This morning I’m struck by the thought of how much more tight and compounded our little world and our rhetoric is today than it was just a year ago. I’m also moved by great desire for our minds to be pierced by the light of God’s eternal revelation and truth. Let me explain:
Those who have spent little time over the last year(s) humbling ourselves before God have ensconced ourselves in self-justification, two and three layers deep. We’ve developed “theologies” and “narratives” that keep our hearts in the “snow-globe” of unrighteousness, rather than letting the Holy Spirit shatter our paradigms and take the plow to the (Isaiah 40:3-5) whole of our ways. In 2021 we’ve now repudiated alternative media sources, and plugged into those that reenforce our world-view, we’ve unfriended FB friends who won’t think like us, and dine and gather with spiritual heroes and their assemblies who will tell us of the nobility of our common cause and the valiant nature of our brand of morality. We listen for catch-phrases that denounce the right issues and people. We use the right buzz-words to prove that we’re a part of the gang.
We’re in what social psychologists call “echo-chambers”, and all the more prone to engage in “group-speak” – meaning, we say it and believe it because we hear others around us say things that reenforce our world-view. (Historically speaking, group-speak and echo-chambers are notoriously poor at nourishing the ways of righteousness.) This is all instead of giving ourselves to the thorough work of cultivating ears that learn to hear and live-out convinced, illuminated, Holy Spirit informed truth.
Family of God, all the more, I hear the Spirit calling us to the place of Psalm 27 prayer in “the time of trouble”. In the storm of belief and opinion that’s mounting on the earth, we, His people must anchor ourselves to the place where we seek His face, prioritize one thing, behold Him in His beauty, and inquire in His temple, until He “proves” from the scriptures where we are, and how He’s calling us to trust Him, day-by-day.
If we do not pray, we will see neither our need nor our God aright, and in an hour of cascading confusion and tribulation we will not give ourselves to Him as we ought.
Particularly, we must not be deceived by the people around us who will rage against the storm. We must understand that the Lord isn’t about salvaging ourselves, our church experiences, or our nation. We must become scholars about the fact that what’s happening in our world is not primarily about us at all.
It’s about Who’s coming; Who’s at our doorstep; Who’s shaking our world; our circumstances and our hearts – and then learn to tremble at His greatness. He’s a Bridegroom returning for His Bride who’s making herself ready – for HIM!
He’s a King Who’s coming to establish His Kingdom on the earth. He’s a Judge who will execute real human beings who oppose Him and the way He will choose to rule our world. (Psalm 2:12)
This is no hour to spend 95% of our time feeding on news articles (and friends’, pundits’, prophets’ and teachers’ interpretations of news articles) and asking, “What do I need to do to strengthen my barn?” (Luke 12:18) This is an hour to cultivate a holy gaze upon the One we say we trust (Psalm 2:12), and ask “What must I do to be in line with the sure transfer of power, and the increase of the Man’s approaching government? What must I do to align my mind, heart, life and soul to the Father’s promise to give His Son a Kingdom? How do I do life? How do we do Church? How do I relate to our world, my family, and especially my enemies?”
Jesus said: “Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mark 8:35)
In this hour, don’t look for the preacher and the ministry that will teach you how to “save your life”. Look for the people of God who are on the pilgrimage to learn how to lay their life down and give everything up to the worthiness of the perfect Leader Who is coming.
He is our light of truth and saving focus, beloved. And the tempest around us is God’s tempest. It is His refining pressure to secure our hearts to His sufficient strength; the intimate strength that has the peace-filled capacity to see us through the tumult and into the Lord’s reign of righteousness.
At the same time, the tempest threatens to move many of us off our mark with a near-endless list of issues to intoxicate our hearts: pandemics, masks, racial issues, liberties, elections, prophecies, etc.
Does this mean these issues are not important? Quite the contrary. They are extremely important. But unless we’re in the Word and in cross-applying prayer we won’t see how the Lord is wielding these issues to perfectly purge and purify the Bride for His Son. Practically speaking, this means that we don’t look for winning arguments for the church to stay open that bear no cross nor engage in no prayer. It means… • we don’t lodge theories about COVID… • we don’t respond to the proliferation of LGBTQ transgenderism confusion… • we don’t give ourselves to the problem of racial injustice, (much less an argument that says there is no racial injustice)… • we don’t take up the cause of becoming a righteous nation… • we don’t even seek to end abortion… • we do not champion prophecies, promises of revival, political hopes, or success in the Church… …if they don’t have a cross, the humility of prayer and the incarnation of Christ attached to them.
The crossless way is the devil’s way. The way of little prayer is the “broad way that leads to destruction”. (Matthew 7:13)
In the intensity of judgement, above all else we need the close, Word-speaking presence of Jesus in our lives. That’ll take more than sentiment and clever FB memes. It’ll require the long, deep way of corporate prayer, cultivating spirits that respond to His voice, and a lifestyle of bearing our cross. Without these realities forged into our lives we’re trying to work a system that will not work. We should expect no light, no consolation and no revival in the days ahead.
“Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:9-12)
The scripture above is more than holy story-telling. It is Spirit. Truth. Power. The passage itself comprises the very first sermon we hear in the New Testament. It’s the message through which the Lord chose to pierce the mind-set of His own people and inject His new order into Israel, and then the whole world. It’s the message the Lord is speaking to us today, to graciously break the people of God out of our myopia, and into the eternal mind-set of our coming Lord.
Father, speak Your Word into our lives. We agree with Jesus. “Sanctify us in Truth. Your Word is Truth!”
