The church in the west is starving to death and they are dying of thirst. 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 a 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 than for the multitude of people to experience the majesty and the glory and the anguish and the joy of falling down before the throne. Who desire all men to be ruined for this life and to walk with the grand obsession of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is coming a time, and we may be there already, when God is calling His people, His remnant people who have experienced the presence of God, to rise up and testify to it. To testify of what they know of Him. Of how they come into the presence of a Holy and majestic God. Of how it ruins them and changes them. Of how they tremble before the throne of the almighty God. This is what the people are starved of, this is what they are dying from. 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. May the glory of the Lord fill His house.
2Sa 12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
King David is in a very bad situation. He has committed adultery with Bathsheba, he tried to cover his tracks when she got pregnant, but a foreign convert , Uriah the Hittite , the husband of Bathsheba was more honorable that David. Therefore David’s attempts to cover up his adultery was foiled so David had him killed. This is such a low state for the man after God’s own heart. And after Nathan the prophet comes to David and exposes him, God speaks. God speaks brothers and sisters, one should be very afraid when God speaks, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. And here is the charge that God levels against David, His beloved. ” You have despised me.”
Now this word despised in the Hebrew is ” baw-zaw,” meaning to disesteem, to think lightly off. It is the same word used in Gen 25:34 to describe Esau’s selling of his birthright for some bread and some soup. Can you imagine selling your birthright just simply to satisfy your immediate needs? Can you imagine that food on the table would be thought more highly of than the Living God and the birthright that He has given to us? And yet, do we not live in a day and age where our immediate needs, meaning the basic needs of this world and our day-to-day living are thought more highly of than God?
Are we not encouraged to live our best lives now? Have we not allowed our desires and hungers to be elevated above our love and desire for God? And are we not blind to it, so terribly blind to it? If David needed a prophet to reveal his wickedness, and this a man after God’s own heart, beloved of God, are we so proud as to think that we would not need this level of rebuke?
Christendom today has despised God in the fullest sense of that word. They are as blind to their sin as David was to his. And unless they hear God directly and acknowledge and repent of their sin as David did, they will be hopelessly lost to, and be entangled by the cares of this world. I praise God that He never leaves us without a witness, whether it is one crying in the wilderness or a remnant that refuses to bow the knee to the gods of this world. God will have a spotless bride, He will raise up a generation that will follow Him and Him alone.
Rom 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
In this particular case we see that Abraham and his wife are well beyond the age of bearing a child. Sarah’s womb was dead, it could carry no life. And so in life we oftentimes run into situations that defies hope, that stands diametrically opposed to hope. All the evidence of the rational world and the finest expert opinions dash any worldly hope upon the rocks of hopelessness and despair. Yet brothers and sisters, it is a glorious thing to remember that our hope is not the hope of the world. Our hope is founded upon our God and His word, His promises. His word is not broken, His promises cannot be broken. And it is this hope that is a wellspring of joy and peace and love and a sound mind.
Abraham, the father of faith believed God that life would spring forth from death. Now from the first promise until the fulfillment it took 25 years. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 when Issac was conceived. This defied all the evidence of the rational world. In the world Abraham would have had no hope. In the world we too would have no hope, yet praise God we may be in the world but not off it. We walk according to the Spirit of God, we stand upon the Word of God. we believe in the promises of God and we walk in the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is and always has been a place of miracles and a wellspring of hope.
The birth of Issac is the birth of a nation. It is this line that would give us Jesus, the seed that would bless all the nations of the world. It sprang forth from the impossible which is the realm of the miraculous. This realm has a throne and upon that throne sits our heavenly Father. Can hope come forth from hopelessness? Yes indeed. Just as Jesus came forth from His heavenly realm and stepped into our world, then sight can come forth from blindness, joy can come forth from despair and Lazarus can come forth from the grave. Jesus is my blessed hope, all other ground in sinking sand.
