Greetings,
"What aileth thee?" Judges 18:23, 24
In the midst of such sin by Micah, by the tribe of Dan; this question is put forth. MIcah has made a graven image and copied the things of the priesthood for the Lord God and made them unto himself for his own worship. Seemingly with no regards as to his great offense against the Lord. Then 5 men from the tribe of Dan come and are searching out the land to conquer and gain for their people. They still have not taken the land which the Lord God promised Israel, for they were to drive the inhabitants, but they disobeyed the Lod. And to compound their rebellion and disobedience, they stop and seize the false god, priest and religious items from Micah's house by stealing them. Now Micah and his neighbors arise and pursue the children of Dan and overtake them. and out of this conflict comes the question, 'What aileth thee?"
And it is the same question that should be asked of our own selves. "What ails me?" Now there are 2 levels to this - the physical & the spiritual. The physical is in relationship to 'How are you?' "How's things going?" "What's wrong with you?" meaning physical issues or temporal, carnal things around us in our lives.
but the spiritual side is the more important question to the church and our nation; 'what ails you?' It is the absence of God; early in this book of Judges a few chapters before this chapter 18 is the account of Samson. And in that we read that awful verse, 'and he wist not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him." And another verse of same message and meaning, 'are not these things come upon us because God is not among us." This same plight of behavior is the reason of the sins of a nation, of the church and the failure of the church to deal with it and the personal lives living in a constant state of forgetting and forsaking God and His ways.
Not just a home here or there of the absence of God, but whole cities and streets; whole families with no Christian to be found among them; yea, 3 generations of grandparents, parents and children/grandchildren without God is among us. Latest stats show the US at an all time high of people not believing in Christianity. Large pockets of agnostics void of any understanding of Who God is or eternity. How can a nation go on like this? What ails you? This is what ails the souls that knows these truths.
Is God able to do something about it? is the power of the Gospel the answer? Of course! but it is ineffective when the Spirit of God needed to empower that Gospel is grieved, quenched, limited, forsaken, resisted. HE withdraws Himself and is limited to the people of God, who need Him the most. (Isaiah 59:1 - 2) And only the recognition of this is an answer to 'what ails us'. Why is this not addressed?
And because time has elapsed greatly, the numbers have multiplied to those evil agendas, evil hearts and we have seen in the headlines and the lifestyles of our society the impact of this reality. How long can a nation go on like this? Not much longer; and it won't be long without a Divine intervention. God must come and restore His church to its true place before the nation can be reached and rescued. Without A Divine visitation from God, only the wrath and judgement of God will be the status of our future.
What ails our nation? - already addressed is the absence of God; but upon that we see the judgements and the fruits of evil on almost every place of life in our nation. The work place, the schools, the streets, the minds and hearts of men and the family life are all reflection of the absence of God. These is rampant increase of abuse, death, disease, broken lives, homes and the very existence of our future is now in jeopardy.
What ails the church? - the church has the answer to all this, but refuses to engage in the absolute necessary repentance needed to restore our place with God and for God. A knowledge of the Holy in His Word, intimacy with Him, prayer and lives of holiness. Too much of the church looks, smells and acts and behaves like the world; there is no distinction of the church and the world. The church must 'come out from among them and be ye separate' unto Him, Who calls us.
What ails me? - Time has elapsed; precious time; needful time in my own life, my own disciplines. Time that cannot be regained, nor replaced. But the realization of this truth is so important. And it is of the greatest need to prevail before time runs out. this is URGENCY, due to the precipice of our plight/ And because of this plight, far too many of our loved ones are one breath away from hell; this reality of them perishing into hell fire for ever and ever should cause FERVENCY in our prayer of pleading for God's Spirit to fall upon us, upon me and empower for the service, and glory of His Name sake. This is a state of EMERGENCY.
There is just over 2 months left in this year. Much is happening, but not all eternally, or spiritually based. And it is necessary to answer this question and to deal with its reality. Finish this year well, that you may start the new year well.
Brethren, "what ails you?"
Prayer Targets:
1. The 6 Epidemics of our society right now:
drugs; natural disasters; abuse and neglect of children; cancer/other plagues; LGBT agenda; & great evil of suicides/homicides/murder-suicides;
2. Persecution of church:
areas - Algeria; China; North Korea; Nigeria; 10/40 window;
3. national unrest in so many nation; Hong Kong; Paris, France; Chile; Turkey/Kurds/Syria; Iran;
4. evil of our day - this is spiritual warfare; the battle for this is found in the mind and heart;
5. earthquakes - last 48 hours has seen a rise in 4.5 earthquakes or greater from 70's to 90's; but still no 7.0 earthquake, long overdue;
6. STD's in US at record increase affecting far more than people want to know; especially in newborns;
7. Washington, DC voting on allowance of decriminalizing prostitution and human trafficking; This would be like all the other abominations to begin to make it a norm in society of acceptance of such perversion and great sin.
8. church - Concert of Prayer first week of each month; fast on first Tuesday of each month; great need for church to be what it is supposed to be in relationship to holiness, faithfulness and righteousness;
Updates:
--bible readings - up through Judges into Ruth and I Samuel; word study - "rise" and all its similarities; already have new word study for next time - "return";
--The Activity of God - Psalms - I've already spent so much time on this book with the unavailable time to stay at it. 5 months and counting; however, I have reached mile stones. I have hit 1/2 way through Bible of my thompson chain; and now I am up to Psalm 118; which is accepted as 1/2 way of chapter through the Bible;
--sermons - sermons are livestreamed on facebook; then uploaded to my youtube page;
--A Word - only a few new verses have been started in Isaiah 60; none finished;
--Concert of Prayer continues each month; first Tuesday of each month is a day of fasting for nation & church; led concert of prayer before WVCSB executive board meeting; they have asked that another concert of prayer be led before WVCSB state meeting Nov. 7; pray for this;
--Upper Ohio Association is looking at starting prayer ministry at the beginning of the year; working on a guide for them for this; meeting in January, 2020;
until,
dan
Started: October 19, 2019
Continued:
Finished:
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