Do you hear the death knell ringing? It is ringing loud and steady! Do you know why? Because. . .
"And there is none that calleth upon Thy Name, that stirreth up Himself to take hold of Thee: for Thou hast hid Thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities." Isaiah 64:7
This is definitely not the most popular verse in the Bible, nor in this chapter. It is amazing how many times in prayer meetings and other sharing that they will gladly quote verse 1:
"Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy Presence."
But by the time you get to verse 5, there is the testimony of confession that bears the problem. God would be glad and desires to pour out HIs Spirit upon men and be glorified to the highest on the earth. However, when men pray verse 1 and ask for Him to come down. God replies, "I can't come down; for if I come down I will consume you in a minute becasue of your iniquities."
It is easy to pray verse 1, but if we don't know God, then we don't understand why He won't come down. His holiness, righteousness, and judgment is pure and perfect. And upon wicked men and those that have rejected Him, His anger is hot. Just as His Own people, the chidlren of Israel, constantly provoked Him in the wilderness after seeing the great plagues and marvellous deliverance in the Red Sea. They provoked Him to anger and He came so close to consuming them instatnly, if it was not for Moses interceeding.
And in mirror fashion, the church is in the same place today. We have provoked the Lord, even though these lessons of history and His Word have shown us. We have continued in lesser fashion of 'pursuing after HIm' becasue we have sold our hearts to other things than Him and His ways. If He were to come down, it would not be to bring His manifest Presence as is so often prayed, but it would be to consume us.
Sin is sin in the eyes of the Lord. And although we evaluate sin in decrees, the Lord does not. We see God's response to sin all throughout the Bible. He cursed and judged Adam and Eve and the snake right on the spot for their disobedience. He judged Cain and set a curse upon him for killing his brother. He consumed the world for their sin by the flood. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for the increase of evil there. And what shall we say for the heathen? for His Own people, Israel? for kings, for prophets, for individuals? God's wrath waxes hot against those that choose sin and embrace it.
We know these truths, therefore we should be the much more moved to 'stir ourselves up' to see sin put down and His Name lifted up. His Name, Jesus, means to 'save from sin'. Yet, in this nation, which is more used on a daily basis - Jesus Name being used to save from sins; or Jesus Name being taken in vain? God has been longsuffering, patient and kind toward us. We have received bountifully of His mercy, grace and favor. And where much is given, much is required. Oh, how far short I have fallen, you have fallen and the church has failed.
Seeking to correct this, let us look at this verse 7 and respond to it appropriately.
We are in major crisis mode. The issue of same sex marriage will now come to the Supreme Court and a ruling will be passed down. These two rulins could make same sex marriage the law of the land. And just as abortion was made the law of the land in 1973; and 1963 removed the Bible from public schools, so this would be death knell for our nation.
The response of the church must be above that which is at stake. I do not believe that most in the church understand the weight of this matter for our future generations and the state of our nation and the church.
Therefore:
1. The need must be presented and shared of how great a danger this is for our time.
You do not have to convince people in the Intensive Care Unit to pray, they will pray becasue of the urgency of the hour and moment. The church must know how severe God's anger is with us, current judgments and His Word that has declared these truths. The people must know that, as the church, do know to do better, we must do better. We will have to answer for these days of what we did or what we failed to do.
This means that we will have to play catch up to a generation of people who have avoided and forgotten the importance of God's people in God's Word. The numbers are staggering at those who have failed to read the Bible throguh once, in the pulpits and in the pews. They do not know God's Word which addresses these times as a nation that legalizes sin, as the church who fails to fight against sin and individuals who embrace apathy toward sin.
2. Proper response by the church is to match the urgency of this hour
We must realize that there is no pwoer of man to fight or undo this evil. Our only hope is in the Lord. A proper understanding of God's benevolence needs to be taught, explained and relied on in prayer and worship and adoration of the Lord. Knowing His power, HIs attributes, His Word of promises will make us to have great faith that 'there is nothing too hard for our Lord'. To struggle in our flesh to fight this will only give place to a defeated spirit, quitting the fight and allow for Satan to take the battle field.
The proper response is that time must be spent and given to coming before the Lord. A continual cycle of prayers, fasts, tears and pleading with the Lord must be engaged by the church. Those that have no such times on a weekly basis, must begin; those that have limited time, must increase time double or four-fold; and those that are engaged continaully must continue with an ever deepening urgency and desperation.