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
It’s a terrible thing to be held captive by our own thoughts. How exhausting it can be when we allow them to consume and overwhelm us? They can begin to eat away at us. They can even rob us of sleep and leave us tired and weary and walking the floor at night. I thank the Lord that He freed us and gave us the ability to take every thought into captivity and focus on Him. If a specific situation or trial has taken hold of your mind today, know that there is a way of escape, you are no longer slaves to the flesh but bond-servants, willing servants to the Lord of power.
If you have been set free by the Lord then you are free indeed. You now have the power to take those thoughts captive, they must bow to the Spirit of God in you. By an act of your will, take your eyes off of that situation today and turn them to Jesus and draw close to Him and peace will flood your soul. “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30)
Commit your heart to trust in Him today. Determine in your heart that you will no longer walk in fear. Give it to the Lord of hosts, let Him take the burden. He will take it if you will give it to Him. Your situation may not change but your attitude in the midst of it will. It will give you clarity of thought and the ability to focus and speak to the Lord. As your mind is drawn away from the pressing situation and the darkness of it, and you are drawn to the light of your Lord who loves you so much and is jealous for your thoughts, His light will begin to fill you. God bless you this day as you begin the task of taking your thoughts captive.
In the things of the Kingdom,progress is not automatic,for a man may only be fifty weeks old in grace even though he was saved fifty years ago. Maturity in grace has nothing to do with years but rather with prayerful obedience to the revealed will of God.
Leonard Ravenhill-Meat for men.
Can you see what Ravenhill is saying? We make forward progress in the Kingdom by prayerful obedience to the revealed will of God. What is the revealed will of God? First and foremost it is the Word of God, the Scriptures. Secondly it is the still small voice of God, the Holy Spirit. And of course, one will never contradict the other, there will always be perfect harmony between the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God. He is the author.
In 2nd John 1:4 John says that he rejoiced greatly to have found some of the saints walking in the truth having received the commandment from God. In 3rd John 1:4 John says that he had no greater joy than to hear that his children were walking in the truth. Imagine that, the great Apostle’s greatest joy was the saints walking in the Truth. Why was this his greatest joy? John knew that if we walk in the Truth, then and only then will we make forward progress in the Kingdom, overcoming trial and temptation and becoming more like Jesus. Obedience is the key to this.
Imagine you are in a small boat in the middle of a vast ocean. You have no sail and you have no motor to power you. What will happen? Without the thrust of forward momentum you will drift. The power that will move you will be the current of the ocean. It will take you where it will take you. I want to suggest to you that without obedience to the Word of God and to the Holy Spirit you will not make any forward progress on your spiritual journey.
Obedience is the outboard motor that will propel your forward. The Holy Spirit is the fuel in the motor. Obedience is the raising of the sail that will catch the wind, the Holy Spirit is the wind that will propel you forward against the forces of the current.. How mature are you? How many weeks old are you in the Kingdom? In Ravenhill’s example a man who has been saved for fifty years may be less than a year old in the Kingdom, a mere babe. God is looking for mature saints, men and woman who can dine on meat.
If you ever had a time when you know you have fallen short? You thought you had traveled a thousand miles and you come upon a tree and you know you have seen that tree before which means , that it seems, that you are right back where you started. Your spirit is wearied that it shall never be done with this flesh that envelopes us and is an anchor to our soul, that always impedes us. You just want to stretch your hands to the heavens and say “here I am Lord, take me into the beauty of your holiness,” and your spirit weeps. I wrote this poem/song as I mourned the fact that apart from spirit, I am also flesh and blood and my spirit longs to be away.
If I could
If I could fly into Your sunset
I would
If I could dive into your Ocean
I would
If I could, If I could, If I could
I would.
If I could be swallowed up in your majesty
I would
If I could eternally drown in your Glory
I would
If I could, If I could, If I could
I would
If I could look into your face and never look away
I would
If I could fall into your Arms forever and a day
I would
If I could , If I could, If I could
I would
If I could fall with the day when the day is done
I would
If I could rise again upon the rays of the rising sun
I would
If I could, If I could , If I could
I would..............go.
