Waiting Too Late

The Lord is longsuffering with us, and oh how I'm grateful. Yet there comes a time when all of His warnings will be past and His judgment will come. As you look all throughout the Word of God at the promises of the soon coming of our Savior, and the examples of those who will be caught unprepared to meet Him, it made me think of all the times in His Word we see people that simply waited too late.
Remember Israel after the twelve spies were sent into Canaan? Ten came back with a terrible report of insurmountable odds. They pretty much said, "Yes the land looks great but the enemy is too big so don't even think about it." But when judgment was pronounced upon them they changed their 'tune.' They were ready then to fight, only it was too late, they had made their choice and God was no longer going to fight on their side.
What about later in Israel's history when we find Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah and so many others foretell of their imminent doom? Time and again they would not heed the warning of the Lord and faced the prophesied judgment to come. Only then to realize they should have listened sooner.
There are so many we could list. What about the Roman Centurion at Jesus' crucifixion? He was there through the mocking, the scourging, the buffeting and the gambling of His clothes with all of the humiliation, yet it was after our Savior's death that he declared, "Truly, this was the Son of God."
Is it possible for us to break the trend and actually learn applicable truths from history instead of allowing it to simply repeat itself? Can we look at these examples and say, "Not me!" This needs to be a declaration on our part. We need to realize that the Lord is not slack concerning His promise (2 Peter 3:9).
Let us not be at ease in Zion or declare peace and safety when sudden destruction is looming around the corner (Amos 6:1 & 1 Thes 5:3). Let us declare that we are thankful for the ability to hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches (Rev. 2-3). Because we can hear His voice we will heed His warnings and cling to the victory He secured on Calvary and through the Resurrection!
We declare today that we will not be lulled to sleep by an enemy bent on stealing our soul. We declare as Joshua, "Jos 24:15- And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
God bless you and keep you as you go forward with Him!

Today's Worship Services

The typical church service is so far from what I truly believe the Bible says it should be. There is more entertainment than there is real worship. There is a lack of Holy Ghost conviction, and a "it's ok" attitude towards sin. There is not much labeling sin as sin, it's mostly sugar-coated messages of self help. It saddens me to watch some of these services on television. Loud music that sounds like a rock concert, ungodly apparel, ungodly atmosphere and a lack of glorifying God.
It is clear that God is not pleased with it. I'm not saying that we can't incorporate new songs or even new worship formats, but if the new songs or formats are trying to blur the lines between the world and the church so that the church will become accepted then we become anti-biblical. For even the Word of God says clearly, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom 12:2). I wish I could put into words the things that are so clearly wrong with the worship services of today, but let me just let someone better speak about it; one by the name of Leonard Ravenhill.
I hope you enjoy this video. It touched me, and it also made me realize that I could not express what's on my heart fully, but this is a good start. God bless!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltUy58MtbeE

Getting Closer to the Lord

It is clear, that the Christianity of today is lacking in the area of being what a Christian was in the first century. The apostles of old knew they needed to daily depend upon and submit to Jesus Christ. Without this they realized they could nothing of any value at all. Today, we seem to have it all figured out without the Lord. We never spend time in His presence all week but then we feel as if we are just going to waltz into the church on Sunday morning to worship and praise Him. We need to realize how pridefully arrogant we are when we do not have a relationship with the Lord, yet claim to be a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood."
I bring this to our attention not to beat down, but to build up. We must realize where we are not, if we are ever to get to where we need to be. God is longing, seeking and drawing on those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth! My quick question to you is, "Will you be that person?"
Will you be the one who doesn't worry what cost comes to them when bending down to pick up your cross? Will you be the one that the Lord can count on no matter what He is needing done?
Let me encourage you child of God, "be strong in the Lord"! Don't settle for less than what God has for you. Rise up in the strength that comes from knowing Christ as our Savior and be victorious for the kingdom of God!

A Plea for Repentance

Do you remember the prophet Amos? He is in the Old Testament and you will find his book directly following Joel. Amos had the difficult task, as many prophets did and do, of prophesying of God's upcoming judgment upon a nation. At this time, Israel was at its peek. They had the most land they had ever had, they were in political peace and their nation was prosperous, but spiritually and morally they were corrupt.
Amos began to prophesy to them God's plan of action. He let them know of His judgment that would soon be given, and His wrath that would be poured out. God's wrath would be poured out on the nations of Israel & Judah, and many others.
But looking into chapter 4, we see that God had already sent calamities and disasters to them. He had sent drought, famine and pestilence; all to try to bring them to the realization that they had forsaken the God of their fathers. You see, God loves His children so much that even when we travel down the wrong path He will send things our way to bring us back to the place we need to be. But the key is, we must be willing to respond to His convicting power and REPENT!
Israel was not! Time after time in this chapter we read the words that must have been painful for Amos to write and even more painful for our Lord to inspire, "yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." Oh what a horrible site. God's loving arms reaching out, His loving warnings, rebukes and chastisments going out, but they are all met with rejection! Remember Jesus when He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34).
How does this apply to our life? Well, individually we need to always be striving for a closer walk with God. Every day the Lord will draw us closer to Him if we allow Him to do the work in us necessary. But as a nation, we need to understand that God doesn't have to send anymore prophets, He has already given us His Word! I live in the United States of America which at one time was a Christian nation. We are now a nation that is doing its best to remove the name of God out of any and everything. We are killing mass amounts of precious babies each and every day. We have almost totally abandoned God and everything He stands for.
Proverbs 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." We are there. God's judgment will come upon this nation. There is no other way to see it. God is just! He will not hold one nation to one standard and have a different standard completely for another. God help us realize that we need to repent!
I urge you, don't reject the call of God to repentance. Don't ignore the conviction of the Holy Ghost when He moves upon you. Pray for our nation, pray for yourselves and pray for God's mercy to be upon us. Just Pray!

