He is Faithful. He is not a man, that He should lie.
It is an amazing gift that few are given: the gift to know His heart. So many of us seek His hands (His protection, deliverance, blessing) or His face (the assurance of His approval); but few dare to ask to know His heart, for it is a heart that breaks as we continually choose death, destruction, and treason.
It is said that those who do not know history, are doomed to repeat it.
He gave us His Word so that we might learn from their examples. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so many of thte prophets are describing a culture just like our own. He sent His prophets to plead with them, and the king would burn the scroll that was written, the high priest would tell him to stop prophecying, and the people would turn on him for speaking such politically incorrect attrocities. They chose death, and their destruction was sever.
And He marvelled that there was none to stand in the gap; none to be a watchman, a burden bearer, or an intercessor.
Our culture is choosing death, and has been choosing death for decades. Apart from direct intervention from our Creator, our choices will continue to lead to death on an even more massive scale. There are numerous nations that have chosen death and not life, but one of the most well documented cases (at least on youtube) is Germany. We have forgotten so much that we would do well to remember.
Praise Dancers: Ballet Magnificate
Praise and Worship Artists:
Praise and Worship Song: You are My Hiding Place
A 1974 interview with Corrie Ten Boom
A monologue based on the life of Corrie ten Boom
A tour through Corrie Ten Boom’s house with its the hidding place
Praise Dancers:
Praise and Worship Artists:
Praise and Worship Song:The Hiding Place
The Hiding Place: a YouTube Movie in 15 parts.
He holds all things in His hands. Even in the midst of a death that a culture has deliberately chosen, He is able to keep His own, those who have chosen Life; for He is faithful, even when we are not. I have found the books, among others, encouraging: America’s Last Call and God’s Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression. You will find the links to them on the right, under related books.
Praise dancers may also be called as His watchmen. Watchmen often are those with whom He has shared His heart, ones who care deeply about those for whom they are watching. Whether on the city wall or from His heavenly dwelling, they are able to see further than most. Read the rest of this entry »
But there are also those heavy burdens, ones that cannot be carried by one person to the end of the journey without a rest.
He calls us to be intercessors, as He is an intercessor, first for our families and those close to us, then for our leaders, His body, His kingdom and Jerusalem.
His intercession is more than a quick mealtime prayer. His sweat, during His prayer in Gethsemane was as great drops of blood. (Luke 22:44) That is an earnest prayer, indeed; that is the prayer of a burden bearer.
Sometimes that burden is for a group of people, a city, a culture, a nation, or His Body. He may call us to study history that we might understand the present, to see its natural consequences. He may call us to be watchmen, to see the burdens and the evils, even those that they have chosen themselves, to warn and prepare for the future in wisdom.
He may call us, as He did the praise dancers of Shiloh, to draw those devasted by the death and destruction of their own choices, and the lawless choices of their culture, into His Truth, His Life and Light. He may call us right into the middle of that death, as He did Jeremiah. But, we will only be His messengers, if we do not allow that death to seep into our own souls.
(Belarus) Maintaining a Pure Heart in a Wicked Age by David Wilkerson, founder of World Challenge based on Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
The narrow Way has two boundaries; so, I believe a word on fear is in order here. It is all too easy to generalize our choices and state that fear is always based on death. That simply is not true.
Solomon describes the beauty of his bride in the Song of Songs. Twice he compares her to an awesome army with banners. That speaks volumes about the value of the army for both the king and his bride.
Notice Corrie Ten Boom’s testimony. The struggle during that time was to choose life, even when death seemed to be smothering the continent of even a breath of hope. That struggle, very often, is not so much with our circumstances, but with our own selves. To thank Him in and for everything, we must admit that we are the created ones, and He is the omnipotent, merciful Creator. We must choose to drop our postion as lord of our own lives, and cease judging the Supreme Judge of the universe. He knows the beginning and the end. He is able to turn all things to good, for those who love Him. He is love and mercy and justice, all the time, even in those times. There are priceless treasures that come only through those times, that are worth it all, if only we will thank Him.
His ways are not our ways. It is not easy to allow another to be our Lord, our King; not even the Lord of all the armies, not even the King of kings. It is not easy to yield our all, not even to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves.
But, when we are rooted and grounded in Him, we know Who He is, who we are, and what our relationship with Him is. When these truths saturate every fiber of our being, we allow Him to be Who He is in our lives and on our behalf. We give Him freedom to do what He longs to do, to grow us into everything that He created us to be.
He teaches us that it is first the natural, then the spiritual. Our spiritual growth will be similar to our natural growth. Just as we started our physical lives as newborns, then grew to be toddlers, children, teens and adults, our spiritual lives will have similar phases. He started by teaching me to be His precious little one, to race up into His embrace. He taught me to be the daughter of His delight, to dance with abandon before Him. He taught me to choose Him, as a friend, as the Lover of my soul. He is preparing His Body, His Bride, to stand with Him, to rule and reign with Him.
We know the last chapter of His Book: He is victorious, but now it is time to occupy until He comes.
Praise Dancers:
Praise and Worship Artists:
Praise and Worship Song: Waging War
We so often think of war as external, but more often, it is internal.
Capturing our thoughts, crucifying our flesh,
Staying on the alter, in the fire, on our knees.
Fearing Him, and not man, circumstances, governments, futures, …
Focusing on Him and not seeking the approval of man
In this war, we learn how much we have to grow, love, joy, peace, patience, self-control….
The struggle for Truth and Freedom.
The struggle to stay on the narrow path, with 2 borders: http://ern-baxter.blogspot.com/2006/04/spirit-and-word-ern-baxter-at.html
It is not an easy struggle; it is a struggle between life and death. http://spiritualtyranny.com/will-to-live-fight-to-die/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgt-lZY2jaU – soldier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jZA-MgYoT0 – Lord You are Good
Grateful
SeekingMyLord shares her experiences Listening for Him in her blog post The Divine Whisperer that I thouroughly enjoyed. Hope you do as well!
May we each grow in our listening and obeying!
