And Jehovah said to him, Go through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men who are groaning and are mourning because of all the abominations that are done in her midst (Eze 9:4)The people of God that were marked were the remnant. Judgment was coming but the remnant were marked on their foreheads. They groaned and were in mourning for the condition of Jerusalem. Do you groan, are you in mourning for the state of the world, the state of the church? Will you heart be satisfied with anything less than to walk in the presence of the Living God? Have you tasted of the heavenly food and drunk from the waters of life? Has it ruined you for everything? If you have answered yes to any of these questions then you belong to the remnant church of God. This church has been known by many names down through the centuries, the Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards and Hussites and Brethren. There was the Anabaptists and the Moravians, the list goes on. God has always had a witness in the land, He has always had His remnant that would not “bow the knee to Baal.”
The remnant man or woman carries their cross. Carrying a cross is a lonely business. Its their very loneliness that compels them to seek an even closer walk with the Lord. The trials of the cross, the narrowness of the path, the desert and the wilderness that often stretches out before you. A lack of fitting in. Your primary goal in life is to see the Lord Jesus high and lifted up. You often despair at your own walk even although people may tell you that you are a wonderful man or woman of God. You hear that and it makes you cringe. You know how far you fall short of a God that you have seen high and lifted up. You long for everyone to radically encounter the Living God for themselves. You hear people say that they would like the anointing and you wonder. You wonder if they could walk through the refining fires of the living God. Would they really want their whole lives dismantled? Would they like the bread of adversity and the waters of afflictions to be their teachers? This is the lot for those who walk the narrow path.
They are often troubled on every side yet rescued from distress. Many times perplexed but pulled from the valley of despair. Persecuted, but knowing they are not alone. Thrown down and trampled on but saved from being destroyed. Dying it seems by many troubles but the life of the Lord Jesus shining out from you despite the darkness of your many trials. All of these things, the things that would destroy many, yet in you they cause the life of Christ to spring forth. An abundance of grace upon your life that speaks to the glory of God and the love of the Father for His children. In all of these things we do not faint, we rise up by the power of the Holy Spirit. The outer man may be perishing but our inner man is renewed daily to the glory of God and the amazement of a dying world.
The remnant know that just as the world hated their Lord and crucified Him, they too will be hated and killed all the day long for His names sake. And just as He arose, they know that they too will arise. As they draw nearer to “the one who was pierced,” and He pours out His Spirit on them and they become more like Him, then the same forces that came against their Jesus, hell and all its fury, will come against them. They know that “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies it brings forth much fruit.
God is calling forth His remnant in these days of gross darkness. He is calling them out of dead and dying denominations. He is calling them out of Babylon, He is calling them out of compromise, He is calling them out of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is calling the saints to stand as one upon the Truth. He told us that His word was a lamp unto our feet and He is calling for us to follow the light despite the gross darkness on every side. All of this comes with a great cost. There is a price to pay for coming out of dead and dying churches and denominations. There is a price to pay for coming out of Babylon. There is always a price to pay for standing upon the Truth especially in the latter days when the world has truly turned against all aspects of His truth. We are living in a valley full of decisions now that the Lord is at the door. Shall we falter near the end of the race or shall we finish the race that has been set before us? We are surrounded by a cloud of witness saints, therefore stand strong in Jesus. Do not be ashamed of Him before a wicked and adulterous generation. If we stand with Him now in the days of gross darkness, we shall stand with Him forever in the light of eternity.
Psa 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
It is a sad day when we sit down to weep. Memories come rushing into our minds like a river that never stops flowing. Our tears and our sadness only add to its flow as we consider the source of our pain. We remember how it was. We are left with the vague shadows that the world calls memories. Yet, what is a memory? It’s a pale imitation of what once was real. We grasp onto them, yet they are like gossamer butterflies flitting through our minds. Our hearts cry out for one more moment, just one more day and yet the knowing of that impossibility is the source of our sadness. The children of Israel had taken it all for granted and now it was no more.
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? How shall we who dwell in a foreign land rejoice when the enemy has stripped it all away? How shall we respond to the jeers of an enemy who taunts us and asks us to sing our songs of victory now? Shall we do as the children of Israel did? Shall we hang our harps upon the willow tree in our midst?(v2) How shall we in our day sing in the midst of great loss? Can we rejoice in the depths of captivity when the enemy seems to be so victorious? What do we have that the children of Israel did not have? Jesus said in John 14 that He would not leave us as orphans. He would send the Helper, the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that He has prepared a place for us, even in the presence of our enemies. There is a table set before us, a feast of His presence. It enables us to take the harps down from the willow tree, the tree of weeping, and play a song of victory, right there, in the midst of our circumstances.
