DAVID WILKERSON DEVOTIONALS

JUSTIFIED BEFORE GOD

2012-01-25T03:00:00.000-05:00

Picture yourself standing before God's throne with no excuse, no alibi. Satan, your legal adversary, is reading off the list of charges, with times, places, every shameful detail. He makes accusations of pride, prayerlessness, covetousness, unfaithfulness, and your heart smites you because you have to admit, "Yes, that's me. I did it all."

It looks hopeless for you. You know God's eyes are too holy to look upon sin, and His justice demands that you pay for your crimes against His holiness. You are helpless.

But suddenly, here comes your Lawyer, your Advocate. He stretches forth His nail-scarred hands and you know something is about to happen. He smiles and whispers, "Don't be afraid; none of these charges will stand. You're going to walk out of this courtroom free and fully pardoned. When I'm finished, your accuser won't have one charge left against you!"

Best of all, your Lawyer tells you He has adopted you as His brother. Then He tells you He is the Son of the Judge so you now belong to the Judge's family, as well!

But there is still the matter of justice. What about the charges against you? You listen in absolute wonder as your Advocate pleads your case:

"Judge, You know that I fulfilled the law, living a sinless life. And then I took this person's place, taking on all the punishment for his crimes. Through these nail-scarred hands and My pierced side, blood came forth to blot out all of his transgressions. All these charges were put on My back and I paid the penalty for every one of them.”

Your Advocate then looks at your accuser and says, "Satan, you have no grounds to accuse My child. Each of his sins was placed on Me and I have fully pardoned them all. He is not guilty because his faith in the victory of My sacrifice gives him full pardon. You have no case!"

As the devil slinks out of God's court, you can hear the Lord cry out: "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies" (Romans 8:33).

LEARN OF ME

2012-01-24T03:00:00.000-05:00

Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me” (Matthew 11:28-29, KJV). Christ tells us very plainly: "Do not attempt to take on a walk with Me until you are at rest in your soul!"

If you do not have this wonderful confidence in what the Word of God says Jesus did for you, His yoke will not be easy or light. On the contrary, you will spend your time striving in the flesh to please God. You will go from hot to cold, living with unnecessary guilt and shame.

I believe the key to this verse lies in the words “learn of me.” Jesus is speaking here of the discipline of learning who He is and what He accomplished on the cross. He is saying, "You must have a knowledge of what I have done for you. Then, once your soul is at rest, you can take on My yoke. So, learn of Me!"

We do not want this kind of discipline. We want to take the easy way! We are like schoolchildren on the playground at recess who do not want to go back into the classroom.

Perhaps today you say, "I'm reading my Bible now and praying a little each day. I'm trying hard to do better!" This is all good, but I assure you that these things will not keep you through the coming storm. It is not enough to try hard, to make promises to God, to strive to be better. Nor is it enough to say, "I'm more diligent than before." No, it is all about going after a revelation of what Jesus did for you at the cross!

Something should cry out in all of us: "Jesus, Your Word says I can live in total rest, peace and security. I don't have to strive in my flesh or be tossed about by guilt or fear. You have set before me the promise of a life at rest, but I don't have that rest. Oh, Lord, I want Your rest with everything that's in me. Teach me by Your Spirit—I want to learn of You."

I WILL GIVE YOU REST

2012-01-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

God has promised His people a glorious rest, a rest that includes peace and security for the soul. The Lord offered this wonderful rest to the children of Israel, which meant a life full of joy and victory, without fear, guilt or condemnation. Up to the time of Christ, no generation of believers ever walked fully in this blessed promise. Why was this? The Bible makes very clear that it was because of their unbelief. “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19).

Because of their unbelief, God's people—during the period of the kings and prophets through David’s generation—went through life full of misery, doubt, fear and restlessness. In every generation the rest was promised but it was refused—never appropriated, never understood.

That is why, when we read Hebrews 4, we find this glorious life of faith still unclaimed: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (verse 9). Yet we also read: "Since therefore it remains that some must enter it . . ." (verse 6). The Bible admonishes present-day believers with a warning: "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have come short of it" (verse 1).

Thousands upon thousands of believers claim to be filled with the Spirit of God, yet few have entered into this promised rest. Many are tossed about by winds and waves of doctrines, restless and guilt-ridden, with no security in Christ. Jesus said, “I will give you rest, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (see Matthew 11:28-30).

My prayer is that today you will enter into the rest God has for you. Reach up by faith and receive because it is His free gift!

VIOLENT FAITH!

2012-01-20T03:00:00.000-05:00

Genesis tells us that the more man multiplied on the earth, the more violent he became.

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12).

There is another, different kind of violence taking place in this last day. Indeed, I see a godly people with an aggressive faith being raised up. This holy remnant is full of Jesus, loving Him with all their hearts. These believers see a mad devil coming at them with everything in his power and they know they have more of hell to face than any other generation before them.

Jesus said: "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12). This remnant is going to rise up and say, "I'm not going to let the devil steal my joy and peace. I will not let him plant seeds of grudges, murder, hatred or violence in me. No! I'm going to rise up in Jesus' power and live victoriously above this demonic filth."

Dear saint, God wants to put a fight in you! If you have been guilty of any of these forms of violence, quickly repent before the Lord and obey His Word. That's all He asks. May God put a holy zeal and faith in you beyond anything you have ever known. He wants you to be able to stand against Satan's wicked devices.

The only spirit of violence we are going to have is a violent faith. It will be a strong, holy violence that comes full force against the gates of hell and the strongholds of the enemy. And, by the power of God, we will bring them all down in Jesus' name!

NEW EVERY MORNING

2012-01-19T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

We would all be consumed
Because of our wickedness,
Had it not been for God’s mercies.
They are fresh and new every morning.
God is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger,
And of great kindness.
Soft in heart to those who repent,
He retaineth not His anger
Because He delighteth in mercy,
Pardoning iniquity.
He delights not in the death of the wicked,
But offers universal mercy
To every transgressor;
But let him who receives mercy
Be merciful.
Blessed are the merciful:
For they shall obtain mercy.

A RESERVOIR OF LIVING WATER

2012-01-18T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

Consider the one who trusts God in the hard places: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord" (v. 7).

This Christian is "planted." He has roots, stability, a reservoir of living water. He is always "spreading out," fruitful and green with fresh life. Scripture says, "[He] will not be anxious [fearful] in the year of drought . . ." (v. 8). When things get intense and bothersome, he will not be afraid!

This person says, "Jesus, I give up looking to any person to bring me out of my trial. You are my only hope. I look to You to bring me out of this!" The Lord desires this kind of faith from us in everyday matters. You may object, "But, Brother Dave, I'm still unemployed, still having trouble." I still must believe God's Word: "Trust Me, and you'll be blessed!"

You may answer, "But I don't know what I'm going to do. It looks so hopeless. I don't see any sign of help or deliverance!" To all these things God still says, "Trust Me, My child, and you'll be blessed!"

It does not matter whether your trial is with your family, with your business, or provision. If you put your total trust in His Word and His faithfulness, God has promised to bless you—and He cannot lie! When the heat comes, you won't even be bothered. When the wind comes, you'll stand strong, because you will have learned to trust Him. You'll be a green tree bearing the abundant fruit of confidence—and everyone around you will be given hope and encouragement as they behold your quiet trust.

THE LIMITATIONS OF THE MIRACULOUS

2012-01-17T03:00:00.000-05:00

Nobody had ever seen as many supernatural works as Israel. God provided miracle after miracle for them—and yet each work left the people as faithless and unbelieving as before! You would think that the ten plagues on Egypt would have produced faith in the Israelites. When Egypt was afflicted with flies, none were found in Israel's camp. When Egypt fell under total darkness, there was no darkness in Israel. Yet none of these plagues produced faith of any kind!

Even after God opened the Red Sea, Israel's faith lasted only three days. Scripture says: “They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea" (Psalm 106:7).

The psalmist is saying here: "They even doubted God at the Red Sea—the place where He performed His greatest miracle!"

We are so like Israel. We want God to speak a word, grant us a miraculous deliverance, quickly meet our needs, remove all our pain and suffering. In fact, you may be saying right now, "If God would just get me out of this mess—if He'd give me this one miracle—I would never doubt Him again!" Yet, what about all the miracles He has performed for you? They haven't produced in you any faith to help you in your present trouble!

Two precious men of God from the Zulu tribe in Africa visited Times Square Church. An incredible revival was taking place among the eight million Zulus, and God was doing miraculous things among them.

Yet that is not what these men wanted to talk about. Rather, what impressed them most about the revival were the "overcomer Zulus"—those who stood for Christ, burning witchcraft books and witnessing boldly, even though they were being tested and tried severely. These people were once evil, with murderous spirits, and they were being transformed into the image of Jesus!

I believe the greatest sign or wonder to the world in these last days is not a person who has been raised from the dead. No, what truly makes an impact on the mind and spirit of the ungodly is the Christian who endures all trials, storms, pain and suffering with a confident faith. Such a believer emerges from his troubles stronger in character, stronger in faith, stronger in Christ.

NO WATER TO DRINK

2012-01-16T03:00:00.000-05:00

"Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. . . . And the people murmured against Moses, and said, ‘Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me’” (Exodus 17:1-4).

God had led Israel to the driest place in the whole wilderness. It was a testing place with no stream, no well, not even a trickle of water. Most baffling of all, Israel was led there "according to the commandment of the Lord" (v. 1).

God Himself had allowed His people to grow thirsty: "And the people thirsted there for water" (v. 3). Babies were crying, children wailing, grandparents suffering parched throats. Parents looked at their families and thought, "In a few days we'll all be dead." So they turned in anger to Moses, crying, "Give us water to drink!" They were still depending on man—on the flesh!

I want to stop here to point out something. First, God took Israel to Migdol by the sea to test them—and they failed to trust Him. Next, He took them to Marah, where He had another plan of deliverance—and they failed again. Now He brought them to Rephidim for more testing.
Do you see the pattern? If you don't learn to trust the Lord in simple, childlike faith when you're being tested, He will bring you back to yet another testing ground.

Israel was in just such a place once again. They were hot, thirsty, angry. But God already had a plan! He was not going to let them die. He had chosen beforehand to have them walk up Mount Horeb to a reservoir of water that He had prepared long before. And that source would last not just a day, a week or a month—but thirty-eight years!

Yet God was waiting for a response of faith from Israel. He was saying, “I have taken you through all these things, but you've refused to learn. Will you trust Me now? How many more problems do I have to allow in your life before you trust Me?"

Our loving, heavenly Father would never lead His children into a dry desert only to let them die of thirst, especially when He had a reservoir stored in a nearby rock! God has always had a plan for His people. And He has a plan for you right now, to deliver you from your present trouble.

AT WITS’ END

2012-01-13T03:00:00.000-05:00

"Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end” (Psalm 107:23-27).

In this psalm, the place referred to as "wits’ end" is a ship's deck in a storm-tossed sea. Giant waves carry the ship up to the heavens and then drop it down to the depths. Powerful winds toss it back and forth so that none of the sailors can find their "sea legs." They stagger across the deck like drunken men.

The ship's sails are tattered and ripped, and wave after powerful wave crashes onto the deck. The sailors have to struggle just to hold on. It appears to be all over for them, and they are in total despair. They are helpless—vulnerable to the power of the elements, unable to stop the storm, powerless to save themselves.

These sailors have come to a place called "wits’ end." This condition afflicts all Christians at one time or another. It simply means, "Having lost or exhausted any possibility of perceiving or thinking of a way out." In short, there is no escape—no help, no deliverance—other than in God Himself!

“Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven” (Psalm 107:28-30).

When did the storm stop for the sailors in Psalm 107? When did God bring them into their desired safe haven?

First, the sailors came to their wits’ end, giving up on all human hope or help. They said, “There is no way we can save ourselves. Nobody on earth can get us out of this!”

Second, they cried to the Lord in the midst of their trouble—turning to Him alone for help!

THE CRUCIFIED MILITANT

2012-01-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

Christ was a true militant—
Fighting for other men’s rights,
Driving money changers from God’s church
And letting the oppressed go free;
Yet He Himself was oppressed . . .
And afflicted,
Misunderstood and rejected.
His own rights were denied Him:
A jury perjured Him.
Priests aroused the silent majority
With lies and half truths.
He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter.
They plucked His beard
And spit on His face.
The highest court in the land
Was prejudiced against Him;
Yet this mighty militant
Opened not His mouth
And in his sorrow claimed no rights.
He poured out His life
As an offering
To justify the rights of all men.

THE NO-NAME INFIRMITY

2012-01-11T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? . . . O my God, my soul is cast down within me” (Psalm 42:5-6).

Scholars aren’t certain who the writer of this psalm is. But we do know for sure that something is bothering him. His soul is deeply disturbed and he can’t explain why!

This psalmist is on fire for God. He pants after the Lord the way a deer pants for water (see verse 1)—thirsting after Him, yearning for intimacy. He asks, “When shall I come and appear before God?” (v. 2).

We never do learn what the psalmist’s infirmity is. Have you ever experienced this kind of unexplainable melancholy—unexpected, unnamed spiritual blues? You’re doing just fine, with no known sin in your life. But one day you wake up with a disturbance deep in your soul. Some kind of depression has come over you and you can’t put your finger on it.

I have good news for you: This is an infirmity of the righteous! It strikes only those who hunger after Jesus. We are not to be afraid of such an infirmity because the Holy Spirit has a part in it.

I have experienced enough of life to know that a time comes when this happens to every Christian. But we mustn’t try to figure it out—because we can’t! The psalmist never did get his “why” answers. And there isn’t a book, counselor or psychologist on earth who can tell you why an unnamed infirmity has come upon you.

I believe this strange infirmity is “the sighing of the Holy Spirit” within us. He is letting us know what it feels like to be without God—to be on our own, without comfort, hope or guidance. He allows us to experience just a taste of such an awful, horrible condition!

Our bodies are His temple and He has been sent to prepare us a chaste bride to Christ. He knows what it takes to keep us unspotted for the Bridegroom. And He knows how important it is for us to cry out to God for daily strength and power. We simply cannot stand in this time unless we are intimate with the Lord—trusting in Him fully, and constantly fleeing into His presence.

A RELIGION OF THE FACE

2012-01-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

When we allow Jesus to be lord of all—when we cast all our cares upon Him, fully trusting in His Word and resting in His love—our appearance should undergo a deep change. A quiet calm should begin to radiate from our countenance.

Scripture gives us many examples of this: When Hannah laid down her burden, “. . . her face was no longer sad” (1 Samuel 1:18).

When Stephen stood before hostile, angry men in the Sanhedrin, [they] “. . . saw his face as the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). Stephen stood among unbelievers with the shine of Jesus Christ and the difference was clear to all!

I am convinced that we have a duty to let our countenance speak of God’s faithfulness in our lives. But the problem is, our facial features and body language often say just the opposite! Many believers’ faces say, “My God has failed me! He doesn’t care for me anymore. I have to carry all my burdens and problems alone because God doesn’t come through for me!”

You may not consciously say such things to yourself but they will show on your face. I want to show you from God’s Word that what you are going through is not new. Someone else has been exactly where you are:

“My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted. . . . I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. . . . I am so troubled that I cannot speak. . . . Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed? . . . And I said, ‘This is my anguish’” (Psalm 77:2-10).

Yet the psalmist eventually comes out of his trouble with his happy countenance restored. Why? It is because, he says, “I cried out to God with my voice . . . in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord” (Psalm 77:1-2).

If this describes you, I beg you: Today, this very day, get alone somewhere with the Lord and cry out to Him! Tell Him you are at the end of your rope, that you can’t take it anymore, that you’re ready to lay it all on His shoulders. Have it out with God!

A HOLY GHOST FACE LIFT

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-05:00

David boldly declared, “For I shall yet praise Him, the help [health] of my countenance” (Psalm 42:11). And he repeats the same statement in Psalm 43:5. In the original Hebrew, the proper rendering of both these verses is, “God is the salvation of my face!”

I believe David is saying something important here. You see, your face is a billboard that advertises what’s going on in your heart. All the joy or turmoil that’s inside you is reflected in your countenance. When I speak of countenance, I am talking about facial expression, body language, tone of voice.

For example, when my mind is loaded down with the cares of our church—sermons, finances, relationships—I have a tendency to slouch. I look preoccupied. My brow is furrowed. Some people even tell me I look sad.

One day I was walking along 52nd Street near Hannah House, totally absorbed with church business and probably slouched over. I came upon a crack house where a woman sat on the stoop, smiling from ear to ear. I could see she was high on crack. She watched me approaching and as I got nearer she spoke up, “Mister, it can’t be that bad.”

I was flabbergasted! I thought, “Here is this woman, high on crack, and here I am, a man of God. She’s smiling and looking good and I’m slouched over, as if all hope is gone.” What a rebuke it was to me!

I thank God for His great salvation—for redeeming our soul, our spirit, even our body. But many of us need to get our faces saved! We need a Holy Ghost face-lift—because our faces are giving the wrong message to the world!