Beloved, our family has ingested a great poison. And now, in an hour of great trouble, the body of Christ in America is feverish with a crippling disease.
The Lord, Who is attentive to our condition, has seen it in His people thousands of times throughout history. He sees what we rally for. He sees where we pin our hope for social change. He sees what we vehemently defend. He sees what determines who we feel most threatened by. He sees who we champion. He sees what stirs and preoccupies our heart. He sees what we turn a blind eye to. He sees where we seek to find refuge for ourselves, and others. The Lord sees it all, and He calls it “idolatry”(1).
Idolatrous, political nationalism is the “judaeizing” issue of our generation, and a great corrupting condition that threatens the vitality and mandate of American evangelicalism in 2021.
I’m using the phrase “Idolatrous, political, nationalism” intentionally, because I believe it to be the most accurate description of the symptoms.
IDOLATROUS because it describes our behavior in light of God’s Word. Regardless of how much religious verbiage we attach to our political engagement, where we inordinately hang our faith for Kingdom impact upon the attainment of political power, (even to the point of becoming willing to compromise the constitution of Jesus’ Kingdom values to gain this political power) we’re proclaiming another, insufficient gospel.
POLITICAL because it describes the dynamic means (legislation, executive orders, laws, democratic majority, constitutional process etc.) by which we hope to gain what we’re seeking.
And NATIONALISM is the cult-narrative; it’s the way we tell our story; understand what we’re fighting for; what we’ve “lost”; who our enemies, allies and heroes are.
In May of last year, after 180 days of focused “inquiring of the Lord”, the Lord showed our House of Prayer that in the “trouble” that was raging around us, many leaders in the body of Christ would seek shelter under the towering promises of political nationalism. Then He gave us two signs to sternly warn us that this pursuit would lead to destruction.
The first sign was an actual manifestation of the vision He’d shown us four weeks earlier. On June 4, 2020, the Washington Monument was struck by lightning.
Then, in August, 12 weeks after the dream, in the very week that He said He would, the Lord abruptly brought down the president of America’s largest evangelical university, founder of a prominent nationalist think-tank, and one of the first evangelicals to uncircumspectly endorse our former president.
The Lord was carrying out His sentence against those of His own house who were making political nationalism their refuge in an hour of His judgement.
For the record, political power and national pride have a bad track-record for delivering the people of God from “the time of trouble” (Psalm 27:5), much less preparing them to be “the wife of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9). Throughout history, scores of false prophets and crooked counselors have encouraged the people of God to embrace political solutions to their nation’s spiritual crises. Nowhere do we find God encouraging His people to address their spiritual crises by increasing their appetite for political power. No where. When we do, He swiftly calls our pursuit for what it is: adultery.
Nonetheless, with no Biblical precedent to draw upon, in spite of numerous Divine warning signals, amidst the wreckage of their own failed predictions, and against respectful rebuttal from fellow ministers of the gospel, many evangelical leaders are, even at this hour, directing millions in the body of Christ to continue to eat their fill of political nationalism.
One of the most brash and flamboyant of these leaders, is a man who teaches no cross, cares for no flock himself, repeatedly prophesies falsely, castigates saints who don’t subscribe to his conspiracies as “sheeple” and “nut-jobs”, and in an hour of tribulation seems to have as his central intent: to keep the affections of a confused Bride upon the carnal rule of another. This is what he had this to say to his half-million followers this past week:
“I noticed something last night. Now that Donald Trump has been censored and silenced on social media, we have no voice, vehicle or mechanism with power through which to push back or protect ourselves. Trumps absence has created a huge void with no agreed to Christian leader or organization to fill the space. Isaiah 44 said “Cyrus is My Shepherd.” In the government arena he was our defender and protector of religious Liberty. What happens to the flock when the shepherd is struck? Jesus told us- it scatters… I personally think God has Donald Trump on hold while we (the Church) catch up to him. Imagine what happens when Trump and an awakened church line up?”
Trump is our “shepherd”??? He is “the voice” of the Church in America? Thousands of our family members agree with this man’s analysis???
Beloved, this is case-in-point. This is the harlotry. This is what taking shelter under the Washington Monument looks like; this, and referring to 2021 as the year 1776, and continuing to call for political insurrection while castigating pastors and leaders who appeal for prophetic integrity. It’s a sign of God’s judgement that so much of our family has been infected by this blatantly idolatrous spirit. It’s become a spiritual poison in our body; one that our King is perfectly intent on purging from His people before He returns.
From what the Lord showed us in May 2020, I believe continuing to eat of the fruit of political nationalism will result in the cutting off of as much as a third of the body of Christ in America… people, friends and colleagues who seemingly have their orthodox theology in order, who nonetheless push through judgment after judgement; sign after sign; living in deep delusion today, thinking they’re walking in God’s supernatural power; perhaps even to only arrive at the soul-shattering confrontation in (Matthew 7:22-23): “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me…’”
In Matthew 24 Jesus purposefully warns us about false prophets and false teachers precisely because they will be deceptive, and in-and-of ourselves, we have no capacity to perceive their falsehood. We’re dependent upon the intimate counsel of the Word-speaking Holy Spirit.
This is how He counseled the nation of Judah in an hour when they too had grown blind to their departure from the ways of the Lord.
ISAIAH 1:4-9 4 Oh, sinful nation, people weighed down with guilt, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him. 5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The entire head is sick and the entire heart is faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing healthy in it. Only bruises, slashes, and raw wounds; not pressed out nor bandaged, nor softened with oil. 7 Your land is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire… 8 As for your fields, strangers are devouring them in front of you. It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. 9 If the Lord of hosts had not left us a very small remnant, we would be like Sodom; we would be like Gomorrah.