Godly Sorrow or Worldly Sorrow?

There is one thing for certain, without the Spirit of God convicting us of sin, and without us being sorry for that sin there is no way to be truly saved. Without truly being sorry for sin, there is absolutely no way to repent. Many people intend to make things right with the Lord sometime later in life, but they are not considering the fact that except they are drawn, they can not come. Even still, there are those that believe they can recite a prayer and everything is taken care of. Oh how terrible this is, to be so deceived into believing that you are headed to a place of eternal joy and happiness, only to find that you were wrong at the end. But I would like to focus on a different subject in this post however.I want to look at the difference between two different sorrows: worldy and godly.
There is another deception going on in the church and that is the deception that says sorrow equals repentance. We forget about God, we go weeks without talking to Him, we make it to church when we have the time and then when we do make it we're only there out of routine, ritual or a feeling of obligation. But then some kind of trial comes. Maybe our bank account zeros out or maybe we lose a loved one, and then all of a sudden we try and run to God to fix it all. We cry, we grieve, we mourn; we even say we're sorry for not being the "Christian" we needed to be, but there is no real repentance. There is just a feeling of worldly sorrow. We are sorrowful because of the trouble we are in. We are heavy in heart, due to the suffering we are going through. I am not saying that God hasn't used situations to open our spiritual eyes to our condition. There have been many people that have hit rock bottom just to realize that they can't do it on their own. To realize that they are in need of a Savior.
But the difference between worldy sorrow and godly sorrow is that godly sorrow acknowledges the fact that you have sinned against a holy God. It brings you to the realization that you are in fact guilty of breaking God's law. In 2 Corinthians 7:9-11, Paul is dealing with the sorrow that the Corinthians felt after receiving his letter. He said, "I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance:". This is the key, sorrow to repentance. The next verse says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Could we maybe realize that just crying to God when we are in trouble, when we have forgotten to even mention His name for so long, is not the kind of sorrow that is needed to receive full salvation?
Let me say here, that God's people can always cry out to God in times of trouble (Psalm 50:15). We can cry out to God in times of trials because we have a relationship with Him. The promise is given, that his eyes are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their cry, but this promise is only to His children.
The next time you find yourself crying out to God, ask yourself why and when? Why are you crying out? Is it just for God to fix your problems without even worrying whether or not God gets glory? And when? When is the last time you spoke with Him? When is the last hour that you have spent in His presence? These questions must be asked, and then approach the Lord in the manner that He would have you do. God bless!

Where is the Fighter?

Does anyone remember the story of a little boy named David, who lived in a country called Israel and was the caretaker of his father's sheep? Sure we do, this was King David. The one that defeated giants, ruled the kingdom in righteousness and was such a great king that every king after him was compared to him. But I want us to focus in way before he was all those things; to the time when he was just a boy.
This boy, David, most likely had absolutely no idea as to what would be his future. He simply knew one thing, he loved the Lord! It's not hard to read the psalms he wrote and not picture him sitting out in the field in the stillness of the night, gazing upon the beautiful stars as his heart flowed with the presence of God. I can see him as he falls asleep thinking and meditating on God. His heart was a heart after God's own heart. He had a relationship with the Lord, unlike many ever experience. He did not worry about fitting in, he wasn't concern about being labeled a religous finatic he was in love with the God of all the universe!
This love is what fueled the "fighter" within him. What do I mean? Take a look at 1 Samuel 17 and you will find out. This boy wasn't concerned about popular opinion in any way. Our modern day evangelists and preachers could take some lessons from little David. As he heard Goliath shouting profanities against the one true God, David knew that he had to take action. He was not going to stand by and let his God's name being trampled like that.
Today we fight a different enemy, although the same enemy we fight fueled the one David fought. Our enemy is called the devil. This enemy is at work today with extra force. He has turned the nation of the United States from a Christian nation, to a nation that has almost completely forgotten about God. He slowly began to creep into the church, bringing the standard of the church down ever so slightly over time until finally you can no longer tell the church from the world for the most part. Our concerts are the same; our services have changed from preaching the Word of God to telling jokes; the church is no longer the house of prayer, it is the house of comedy! The saddest thing of all, it is our fault. The devil can't defeat us unless we let him. God help us see this!
Here's my question though: Where is our Fighter? Where is that within us that rises up when we see the name of our Lord defiled? Where is the stirring within our souls that cries out to advance the kingdom of God and show the nations that they are but men (Psalm 9:20)? It is clear that if we were stirred, bothered, concerned or moved in any way by the state of the church that we would most certainly begin to pray and cry out for God to move through us in a mighty way! We may not have any physical Goliaths to fight against today, in fact we are told that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but our warfare is spiritual (2 Cor. 10:1-4).
I say we come back to our first love. I say let's come back to the place where we have a heart after God's own heart; where his desires are first in our lives; where what hurts him, hurts us and what pleases him pleases us. God help us today to realize there needs to be a fighter in us to rise up and fight against sin, wickedness and all the evil the devil will try and bring our way. You may be the next David, you may be called upon to gather the stones from the brook and sling it at the enemy; but you must first fall in love with the Lord before ever being stirred enough to step out by faith. God bless!