It is a holy thing to know who you are in the Lord. To search the chambers of your own spirit with trembling , for the flesh is relentless, and is our most cunning foe. It creeps in as a whisper, yet departs in a tempest, tearing as it goes. But the Lord, ah, the Lord He speaks not in thunder, nor in the earthquake, but in that still, small voice. It is not the volume that stirs and shakes mountains, but the weight of the Word itself, Spirit-breathed, eternal.
For passion can rage like a sea in a storm, waves rising like giants, smashing all that dares to stand. But gaze upon the Christ before Pilate, Truth wrapped in silence, power clothed in meekness. Love’s boldness stood face to face with earthly might, yet never raised its voice in pride or vanity, the power of knowing.
If the message be truly of God, then it does not waver,it is unchanging, steadfast as His own Word. But the messenger? Oh, he is tested. Ridiculed. Wounded. Laid bare. He is stripped of self until he walks quietly, humbly, unknown to men, yet known to God. His heart beats not for applause but for obedience, to carry the fire he was given.
It is sweet, yes,so sweet,to hear His voice. But to speak it? That is often bitter. Bittersweet, the flavor of the prophetic path. Yet we must be faithful. Come storm or silence, come crowd or solitude,we must speak what He has spoken.
Let the waves crash, let the world rage. But let us walk on. One step in front of the other. One day at a time. Falling down but getting back up again. We can do all of this in Christ alone. In Him all things are possible and only by the power of the Holy Spirit can the message be delivered.
The great spiritual decline we are experiencing has many roots.Both leadership and the people share responsibility for spiritual decline. While leaders bear the weight of accountability, the congregation is not without blame. What we witness today, particularly in the rise of large churches and the decline of true faith, mirrors the law of diminishing returns.
To clarify, the law of diminishing returns states that as you increase one factor of production—such as labor or capital—while keeping other inputs constant, the additional benefit from each added unit will eventually decrease. In the context of faith, simply increasing the number of people in a church does not equate to spiritual growth. In fact, it can have the opposite effect.
Consider a family barely surviving on limited resources. If several more families move in without an increase in provisions, everyone suffers. The same principle applies to the church: if discipleship and spiritual nourishment are neglected in favor of entertainment and distraction, then increasing attendance only amplifies the problem. Rather than strengthening the body of Christ, it weakens it.
Jesus transformed the world with just twelve disciples. It was not their numbers but the presence of the Lord in their midst that made the difference. Where two or three gather in His name, His presence is enough to accomplish immeasurable things. A few loaves and fish can feed thousands when blessed by Him. Yet today, multitudes gather, feeding on the abundance of their own works, and still, they starve spiritually.
True power lies not in the size of the gathering but in the reality of His presence, His purpose, and His work in the midst of His people.
The great falling away isn’t about people no longer “going to church,” since the concept of attending “church” is foreign to the Scriptures. Genuine believers are the Church. The true falling away is a departure from truth itself. A building may be packed with people, but who are they spiritually? Are they radical followers of Jesus with deep relationships with Him, or compromisers who embrace Christ but reject the cross?
Those of us who have left religious traditions—I myself am a former Catholic—are well-acquainted with the Sunday-only Christian who checks a box by attending a service, perhaps even midweek gatherings, men’s BBQ nights, or women’s retreats. I call this the processed church. Just as processed food is altered from its original state for convenience—loaded with sugars, unhealthy fats, preservatives, and lacking nutrients—the spiritually processed church has also been altered for convenience.
What are the spiritual effects of this processed church? Consider the “added sugar”: elaborate stages, entertainment-driven worship bands, and smoke machines designed to hype people up, compensating for the absence of God’s genuine presence. Many nominal believers have never truly encountered God’s authentic presence and therefore cannot discern the difference.
Think of “unhealthy fats and low nutrients”: the Word of God diluted, compromised, and stripped of its true nutritional value. These “fats” are sermons focused solely on worldly success, prosperity teachings, and self-enrichment schemes, creating spiritually unhealthy Christians who must continually rely on shallow injections of emotional hype to stay spiritually “alive.” The church system has taught its followers dependency on itself rather than complete reliance on Jesus.
What’s the solution? Revolution—a total abandonment of this processed religious system in favor of something pure, raw, organic, and unaltered by worldly additives. Without such radical change, the current system will collapse under the weight of worldliness and self-centered doctrines disguised as salvation.
There is a growing hunger, especially among younger generations raised within spiritually unhealthy environments, for authenticity, radical commitment, and an uncompromising devotion to Christ Himself. They desire a church wholly devoted to Jesus, characterized by quiet reverence and genuine holiness. A community where believers edify one another according to Scripture, where prophecy, exhortation, wisdom, tongues, and interpretations are practiced. A fellowship without hierarchical leadership, led instead by humble elders and deacons who serve selflessly, desiring no recognition or financial reward. A place that equips believers to live radically, to embrace suffering for Christ, proudly bearing the cross and the scars upon their backs as marks of their love, devotion and authenticity.
