” is a term that the author of Matthew is very fond of. Verse one is the first of ten appearances of the phrase in the book and it draws our attention to the royal line of King David. Abraham’s name pointed to a belonging amongst the people of Israel. David’s name tells us that Jesus was royalty. He is called the son of David and of Abraham.
In Jewish culture, lineage was crucial for establishing identity and legitimacy, so presenting Jesus as a descendant of David held significant meaning. He is the Messiah, prophesied to come to Israel and the world. His sonship, legitimatized, as the Son of God sent into the earth also called the son of man.
Glory to God in the highest!
-Keith Curlee