Greetings,
". . . and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord."
do you know this account? Joshua and Israel were taking over the promised land. God was for them, and helping them. The Gibeonites knew that no one would defeat them, so they lied about who and where they were. And they got Joshua and Israel to agree to peace. Now God is omnipresent and omniscient. In these two things the child of God can trust God that He knows the right choices, paths and life and He has gone before us to secure that. Therefore when we come to a verse like this one, it is foolish not to seek the Lord's counsel and know what He would have us to do. It is found in the life of the Christian that they not forsake the Lord's will and way. And if there is no counsel from the Lord, then wherein does the counsel come from? Self or Satan?
David, when fighting the Philistines, stopped and sought the Lord of whether he was to go fight. The first time he was allowed to go fight; the second time, he had to wait till the wind blew through the mulberry trees.
When God was calling Saul to him, He used Ananias to go and direct him in his ways to the Lord. And when God called Ananias, he replied, 'Lord, what would you have me to do?' Asking counsel of the Lord is the asking of this question that Ananias asked. And to be content and obedient to what the Lord says is every child of God's privilege and responsibility.
ARe you seeking the counsel of the Lord? Are you hearing from Him? Or are you guilty of not asking the counsel of the Lord? We all may agree that we know we should seek and ask the counsel of the Lord. But then why or how does one who knows that they should, not seek the counsel of the Lord. Somewhere along the line they break away from the Lord. They seek the counsel of men or of their of their own heart. Now this is the sin of humanism. And generally, you may find the answer to why and how in the secret prayer closet. They stopped praying and having communion and fellowship with the Lord and the voice of the Lord stopped being heard and listened to.
When the counsel of the Lord is not asked nor sought, men will answer for themselves. False prophets will say, 'the Lord told me' but the Lord answers, 'I neither spoke to them nor revealed to them. They make it up out of their own heart.' When one comes before the Lord to ask counsel, he must be ready to stay until the answer is given. When the remnant of Judah sent Jeremiah the prophet to ask counsel of the Lord, of whether to go down into Egypt, after ten days the Lord spoke. but the people had already made up their minds, they was going to do what they was going to do. And it was sin and evil unto the Lord.
The church is learning and practicing humanism at a rapid place. Spouses, jobs, future, leaders are being sought out of the wisdom of men, rather than the asking counsel of the Lord. and in these most important days, it is absolutely necessary to hear the word of the Lord. May we get back to hearing the voice of the Lord and obeying it. May we stay much with Him, til He speaks and then we know that we are found in the ways of the Lord rightly. But may it not be said of us, we 'asked not counsel of the Lord.'
PRAYER TARGETS:
Epidemics:
1. Drugs - deaths are lessening, I believe in great numbers; However, use and acceptance in our nation is all but across the board. Plans to fight drug addiction with drugs is all but sealed. Legalizing and providing addiction will be norm.
2. Cancer - great afflictions; more brothers & sisters in the church diagnosed and continued surgeries, treatments upon just about every family that I know. Wide spread plague.
3. Great Evil - school shootings; police officers shot and killed, street killings and murder-suicides have all very quiet; Recent news reported man was building 200 pound bomb to set off on election day. It makes you wonder, just how Satan is plaguing the minds and hearts with evil in such remote people and places. Must always be vigilant and continue with this prayer of 'deliver them from evil'. since there has been such a long absence, increase should be set to happen in near future, or for the remainder of this month.
4. LGBT - battles have been won and lessened within courts; But do not look at this as over. The perversion, abominations and evil of this plague upon us is in the homes, minds and hearts of the majority as acceptable and the new norm. This seed has been planted and will escalate into complete fruition in the near future of 10 years. Only an act of God to purge and rid us of this evil is of any means of destroying this which is perverting our entire nation.
5. Children - the perversion, abuse, neglect upon this next generation is as sad and horrible as ever recorded. Such a high percentage, upwards of 80 - 90 % of all children have been sexually, physically abused and neglected. Crimes, reports, headlines are continuous to remind us that one by one they have been taken and defiled. A prayer to cover, deliver and protect is absolutely necessary.
6. Natural Disasters - devastation of hurricanes has continued on east and south coast; wildfires are all up under control now after months of 'record' setting.
Where are we?
Severe moments in these epidemics are always happening. If not one, then another, to provoke us to understand of the severe judgements on us. But despite these judgements, the church largely dismisses them. Thus, there is no urgency to respond. The understanding of our crisis and dilemma is all but removed from leadership. Humanism is their choice, 'they will remedy it' and 'do ministry'. Not realizing that Ichabod is upon us. We are in sore travails right now. Souls are at stake, crisis hour is upon lives and the church lumbering along as if its norm. Therefore I fear that a greater calamity is near to shake us again. We haven't responded; my pleas are all but rejected and dismissed as 'accusatory' or 'harsh'. Sin and its judgement still remain and we are left to know that God is going to make us answer severely.
I believe in the quietness of these days from judgements, that there will be another major national calamity that will shake us. It is God's desire that we recognize our plight and respond accordingly. Moments of gathering by so many groups could easily do this. However, their agenda presses priority rather than God's. Great need to remind the church of how far we have fallen and what is required in confession, repentance and restoration of holiness upon God's house. SBC has rejected the reality of our prayerlessness and thus it will continue and more than likely deepen. But the worst of this is, that being prayerless, God cannot and will not respond in answered prayers, souls, revival etc. Only does these things come, when God's people approach unto Him and stay. and the one consolation is that there is a remnant doing it, but oh, how it needs to deepen. We have pushed the 'longsuffering' attribute of God to the limit and are in serious danger of wrath. Time is not a luxury but a urgent awareness of what's at stake for our future.
UPDATE:
--bible reading has started again; up through Exodus 15; simply finishing word studies of 'put'; 'all the "P" words; and combinations of actions, for example - hear and see - H&S; go and find - G&F;
--the Activity of God - Joshua; up through chapter 12;
--A Word - none thus far in OCtober - not good at all;
--sermons from sunday are streamed live and then uploaded to youtube page;
--SErmonindex Conference was good; many asked me what I thought, and I would answer, 'Its good, but its not great'. meaning that the church was ready, the speakers brought a good word and the remnant was encouraged and blessed. But not breakthroughs at that moment, which would have made it 'great'. I'm always looking for the impact and shift in histroy because someone prevailed. Heaven rejoiced and hell feared moments is what I consider great.
Greg is uploading the sessions and the individual speakers messages.
--Prayer Link met and did not use, nor consider, nor look at any of the work I did on 'Prayer Life of the SBC'; and "urgency' video.
Until,
dan
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