Daily Devotional for Monday June 5, 2006
06/06/06
(Revelation 13:16-18)
"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666." - (Revelation 13:16-18)
Tomorrow is a day many people are concerned about, some even fearful of. Why? Because it is June 6, 2006 or 06/06/06. Actually, at 6 a.m 6 minutes and 6 seconds it will be 06:06:06 on 06/06/06. I wanted to bring this word to you today so that if you are concerned or fearful about tomorrow, please don't be. It is simply just another day in human history. People will be born and people will die. People will make money and people will lose money. People will get married and people will get divorced. People will get jobs and people will lose jobs. The point I want you to understand today is that there is NOTHING magical about tomorrow because it is 06/06/06!
I have always been amused at the emails I get 3-4x a year from people who tell me that they would love to send Liveprayer a donation, but they refuse to since our address is 6660. It always gives me a good laugh, but at the same time I feel sorry for people who live in such fear due to their ignorance. Let me just say this. For over 81 months now, God has blessed this address in so many ways it would take several books to document. Every day, literally millions of lives all over the world receive the Truth of God's Word and find the hope and love of Jesus Christ FROM THIS ADDRESS. Over 130,000 souls we know of will be in Heaven from the work that has come from THIS ADDRESS. I can assure you the only one who is cursed by this address is satan!!!
Let me be blunt with you, worrying about numbers is simply a lack of maturity and is nothing but being superstitious. Merriam-Webster defines superstition as: a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation. A Christian isn't supposed to be superstitious because our faith is in God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, the One who is in control of all things at all times. Nothing happens in this world or in our lives apart from God allowing it to happen. There are no accidents or coincidences with God.
Nonbelievers are superstitious because they live in ignorance of God's Word. Because they have denied that Truth and the love of Christ in their life, they live in fear of the unknown, they trust in magic, they believe that things happen in this life by chance, they have to come up with wild theories to explain why events unfold the way they do. As you can clearly see, being superstitious is NOT something a true follower of Jesus Christ should ever be.
The number 666 has only one meaning to a Christian, it is the mark of the beast or the anti-Christ. Period. That is it. It has no meaning in a street address, it has no meaning in a phone number, it has no meaning in your grocery bill, it has no meaning on your credit card, IT HAS NO MEANING AS A DATE, it only has meaning if someone is trying to give you this number on your right hand or forehead during the reign of the anti-Christ. Otherwise, the number 666, the number 6, has NO MEANING and is not something a Christian should even think twice about.
The fact is, numerology is a satanic tool and not something Christians should be involved with. Yes, I am well aware of the Biblical teaching regarding numbers. 1 is the number of unity. 2 is the number of division. 3 is the number of Divine perfection. 4 is the number of creation. 5 is the number of grace. 6 is the number of man. 7 is the number of spiritual perfection. 8 is the number of new beginnings. 9 is the number of judgment. 40 is the number of trials. I could go on, but let me just say while I find the Biblical support of these numerical definitions interesting, it is not something I have ever put much weight behind since it ultimately leads people on that path of being superstitious.
I love you and care about you so much. Unless Jesus returns, and only God knows when that moment will be, the sun will rise in the east and set in the west and tomorrow will simply be another day. I remember back in November of 1999, doing a Devotional on Y2K. Do you remember that? Poor people being scared into buying portable toilets that didn't need water, boxes of dehydrated food, clearing out their bank accounts and buying gold, building survival bunkers in their homes, being told that everything computer driven was going to crash and fail, and on and on the doomsday scenarios were being painted.
I told the Liveprayer audience at that time, some 40-50,000 people to take a deep breath, quit panicking, quit listening to the false prophets who were making a ton of money selling Y2K books and tapes, and know that God is on His throne and that everything was going to be OK. I have that same message for you today. Chill out, relax, tomorrow is simply another day. Instead of worrying about the date, worry about being faithful to honor God with your life tomorrows like we are called to do each day He gives us in this life. Rather than worrying aobut the numbers of the date tomorrow, find ways to serve the Lord as we are supposed to do each day God blesses us with.
I will be praying for you. I pray that this message today has helped some of you get over the hump of being superstitious, to mature spiritually Superstitious is NOT something a child of God should ever be. We don't have to trust in chance or fear the unknown because our faith and hope is in God Almighty who sits high and looks low. So fear not my friend because our God neither slumbers nor sleeps and He is on His throne and in control of all things at all times. It is not the date tomorrow we need to be concerned with, only bringing glory and honor to God with our lives on that and every day He gives us in this life!