“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” (Acts 16:25) The harp had been taken down at the midnight hour and the power of God came down with it. As the praises and the prayers went up, down came the power of God and it shook everything. That harp is in our hands brothers and sisters. That prayer is on our lips, those praises are in our mouth. And the power of God never fails, it is eternal. The children of Israel sat down beside the raging river of weeping. We have been made to sit down in green pastures and the river that flows is the still waters of peace and joy and comfort. Even in the valley of the shadow of death we shall not want, for He leads us and He guides us and He comforts us. And in that comfort that He sent us, the Holy Spirit, we are victorious and we find that He inhabits the praises of His people.
When the Spirit of conviction comes upon a man or a woman, as in Acts 2, then we see a people crushed by the sure knowledge of the horrendous nature of their crime. The weight of their guilt crushes them. They are, as Scripture tells us, “stabbed in the heart.” To be stabbed in the heart in the natural means certain death, there is no recovery from it. As it is in the natural, so it follows in the supernatural. They are slain, and then they are born again. In the dying they cry out “what must we do!!!,” and they find life. I have always likened that to “woe is me…….I am undone.” Renting of shirts and hearts being stabbed, I’d like to see a lot more of that. And it all begins with an emboldened baptized in the Holy Spirit Peter, unashamed and unafraid to point to the crowd and say “you crucified the Christ.” And like a supernatural arrow shot from the bow of the Holy Spirit, they are stabbed right through the heart.
The only way we can understand the magnitude of His mercy, is to understand the magnitude of our guilt. He may have taken our sins, but it is a vital aspect of salvation that we understand and experience our guilt. This can only come by revelation, the true depths of it, so that we may be able to scale the true heights of His glory. There is a direct correlation between the depth of the revelation of our guilt and consequent knowledge of His grace and mercy and this effects the depth of our walk with Christ. It primes everything. It sets the context for everything. Those, we are told, who are forgiven much, love much. And it is not so much the magnitude of the sins committed, rather it is the revelation of the guilt revealed and how we respond to it.
Psalm 119:126 It is time for You to act, O lord, for they have regarded Your law as void.
Is that not your hearts cry dear saint? In a fallen world where gross darkness is covering the land and the name of God is blasphemed everywhere. In a time and place where day has become night. Right has become wrong and truth is trampled in the streets. What used to hide away among the shadows and the alleyways now marches down Main street with its banner held high. And if the enemy would have his way then it is the saints who would have to hide among the shadows in the dark-lands of the alleyways.
Can you not here this Scripture ringing out from Romans “for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ , for it is the power of God unto salvation………………for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness ………for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead , so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify God.” O Father in heaven, glorify your name in all the earth?
And of course our Father in heaven glorified His name in all the earth through the name and the power of the Lord Jesus and we cry “glorify your name again Lord.” In verse 136 the psalmist says ” Rivers of water run down from my eyes, because men do not keep Your law.” Those rivers, brothers and sisters, are still running deep for our Lord Jesus is mocked and ridiculed and rejected. Shall we not cry out to God with our whole hearts? Shall we not rise before the dawning of the morning and seek the one whose tender mercies are great? Many are out tormentors and enemies yet we shall not turn from His testimony. Verse 161 says “Princes persecute me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of Your Word.”
Lord, we stand in awe of You. We look to the heavens and know where our help comes from. The foundations may be destroyed and the Princes of this world may hunt us down but we trust in you that you may glorify Your name through us. Christ in us, the hope of glory! Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket. To whom shall our God be likened to? Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? He shall bring the Princes of this world to nothing. They shall not keep root. For we shall lift up our eyes on high and behold the One who has created all things. And we who are weak are made strong. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. And young men shall utterly fall, but we who wait upon You shall renew our strength, we shall mount up with wings as eagles. we shall run and not be weary, we shall keep on walking and not faint (Isa 40)….glory to God
Psa 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with their whole heart.
This is the beginning of Psalm 119 and is a continuing themes throughout. Seeking the Lord with our whole hearts. With our whole hearts. It is the key to an abundant life in Christ. Can I suggest that to seek the Lord with anything other than our whole hearts is an exercise in futility. If we do anything in this world half heartedly we know we shall not succeed. Secular folks know this all too well. How is it that we could ever imagine that we could seek the Lord with anything less than all that we have?
In verse 32 the psalmist says that “I will run the course of Your commandments for you shall enlarge my heart.” This is a beautiful way of saying that I will run after my Lord, I will run after His ways, I will be diligent and delight myself in His ways. When I do this, then my very heart in enlarged. My capacity to love the Lord and the world will increase. My ability to forgive and to show mercy will be full to overflowing in this heart of mine that is now significantly deeper. Running after the Lord with everything that we have is like excavating the depths of our hearts. Into that excavated heart flows the river of life from the throne of God.
In verse 111 the psalmist tells us ” Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes, forever, to the very end.” Oh, the magnificence of a fully committed heart that is resolved to believe and to follow the Word of God and the promises of God until the very end. There is a huge difference between being on a boat in a shallow river than being on a ship in the deepest ocean. In the deepest ocean one senses and can feel the power of its depths. It is moved by the wind and heaves forward in massive powerful waves. This too is the power that resides within the heart of the saint who has sought and found the Lord with His whole heart. Come away from the shallow rivers saint, and come into the depth of the deepest of all oceans, the Fathers heart.
