And Jehovah said to him, Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning because of all the abominations that are done in her midst (Eze 9:4)The people of God that were marked were the remnant. Judgment was coming but the remnant were marked on their foreheads. They groaned and were in mourning for the condition of Jerusalem. Do you groan, are you in mourning for the state of the world, the state of the church? Will you heart be satisfied with anything less than to walk in the presence of the Living God? Have you tasted of the heavenly food and drunk from the waters of life? Has it ruined you for everything? If you have answered yes to any of these questions then you belong to the remnant church of God. This church has been known by many names down through the centuries, the Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards and Hussites and Brethren. There was the Anabaptists and the Moravians, the list goes on. God has always had a witness in the land, He has always had His remnant that would not “bow the knee to Baal.”

The remnant man or woman carries their cross. Carrying a cross is a lonely business. Its their very loneliness that compels them to seek an even closer walk with the Lord. The trials of the cross, the narrowness of the path, the desert and the wilderness that often stretches out before you. A lack of fitting in. Your primary goal in life is to see the Lord Jesus high and lifted up. You often despair at your own walk even although people may tell you that you are a wonderful man or woman of God. You hear that and it makes you cringe. You know how far you fall short of a God that you have seen high and lifted up. You long for everyone to radically encounter the Living God for themselves. You hear people say that they would like the anointing and you wonder. You wonder if they could walk through the refining fires of the living God. Would they really want their whole lives dismantled? Would they like the bread of adversity and the waters of afflictions to be their teachers? This is the lot for those who walk the narrow path.

They are often troubled on every side yet rescued from distress. Many times perplexed but pulled from the valley of despair. Persecuted, but knowing they are not alone. Thrown down and trampled on but saved from being destroyed. Dying it seems by many troubles but the life of the Lord Jesus shining out from you despite the darkness of your many trials. All of these things, the things that would destroy many, yet in you they cause the life of Christ to spring forth. An abundance of grace upon your life that speaks to the glory of God and the love of the Father for His children. In all of these things we do not faint, we rise up by the power of the Holy Spirit. The outer man may be perishing but our inner man is renewed daily to the glory of God and the amazement of a dying world.

The remnant know that just as the world hated their Lord and crucified Him, they too will be hated and killed all the day long for His names sake. And just as He arose, they know that they too will arise. As they draw nearer to “the one who was pierced,” and He pours out His Spirit on them and they become more like Him, then the same forces that came against their Jesus, hell and all its fury, will come against them. They know that “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies it brings forth much fruit.

God is calling forth His remnant in these days of gross darkness. He is calling them out of dead and dying denominations. He is calling them out of Babylon, He is calling them out of compromise, He is calling them out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is calling the saints to stand as one upon the Truth. He told us that His word was a lamp unto our feet and He is calling for us to follow the light despite the gross darkness on every side. All of this comes with a great cost. There is a price to pay for coming out of dead and dying churches and denominations. There is a price to pay for coming out of Babylon. There is always a price to pay for standing upon the Truth especially in the latter days when the world has truly turned against all aspects of His truth. We are living in a valley full of decisions now that the Lord is at the door. Shall we falter near the end of the race or shall we finish the race that has been set before us? We are surrounded by a cloud of witness saints, therefore stand strong in Jesus. Do not be ashamed of Him before a wicked and adulterous generation. If we stand with Him now in the days of gross darkness, we shall stand with Him forever in the light of eternity.