This is the organic Church—unprocessed by the world, radically committed to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
There remains a remnant—a people set apart, standing in the wilderness to proclaim God’s truth. They are anchored in His Word, separate from the systems of religion, for they understand that Christ did not come to establish another religion but to restore relationship.
To be outside the camp carries risk. When Israel fell into idolatry with the golden calf, a separation was established between the people and God. The Tent of Meeting, set outside the camp, became a place where Moses, Joshua, and the priests entered into His presence, while the people could only watch from their tents. This same idolatry persists today, creating a divide between God and those entangled in religious systems.
The camp represents the churches and religious institutions of our time, while the priests—God’s remnant—have left the camp in pursuit of the true dwelling place of His presence. To enter the Tent of Meeting, one must first “come out from among her.” When Israel entered the Promised Land, the Tent was replaced by the temple, but in time, the temple itself became a stronghold of religion, ultimately torn down stone by stone. And yet, the Tent returns, a place of worship in the wilderness—a place called Spirit and Truth.
As Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well:
“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.“(John 4:20-24)
True worship is not bound to temples built by human hands but is found where God dwells—outside the camp, beyond the gate. The Lord, who was crucified at Calvary, stands in contrast to the Holy of Holies within the temple. While religious men seek their refuge in structures and traditions, the Lord calls His people to meet Him in Spirit and truth.
The call goes forth: Come out of the camp. Come to the Tent of Meeting. Come and tabernacle with the Lord.
The opposition to President Trump from professing Christians is somewhat perplexing. Those who resist him often claim to be apolitical, yet their stance betrays a clear ideological bias. If they were honest, they might acknowledge long-standing left-leaning tendencies. Instead, they engage in virtue signaling, attempting to spiritualize a flawed position and frame it as a moral dichotomy. Strikingly, these same individuals never voiced criticism when professing Christians supported Biden or similar leaders. This inconsistency exposes motive and the political nature of their stand while all the time claiming not to be political.
Paul makes it clear that secular authorities exist to restrain evil, wielding the sword not in vain but as a necessary force against wrongdoing. When rulers abandon this responsibility, they forfeit their legitimacy. The enemy seeks to dismantle rightful secular authority, for he thrives on lawlessness, celebrating evil rather than restraining it. We have always lived in a secular world—this is our reality.
Undoubtedly, President Trump is a secular leader. He is not a born-again Christian, nor does he claim to truly know Jesus. But being a Christian is not a prerequisite for the presidency. In fact, history shows that most presidents have only paid lip service to faith, while others ignored it entirely. Yet, given the choice, I would far prefer a leader who upholds moral order rather than the godlessness seen in much of Europe, Britain, and its Commonwealth. The fundamental duty of a secular government is to establish law and order. This is why Rome was allowed to rise—Pax Romana brought a measure of stability to a chaotic world, creating conditions that enabled the spread of the Gospel. True believers recognize this: we are in the world but not of it.
If a secular leader takes a stand against abortion, protects children from harmful ideologies, defends parental rights, restores law and order, and seeks to prevent unnecessary wars, then we as followers of Christ should be thankful. I certainly am. The end times continue to draw near, and Christ’s return remains imminent. This world is still lost. The current president will be gone in four years, and we should reflect on the consequences of his last departure and the leader who replaced him. Be prepared, saints, there is great darkness ahead and we must be found to be walking in the light.
The Scots despised Margaret Thatcher—truly despised her—but even that pales in comparison to the sheer intensity of Trump Derangement Syndrome. It operates at the opposite end of the spectrum from adulation.
I once heard an interview with a German woman in the 1960s who had attended Hitler’s rallies. When asked why she idolized him, her response was profoundly chilling: “There was something in the atmosphere, and we all breathed it in.” That statement has stayed with me for years. I believe her completely. And that “something,” to me, was entirely demonic.
History shows us that at certain times and in certain places, a collective madness overtakes people—a force beyond reason, beyond individual thought. It is the satanic inversion of corporate worship. It is zeitgeist on steroids.
Zeitgeist, a German word meaning “spirit of the age,” describes the prevailing cultural, intellectual, ethical, and political climate of a particular era. It defines the essence of a time. And to either wholly idolize or utterly despise a person is to be swept up in this very spirit. To partake in such extreme emotional reactions is to breathe in this atmosphere, consciously. I say consciously because we are accountable for what we allow to enter us. Yet it is a “wilful unwitingness,” if there is such a phrase.
Saints of God must not inhale this poison. To do so is a willful act. We cannot be found on the spectrum of hating or idolizing a man. Instead, we must breathe in the rarified air of the Kingdom of God, standing firm in His presence, enveloped in His atmosphere.