Psa 112:4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
We see in Exodus 10:22-23 that a great darkness fell upon Egypt for three days. This darkness was described as “thick,” or “gross.” Yet, in Goshen, the children of God dwelt in light. When Jesus hung upon the cross there was a gross darkness that fell upon the land from the sixth hour until the ninth. Gross darkness is undoubtedly judgment from God and in both the above examples it led to an exodus. Moses would lead the children out of bondage and slavery by the power of God. Jesus would do the same.
To those who are covered by the righteousness of Christ there arises light from the deep darkness. And it leads the way to victory. We saints will undoubtedly encounter darkness and gross darkness in our lives, maybe you are experiencing it right now. I want to tell you saint, that the light that is within you, the light of Christ, shall overcome this darkness. He will rise up in you and by His power you shall conquer the darkness. In Micah 7:8 the prophet says “rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.”
Remind your enemy today that even though you may have fallen, you shall arise by the power of God. Even though you may at this moment be sitting in darkness, your Lord shall be a light to you. In Psalm 139 David says that even the night shall be as light to him. Even if he made his bed in hell, there Gods light would shine into the darkness. Where can you go from His Spirit saints? What can separate you from such a love as this? Commit your situation into His hands and He will raise you up as light arises from darkness like the breaking of the dawn. The devil himself will tremble as he hears a strange noise coming from the midst of the darkness, it shall be the praises of God from the saints. This is light, and in that there is no darkness.
Psalm 106:7 When our fathers dwelt in Egypt they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but rebelled at the sea, even at the Red sea.
This is one of the most famous scenes in all of the Bible, and it is very instructive for us. The Israelites had been delivered from bondage. They had been taken out of slavery and freed from their cruel taskmasters who hated them. And now we find them at the Red sea with the Egyptians bearing down on them. And this is where we are told that they rebelled. It is rebellion not to trust God. It is in effect a disobedient act, an act likely to provoke God. Does this seem harsh to you?
Listen to the accusation they make against God . They ask Him if there was not enough graves in Egypt that you had to take us to the wilderness to die. They remind Moses that they had already told him they would rather serve the Egyptians in slavery than to die in freedom. Yet despite all of this, God would save them. Moses says to them, in our moderns words “shut your mouth and see the Salvation of your God.” You might think that sounds like an angry retort, it was. Moses was disgusted and God was none too pleased.
For the average human being, there is nothing more important than saving their own lives. Given the choice between life and slavery or freedom and death, the vast majority will choose slavery and life. And this is where God’s remnant saints emerge. A people who love not their lives unto death. A people redeemed from the world and transformed in spirit. A new creation in Christ, the very same Christ who came to die, and not only to die, but to die the death of the cross. Shall we not follow Him? Did He not teach us that those who try and save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for His sake will gain eternal life?
This is the fragrant army of the saints. This is a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9) Those who desire to live above all else, who desire the things of the world, will indeed have them, but they will also have leanness of soul. And out of that leanness they shall exchange the glory of God and fall down before the molded image, the golden calf. They shall forget God. They may honor Him with their lips but their shallow hearts will be far from Him.
The saints are soon to face another such Red sea. Yet this time, when their backs are against the wall they shall not cry out in bitter recrimination against their God, nor shall they beg for deliverance. They will glorify Him. They will gladly trust their God even if it means complete destruction. And they will do this because no matter what, God is worthy to be praised. And we can join with Job, a man blameless in the sight of God, and say “Even if He kills me, yet shall I trust Him.”(Job 13:15)
Psa 84:3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.
No matter what station in life we have risen to, no matter what kind of dwellings we live in whether very rich or very poor, the same longing heart can long for the same thing. The richer Godly man thinking of the temple of God, and longing to be there. And in a sense being jealous of the little birds that undoubtedly nests in its eaves. The poorer man living in his humble abode, staring up at the night sky thinking the exact same thing. The psalmist reinforces this thought when he says that it is better to be a doorkeepr in the house of God than to dwell in the home of the wicked, a palace no doubt or something very extravagant. Just one day in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand. The psalmist is saying that it’s a thousand times better to spend just one moment in the presence of God than to live in luxury for the rest of your life.
In Hebrews 11:25 we see a similar thought when we learn that Moses would rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for but a season. Moses, from the luxury of Pharaoh’s palaces would no doubt echo the psalmist jealousy over the sparrow nesting in the house of God. All those who have experienced this one moment in His presence, this one day of transformation will undoubtedly have this cry resounding in their heart “my soul longs yes even faints for courts of the Lord.” My heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God. These are the saints whose hearts are set on pilgrimage, whose hearts are set aright and whose spirits are steadfast within them.
