Our role in the coming days (lengthy)
The Body of Christ has not changed down through the centuries. Always at her core she has been called to be an eye-witness to God’s glory. This is the essential heartbeat of Gods remnant bride and always will be. She is a tabernacle in the wilderness, she is Gods temple here on earth. At the same time she has always been despised by the religious spirit because she speaks truth to power. In these days God says in His word through His prophet Zechariah that ” In that last day a fountain shall be opened up for the house of David.” God Himself says again through the prophet that (speaking of Christendom) “Two thirds in it shall be cut off and die. But one-third shall be left in it. I will bring the one-third through the fire, I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them. I will say ” This is my people.” (Zec 13:8-9)
And so we see that a fountain shall be opened in that day for the house of David. Can you imagine how welcome a fountain would be in the midst of a dry and thirsty land, a land racked with drought and famine? I want us to look at two men of God and see what parallels we can draw. Let’s look at Noah and as we do let’s think about the context of the time in which he lived. It’s a time and a place of great wickedness and there would only be a tiny fraction saved out of this. Noah is commissioned to build an ark over a long period of time. We know that Noah faced ridicule and scorn. What he was building have never been built before. And, rain had never fallen from the sky and the notion that the whole earth would be covered by a flood was preposterous to all who lived then.
Every day the people could hear Noah’s hammer. Every day the ark took shape and was rising up. The continuous hammering would have been a great source of irritation to all around him. Noah would have to keep building despite the ridicule and the scorn and the anger because the rain was surely coming and he was being obedient to his calling. We too as Gods remnant people have to keep true to what the Lord has called us to do. We are also in the ark business. There was one place of salvation when the rains of judgment began to fall, it was the ark. Can I put it to you brothers and sisters that the remnant church of God is God’s ark built by the hands of Jesus. The Body of Christ.
With the judgments beginning to fall, with the beginning of the birth pangs, it will become apparent that God has a people who have not bowed the knee to Baal. God is getting ready to reveal His ark by bringing judgment and allowing the rise of the anti-christ. This ark will be a witness to the glory of God and His way of escape. This ark will be used as a last chance for the un-redeemed of the world to be saved before final judgment. This ark will be revealed to the world by persecution. All of the world will see this ark and they will be without excuse when that day comes. This ark is the glory of Christ here on the earth and He reveals Himself through what He has built.
Now lets consider Joseph and consider the context and the back-drop of his day. Here we have Joseph who has been called to save a remnant. “And God sent me before you to save a Remnant in the earth and to save your life by a great deliverance.” ( Gen 45:7) Before Joseph could do this he had to be scorned and ridiculed by his own. Because of dreams and visions, that scorn turned to anger and hatred. He was then rejected and sold into slavery. He is then wrongfully accused and ends up in prison, seemingly forgotten and forsaken. God of course had never left him. This is way of the remnant. Yet God had not forsaken Joseph and even in prison Joseph moved in the supernatural and he found God’s favor. He was able to interpret dreams and visions and this would lead him to see that a great famine was coming upon the land. He was able to make provisions that would save “A Remnant in the earth.”
Can you see the pattern behind this brothers and sisters? Can you relate to the suffering and the rejection and the fact that he seemed forsaken? Joseph was surely plagued by this as he languished in prison. The pattern is clear. When there is great judgment coming upon the land, God has a people or a person whom He will send ahead to enable whoever will, to escape that judgment. God has created such a vehicle in the Body of Christ. And they too, just like Joseph, must be despised and rejected by the very one’s they have been sent to save. This is the divine pattern. We see our Lord Jesus walk down this path. He came from the glories of heaven and the right hand of the Father, emptying Himself and humbling Himself in order to walk amongst those who He had come to save. He became despised and rejected, tortured and killed.
And now with the final judgment fast approaching, the ark which Jesus has been building for 2000 years is almost ready. God’s remnant church comes from every possible background and across all denominational lines. ( artificial walls built by men and not by God) Through the last 2000 years they have been scorned, ridiculed hated and despised and hunted down and killed and almost all of this was done by "their own.” Their own being people who would profess God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. Yet God in His mercy will reach out and continue to reach out through His Body while there is yet time. A witness until the very end. A faithful Body and a people without excuse.