Php 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
It can be very difficult in times of peace and prosperity to stay as close to God as we should like. I wonder if it might be near impossible? I think about the Scripture ” My grace is sufficient for you.” There is, it seems, a unique grace to be had in times of trouble. The memory of that grace, the knowledge and the experience of knowing that no matter how difficult our situation was, the Lord never left us nor did He forsake us, is an attribute of the mature saint who has learned to be content whether in the stormiest of seas or tranquil windless days and is able to rejoice in the Lord his God.
The closeness and the dependency that we discover in the midst of troubles and sufferings is a resource that we carry with us as we move along the narrow path. When we come across others in similar situations we are then able to comfort them with the very same comfort we ourselves were comforted with. Living waters flowing through us, through tried and tested vessels, brings life to those who receive it. Broken vessels cannot withhold living waters. By nature of its brokenness, it allows waters to flow freely from the depths of who we are and who we have been shaped to be by the one who dwells in the very depths of us. From whom all living waters flow, from whom all blessing flow, from whom all mercies flow. In this, we can rejoice always, and again, I say, rejoice.
Saints, I am convinced that there is a mighty battle going on right now, even as we speak. I believe that this battle will soon overflow from the spiritual realm into this physical realm. And we know from Scripture that our battle is against principalities and powers, against the worlds rulers, against the darkness of this age and against spiritual wickedness in high places. (eph 6:12) I am convinced that the saints that have been called to pray and intercede are experiencing trials and tribulations like never before because of this very battle. It may be in the mind and it may have physical manifestations or probably both. Now is the time for steadfastness. Now is the time to prevail and overcome. Now is not the time to shrink back although the flesh may cry out for that.
The first three centuries of the church’s history prove that no earthly power can crush it. It is invincible to attacks from without. The witnesses of its sufferings and even its persecutors, become its converts and it grows more rapidly than it can be destroyed. The following period of nearly two hundred years shows that the union of the Church and the State, even when the powers of the mightiest Empire are put into the Church’s hands , do not enable her to save the State from destruction, for, in abandoning the position which her very name implies, of being “called out” of the world and of separation to Christ, she loses the power that comes from subjection to her Lord , exchanging it for an earthly authority that is fatal to herself.”
The Lord gave me this “prayer,” many years ago. It came shortly after a life changing vision. As the Spirit spoke, my fingers could barely keep up with the computer keys, it was almost like I playing the piano. Pray this prayer saints………….
A Prayer for the Remant
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid because I know that your Spirit goes ahead. A fire by night and a cloud by day. This fire that burns at the center of my soul, consumes the all consuming darkness and lights the way in the blackness of my many deserts. It warms me against the night cold that would sap me of my strength. And your cloud oh Lord covers me from the searing heat of my many trials and afflictions that would drain me oh Lord and cause me to stumble and fall. You are the very essence of my life. You are the wellspring of life itself. You are my Jesus. Its at the name of Jesus that the demons flee. Its at the name of Jesus that the world shakes. The thunder roars and the lightning flashes at the name of Jesus. Mountains fall down at the name of Jesus, the birds themselves sing of your fame. Even the very darkness is light to you my King.
Even if I make my bed in hell, even there the name of Jesus is high and lifted up and all bow their knees. Where could I go oh Lord, where could I flee from your Spirit? In the darkest moments of my life, when my downcast soul cried out, all seemed lost and gone and suddenly, suddenly, suddenly you are there in all your glory. The seas that roared and the winds that blew, they bowed their knee to you and all was calm. Even when I lay bloodied and defeated in the battle-field of life, it was you Jesus, who rode on a mighty stallion through the debris and the fire and the destruction and plucked me from the jaws of total defeat and Calvary’s victory won the day. When I had fallen to the bottom of the bottomless pit and cried out with all that was left within me, you came for me, right where I was , the gates of hell itself, and you picked me up and you lifted me out of the darkness of hell and you put me down and made my feet to stand in a sure place.