For the Lord our God is a sun and shield to those who make their trust in Him. Even when we pass through the valley of Baca, the name we get from the word weeping, so a valley of tears. Often times this can be the valley of the shadow of death. No good thing does He withhold from those whose upright walk takes them into its depths. Their tears become as pools and rivers in the desert. They go from strength to strength in the power of the Lord. The Lord will rain down upon us grace and mercy and that rain waters the hearts of those who thirst after Him, as the deer panteth after the waterbrooks. This is the treasure of the one who desires to follow after the Lord. Follow Him dear saints and trust in Him with all of your heart and lean not upon your own understanding, but acknowledge Him in all of your ways and He will make your paths straight.(Prov 3:5)
As a man born in Scotland, there is a mythological notion about what it means to fight for freedom. It is wrapped up in the psyche of the people and Scotland, in many ways, has become synonymous with freedom, thanks mostly to Hollywood and history. Indeed the declaration of Arbroath was the forerunner, by centuries, to the declaration of Independence. This notion of rising up and throwing off our oppressors is a very glamorous notion. Rebellion and rejection of authority is fundamental to the very essence of what it means to be American and really what it means to be human thanks to the garden of Eden. Shortly after coming to Jesus I had a vision. It was a powerful vision that took my breath away and changed forever my notions of freedom. Here it is……………
“I felt the rush of air rising beneath me, lifting me in updrafts of His presence up and through the clouds. Suddenly a mountain top appeared, rising majestically through a sea of gray and white clouds.The mountain trembled and the thunder clapped and I heard Jesus say, ”go.” I flapped my arms effortlessly and soon the mountain was far behind as I flew over rivers and valley’s and great forests of pine. Then I came across a great assembly of men gathered together on a bleak and desolate Scottish moor as the rain began to fall and the wind howled in anguished anticipation.
Words of freedom echoed up to the sky above from the ground below. And Jesus said to me “will a man die for freedom? How many men have spilled their blood and hastened their souls to eternal damnation for that which is not even a shadow. These men fought and died not knowing that it is not in the winning or the losing, neither can that which they seek be attained by knife or sword.” I flapped my arms once more and suddenly the mists of time rolled back, back, unto the dawning of a different age. Below me, another assembly of men, angry men. These men were not fighting for freedom, they were seeking to destroy it. They shouted,”crucify Him, crucify Him,” and freedom hung in the balance. All of hell’s fury cheered as the sky grew dark and the lightning flashed and the earth stood still in utter dismay. Would the sun ever rise in the sky again? had darkness won the day? Then after three days and three nights, up from a sea of darkness and gloom, , a pure white standard rose majestically and shattered the darkness forever.”
To the world a white flag symbolizes a truce, a cease-fire or a surrender. In the paradoxical realms of the Kingdom, the white banner of my vision represented surrender to Jesus and in that surrender comes the paradox, we gain victory from the jaws of defeat and the darkness is destroyed forever. Surrender to God means victory, surrender to the world means defeat.Jesus shattered my notions of freedom by this vision and word. What a tragedy that men and nations could fight for political freedom, could throw off the shackles of slavery and then die knowing nothing of true freedom. This freedom was given to us, not by men, for what is given by men can be taken by men, no, this freedom that was given to us by God Himself on the bloody battle-field of Calvary of which no man nor power that exists can take from us.
Would it not be better to live as a slave in this world but be a free man in the world to come? What a tragedy to throw off the shackles of human slavery and yet die a slave to sin and eternal damnation. Temporal political freedom means nothing in the Kingdom of God. The only freedom that truly matters is the freedom that we have in Christ.I am wearied of any identity that exists outside of our identity in Christ. Identifying and highlighting our so-called differences runs counter to the Scriptures. If we are in Christ then we are one. Christians should not allow the religious world to divide that which the Lord has united. It is the work of Satan himself in the guise of clever and devious politicians to divide and conquer.
I see no black man, I see no white man, I see no brown man, I see no yellow man.I see Christ in my brothers and sisters and in that there is true freedom. Freedom from hatred, freedom from bitterness, freedom from anger, freedom from the desire for revenge.The Body of Christ should be the shining city on the hill. Do you hate or dislike another man because he is white? Do you hate or dislike another man because he is black? Then you are a slave and you know nothing of the freedom of which I speak.
You will gravitate towards secular men and away from Jesus as the sting of slavery begins to bite deeper and deeper. Would you be free today? Lay down your rights. Would you be free today? Lay down your long-held grievances for you cannot serve two masters. The true master told an enslaved people that when their earthly masters compelled them to walk one mile, they were to walk two miles. Anything outside of this is to worship Barabbas and reject Jesus. The spirits of the age, like the sirens of old, are luring your ship onto the rocks. The lighthouse that shines in the darkness warns us to flee from such spirits and to put Satan behind us.
Psa 77:2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing: my soul refused to be comforted.