As the world spirals into end-times chaos, it is the saints who must remain the last bastion against total madness. The final storm has already made landfall—what we are experiencing now is merely its outer bands. Let us be found in the eye of this storm, where a supernatural peace reigns, untouched by the howling winds of the age.
The vast majority of professing Christians do not have the ability to digest meat. People eagerly receive words of encouragement and exhortation,as a hungry baby would consume it’s mother’s milk. But when confronted with warnings or rebukes, only the faithful remnant of God truly “hear”—or rather, acknowledge—the truth. It takes wisdom and discernment and the Holy Spirit to assess the times in which we live.
In Ezekiel 9,10 and 11 we see the beginnings of Gods withdrawing His presence. The word Ichabod is effectively pronounced over the doorposts, signaling the absence of His glory. Destruction follows, but not before an angel with an ink-horn marks those who remain faithful—those who grieve over the sins of Jerusalem. These are the ones spared from judgment. As it was in Ezekiel’s day, so it is now. The nature of humanity remains unchanged.
Many choose willful ignorance, preferring to live lawlessly, unconcerned with the truth. Few, indeed, find and remain on the narrow path. In times of crisis, drastic measures are required—this is true in our personal lives, in our families, and in our nations. Yet Christendom, broadly speaking, refuses to acknowledge its condition. If it did, if it truly recognized the spiritual desperation of our times, then urgent action would follow.
We would not laugh and celebrate as though all were well—we would weep before the altar, before the throne of God. We would not focus on outward appearances but would humble ourselves in deep repentance. We would clothe ourselves in sackcloth, throw ashes upon our heads, and tear our garments in grief. And still, the masses would mock and call us mad.
The leaders of the people know that true reformation would begin with them. Yet these hirelings—those who serve only for personal gain—can never truly protect the sheep. They stay as long as the path is easy, as long as their position remains profitable and their place in society secure. But when the wolf comes, they will flee.
True repentance and restoration demand that we forsake the traditions of men and return to the “old paths”—to God’s ways. It would mean restoring a sense of accountability, where if a man does not work, he does not eat. But these are the very truths the blind refuse to see, which is why they continue leading the blind. “Men will only recognize the truth when it doesn’t cost them anything. But when truth demands a price, they reject it.” (Ravenhill)
The proof of our life in Christ , our resurrection from the dead, our authentic faith, is not found in a large house, a $2000 suit or a prosperous life in this world. These things prove nothing in the spiritual. The proof of our faith is how we react to carrying our cross. In the midst of death to ourselves, does the love of Jesus pour forth? Do we minister to others when we ourselves are in the midst of trial and testings? When you are crushed, does oil flow from your brokenness?
The cross does not lie. It exposes the true nature of our inner man. There is no room for hypocrisy on the cross, what the actor hides, the cross reveals. The men and women of the cross are self evident. They are sacrificial. The men and women of the cross are unmistakable, no matter what their church or denominational background is. They are the called-out ones, ever seeking to go deeper in the Lord. They do not chase after the latest trends in the church, nor do they crave ear tickling words from polished religious salesmen.
Let me encourage you saint. I know the narrow path from Calvary to the throne is often lonely. But take heart- every true saint who came before you has walked the same road. If you are blessed, you will find a few kindred souls along the way and you will strengthen one another. Religion indulges the flesh, but relationship with Christ calls us to die-to self, to pride, to the world. And in that dying, Christ rises. His light breaks forth from within us, shining like a mighty beacon into a world that is lost in darkness.Hold fast, for the cross is our testimony, and the resurrection is our hope.
The beginning of the vision was a loud booming voice calling all Christians to awake , “Awake you sleepy Christians.” “Who will ascend Gods Holy Hill? Those with a pure heart and clean hands.”Then I saw thousands of baby turtles heading from the dunes towards the sea. Darkness was falling and there was a full moon that illuminated the broad beach. Before most of the turtles could cross the beach and reach the safety of the water, they were attacked by screaming seagulls. The power of the air had come to attack them, seagulls by the hundreds making a horrendous shrieking noise as they feasted on their helpless prey.Then from the dunes came raccoons and critters of every kind to join in the frenzy and drag these hapless baby turtles away. Just when I thought the slaughter could not get worse, out from under the sand came ghost crabs which tore into the turtles and dragged them down into their holes in the sand to be devoured. As all of this was going on, I could see Scripture framing this whole scene. “Many are called but few are chosen,” “Broad is the road that leads to destruction, narrow is the path that leads to life.” A handful of the turtles made it to the water.