One young woman came into Hannah House with lines of sin etched deeply in her face. Her countenance was extremely hard. Yet, two weeks after she was saved, no one could believe the change. I didn’t even recognize her.

Why such a change of countenance? “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed” (Ecclesiastes 8:1).

I take “wisdom” in this verse to mean Jesus Christ. Indeed, the very presence of Christ in your heart has a direct impact on your face! It affects your walk, your talk, the very tone of your voice.

LIBERTY IS NOT A LICENSE!

2012-01-06T03:00:00.000-05:00

“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not us liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

The rebel cries liberty
For the oppressed black,
The neglected Indian tribes,
Mexican illegals and West Coast grape pickers.
They call for liberty on campus—
For colonies and emerging nations.
They behave as though liberty
Were their discovery and brainchild,
But God says
Man is called unto liberty—
Divinely destined and called.
Only liberty must not be used as a license
To appease the flesh,
To indulge in wreckless pleasure and sensuality—
As a badge of liberty.
But man is called to liberty
Only to free himself for service to others,
By love, serving one another
Peaceably and nonviolently;
For if the rebels continue to bite and devour
In the guise of liberty,
They will only consume one another.

GOD IS A JEALOUS LOVER

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

“For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14).

Yes, it is possible for us to provoke Him to jealousy: “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” (1 Corinthians 10:22). Paul is asking: “You have testified that you love Him. You’ve even taken His name. Yet, has someone or something else stolen your heart?”

You can say you love Jesus; you can go to church every time the doors are open. But do you seek Him when your time is your own?
How many books, magazines and newspapers do you devour? How much TV and radio gets your attention—and yet you never give a thought to spending time with Christ?

Preachers search their Bibles for sermons. Sunday school teachers study it for lessons. But why do we not turn to it for recreational reading, to be refreshed by our Lord? Why don’t we open it to learn of Him, to love Him?

The Bible is Jesus—God’s own Word! It is the full revelation of His heart; everything about Him is unmasked there. I would think that if you truly love Him, if you expect to spend eternity as His bride, then you would want to learn everything possible about Him!

Our Lord yearns after us, wanting our time and attention. Yet He sees us spending all our time on other people and other things and that makes Him jealous! The day is coming when His jealousy will “burn” against those who turn to vain idols (Deuteronomy 29:20). It will burst into flames of judgment!

Beloved, when that day comes, I know you want Jesus to take your hand and whisper, “At last we’re together! You have desired Me so. You have given Me the best of your life, your time, your attention. Come, now—let us be one!”

How will you stand before Him on that day? Everything of this world is going to burn. But what about your intimacy with Him? Will you be able to stand before Him knowing you shut out the world and cried out that you wanted to know Him?

SATISFIED WITH JESUS

2012-01-04T03:00:00.000-05:00

It is not enough for Jesus to win your heart. He has to be the satisfaction of your heart! Yet, there are many believers who have never been satisfied with Jesus. They're always up or down according to their circumstances.

That is not a suitable bride for this Bridegroom. No, a certain beauty must adorn His bride in order to attract Him: "So the King will greatly desire your beauty" (Psalm 45:11). But what is this beauty?

You probably have sung of the beauty of holiness: "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:2). This beauty is beheld in God's eyes; it is what Jesus sees in us that attracts Him.

The Holy Spirit says to the bride of Christ, "If you will lay aside everything, forget all others and adorn yourself for Him alone, then He will desire your beauty!" This means no job, no person, no relationship can come between you!

I heard a godly wife say, "The more godly my husband becomes, the more attractive he is to me." Indeed, that is what a godly marriage is all about. And, likewise, the more you give yourself in entire devotion to the Lord, the more attractive and beautiful you become to Him.

"So the King will greatly desire your beauty . . ." (Psalm 45:11). What an incredible thought: Jesus will not be able to stay away from you! In fact, the Hebrew meaning of beauty here signifies a strong yearning and desire. In other words, Jesus will draw close to you—overflowing with desire for you!

I have performed many weddings in my lifetime. And there was never a groom who didn't smile with delight at his bride, thinking, "She's all mine!" Beloved, that is the beauty I'm talking about. Our Bridegroom rejoices, saying of His bride, "I'm the apple of her eye. She'd rather spend time with Me than with anyone else. And that makes her beautiful to Me!"

Indeed, the bride of Christ has an inner beauty that makes her outwardly beautiful. She is ". . . all glorious within. . ." (Psalm 45:13) because she is devoted to her Bridegroom. He knows beyond any shadow of a doubt, "She is all Mine—devoted only to Me! She worships Me and is submissive to Me. I am the only One in her life, the sole focus of her attention. She makes time for Me, is overjoyed in My presence, and desires to be with Me continually.” What beautiful devotion.

LEAVING AND FORGETTING

2012-01-03T03:00:00.000-05:00

The Holy Spirit's message to the bride of Christ in Psalm 45 was: "Forget your own people also, and your father's house" (v. 10). The still, small voice was whispering, “It's not enough just to leave your past behind. You must also forget it all—put it out of your mind—all past loves and distractions!"

The messenger here is saying to the bride, "Are you counting the cost as you prepare to be united to Him? Or are you going to give Him mere lip service after the wedding? Have you started a commitment you're willing to finish or does your mind wander back to things of your past—old friends, old habits, old loves? If you commit to this marriage, you must not only leave your past behind, you must forget it completely!"

When Jesus speaks of some who "do not forsake all" (Luke 14:33), He is speaking of those who turn from Him and cling to idols. An idol is anything that becomes the sole focus of our devotion—anything that possesses our time, attention, money, love, interest.

Many husbands can rightly say they are good providers. They work long and hard, don't waste their money, and spend quality time with their family. But how much time do they devote to Jesus? Do they have what I call a "leaving-and-forgetting time"—a time when they mentally leave everything, setting aside quality time for Jesus alone? It's a time to set aside all thoughts of work, family, children and say, "This is Your time, Jesus. I'm Yours alone right now!"

The problem isn't business or family or career. Rather, it is "loitering"—aimlessly lounging around and wasting time. Multitudes of God's people spend their time endlessly loitering—idly spending time with friends or lolling in front of a TV. We waste so many precious hours and neglect our Lord and Savior!

Now I want to speak to wives: You have given your husband and children the best years of your life. You are hardworking and faithful and you take good care of your family. Yet, how much "leaving-and-forgetting time" do you give to Jesus? How many hours a week do you shut the world out and draw close to Him?

How jealous the Lord must be over all our other loves, all the things that eat up our time and attention. The old adage is true: It's not the "bad" that is the enemy of the Christian, but the "good." It's family, career, job, children. Yet these things in themselves do not stand between us and the Lord. No—it's our loitering!

Now the Lord stands before us, asking: "Do you love Me more than these?" (John 21:15).

LISTEN AND CONSIDER

2012-01-02T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. . .Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife’” (Revelation 21:2, 9).

This is a beautiful picture of the last-day church of Jesus Christ! The great, holy city descending out of heaven is His spotless bride—the overcoming church seated with Him right now in heavenly places. This church is built upon the foundation of gospel truths of the twelve apostles. And it is surrounded by walls and gates that keep out everything impure and uninvited.

As the queen stands before her Bridegroom, the wedding about to begin, the voice of a third party is heard! The queen in gold is honored, favored, greatly adorned, and now she stands at her Beloved's right hand, the marriage about to be performed. But before the ceremony begins, a voice whispers an admonition to her: "Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear. . ." (Psalm 45:10).

I believe this voice is the Holy Spirit, warning all who are called by His name. He is speaking a word to overcomers—to those most in love with Jesus—saying, "Listen and consider." This voice comes to the bride in the final moments just before the marriage is to be consummated.

Now, you must understand, the queen has already been chosen. Her heart has already been won by her Bridegroom. She has left her home, family and country and has committed herself to Him. And she is full of joy because she passionately loves the King.

So, let me ask you: Do you think of yourself as chosen by the Lord? Are you the blood-covered, redeemed apple of His eye? Do you love Him with all your heart? Have you forsaken all the world, all your past, for Him? “He is mine, and I am committed to Him. Lord, I love You with all my heart!" Can you say that?

My point is this: If you want to be in the bride of Christ, you must be concerned with more than simply escaping a godless hell. Rather, you must desire not to be absent on that great wedding day! You must shudder at the very thought of not being His bride—of not being in His embrace, not spending eternity with Him.

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

2011-12-30T03:00:00.000-05:00

Psalm 45 provides us with a beautiful picture of Christ and His bride. A great marriage is about to take place and the writer is "overflowing" with ecstasy and excitement: "My heart is overflowing with a good theme. . ." (Psalm 45:1).

The psalmist can hardly contain himself! He is describing something he sees in his mind's eye—an incredible ceremony, with a grand and glorious Bridegroom and a beautiful bride dressed in gold!

In 1981, the entire world was mesmerized by the royal wedding in England. Millions around the globe were glued to TV sets as Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married. It was one of the most glamorous and celebrated weddings in modern history.

Television networks had "color commentators" who described every detail of the proceedings. News clips showed the regal life of Charles—his polo matches, his duties as prince, his inheritance as the next king of England, his throne, his riches, his palace.

The commentators also described in exquisite detail everything about Princess Diana. The picture was incredible: her hairstyle, her royal gown, her retinue, her shoes, her ornaments, her ring, her flowers, her royal carriage. Even during the wedding ceremony, as the couple stood together at the altar, a commentator whispered details into a microphone: "Isn't she beautiful? Look at her gown, her shoes, her flowers."

It was romantic, breathtaking—a prince and princess united in holy marriage "until death doth them part." People all over the globe wept at the sight. But we lived to see this marriage disintegrate into one of the most sordid, ugly breakups on the face of the earth!

The marriage described in Psalm 45, on the other hand, is a union far more glorious and grand. It too is full of romance, beauty, majesty—but it is a marriage that will never end. It is meant for eternal glory! This psalm is about Jesus and His bride! The Bridegroom is our King and Lord, Jesus Christ, and the bride is His church—believers who have prepared themselves for His coming, who yearn for Him with great expectancy, and whose hearts are without spot or wrinkle.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

2011-12-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’
For you do not inquire wisely concerning this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10).

Were the “nineties” really gay?
Were the “twenties” really innocent?
Were there any good old days?
Don’t ask!
It is not wise,
For who knoweth what is good for man
In this life.
Speak not of gay times,
For the heart of the wise is
In the house of mourning,
But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
Speak not of past years of song and dance,
For it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Speak not of days of law and order,
For there is a time wherein one man ruleth over
another
To his own hurt.
Speak not of days when work was honest,
For all the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet his appetite is not satisfied.
This day is ours.
Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better
Than that a man should rejoice in his own works,
For that is life’s portion.
Who shall bring him to see
What shall be after him?
Our day will be envied
By those of tomorrow.

AT THE END OF YOUR ROPE

2011-12-28T03:00:00.000-05:00

Paul wrote “. . . that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). He said, in essence, “The Lord brought me to the end of all human help, the brink of death. It was a place so hopeless, only the God of resurrection power could have rescued me!”

What a wonderful place to be—at the end of your rope! I have always said that when you hit rock bottom you bump into God! Yet, if you listen to most Christians in the midst of their suffering, you hear, “I’ll make it somehow. I’m hanging in the there. I just live one day at a time.”

Since childhood we have been spoon-fed the concept of self-sufficiency: “Take it like a man! Men don’t cry!” How many times have you tried to work out all your troubles? How often have you been flooded with temptations that overwhelmed you?

Please don’t misunderstand me. I believe God want us to fight the good fight of faith, but the Lord has a way of allowing us to be “pressed out of measure.” Nothing you try works. Nothing you have read seems to help. No counsel of others makes any sense. Suddenly, you are forced into a crisis that obliterates all your trust in yourself. You have no hope—except to give up all human hope. You are forced to trust God—and you see that the only way out is to trust!

Paul clearly is saying to us, “I had the sentence of death in me. I was tested beyond measure, at the end of all hope. And it was all so I would no longer trust in myself! I had to turn to God, with faith that He alone could save me out of my sufferings!”

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

What is this way of escape? It is coming to the end of your own strength and turning absolutely to God! It is saying, as Paul did, “I do not trust in myself anymore!”

The way of escape is simple, childlike faith in God. It is trusting Him totally to see you through it all, resigning yourself and saying, “God, I put everything on You!”

THEIR LANGUAGE IS PRAISE

2011-12-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

People who have endured suffering and proven God to be faithful are strong, mellow and patient. They have the gentleness of Christ. I love to be around such people! They encourage my spirit!

You will come through your trial and be of great help to others if you will trust God through it! You will see it happen on your job, in your family, in your church. People will be attracted to you because they know what you have gone through and they have seen you gain the victory through the power of God alone!

Many believers who suffer never learn anything from it. As a result, they never know God as their comforter or consoler. To hear them talk, you would think God was hard, spiteful, uncaring. They ask, “Why me?” Then they doubt God’s love and begin to turn away from Him. They moan, groan and murmur, and all their joy fades. Soon they grow bitter and hard.

I have a pastor friend who for years had a very successful ministry to troubled people. But today he is deep in sin, drug-addicted and totally backslidden. His wife left him and he has taken up with a drug-addicted woman.

When you ask him what happened, he blames it all on how others let him down. His wife left him; God didn’t answer his prayers; other ministers disappointed him. He says, “I really tried, but I just couldn’t take it. There were too many pressures and there were so many hypocrites. I was misjudged and I couldn’t handle that.”

The apostle Paul, even in the worst hour of his sufferings, blessed the name of the Lord. He knew the Father was full of mercy and the Source of all his comfort. He did not question God or become bitter; in fact, he praised Him in the midst of it all!

The best teachers in any church are not the ones in the pulpit. Rather, they are sitting in the pews right next to you—people who have suffered and yet still worship the Lord. The language of those who learn through suffering is praise!

AT THE END OF YOUR ROPE

2011-12-26T03:00:00.001-05:00

What is this way of escape? It is coming to the end of your own strength and turning absolutely to God! It is saying, as Paul did, “I do not trust in myself anymore!”

The way of escape is simple, childlike faith in God. It is trusting Him totally to see you through it all, resigning yourself and saying, “God, I put everything on You!”

THE MINISTRY OF CONSOLATION

2011-12-26T03:00:00.000-05:00

The apostle Paul said, “[The Lord] comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

One of the neediest ministries in the church of Jesus Christ today is that of consolation—comforting others in their trouble and affliction. Many believers simply do not know where to turn in their hurt.

When I am really hurting, suffering deeply, I do not want to read a book outlining ten steps on how to find victory or go to a big-name evangelist who will zap me. None of these is the answer—because none will reach the root of my suffering! No—I want to talk to some ordinary saint who has suffered heavily, and yet has come through it all praising God, comforted and full of faith!

It is suffering people who receive the consolations and comforts of the Lord. They know the sympathy of Jesus, because His voice speaks true comfort to them in their hour of darkness. These sufferers become rich in spiritual resources. They develop a confidence born out of having endured tribulations and testing. Best of all, God gives them influence they could not have attained in any other way!

I think of Corrie Ten Boom and the wonderful experience it was for the thousands of people who sat and listened to her talk about Jesus. Many pastors and leaders all over the United States were comforted and encouraged by this once-unknown woman—because all her suffering had produced a wealth of knowledge of the Lord. She had an abundance of consolation and comfort from the Holy Spirit—and she used it as an influence for Jesus!

Paul was able to rejoice in all his tribulations because he knew his sufferings were for others’ benefit. He saw his trials as a kind of schooling he was going through. He could say, “God has a purpose in this because He is training me! There will be people who are going to need the comfort and consolation that I have received in my suffering!”

It is no wonder Paul referred to his heavenly Father as, “The Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WAYS OF GOD!

2011-12-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

We are facing a time when the word deliverance will take on a whole new meaning! In the past, Christians have thought of deliverance mainly as physical healing but soon the greatest deliverance will be from fear and terror!

Deliverance at that time will mean having a “sure word from heaven.” Jesus said that men’s hearts will fail them for fear as they see the awful things coming on the earth (see Luke 21:26) Indeed, people will clamor to know what God is going to do next. They will turn in all directions, wanting to hear the voice of someone who is calm, peaceful, not going crazy. They will cry, “Please tell me! Is this God’s judgment? When is it all going to end?”

And who do you think is going to have the answers? You! The ordinary Christian who has been shut in with God! You will be full of calm and peace while everything is falling apart, because God is with you and you’re hearing from heaven. He warned you this was coming and He promised to protect you!

I believe God is going to use His holy remnant in these last days to stir multitudes, revive pastors, and awaken churches. This army will turn people’s hearts back to God by bringing them to repentance—through prayer and godly reproof of sin.

When I speak of a holy remnant in training, I do not mean an army of preachers, evangelists and missionaries. I am talking about ordinary saints, lovers of Jesus who themselves will be signs and wonders to the world, peaceful and calm. God does not want a professional army trained in man’s methods. He wants men and women who are trained in prayer by the Holy Spirit! He is seeking believers who are shut in with Him, preparing their hearts before Him, learning to hear His voice.

