For those saints who are in the midst of great trials and afflictions, where there seems to be no end, no light at the end of your tunnel, can I an encourage you this day? The Lord’s word says………..

Isa 60:15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

The Lord goes on to say that you will know that He is your Saviour. Of course, as genuine Christians we know that the Lord is our Saviour. We know that He has delivered us from hell and death and sin and has taken us out of the world and into the Kingdom and we praise the Lord for it. Yet, when difficulties arise, when we are overwhelmed by circumstance, often times we lose sight of the fact that he is still our Saviour, that He is still our deliverer that He is still the mighty one of Israel, the Lion of Judah. Yet here in Isa 60 He makes great and wonderful promises. He says that instead of bronze He will give us gold. Instead of iron, silver. Instead of wood, bronze. Instead of stones, iron.

He will literally take each set of circumstance and He will refine them. And with these building materials the Lord will build a wall of salvation and there will be gates of praise. Jesus Himself will be your protector,if you allow Him to be your Saviour. Will you? Will you allow Him to be your Saviour? Will you lay all of your cares and worries at His feet? Will you give Him your circumstances? Will you look to Jesus in the midst of them? If you do, He will surround you and from you there will be praise. You will not remain silent, you will not be contained, you will not be a wall without gates. For you have been designed to glorify God, to make a joyful noise unto Him and to the world. Can the world hear you? Can it see you rejoice in the very midst of your circumstance?

When you walk in this fashion, the word says that you will no longer need the sun to light your way! Nor will you need the moon to light up your night? And why? Because the Lord has become an ” everlasting light,” and God’s glory now rests upon you. And this sun shall never set and ” the days of your mourning shall be at an end.” Glory to God! And you will become a powerful witness in the land. Brothers and sisters, have you spent a season or seasons mourning? Have you wept and lamented over your family, your country, your world? These tears, this heart of yours that has remained steadfast despite multiple trials and the narrowest of paths is rewarded for its diligence. And the reward, the exceeding great reward, is God Himself in all of His glory burning and shining in and through you. Is that what you want? Is this the desire of your heart?

Then as sure as the Word is true, you shall have the desire of your heart. You shall arise with a generation of saints for such a time as this. For God is raising up such a generation that’s only desire, only desire, is to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Praise God, we may be living in an ever darkening world, but we have been called to walk in ” eternal excellence,” and in ” everlasting light.”

In light of the recent decisions from the Supreme Court and the rapid move of the culture in regard to homosexuality, I thought about kites flying in the wind. I read a piece from one of the local pastors in my area. He pastors a huge Methodist church, somewhere in the region of 20,000 people. A very articulate man, very good speaker and communicator, the kind of man who, if he were not a pastor, would be a motivational speaker. His basic premise is that the homosexual issue is one of culture. That the few Scriptures in the New Testament that refer to homosexuality was basically just placating the culture of the day. He then falsely likened it to the same attitude the New Testament had, in his view, of slavery and the subordination of women. Now, anyone who knows Scripture knows that the New Testament does not condone slavery neither does it teach the subordination of women, so this pastor has created two straw men to support a non-biblical view.

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“The time is now. Count the cost. You will be persecuted, tested, and tried. You will be misunderstood, hated by the world, and sometimes hated even by the members of your own household. There will be tears, heartache, tribulation, suffering and pain. But, you will be living for the One who is worthy of all, and whose eternal kingdom cannot be shaken nor ever fade away. You will have the privilege of serving the King of kings and the Lord of all lords. Moreover, you will one day have the awesome indescribable experience of seeing His glorious face and hearing Him call you by name as His own.” – brother Brian Long

What are you going to do saints when your country comes after you because of what you believe? When the Lord calls you out of Babylon, will you be so enamored of the things of Babylon that you will be un-able to leave? What about when it was time to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem?

After 70 short years, the majority decided to stay, it was only a remnant that returned. It seems that the comforts of Babylon was too much for most to give up , they chose the comfort of the world over joining their remnant brothers and sisters. We would do well to pause before we criticize those who refused to return to Jerusalem.

Can you put yourselves in their place? Leave a secure modern society to go to an abandoned place with broken down walls where you would be surrounded by enemies on every side? When our own world turns fully against us , what decision will you make? If following the Lord means giving up your place in society, will you be able and willing to do that? Recently, A Christian sportscaster gave an opinion on TV. He said that he did not believe that you could be a Christian and a practicing homosexual. Seems fairly straight forward and even five years ago it would have not raised too much of a fuss. Yet, he later had to come on and apologize for his statement.

Now this is a great example of what is to come for genuine Christians. The world will demand that you compromise what you believe in order to remain a part of it’s system. In this man’s case, it seems there is no doubt that if he did not apologize, he would have lost his standing in the world, along with his job and career and ability to feed his family. He would have become a pariah. Therein lies the choice, a microcosm of what is to become much worse.This is the generation that is going to have to make a choice.

Jesus’s ministry lasted for three years and had many different facets. Sometimes he was highly popular and and the crowds flocked to hear Him and indeed on more that one occasion would have made Him their King. Yet as His time on earth drew to a close and He began to reveal to the world who He truly was, one by one and then by a flood in John 6, most abandoned Him until He was left with a few. Then the world had to choose between Jesus and Barabas. Barabas was a fighter, he fought for freedom, he fought against the Romans, he desired to see Israel rule themselves. The world chose its own and rejected Jesus.

When the time comes, will you choose the world and all it’s comforts and security, or will you take your place with the minority, hated and rejected by the world, living in a place without walls, surrounded by your enemies on every side. It’s no mean choice brothers and sisters, it’s life or death. Die to this world and live eternally, or live for this world and die eternally. One or the other, but not both.

In 1991, I wrote these words in the preface to Whatever Happened to the Power of God? Is the Charismatic Church Slain in the Spirit or Down for the Count:

“While the American Church celebrates, our beloved country sinks into lower and lower depths. We are not only killing unborn babies, but we have begun to kill helpless adults—actually starving them to death! It is claimed that some of them are in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’ I believe it is the Church that is in a persistent vegetative state. Will nothing awake us from our stupor?”

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