Then suddenly I am looking at a stadium. On its platform was a sword embedded in a rock. In the stadium were thousands and thousands of young people. Teenagers, young people in their 20s and 30s. Jesus walks onto the stage and goes to the rock and pulls out the sword and turns to address the crowd of young people. Below the stage was a line of older men and women, mature saints, standing and silently praying. Behind them, between them and the stage, were thousands of flags fluttering in the wind. Jesus addresses the crowd and challenges them to come down and take up their crosses and join the fight against the great tide of evil that has deluged the land. First they must come and be prayed for and then come towards Him to join Him. In order to do that they would have to pass through the sea of flags. Then I saw that there were words written upon upon every flag. I looked closer.
On hundred of them was the word lust. On hundreds more was hate. And then there was ambition, suicide, bitterness, un-forgiveness, rebellion, greed, materialism and on it went. The call is made to the crowd by Jesus. “Will you come forward and die to these things this day?” They respond to the call to arms and begin to move forward in obedience to the call with great trembling and weeping. They kneel and pray with the men of God and then get up and move past them and with pure hearts and clean hands. They make their way towards the flags that represents what they have just laid down, they pull up the flag and they break it over their knees and throw it to the ground. Freedom rings out into the night sky, the rejoicing rises up into heaven itself. The gates of hell begin to shake as Jesus receives the reward of His suffering and the young people rise up with one voice in adoration of their King.
A conversation between Kalli Womack Cook and Frank McEleny, brother and sister in the Lord.
Kalli………….
The Father said, “There is beauty in the earth.” The child asked, “Where?” The Father said, “A flower blooms in the desert.” And the child responded, “But no one sees it.” And the Father said, “Yet, because it blooms it makes it true: There is beauty in the earth, And truth is beautiful.”
This morning, the whispered prayer of my heart was, “Lord, help me to be like You, in a world that is not.” The whispered prayers of our heart are like flowers blooming in the desert. Beauty unseen. But the beauty of a flower isn’t measured by how many people observe and appreciate its beauty. A flower’s beauty is the same, whether it blooms unseen in the desert or near a well-traveled sidewalk.
Mankind does not set the standard for beauty. Nor does mankind’s measurable observations of beauty determine its existence or value. Beauty unseen by men, is seen by God. And in a world wholly unlike Christ, it makes this statement true: “There is still beauty to be found in this world.” Maybe not for long, but for now.
Frank……………
And to finish the thought from Corinthians, when we gaze upon that which is unseen, the eternal weight of His glory falls upon us. We cannot see this “weight,” yet it presses down upon our hearts and oil pours forth. This eternal weight of glory changes the very atmosphere, unseen, but rarified air breathed and glory exhaled.
When Angie and I hike, I search out the hidden flowers, often having her pull back leaves so that I can take the shot and show the world what beforehand, only God could see, and He does. Isn’t it just the same with us? He sees what the world cannot and it brings Him great pleasure.
Kalli………………
I remember a while ago, I watched a nature documentary about sea creatures that lived fathoms below the surface. They were mesmerizingly beautiful and my initial reaction was sadness that such beauty should go to waste, unseen and unappreciated by man. And then the Spirit used that moment to teach me a greater truth about beauty.
Until that moment, I had never realized how much I assumed that beauty existed for mankind. That if man doesn’t observe it to appreciate it, then it is somehow wasted. I learned that beauty doesn’t exist for us. It exists because God is beautiful and He is the One who created all things. Beauty exists because God exists.
Frank………………
Amen Kalli! It’s a magnificent truth that the God of all glory, the creator, takes delight in His creation. Imagine a world where no two flowers are alike, every one, like the snowflakes, different and every one a masterful piece of artistry. That world is the Kingdom of God, that flower, is you. And His delight is to see it blossom.
2Pe 1:11 For so an entrance shall be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Many are called, few are chosen! How mysterious is the words of the Lord? Who are the called? Who are the chosen? Why are the many not ultimately part of the few? What determines who belongs to the few?
In 2 Pet chapter 1 we see that we are called to add to our faith, with all diligence, virtue and knowledge and self control and perseverance and Godliness and brotherly kindness and love. If these things are ours and we abound in such things then we shall, according to the Word, never be barren nor unfruitful in our intimate relationship with Jesus. Each of these aspects of our salvation is our responsibility to nurture. A fire has been kindled in us, the fire of God in our hearts, and that fire must be kept burning. The fuel is obedience, love and grace and mercy and forgiveness. Doing good to those who hate us. Rejoicing in our circumstances. Allowing light to shine forth from darkness. Letting this mind be in us. It is we who determine our mindset.
The fruits of these works in us must be clearly visible to all. “You shall know them by their fruit.” “You shall know them by their love for one another.” Might I add that we shall be known by the Blood of the Lamb in our lives and the testimony of His works in us, clearly seen. This is the light that shines forth from us. This is the flavor of the salt. And also this “they loved not their lives unto death.” In all of these things we overcome. We overcome in Him. We must not be moved by circumstances, in fact circumstances, be they persecution or afflictions or infirmities, must be borne with the dignity of God that dwells within us. We are Royal priests in a royal priesthood a “chosen race,” a holy nation and we must display that royalty for all the world to see for we have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light! We must not suffer as the world suffers. The world understands suffering all too well, what they do not understand is joy in the midst of it all.