Your soul will refuse to be comforted when only the Lord will do. Its the spirit within you that compels the soul to be unsatisfied with any natural solutions, especially when there are none to be found. Its at these times of desperation when our spirits are overwhelmed that we realize that nothing other than God Himself will do. We peer into the darkness, the abyss, the gross darkness that is all around us and we desperately seek the light. Picture the Lord when He is nailed to that cruel old tree, and the gross darkness descends and He cries out in anguish, the greatest anguish ever felt, thinking that He had been forsaken. Oh the agony of it. And then the moment of complete victory and the Lord gives over His Spirit into the hands of His Father.
The moment of victory comes at the end of darkness. When our hands are stretched out to heaven, without ceasing. I will not lower these trembling hands until I commit it all unto Him. Our poor Jesus could not lower His outstretched hands. They were held aloft for you. And then comes the light. You begin to remember all the works of the Lord in your life. You meditate on the goodness and the mercy of God that has followed you all the days of your life. You see the wonder of it. The waters of the deep see it and they are afraid, the Scriptures say. The depths tremble at His majesty. The skies cry out and the arrows of lightening flash across the heavens in a stupor.
And then, like the children of Moses, the sea parts before you, before your impossible situation, The darkness begins to recede as the light comes roaring into view on chariots of fire. It flees and is consumed by the utter holiness of our God. Lift those trembling hands tonight saints, is there anything too difficult for our God? The light from His glory causes the sun to look away in shame. He will flood your soul with living waters and you will cry Holy, Holy Holy. My anguish is drowned in glory and my anxiety is swept away by the tide of grace and mercy. Oh, the indescribable unfathomable atmosphere that is His presence. And suddenly. I am at peace.
In the last few days I have mentioned to some people that my friend just died. Normally that kind of statement elicits some kind of reply like “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Not in the days we are living. The first question is “was it Covid” And the second question is “was he vaccinated.” And when they hear he was not vaccinated you get something like “uh huh.” No sorry for your loss, no sympathy at all, just smug validation of their own particular bias. Imagine someone told me that their friend died and instead of saying how sorry I was I ask a series of questions. And depending on how they answer those questions will determine my response. Was he fat? Was he a smoker? Did he drink? According to this new standard, if they answer yes to any of these questions my reply will be “uh huh.” Well he should not have been so fat. That’s what you get if your a drinker. Smokers deserve to die. Horrifying, right?
Now the people that I mentioned it to happened to be of a certain political persuasion. My friends and my Christian brothers and sisters reacted in what we would consider to be normal. They sympathized. Not these folks. Their souls have been eaten away by politics and ideology. Ironically it would be they who would would have formally talked about having to have compassion. And they would accuse others of having no compassion. They would talk about virtuous things and charity and the need for more charity. Except of course for unborn children. And in the end, those who have such disdain for the unborn easily switch to having disdain for the lives of those whom they disagree with politically. I used to wonder how so much of German society was given over to murderous madness. How could there be so little sympathy for their fellow human beings? I am seeing the seeds of that human catastrophe beginning to break through.
Consider what the Doctor in my friends case said to his wife, a dying man mind you, on the phone. He told her that her husband was going to die and he deserved to die. And, he said, he probably infected others before he came in here. Lest she have any hope, he told her that a 35 year old man came in at the same time as her husband and he was already dead. In defense of her husband, the wife said he had merely exercised his constitutional rights in not getting vaccinated. To this the doctor told her that they had no rights. He told her that if she had TB, he would have her held down and he would inject into her whatever he damn well pleased(his words) and only then would he let her up. The wife was totally frantic at the notion that this monster was in charge of her husbands health. All of this because she dared to suggest a drug called Ivermectin for her dying husband. He told her she was a conspiracy theorist. The hospital removed him from the case the following morning.
I want to suggest to you dear reader that there is a level of animosity in America that is reaching critical mass in regard to the soul. There is something in the atmosphere and people are breathing it in. It is much more toxic and lethal than any virus. It is eating away at the soul of the ones who are willingly breathing it in. We are raising a generation of sociopaths. The dye is cast and the grapes of wrath are being trampled even as we speak. This is an ancient vine. The bitterest of all the fruits. And in the end there will only be two vines. Upon one hangs the grapes of wrath, upon the other the saints. One is fed and nurtured by Satan, and the other is the Lords. The generation that is coming forward is the generation into which we shall be given over to, for a time. And such a time as there has never been before. If those days which are coming are not shortened then every saint upon the earth will be killed by the legions that are growing in our midst.
And yet, despite all of that, we are called to love our enemies and do good to those who spitefully use us and abuse us. Our boldness should not be in defending our rights,. but in demonstrating and manifesting Jesus on the earth. The Hebrew children never complained about the fact that the king was having them burned, they are recorded as testifying to the fact that God would keep them and even if they died in the fire they would never bow down to the gods of this world. This is our boldness brothers and sisters, having the courage to stand up and declaring that we will never bow down to the gods of this world. Deliverance by our own hands from our enemies is not what we are called to.
