A Call To The Remnant

We have fallen from Grace

In the west there is a very low view of God. Some kindly grandfather? A benevolent Santa clause? A buddy?. Of course He is none of these things. Familiarity has bred contempt and the traditions of men have caused us to fall from grace. It has caused us to forget who God really is. He is high and lifted up and the train of His robe fills the temple. He is majestic in holiness. He is awe-full, meaning full of awe. Those around His throne can only cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.’

It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God. (2 Chron 5:11-14)

As the people stood as one, no hierarchy observed, and the Ark found its rightful place in the temple, the glory of God came down, God Himself took possession of the Temple and it was filled with a cloud of glory. His true unadulterated presence would have obliterated these mere mortals. Impenetrable light hidden in the cloud and still the people were overwhelmed. In Job chapter 26 the righteous man of God cries out as he explains the unsearchable glories of God and says “He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.” The cloud, the glory, the manifest presence, all of this and more when the children of God become as one.

Unless the people have an encounter with such a God, they will continue to have a low view of Him and worship some weak anemic cultural god of their own making. The church in the west is starving to death, they are dying of thirst and the tragedy is that for the most part, the majority that are called after His name do not even know that they are in the midst of a famine and drought.I thank God for His remnant people who do know. Who agonize over the state of the church. Who cry out to God and who want nothing less for the multitude of people to experience the majesty and the glory and and anguish and the joy of falling down before the throne, to be ruined for life and to walk with the grand obsession that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. Now brothers and sisters, we know that we are the house of God. We are His temple. Each one of us is a living stone. Each one of us are priests in a Royal priesthood. Has God so taken us, so fully possessed us that we could barely stand? Have you experienced God is such a way? When His presence falls upon you and there is a weight of glory where you can barely lift your head? You barely dare breathe as He fills every part of you. Tears flow freely, trembling hands find their way into the air in surrender, surrender to the glory. It is not a passing moment, rather it is a passage from the temporal world into the glory. And once you have slipped behind this veil then nothing can ever be the same again.

This is what the people are starved of, this is why they are dying of thirst. There is a famine of the Word of God in the land, not the Word preached, but the Word preached with the power and the presence of God. The crisis of the age is a lack of God’s empowering presence in our assemblies.Can we do anything outside of His presence? Unless the Lord builds the house then we labor in vain. It is very clear that the Lord has an issue with us. Every church , every gathering throughout the land should shut down their activities until they have the presence of the Lord walking in their midst, until the people know that……

“the heavens shall be shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You; if they pray toward this place, and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear from Heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, when You have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.”

The people must realize how far they have wandered from the Living God. When they are desperate enough to cry out and acknowledge how far they have fallen, fallen from grace, then and only then shall they have the ear of God. Falling from grace is the result of trying to complete the Christian journey in the flesh, when it can only be completed by the Spirit. The Galatians problem was the Law, they were trying to live by the law. Christianity today tries to live by its traditions. It is as much ruled by its traditions as the Galatians were ruled by the law and the result for both groups is the same, a falling from grace.

Falling from grace is a cutting yourself of from the vital connection from Christ that gives you life. Build your life upon the law or upon the traditions of men and you have cut yourself of from the very real relationship of Jesus Christ. The traditions of men, no matter how good, are but a mere shadow of the reality. The object itself casts a shadow, and while the shadow has something of the image of the object, it has no substance. It cannot edify, it cannot sanctify, it cannot instill abundant life, and so those who rely upon the shadow begin to die. Where the shadow abounds, death abounds. Where the substance of Christ is and along with that and His actual presence, there is life and liberty, and grace to be found.

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When the people who dwell in great darkness see the children of the living God set on fire among the cloud of glory, when they see that the glory of God has fallen upon the temple, when the glory of God fills the temple, then those who dwell in the darkness of this world will be drawn to the light of Christ that burns at the center of our hearts and souls. Will we serve the Lord our God with all of our hearts? Are we ready to throw off the things of this world and enter into the Holy of Holy’s? The Kingdom of God dwells within us.

Shall we take our place before the throne? Is the Lord inviting us to the marriage feast and tragically we are too busy? Do we make excuses as to why we do not come fully before Him? In Luke chapter 14 the call goes out to come to the great banquet and any number of excuses were made as to why they would not come, in short they were too busy living in the material world and living material lives. He is knocking at the door of your heart, will you open up your heart and let Him reign upon its throne today? Will you give Him your all today? He will have all of us or He will have none of us. To look back at the things of the world disqualifies us from serving Him.

Come brothers and sisters with our whole hearts. Come to Him and cry out with a desperate cry “Lord I die of hunger today, I desperately need your word with your power and your presence. Lord today I am dying of thirst, I have an unquenchable thirst for the Living waters of life and I desire to be fully immersed in this river and want to be taken to wherever it will take me. Lord I would rather be in the center of your will and die today, than to live 30 more years of compromise in a dry and thirsty land.”

What hinders you today brothers and sisters from entering into the fullness of God? It’s not the Lord. His desire is to possess all of you and be the Lord of your whole life. So what hinders you today? Your life, your traditions your place in the world? Lay it down and come and walk in the fullness of Him. Let His glory fill the temple. Let His glory take full possession of you. The day is coming to and end and the great persecution will soon be upon us. Unless you are filled with His glory, unless He has full possession of you, you will hear yourself making any number of excuses as to why you cannot serve Him with your whole heart and join the oneness that is also soon to come.

Persecution will burn away the kindling and the broken branches and the branches that no longer are fed by the sap of the vine. When the smoke clears there shall be the oneness left. The oneness that Jesus spoke of in John 17 where He said that we would be one just as He and His Father are one and we shall be where the glory is, the glory that He has given to us. This glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and every nation will see it. The glory of God come down upon those who walk as one, just as they were called to. Cry out now with A desperation and repent if you have fallen from His grace. He waits, He waits to lifts us from the valley of dry bones, but He shall not strive forever with us.