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E-Sword is a free, instantly downloadable Bible software program that I have used for many years and absolutely LOVE! It does everything I need it to do. It is easy to use. It is expandable with many free add-on resources plus additional reference books that you can purchase for a very reasonable cost. I do my Bible research with e-Sword and would like to introduce you to this amazing tool. It has been downloaded 25 million times across 230 nations, making it the world's most popular Bible study software. It is even available for iPad.

I understand and appreciate that many of us differ on our understanding of the rapture.  I posted this as a discussion question on my facebook page and received some great comments showing that this matter is important to many of us. 

Before I share my thoughts I’d like to mention a few quick things.

You have my promise that if you seek you will find. Does this sound too good to be true? Yet even this is not the complete picture, for before you seek you must desire. You must have your heart set on something before you can go after it. Have you ever desired things and sought them and obtained them only to be disappointed in them? And so along with my promise about seeking and finding I give you instruction to seek those things which are above and to seek first the Kingdom of God. Have you heard the advice to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it? I promise that you will get it so be careful to desire things that lead to and not away from eternal life. 

You want to hear my voice and you have my promise that you will hear and know it. How do you expect this to work? Do you expect it to come as orders from afar; instructions for the many choices you face every day? It is that and more besides. I am near rather than far so that you may hear my still small voice. You understand the need to obey me, but I speak to you more as a friend than a servant, for I am revealing myself to you as well as giving you instructions. I revealed my acts to the nation of Israel but I taught Moses my ways, and it is this greater level of revelation I want to give you. Since you are my son I want teach you my ways and instruct you in the wisdom that is from above, imparting my character to you that you may be transformed into my likeness. 

Our Kids Camp this year had the theme: MOUNTAIN MOVERS. We studied Moses in depth and how he moved the mountains of fear, low self-esteem and doubt by going UP the mountain to meet with God. There he encountered pure truth and received his calling. By being obedient to the Lord’s direction, Moses became strong and confident, able to accomplish the great assignment God had for him. He then went and brought OTHERS to the same mountain to encounter God for themselves! What a lesson we all learned this summer!

Beautiful, colorful Bible land maps can bring stories alive as you read the Scriptures. You get to see the world through the eyes of those who were living there. Now we have numerous outstanding services on the internet which provide free, full color maps of every conceivable story, town and village mentioned in the Bible. Let me tell you about two of these online resources so that your Bible can come alive in a whole new way.

My word teaches you not to be overcome with evil, but to overcome evil with good. Does this seem impossible to you? Do you think of evil as powerful and goodness as weak and vulnerable? I would not ask this of you if it were not true. Have I not already walked this way and provided myself as an example for you? All of evil came against me and appeared to win but in the end and for eternity my goodness triumphed. This is a universal principle and I invite you to believe it and see it work in your own life. Have you not already seen that it was my goodness and not my wrath that led you to repentance? 

I sat with my eyes closed and listened to music and words lifting up the name of Jesus.  I was a part of a circle formed by others who had come together seeking the heart of God and we had certainly found it. 

Do you consider yourself to be honest? This involves more than telling the truth to other people. You must tell the truth to yourself as well. In the things you think about, do you seize upon the first answer that confirms your preferences? This is intellectually lazy. It is more honest to consider all the evidence and let the question remain open until the evaluation is complete. If you think about spiritual things the same arguments apply. Is it spiritually lazy to be satisfied with easy answers? Spiritual honesty may require you to leave some questions open while you consider them. Even some of the concepts in my word are held in tension. Does this make you uncomfortable? Yet I have called you to be a seeker and a sojourner. As you follow me I will reveal the mysteries of my Kingdom to you and lead you into all truth. 

I said suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of God. Do you want a clearer vision of divine presence in your life? I already taught you that you minister to me by ministering to the least of these. Do you think this refers only to the poor? I tell you that it applies to children also. They are small in stature and lacking power and influence and wealth. This makes them ideally suitable vessels for me to manifest myself in, for they are still fresh from heaven. Do you structure your life to avoid contact with them? This would impoverish you for I have much to teach you through them. Don’t forget that you must become as a child to enter my Kingdom.