They cannot understand why saints would have peace when there should be no peace. And when we walk in this abundance, with all diligence, then there is an entrance that is supplied to us. This not only refers to when we die and go to heaven. There is a heavenly entrance available to Gods saints in the here and the now for the Kingdom already is and it dwells within us. We must testify of this Kingdom, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a witness to just this, the Kingdom of God, not just spoken of, but demonstrated to a lost and dying world. And for those who follow this path, the path of the cross and the joy that is set before it, belongs the Kingdom. Yes, many are called, but sadly few take the narrow road that leads to Calvary and resurrection life.
Can these bones live? A question asked of God to Ezekiel in a great valley which represented all of Israel (Ezek 37) What great valley stretches our before us in our day? Christendom lies motionless in the valley of death, mere bones glistening in the sun. Yet in Ezekiel, these bones speak. There is enough life in them to cry out to God, according to God. “Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.” Oh to God that Christendom would have enough life left in them to cry out the very same thing.
H.Bonar, in the 19th century made four basic observations as it applied in his day from Ezekiel 37. 1. Our creed may be sound and yet we may not be Christians. 2. Our religion may be externally complete and yet we may not be Christians. 3. Our good works may be numerous and praiseworthy, yet we may not be Christians. 4. Our lives may be exemplary but we may not be Christians. ” By religion I mean everything that pertains to the private or public worship and service of God;our praises, our prayers, our sanctuary services, our family worship. What are all these without the inward breath? What is routine without life? Mechanical religion may be all right for the gods of Greece and Rome, but not for the living and true God…..Your sanctuary attendance may be regular and reverent, but what if there is no breath in it? Will God accept that?”
Men have built up great armies in our day. Vast denominations and smaller little kingdoms. They all shelter under the banner of God. Yet, without the breath of life from God these armies are but dry bones. Some may be better put together than others. Bone may have come to bone. Some may have flesh and sinews, some may even be covered in skin and have taken on the appearance of having life, but without the breath of God they are all equally dead. Men boast about how well put together their “followers,” are yet it is God alone who breathes life. And without this life we are dead and buried in the valley just as sure as the dead are buried in the cemetery.
So, can these dry bones speak? According to God they can. They can cry out. And if they cry out then God has some promises for them. He says that He will bring them out of their graves. He will do that by breathing life into them. He will cause them to rise up, just as surely as Lazarus rose up from his own grave. He will put His Spirit in them and they shall live. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is life itself and without this life, without this breath, we can do nothing. We can surely go about our routines and our dry works and be no different than the dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley. Yet, if we want to rise up in the power of God, a radiant army who marches upon its knees, we must have the breath of God in us. The valley of dry bones that is today’s Christendom desperately needs the breath of life.
It is true that we have seen man’s best endeavor in the field of evangelism leaving communities untouched. We have seen crowded churches. We have seen many professions. We have seen hundreds, yes and thousands responding to what you speak of here as the altar call. But I want to say this dear people, and I say it without fear of contradiction, that you can have all that without God! Now that may startle you, but I say again, you can have all that on mere human levels. Howard Spring was right when he wrote ” The Kingdom of God is not going to advance by our churches becoming filled by men, but by men in churches becoming filled by God.” And there’s a difference! Crowded churches, deep interest in church activity is possible on mere human levels, leaving the community untouched. (Duncan Campbell)
If your salvation was a “get out of hell,” transaction then it’s highly likely you are not saved. It’s when the wretchedness of our condition, as exposed by the Holy Spirit of conviction, collides with the love and the mercy and the grace as revealed by Calvary, that a man or a woman repents and turns 180 degrees from the sinful lives they led and are saved. Much of the religious industrial complex, having avoided this themselves, cause others to be lost in their ignorance. They are fooled into believing that a “sinners prayer,” has saved their souls from eternal death and that church attendance and sacraments will see them “home,” safe.
Deep conviction of sin was the mark of the great awakenings and revivals of note. It did not come by persuasive words or the clever skills and oratory gifts of men. It advances when the Holy Spirit comes down and lights up the darkness that lies within men. And in the realization of that darkness and the utter wretchedness of our sinful ways, we come face to face with the mercy of God. The wonder of it all will overwhelm a mans wicked heart. He will tear his shirt and fall on his face and cry out to the living God. And in that moment, as opposed to “hands up who does not want to go to hell,” (an altar call that I have actually heard) the eternal consequences of his ways will tear through a mans soul. In his surrender and in his repentance, his very soul will be flooded by grace and the transformation will be astounding.