The Body of Christ is everywhere. It is in every village, every town , every city and every nation on the earth. There are countless millions of Gods own children around the world. For the most part they are swallowed up in Christendom with its multiplicity of divisions and man made walls. Yet, the closer to Christ’s return is, the more and more difficulty the Body of Christ will find within the denominations of men. Could a saint really stay within the confines of any organisation that has corrupted itself with the world?
This will be the ever increasing pressure that will be brought to bear on the saints in the coming days. Only the individual saint can answer this question for his or her self. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit must be a lamp unto our feet. As the darkness increases our need for the light that shines forth from the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit who gives us not only revelation but inspiration only becomes greater and greater.We have a God who will never leave us nor forsake us. We must trust Him with our whole hearts.The Word of God and His doctrines were written to be understood by even the simplest among us, in fact God delights in confounding the wise by the foolish things of this world. The doctrines of men are generally complicated and confusing. Stay with the Word, lean upon the Holy Spirit for understanding and insight. Do all of this with your whole heart and you will not go far wrong. He did not leave us as orphans, praise God.The Holy Spirit will lead and guide His children through not only good times but through the darkest valleys and the narrowest portions of the path that leads us home.
I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.Read the rest of this entry »
You see, when God judges a nation in this fashion he robs their leaders of their wisdom. He brings about situations where the best counselors are at a complete loss as to how to move forward and solve their problems and their problems only mount up higher and higher. This is undoubtedly the situation America faces right now and since it is God that sits in judgement, there are no resolutions to their mounting problems and crisis. Just when they seem to get a handle on one problem and seek to breathe a little easier, quickly the next judgment comes. Read the rest of this entry »
This word will give directions to the remnant saints that are traveling to the valley of Acacias. It may be that you do not understand this word. Yet the remnant of God’s people will understand it for they know in their hearts that the Lord is at the door and that they are being moved in ways they have not known before. Ever drawn away from the world and deeper into the Father’s heart.
How many of us “know ,” that the day of the Lord is coming and it is coming soon? This has nothing to do with proofs or opinions, you just know in your spirit, there is a witness in your spirit that speaks to you and you “know.” I could talk about signs and prophecies being fulfilled but I do not wish to do that in this word, you already “know,” that the Bridegroom is coming for this is a word to the remnant. Who are the remnant? Well, they are the Church, not to be mistaken for the established church. God is calling His remnant people from all over the world which includes the established church to come out from among “them.” We have not to touch the unclean thing. The Holy Spirit must show you what is the unclean thing in our day.
There are still many brothers and sisters within the established church but they will eventually leave. This is not a calling from man; it is a calling from God for God has all but withdrew His Presence from the established church. Eze 10:18And the glory of Jehovah went from the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubs. The continuing purpose of the remnant within the church is to be a witness to those who would also come out and establish judgment on that which calls itself the church.
The remnant are further identified in Eze 9:4And 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.
They have been identified with a mark on their foreheads. They mourn and are deeply saddened at the condition of the established church. Those within the established church will not be able to identify their state for they allowed themselves to be blinded by their love for the world. They identify so much with the world that they look just like it. They will be friendlier to those of the world than to those who mourn for the state of the church. The remnant are and will continue to be increasingly marginalized and isolated within the four walls of the church and they lose their voice. Fellowship is ever more difficult to find as most in the established church simply have no idea where they are coming from. This process is happening across the spectrum of the established church, whether it is in the “Pentecostal,” circles or the more conservative Evangelical movement.
This isolation that the remnant feel eventually compels them to reach out and find other like-minded people. This reaching out reaches across denominational lines and “strange bedfellows,” are popping up everywhere. The remnant are not to be confused with “church-hoppers,” in fact the opposite is true. The remnant try everything to make a difference in their churches. They go above and beyond but there is simply no breaking through to the worldliness that they find. This is a hungry and thirsty people and they will eventually be compelled to move on in the hope of finding some water in a dry and thirsty land, they are desperate for the “former rains.”
