He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.....Revelation, Chapters 2 &3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits & doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron. 1st Tim 4:1-2 This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof......2nd Tim 3:1-5 Oh, beloved, is this not the state of the modern day American church? As Pastor Jason Fuller preaches today on In His Presence radio broadcast, "The days that shall come, have come" and God is calling, no commanding, for His Church to shake herself from our complacency. May I dare tell the truth and say it is time to repent & rise up from the muck and the mire of sin and be cleansed by His Blood once again, bathed in the Water of the Word and filled with His Spirit. Sin, you say, what sin? I go to church (when it's convenient for me), I pray (only when I'm in a mess) and, well, my Bible is around here somewhere.....We have renamed sin and immorality into "habits" and made excuses for the behavior by blaming everyone else for our choices. We are rebellious rather than obedient, cold and indifferent when we should be burning with a holy passion for Him and His Glory alone. Jesus urges us in Rev 2:4......I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember from whence thou art fallen & repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly & remove thy candlestick our of his place, except thou repent." We have become fiercely ambitious people who have excelled at believing that we have built our "kingdoms" by our own might. We take pride in our supposed self sufficiency, our works, our trophies. I am afraid that our pride and self seeking, self driven lifestyles have pushed God (if He was even seated there to begin with) from thethrone of our hearts into the corners of our busy little lives. Paul warned us through Timothy that in the last days the love of many would grow cold and evil seducers would become worse...that many would have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. Listen to what Jesus says in Rev 3 to the church.... I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot,...so then because you art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich & increased with goods & have need of nothing...knowest not that thou are wretched & miserable & poor & blind & naked. I counsel thee, to buy of Me gold, tried in the fire..& white rainment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.....As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent." And here is the most horrific thing of all that Jesus says to His people, Behold, I stand at the door and knock...... Jesus Christ, the One who drank the cup of God's wrath which He bore on Calvary, being crushed under the weight of His Just Fury, and finally, in utter agony, dying, is standing on the outside of the very people He came to rescue. What a travesty of love we have fallen into, settling for religion without a relationship, a system without the Savior, and a church without conviction nor conversion. Christ on our lips, but not in our hearts. "I am part of a system that has created a whole host of means & methods plans & strategies for doing church that require little if any power from God....things that emphasizes our abilities & exalts our names...what is strangely lacking in the picture of performances, personalities, programs & professionals is desperation for the Power of God.......I am frightened by the reality that the church I lead can carry on most of our activities smoothly, efficiently, even successfully, never realizing that the Holy Spirit of God is virtually absent from the picture. We can so easily deceive ourselves.........D. Platt in the book "Radical" What exactly is the power that the many modern day churches are denying? It is the Power of Jesus Christ to be saved and set in a right relationship with God, it is the Power of His Blood to transform a sinner into a saint, to destroy the bondage of sin, satan, and self. Power to live a clean and consecrated life in the midst of perverse world. It is the Power to overcome temptations, the Power to be steadfast in the midst of trials and troubles, the Power to bind up broken hearts and set captives free. It is the Power to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Him which is our reasonable service. It is the Power to love, to serve, to worship, to live a committed and devoted life for the Lord. It is the Power to transform, to make us over comers through the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony. It is the Power to deny ourselves and our desires to be poured out for the King and His Kingdom!!! It is the Power that one day will sound a trumpet or burst open a grave and cause us to be victorious over death and the grave and we shall forever be changed. It is the Power that will allow us to fall prostrate at His feet, worshiping Him, adoring Him and dwelling with Him for all of eternity! And it is this Power, this Authority, this Absolute Truth that Jesus is the only way to appear before God Almighty. It is the truth that we are absolutely hopeless and helpless in our own power to be good enough, holy enough to come before Him. It is an affront to our pride to admit we are totally dependent on His mercy and His grace granted on behalf of the death of Jesus. It is offensive to most to admit that we are wretched sinners and deserve the punishment for sin. To recognize that our own righteousness is as filthy rags before God. It is hard to humble ourselves before God and even harder to admit that we have shut him out of our heart by our very lifestyle. That, by the choices we make daily, oftentimes, deny Him as Lord of our life. But thank God, Jesus does not turn away from us when we shut Him out of our churches, our plans, our very life. For He goes on to say in Rev 3:20 ...I knock, if any man hear My voice & open the door , I will come unto him and will sup with him and he with Me. To him that over cometh, will I grant to sit with Me in My throne as I also overcame and am set down with My Father in His throne. We absolutely must, must, acknowledge our lack of devotion & desire for the King of Kings, lay down the god of self and take up the Cross of Christ, deny our wills and follow Him with absolute surrender to lifting up the Name of Jesus. And in following Him & His Word, we will turn away from the destructive pleasures and treasures of this world, the sins that so easily entangle us in bondage that lead to total captivity. We need to leave the carnal nature with the affections and lusts and be consumed by Christ once again. We must be transformed by the renewing of our mind, bathing our minds by reading and obeying His Word. We must labor and then linger in our prayer closets. We must remain pliable in His hands, resisting the enemy, fully submitted to the Will of God, pointing others to Him and above all, always glorifying His Name with our every day lives. And we shall then hear Him say one day, Well done My good and faithful servant, enter in to the joys I have prepared for you..... He that hath hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit hath to say to.....you! |
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Categories"Lighten my eyes, O Lord"Coming Out of Bondage For God's Glory He that hath an ear, hear what the Spirit hath to say More than Redemption Passing through the storms of Life Somewhere Between the Will of God and will of man The Power of Being God's Possession....Who you are in Christ for God's Glory |
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