"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." Ex. 19:5-6
For the past few days I have been praying about a trend I see in the preachers of this nation and around the world for that matter. These men and women that profess to be the voice of God today for so-called "modern Christians." People that talk only of the blessings of God and not the commands of God. They speak of the harvest and not of the planting. Yet, this type of ministering defies the very allegories that Christ himself used when speaking of the children of the kingdom. It is true that Jesus spoke of the harvest, but first he described the planting. In the Old Testament the prophets declared that there would be a great reaping of God's elect, yet before this time of plenty they declared that we must "break up your fallow ground" (Hosea 10:12). There is a time for breaking up or, as Solomon said, there is a time to rend (Ecc. 3:7). This is that time church, it is indeed past time. We have laid wait for another to plow that we might enter into that which another has labored; and by this we have allowed this world (which is our field) to become overgrown with the weeds of sin. In some instances we have been more willing to plant the seeds of despair and care for the root of bitterness than to sew the seeds of the Living God.
For too long we have tried to fix this problem of leaving the plowing to another by a carnal strategy. Like the priest of old we tear our outward appearance in order to cure a spiritual sickness. We feed the pour, cloth the destitute, and care for the widows, and though God demands that we do these things, it does not stop the bleeding. Instead, it just hides the fact that we are hurt. For some reason mankind's theology has always been that if you cannot see it, it must not be there. However, this is entirely wrong. Just because you do not see a car around the corner doesn't mean that the car is not there. It just means that you will not be prepared for it when you finally do recognize its reality. The same holds true for the spirit. If we refuse to recognize the reality of a spiritual illness then, when the day of reckoning comes, we will not be prepared to answer for our actions.
We then ask, "How can we heal this wound?" The answer can be found in second chapter of the book of the prophet Joel verses 12 and 13. "Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." It is time we get back in the closet and pray as the saints of old. Let us stop trying to fool the world and start seeking the face of God. The key to receiving this healing is in the passage that we are to "rend our hearts and not our garments." God declares that we are saved UNTO good works (Eph. 2:10) and not because of. God demands that we "circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart." (Jer. 4:4) We must remove the excess flesh from our hearts (our intellect, our emotions, our very being). We must lose this mind and gain the mind of Christ.
It is in this, the losing, that we gain. It is a beautiful and wonderous thing that the Lord has done: To confound the wise of this world, with the foolish. We must seek God, not for show or for the paises of men, but for the earnest expectation of the revelation of the Son of God. For indeed as it is written, "that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (II Thes. 2:3). Let us therefore press on toward that mark of Jesus Christ; that this man of sin might fall away and then, and only then, will that blessed day of God come.
Hear our cry oh, mighty God, teach us to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (II Cor. 7:1) and let us be assured that "when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." (Matt 6:6) |
