Counted Worthy 41
“Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for His Name!”

Apostles Escape Temple Prison!

(Peter the Apostle:)
I want to explain to you how we escaped that time that the Chief Priest and the Sadducees had us imprisoned.
James and John and I, and all the others, had begun to see the amazing power of God at work, to where we knew it wasn't us doing the works, but the actual Spirit of God, alive and working in our physical world.
The times had become so cataclysmic with good and evil at such a sharp contrast with each other that it was obvious when an evil or good spirit was working.
Jesus had spent His life not only giving us the Words of how to live, not only talking the talk, but also living it Himself-walking that very narrow road Himself to the very end-and we were eye-witnesses of all that. So step-by-step, day-by-day, even though the odds seemed stacked against us, we yielded to what He had shown us to do by His living example.
In those weeks after His resurrection, He led us all to form a brand-new society based on His way, just as He is doing with you today, the Endtime Family. Only, in our day it was more localized, whilst in your day you are spread abroad across the face of the earth.
This is why you are going to do greater things than we did, or than even our Lord did in His day, simply because you have a greater reach across the face of the Earth, and when the Spirit of God begins to move in you the way it moved in us in our day, the entire world will sit up and notice.
When they threw us in prison, it was actually kind of exciting.-Exciting because we had seen so many manifestations of the supernatural already that we were just waiting to see what the Spirit of God would do next under these circumstances. It reminded me of the story of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, and I took great heart in that.
So there we were, just waiting.-Praying and waiting. Lo and behold, as we humbled ourselves and sought Him and called out to Him and made room for Him, He came.
We began to perceive that the veil between the spirit world and our physical world was parting, and there stood the Archangel Gabriel, one of the Lord's most powerful messengers, sent straight from the throne of God.
Contrary to what you might have thought, Gabriel was inside the prison room with us; he didn't open the door from the outside. We were in awe, of course, to see such a manifestation happen before our very eyes.
The first thing he did was beam us the message that God intended for us to fearlessly continue to teach and preach, to just give it out, give it out, give it out. That was our most important job.
The Spirit moved into the door, into the locking system, until it undid the mechanism with Gabriel's hand following it and performing the act in the physical through his being in tune with the spiritual force of God, and then he pulled the door open physically. As the Spirit took over the spiritual atmosphere, it entered into the physical and caused the physical things to happen.-What we would call “supernatural,” but what to God is simply His Nature at work.
Gabriel was the interface, bringing the two worlds together and performing the Master's will. He pulled open the door and beckoned us to leave. We gingerly walked out and closed the door calmly, silently relocking the mechanism, and off we walked, up the stairs, out the upper doors and onto the street in the dead of night. He told us to go to the Temple and tell everyone all about our life. So we did.
In the early morning, we went and told all about our life, and all that was happening and how there was another way, an alternative, God's way, and multitudes continued to join us.
Well, you know the rest of the story. The officers went to the jail to get us and bring us to the great gathering of the religious authorities, and we simply weren't there!-Ha! What a surprise it was for them! And where did they find us?-Back in the Temple, doing just what we'd been doing before.
They took us and scornfully asked us how we could possibly break their law by speaking these things they had ordered us to keep to ourselves. I simply said, “Because it is better to obey God than to obey man”-simple as that. And then we all gave witness to them of the great things God Himself was doing. God bless Gamaliel, now my dear friend, who stood up for us and gave us some breathing room.
Yes, they finally took us and beat us, but I'll tell you, if you were the kind of man I'd been, with so many sins and failings, you would have been glad to have been beaten for our Lord, because it is proof that you are not only serving Him despite all your mistakes, but also that He has put His stamp of approval on you!-That's like a badge of honor, let me tell you!
Tears came to my eyes!-Not from the beating, mind you, but tears of joy from the realization that I was still His. That's the way I took it. I thought, “Thank You, Jesus, for counting me worthy! I love You, my Lord! Thank You for giving me another chance! Thank You for letting me suffer for Your Name's sake! It's an honor!”
That was the main thing on my heart and mind. I'd failed so many times! I'd backslidden! I'd even denied the Master, and only by God's grace hadn't betrayed Him! So when it finally came time for me to stand up for Jesus, and I did it, and was beaten for it, I took it with joy.-Despite all of my failings, the Lord was telling me, “You're one of Mine, Peter. I'm not going to let you go.”
So that's how it happened! That's how it was from an eyewitness. And I just want to encourage you whom He has raised up in these Last Days, that as you make your stand boldly against the System, He is going to stand up even more boldly for you. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. And as you stand up and make your stand for Him, He is going to stand up to the point that at times you are going to see the veil part too, and you will see that there are many, many, many more with you than those few that stand against you. You will be able to harness the power of the Spirit of God and His world, and great will be your witness! You too will say, “Thank You, Jesus, for counting me worthy to be one of Your disciples!”
I was a man full of pride, yet He helped me to make it and to be a disciple and to give my all to the end. That was my heart's desire, and He fulfilled it for me, because he knew it was what I wanted above all else, to give myself for Him, in spite of my pride and faults and all the things that were stacked up against that happening. He judged it according to what I had in my heart-my deepest desires there-and not according to my faults and the many things and attributes I didn't have. And He'll do it for you. Just watch and see.
I love you, my fellow laborers. Right now I have been attending war-room councils and forming battle plans with the Lord. It's all being taken care of in the spirit world and being carefully planned. You'd be amazed at the mass of plans laid out and how the Lord is attuned to each one of them, how He is changing things as each of your days go by, and is constantly revamping, updating, and reorganizing them to reach His promised end.

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(Jesus:) This is another deliverance story, and it's interesting for you to see how it actually happened. Although there's not too much new information, you do understand a bit better how he felt and a few more details.

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