God has begun to pour out His former and latter rains. The former rains have softened and are softening the soil to receive the remnant. The process is in flux all over the world. The winter planting of the wheat has begun for the last time. The Bridegroom is coming and the Bride is being made ready. Not righteous mind you, it has already been made righteous by the Blood of the Lamb; it is being prepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. The mansion has been prepared, the bridal chamber is ready and now the wheat, the Bride awaits the latter rains, they await the sounds of the trumpet.
God’s remnant have been and are being prepared and it is they who call down the latter rain. Before they call down the latter rain they call for repentance.
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.(Joe 2:12-17)
They rend their hearts, they fast, they weep and they mourn. They assemble themselves, gather themselves together. They weep between the porch and the brazen altar which has all but been abandoned. It is they that have been marked by God, the remnant that do these things. It is upon these people that the latter rains fall. The latter rains enlarges their capacity, they grow stronger in their spirits as the Lord pours out His Spirit upon them.
This is not a good sign for the world or for what passes as the church. The remnant begin to dream dreams and see visions. In these dreams and visions they see that the Day of the Lord is at hand. They begin to speak to the world and the established church. They call them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the valley of judgment. Even now it is the valley of decision; it is still not too late for the heart to rend itself to God.
For the remnant, the called out ones, the chosen of the Lord, they now stand in a continual downpour of His rain. Those who formerly thirsted, thirst no more. And directly proportionate to the outpouring of Gods Spirit comes persecution. Yet, this only drives the remnant deeper into the arms of their God which still infuriates the enemy of our soul even more. The remnant now experience a fountain of living water that flows continuously “from the house of the Lord.” (Joel 3:18) And the valley that the remnant have been called to is flooded with living water from the throne-room itself (Rev14:7, Rev 19:6) The name of this valley is Acacias. This was the last location of the children of Israel before they entered Canaan. (Num 25:1, Josh 3:1) This will be the last location of the Bride before the Bridegroom comes and they enter in and the door is closed behind them.
Brothers and sisters. You must take up the spiritual journey now as the days grow darker. You have to make your way through the valley. It may require leaving behind everything that you have known. People, denominations, structure. Yet the Lord is with you. He has never dwelt in temples built by human hands, He dwells in the hearts of His children. The living stones must come together in unity just as Jesus prophesied in John 17. He says that we shall be one just as He and His Father are one so that the world will know that the Father sent the Son and that He loves them just as He loves the Son. The time is now to begin your journey, your journey to the valley of Acacias. This is the last place the children of Israel gathered before crossing over into the promised land.
You have gathered here today in defiance of darkness and tyranny. You have come here to fight as free men and free men you are, for it is I that gave you that very freedom. So you see with your eyes that you are few and they are many, you see that you are vastly outnumbered. Will you fight today?Read the rest of this entry »
There is a time for shouting and praising God, but if we are ignoring the knocking, then we must stop shouting. If our lives are not reflecting the Glory of God, if we are not becoming like His Son, daily, then all of our shouting and praising God will just be so much noise. How tragic for the church of the living God if, when He looks down, He does not see praise but just a group of people making a noise.”Read the rest of this entry »
“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting.All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many admire the miracles, but few follow Him to the humiliation of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.”
This is a vision that I had as I stood on a terrace in Croatia. My wife and I went there last year on our 25th anniversary. Before I went the Lord had shown me that I would meet someone there and that it would be significant, just did not know that He was talking about Himself. The whole piece was my vision, He gave me a new way of writing my testimony and of writing about coming into His presence, then the Word that He gave me for the church, I wrote in red at the end. I pray that this will challenge and convict you………….
They will gather together and throw in their gold and rise up and play, or in this case, fall down and play. You see the people are without leadership, and the Lord has with-held His rain. So the people have demanded gods to go before them, listen to what they said to Aaron…”make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. “
She put her head back against the wall and looking upwards told me that she was in no position to even try and refuse this. She was blown away that God had answered her and her husbands prayer so immediately (she did not know that I had messed around for several week) She could not wait to get home and share this with her husband. Higher critics could explain this in the natural, but the supernatural is God talking to His people, directing them and of course, His perfect timing.
A Call To The Remnant 