Beginning with the Bridegroom fast in June, (June 6, 7 & 8) the Lord has put an unusual sobriety upon our little house. I’ve not spent so much time on my face since last summer when the Lord led us to pray through Jeremiah. I am accustomed to praying, “Father, give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us.” For the past ten days I’ve been praying, “Father, give Your people a ‘WILL’ to hear what the Spirit saying to us.”

This is what I am hearing Him say: Our evangelical family has wielded violence against our nation. We’ve brought violence into our house and we wield it against our fellow Americans; our neighbors. We’ve attached false prophecy to our hearts while stoning His benevolent judgments. We’ve refused to repent. We smolder with a spirit of rebellion within His courts. We pray “revival”. How shall we receive the increase of His manifest reign if we choose to oppose the Lord’s reign in our own lives?

“23 The land is full of murder and the city is full of violence. 24 …I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. 25 Terror is coming! They will seek peace, but find none. 26 Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!” (Ezekiel 7:23-27)

Just like the church in Laodicea, we’ve grown so dull to the Spirit of the Lord, we’re not even perceiving a severe judgment like this; a pronouncement that all heaven is acutely aware of.

“18…anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:18-19)

If we did understand it, a great sound of weeping and lament would overtake everyone of our conferences, our social media accounts, our gatherings and prayers. Instead, our silence testifies to our numb spirit.

The judgment of the Lord has come to American evangelicalism in the very same way that the prophet Nathan came to David in (2 Samuel 12). The prophet’s words to the king have parallel application to our own house in America…

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! (This indictment is directed at you!) Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.

The enormous difference between the (2 Samuel 12) narrative and our own is that unlike David, our American evangelical family is turning Nathan away. We don’t even care to hear his words.

Questions:
1. If we, turn Nathan away, what will be our outcome? If David listened to Nathan, repented and still received two-thirds of the punishment apportioned to him, what happens to a people who care nothing for the prophetic analyses, and do not repent to the Lord?

For the last two weeks, (even before we had a sense of the Lord’s heaviness in this) our house of prayer has been praying from Hebrews 12. “25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. 26 For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25-26)

2. How do we continue to plead for the Lord to bring His reign to our nation while we ourselves “refuse Him Who is speaking on earth”? (Hebrews 12:25)

3. Are not the judgments of our King just and true and righteous?
7 “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.” (Revelation 16:7)

4. Is there not great security to be found in boldly approaching His throne of grace? Even if we want to justify our hostility against our nation how do we reconcile doing this while not first and primarily humbling ourselves and our own sins and infidelities before the God of all righteousness?

This is how I am praying for us as a people: I’m praying for Humility, contrition, and repentance in the fear of the Lord. Humility, contrition, and repentance in the fear of the Lord is the essential way forward in this hour.

Humility. Contrition. Repentance. And the fear of the Lord.

This is what we should wish to come upon us as a people.

____________________

JSB • June, 17, 2022