Does this describe you? Is your life right now a witness to a scared and shaken world? I urge you to get alone with God and let Him speak to you. Ask Him to reveal the sin in your life. Forsake all that the Holy Spirit convicts you of. Make yourself available to Him by giving yourself to prayer and then you will be a ready soldier in His great, last-day remnant army.

THE CHURCH’S MISSION: TO LIVE FOR OTHERS

2011-12-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

One simple way to measure whether you love well is to examine how you look out for the interests of others.

As a pastor, I have to forge an unwavering vision to do this. I am charged by God with a call to stir my people to action and to relentlessly pursue the mission he has given us. The truth is, I can go about this in one of two ways: through my own ambition, pushing to achieve my individual goals; or to adopt the heart of Christ and make my mission to love.

If my church grows to ten thousand and I don’t have love as my vision...if our church sends out 1,000 missionaries but doesn’t have love…then we are failing in our calling as a believing body. We are raising up false ambassadors and exporting a weak brand of watered-down Christianity empowered by something other than love.

How about you? Are your prayers or spiritual ambitions locked in a world of your own wants, needs and desires? Are you bothered or irritated when others’ genuine needs interrupt your goals?

What is the remedy for selfish ambition? Paul wrote to the Philippians, “In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Philippians 2:3b). Paul doesn’t say not to esteem yourself, your vision or your life mission. But he does say others also have vision, purpose and a mission. If you will esteem them, you will not just be helping them but also strengthening them in their calling—and perhaps affecting many lives.

Think about the power of Paul’s statement. Imagine what might happen if every Christian radically obeyed this truth. We would all have deep, world-impacting interests in others—and none of us would be immersed in our individual goals. The whole body of Christ would be so other-centered we would empower one another in our many varied callings.

If each of us is looking only to interests of our own making, our testimony will be limited at best. But if we all are looking in love to build up others, every God-ordained mission will have more than ample support to be accomplished.

That is what I call a way to live. It is a campaign I want to start today—living for, being in and serving those around me for the glory of God.

POWER BELONGS

2011-12-21T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Then he called his twelve disciples together and gave them power” (Luke 9:1).

Jesus gave his disciples power not because they were ambitious but because they were his. Belonging to Christ is a non-negotiable to receiving his power. Power is birthed out of belonging. Belonging brings real power.

So many Christians lead powerless lives—having habitual sin practices, a poor testimony, a weak spiritual life; lacking a fervent, radical prayer life and any answers to their prayers.

Do you feel powerless? This one short verse is loaded with words of power:

“Called”—meaning, in essence, not our own agenda, direction, self-will or resource of power.

“Disciples”—those who abandon all to follow the life, teaching and direction of the teacher.

“Together”—that power is not to be contained in singular vessels but expressed in community, in work toward kingdom purposes.

“Gave”—showing we can do nothing unless Jesus gives us power to do it.

“Power”—it is not what we desire, work for or strive after, but comes only and exclusively through His giving it. We never outgrow this part of our history as Christians. Every follower of Jesus is commanded to wait until we are endued with (given) power from on high.

Are you lacking power? There is no other way to obtain it than to have it given to you by the One you belong to. Jesus has power to give to those who are totally and fully His.

Don’t strive for power. Desire to belong—fully, passionately, humbly, ambitiously, to the One your heart yearns for. Then power will come to you beyond what you can imagination.

WHO AM I?

2011-12-20T03:00:00.000-05:00

“I am blameless, yet I do not know myself;
I despise my life” (Job 9:21).

God seems so great and big;
I seem so small and imperfect.
He commands the sun and it rises;
I break to pieces in a tempest.
He spreads out the heavens and walks on waves,
But He goes by me and I see Him not.
He rules the chamber of stars.
If I call to Him in the heavens
And He answered,
Yet I would not believe He heard my voice.
I feel like God has wounded me
Without cause.
He is the Judge,
But who will plead for me?
When I try to justify myself,
My own mouth condemns me.
The feeling grows
That even if I were perfect,
I would not know myself.
I would still despise life
Because
We are really of yesterday
And know nothing,
For life is a shadow.

A HOLY SPIRIT CHURCH!

2011-12-19T03:00:00.000-05:00

You should never go to church without praying, “God, give me Holy Spirit ears to hear. Help me to hear, understand and apply Your Word to my life!” Just as the Holy Spirit anoints a pastor’s tongue to speak, so must He anoint your ears to hear.

In a Holy Spirit church you will always hear a gut-wrenching cry of repentance. In fact, you cannot be a Holy Spirit person until you “cry out from your guts” yourself. And that is something that Solomon never did!

King David’s church was not perfect; in fact, it was a type of a Corinthians church. David committed adultery; he killed an innocent man; he walked for a season in horrible deception. Yet, after David sinned, he uttered this agonizing cry from his innermost being: “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight. . . . Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:2-4, 11).

A heartrending cry is the mark of a Holy Spirit church! Of course, there are people in this church who fail and live in deception. But like David, they have become so sensitive to the work and moving of the Holy Spirit, they do not always need a prophet to tell them they have sinned. They repent even before a prophet comes to them—because they feel wounded by their sin!

David said of his sin: “The sorrows of Sheol [hell] surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God. . . . He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me” (2 Samuel 22:6-7, 17-18).

God is going to bring the Solomon church to ruin and resurrect David’s church from out of those ruins! This remnant church will have a godly sorrow for sin. It will cry out in anguish and repentance and be wholly dependent upon the Holy Spirit!

“After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16).

THE CHURCH OF ZION!

2011-12-15T03:00:00.001-05:00

The driving force behind David's church was total dependence on the Holy Spirit. Here is what distinguished David:

"Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward" (1 Samuel 16:13).

When David was on his deathbed, he said to his son Solomon: "I want to tell you why God has blessed me. I want you to know the secret of my ministry." Listen to David's last words to his son: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue” (2 Samuel 23:2).
David was saying, “I didn't trust in my knowledge and wisdom. I didn't trust in any part of my flesh. I was a weak man—but I depended on the Holy Spirit! Every word I spoke was under His unction and anointing. His words filled my mouth!”

When we opened the ministry doors at Teen Challenge here in New York City, our motto was, "The Holy Ghost is in charge here!" It wasn't “how to cope” preaching that saved gang members. They didn't fall on their knees because we preached concise, pithy sermons. They weren't convicted by pointed illustrations and nature stories. No! These former drug addicts testified to their friends, “I once was on the street, like you. But look at me now! The Spirit of God changed me!”

Solomon spoke of trees, hyssop, beasts, fish, creeping things. But David spoke of intimacy with the Lord, of brokenness and contriteness. David was convicted and changed by his own preaching. He so valued the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life, he asked the Lord never to take His Spirit from him. David knew he was nothing without the Holy Spirit!

Paul said, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).

“We also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches . . . But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him: nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (vv. 13-14).

THE SOLOMON CHURCH

2011-12-15T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly” (2 Chronicles 1:1).

The church of Jesus Christ today has been strengthened and blessed by God. Provision has been made for endeavors of all kinds. Consider the big, beautiful edifices being built in the land. Consider also the church’s great financial blessings. Millions are spent on televangelism, books, records and tapes, missions, institutions, colleges and parachurch ministries of all kinds.

When all these works began, each one had something of God’s anointing. Indeed, most started out with the same blessings that God poured out upon Solomon. Solomon was well organized and much more educated than his father, David. He did everything bigger and better than any previous generation ever could have conceived.

The driving force behind Solomon was wisdom and knowledge. This was his heart-cry to God: “Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?” (2 Chronicles 1:10).

Isn’t this a wonderful prayer? It sounds so good and God was pleased that Solomon did not ask for selfish gain. Yet there’s a problem: This prayer is totally man-centered! This very talented, self-confident king was saying, in essence, “Just give me the tools, God, and I’ll get the job done. Give me wisdom and knowledge, and I’ll set everything in order among this people. I’ll accomplish it all!”

Solomon’s prayer was not the prayer of his father, David, a man who was after God’s own heart. No, Solomon’s prayer was that of a new generation—an educated people with new ideas and skills. His cry was, “I need wisdom and knowledge!” I believe Solomon represents the spirit and nature of the last-day Laodician church. This church is headed for the same ruin Solomon faced!

Solomon had a head full of wisdom and a mouth full of songs. He could preach and teach with incredible skill. He had a well-organized operation, with talented leaders. Everything about his church appeared to be decent and in order. But everything Solomon did ended up in the phrase, “All is vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)

The Solomon church has all the answers. It looks great on the outside but it is absolutely lifeless! And it ends up in vanity, idolatry, sensuality, emptiness and despair.

STAY IN LOVE

2011-12-14T03:00:00.000-05:00

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
nor things present nor things to come, nor
height nor depth, nor any other created
thing, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 8:38-39).

Death is deep and dark.
Life is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Principalities and powers are immovable,
Things present are uncertain:
Things to come unknown.
There are mysteries in the height and depth
Of this universe,
Yet none of these can separate us
From the love of God,
Which is in Christ the Lord.
Who shall separate us from His love?
Shall tribulation or distress?
Persecution or famine?
Nakedness, peril or sword?
No! For God is love.
This love passeth all understanding—
A bond of perfectness—
So walk in His love.
He that dwelleth in love
Dwelleth in God—
And God in him.

BRINGING GOD'S PEOPLE TO THEIR KNEES!

2011-12-13T03:00:00.000-05:00

"Then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him" (Zechariah 12:10). I see in Zechariah's prophecy a new vision of the cross of Jesus.

Right now, the Holy Spirit is doing just that in Israel. Multitudes of Jews gather at the Wailing Wall, weeping for their Messiah to come. But one day soon God will remove the veil and they will know Jesus for who He is and weep over having pierced Him!

There is another application of this verse that has to do with the church. There is soon coming a very personal dealing by the Holy Spirit. The church of Jesus Christ has so blunted sin—so whitewashed and overlooked it—that when the Spirit comes down with the spirit of prayer, He will bring a purging as well. There will be weeping, mourning, brokenness—a reality of how our sins grieve the heart of God!

The Holy Spirit is going to move in this way not just in congregations, but in families and in individuals: “And the land shall mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves" (Zechariah 12:12).

What greater gift could God give His church just before He comes than a powerful, convicting message against sin? He will bring such piercing conviction that we will not be able to tolerate any unholy or unclean thing in us!

In summary, here are the qualifications and marks of the latter-day outpouring of the Spirit:

A focus on the final harvest of souls.
A spirit of grace leading to repentance and godliness.
A spirit of supplication resulting in surrender and an urgency to pray in the Spirit.
A yearning for Jesus, and mourning, a brokenness and weeping with godly sorrow for sin. Only after such dealings of the Spirit will the true blessing of joy come!

I do not want to miss out on God's last outpouring! I have been praying for Him to include me, and I urge you to do the same. Pray with me now: “Lord, I don't have the discipline needed for Your holy work. You have to give it to me! Give me Your burden for lost souls; put Your weeping Spirit in me. You are my only hope, so I surrender and turn totally to You. I'll do anything You tell me and I will depend on You for everything!”

PRAYING SUCH AS THE WORLD HAS NEVER KNOWN!

2011-12-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

A missionary spoke to our church of great awakenings around the world. In every case, the "spirit of prayer" is tied to the last harvest. In Vietnam, China, Siberia, the Amazon, Africa, and numerous other places, God's people are praying with fire and fervency—weeping and crying out to God, seeking His face, dealing with sin and turning to righteousness.

You cannot manufacture this kind of inclination to pray. It is the result of the Spirit of supplication—as God promised in Zechariah 12:10. And these believers are already experiencing it!

Not long ago we called for weeks of prayer at Times Square Church and we also have experienced a small taste of this outpouring of the Spirit. Indeed, there is a measure of fire and diligence in prayer throughout this nation. But we have not yet experienced the outpouring of the Spirit of supplication!

God is showing me that even the desire and inclination to pray must come from the Holy Spirit. Now my dilemma is this: God has promised to pour out a Spirit of supplication on His church, and I want to be a part of the genuine move of God. So, how can I make sure I receive this outpouring?

The answer is in Zechariah 10:1: “Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone” (Zechariah 10:1).

We must ask the Lord for this Spirit of supplication! The flashing clouds in this verse speak of "lightning, thunderstorms." God has promised to give us showers! He is telling us in Zechariah, "Ask and I will give you this burden from heaven. But you must seek it from Me!"
It is time we started asking the Lord, "O God, pour your Holy Spirit on me that I may learn to pray! Open up the fountain. Let me be a part of Your final harvest!"

Once His Spirit of supplication showers down upon you, you will find yourself praying for holiness, godliness, purity. You will intercede for your lost loved ones and weep over this dying world. But you have to ask the Holy Spirit to do it in you—and then trust Him!

THE SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATIONS

2011-12-09T03:00:00.000-05:00

The word supplication (see Zechariah 12:10) is never used in the Bible except to denote a cry or prayer that is vocalized. In other words, it is not private or meditative. Supplication has to do with the voice!

The Hebrew word for supplication signifies “an olive branch wrapped with wool, or some kind of cloth, waved by a supplicant seeking peace or surrender.” These were called “branches of supplication.” Simply put, they were flags that signified a cry of total, unconditional surrender.

Picture a battle-weary soldier, ragged and worn, tired and overwhelmed, stuck in a foxhole of self-will. He is all alone, weary and haggard, and has come to the end of himself. He breaks a branch off a tree and ties his white undershirt to it, lifts it, and crawls out of his foxhole, crying, “I surrender—I give up!”

That is supplication! It says, “I surrender! I can’t fight this battle anymore. I’m lost and despairing.”

Supplication is not just calling on God to do what you want. It is not begging and pleading with Him to assist you in your plans. On the contrary, it is a total giving up of your will and your way!

For centuries Christians have called on God while full of self-will, begging and crying, “O God, send me here, send me there, give me this, give me that.” But in the last days the Holy Spirit is going to fall with great power to produce a sense of spiritual bankruptcy. We will wake up to the fact that even with all our money, brains, programs, ministries, and plans, we have not even touched this world. The truth is, the church has lost ground and become weak and pitiful.

There must be surrender! Our cries must be accompanied by a willingness to give up everything in our life that is unlike Jesus Christ.

Daniel’s prayer demonstrates what supplication is all about: “Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies” (Daniel 9:17-18).

THE SPIRIT OF GRACE

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The Bible says the Holy Ghost will be poured out as “. . . the Spirit of grace and supplication” (Zechariah 12:10).

The book of Titus tells us that grace is given to us as power over sin, to enable us to live sober, holy lives: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13).

There has been a marvelous measure of this grace in God’s people since Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has sent conviction of sin on all nations, teaching believers of every race and tongue how to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts. The result has been a people who live soberly and righteously in this present world and who long for the coming of Jesus.

I believe Zechariah 12:10 prophecies that in the very last hour, the Holy Spirit will fall mightily on God’s people with a spirit of grace that turns them completely from all worldliness. It will produce in them a cry for purity of heart!

A dear brother in the Lord, the head of a ministry, called to tell me that leaders in his ministry had been gathering to seek the Lord. The Holy Spirit began exposing sin in their midst and several of the ministry team had to be dismissed. The brother told me, “Now that the Holy Spirit has come down, there is a pressure to do right.”

His phrase struck me and I couldn’t shake it off: a pressure to do right. When the Holy Spirit comes down and exposes sin, those who have been lukewarm or in compromise become convicted. Ministers will wake up to true “grace preaching,” the kind that convicts people of every hidden thing in their lives.

Beloved, the pressure to forsake sin and to do right is going to get hot and heavy in God’s last-day church!

HOLY GHOST RAIN

2011-12-07T03:00:00.000-05:00

No matter what kind of manifestations you see in a so-called revival, it is not a true move of God unless it is focused on the harvest! Holy Ghost rain always falls to produce an ingathering of souls.

God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost to prepare the ground and soften it for the gospel seed to be sown. Spirit-filled believers were sent out from the Upper Room into all the world to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

The church has seen almost 2,000 years of sowing and growing and it is now harvest time! All who have died in Christ up to now represent the first fruits or the early harvest. Jesus has not yet come because He has been waiting patiently for His final, mighty harvest!

“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain” (James 5:7).

In the early part of the last century, the “Latter Rain Movement” began in Canada. It lasted forty or fifty years. Today, only a few “Latter Rain” churches remain, yet those who were involved in that movement were convinced they were experiencing the Spirit’s great, final outpouring. Many said, “This is it! We’re seeing Zechariah 12:10 come to pass!” But the movement dissipated and other such movements have come and gone also. Why? Because they were not focused on the harvest!

Many so-called Holy Ghost movements have vanished quickly because they were man-centered—focusing on gifts, self-improvement, personal happiness, and not in reaching a lost and dying world!

Jesus tied the harvest to lost souls when He said, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

Any true outpouring of the Holy Spirit will focus on this prayer of Jesus. The few revivals documented as genuine all were blessed with great harvests of souls.

DEEP WATER

2011-12-06T03:00:00.000-05:00

“I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where floods overflow me”
(Psalm 69:2).