Praising God in the midst of it all is. Making declarations. Standing upon the truth. Loving when we are hated. rendering not evil for evil. This is our journey. Do not be tempted off the narrow path. Fighting for your rights is an exit ramp. Politics is an exit ramp. And when you exit the narrow path you run straight into darkness, the very darkness that has robbed so many today of simple natural affection. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Recognize the signs of the times and the season in which we live, not to fight back as the world fights. Rather to trim our lamps and call upon the reserves of oil in our vessels that we may keep the light burning for a lost humanity to see and perhaps be drawn to.
Psalm 71:14-15 But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness, and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits.
You can see the undulations of Davids heart as he goes back and forth. He makes much mention of his enemies and the things that ail him. It takes up a considerable amount of his thinking. His mind vacillates between complaints about his enemies and the glory of God. Yet in verse 14 we see the turn. The mind and the heart that was fixed between these two points is now firmly fixed upon God alone. And in this we find our own proper response to our trials and tribulations and infirmities. Let us not give the enemy nor the situation any ground. Let us hope in Him continually. That is a declaration. “I will praise you, (despite my circumstances) yet more and more,” that’s another declaration.
And now that the mind is focused on God, here we hear the results. “My mouth shall tell of your righteousness, and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits.” All day long, night and day David’s heart and mind is now firmly fixed on God. And as his eyes settle upon the glory his wonder increases dramatically. He begins to see that there is no end to the righteousness of God. He is captivated by it. He is equally captivated by the salvation of His God, he realizes it has no beginning nor does it have an end. Glory to God. He then is encouraged in his own heart “I will go on in the strength of the Lord God.’ You see what happens when our focus is totally upon God? We see His strength, we see His power, it begins to grip every part of us.
And out of that flows praise. It’s now not because of his enemies that he does not want God to forsake him, he now does not want God to forsake him until “I declare your strength to this generation and Your power to everyone who is to come.” Glory to God. He says “Your righteousness Oh God is very high, You who have done great things Oh God,who is like You.” When we, in the midst of our storm, cast our eyes upon Jesus, forgetting what surrounds us, He elevates us above the tumult. He does this in our hearts and our minds and in our souls. We are not praying for deliverance, we are praying for the strength to continue to praise Him.
And just like Paul and Silas in the dungeon, who were not praying for deliverance rather they were singing the praises of their God, then down will come the power of God in our lives to the astonishment and marvel of all who see it. Glory to God, let us praise Him this day. This is our deliverance. This is our open door to heaven. This is how we see the glory of God and join in with that heavenly throng. “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.”
Psalm 64:1 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
It is better to die by the hand of your enemy than to be taken captive by fear of him. A man dies just once, but someone taken captive by fear dies daily. And the death we are talking about is not the death of the old man so encouraged by the Scriptures, it is the opposite. To die daily to the flesh means that the spirit rises up. We decrease and the Lord in us increases. To die the death of a coward daily is to die spiritually. To be taken captive by fear is to be paralyzed spiritually. To be a prisoner to fear is to have your very thoughts taken captive. The ultimate distraction in this life comes when we are taken captive by fear in mind and body. The spirit man begins to die and the flesh rises up.
I would argue that this is what we are seeing all over the world right now in the midst of a pandemic. Fear has run amok. It has paralyzed us, literally, by shutting down everything. David cries out to the Lord in Psalm 64 verse one to “preserve my life,” from fear of the enemy. He does not asked to be spared on the battle-field. He is not asking for God to protect his physical life. No, he is asking that his life be revived in him, that his strength would be maintained in the midst of such troubling times. He wants his inner strength preserved, he wants it restored.
And so brothers and sisters. Be vigilant against fear, for it is the opposite of faith. Be diligent when it comes to your heart for out of that heart flows the issues of life. Do not let it be taken captive by fear. Be wise in these matters and see the strategy of the enemy of your soul. Ask the Lord for wisdom for He will give it to you. And in the receiving of this wisdom you shall have understanding. Remember, you have an ornament of grace that hangs upon your heart. You have a crown of glory that awaits you in the world to come. Fear the Lord in all of your ways, lean not upon your own understanding of what is unfolding in the world around you, but trust in Him. I say again, trust in Him and acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.
Psa 60:2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it
In every situation in our lives, we are somewhere between victory and defeat. All of us have known both. All of us would do well to remember victory while in the midst of defeat. and defeat while in the midst of victory. This is the balance of the saints, knowing and understanding that the Lord is God over every part of our lives. Might I suggest that Christendom is broken and the earth trembles under the darkness of the end of the ages. Yet even now we must cry out that God would heal the barren land of Christendom so that this dark world may have as much light as it can as the end of the ages comes quickly.
Let us praise God that He always gives us a banner of truth over those who fear Him. In the battle-field of life, the remnant saints of God shine out. And not only to a dark world but to a lost people who call themselves after the name of Jesus. Truth flies high over the battle-field for all to see. Who will run to its banner? Who will cry out to God when their heart is overwhelmed? The banner shall lead them to the Rock that is higher than all of us. This banner shall be a shelter and a strong tower in the last days of gross darkness. We shall abide in the tabernacle of Truth. We shall take a hold of the heritage of those who fear the living God. For remember saints the help of man is useless. Rich men and poor men alike are like vapors.