As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks so my soul longeth after thee of Lord and my soul cries out in a dry and thirsty land. Revive me oh Lord, refresh my soul that hungers after heavens food, my spirit longs for waters that flow from heavens throne. I have tasted this food, I have drank of this water. I am ruined for all of life’s food and all other waters are foul tasting to my spirit. Lord Jesus, you are beautiful beyond description, to marvelous indeed for words. The moments I have spent in your sanctuary, rob me of all of my words and render them all meaningless. I feel heavenly words in all of me, not just in my brain and in my mouth, but in my very essence. Who and what you are is in my very DNA in your presence, and every particle of me glows with who you are in your presence , and I know that I cannot dwell there for I would that I would never leave that place. And so that I can go on living I must only dwell there for a moment, but oh what a glorious moment, these moments are my very life.
It is these moments that allow me to endure all things for I know that there will come a day where suddenly it will be moments no longer. And it makes me tremble all the more when I realize that this place of eternity, this uninterrupted unadulterated presence of the living God has not even entered into the hearts of man. No eye has seen nor ear heard nor spirit experienced the full measure of our God. It is above and beyond human description or even imagination. I come to the end of myself and it thrills my soul to know that at the very end of everything that ever was, everything that has ever been or ever will be experienced by man is the very beginning of you, the very beginning of you. My souls journey into eternity renders all mere trials as momentary and light, I shall count them all as rubbish for the goal that is set before me. Oh the glorious wonder of a world that cannot be imagined. You tell me oh Lord that it has not even entered into the hearts of man and I compare it with the moments I have spent in your presence and based on this alone my mind is staggered to a point that I cannot even comprehend the beginning of what you have said.
You speak the word Lord Jesus and my soul knows well that it is true and will be as you say. I need to pray for a heart that will want to stay here and serve you Jesus for my spirit longs to be away with you to the place that you have spoken. Come Lord Jesus, come as we move towards the door and answer the knocking. Come Lord Jesus and bring us our moments, moments that transport us from where we are to where you are, moments that take us to the throne-room itself to a place of awe and majesty and grace, to a place that prepares us for that which has not entered into the hearts of man. Lord in the desert you asked your people to prepare themselves three days and then you manifested your presence, and the mountains shook, and the thunder roared and the lightning flashed across the sky and then the heavenly trumpet blew and the people cried out, and they would surely die at even this limited revelation. They cried out and Moses , your servant veiled his face for the very face glowed, it glowed, it was lit up, it had , in a very limited way, saw the king of glory. Your prophet cried out “My eyes have seen the king,” and you oh Lord sat upon your throne and the train of your robe filled the temple.
You were high and lifted up and the prophet thought that he would surely die in your presence , he thought that your glory would destroy his flesh yet you sustained him and allowed him to testify of your glory. Praise you king of glory, praise you Lord almighty, for the earth is yours and the fullness of it, all the world and those who dwell in it. Let us have clean hands and a pure heart, and let our heads be lifted up to see the glory of the living God, let us open the doors to the most intimate chambers of our hearts and the King of Glory shall come in, you are the King of glory oh Lord Jesus, mighty in battle. We worship you Lord Jesus and we follow you into battle for you are our commander of the heavenly hosts. You ride upon the skies of love and glory. The momentum of Calvary drives out every demon and chases them to the ends of the earth and every time they raise their dark heads the King of glory, Jesus , our Lord and Saviour dispenses His light and there is victory. Victory in Jesus, our Saviour forever. At the cross at the cross where we first saw the light, and the burden of our souls was rolled away. Just like the stone that held Lazarus in his grave, when that stone was rolled away and you shouted come forth, then we came forth from death into your marvelous light. No longer dead in our sins and trespasses, no longer children of darkness , no longer cowed by the sting of death for death had lost its sting and the grave was defeated and now we are children of the light , we are your children set upon a hill for all the world to see. We are as a lighthouse that shines out its light into the darkest nights and into the fiercest of storms .