Until we agree with these words we will continue to be sick (1:5), and not sound (1:6). We will be like Sodom (1:9). Our assemblies and our strategies will be futile (1:13) – they will continue to weary the Lord (1:14) and provoke the Holy One of Israel (1:14).
In our toxic condition we have 2 options: 1. We can seek His face, and reason together with Him (1:7) re the deep nature of our sickness (1:5) or 2. We can allow the poison to remain in our system; refuse to bind up our wounds (1:6); continue in desolation (1:7); and be devoured and removed from the land (1:7).
Should we choose the Isaiah 1 option, Psalm 38 is our remedy and our recovery program.
PSALM 38 1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure! 2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply, and Your hand presses me down. 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin… 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5 My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness. 6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long… 7 For my loins are full of inflammation, and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart. 9 Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You… 10 My heart pants, my strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me. 11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my relatives stand afar off… 12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me; those who seek my hurt speak of destruction, and plan deception all the day long. 13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth… 14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no response. 15 For in You, O Lord, I hope. You will hear, O Lord my God. 16 For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me, lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.” 17 For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me. 18 For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. 19 But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong; and those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied… 20 Those also who render evil for good, they are my adversaries, because I follow what is good. 21 Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me! 22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
Let me say it again. Praying in the spirit of Psalm 38 is the only way American evangelicalism will be washed and sanctified from her idolatrous ways. Making these kind of face-seeking, heart-rending, soul-baring encounters the “next normal” in our church gatherings, our zoom meetings, and our family dialogue, is the only way the poison that’s in our culture will be purged. Furthermore, it’s also the only way we’ll experience revival in our generation.
The only way American evangelicalism will purge the poison of political nationalism from our system is to make praying Psalm 38 our “next normal”.
Friends, if your favorite teacher isn’t leading you into these dynamics; if their prophecies failed this past year, and you don’t hear them humbling themselves, repenting of their corruption, and aiming at a rending of the heart in the fear of the Lord, it’s time to find a new favorite teacher. I’m serious.
It takes supernatural revelation and faith to press through the flurry of distractions and see that radical transparency and vulnerability before the Lord is the pathway in this transitional hour. Many are. Many will – even as the judgements intensify. Indeed, as my friends Samantha and Tom Stolz observe, it will ultimately take seven bowls, seven trumpets and seven seals for many to see. But this is how committed the Father is to enflame hearts into first-commandment love and fidelity to His Son.
Whether we’re ready for them or not, these purging, thlipsis, judgements are already doing His perfect, gracious and holy work in our family. In the words of John the Baptist, “Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:10)
Though neither His rewards nor His wrath are yet fully revealed, they will be manifest in a hot minute. Now is the hour to get out of all forms of idolatry and self-justification. This is the hour to deny ourselves the dopamine distraction of the next layer of conspiracy theories and singularly fix our gaze on the increase of our Bridegroom’s exaltation. This is what David means in Psalm 2:12 when he says: “Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” – to yield our well-worn ways to His purging regimen, and let the Holy Spirit steadfastly cleanse us of our deadly ways.
Beloved, idolatrous, political nationalism is a fatal condition. Time will not heal it in our body. Imagining things will settle down and get back to an old normal is a strategy of the enemy to get us to normalize our dire condition. Only boldly entering into the Lord’s truth and grace (Hebrews 4:16) will remove it from us.
And this is the good news. This condition is well within the Father’s reach of mercy. He is not disturbed. He is not shaken. He’s not perplexed. He’s supremely and joyfully confident in the power of His Word to wash us, and prepare us for His Son’s return.
“And this is the good news. This condition is well within the Father’s reach of mercy.”
On top of that, if we were to engage the Lord in this vigorous honesty – I believe the new fidelity in our ways would also set a passionate flame in the belly of the Church that would sweep across our spiritually dry nation like a wild-fire driven by a hot, July wind.
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19)
But we must come to Him for this chastening work. We must resist the incessant temptation to fashion self-protective arguments and false worlds that keep us from seeing ourselves as we really are. Just as the seven Churches in Revelation needed to agree with the Lord’s judgements over them, we must look into His pure Face through His Word; as a mirror – accept His diagnosis, and let Him lead us into the perfect way of liberty.
Yes, the Lord is gloriously faithful, and through the heat of tribulation He will have a Bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish (Ephesians 5:27) – but the personal, bothersome part of the question; the part He’s confronting us each individually with today is “will He have YOU?”
Here are a couple of lists to help us identify idols and idolatrous behavior in our lives:
7 (Objective) UNIVERSAL CHARACTERISTICS OF IDOLS 1. Idols tempt us to exalt self.
2. Idols tempt us to compromise with unrighteousness and develop a special dispensation of grace/ anointing that allows individuals and people groups to operate outside of the standards of God’s Word.
3. Idols argue against the wisdom of the cross, and oppose the way of the crucified life.
4. Idols tempt us to carnal (often sexual) lust for power and things of the earth (1 John 2:16)
5. Idols inevitably call for absolute uncircumspect allegiance. Questioning or disagreeing with the idol, or those who are enthroning the idol is resoundingly forbidden.
6. Furthermore, idols incite hostility, intolerance and condemnation toward those who do oppose the idol. Often those who question the idol, or don’t worship the idol are furiously denounced, rejected and turned into “enemies”.