In most of our churches, the Holy Spirit of conviction, having been driven out a long time ago, has been replaced with persuasive words, emotionalism and manipulation, typically through music. The music team will be told to come up. The people will be told to put their hands up, to stand up, to cry out, to come forward. The support team will be told to come forward, the prayer team will be told to come forward. The truth is brothers and sisters, when the Holy Spirit of conviction comes down, He alone is affecting the hearts and spirits of men. In the soulish realm, men need instructions. When the might and power of men have failed, then its the Spirit that causes men to “rent their shirts,” and cry out “what must we do to be saved.” Echoing through the people will be cries of “is their mercy for me.”
I believe the Holy Spirit of conviction is not done with us. Yet we must travail in prayer. We must be diligent and cry out to the Lord. And we must keep on doing that until we see the breakthrough. Most of all, we must believe that He is, and that that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, for without this kind of faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb 3:6) The keys to this kind of encounter comes through earnest and steadfast prayer. Where is the prayer meeting? Where are the faithful people of God who know that in order to see Him move, He alone must come down. An old poet wrote ” The promise can’t save though the promise is sure. It is the Blood we get under that cleanses us through. It cleanses me now, hallelujah to God! I rest on the promise but I’m under the Blood.”
Can you see what is being said? Men have abandoned the Holy Spirit and now rest upon a text of Scripture as opposed to the one who is the Scripture. Words cannot save us, only Jesus can. He is the Word made flesh. It rests upon Him alone and the power of the Holy Spirit to convict men and to open up their hearts and to rent asunder the veil that clouds their minds from their true state. Mercy and truth must collide. The truth of our state and the mercy that shall cleanse it. And only then shall righteousness and peace kiss. Jesus says in Luke 12 “I have come to send fire on the earth!.” Jesus came to bring fire, a burning all consuming fire that will burn up the wretchedness of men. When the monstrous iniquity of men’s state, collides with the fire of God that rains down upon their hearts through the Holy Spirit, we shall have our revival. Lord send down your fire and burn the hearts of men once again.
It is not that men are inherently weak, it’s that’s God is inherently all powerful. The strongest man that ever lived, whether in body or mind or spirit, finds his proper state before and all powerful God. He falls on his face as one who is dead. He would cry out with the prophet “I am undone. He would not have the capacity to stand in His presence. He would only see his unworthy state. It takes fire from the altar, to alter his state, to enable him to stand, to have the audacity to say “here I am, send me.”
In Isa 40:28-31 God speaks. He announces Himself as . The everlasting God. 2. Lord. 3. Creator of the ends of the earth. He never faints. He is never weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He is not powerful, He is power itself and the very source of it.It is His to give and He gives it to the weak. He is not mighty, He is might itself and from the abundance of His eternal strength, He gives to those who have no strength. Who are these recipients? Who are these weak people? They are the ones who have come to understand that apart from the Spirit of God, they can do nothing, therefore they wait.
Our understanding of our own weakness kicks down the door of our ego’s and allows the light of God to penetrate the very depths of our beings. Death to “self,” is an emptying process. We must decrease so that there can be an increase. An increase of what? The Lord Himself, in us. By dying to ourselves and emptying our “self,” we are creating capacity. And into that capacity flows the fullness of God. ….That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with the saints, what is the width and the length and the depth and height -to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:14-21)
For those who are filled with the fullness of God, having waited upon Him in our weakness and low opinion of our “self,” shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint. And so the “weak,’ and those who have no “might,” shall fly, shall run and shall walk. In the dying to their “self,” they have increased their capacity and are therefore filled from inexhaustible fountains.
This is the making of the mighty men and women of valor. Warriors for Christ in the battle of the ages. Those who have humbled themselves. The broken and the contrite. The weak and the meek. They all fellowship with God in high and lofty places. To get there they need the wings of eagles. To run the race we need the strength of God. And to walk this narrow walk of faith we must have the power of God
Old ruined building on hill side in vineyard (Architecture and Buildings) landscape,abandoned house,ruined building,vineyard,old
Isa 5:12 And the harp, and the strings, the tambourine, and flute, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
The lord expects good fruit from what He has planted “so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.” (Isa 5:2) Wild grapes are sour and bitter while initially looking like good grapes. Wheat and tares also look very similar, but the tares are only good for burning. The harp and the strings and the instruments and the wine and the feasts are all the activities of those who call themself by the name of Christ. Christendom can busy itself with many things, with much activity, yet if Christ is not at the beating heart of it, its all just motions.
“Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah,” “hear the Word of the Lord you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the Lord to the law of our God, to what is the purpose of your multitude of sacrifices to me? I have had enough burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of the fed cattle……….bring no more futile sacrifices…….when you spread out your hands I will hide my eyes from you, even though you make many prayers, I will not hear you.” (Isa 1:9-15)
There is a tower in the midst of the vineyard and atop that tower the Lord surveys what He has laid down. There must be Jesus at the beating heart of all that we do. He has called us, not to works, but rather to produce much fruit, these are our works. For it is He who broke up the fallow ground. It is He who removed the stones from our heart, it is He who created the wine-press after planting the best vines. “I am the true vine and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away……………..if anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire.” (John 15:1-6)
The work of the Lord is to do His will, to bear much fruit, to become like His son Jesus. Unless we abide in Him and He in us, then all of our activities are abominable in His sight. It is hard for our religious minds to get a hold of that, but there it is, lest any man should boast. All of the glory belongs to the Lord, it His majesty and His holiness that we are called to lift up. What are the fruits that delight the Lord? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, gentleness, self-control. These are produced in the wine-press, in the crucifying of the flesh. He dwells with the broken and contrite. He loves those who endure, those who overcome, those who are willing to suffer for His name sake. All other measurements are by faulty scales.
True Discipleship all comes down to obedience to the will of the Father,the Word of the Lord, and obedience to that still small voice of the Holy Spirit. All three are one and the same.So, as a practical example, if I love my wife more than I love Jesus, I cannot be His disciple. If I refuse to take up my cross daily, I cannot be His disciple. If I do not forsake all, I cannot be His disciple. ( Luke 14:25-33)
No amount of works can change this truth. For these are the infallible words of Jesus. Much of the busyness of Christendom ( and very few of any of the things they busy themselves with are in and of themselves bad, in fact most of them are commendable) are in no way a substitute for true Discipleship.
A few examples of commendable works would be, casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Prophesying in the name of Jesus.Doing many wonders in the name of Jesus. Again, none of these things mean anything outside of true Discipleship.
My list of works come from Matthew 7:21-23. Yet Jesus describes these works by these people as practicing lawlessness. Now why would that be? For while these acts are being carried out, in the name of Jesus, they are being carried out by those who are a law unto themselves, not disciples.
Immediately after, in verse 24 Jesus says “therefore, whoever hears theses sayings of mine ( the instructions on what it means to be a disciple) and does them (obedience and sacrifice) is a wise man who has built his house on the Rock.
Those who do not, will inevitably fall as the storms of life present themselves, for in their lawlessness, they have built their house on sand. In the end, our goal is to hear “well done good and faithful servant,” as opposed to “I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”
1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.
There are two broad categories of people within Christendom. They are not equally proportioned. One represents the vast majority and the other a remnant, a portion, “the few, as opposed to “the many.” This distressing spirit, spoken of in relation to Saul, is alive and well among the merely religious but who, nonetheless, call themselves after the name of Jesus. They seek the same comfort that Saul sought. And we see unfolding with David and Saul, an ancient battle that has always existed right from the times of Cain and Abel. In the end, one hates the other and determines to destroy the other. For the last 2000 years, the religious have mercilessly hunted down the genuine saint just as Saul hunted down David. David had what Saul did not. It really came down to jealousy.
In the beginning, Saul would get momentary relief when David played upon his harp. Modern day worship gives momentary relief to the merely religious. Its an opiate to them. Remember, the distressing spirit would leave Saul, but his relationship with God still ceased to exist. And then, of course, the distressing spirit would return. Like drunkenness, it lasts for but a short while and when one sobers up, they are distressed once again. The real malady is the malady of the soul. The only true solution is to come to Jesus on His terms. And His terms? Very simple, He requires your whole life. Those who try to save their own lives shall lose them, but those who lose their lives for His sake gain eternal life.
Therefore, feeling good when worshiping is simply temporary if you are not rightly related to Jesus. A pain killer alleviates the pain for a while but the source of the pain remains. It is only when the spirit is truly touched and changed forever that we are relieved of this deep malady of the soul, distress. God has a controversy with those who have not bowed the knee to Jesus and that controversy causes us all kinds of problems. Note that in this Scripture it is God Himself who sends this spirit and it is God alone, through His Son Jesus that can alleviate us from it. Men will try multiple religious acts to circumvent the need to be obedient to God and lay down their lives. Bonar writes……………..
“Men try rites, sacraments, pictures, music, apparel and the varied attractions of ecclesiastical ornament, but these leave the spirit unfilled, and its wounds unhealed. They cannot regenerate, enliven, heal or fill with the Holy Spirit. They may keep up the self satisfaction and delusion of the soul, but that is all. They bring no true peace, nor give rest to the weary, they do not fill they merely hide our emptiness.” Every Sunday in churches throughout the land and across the world there are a myriad of programs and liturgies and music that merely hide the emptiness of those who sit in pews, unchanged week after week.