Save me, O God,
For my soul is being flooded
With foolishness.
My sins are not hidden from Thee.
I am sinking
With no place to stand;
I am in deep water.
Floods overflow me;
I wait for God to rescue me.
My throat is dry
From calling on Him.
I weep and chasten my soul,
Mocking my own weakness.
Hear me speedily, God,
And don’t hide your face.
I need a comforter:
Turn to me with tender mercy.
Deliver me out of this mire.
Let me not sink.
Save me from this deep water:
I am in real trouble—
Danger.
Don’t let the deep swallow me up.
Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
Make haste, O God,
Tarry not;
You are my help
And deliverer.

GOD IS WILLING TO SAVE WICKED, HARDENED SINNERS!

2011-12-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

God’s people in Judah had a problem. They doubted His willingness and power to redeem a people entrenched in apostasy and idolatry. “They said, ‘That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart’” (Jeremiah 18:12).

Judah had given up hope, thinking, “We’ve gone too far—and now there is no going back. We have left the Lord, mocked Him, cast Him aside, abused Him. We are so deep into our sins, it’s hopeless. Not even God can bring us back!”

After all my years in ministry, I still have to fight this kind of thinking. You may feel the same. Your husband may be an atheist, mean and godless. And you have convinced yourself, “All around me, people are getting saved but my husband is different. He is so hard!”

The Lord said to Judah, “Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?” (Isaiah 50:2).

To shorten means to “chop off.” God was saying, “Tell me, has the enemy chopped off My mighty arm? Have I lost My power to save? No! My mighty arm dried up the Red Sea. It clothed the heavens with blackness. It opened blind eyes! You have seen that I will save to the uttermost. Why do you think I have lost My power to redeem you?”

Beloved, when did God lose His power to save the vilest sinner on earth? When did He lose His willingness to deliver drug addicts, drunkards and prostitutes even when nobody was praying for them?

Would God somehow decide not to save your family members, for whom you have fasted and prayed faithfully? Absolutely not! We must cry out to Him in faith, “Oh, Lord, You can save Wall Street. You can deliver the sinner in New York. You can redeem any Muslim in any foreign land and you can save any member of my family. Your arm is not too short. You can save anybody!”

Don’t believe that His hand has been chopped off; instead, believe Him for the impossible! Get a vision of His love and mercy—of His mighty outstretched arm, all powerful to save!

We are to pray and be patient and He will gather in our loved ones, one at a time!

“‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the Lord; ‘for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion’” (Jeremiah 3:14).

DARKNESS CANNOT STOP THE LIGHT!

2011-12-02T03:00:00.000-05:00

When I first began this ministry I spoke in churches all over America, warning of the moral landslide to come. I told people in Iowa, Oklahoma and all the Southern states that drugs would strike even the smallest hamlet. Pushers would appear in schools and on playgrounds. I warned of blatant homosexuality, with nude parades taking place in our cities, and I prophesied that nudity and sexual acts would air on prime-time television.

Many people who heard me preach thought I had come from Mars. Pastors berated me and sincere Christians came to me saying, “No way! God will never let that happen in America.” Today, some of those people are grandparents. They sit before their TV watching the R-rated movies I prophesied about and their grandchildren are addicted to drugs and alcohol. The darkness I warned about has now come.

Can you imagine how dark it is going to be ten years from now, should the Lord tarry?

Yet, I ask you: As you see the darkness deepening on all sides, do you believe it will exceed the light of the gospel? Are you afraid the darkness is going to squash it, snuff it out?

No—never! God’s people must never be intimidated by the darkness and fury of the enemy. The Bible says Jesus is going to rise and shine in the darkness no matter how dark the world becomes! “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2).

We live in a time of widespread death and darkness. But God says that in such times He will shine His light the brightest: “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them” (Isaiah 42:16).

No darkness will ever stop God’s light! So get your eyes off the darkness, off the sin, off the fury of violent people, and believe the Lord for the bursting forth of His shining, effusing light!

READY FOR REVIVAL

2011-12-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

Can we be ready for revival if we believe that all hope is gone—that we have sinned away our day of grace and there is nothing left but judgment? Beloved, we cannot have faith for a revival until we are convinced that God still wants to pour out His Spirit upon us!

Why hasn’t America been judged? Why hasn’t Jesus come yet? It is because there is still a great harvest ahead and God is “. . . not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

We see this great mercy of the Lord in a passage in Isaiah where God instructed the prophet to tell Judah: “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, and for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?” (Isaiah 50:1-2).

God had already divorced Israel, giving them “. . . a certificate of divorce” (Jeremiah 3:8). But now His attention was on Judah, a people who had cheated on Him and walked away from Him. God still had a heart for Judah, and He came to them crying to see the certificate of divorce (see Isaiah 50:1). He was saying, “Show Me your divorce papers! Prove to Me I ever put you away. It was you who walked away from Me! I did nothing to grieve or hurt you. I loved you the whole time. I came to you and I called you!”

Beloved, that is exactly what I see God doing with America right now. He is saying to us, “Show Me your divorce papers! Show Me I walked away from you! I have not yet removed my Holy Spirit. Rather, I am still at work all over this nation—still wooing, calling, coming to you!”

The Lord is speaking this through many pulpits across this nation. He is speaking it through godly men and women who spend precious time seeking Him. He is calling America back to repentance—back to His own heart!

We have to be fully persuaded that there is still time, still hope, and that while we are praying, the Spirit is at work in all levels of society, calling and wooing people to Himself!

THE LATTER RAIN!

2011-11-30T03:00:00.000-05:00

“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:9-10).

This prophecy from Zechariah is about a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will take place in the last days. A similar outpouring is described in Joel 2, which I believe to be Pentecost. That passage reads: “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29).

This is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost! The Holy Spirit came in like a flood as a spirit of prophecy at the Upper Room in Jerusalem.

This great outpouring also became a steady watering of the Holy Spirit that has lasted throughout the centuries. For nearly 2,000 years God has poured out His Spirit like showers on His people, daily watering His church and protecting it. Isaiah refers to it as: “A vineyard of red wine! I, the Lord, keep it, I water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day” (Isaiah 27:2-3).

The two outpourings of the Spirit are referred to as the first (or former) rain and the last (or latter) rain: “And it shall be that if you diligently obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil” (Deuteronomy 11:13-14).

The planting and harvest seasons in Israel were just the opposite of ours. The first rains, which softened the ground, were from October to the end of December, just before the planting season. The last rains ripened the harvest and fell from March through April, just prior to reaping.

It is important to note that these two outpourings always had to do with the harvest. The Spirit’s work is always focused on the harvest of souls!

THE ROOT OF FEAR

2011-11-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

“If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away,
And would not let wickedness dwell in your tents;
Then surely you could lift up your face without spot;
Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear” (Job 11:14-15).

All fear can be traced
To a spot
Of sin and secret iniquity
Harbored in a man’s heart.
He has the power in his hand
To put it away.
Despising the riches of God’s grace,
His . . . forbearance and longsuffering,
He continues in his evil way,
Allowing in his own life
What he condemns in others,
Becoming a law unto himself.
He seeks to be God’s favored exception
To escape wrath and tribulation.
But God is no respecter of persons,
Judging all alike,
Promising glory, honor and peace
To those who put evil away.
And then he shall lift up his face without spot.
He shall be steadfast
And shall not fear,
For only where sin lies at the door
Is man afraid.

KNOWING THE VOICE OF THE LORD!

2011-11-28T03:00:00.000-05:00

Because of the sinfulness of the priesthood and the people, God was not speaking to Israel. The Bible says, “And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation” (1 Samuel 3:1). Yet, in the middle of this famine of the Word, the Lord appeared to the young Samuel: “The Lord called Samuel [who] did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him” (3:4, 7).

Samuel was only twelve years old and although he was a devout child, he did not yet recognize the voice of the Lord. So God came to Samuel’s bedside and called to him audibly. At first Samuel thought Eli was speaking; he did not know he was being trained to discern voices—to hear directly from God!

God was not speaking to the priest, Eli, who had grown deaf to His voice! In fact, it seems that only one prophet was hearing from God—the unnamed man who warned Eli that God was about to cut him off (1 Samuel 2:27-36).

Hearing from God takes more than quiet time alone. It takes more than simply saying, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears!” No, there is not a formula for hearing God; there are not ten steps to follow. Before you can hear God, He has to be talking to you—and He talks to those who have prepared their hearts to hear!

Samuel had no deep theological knowledge of God when the Lord first spoke to him. But he had a tender, pure, devoted heart that was open to the Lord. So, what do you think God taught Samuel first after speaking to him?

The Lord told Samuel, “I’m going to judge Eli because he knew his sons were wicked, but he did nothing to restrain them! They should have been stripped of their robes and told, ‘You can’t go near the holy place!’ Now, Samuel, I want to show you My hatred for sin in My house. I want to show you what it’s going to take to hear My voice and walk with Me” (see 3:11-14).

It is no wonder the Bible says Samuel spoke such sure words—he had heard the voice of the Lord! He spent much time shut in with Him, praying, seeking Him, and God spoke clearly to him at all times.

There are people right now who have been trained to know God’s voice. These praying saints pour out their hearts to Him—and in turn He pours out to them!

BIRTH OF THE LAST-DAYS REMNANT

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The prophet Samuel is a type of the last-days holy remnant—a prepared body of believers that rises out of the ruins of the old, decadent church.

Hannah, Samuel’s mother, birthed her son through bitter tears and much prayer. “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10).

Try to imagine the scene: Hannah was at the temple every day, on her knees before the altar, crushed and broken because she was childless. As she wept, her adversary—her husband’s other wife—made fun of her. “And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb” (1 Samuel 1:6).

There are three important things I want to point out from this passage:

First, the remnant that Samuel represents is born in grief and intercession.
Second, those who pray and grieve after God’s heart will be provoked by adversaries.
And third, God’s remnant is always going to be misunderstood!

Note what happened to Hannah as she prayed: “And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, ‘How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!’” (1 Samuel 1:12-14). Eli and his sons represent the dying, corrupt church that has forsaken the Lord’s way. Eli was so out of touch—so dead in his spirit—he thought Hannah was drunk!

When Hannah was praying, she was filled with grief, burdened for the birth of a son. All she could do was move her lips because of her groaning in the Spirit. She prayed, “If You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and . . . will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11).

Here are two distinguishing marks of God’s holy remnant:

They pray like Hannah. Their burden is deep and their heart is stirred because of the wickedness in God’s house.
Like Hannah, they give themselves to prayer every day of their lives.

God wants to make you like that. He wants you to be able to touch Him and hear from Him. He wants to give you a ministry to others who will come to you with their burdens and trials. And as you pray for them, His Word will come forth!

GOD’S POWERFUL ARMY

2011-11-24T03:00:00.000-05:00

Something very powerful and awesome is going on in the world today—something beyond human comprehension—something that will affect the whole world in these last days.

God is preparing a small but powerful army of Christians, the most dedicated army on the face of the earth. The Lord will come forth to command them to do exploits; He is going to close out the ages with a pure, devoted, fearless remnant.

All my life I have heard stories about our godly forefathers who hated sin. These men and women knew God’s voice and spent hours, even days, in fasting and prayer. They prayed unceasingly and had the power and ability to successfully stand up against immorality in their day.

These forefathers have long since passed on. But God is in the process of raising up another army and this time His warriors will not be made up only of elderly, gray-haired fathers and mothers of Zion. This new army will be composed of both new and seasoned believers, both young and old, ordinary Christians who lay hold of God! A whole new realm of ministry is about to come forth!

The denominational church system appears to be in the throes of death. It has almost no influence in the secular world, no mighty power in Christ. Some accuse me of being “hard” on pastors. But I am in touch with many godly pastors who grieve as I do over the backsliding in the ministry today. There is a holy remnant of godly pastors in the land, and I thank God for every one of them. Yet, it is still a fact that more and more ministers are racing down the road of compromise.

The Bible warns that we are not to fret! God has a plan and it is being manifested. It is put forth plainly in Scripture, mostly in the first four chapters of First Samuel.

The prophet Samuel is a type of God’s last-days remnant. The Lord chose him amid the worst of times and hid him away in training until it was time to bring forth His new thing. God told Samuel, “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle” (1 Samuel 3:11). What would so amaze and startle all who heard it? It was the judgment of God on the backslidden religious system and the raising up, training and anointing of a new, holy remnant!

What God did in Samuel’s day, He does in every generation. Indeed, in every generation there has been a remnant, a praying people after His own heart.

MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE

2011-11-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

If you think you’re too ordinary to be used of God, listen closely: God is not going to do
His last-days work through big-name evangelists or pastors. They alone will not be able to handle the great moving of His Spirit! The fact is, God is going to need every housewife, teenager, elderly person and all who love Him to carry out His mighty work. This last-days army is going to be made up of Christians who have been weaned from bread alone. Let me explain.

God said through Moses: “Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Bread stands for all natural, material things necessary for this life—food, shelter, clothes, labor, wages. Bread represents livelihood—those things we need that are not evil in themselves. Many Christians, however, live only for the things of this life—they live on bread alone!

Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). But first He said we were to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done” (v. 10). We are to focus first on God’s interests—praying for His will to be done!

What have you been thinking about more than anything else these past six months? What has consumed most of your time and prayers? Has it been mostly bread issues—personal needs?

If you focus only on bread, then you have no life! You are living in a wilderness, just as the children of Israel did. They rose daily and began crying for bread—their personal needs—every day for forty years!

Beloved, that is boredom—drudgery! God never intended for His children to live like that. Instead, He told Israel through Moses, “You should be living by every word that proceeds out of My mouth! Yes, I told you I would give you bread, but don’t stop there. Move on! I have told you there is a land flowing with milk and honey, with rivers, trees, forests, green pastures—and I want that place for you!”

God is raising up a people who are focused on His will for this midnight hour! They are tired of living in a wilderness of mere survival. All they want is to know and do God’s will. Every member of this last-days army must be ready and prepared in heart—because God is poised to release His great, final outpouring!

GOD IS INTEGRATED

2011-11-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21)

Never believe what a man says about love,
If he segregates himself from a brother
Of any color or race,
For there is no fear in love.
Perfect love casteth out all fear
Because fear hath torment.
How can one say he loves God
And believes in equality,
While at the same time he is tormented
By the fear of a brother
He mistrusts or dislikes?
If a man cannot love his brother
Whom he can see,
How can he love God
Who is unseen?
God has commanded men everywhere
To love his brother
As God has loved him—
For God is love.

KNOWING THE LORD’S MIND AND WILL

2011-11-21T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear” (Psalm 10:17).

In this verse David outlines a simple, three-step plan for knowing the Lord’s mind and will for your life:

Petition Him (pray)
Prepare your heart to hear His voice
He will cause you to know—the Holy Spirit will speak to you

Very soon, God is going to pour out of His glorious cup the greatest measure of His Spirit the world has ever seen. Great Holy Spirit conviction will come upon your neighbors, coworkers and unsaved family members.

People everywhere are going to be hurting and they will turn from their dead churches to seek out those who walk with God. They will be desperate to find someone whose heart has been prepared!

God is going to use hundreds of thousands of ordinary servants for His end-time work of people-to-people ministry. So I ask you: Are you preparing your heart right now for His work to be done, both in you and through you?

Confess to God today: “Oh, Lord, I want my life to count! I know that right now I am living on bread alone—in a wilderness of despair. But I want to live!”

Dive into His Word. Learn to seek Him daily. There is revolutionary power in the preparation of your heart! It is through this preparation that meaning and fullness will come into your life. Your feelings and personality will change and power will be released in you!

When God sees you are ready, He will bring you great opportunities to do His work. You will not even have to leave your house. God will bring the needs right to your door!

The mighty God we serve is preparing His people at this very hour for a mighty work.

“The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies” (Isaiah 42:13).

Prepare your heart to meet Him! Become a ready servant, equipped and prepared for His great last-day outpouring, and His glory will come alive in you in this final hour!

MORE THAN PREACHING AND TEACHING

2011-11-18T03:00:00.001-05:00

I believe the gospel should be accompanied by the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost—working mighty wonders, proving the gospel is true!

Paul boldly stated, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). The Greek here means “with proof.” Paul was saying, “I preach the gospel with proof. God and the Holy Spirit are backing me up with signs and wonders!” Hebrews 2:4 says that God did confirm Paul’s message with signs and wonders: “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will.”

The New Testament believers had one prayer: “That signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus” (Acts 4:30). These apostles went everywhere fully preaching the gospel.

“Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles” (Acts 2:43). “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. . . . And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5: 12, 14).

Here is one of the most conclusive of all verses—proving that a fully preached gospel must include signs and wonders: “They stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). This verse says that the apostles ministered boldly for a long time, preaching grace and repentance, and then God granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

God’s last-day church will go “out and [preach] everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs” (Mark 16:20). That is what God envisions for us.

The miracles of this last-day church will be genuine, indisputable, undeniable, and yet they will not be well known. Instead, they will issue forth from the hands of ordinary, holy, separated saints who know God and are intimate with Jesus.