7. Idols obscure and diminish the glory of God, and detract from the pursuit of intimate love for God, and the pure trust of His holy ability.
8 (Subjective) QUESTIONS TO HELP US DISCERN IF WE’RE ENGAGING IN IDOLATROUS BEHAVIOR 1. Where is the bulk of my time, energy, thoughts and resources directed?
2. What type of glory do I most crave? Who do I want it from? Over what issues?
3. What in my world do I most fear, or appears most threatening to me? (Identifying our greatest fear/threat can help us identify what kind of thinking/behavior we’ve developed to help us stay safe from these fears and threats.)
4. To what paradigm or person (parent-type, pastor, prophet, politician etc.) do I look in times of trouble, in order to discover, or bring order to my world?
5. To whom, or to what issues do I give permission to operate independent of scriptural parameters. Where am I giving myself and others permission to suspend the beatitudes for the sake of expediency? (Note: Idols have no power in and of themselves. Their power is a false power; a power of lies. The beauty of the beatitudes are that they rely on God-empowerment to function in a person’s life. If you’re going to operate in meekness, God really has to come through in your life-circumstances. The beatitudes are the idol-busters secret weapon.) Another helpful question here would be, where do I find myself most tempted to operate without humility? In fact, if I find no room for humility re: the presence of idols in my own life, it’s one of the best indicators that I’ve not yet let the Holy Spirit deal with the real idols in my life.
6. Over what issues/relationships do I tend to be most defensive? Where am I engaging in self-justifying behavior?
7. Where do I work most hard to not experience shame in my own life? Over what issues/relationships am I most prone to shaming others?
8. Unto what way of thinking, or to what person or organization do I ascribe a great deal of “infallibility”. With whom am I most tempted to say: “I can trust their word, motives, perspective, wisdom. They won’t steer me wrong.”
PREFACE Around the world the Spirit of God is preparing the Bride of Jesus for His return. One of the chief ways that we can give ourselves to this preparation is to sit under the tutaledge of the Holy Spirit and let Him teach us the ways of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Here are several insights into the nature and the power of the Sermon on the Mount itself.
The Sermon on the Mount is the constitution of Jesus’ government on the earth.
Through this collection of directives from the Lord, we see Jesus’ view of what His Kingdom is to be in this age, and (perhaps clearer than anywhere else in the Bible) we also see visions of what His Kingdom will be like in the next.
The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ call for humanity to live in righteousness. Righteousness is actually a governmental term which literally means “the right order and way of the King”. Righteousness is the government of heaven. It is the way the Trinity relates to each other – so there’s a ton of room for us to grow in the ways of righteousness. It’s also the way we will relate to God and others when Jesus’ Kingdom is fully established in His millenial reign.
The Sermon on the Mount is the new authority structure Jesus is manifesting on the earth, through His body.
The greek word for authority is ἐξουσία (ex-ou-si-a) meaning power and/or authorization. The exousia that Jesus asserts and gives His disciples in (Matthew 28:18-19) is the same exousia that astounds the crowds in the Sermon on the Mount: “the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having AUTHORITY (exousia)” (Matthew 7:28-29)
Every bit of exousia that Jesus entrusts to us is meant to draw humanity into the liberty of living under His Lordship. To say that we want the power to cast out demons, bring down strongholds, heal the sick, evangelize the lost, and release revival in our world, but not live under the authority of His Sermon on the Mount is an insubstantial vision of His Kingdom’s power. If we want to wield the authority that Jesus is extending in Matthew 28:18-19, we must yield to the authority that He’s exhibiting in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. Jesus is looking to establish a Kingdom family, not merely “wow the crowds”.
Revival is about manifesting the order of Jesus’ authority in real human hearts, in our real world. There is no hope for the increase of His government (Isaiah 9:7) that makes the Sermon on the Mount optional. It’s a road that doesn’t exist. If we want the authentic power and presence of God in our lives and communities, we must become people who cultivate Sermon on the Mount lifestyles.
Mike Bickle writes: ”After Jesus’ physical return the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God as people in every nation live out the Sermon on the Mount; love God and walk in love, righteousness and truth! This is what Jesus promises to establish on the earth.”
Our hearts thrill to envision such an atmosphere of glad-hearted, mutual encouragement. “Jesus is Lord” is more than an invitation. (And it is a glorious one…) It’s ultimately good news to a self-destructive, curse-riddled world that needs good leadership.
However, availing ourselves of His perfect leadership, will require we give up the tyranny of our self-imposed, deficient leadership. This will require that we humble ourselves, turn away from the natural way of running our own lives, so that we can appropriate His sufficient way to run our lives. The Bible calls this dynamic, repentance. And it marks the beginning of all movements of godliness throughout human history. Repentance takes this one truth seriously: in order for His glorious government to reign in our lives, our deficient self-government must cede its authority.
One of the most thorough ways we can give ourselves to this transition of government is by dialoguing with the Holy Spirit over the soul-illuminating words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. As we let the Holy Spirit speak phrase by phrase and word by word into our hearts, our self-ways are brought down, and His perfect ways are empowered and enthroned. This is called “pray-reading” the Word of God. This is how the “washing of water by the word” that “sanctifies and cleanses” us actively takes place in our lives. This is how we are refined to become “His glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle… holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26,27)
A WORD OF CAUTION To live by Jesus’ Words in the Sermon on the Mount is to live righteously and build one’s life on the rock of the Lawgiver Himself. Conversely, to dismiss Jesus’ injunctions is to build one’s life on the shifting sands of lawlessness (that naturally exist in all of our hearts) The tragic end for these will be a destroyed life and eternal separation from Jesus’ life-giving leadership. “Everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:26-27)
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22-23)
For this reason, the Lord calls us to be vigilant; to “watch and pray” that we not be deceived, and led astray into lawless thinking and living in ways that minimize the value of the Sermon on the Mount.
“Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these lawless men and fall from your firm grasp on the truth.” (2 Peter 3:17)
PRAY/READING THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT Because our God is a Word-speaking God, He loves to engage us in dialogue. Dialogue with the Holy Spirit is the vital power-source of discipleship, and all human transformation into Christ-likeness. All by ourselves, we have no power to be conformed to the ways and image of Jesus. We need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to achieve this miraculous, transformational work.
How does dialoguing with the Holy Spirit accomplish this?
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit , the One Jesus called “the Helper” (John 15:26), would take the things of Jesus and actually declare them (John 16:13-15) into us. When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and DECLARE it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and DECLARE it to you. (John 16:13-15)
For instance, the Holy Spirit takes the quality of Jesus’ “humility” and He literally speaks this quality into our being. From our human perspective, we understand we are receiving revelation about Jesus, or learning something new about Jesus. But the full truth of the matter is, it is the Holy Spirit Who is shining the light of Jesus in our hearts and illuminating the truth about His qualities and His ways. “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)
Now when God speaks He speaks with perfect power. When He spoke light into nothing, suddenly, just because He spoke a Word, the whole universe came into existence. This is also the way He speaks the qualities of Jesus into the void of our lives when we ask. This is what it means to take up the Word of God and let the Word of God take shape in our lives. Our hearts and our minds come into agreement with what the Holy Spirit is saying, but it is the power of the Holy Spirit’s Word that is forming the Person of Christ within us (Galatians 4:19).
In order for this process to take place in our lives, we must give ourselves to engaging three dynamics: the Word of God, the speaking Word of the Holy Spirit, and the revelation of the Living Word Himself, Jesus Christ. That’s what this simple journal is all about. It’s a tool to focus our attention on the Words of the Sermon on the Mount, through which we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, Who is actively revealing the beauty of Jesus and His ways to our open hearts.
The Sermon on the Mount is actually a string of 55 specific topical injunctions. One helpful way to engage the Holy Spirit in dialogue is to ask questions about each of these dictums, one verse or one thought at a time. By asking the Holy Spirit questions about the written Word of God we are giving our heart and mind to the Holy Spirit’s real, teaching presence, and anticipating that He will do exactly what Jesus promises He will do. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things. (John 14:25-26)
Below are 8 QUESTIONS you can use to stimulate your DIALOGUE with the HOLY SPIRIT as you PRAY/READ through the Sermon on the Mount:
EXAMPLE TEXT: 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
8 DIALOGUE QUESTIONS 1. Holy Spirit, TEACH me about POVERTY OF SPIRIT. What does it mean to be POOR IN SPIRIT ? Just as the disciples came to Jesus and sat at His feet, waiting for the Words that came from His mouth (Matthew 5:1-2) we sit at the feet of the Holy Spirit and consciouslyask for His instruction and illumination. Thank You, for patiently instructing me, Holy Spirit!
2. Where do I feel HUNGRY for the quality of being POOR IN SPIRIT? It’s the Lord’s joy to stimulate our hearts with a hunger and thirst for His righteous ways. (Matthew 5:6) As we engage the Holy Spirit in dialogue we may discover that we already have a longing or zeal for the qualities that He is wanting to instruct us in. This is His work. Our hunger is the Holy Spirit preparing our heart – His classroom, for the impartation of Christ in our lives.
3. What did POVERTY OF SPIRIT look like in JESUS? Because the goal of pray/reading through the Sermon on the Mount is to manifest increased Christlikeness, we need to know what these qualities looked like in Jesus. The Holy Spirit loves to give us insights and revelations of the Person of Jesus.
4. Where in MY LIFE do I need to be POOR IN SPIRIT ? Where do I lack this quality? Where have I grown lax in pursuing the vibrant depth of this quality? This is the question that makes the objective information personal in our life. It also postures our hearts in humility where we can more easily receive the grace of increased Christlikeness. It’s vital that we let the One Who loves us, and sees perfectly circumspectly illumnate our heart, “to see if there be any wicked way in us”(Psalm 139:24)
5. What in me needs to DIE so I can be POOR IN SPIRIT ? This is the question that helps us apply the cross to our lives, killing our old, natural ways, so the character and ways of the Jesus Christ are formed through His resurrection power at work within us. The Holy Spirit is keen to ignite vibrant Christilikeness in our lives and deal the death blow to the hidden ways of unrighteousness.