Trust in God at all times. Let your soul wait silently upon Him in the heat of the day. Cry out to God in the heart of the battle. He alone is your Rock and your salvation. He alone is your defense and those who abide in it shall not be moved. He alone is your salvation and your glory. Even from the ends of the earth when you cry out to Him, He will attend to your prayer. Learn to remember the days of your defeat in the days of your victory, and never forget the days of your victory when in the midst of defeat. For the one unchangeable God rules over them all and is at work in them.
Phi 2:5 For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And so Jesus, being found in the likeness of man, humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. How many of us know that when a friend or a family member is dying or seriously ill, then we gather around them and comfort them? There are also doctors and nurses to ease their pain. This is not the case when the dying is the dying to our flesh.
This kind of dying is a uniquely solitary experience. Being comforted by brothers and sisters does not help us when we are dying a spiritual death. It is most often quite the opposite, it tends to prolong the process. When you are in the midst of a great struggle, and well meaning people try to comfort you, if you take them to heart your troubles will only be prolonged. When you discover that God is all that you have, you will discover that God is all that you need. The cross is not comfortable, it is the very opposite of comfort. It’s not just a dying, its the dying of the cross. A suffering of loss.
Yet in the midst of dying to ourselves we are called to life, spiritual life. In the seemingly endless paradoxes between life in the spirit and our life on this earth we are called to have the mind of Christ and have the life of Christ in us. It is in the midst of dying to our flesh that we find the hidden treasures of life in the Spirit. The gross darkness of the death of the cross reveals the life and the light of Christ in us. It is the treasures of darkness. This is the crucified life and we find it as we humble ourselves and take on the form of a servant and walk in obedience to our heavenly calling. Will you walk in the life of the Spirit today?
As I was reading Psalm 51 the other day, it occurred to me that we refuse to be a Nathan to the world. We will not tell the world what ails them. We refuse to offend the world with the truth. We refuse to tell them that they are guilty. David has a very painful revelation of who he was and what had become of him. It leads to the restoration of his soul. Imagine going to a doctor who only ever told you that you were fine, despite the evidence to the contrary. He refuses to tell you because he does not want to make you “feel,” bad. Yet, the spiritual reality for most of the world is that they are dying and unless they find the cure for what ails them they will die in their sin, the thing that ails them.
In America we love to stand up for our rights. We are typically more outraged by our rights being violated than we are that the vast majority of those who violate our rights are dying in their sins. Daniel was not outraged at being thrown into the lions den. He was, however, steadfast in his faithfulness to pray, even when there was a law passed telling him not to pray. His boldness was clearly seen when he flung open his windows and prayed as he always had. Our boldness would come as we fought against being taken to the lions den. Daniel knew that is where his faith would lead him. Very shortly, we will have the opportunity for true boldness. The boldness to exercise our faith despite knowing bad things will happen to us as a result. We have to come to the point where we ask ourselves do we care more about our rights or about a dying world. Or do we care more about offending a dying world than we do about their eternal souls.
In psalm 57 we see David in a cave. He had fled to the cave as Saul and others pursued him. He cries out to God that his soul is among lions. He was surrounded by people whose anger was so great that they were “on fire.’ Their teeth were like spears and arrows and their tongues like sharp swords against him. They had put out snares to capture him and dug holes that he might fall in them. We live in such a world brothers and sisters and it is getting worse. Yet, David knows he could not stay in that cave. He says that his heart is steadfast in his love for God. He says that he would awaken the dawn with the praises of God. You cannot do that in a cave. He would exalt God. It is time for the saints to arise from their slumbers, get out of that cave and find their voice again. Be Nathan to the world. Nathan was the voice of the Holy Spirit to David, we have been called to be the voice of the Holy Spirit to the world. Will you fulfill your calling? It has nothing to do with your rights. Yo don’t have any, you only have the right to be obedient to God.
Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Part of wisdom is to know something of who you truly are. Not the way others see you or even the way you want to be seen by others but who you are in the depths of who you are. The outward appearance has no intrinsic value when it is detached from the inner reality. The only value it has is when it is reflective of the inner man. The distance between the two is the measure of our hypocrisy. We play the actor when the man that people see is not the man who truly is. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that is true enough in the world. In the Kingdom the only beauty that counts is what God sees when He looks at us. What does God see in you?