We are a beacon of hope for a world that has no hope because you are in us and we in you. You shine your light through us Lord to a world that is lost in its sin and you say through us to that world, come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, come and find rest for your weary souls. You are our all in all and we stand firm with you Lord Jesus. Even as your name becomes an offence around the world then we cry it out all the louder. In the coming storm of persecution, we will continue to cry out your name to our persecutors for you are their only hope. Oh Lord, all of this and more from one moment in your presence, one word from your lips, one breath of life from you. Lord we know that we can do nothing by ourselves. So, since it is not by might nor by power but it is by your Spirit Lord, we run to you Lord , our refuge and our High tower and we know that God is in the generation of the righteous and we have been made righteous in the sight of God by you oh Lord. You are about to bring back your people from their captivity Lord and you will do what you have promised and we believe the promises of our God. We stand amazed at you oh Lord. We will stand and wait upon you and we will be still and see the Glory of our God…….In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.
These are challenging words to the Church from a good friend of mine, Greg Gordon of Sermonindex.net ministries. Greg himself does not believe that the Evangelical church is finished. This is one of the few area’s that we disagree. The new wine that is coming cannot be poured into old wineskin, just as there was no room in Catholicism for Luthers 95 Theses although many at the time argued that there was, history of course has proven them wrong. The reformation was only a limited reform with much of the model of Catholicism retained. The remnant church of the end times will be radically different, praise God. It will not be a Catholic model, it will be an Acts model. Just as the Catholics fought the Lutherens, so the Evangelicals will srongly resist any attempt to model the church of Acts.Read the rest of this entry »
The time may come soon for brothers and sisters in the west to face the kinds of decisions that so many of our brothers and sisters had to face down through the centuries. Ask yourself this question, are you ready to give your all for the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He more important to you than your life, your reputation, your worldy goods, even your family?We must never underestimate what has went before us. Yet, as you listen to just one testimony of a saint from a dungeon, your spirit will soar to realize that even in the darkest dungeon the Light of the world will illuminate and pierce the evil. For what is darkness? Darkness is the absence of light. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, indeed, He will never leave us nor forsake us. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world!
Men are so determined to do it themselves that when a man is saved, that is not the end. He now has to be broken, he has to know that everyone of his efforts will lead to nothing but defeat. It may take one year, it may take fifty years, but every genuine follower of Christ will be broken and when the brokenness comes and total surrender comes, then, and only then do they realize that it is all God and none of them. We are the recipients of mercy and grace, not of wages. Read the rest of this entry »
“Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to
Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution;
it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an
enterprise.” -Sam Pascoe. Read the rest of this entry »
As many of you may know, “The Christian Children’s fund,” has just changed its name and taken the “Christian,” out of it. In the coming days and years, the name of Jesus will become more and more offensive as the enemy begins his concerted attack against the King of Kings. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes, even in the very depths of our trials, we can call upon that name, the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name. The name by which everything must bow. Darkness must flee at that name, mourning must flee in the presence of Jesus. Hopelessness becomes hope in the presence of the Lord. Bitterness becomes forgiveness, strife becomes peace, captivity becomes freedom Read the rest of this entry »
The world will indeed embrace nuclear dis-armament, as counterintuitive as that may seem right now. It will probably be accelerated by a nuclear strike , albeit it a relatively small one(still tens of thousands of casualties) by terrorists. There will be a coalition of the willing, led by America to have an outright ban on these weapons. Read the rest of this entry »
There is no doubt the church in the West is defiled. We worship other gods, we just do not call them by name because this would be offensive. We trust in the work of our own hands and we trust in military power and we trust in our leaders for our security. This Northern Kingdom represents all professing Christians, the vast majority, the ten tribes so to speak. Now Judah represents the genuine Church, the true believers and we also will be judged, for surely all judgement begins at the house of the Lord. When we refuse to serve God in the abundance of all things, then God will make us serve our enemies when we are hungry and thirsty, for a time.
We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures. Read the rest of this entry »
This intimacy, this presence is the key to all aspects of our Christianity. There is no difficulty in Christendom today that could not be resolved by the presence of God. That is why it all comes back to Calvary. Calvary is the expression of absolute Love, absolute surrender, absolute victory. It is the totality of the expression of God’s love for the world. Read the rest of this entry »
A Call To The Remnant 