These believers will emerge from the secret closet of prayer—a small, prepared army full of faith, with no other desire than to do the will of God and glorify Him. They will be fearless and powerful in prayer. They will open entire nations for the gospel and God will confirm His Word by their mighty deeds!

THE “FULLY PREACHED” GOSPEL

2011-11-18T03:00:00.000-05:00

The apostle Paul said to his generation: “I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19). And he described the “fully preached” gospel as one that is much more than words. It is a gospel of words and deeds! “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed” (v. 18).

Paul was saying, “The Gentiles turned to Christ not because of my preaching alone, but because my words were accompanied by miraculous deeds!”

“In mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel” (v. 19).

If Paul had preached and taught without signs and wonders following, his message would not have had its full impact. It would not have been the gospel fully preached! He said to the Corinthians, “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12)

Note Paul’s words in this verse: signs, wonders, mighty deeds. Most Christians today cringe when they hear these words! Why? Because these words have been made an abomination by unscrupulous, power-hungry preachers and teachers! The great tragedy is that such perversions have caused many God-fearing pastors, evangelists and laypeople to turn away from the truth of a fully preached gospel.

Beloved, God is still God—and He is mighty in working miracles and wonders! He is still our healer and He wants to show Himself strong on behalf of those who trust in Him! Great supernatural workings took place in the New Testament church without any perversions—without advertising, showmanship or any person claiming all the power and authority. The ministry of Paul is an example:

At Troas, while Paul was preaching a long message, a young man fell asleep while sitting on a window sill and fell three stories to the ground. The Bible says the young man was “taken up dead” (see Acts 20:9-12).

When Paul got to where the boy was, he quieted everyone. Then, just as Elijah had done, he stretched himself out over the dead boy and suddenly life came back into the young man. The boy had been resurrected—raised from the dead! What a mighty miracle!

After this happened, Paul did not send everyone out to spread the news that a miracle had taken place. No, that was not what happened at all. Everyone simply went back to the third floor, took communion, and Paul continued preaching. Scripture does not even mention the young man again. Why? Because the church expected supernatural works to happen! They preached a full gospel—with signs and wonders following!

THE LAST-DAY CHURCH

2011-11-16T03:00:00.000-05:00

I believe God’s vision for His last-day church is based on His revealed Word—because the Bible clearly outlines what the church of Jesus Christ will be like just prior to His coming.

The church in America is far from what God envisioned it to be. For the most part, entire denominations today operate without the Holy Spirit. They are devoid of the presence of Jesus and bankrupt of all spiritual gifts. They practice a form of religion without any power, conviction or saving message. They are cozy with the world and are more political than spiritual. They appease sin, wink at divorce and ridicule the supernatural, while tossing aside all teaching about heaven, hell, repentance and judgment.

The New Testament church made devils tremble! It drove legions of demons into the abyss, prayed prison doors open, made rulers cringe in fear. Those early believers had such faith and power that cripples rose up leaping and beggars became evangelists. They believed in the supernatural and they opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears and healed all manner of diseases. They even raised the dead!

I am not saying God’s last-day church will be a repeat or copy of the first-century church. No—I am saying it will be even greater than that! It will be mightier, stronger, with an ever greater revelation of Jesus. It will have greater unction from the Spirit than ever—greater even than at Pentecost! God always saves His best wine for last!

The prophet Daniel confirms this. He said that certain prophetic truths were locked up, only to be revealed in the last days: “For the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. . . . And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:9-10).

Today the Holy Spirit is revealing these things to spiritual, discerning saints! “It is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

The Lord is preparing a powerful yet humble army of shepherds after His own heart and also a remnant congregation of hungry sheep who have turned away from the deadness and sin of the modern church. The scene is being set for that church which will be hot, not lukewarm—and it will rock the very foundations of hell. No power on earth will be able to ignore or despise it!

GOD HASN’T EVEN FAINTED

2011-11-15T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.
There is no searching of His understanding”
(Isaiah 40:28).

There is an ignorance of God
That supposes He no longer reveals Himself
To mankind in his crises and needs—
That He is either dead or asleep,
Unable to monitor or guide the steps of man.
But who is man to measure God?
To whom will we liken Him
Or compare Him?
Hast thou not known?
Hast thou not heard?
The everlasting Creator,
The God of the ends of the world,
Neither slumbers nor sleeps.
He fainteth not,
Neither is weary,
But they that trust in Him
Shall renew their faith and strength
They shall fly as eagles:
They shall run and not be weary,
Nor shall they faint.

GIVE UP ON MEASURING UP

2011-11-14T03:00:00.000-05:00

“The people feared the presence of the Lord . . . and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (Haggai 1:12, 14). The Israelites were convicted of their self-interests and returned to working on rebuilding the temple. They were back where they should be—building the house of God!

They stood before the foundation of the temple and the walls were beginning to go up. But something was wrong and many of the older people began to weep! Why? Because they had seen the splendor of Solomon’s temple sixty-eight years before and this new one did not measure up. In comparison, it seemed as nothing!

The people began to talk of past glory, saying, “This temple has no ark in it, no mercy seat or cherubim. There is no consuming fire on the altar, no shekinah glory coming down on the house. After all our hard work, all our sacrifice and obedience, all our putting God’s interests first, we don’t measure up! This is nothing compared to what we once saw. Why struggle, why go on, when we see so little for all that we’ve done?”

A host of God’s people today are giving up because they do not think they will ever measure up! Like the Israelites, they have gone back to God, back to putting Him first, seeking His will, building His house. But when they look at their lives, they say, “I have so little to show for all my struggles! I have so little of God’s holiness, so little of His glory in my life. Compared to other Christians, I’ll never measure up. What’s the use of struggling? I’ll never have victory.”

I am convinced this is why many devoted Christians give up the fight. They compare themselves to other believers and become discouraged because they feel hopelessly inferior!

If you will just stay true to the Lord and not try to measure yourself by anything except your own love for Jesus, you can be assured that you are growing—and God promises to be with you!

Beloved, you can mark this down, because it is God’s promise to you! From the very hour you focus again on building up Christ’s body—setting aside all thoughts of measuring up and all selfish ways, letting Him become your all—you will begin to see His manifold blessing. You can literally mark it down! You will know He is favoring you, smiling on you, rejoicing in you!

KEEPING THE BLESSING AND FAVOR OF GOD

2011-11-11T03:00:00.000-05:00

God blesses those who walk in faithfulness and He shows favor to those who favor Him!

How do nations, families, individuals lose the blessing and favor of God? The prophet Haggai speaks to this, and the first reason he lists is that self-interests begin to replace God’s interests!

“The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built” (Haggai 1:2). The Israelites gave up building the Lord’s house in order to build their own homes!

This scene took place sixty-eight years after Solomon’s temple was destroyed. A remnant had returned to Jerusalem out of Babylonian captivity specifically to rebuild God’s house. And, indeed, they laid the foundation of the temple with zeal and excitement!

But then they began running into some hard places—difficulties and discouragements. Slowly they lost interest in the work of God, saying, “This just isn’t the time. We are having too many problems. Besides, we’re spending so much time here that we’re neglecting our families and businesses.”

One by one, they walked away to look after their own interests. The Lord’s interests, that had everything to do with their own well-being, became secondary! They began building their own houses and they used the lumber that had been stored up for building the temple.

How do believers today lose the blessing and favor of God? By stopping work on His temple! It happens when we stop praying and seeking God—when we stop building up His spiritual body!

Haggai points out this problem: When the people put God’s interests first, He provided their food and shelter. Indeed, they were cared for by Him in every way. Their vineyards grew, their grapes were heavy; they slept peacefully at night and their children danced in the streets. None of their enemies prevailed against them. It was a marvelous time of God’s blessing but then the people became absorbed with their own self-interests!

This is what is happening today! Our world is consumed with self—self-pride, self-ambition, self-will—with every person out for his own interests! No wonder so many are drunk and dazed with drugs, wandering in darkness and confusion.

God says, “I called for a drought on the land . . . and on all the labor of your hands” (Haggai 1:11). He is saying, “If you begin to neglect your souls and turn to materials things, you will end up joyless, dissatisfied, empty, dry! I want you to put My interests first, so I can again bless and favor you!”

JESUS WANTS THE BEST FOR HIS BRIDE

2011-11-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

How it must break the Lord’s heart when we question His ability and desire to do the best for us! The Bible tells us clearly how the Lord took wonderful, meticulous care of Ruth. Ruth pledged her love to Jehovah God and told Naomi, her mother-in-law: “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16).

God loved Ruth and opened up every door for her. She was poor and had to glean in the fields, but Scripture says, “She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz . . .” (Ruth 2:3). Now, there’s not a chance in the world that this just “happened.” It was the Lord’s doing and He knew what was best for Ruth!

Ruth simply loved the Lord—she put all her trust in Him—and God had a very wealthy man prepared for her as a husband! Boaz saw Ruth in the fields and immediately discerned, “She’s different, really different.” His heart was captured!

What a love story and what incredible circumstances brought it all about. Ruth married this godly man, and if the Lord would do that for Ruth, will He not do right by His own bride, in every circumstance?

We have Someone who is richer and mightier than Boaz. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He knows all and can do all and He loves His bride! Yes, the Lords works everything in your life for your absolute best. And He takes great pleasure in doing so.

Even in suffering and trials, every lover of Jesus gets His full attention! Yet, sadly, we often do not rest in that. We doubt He is on the job at all times, working out all things to our good.

Beloved, nothing breaks His heart more! Paul describes the bride of Christ as “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27). “Wrinkle” here means “fold,” as on one’s face—a wrinkled brow. This speaks of worry, fretting, and Paul is saying that Jesus’ bride will have no “worry lines” on her face.

The bride of Christ rests in His love. She is confident He knows where she is, how she feels, what she is going through, and what is best for her. His loves gives her peace and calm. She knows He will not allow anything that will cut her off from Him or hurt her. He is going to preserve her because He said, “She’s mine!”

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

2011-11-09T03:00:00.000-05:00

What would a man think if his bride-to-be invited him to her house, sat him in the living room and then went her way? While he waits, she works in the kitchen, dusts the furniture, mops the floors—and never says a word to him!

Jesus endures the same pain any man would feel if his beloved continually praised him, saying “I love you” over and over, yet showed him little or no attention!

The sweetheart may claim, “Well, he’s always on my mind.” I have heard people say that about Jesus: “He’s on my mind all day, in everything I do.” But you can have Him on your mind all day and still neglect Him! When a bride-to-be does this, her so-called love is a lie! She may tell her fiancé she truly loves him, but her actions tell him she does not.

The Lord asks, “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number” (Jeremiah 2:32). David also said Israel kept forgetting the Lord: “They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt” (Psalm 106:21).

The Lord mentioned His pain in Scripture for the whole world to see! He said openly, “My people neglect Me for days on end!” Why would the Lord tell the world about such neglect? Shouldn’t lovers’ differences be kept quiet? No—He wants us to know how hurt He is! He tells the whole world because He is so heartbroken by our behavior!

Imagine that you are an engaged young woman going to church with your husband-to-be. You grasp his hand and tell everyone, “We’re going to be married. I love him—he is absolutely wonderful!” But as soon as you are out the door, you just clam up and do not say a word to him! What is he supposed to think?

I would not want a bride who extols my virtues, says loving things about me in public, tells me how precious I am, and then later gets cold and avoids spending time with me. That is not true affection!

Beloved, if you do not have quality time with Jesus every day—if you do not spend time in prayer with Him, or seeking His Word—you do not love Him and you are breaking His heart!

THE SECRET OF STRENGTH

2011-11-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

“Yet the righteous will hold to his way,
And he who has clean hands will be stronger
and stronger” (Job 17:9).

Men are losing their grip on life,
Mockers abound—
Provocation on all sides.
Wise men can’t be found.
When beds are made in darkness
Corruption has become their father.
It is time for the innocent
To be astonished by this and
Stir up himself against the hypocrite.
O that one might plead for a man with God,
So the righteous may hold onto their way
And the light of the wicked put out—
The spark of his fire die.
The way of the wicked is slippery
And sin is a reproach, devouring strength;
But he that hath clean hands
Shall be stronger
And stronger.

SERVING THE LORD WITH GLADNESS

2011-11-07T03:00:00.000-05:00

God desires that we be so convinced of His tender love, so persuaded He is at work bringing us into His best, that we will have continual joy and gladness in our walk with Him! Moses warned Israel, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of all things” (Deuteronomy 28:47-48).

God is saying to us today, “Be glad and rejoice in what I have already done for you! If you go around moping, murmuring and complaining, you will forever be spiritually starved and naked, a prey to your enemies!” God wants us to so trust in His love for us that we will be testimonies of gladness and good cheer! He wants preachers who are glad at heart, filled with a gladness that is based on truth.

His truth produces a wealth of gladness that flows naturally outward from the heart: “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing” (Psalm 100:2). “He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness” (Psalm 105:43). “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:11). “Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yes, let them rejoice exceedingly” (Psalm 68:3).

You may ask, “How long can I expect to maintain joy in my service to the Lord?” Many believe that it lasts only as long as seasons of refreshing come from on high or as long as things go right. No, we are to have joy at all times! That is exactly what the Bible says: “Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!” (Psalm 90:14). “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (Isaiah 65:18). We are “the Jerusalem from above”—reborn and living for Him with a spirit of gladness and rejoicing! Trust the Father, believe His Word about Himself, and see His gladness pour forth from your life.

GOD’S MERCIFUL DEALINGS!

2011-11-04T03:00:00.000-04:00

“I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn” (Jeremiah 31:9).

The people of Ephraim, the largest tribe of Israel, were the closest to God’s heart. The Lord had an eternal plan for this very blessed tribe but Ephraim kept backsliding and grieving God. The people sinned more than anyone in Israel! But did God abandon Ephraim? Just the opposite: The Lord said that they were to be a free and ransomed people! They would live among fatness, meaning, God’s greatest blessings (see Jeremiah 31:14 KJV).

What did God see in Ephraim? They had a repentant heart—a shame for sin, a willingness to return to the Lord. And in spite of all their failures, this one trait attracted God’s heart to them! When a strong, prophetic word came forth, they responded and when they were rebuked, they wept over their sin.

At the height of their backsliding, God said, “Is Ephraim [not] my dear son? Is he [not] a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him” (Jeremiah 31:20). God was saying, “In spite of Ephraim’s shortcomings and failures, I see a repentant spirit and I will not take away My tender love. My eternal purpose for Ephraim will go on as I have planned!”

Beloved, God has a plan for your life! He is going to accomplish all His purposes for you, no matter what you are going through or how severe your trial. God has put a lot of thought into planning your future!

I have a prophetic word for some who are reading this message right now: You cannot judge God’s eternal purpose for you by what you are feeling or thinking. God wants to say to you, “Keep your heart humble before Me. Trust My Word about My nature—that I am a tender, loving Father who has invested much in you and I am not about to let you go. You are my delightsome child and I will deliver you!”

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

GOD KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR US!

2011-11-03T03:00:00.000-04:00

There are times when God takes things from us and other times when we pray for things we think we need and God does not give them to us. Nevertheless “…the Lord knows the way of the righteous” (Psalm 1:6). One day God’s action will prove to be for the benefit of us and for His kingdom!

The truest satisfaction in life comes from being in the perfect will of God, doing His work, living according to His choosing. But most of us are convinced that only we know what we need in order to be fulfilled and happy. And, in most cases, what we believe is best for us actually would ruin us! Never in the history of mankind has God taken anything from one of His children without bringing in something better, more beautiful, more fulfilling.

God’s best is not something to fear; He not only knows what is best for you, He wants you to have His best! If we truly believed this it would produce such rest, peace and joy in us! We would not grieve over letting go of things; we would know we’ve been set free from all bondage! We would say, “Lord, if You are taking this from me, it must mean You have something much better for me. So take it—You can have it!”

Beloved, we need to rest in the loving hand of our Father! We need to come to the point of trust where we say, “I have a loving Father who wants the very best for me. He knows it all!” How did Job finally come to a place of rest? He persuaded himself that God knew what He was doing and that everything was under control! Job said “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Many Christians see God at work in their lives yet they still wonder, “What if I blow it? What if I do something wrong and God gets angry or impatient with me? Will all His promises fail me? Will I have to settle for something less than His best?” No—never! If your heart is right before God, if you keep returning to Him and seeking Him with all your heart, nothing will change His plans for you!

TWO KINDS OF LOVE

2011-11-02T03:00:00.000-04:00

The Father has two kinds of love: a general love for all sinners and a special love for all who are in His family. God’s general love for mankind can be embraced by anyone who comes to Him in repentance. But God’s heart is also filled with another kind of love—a distinctive, exceptional love for His children!

God has always had a chosen people for Himself upon whom He bestowed His great love. Israel once was the sole object for this special love:

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you ... [He] has brought you out with a mighty hand ...” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).

God directed these words to Israel. Yet, if you have received Jesus as your Savior and Lord—if you have been adopted into God’s family and He is your loving Father—you too must come to grips with how special you are to Him! You are the recipient of God’s extraordinary love and here are His words to you:

“You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2: 9-10).

