As I was walking this morning, I noticed worms, everywhere along the sidewalk, worms. A virtual feast for the birds of the sky. Yet, by the time I was walking, the sun had been up for a few hours. These worms had all but dried up. I even saw a bird take one of these worms then just drop it and fly away. I am sure the ” early birds,” had feasted on the worms that were fresh and now, later, there was only dried up worms. A poem began to come to my heart.
And the words of Psalm 63. A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
(Psa 63:1-5)
DWELL IN ME
Who takes care of the grass of the field?
You do Lord we must simply yield
Who takes care of the birds of the sky?
You do Lord for you dwell on high
Dwell in the deepest parts of me
Thank you Lord for setting me free
Free to walk and free to run
Free to fight, the battle won
Free o Lord yes free indeed
Free to fight and free to bleed
Free to walk the pilgrim way
Free to walk with you each day
The Lord’s free man, a servant still
Bonded to thee by my own free will
Willing to live and willing to die
For my Lord and Saviour who dwells on high
Come Lord Jesus, come to me
Give me eyes that can truly see
Your glory and your majesty
And we shall dwell eternally
Jesus is such a friend to me. I was broken and crushed. He healed me, He gave me life where there was death ,He raised me from a terrible living death. I was also diagnosed with an incurable disease shortly after I was saved 22 years ago ( pulmonary fibrosis, stage three with irreversible fibrosis) He healed me. Yet that healing pales in comparison to the eternal healing of my crushed heart and broken spirit. I was a captive to so much sin and He set me free. A friend ? Ah, the word seems to fall so short does it not? Yes my King calls me friend and my heavenly Father invites me to come and speak with Him before His throne. I, a pauper, born and raised in poverty, and He, the King of Kings in all His glorious majesty. It is such a wonder.
Brother Greg Gordon asked me earlier this week to come on and speak on a national prayer call called ” prayer surge” about my burden for the presence of God and the headship of the Lord as He is allowed His rightful place in meetings. Now I have to be honest, this is a subject that when I have shared that I have never failed to alienate some folks . These couple of subjects are like a mine-field because we really do not even have a working definition of what the presence of God is. And so before I speak about the Lord having His rightful place in meetings and how that actually ties in with the presence of God, let me define the term “ presence of God,’ as I see it and as I have experienced it and what I believe the Holy Spirit would say through me. I would like to start out by reading a letter I received from one of my readers and this would perhaps illustrate one of the reasons that I am involved with Gospel fellowship meetings and other meetings seeking to bring together what I would call remnant believers. And so the lady writes to me and says ………
You can listen to this short sermon above, which points us back to very foundations of our walk with the Lord and the work of the cross and you can also read it below. I pray that it will challenge you………….bro Frank
The cross is in the very midst of revival. Now why is the cross in the very midst of revival? If we look at what we consider to be classic revivals, in the great awakening we see Jonathan Edwards and he preaches his very famous sermon ” Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” And as a result we see people in the midst of tremendous conviction poured out by the Spirit. Now, is this the formula for revival? Must we preach about sinners in the hands of an angry God? Do we just have to repeat Jonathon Edwards sermon and we will see revival? We would just stand up and preach verbatim the words of that sermon and then we would see revival, and obviously that is not the case.
So the cross in the midst of revival. What is the cross, what does it represent? What does it mean? Why is it the central theme and focus of Christianity? Well the symbolic part of the cross was that mercy and judgement were mysteriously entwined together. Judgement for all those who reject Gods plan, and mercy for those who would embrace His Son and the sacrifice offered on Calvary, a sin offering for the world. The sins of the world, the guilt of the world would be judged on Calvary. And so we see mercy and judgment , mysteriously entwined together on the cross of Calvary. In the Hebridean revival we see men so affected by the Spirit of God poured out that they cry ” Is there mercy for me, is there mercy for me?” It was a cry from the deepest wells of mens hearts.
Parting is such an empty sorrow
Yet there is always a sweet tomorrow
There is such a pain within my heart
When that time comes that we must part
And the minutes and hours that slipped away
Were taken for granted day by day
Until the time comes when you have to leave
And I’m left standing with my heart on my sleeve
The Remnant church is, at it’s core and most fundamentally, God’s witness here on earth. Truly we have been called first and foremost to be a witness. Now most saints know that this word in its Greek form translates to martyr. Does that mean that every saint, every witness since the beginning of the church has been called to martyrdom? Certainly not. Yet let us not forget brothers and sisters that in every century God’s people here on earth have been persecuted and martyred for their faith. The danger for us saints in the Western world in the last 100 years has been that we have not been so-called. Other saints around the world cannot say that, whether that is Africa or Asia or China or the Middle East, they have continued to be persecuted and martyred for their faith. For most of Europe and North America, this has not been the case with some noticeable exceptions during periods of war and so on. Now, one would imagine that living in an atmosphere where one is allowed to worship freely without any state or religious interference that Christendom would thrive, yet, if we look at the state of Europe and North America we see something that at best, is a shallow faith. In the case of Europe we definitely see a post Christian society. In North America what is predominant is a cultural Christianity, a cross-less Christianity and a Christ-less Christianity and some cross-pollination or in many cases a hybrid of the all of these. Cultural Christianity would be a Christianity that is simply shaped to suit our culture. In this kind of Christianity Jesus would rarely be mentioned and God would be seen as some kind of Santa Claus. A cross-less Christianity would cover movements like the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it groups, Word of faith believers and health and wealth believers. Or again, a hybrid of all three. A Christ less Christianity would cover dead denominations for whom the Word of God has ceased to be authoritative even in pretense and where all things are acceptable, this would include things like gay marriage and gay ministers, abortion, divorce and so on.