A proper response is found in undoing the condemnation pronounced in this verse 7:
--'there is none that calleth upon Thee' - the remedy then is that we immediately begin to call upon Him; learn to address HIm properly; learn to speak properly to the Lord God Almighty; And to be able to say at the end of it, 'there is none'. . oh yes, I am calling upon Him. Whether any one else in your church, family or location lifts up their voice to call upon Him, YOU be faithful to do it.
--'that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee' - Jacob wrestled with the angel because Esau was coming and his life and the life of his family was in jeopardy. We are in exactly the same point. And unless we stir ourselves up to take hold of the Lord God Almighty there will be no prevailing with Him for our family and future generations. It is on us, here and now.
And to those who will not stir themselves up, I must ask why and know why they would ever allow something so wrong to be allowed or permitted. For if you are not going to watch my back, fight beside me, you are as useless to the body and as dangerous to the body as Judas was to the apostles.
Now there may be some unstirred, becasue of ignorance. They don't know, therefore we must explain and show them why this is crucial.
There may be some that they are unstirred because their priorities are wrong. They are more into self and their own agenda. These too are dangerous, becasue they are putting the world first. And I John warns us, 'that love of the world is enmity against God'. chose which side you are on.
But if they are unstirred becasue of apathy, these are the cowards and spineless jelly fish that allows for hell to advance. They care nothing for the Lord's Name be honored and revered. They are guilty and dangerous to any advancement of the church because they will always seek to undo the labors of the body that is stirred up.
Stirring ourselves up before the Lord is to keep it always before us. Praying it through all the way. Saturated with His Presence and carrying this burden constantly before Him for His mercy. 'In wrath remember mercy O Lord'.
--'For Thou hast hid Thy face from us' - A constant statement in the Bible is 'seek My face'. Yet, the truth is here for us today, 'we stopped seeking God's face a long time ago. And becasue we do not seek His face, the Lord turns His face away from us. We cannot allow for this to be the norm anymore. A declaration of this truth must be presented to the church to stir yourself up and seek His face. It is found in II Chronicles 7:14 which is so often quoted and prayed, 'If My people which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, prayer and seek My face. . . '
God's response is in direct proportion to His people. If you drawn night to Me, then I will draw night to you; if you abide in Me, then I will abide in you; if you turn to Me, I will turn to you; and IF YOU SEEK MY FACE, I WILL RETURN TO YOU. This is directly related to our response.
Do you understand this truth?
Are you applying this truth?
A full explanation and demonstration of this must be given on this truth to the people.
--'And has consumed us' - this truth I have given in my 'Seven Levels of Judgment'. We have seen the beginning of God consuming us as a people. The afflictions of His judgment on the land was a pre-cursor for what was to come. Now we are in the middle of level #6 where lives are being lost and a generation is being consumed. We see disease becoming more prevalent in taking lives. We see pestilence in small numbers consuming people. We see natural disasters killing and taking lives by the dozens. We see a greater loss of life in drug overdoses, (I have no number for this) but easily in our nation this would have to run into the 1000's. WE see murder-suicides on the increase and scores of people beign affected by this. The Lord's word is true and He has become to consume us.
And note the evil of men that allowed for abortion to become the law of the land. This number is not in the dozens, or hundreds or 1000's; but this number is in the millions and continuing. Millions!! Over 50 million in 40 years. That is an entire generation consumed. And the drug overdoses has the potential to be the second catalyst that removes another generation under the age of 40 years old.
--'Because of our iniquites' - God explains Himself to us. He does not have to, but He does so; so that the root cause of Him consuming us can be identified, corrected, repented of and abhorred. The full knowledge of sin must be detailed to the church for where we are. Confession and explanation to the church must be given of the following sins:
-Peronsal sin;
-Corporate sins of family and church;
-National sins;
-Generational sins;
There are many 'helps' and resources at there to identify specific sins and how to address confession and repentance.
Oh God! rend the heavens and come down. But come down to purge us from our sins and not to consume us in our sins. Do you see the difference? Do you know these truths?
Brethren, the death knell is ringing. You are summoned to respond. Your reaction and actions will dictate your heart and relationship with the Lord God Almighty. You care not for yourself, that is fine. but do you care for your family and loved ones? The little chorus, 'Do you really care?' is an appropiate song to sing for the church today.
Let this word go forth and be presented to every pastor, church, and prayer group. Let set times of fasting, prayer, and gathering be initated immediately within the next week. Let us begin to work together to accomplish a proper response to this crisis. Let us undo the condemnation of this verse on us today!
I wait to hear from you.
until,
dan biser
rdbiser@live.com
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