At one time you were not an object of His special love, but now you are! You have been reconciled to the Father and He loves you deeply—right now, at this very moment!

THE FATHER’S LOVE

2011-11-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

Many people find it difficult to think of God as a loving Father. They see Him through eyes clouded with the pain of past experiences with an ungodly father or stepfather.

Thousands of Christians do not believe God loves them because their earthly father abandoned, wounded, or grieved them so badly. I pray that this message will speak not only to them but also to those of you who have not yet discovered the depths of our heavenly Father’s love!

Many of us know the Scriptures and the theology behind God’s great love for His children. Yet very few of us have learned to appropriate that love and we are not enjoying the benefits of having it.

Listen to how God described Himself to Moses:

“The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . . .” (Exodus 34:6-7).

When we are in the midst of our trials, we forget what God has said about His own nature. Yet, if we would only believe Him in such times, we would have great assurance in our souls. From cover to cover, the Bible speaks to us as God’s voice, revealing to us how tender and loving He is.

He is ready to forgive at all times. “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You” (Psalm 86:5).

He is patient with us, full of tenderness and mercy. “Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord” (Psalm 119:156). “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy” (Psalm 145:8).

When you go to the Lord in prayer and worship, be very careful what kind of image of God you take into His presence! You must be fully convinced of His love for you and believe that He is all He says He is!

HEALING THE TONGUE

2011-10-31T03:00:00.000-04:00

The prophet Isaiah provides us with an example of how we can heal our tongue.

1. Isaiah drew near to the Lord and prayed for a vision of God’s holiness. “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” (Isaiah 6:1).

Anyone who wants to live pleasing to the Lord must constantly go into His presence until he obtains a vision of God’s holiness. All healing, all true blessings, all victories begin at His throne. That is where we see God in His holiness!

2. In God’s holy presence Isaiah was deeply convicted of having unclean lips. “Then I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts’” (6:5).

Why did Isaiah cry out, “I am a man of unclean lips”? It was because he had seen the King of Glory! Our transgressions become exceedingly sinful when we are in God’s presence. The light of His holy countenance exposes everything that is unlike Him!

3. Isaiah allowed the Lord to touch him and cleanse him with His holy fire. “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged’” (6:6-7).

God’s Word is a live coal and the Holy Spirit is its fire! Right now you have been touched by the Holy Spirit through this message and God wants to put His fire to your tongue and sanctify it. He can do it for you if you will let His Word convict you! He is the only One who can do it. Your part is simply to confess, as Isaiah did, “Woe is me, I am unclean!”

Let this word go straight to your heart and purge you with its fire. Confess, “Yes, it is me, Lord! I will not let this word pass me by! Purge my lips and my tongue. Cleanse my mouth and my heart!”

CARELESS WORDS

2011-10-28T03:00:00.000-04:00

“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).

We seem to think our words simply fall to the ground and die, or vanish into thin air and dissolve into nothingness. Not so! Our words live on—they do not die!

You may say, “But I only told this gossip to one friend and he promised never to repeat it. It will end with him.” No, it will not! Every single word you and I utter is recorded, written down in eternity, and we will hear them all repeated to us at the judgment.

I recall coming under deep conviction after sharing a vicious bit of gossip with a friend. What I said was indeed true. It was about a moral situation I had had to deal with concerning a minister. His name came up in the conversation and I said, “Don’t trust him. I know something about him!”

Even as I mouthed off, I felt condemned. The Holy Spirit whispered to me, “Stop right there! Nobody needs to know that. Don’t say more, because there’s no purpose to it. Even though it’s true, don’t repeat it!”

What I had already said was bad enough. But then I blurted out the lurid details! I knew I should have been quiet and sure enough, I was deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit. So later I called my friend and said, “I’m sorry, that was gossip. I was out of order. Please don’t repeat it. Try not to even think about it.”

Is my sin covered by the blood of Jesus? Yes, because I fully acknowledged that I had sinned and I allowed the Holy Spirit to show me some of the legalistic pride left in me. I allowed Him to humble me and heal me! Now, whenever I begin to say something against somebody, I obey the Holy Spirit as I hear Him say, loud and clear, “Stop!”

OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART

2011-10-27T03:00:00.000-04:00

Whenever I said something naughty as a child, my mother washed out my mouth with soap. But it was not my mouth that needed cleansing, it was my heart! You see, your tongue speaks only what is in your heart. Those are the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ and He says that loose, careless, evil talk can come only from an unclean heart.

As believers, we have not taken seriously what our Lord said about taming our tongues. He has made it a heart issue! Not only does my careless tongue discount all my spirituality, it also makes me face the fact that my heart is unclean.

If I gossip, tell dirty jokes, run down other people, raise my voice and scream at my family, I must ask myself: “What unclean, filthy stuff is still stored up in me that I could speak this way?”

I must examine my heart and ask, “Where does this come from? There must be something I have not dealt with or I wouldn’t be saying such things. Why do I go on gossiping? Why do I utter such mean, careless words? What unsanctified strongholds still hold my heart?”

Jesus gives this matter serious weight: “How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matthew 12:34-35). Jesus is saying, “If you are careless with your tongue—quarreling, complaining, murmuring, tattling—you have a serious heart problem! Your heart is not right with God, and it goes very deep. There is an evil treasure stored up in you, just as a snake has bags of poison stored behind his jaw. If deadly poison is coming out of you, it is because the bag has not been drained!”

Whenever I allow something unclean to come out of my lips, I must stop and say to the Lord, “Master, there must still be a root of jealousy, envy or lust in my heart. Dig deep into my heart and pluck out the roots of bitterness, pride or whatever it is!” God wants to get at that evil in your heart, that bag of poison hidden inside of you! He wants to root it out and heal you completely.

TAME YOUR TONGUE

2011-10-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

In this verse from his epistle, James is talking about the tongue of a believer. He is issuing a call to the church to gain control of their tongues—before they are destroyed by them! You may ask: How serious is this matter of taming the tongue? Can an “unruly tongue” really be that sinful?

A loose tongue renders our religion absolutely worthless! It can make your every spiritual activity totally useless in God’s eyes: “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless” (James 1:26).

James’ reference here to those “among you” means people in the church. Not drug addicts or street people but those members of the body of Christ who appear pious, spiritual. They are active in the work of the Lord, but their tongues are unbridled, out of control! James is zeroing in on those who seem to be holy, kind, gentle and loving, yet who move about the church or their job or their family with acid tongues, always telling tidbits of gossip or listening with a willing ear. They murmur and complain and God says their religion—all their show of spirituality—is in vain, worthless!

Beloved, I do not want to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and discover that all my work for the Lord—my entire spiritual endeavor—has been in vain! I do not want to hear Him say, “David, you did mighty works in My name. You fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cast out devils, and established drug rehabilitation centers and homes for alcoholics. Yes, you preached to countless thousands and won many to the kingdom. But it was all for nothing! Many uplifting words came out of your mouth but there were also bitter, unkind, hateful, envious words! You took My warnings on this matter of the tongue too lightly!”

You may speculate, “Surely God isn’t so unloving that He would discount my spirituality because I said something uncharitable!” I am speaking here of Christians whose tongues have never been tamed, who speak against God’s people without blinking an eye! Here is what God’s Word says: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

HEZEKIAH—THE MAN WHO BEAT A DEATH RAP!

2011-10-25T03:00:00.000-04:00

“In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.”’ Then Hezekiah . . . prayed to the Lord” (Isaiah 38:1-2).

He was a king riding the crest of victory,
Delivered miraculously by God
From King Sennacherib’s army.
He was wealthy and renowned
When sickness struck,
Bringing him to the brink of death.
The prophet warned,
“Get ready to die
It’s all over for you.”
But the king loved life,
And turning his face to the wall
Cried, and prayed to the Lord
For a new lease on life.
God heard and gave him fifteen more years.
But how should a man live
Who has won over death?
As so many do who survive
A close call with death.
Should he not live each day gratefully,
Giving himself humbly to God and mankind?
But the way of human flesh is not so.
The king began to glory in his own worth—
He sank in the mud of materialism,
Parading his treasures before foreigners.
A second message by the prophet was sounded
Of judgment on his posterity
For pride and ingratitude.
And how many today have been given
A new lease on life,
Only to spend their borrowed years
In selfish pursuit of things
Which have no value?
Eternity will reveal
It would have been better
For some to die
Rather than beat the rap.

WHERE DO WE GO TO EAT?

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-04:00

The seventh chapter of Micah contains one of the most powerful messages on the new covenant ever preached. In this incredible sermon, Micah is speaking to natural Israel—yet he is also speaking to the church of Jesus Christ in these last days. He begins his sermon with a heartbroken cry—one that is still being heard from spiritually starved believers around the world today: “Woe is me! . . . There is no cluster to eat” (Micah 7:1).

Micah is describing the effect of a famine in Israel—a famine of food and of God’s Word. It echoes the words of an earlier prophecy by Amos where the Lord says: “Behold, the days are coming . . . that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall . . . run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it” (Amos 8:11–12).

It was harvest time in Israel and the vineyards should have been bursting with fruit, but there were no clusters hanging from the vines. Micah watched as people went into the vineyards looking for fruit to pick and finding none. In his prophetic eye, Micah saw multitudes in the last days running from place to place, seeking to hear a true word from God. He envisioned believers scurrying from church to church, from revival to revival, from nation to nation—all seeking to satisfy a hunger and thirst for something to nourish their souls. The cry is still heard, “Woe is me—there is no cluster!”

There is a great famine in the land. Yet, in spite of multitudes running about looking for spiritual food, those who truly desire God’s Word comprise only a remnant (see Micah 7:14, 18). This is certainly as true today as it was in ancient Israel. Few Christians today truly hunger to hear the pure word of the Lord. Instead, the majority fatten themselves on Sodom’s apples, feeding on the straw of perverted gospels.

THE PIERCING ARROWS OF HOLY TRUTH

2011-10-21T03:00:00.000-04:00

I believe God has to accomplish a work in us before we can lay claim to any covenant promise. What is this precedent work upon which all others depend? Jeremiah tells us: “I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me” (Jeremiah 32:40). God’s precedent work of the covenant is to put His fear into our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah is speaking here of the provisions of God’s new covenant, not the old. And God tells us very clearly how this first work of the covenant will be performed: “I will put My fear in their hearts.” He is letting us know we cannot work up a holy fear by the laying on of hands or the strivings of our flesh. No—the only way this holy work can be accomplished in us is if God’s Spirit performs it.

God is telling us through this passage, “I am going to do marvelous things in you. I will send My very own Spirit to abide in you and give you a new heart. He will empower you to mortify all fleshly deeds and He will guide you into total freedom from the power of sin. Finally, He will cause you to will and do My good pleasure.

“But there is one work the Spirit must perform in you before any of these others. He is going to put in you the true fear of God concerning sin. He will implant in you a profound awe of My holiness, so you will not depart from My commands. Otherwise, your sin will always lead you away.”

Very simply, the Holy Spirit changes the way we look at our sin. He knows that as long as we continue to take our lust lightly, we will never be set free. How does the Holy Ghost do this? By using the convicting Word of God—the piercing arrows of holy truth.

DRY BONES CAN LIVE!

2011-10-20T03:00:00.000-04:00

Ezekiel 37 is all about God’s desire for us to lay hold of the promises of His new covenant—learning how to truly live by entering into the blessing of the covenant.

We have all heard the story of the “dry bones” that Ezekiel speaks of. It is important to note that these vessels lying lifeless on the ground were under the covenant. You see, the Lord had told them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” (Ezekiel 37:4). They had heard God’s covenant promise: “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live.”

Yet, even though these dead bones had the new covenant promise preached to them, they had not yet entered into the enjoyment of its blessings. Many believers today know of God’s new covenant—yet they can hardly believe it, because it sounds too good to be true. They say, “I know God has given us the Holy Spirit to indwell us. And I know the Spirit takes it upon Himself to cause us to obey Christ. Oh, I want that blessing badly, but how can I obtain it for my life?”

There is something we must do. Ezekiel writes that God told him to prophesy, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live’” (37:9). Then Ezekiel says he prophesied as God had commanded, “. . . and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army” (37:10).

Suddenly there stood before Ezekiel a great army, alive and breathing! The Holy Spirit had filled all those dead bodies with life—and now they were prepared to do battle. In an instant they had entered into the full enjoyment and blessings of the new covenant. God’s Spirit had taken His rightful place in them—and He was bringing about all the promised changes.

GET READY TO DIE

2011-10-19T03:00:00.000-04:00

In forming the new covenant, God obligated Himself by an oath to supply all the enabling power and strength to fulfill every condition and demand of the covenant. So, when God says by oath, “I will do it,” faith in us responds, “Let it be so.”

Let me show you a wonderful truth from the new covenant. It suggests that the Lord can never get near enough to His people, and that He can never get them as close to Him as He desires. Therefore, He unites and binds and fashions us close to Himself, and Him to us, by this binding contract. The new covenant is all about our Lord’s commitment to keep His children from falling, and to console, comfort and assure us that the power and dominion of sin can and will be broken by the Holy Spirit who indwells us.

This truth is the only hope for those believers who have lost heart in their struggle against a besetting sin. Only by having the new covenant unveiled to us can we learn the secret to having total victory over sin.

Death is the only way out of the old covenant and into the new. Flesh faith has to die—no more striving to believe. If I am to have faith—true faith, the faith of Christ—He must give it to me. We have been given a measure of faith, yet if it is true that I can do nothing of myself, then this includes having His faith. That is why Scripture calls it “the faith of Christ.”

Are you sin-sick? Are you truly yearning to live a holy life, free from the habituating lusts of the flesh? Then get ready to die. Get ready to embrace the cross. The old covenant will bring you to your wits’ end—to nothingness. When you have given up all hope of overcoming sin by your own human power and will, then you are ready to enter the glorious realm of freedom through the new covenant.

TAME YOUR TONGUE

2011-10-18T03:00:00.001-04:00

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8).

WE RECEIVE ALL THE BENEFITS

2011-10-18T03:00:00.000-04:00

God gave His Son, the Son gave His life, and we receive all the benefits!

By mutual consent, the Father and Son made a covenant to keep and preserve the seed of Christ. It is meant to ensure that we will endure to the end.

“He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me” (Psalm 89:26–36).

The Father made this covenant pledge to His Son: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6). God was saying, “My hand will always be holding on to Yours and You will never be away from my keeping power. I pledge to keep You safe from all the schemes of the devil.”

This pledge by the Father is made available to us now because the Son’s sacrifice on the cross has brought us into their covenant agreement. God pledged to His Son, “If You go, I will keep and preserve every one of Your seed, just as I have kept and preserved You. I will never remove My faithfulness from You, nor from Your children.”

CALLED INTO THE FELLOWSHIP

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-04:00

Paul the apostle wrote: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9).

This single verse opens us up to a truth that can see us through every storm of life. Here is a simple truth that can keep our hearts at rest when all things around us are shaken. Here is the Word of God that can keep us from the fear that now grips the whole world.

The truth is this: We learn God’s faithfulness by answering our calling to stay in fellowship with Jesus. “Called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ” (1:9)

We are not called to trust our own intellect. We are not called to trust in flesh, or men or anything that is of this world. Jesus calls to us, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Christ alone is our peace, our confidence and contentment. I have experienced such great contentment when I see by faith my Lord in glory—loving me, calling me into His sweet presence, telling me He is all-sufficient. I do not have to beg or plead or fear. The more I keep looking unto Jesus in all things, the more I know He is pleased, because without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Sadly, many who truly love Jesus often panic in times of crisis, and they worry and fret. They spend time trying to figure out ways to escape or endure their trial. They do not heed His call to “come and dine” with Him. I am not talking about spending one hour or so each day in prayer, I am talking about focusing on Him all through the day, “Praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). This is simple, quiet conversation—just talking to Him, becoming more acquainted with Him, so that in crisis times we need not rush in consternation to a prayer closet and wail out for help like a stranger.

He hears all cries, loud and soft, and He will always answer us in His faithfulness.

ON DRY GROUND

2011-10-14T03:00:00.000-04:00

God insists there must be “dry ground” on our way through the Red Sea. He told Israel, “[You] shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:16). Amazingly, God uses this phrase four times, telling His people, “You will go over on dry ground.”

We see this phrase again when Israel was poised to enter Canaan. They crossed over Jordan on dry ground on their way into the Promised Land.

Simply put, dry ground is a path. And if you are on it, then you are going somewhere. You are not losing ground or going backward; your dry ground is the Lord’s plan, His work in your life, His miracles to perform. You are moving toward a revelation, a new victory in Christ, toward something greater.

Scripture proves this. Note where Pharaoh and his army lost their battle: on God-given dry ground. Dry ground is the exact place where the devil will come after you. He wants to attack you when you are at your weakest. Yet, it is on this same dry ground that the Lord removes the “chariot wheels” from Satan’s principalities and powers: “The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained” (Exodus 14:28).