Brother and sisters, can you say that your chains are in Christ and because of your chains others are emboldened? This is one of the cries of God’s Remnant children. Its one of the marks of the royal priesthood. When Paul was in chains for Christ his attitude in the midst of it, his joy, his peace, his awareness of the presence of God was encouraging to those saints who were not yet in chains. As they saw the example of Paul ( in Philippians 1) they were deeply encouraged and emboldened to see that despite any set of trials, they served an overcoming God. This dear saints, is the perseverance of the saints. You might not suffer actual chains ( although that could change soon) but you may lose your job, you may get a devastating diagnosis from the doctor, any number of bad reports you may receive, how will the world see you when you are in ” your chains?” Will they see the glory of God? God is raising up, for such a time as this, just such a paradoxical people. A people who will rejoice when the world weeps. A people who will serve when the world demands service. A people whose joy cannot be robbed by poverty or affliction. A people unmoved by the ” American dream,” and the prosperity of this world. A people who know that their Lord is magnified in their weaknesses. A people who have learned to be content whether with much or with little, whether people are singing their praises or wringing their hands. Can you glorify the Lord in the midst of refining fires? By the power of the Spirit of God and a broken and a contrite heart you can and you will.
To be chained in Christ
Is to be free indeed
Free to die and free to bleed
Free to walk the pilgrim way
Free to die to self each day
Despite the vastness of the universe, we know that the Lord holds it all in the hollow of His hand. Our minds simply cannot conceive of the vastness of our God. How can it be possible for mere humans to know God? And what is this ” knowing?” The Scriptures in Ephesians three are not saying that we can know about Him, it is saying that we can know Him and the fullness of Him. As I read Ephesian’s three I penned the song/poem below. To know God is the most intimate of terms. The Scriptures tell us that Joseph did not ” know” Mary until after Jesus was born. Of course this was a reference to physical intimacy, which of course makes the husband and the wife ” one flesh.” This coming together is of course a sacred thing and this one flesh is a mysterious thing. Now consider the even deeper aspect of this ” knowing.” The spiritual knowing is something very mysterious.
To know and be filled with the ” fullness of God,” is a supernatural thing. There is nothing physical about it, it is above and beyond that. So one may ask this very legitimate question of all who profess to be Christians ” Do you ” know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:19) One must ” know,” the love of Christ, not know about it ( because the scriptures say it passes knowledge) if one is to be filled with the ” fullness of God.” This is the Christian man or woman. The man or the woman who can say ” For we do not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty( 2 Pet 1:16)
To know the unknowable you
Is all I want to do
To plunge the depths of your love
Is to soar in the heavens above
Oh to know what cannot be known
It to kneel before your throne
I looked in to the dark abyss
And it looked right back at me
Full of swirling chaos
And darker than the darkest sea
There were mountainous waves and lightening too
That raced across the skies
There was great explosions of thunder
That drowned out all mens cries
The mountainous waves rose to their height
And men would scream and cry with fright
Arms waving wildly and distorted features
These men were the most miserable of creatures
Lord have you seen my tears?
Can’t you see I’m drowning in my fears?
I try to run but there’s no where left to hide
I fall to my knees because I’m dying here inside
I lift my eyes and there’s darkness all around
I try to get up but I fall back to the ground
I try to scream but I cannot make a sound
I’m lost and alone and I never shall be found
Reach down and touch me Lord wont you please?
For if you don’t I’ll die here on my knees
My heart is broken and has spilled out all my love
My only hope is a touch from up above
Weariness is a dreadful thing. The definition of weariness is……..
“physically or mentally fatigued, having one’s interest, forbearance, or indulgence worn out.”
Oftentimes Christians do not want to admit to weariness. It may seem like a lack of faith to acknowledge one’s weariness. Of course this is not the case. Every Christian will walk through all the seasons of life and will experience every facet of life, he will be immune from none. Yet, as in all things, we are not defined by one season of our lives, nor are we defined by individual incidents in our lives, aren’t you glad about that? We shall be known by the thrust of our lives. It’s not about falling down, you will fall down, it’s about getting back up. Who amongst you believe that you will not fall down in this life? Idealists and younger Christians are particularly vulnerable when they fall. It’s a very humbling thing to fall down. Gal 6:9-10………..
Faith is of two kinds: nominal and real. The nominal faith is the faith that accepts what it is told and can quote text after text to prove it. It’s amazing how nominal faith and nominal belief can weave these texts into garments, cloaks and curtains for the Church.
Below is part one of a series of visions that my cousin had in 2009. As many know I am a conservative Pentecostal for lack of a better phrase. I have no connections to Charismatics or so called Charismania. There are so many claims from people about visions and propecies and so on and one has to exercise great discernment , especially in these days, when it comes to these matters. My spirit witnessed with what my cousin saw in his visions and what the Lord was showing him about the state of Britian and the West. My cousin’s father, who had now passed away, was my mothers brother. He was a Godly man and spent the better part of 30 years as a missionary in Pakistan. He shared that journey with his wife whom he met and married there. She is from Wales and is a very Godly woman. In fact, I visted her a couple of years ago when we had a revival conference in Moriah chapel, the very center of the Welsh revival at the turn of the 20th Century , she lives just a short distance away, in the village of Lougher. I will post the rest of my cousins vision in two more parts. ………………….
A Call To The Remnant 