6. Where have I sinned and TRANSGRESSED the way of the King and not given myself to this Kingdom dynamic: being POOR IN SPIRIT? As you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, be sure to confess them as sin against the good and loving ways of the King. Listen for His voice of truth. Confess what He shows you about where your heart is caught in unrighteousness. Turn yourself and your ways away from these attitudes. Ask the Holy Spirit to make you vigilant in your pursuit. “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and unrighteousness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”(Romans 6:19)
7. What are Your Words of FORGIVENESS to me? Listen for the voice of the King as you express your desire to live under His righteous reign. The enemy loves to keep us in condemnation. This is not for you! If you’ve written down your sin – by all means, also write down the words of forgiveness that the Lord gives to you! This is His pardon to you for your rebellion. Realize that these words of clemency have come at the cost of His own life, and are written in His own blood! The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) The transference of your loyalty is that serious to Him! “Then He says, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” (Hebrews 10:17) “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” (Romans 4:7)
8. Receive the Holy Spirit’s WORD of EMPOWERMENT to walk in POVERTY OF SPIRIT As we mentioned above, in (John 16:13-15) Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will take the very qualities of Jesus and declare them into our lives.Because He is a personal, Word- speaking God, it is enjoyably fruitful to invite the Holy Spirit to speak the various dynamics and righteous qualities from the Sermon on the Mount into our being: (humility, hunger, peace, righteousness, forgiveness, contentment etc.) And, because He is also personal, He speaks these Words in uniquely individual ways, without ever compromising truth. What great strength there is in hearing His voice speaking His Word of Christ- empowerment. He is so committed to teaching and equpping us into righteousness by the supernatural power of His Word! “He gave Himself for us to set us free from every kind of unrighteousness and to purify for Himself a people who are truly His, who are eager to do good.” (Titus 2:14) “For the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
Be intentional to listen for His specific voice of empowerment. Be sure to write these words down in your journal.
FINAL WORD Make a diligent and intentional, protected space to pursue the Lord and hear His voice from the Sermon on the Mount. Set aside focused time each day, each week to pray, inquire, receive, journal and consider these Words for your life.
If you’ve agreed to share your responses with friends, establish a set time; make it holy to the Lord – and each other. Pray for each other to hear and engage the life-giving voice of the Lord.
God bless your dialogue, beloved!
PRAYER Holy Spirit, take us on the journey of illuminating our heart with the Words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Give to us a spirit of humility and repentance from our self-ways of unrighteousness that so easily cling to our hearts. Give us a spirit of zeal and hunger to receive the King’s ways of righteousness, that we may be “conformed to His image” (Romans 8:29), and “fully pleasing” (Philippians 4:18) to Him.
Over the past few years, as prophetic words and signs have come forth in the Body of Christ, I’ve heard many people ask: “How do we respond to these words? How do we respond to bonafide words of the Lord, about day of the Lord judgements?”
God sends prophetic words and confirming signs in order to give believers courage to do the hard work of pressing through the normal resistance that comes with cultivating new lifestyles that are aligned to the Lord’s (Ephesians 5:14-21) leadership.
Mike Bickle and our IHOPKC family have been inviting the Church to build a suitable response to the approaching day of the Lord for more than two decades. In 1982 the Lord spoke to Mike in an open vision in Cairo, Egypt and declared that He was about to engineer a radical shift in the paradigm of the Church. The word He spoke that day: that He was about to release “a new expression and understanding of Christianity” wasn’t to be received as a western cultural novelty. It was to be embraced as a transitional necessity!
When Kathy and I lived in Kansas City we had a small, dedicated shelter in the basement of our home where we laid up needed provision for the inevitable tornado. Several times over the years, the sirens sounded and we made our trek down the stairs and into our concrete bunker; listening, praying, secure, well-supplied…
The House of Prayer reality is more than “storm-protection”, but because it equips the saints with the vital dynamics of first-commandment love, tender Holy Spirit connectedness and crisis wisdom from the Lord, etc., it IS certain, and strong storm-protection. The House of Prayer reality IS a solid way to prepare your spirit for the winds of the day of the Lord that have already begun to blow through our culture.
Beloved. The winds are only going to increase.
In the day when the winds are threatening to destabilize your own house, you do not want to a.) be asleep (Ephesians 5:6-14), b.) have to do something that is abnormal to your lifestyle (Matthew 24:37-44), c.) be incapacitated from helping others who are looking for refuge in the storm (Jude 1:17-25), d.) not intimately know Him. (Matthew 25:12)
How then do we prepare ourselves for the day of the Lord? Here’s my seven-fold exhortation:
1.IMMEDIATELY (TODAY) BEGIN TO REESTABLISH YOUR PRIORITIES, AND YOUR FAMILY’S PRIORITIES. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…” (Hebrews 3:12-15)
2.FIND A CORPORATE GATHERING PLACE WHERE YOU CAN ROUTINELY SIT BEFORE THE LORD IN WORSHIP, PRAY/READ/DIALOGUE WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD OVER THE WORD OF GOD. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)
3.ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO INCREASE YOUR HUNGER FOR JESUS AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. The good news is Jesus Himself is so MUCH greater than our dullness and distractions. And He Himself is the exhilarating Reality that the Holy Spirit is patiently leading us to. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)
4. ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO “REVEAL THE SON!” AND FILL YOUR HEART WITH REVELATIONS OF THE RESURRECTED, JEWISH GOD/MAN.We pray – that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.(Ephesians 1:17-23) Aside: This prayer has been prayed hundreds of thousands of times, perhaps more than any other prayer in the 20 year history of the House of Prayer in Kansas City (and elsewhere). It’s no surprise that within these verses resides the keys to the nuclear fuel that will empower the Church to stand with Him in the day of the Lord.
5.PURSUE THIS INTIMATE ENGAGEMENT AND WORSHIP-FILLED DIALOGUE WITH THE SPIRIT UNTIL YOUR JOY IS JESUS, AND YOU REVEL IN JESUS WHEREVER YOU GO! Abide in My love. (John 15:9)
6.REGULARLY/DAILY ENGAGE GOD IN THE ACTIVITY OF WORSHIPFUL INTERCESSION TOGETHER WITH OTHERS. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-21)
7.ENCOURAGE OTHERS INTO THIS SAME DIVINE DIALOGUE. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:17-25)
THIS is how wise bridesmaids buy oil. (Matthew 25:6) THIS is how a Church breaks out of it’s poverty and buys “gold refined in the fire from Him.” (Revelation 3:18)
In Joshua, we see a picture of how a person prepares himself to faithfully follow God through tumultuous transition into great promise. Along with Moses, Joshua was led out of generations of bondage, through a miraculous exodus. But Joshua’s heart was filled with more than signs and wonders. On the day that God called Joshua and his nation to enter into the land, his heart was filled with confidence to declare: “We can go in. Even though there are great giants in our path, I’ve seen the Lord. And He is more than capable to bring us into what He’s promised.”