What would have saved Saul? Obedience to the Word of God. We are called to obey the Lord our God with our whole hearts, holding nothing back. And the evidence of the reality of our genuine obedient relationship with Jesus is a changed life. You can raise your hands in worship every Sunday but without this changed life it is a futile as the worship of Saul. Saul was not worshiping God, for true worshipers obey God and are changed, no Saul was seeking momentary relief from his inner anguish. He just wanted to feel better. We may look upon the raised hands of a crowd and imagine that it denotes something, but the “Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
We are warned in the Scriptures that the times would come when men and women will not put up with sound doctrine, instead, in order to suit their own desires, they will gather around themselves a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears desire to hear. They will turn away from the truth. (2 Tim 4:2-5) We are warned that there are whole groups of “teachers,” ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, and that for the sake of dishonest gain ( Titus 1:11)
We are instructed by Paul, therefore by God, to watch and remember. Remember what? Watch for what? Remember that for three years he did not cease to warn us, night and day….with tears. Warn of us what? What would disturb the Apostle so greatly that it was his daily warning for years? Savage wolves that will (not might) come in among you and scatter the flock. Also, from among our own ranks, men would rise up and draw away disciples for themselves. False representatives of Jesus, stealing His preeminence and all for the sake of “dishonest gain.” Their gods would be money and reputations, power and prestige (Acts 20:28-31)
Part of the problem is that these hirelings, these wolves in sheep clothing, preach to willing dupes. The people, for their part, have embraced a system not found in the Scriptures. They wanted a king and they got a king.This is not the first time God has been rejected in favor of a king. Think about King Saul or even Moses, where the people would rather have Moses talk to God then to them, as opposed to them talking to God themselves. Jesus was rejected for a man of the people, Barabbas then the crowd cried out that they have to king but Caesar.
The very heart of man always wants an intermediary rather than deal directly with God through Jesus. A priest, a prophet, a minister, a senior pastor. Each of those positions not only come with finances but come with power and authority and position. They love to pray publicly to be seen, they love the best seat at the table , they want men to call them teachers, or worse, fathers.All of this appeals to the Lucifer in them, to the Diotrophes in them, to that part of the soul that wants, desires, craves for, the preeminence. It’s truly the original sin, the sin that caused Lucifer to fall, and it beats at the heart of every human in their flesh. It should never be elevated, it should be crucified.
I could not sleep last night, a mixture of the chemo and the prednisone no doubt. It has happened many times since I began treatment, but last night I awoke with the phrase “entertain or enter in.” The Lord was laying something on my heart. It occurred to me that if you take the letters “ta” out of entertain you are left with enter in. And yet, the definitions could not be more different. The Greek word for entertain is “psychagogia,” meaning “amusement-diverson-distraction.” The Greek word for”enter is “bo,” meaning “to go out or to come in.” The choice seems clear, be amused, diverted or distracted, or enter into His presence.
Interestingly enough, if you look at the two letters “ta,” in the Greek it means “the third person,” meaning “when you are speaking ( or singing) about someone else rather than directly addressing that someone.” Speaking in the third person you remain detached. Are we remaining detached from God in our modern day version of worship? Are we merely being entertained, an amusement or a distraction? A distraction from what? From actually entering in. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise (Psa 100:4) Enter into the joy of the Lord (Matt 25:23) For He who has entered into His rest has himself rested from his works (Heb 4:10) Not everyone that says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter in (Matt 7:21)
It makes my heart long for stripped down, simple/profound congregational worship, something the modern day worship ” team,” has wholly set aside for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is to entertain. We don’t need to be entertained and sit by as mere spectators/fans, we need to enter in. Enter into what some might say? Enter in by the only door available, Jesus and Him high and lifted up. And let every voice sing as unto the Lord and face heavenwards and not towards a “stage,” a place for actors. Let us take the “ta,” out of entertain and let us who know Jesus, enter in.
The grace that I've found is not exhausted It rises still like the incoming tide And my heart is flooded to overflowing From the fountain that comes from deep inside
There is a fountain in the depths of me The Father, the Son and the Spirit three Who came to forever set me free All glory to my King.
Our fountain-head of blessing here is grace And is our strength, and strength alone to run the race For on no other hand I can rely but the hand that stretches down from up on high
I fall into His arms that are surely everlasting And to never leave this place is all I'm ever asking Even the sparrow and the swallow are found within this place My prayer is that I am found in your glorious warm embrace.
Sorrow leaves it's mark upon the soul As the Lord shapes us and takes back what the enemy stole With an iron pen and lead in the rock, it is written The genuine work of God, His composition
He has written His word upon the heart that He has given And with many a blow, sin from our soul is driven Shall we not welcome the rod that can never miss? And with a warm embrace, direct it with a kiss
We can count the cost, then embrace the cross or lay it down and suffer the loss Remember each one is crafted by His hand And are designed so that no man can still stand It's by His Blood and sorrow they were crafted And they seal the wounds whereby we are grafted.
A Call To The Remnant 