God is telling us, in essence: “I want you to learn to move on in faith—not according to a vision or a voice, but when you are in the midst of a dry spell. I want you to be confident that when you cannot hear My voice or see ahead—when you are on dry ground—I am leading you somewhere.”

The Lord promises that He will turn our dry ground into springs of fresh water: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues fail for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. . . . I will open rivers in desolate places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:17-18).

Dear saint, are you dry? God is telling you, “Soon you will see a harvest. Where there once was dry ground, life will spring up at your feet. And I have created it! Stand still and see what I will do for you on dry ground.”

GOD NEVER GIVES UP

2011-10-13T03:00:00.000-04:00

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?" (Luke 15:4).

Jesus is speaking here of a sheep that had been in the fold. Clearly, this represents a member of Christ’s flock, one that has been well fed and led by a loving shepherd. Yet this sheep has gotten lost, so the shepherd has gone out looking for it.

Note what Jesus says about the shepherd here: “He goes after the one that is lost until he finds it” God never gives up on anyone who belongs to Him and has gone astray. Instead, He goes out to find that sheep, embraces it and brings it back into the fold.

Simply put, you can go so far into sin that you come to very brink of hell, and He will still pursue you. David testifies, “If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:8).

We have all heard the expression “hell on earth.” That is what life is like for those who run from God. Their “bed in hell” is an awful, terrible condition. It means to be captivated by sin, drifting so far from the Lord that you eventually fall into a lifeless slumber. This slumber is accompanied by a nagging fear that whispers, “You are going deeper and deeper into hell. You may not ever get back to God.”

Christ’s message to us is, “You may have made your bed in hell, but you are not too deep in sin for Me to reach you and receive you with open arms.”

When the shepherd finds the lost, injured sheep, he carries the wounded creature into his house. Then he calls all his friends and neighbors together, exclaiming, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost” (Luke 15:6).

“Likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).

THOUGHTS ABOUT LOVE AND FAITH

2011-10-12T03:00:00.000-04:00

Let me share some very healing thoughts about faith and love. I believe God works miracles in answer to the prayer of faith. And I believe every promise in God’s Word. But, through much suffering and tears, I have discovered something wonderful about the way God works. What you are about to read should help renew your confidence in the Lord and set you free from the bondage of trying to figure out faith.
Here are my conclusions:

If you cannot give God perfect faith, give Him perfect love. “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Perfect love is the rest God has for His people. He wants us to rest in His love, trusting that He will always come to our aid as a father to a hurting child in spite of our inadequate faith.

Stop evaluating or grading your faith. And stop trying to figure out faith. The Bible says, “Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). If you are going to specialize in anything, specialize in love—faith works by love.

If God does not answer certain of our prayers, we can be sure He has some great eternal reason for not doing so.

It boils down to this: God has all power and can do anything. Nothing is impossible to Him. He has promised to answer every prayer in Christ’s name, so we must ask in full assurance of faith, expecting an answer. But should God delay that answer or choose another path for us, He must have a mighty good reason for it all. And we must believe that whatever God permits in our lives will one day all work to our good (Romans 8:28).

Our heavenly Father knows exactly where we are going and what we need. He will give us what is best, in proper Holy Ghost timing (Matthew 7:11).

God will not permit you to be overcome by your trials. You may come to what you think of as your breaking point, yet you will survive and live to tell of His faithfulness if you will not harden you heart but fall into His arms, trusting His everlasting love.

THE CATASTROPHE

2011-10-11T03:00:00.000-04:00

A scientist said of the catastrophe, “The whole world shook.” Another called it “the worst natural disaster in the world’s history.” They were describing the underwater earthquake that devastated entire coasts in Asia a few years ago. Tens of thousands were left dead. We continue to see disasters around us.

When horrible events strike, I go to the Father with one question: “Lord, what is this all about? Was this simply an unexplainable accident of nature, or is there something your people ought to know as to why it happened?”

We mourn for the indescribable pain and misery endured by multitudes. We pray earnestly for those afflicted. Our ministry has sent thousands of dollars through Christian relief agencies to help rebuild churches and homes in devastated areas. Scripture tells us our heavenly Father is touched by the very feelings of the wounded and the Holy Spirit pours out comfort to all believers in the nations affected.

America is a compassionate and giving nation and I thank God for the response of so many who pray, give and go to those areas to help. But something deep within my soul troubles me. The magnitude of the disasters does not seem to sink in. We appear to be numbed, stupefied by it all.

I thank God for good reports of blessings in many areas of the world, including America. But if we cannot be brought to our knees by unleashed power—if we cannot humble ourselves after witnessing terrible natural disasters—what will it take to silence the God-mockers? Are we now shockproof?

Think of this:

The expulsion of God from our society in the name of political correctness
The whole world turning to secularism and materialism
A church growing more worldly than the world itself
The rise of violence and apathy
The Bible no longer being accepted as God’s Word
A day “when everything that can be shaken” is being shaken
When thoughtful people everywhere have an intuition that “somebody is tinkering with nature, something is happening that cannot be explained away”
When society continues its business without a single “God pause,” without even a thought that God will not be mocked

When these things happen, we have come near or crossed a line into a spiritual stupor that no amount of divine mercy can awaken.

God is merciful, gracious and ready to forgive. May Jesus demonstrate His love and compassion through His disciples as the day of the Lord approaches.

SOMEBODY UNDERSTANDS

2011-10-10T03:00:00.000-04:00

O Lord, You have searched me and known me (Psalm 139:1).

Nobody understands me
But God.
He understands my deep thoughts.
There is not a word in my tongue,
But God knows it altogether.
He has me hemmed in;
His hand is laid upon me.
Such knowledge is so high,
I cannot attain unto it.
There are times
Darkness surrounds me,
Yet He searches my heart
And knows it.
He sees the wicked ways in me.
Only His wisdom
Can figure me out.
In the day when I cry to Him,
He answers
And strengthenest me with strength
In my soul.
Darkness and light are both alike to Him.
He understands my darkness
And will give me light.
He understands me.

GOD DESCRIBES HIS LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE

2011-10-07T03:00:00.000-04:00

God describes Himself this way: “I taught Ephraim [Israel] to walk, taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them” (Hosea 11:3).

In the original language this verse reads, “I came to them in their despair and tenderly nursed them through foul, rugged places. I held them in my arms as a nurse!” But Hosea 11:7 says, “My people are bent on backsliding from Me.” The word bent here means “hanging in suspense, hanging in doubt.”

Israel was not sure of the Lord’s love and tenderness and God was saying to Hosea, “My people are doubting My love for them. They do not really know Me and they are unsure of My love!”

It was true! Israel could not believe God still loved them. They were idolaters, backsliders and doubters and they were probably thinking, “We brought God’s displeasure on ourselves. We sinned willfully and He will surely judge us!” But God said, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? . . . My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred” (v. 8).

Listen to His words of comfort and healing for you:

"For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made” (Isaiah 57:16). The Lord was saying, “If all you saw in Me was anger, your spirit would fail because it would be too overwhelming.”

“For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners” (v. 17-18). Does this sound like God gives up on His people when they fail?

You may be going through deep waters right now. I do not mean temptation or trials necessarily. I am talking about overwhelming events that are being thrust on you that you cannot understand. Winds and waves of all kinds are flooding you, things beyond your comprehension. They are coming to your home, your church, your job, on all sides. But God wants to carry you through it all! He wants to restore you to spiritual health! If all you can believe right now is that He loves you in spite of all your stubborn ways, that He begs you to see Him as your Divine Nurse, then that is enough!

FILLED WITH HOPE, JOY AND PEACE!

2011-10-06T03:00:00.000-04:00

If you want the peace of God to reign in your life, you have to quit several things:

You must quit trying to figure out how God will work everything out.
You must quit worrying and fretting: “Be anxious for nothing...” (Philippians 4:6).
You must quit telling God what you think is right for you.
And most of all, you must quit thinking you are a failure; stop thinking you do not please God!

One of Satan’s most effective traps for robbing Christians of peace is to convince them they must strive in the flesh to please God. He springs this on me all the time!

Sometimes when I need a quiet place to pray, I get in my car and drive to a secluded spot. I can praise the Lord and enjoy His presence while looking out over green fields and forests. But sometimes the thought hits me that I am not doing anything for the Lord!

I pray, “Lord, I’m just not accomplishing much for Your kingdom. All I do is pray, get messages for sermons, and go to church and preach. The whole world is going to hell, and I’m not doing anything for You!”

Have such thoughts ever hit you? You do everything you can in order to please the Lord, yet you do not feel holy. I hardly ever feel holy. That is true even in my best times—even when I am preaching under the Spirit’s anointing!

You say, “You, Brother Dave? You feel at times as if you’re not doing much for God?” Yes! The devil comes in and makes us all feel unworthy, unfulfilled. And we lose our peace by giving in to these awful feelings!

Listen to Paul’s prayer for us: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

Trust in His goodness. Believe in His love and mercy. Do not accuse Him of being angry or upset with you or of not speaking to you. Let His peace rule in your heart and over your whole life!

THE GIFT OF HIS PEACE

2011-10-05T03:00:00.000-04:00

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

When I reread this passage recently, I was struck by something I had never seen before. Paul instructs us to stop worrying, go to God with prayer and supplication, and thank Him for the answer. But he never says anything about getting answers! Paul says nothing about receiving a word of direction, deliverance, miracles, or healing. Instead, he says we receive a gift of the peace of God!

God answers all our requests and supplications with the gift of His peace: “Let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (v. 6-7).

In other words, God’s first answer to our every prayer and heart-cry is His peace! All praying people have this one thing in common: No matter how bad they feel going into their secret closet of prayer, they come out filled with His peace! God has limited Himself to His own government. This is known as the providence of God. He does things here and there, preparing people’s hearts and orchestrating events, but until His providence works out the answer to your prayer, He says, “I am going to give you not what you think you need, but what I know you need—peace of mind and heart!”

Many of us wrestle with the Lord in prayer. We petition Him with crying and tears; we pound heaven’s gates; we claim every promise. But as the days, weeks and months go by, we begin to wonder: “Why won’t You answer, Lord? What is blocking my prayer? What have I done to grieve or displease You?”

The fact is, God already has said to us, “Here is My peace that passes all understanding! Take it and let it rule in your heart while I work out all things for your good!” We are to be kept in God’s peace until His promise is worked out by the Holy Spirit!

Hold on to His peace and let it rule and reign in your heart!

LET THE PEACE OF GOD RULE

2011-10-04T03:00:00.000-04:00

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15)

This one verse contains an incredible command: God calls the entire body of Jesus Christ to let His peace govern our hearts, minds and bodies! The peace of God is to be the arbitrator of our lives, sitting as ruler over everything. If there was ever a time this call needed to be sounded, it is today in this hour of turmoil and confusion!

Why did the Lord command the early church to let His peace rule in their lives? It was because He knew what was coming and He wanted to prepare them! In just a few years’ time, incredible turmoil would come upon them. They would be tortured and persecuted. They would face hard times, loss of homes, confiscation of all worldly goods, even attacks from vicious men who thought they were doing God a favor by killing them. God was warning them, preparing them, “You are going to have to be grounded in My peace because it alone will see you through all the incredible changes ahead!”

“The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).

Right now there is a false peace sweeping through many churches, a peace that will fail in the troubled days ahead. It is the peace of stubborn, sin-blinded Christians! Moses called such believers “self-blessed,” meaning self-deceived. He warned Israel that a curse would come upon all wicked, disobedient children of God who walked in idolatry. He said they would plaster over their sinful ways with a false sense of peace: “When he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I walk in the imagination of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober” (Deuteronomy 29:19).

Moses is describing the child of God who decides to satisfy his lust for evil! He finds a cozy doctrine that tells him he is all right, still saved, heaven-bound, while continuing in his sin. He says to himself, “I will do as I please and still not lose the peace in my heart.”

No matter what happens to America or to the nations of the world, no power in hell can rob you of the peace of God through Jesus Christ, which He implants in your soul! God will have His people governed by peace.
“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”

THE CURE FOR UNBELIEF

2011-10-03T03:00:00.000-04:00

I searched my reference books and found lists of ways to “cure” unbelief, but none of these dozens of things touched me. So I asked God for something simple and He gave me two thoughts on how I can rid my heart of unbelief:

1. Lay hold upon every worry, fear and burden. Take them all to Jesus and leave them on His shoulders!

“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Beloved, this is God’s personal invitation to you, His request: “Put it all on Me! Do not carry it one hour longer. I care about everything that is happening to you and I am big enough to take it all for you!”

Not long ago someone in an extremely stressful situation called me seeking a word of encouragement. But I was overwhelmed that day by so many problems, I could not handle even one more, so I answered, “I’m sorry but you’ll have to call some other time. I’m too overloaded right now.” Thank God, He is never stressed out! He is never overloaded! His shoulders can carry the load of all His children! He urges us, “Lay it all on Me!”

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). Go down your list right now: “God, I give You this, and this, and that. I give You this burden, this trouble, that relationship, that problem.” And be fully convinced that He cares!

2. Launch out in full faith on the written Word of God. Take up the Lord’s challenge to live by His Word!

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). You must be able to say, “I’m going to live and die by God’s Word to me!”

I ask you: How is it that we can trust His Word for our eternal salvation, but not for our daily needs and problems? We can believe Him for the hardest part. Why is it harder for us to believe for help, guidance and power over sin? “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). God promised this to you, so let Him take on the burden of keeping you! Go to the Lord and challenge His Word. Tell Him you are going to stake your life on it! Show Him you trust His every word—and be blessed!

UNBELIEF SHUTS OFF INTIMACY WITH GOD!

2011-09-30T03:00:00.000-04:00

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

All the praying in the world will not do you any good unless you mix it with faith! You can fast and pray for three days or three weeks, but without faith, you will not please God. All your hours in prayer, all your petitions, all your “coming to Him” will profit you nothing unless your heart is anchored in faith!

“Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7).

If you are spending two hours with God and yet never believe Him to answer you, you are embarrassing Him for two hours! It may make you feel good or feel holy but in reality you are wasting time! You are giving God two hours of unbelief and doubt.

I know Christians who say they pray daily, often weeping before the Lord, yet nothing happens. They remain heavyhearted and depressed. Their lives are always in turmoil, all because they have embarrassed the Lord by coming into His presence not fully persuaded He will do what He promised!

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).

“And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22).

Many of God’s people live as spiritual paupers because something happened that made them question God’s love. They say, “How can I trust God when I don’t understand why He would allow such a thing to happen to me?”

There is no human answer to their confusion. But God knows the end from the beginning and only when we are in heaven will we understand why some of these winds and waves have tossed us and why God allowed it all.

Isaiah gave an answer and I believe it is all we need to know for now: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb?... Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

God has given us His Word: “You are My child. You are written in the palm of My hand so trust Me!”

UNBELIEF MAKES GOD A LIAR!

2011-09-29T03:00:00.000-04:00

“He who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son” (1 John 5:10).

Consider all the ugly sins listed against Israel in the wilderness; murmuring, complaining, idolatry, ingratitude, rebellion, sensuality. Yet none of these provoked God’s wrath. It was their unbelief that angered God! “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?’” (Numbers 14:11).

God said to Moses, “These people make a lie out of everything I have done for them! I have performed miracle after miracle and delivered them time after time. When will they ever trust and rest in Me?”

Stop for a moment and think about all the things God has done for you: He has kept you, He has answered this prayer, that prayer. He has met you in a crisis here, a crisis there. He has brought you through trials, fed you with manna from heaven, done things for you that are nothing short of miraculous.

For thirty-eight long years Israel forgot God’s Word and dismissed His miracles from their minds. And because they fell back so often into murmuring and unbelief, God said, “I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them” (v. 12). He told Moses, “I am giving up on My people because they will never come to the place where they trust Me!”

When Israel was on the victorious side of Jordan, Moses made a solemn declaration: “Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it...Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you...Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God...And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, and took an oath, saying, ‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers’” (Deuteronomy 1:21, 29-30, 32, 34-35).

God magnifies His Word above His name. He means every word He says and all of these things God told Israel are the same things He has told us. I ask you: Will we not also incur His wrath if we act in unbelief?

We read His Word and hear all His promises from the pulpit but then we go to our corner and fret because we do not see Him immediately doing what we think He should do for us. When we do not let His Word anchor our souls, when we hear great and precious promises and then act as if we have been abandoned, we make God out to be a liar!

THE MOTHER OF ALL SINS

2011-09-28T03:00:00.000-04:00

I could list a whole catalog of sins that believing Christians practice, but none of them would come near to the sin that I want to talk about. The mother of all sins—the one that gives birth to all others—is the sin of unbelief!

I am not speaking of the unbelief of a hardened sinner. The unbelief of reprobates, agnostics and atheists does not move God at all. No, what angers God more than anything else is the unbelief and troubling doubts of those who call themselves by His name! His children who say, “I am of Jesus,” and yet hold doubt, fear and unbelief in their hearts grieve Him more than all others!

How seriously does God take this sin of unbelief! Jude warned the church with these words: “But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).