Where did Joshua’s confidence come from? Why did he not shrink back in fear like the others? Joshua’s secret is found in Exodus 33. This humble hero of the faith spent his days and nights in the wilderness strengthening his spirit in the Lord’s tent of meeting. Joshua prepared himself for God’s great military victory by cultivating a lifestyle of doing Psalm 27:1-5. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble… He shall set me high upon a rock.
Beloved, we’re about to go through the most tumultuous era in human history in order to receive the greatest promise in human history. Today the Holy Spirit is preparing the Bride of Christ worldwide for our Bridegroom’s physical return and a transition into a new age when we literally live under His glorious, earthly leadership.
One day soon, billions of people will hear the cry: “Behold the Bridegroom! Let’s go OUT to meet Him!” (Matthew 25:6) Today, it’s so vital that those who have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church, prioritize our many activities in order to heed the cry: “Behold the Bridegroom! Let’s go IN to meet with Him!” (Exodus 33:11) ____________
There are so many prophetic words swirling around the body of Christ right now. When we’re in the midst of “the time of trouble” (Psalm 27:5) how do we discern the TRUE from the FALSE words of the Lord?
As a pastor/leader in the prayer movement for a good number of years here’s ten (plus a bonus) guidelines I’d suggest to help us believe, receive and activate prophetic words of the Lord. (This list is intended to help us apply corporate prophetic words, but some of these encouragements may also be applied to personal/individual words of the Lord.)
1. The Holy Spirit abides and dwells, with might, within us. What does the Holy Spirit tell you about the word that is being given? This may often be the original “sense” you experience as the word is being issued. This should not be the final determining factor, but it’s wise to keep this “sense” in your pocket, as you continue to parse the word.
2. Realize that there also dwells within us the lurking way of self. How does the word stimulate any of the five ways of self? Self-gratification; self-glorification; self-evaluation; self-determination; self-sufficiency?
3. How does the word line up with scripture? The Bible can be used and manipulated to justify nearly everything. A woman, or man of integrity in the Spirit will honestly analyze the word in light of those scriptures that support it, AND ALSO consider scriptures that may not support it. This is the collection of material that we bring before the Lord in prayer.
4. Dialogue with other praying believers. No prophecy is to be left to one’s private interpretation. Prophetic words that apply to the Body of Christ are meant to be communally discerned, and not merely left up to the subjective/personal interpretation of a single leader, or individual believer. When corporate prophecies are issued to the Body, pastors and teachers must help the whole Body hear, discern, unpack, pray and appropriate the word of the Lord, together! This is so important.
5. Ask yourself, where does the word draw the eyes of your heart? If it isn’t to the clear, and manifest increase of Jesus’ glory, the John the Baptist in me says – spit it out. (For a good number of years, I’ve been listening to several notable “prophets” in our American evangelical circle. It grieves my heart to hear several of them rarely and almost never reference the focal point of all prophecy “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The absence, more than any other facet, has become a tip-off to spit out the word.)
6. Pay attention to the spirit of the message itself. Do you hear a spirit of pride in the word? Again, over the years, I’ve noticed that most often a spirit of pride in the “prophet” also leads to a portrayal of God as a vengeful, intolerant tyrant. Weird how those two go together…
7. Does the word invite hearers into a redemptive posture? Is there a word that reveals God’s way of mercy through the cross? (Not merely through doing better, or being more sincere?) Does the word actually engender a spirit of authentic humility in the hearers? A spirit of humility that manifests itself in one’s attitude toward God, toward others AND toward self?
8. Does the word invite hearers into a spirit of intimacy and increased love and faith in Jesus Christ?
9. Does the word come to pass? This is the end-all. But the Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion. He’s not willing that the people of God be led on fruitless goose-chases. It’s His loving desire that we increasingly assess the veracity of words well-before we marshal corporate energy, witness and resources to the activation of prophetic words.
10. Having said this, all prophecy is meant to be activated with faith IN THE GOODNESS OF JESUS’ PRESENT LEADERSHIP. (The words in caps are essential.) Every word is meant to draw us closer to His intimate guidance of our lives – corporately and personally. It’s vital that we ask ourselves if our faith in Jesus’ leadership is being enhanced in the task of responding to a word of the Lord. Again, the end-result is a Man, and His increase in our lives, and in our world.
And the bonus: Over the last 12 months, I’ve also learned to look for whether a prophetic word is reflecting, or has an understanding of the Psalm 2 narrative. If not, it usually draws my eyes, and the glory, to some other reality or competing storyline, and I spit it out.
____________________
JSB • September, 2020
Feedback? What would you add? What would you underscore?
(This article was originally published in September, 2020)
“See that you do not refuse Him Who speaks. For if they (the children of Israel who were led out of Egypt into the wilderness to worship God) 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, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12 25-29)
2020 is the year God gives His Church vision about the near future. We’re not going back.
We’re in an hour that’s a Jeremiah hour for some and an Exodus hour for others. It all depends on whether we let the Lord lead us through the tumult that’s upon us.