David says in psalm 51:6 that God “makes me to know wisdom.” He is referring to the his hidden life. The inner life, the life that God know better than you. Imagine that, the only way to truth in the inwards parts is that God would reveal your inner most being to yourself. What a brutal painful journey this can be to the yielded, to the broken and the contrite. And yet, only God can do this. In psalm 51 there is a series of things God does for the broken and the contrite. Verse 14 “deliver me.” Only God can deliver us from our guilt and desires to do it. Verse 12b “Uphold me.” Only God can hold us up when the weight of sin and guilt has weighed us down. Verse 12a “Restore to me.” Only God can restore us, only God can give us the joy that comes from His salvation. Verse 10 “Create in me.” Only God can create a clean heart. Only God can cleanse the hands of those who have sinned against Him and give them a steadfast spirit in the depths of who they are.
Verse 8 “Make me.” Only God can can heal the brokenness. A healing that produces joy and gladness, a gladness that causes us to once more radiate His holiness. Verse 7b “Wash me.” God alone can wash away with the filth of this world and our flesh. Verse 7a”Purge me.” God alone can bring about the elements of my cleansing. And in the end, when we see all of this, we know wisdom. We know God. We know Jesus. And in the knowing we know ourselves in the inward parts, the hidden parts, that are to be a delight to the Lord and a light to the world.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.(Psa 45:3-4)
We live in a day and age where truth and righteousness seems to have stumbled, seems to have fallen underfoot and is trampled by the ungodly masses of this dark world. And the cry of the saints rises up as we see the approach of the gross darkness that is enveloping the world. I don’t have to convince you of this saint, for the same Spirit dwells richly in each of us. Our hearts are heavy as we see the multitudes swept away by the raging currents of ungodliness and lies.
I want to encourage you today saint. We serve a God who sits atop a white stallion and upon His thigh there is girded a sword. How great and terrible is this sword. It slices through the darkness and cuts to pieces the vain imaginations of men. And majesty and glory go before it. Truth will do its work. Righteousness shall prevail despite the best efforts of men and the enemy of our soul. And we who stand upon such truth, who walk in the righteousness of God, who are meek and lowly of heart, we shall see the glory! We shall revel in the majesty. And we shall see justice prevail in the end in the great and terrible day of the Lord. Stand fast saints. We shall see such things.
We shall prosper in the things of the Lord as we stand fast and await this day. We shall prosper in peace, it shall be increased. We shall prosper in faith, it shall be increased. We shall prosper in boldness, it shall be increased. We shall prosper in power it too shall be increased. In all things of the unseen world the saints shall prosper. The Kingdom shall rule and reign in our hearts, as we worship the Kingdoms King. The world may imagine a a weak and effeminate Jesus, but the reality of who He truly is shall manifest itself through us. We who will, by His glorious power, stand firm and hold the line even as Hell and all its fury thunders towards us. The line shall not break the sword shall not be sheathed until the terrible work is finished. Go forth in power saint. Ride prosperously into battle in His majesty.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Death is swallowed up in victory. There are many kinds of death just as there are many kinds of victories. There is of course physical death and for those saints who have the victory, then every aspect of death’s power are swallowed up by the life of Christ. For we know that because He lives then so shall we. The darkness of this world shall be swallowed whole by the light of Christ that is brighter than a thousand suns.
There is also death to self and every aspect of self. This is harder than dying a physical death. For it comes not once but a thousand times a thousand times. We die daily is not exaggeration. Death to desires, death to wants, death to ambitions, death to the flesh that never stops trying to press forth its “rights.” Death to rights, death to what belongs to us. Death to what should have been and to what could have been. Many of us may not fear physical death and in fact we may desire it, but there is no one who stands unmoved to the death of self. Only by living in Christ can we die to our-self. Only by knowing Jesus can we know victory.
And because we “know” Him we have already been touched by the glory of His light. Can you feel it’s glow even now deep within your heart? It burns at the center of who we are. There is life in this light of God. There is power and there is victory and because there is we can say with full authority to death- where is your sting? Oh grave where is your victory? You have been defeated and you have been swallowed whole. The victory belongs to Jesus. His very life is our victory and His eternal throne means that our victory is eternal.
As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks so my soul longeth after thee. Such a famous verse so often quoted so rarely pondered. This is no mere whimsical desire to be closer to God. This is deep crying out to deep. This is the depths of a man or woman’s soul in despair of ever experiencing His presence again.Has your tears been your food day and night? Are you overwhelmed by circumstances that threaten to draw you down into the deep and drown you? Do people say to you, or maybe they don’t have to say it, but look at you and wonder “where is his God.” Has that thought soaked into the depths of your soul? You dare not even think it, therefore your soul is simply and stoically silent.
The psalmist here in the 42nd psalm speaks to his own soul. Despite what he is feeling in the depths of who he is he declares to his own soul.. why so downcast o my soul? I will yet praise my God. Hope in God for His loving-kindness in the daytime and in the night His song shall comfort you. I see that you are downcast o my own soul but I am ready to praise the Living God. Come with me my soul and together we shall drink from the waterbrooks of life. And out from the depths of despair my soul rises into the light of His glory. My tears of sadness are now tears of joy and the light of God has returned to my darkened eyes and the naysayers are astonished at my resurrection. And God alone is praised!
A Call To The Remnant 