Jude is reminding believers of God’s attitude toward unbelief! He is saying, “I am bringing to your remembrance God’s utter hatred for unbelief among His saved people. Having saved the people, afterward He destroyed the ones who did not believe!”

Beloved, I believe that God has called me to put His church in remembrance of this same thing! “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). God may no longer destroy His people physically as He did in the Old Testament but His judgments on our unbelief today are spiritual and they are just as severe.

Unbelief is just as destructive today as it ever was. We may not turn into a pillar of salt, but we do become stiff-necked and bitter! The ground does not open up to swallow us but we are swallowed by troubles, stress and family problems. Fire does not come down and consume us but our spiritual life is destroyed.

Many of us are guilty of the mother of all sins and we do not fear it. We do not take our unbelief seriously; in fact, we live as though God winks at it. And yet it is the one sin that opens our body and spirit to every other sin known to man.

WHERE IS WISDOM?

2011-09-27T03:00:00.000-04:00

“But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living” (Job 28:12-13).

Wisdom,
Who can find it?
Where?
The depth saith, “It is not in me.”
The sea saith, “It is not with me.”
It cannot be gotten with gold,
Neither can silver be weighed
For the price thereof.
It cannot be valued...precious onyx
Or...sapphire.
It cannot be exchanged for jewels,
Not to mention coral or pearls,
For the price of wisdom
Is above rubies.
Whence then cometh wisdom?
Where is the place of understanding?
God understands
And He knoweth the place thereof.
He who seeth under the whole heaven,
Who measures the weight of wind,
Unto men He saith,
“Behold
The fear of the Lord—
That is wisdom.
To depart from evil—
That is understanding.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning
Of all wisdom.
He who would have wisdom,
Let him in love
Fear God
And forsake his sins.”

HE WILL OPEN THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN

2011-09-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

The New Testament is filled with promises proving God loves to over-answer the prayers of His people!

One of the most familiar promises of all is Ephesians 3:20. We all know it well yet few of us live as if we believe it. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

God is able to answer our prayers but He wants to do for us exceedingly above all we can even imagine! He wants to answer us not according to our puny requests, but according to His riches and might.

The Bible tells us He is inclined to answer us with abundance: “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38).

“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

“By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

“[Trust] . . . in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).

God is virtually begging us to ask for great things!

We like to call the Lord “our King” but do we pray large prayers worthy of our King’s greatness? A king is obligated to care for his subjects, and his people honor him by asking largely, believing he has all they need and will provide it abundantly. Dearly beloved, you cannot call God “king” and then accuse Him of letting one of His subjects continue in need!

Have you embarrassed God by your puny requests? “‘Prove Me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it’” (Malachi 3:10).

TOTAL VICTORY

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-04:00

“Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed” (Judges 10:9)

Ammon had been used by God to correct Israel’s sins (see Judges 10:6-8). And now their army was marching toward Israel! God’s people were perplexed and downcast and they began to confess their sins: “Then the children of Israel said to the Lord, ‘We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray’” (Judges 10:15).

The people were so haunted by their sin, they could not conceive of asking God for anything more than to spare them. Theirs was the simplest of prayers: “Lord, deliver us just this one time! Don’t let us be defeated or overrun by our enemy!”

They prayed for a single victory but God had something more in mind and He over-answered their prayer mightily! Not only did Israel get protection, they got the upper hand! They totally subdued the Ammonites!

“So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith—twenty cities—and . . . the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel (Judges 11:32-33).

Not only did God deliver Israel, He gave them the courage and direction to defeat the Ammonites! They subdued them from that time on and they were never troubled by them again! They had total victory!

That is just how God wants to over-answer His people today! Most Christians pray, “Lord, just give me victory in this one battle.” But the Lord responds, “I will give you that, yet I have much more in store for you. I want to subdue your enemy but not just one victory at a time. I want you to have total victory!”

Beloved, He wants to give you power not just to overcome, but to subdue every enemy! He wants you not just to conquer sin but to be more than a conqueror. Not just to have life but life more abundantly. Not just to have joy but joy unspeakable and full of glory. Not to be free of fear just for a day, a week or a month—but all the days of your life!

GOD OVER-ANSWERS PRAYER!

2011-09-22T03:00:00.000-04:00

One of the most often heard phrases in church is, “God answers prayer!” Yet that is only half the truth. The whole truth is, “God over-answers prayer!”

Hosea prophesied to Israel, “You are backslidden but you are still God’s people” (see Hosea 14:1). “Take words with you, and return to the Lord. Say to Him ‘Take away all iniquity; receive us graciously’” (Hosea 14:2).

Israel’s prayer was simple. All they asked of God was to take away their sin and receive them graciously. “Lord, have mercy! Cleanse us and receive us back into Your grace.” God not only cleansed them and received them back graciously, He also added blessings beyond imagination!

“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; his beauty shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall be revived like grain, and grow like the vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hosea 14:4-7).

The dew of heaven (14:5) is the presence of the Lord. Up to this point there had been drought and everything was dying because God’s favor had been taken away. But now, because of true repentance and a heartfelt prayer, God said He would cause life to spring up on all sides. Israel not only would be forgiven, but revived as well! They would become well-rooted, spread out, and thrive!

All they asked for was mercy, forgiveness and acceptance. Instead, God opened the windows of heaven and poured on them blessings they dared not even hope for! God largely over-answered their prayer!

God has done the same for you! When you repented, all you asked God for was a clean heart, forgiveness and peace. Yet look at how He has over-answered you: He gave you a hungering heart—a thirst for more of Jesus! He gave you eyes to see and ears to hear. He has protected you from a raging, mad devil and flooded your soul with hope, joy and gladness!

You asked only to be saved and cleansed but God has poured out blessing upon blessing to you! He has over-answered you!

JACOB’S BATTLE WAS WITH THE LORD

2011-09-21T03:00:00.000-04:00

One of the greatest lessons we can ever learn is that our battle is never with people. It is never with co-workers, neighbors, or our unsaved loved ones—but with God!

If you settle things with God, everything else has to fall into line. When you are right before Him—sprinkled with Christ’s blood, having no sin in your life, prevailing in prayer—then all the demons in hell cannot make a dent in what God wants to do! He wants you to have that kind of holy strength.

Hosea said, “The Lord also brings a charge against Judah [His people]” (Hosea 12:2). What is this controversy God has with His church? It is spiritual laziness! We want miracles, blessings, deliverance, but at no cost, with no effort!

Who among God’s people today prays all night, wrestling, fighting, weeping, crying out to God as Jacob did? Who wants holiness, purity and Christlikeness so much they are willing to shut themselves in with God until they break through? Who is so consumed with pleasing God that they are desperate to be delivered from all habits, all lusts—and they cry out, fight and wrestle with God until He breaks all chains?

Hosea said to Israel, “All you want is prosperity and security! You are not willing to take a stand. You don’t want to live for Jehovah’s pleasure, but for your own!”

Jacob was a fighter from the day he was born. He prevailed “by his strength” (see Genesis 25:26) and so must you and I! We have His strength, but we do not use it! “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy” (Colossians 1:11).

“He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16).

The church of Jesus Christ is never going to see what God has for His body until He sees us seeking Him in earnest! “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

God wants you to lay hold of Him because He loves you! He is saying, “Here it is. If you want it, come and get it!” He wants to make a strong soldier out of you, fit for His army!

GOD IS FOR ME

2011-09-20T03:00:00.000-04:00

“I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me” (Psalm 57:2, NKJV).

I believe in a God who performs,
Who can deliver my feet from falling
And sustain me through every calamity.
When I am afraid I will trust in Him.
He will deliver my soul in peace
From the battle that is against me.

I will call on God
And He will save me.
He will bottle my tears
And mark my every step.
When I cry to Him,
My enemies will be turned back
Because God is for me.
In Him I put my trust.
I will not fear what man can do unto me;
My heart is fixed.
I will sing and give praise;
My soul shall be satisfied.

He will bring me through fire and flood
Into a desired haven.
He will cause His face to shine upon me
And daily load me with His benefits.
His face He will not hide,
But will hear me speedily.
He will never put me to confusion,
For He has given commandment to save me—
Because God is for me.

JACOB WAS IN A CRISIS—AGAIN!

2011-09-19T03:00:00.000-04:00

Jacob was in a terrible crisis—again—and he did not know what to do. The Bible says: “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there’ . . . And Jacob said . . . ‘Let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone’” (Genesis 35:1-3).

Bethel is a place where we can go in our time of distress! The lesson for Israel and for us today is this: Whenever Jacob was in danger or trouble—when things looked foreboding and hopeless—he knew where to go and what to do!

God was saying to Jacob, “You know where I will speak to you, where you will hear My voice. Go back to Bethel! Go to the altar where I met you. Get down on your face before Me and cleanse your house of all idolatry!”

Jacob called his sons to bring forth all their idols, and he buried them under an oak tree. Then he led his family to Bethel, and there he erected an altar before God. Again God told Jacob, “I am with you” (see Genesis 35:9-13). Scripture says, “The terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob” (Genesis 35:5). The surrounding cities were afraid of Jacob—this little Jewish clan—because God had put a dread in them!

The Lord is still God of Bethel! And He is saying to us, “Go to Bethel because I am going to meet you there! Every time you are in trouble or distress, run to the altar! Cry out and get alone with Me!” He is waiting for us to meet Him in the secret closet of prayer!

Jacob knew where to go to get a clear word from God Himself! He went to Bethel—to the altar! He shut himself in with God in a secret place! I believe God talks to us; I believe He gives us words. But it happens on our knees! That is where God says He will meet us!

God is calling you today to get your eyes off all circumstances. Do not judge anything by your present condition. Do not try to figure it all out. Do not let fear cast you down. God will meet you in prayer!

NOT READY TO FIGHT!

2011-09-16T03:00:00.000-04:00

Suppose a boxing trainer took his fighter to an isolated training camp and then spent the whole training session psyching up his man for the big fight. He tells him, “I will be with you at ringside—I will never leave your side. Here is a list of great boxers of the past, so study their every move. You do not have to suffer through hard workouts. I told you that you are a winner and my word is all you need! I will give you some diagrams on how to defeat Monster Man when you step into the ring with him!”

What kind of trainer is this? Absolutely foolish! What would a good trainer do? He would find the best boxer he could, put his man in the ring with him, and let them have it out!

Beloved, how many Christians call themselves warriors without ever being tested or trained? We hear so much about the many prayer warriors in this nation. But the sad truth is, the vast majority of them have never been in battle! They have not been trained and they are not ready to fight!

Recently I asked the Lord why so many true believers are going through such heavy, hard times. Why such deep suffering? I asked, “Why are so many being tested to their limits?”

God knows that Satan is going to be loosed on the earth for his last hour of warfare. And the Lord is going to need well-trained warriors who will prevail over all the powers of hell. Right now He is doing a quick work in His remnant—it is called crisis training!

These suffering, deeply tested saints are becoming the captains of His last-days army. God is putting Holy Spirit fight in them and He is bringing forth warriors who are tested and tried, because they have wrestled with God. The more they suffer and the more intense the trial, the greater the work He has for them to do!

This kind of training calls for physical discipline as well as spiritual. Jacob threw his whole body into the battle, all his human ability. A fighting spirit had risen up in him and Scripture says, “In his strength he struggled with God” (Hosea 12:3).

This verse has great meaning for all who want to prevail in prayer. It says Jacob won the battle “in his strength.” Dearly beloved, if you are going to prevail in these last days, you are going to have to put all your body and strength into it!

IN A FIGHTING MOOD

2011-09-15T03:00:00.000-04:00

Esau came forth from his mother's womb first—a baby covered with hair (his name means "hairy"). But his twin, Jacob, grabbed his heel while still in the womb. What a shock the midwife must have had when she saw Esau come forth with a tiny hand gripping his heel!

"He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke to us" (Hosea 12:3-4).

In this very brief passage about Jacob, the prophet Hosea sums up how to overcome and prevail with God!

Hosea's message was, "Here was a man greedy for God, hungry for everything God had for him!" Jacob came out of the womb in a fighting mood, longing for the blessings of God! There was something of a godly instinct in this child. It was as if he was saying, "Brother, if you don't want the fullness of God, I do. Get out of my way! I will not be left behind in God's blessings!"

The birthright and blessing of Jacob's desire throughout his life represents all the blessings that are in Christ Jesus! Yet it was not the double portion of his father's wealth that Jacob was after nor was it the promise of the land. No, Jacob wanted something more. He wanted the blessing of God so he could be in the lineage of the Messiah! And he wanted the priestly blessing. This meant not only being priest of the clan, but also being able to bless others!

We see this priestly ministry throughout Genesis 27, and as Isaac laid hands on Jacob and blessed him: "…that your soul may bless me" (Genesis 27:19). It meant the high honor of having God's hand on him—and the power to bless others!

Beloved, this is what is being required of believers in these last days! God wants to raise up a people who are not concerned only about making their own living, owning a house or driving a nice car. He is seeking those who are greedy for the blessings of God—not to consume it on themselves, but to be used of Him to help others!

FRESH ANOINTING POWER

2011-09-14T03:00:00.000-04:00

God allows your trial because He wants to make you “devil-proof”! That does not mean you will not be attacked again but you will be trained to stand! It is all part of His preparing you for greater service, greater anointing and expanded usefulness in His kingdom.

Furthermore, the Lord is trying to strengthen you against the devil’s wiles. He is raising up a body of believers who have faced the devil, who have been strengthened against him, and who know his devices and are not afraid of him! God is saying, “Once you understand why you are going through this, you will have taken back all the ground you lost. You will be in control again—by the power of the Holy Spirit!”

Once Elijah’s trial was over (see 1 Kings 19) he would never run again. He now had a sense of direction and he was reassured in his spirit. You see, God was about to send him to nations to raise up kings, leaders and prophets!

God told Elijah: “Go, return on your way...anoint Hazael as king over Syria...anoint Jehu...as king over Israel. And Elisha...you shall anoint as prophet in your place” (1 Kings 19:15-16). Elijah had been given fresh anointing power. He was in control again!

“So he departed from there” (verse 19). Elijah came out of the cave to do God’s will! He did not have to shed a river of tears. No, he simply had heard the Word of the Lord!

Beloved, the only hold the devil can have on you is fear. And you must shake it off in faith! You have to say, “I am not going down. God is going to give me a fresh anointing from heaven—He is going to use me!”

Do you believe that God is not finished with you—that He is teaching and training you for better things? He wants to speak to you in your cave of despondency. He wants to tell you what to do and where to go—and He wants to bring you out!

So get up out of your despair and shake off the bondage of fear and depression! Depart from your cave. You will discover that the moment you get up and walk out, the anointing will flow!

THE LANGUAGE OF REVOLUTION

2011-09-13T03:00:00.000-04:00

“There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health” (Proverbs 12:18, NKJV).

With great and swelling words
The revolutionaries speak.
Like the piercing of a sword,
They lash with their tongues
The established order of the day.
An evil man diggeth up evil
And in his lips there is a burning fire,
The unquenchable fire of hell.
But the wicked man shall be snared
By the transgression of his own lips.
He that keepeth his mouth,
Keepeth his life,
But he that openeth wide his mouth
Shall have destruction.
For righteous men hate lying lips
And lips that have no healing.
The lamp of the wicked shall be put out
And his lips sealed;
For wicked language
Shall be overthrown
And the tongue of the wise
Shall send forth health.

THE POWER OF A CLEAN AND BLAMELESS LIFE

2011-09-12T03:00:00.000-04:00

When you set your heart to walk blameless before God—living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord—you will be feared and despised by those who have lost the favor and blessing of God. Lukewarm or compromised Christians will be absolutely disturbed and repelled by your life!

We see this illustrated vividly in 1 Samuel: “Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul... And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him” (1 Samuel 18:12-15).

David’s blameless behavior struck fear in Saul’s heart! Whenever Saul was around David, he remembered the time he had enjoyed the favor of God and the high esteem of men. But disobedience, envy, pride and self-will had cost Saul every bit of power with God. And it robbed him of all respect of the people.

Now, Saul had come face to face with a younger man—a less experienced, probably less articulate, man—who exuded the power and integrity of holiness. He was pure in heart, full of the Holy Spirit and Saul was afraid of him!

Keep in mind that this was no idolatrous pagan who was afraid of David. No, Saul was a man who had known the power of the Holy Spirit! He had once been God’s anointed, a mighty man chosen of God!

David was simply living a clean life and God was pouring out favor upon him! “All Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them” (1 Samuel 18:16).

Saul did not want to be around David. Scripture says “Therefore Saul removed him from his presence” (1 Samuel 18:13). Sadly, Saul represents the compromised church of today, those Christians who have compromised and lost the anointing of God. He is a type of the believer who once was full of the Holy Spirit, baptized, on fire for God, but has been robbed of everything they once knew of God by their disobedience, pride and lust.

There is nothing scarier to a compromised Christian than a holy blameless life. And the more your life lines up with the Lord’s will and His holiness, the more repelling you will become to backslidden believers.