The ideology that the tribulation will not happen to believers is a major stumbling block for many in the body of Christ as this pre-trib-rapture world-view is not preparing the hearts of sisters and brothers to endure what’s coming.
The tribulation is mounting. In many ways it’s already upon us. The good part is, it means our Bridegroom, King and Judge is coming. The bad part is, before He arrives to reign, everything in heaven and earth that has been made will be shaken: Marriages. Families. Schools. Churches. Governments. Economics. Foreign relations. Racial hostility. The arts. Big cities. Small, one street towns. Friendships. Hearts. Attitudes. Opinions. Freedoms. Principalities. Strongholds. Powers. Pride. Vain speculations. Histories. Testimonies. Arguments for and against God. Everything.
And in America, where we enjoy such wonderful freedoms and opportunities afforded to us by our nation, the shakings will be most severe.
I can say this by logic, and not prophecy. When a fire destroys a region (like its doing across the western United States right now) the poor man loses little, because he has accumulated little. But the rich man loses much because he’s invested in, and secured much.
Honestly, in this hour, “Blessed are the poor” indeed. (Matthew 5:3) Blessed are those who look at the world and everything that’s about to be shaken (see list above) and say, “I choose to take all that I have and NOT INVEST IT IN what I see that is being shaken and burned, but invest all that I have in Who it is that is coming.” This man, Jesus says, “will inherit the Kingdom of heaven (that’s coming to earth)” (Matthew 5:3)
When we hear of calls to repentance, we should ask three questions: A. What is God calling us to repent FROM? (ie. sin, unrighteous thoughts, godless ideologies etc.) B. What is God calling us to repent UNTO? (ie. righteous living, obedience to God, love for God and neighbor.) C. What is the INTENDED OUTCOME of deep and thorough repentance? (ie. Revival. Restored national freedoms, civil justice etc.)
In essence, we need to ask ourselves the question: “Am I repenting in order to get more of the shakeable stuff, or the unshakeable stuff?”
I’d like to suggest that we question the calls to repentance in light of Hebrews 12 and that we repent of (turn away from, and receive a heavenly mind about) all that can and will be shaken – cause folks, that’s where 2020 is going.
If we repent unto any “shallower” level, we will be deconstructing our house that’s in the path of a flash flood, and rebuilding in a forest that’s about to be “consumed by fire”. Get the picture? The fire that’s come to the earth (and will only increase) is not something that we, in our American can-do purchasing power, can stave off with “united prayer that binds demonic forces” or “good government” or…
IT’S OUR GOD WHO IS THE CONSUMING FIRE!
John the Baptist declared, “One mightier than I (the one Jesus called ‘the greatest man whoever lived’ [Matthew 11:11]) is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit AND fire.” (Luke 3:16) The fire is not a synonym for the Holy Spirit. John means (Hebrews 12:29) “consuming fire.” The fire that Jesus talks about in (Luke 12:49) “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled… Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.”
What is this “division” but the shaking and separating our hearts from everything that can be shaken, so that only what cannot be shaken remains. (Hebrews 12:27)
What does this mean?
What this practically means for us is this: the Lord is calling us (and the whole world) to “seek My Face” (Psalm 27:8) so that He can give us His perspective about EVERYTHING that’s in our heart. If it’s in our heart, He’s about to shake it. EVERYTHING. And if we still have inordinate attachments to that which is being consumed by fire, we will do two things (again by logical human observation, not by prophecy) 1. We will curse, revile and murder others (you know, “those people” who are ruining our world of civil righteousness) Beloved, there are times when “I am the one” who is ruining my wife’s civil righteousness. And I love her – and I’m the one she loves most. The division and degree of shaking separation goes even to our one flesh, and our own soul. The shaking is so severe that we will even curse our own flesh, and our own soul. 2. We will curse God. We will despair and question the wisdom of “putting our trust in Him.” (Psalm 2:12) Through all the turmoil of “everything being shaken”, we may maintain an exterior posture of a “Christianized life” – attending Church gatherings, reading the scriptures, even prayer and doing nice things for others – but inside, our hearts will grow cold, resentful, even hostile toward Him. We will not intimately adore Him. We will treat Him like a stiff principle and not a wonderful King Who’s invited us to engage Him face to face.
Through all the shaking that’s amplifying around us, if our heart attitude is not, “My selfless love for Him and His ways must increase, and everything else (the way I think about social justice, the longing I have for my Church, the dreams I have for my profession, the way I cherish my marriage, the hostility I hold toward my enemies, the hope I have for my nation, the plans I’ve made for my children’s future, my happiness, my friendships, my…) must decrease” (John 3:30) we will leave our soul open to ruin.
The Holy Spirit warns: “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day (when God brings His consuming fire) will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. (One of God’s reasons for releasing judgement is to increase our reward.) If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
In a nutshell, the rub of this passage is, “Today, allow the Lord to test, judge and purify our hearts of the malice, hostility, self-justification, demand for rights, impure thoughts, unforgiveness, hatred, murder, alienation, war, pride, selfish-ambition, desire for self-security and ease, worldly indulgence and covetousness – everything that can be shaken.” (In America, it’s a LOT! We’ve been able to accumulate a lot of shakeable stuff – with impunity.)
The Lord is saying, “America. American Church, it’s time to let go of the stuff that’s not going with you on the Exodus. Don’t be like Pharaoh. Don’t resist My judgements. Don’t try to repair what I am dismantling. If you do, your heart WILL harden, and you will put what is most precious – our relationship – at risk. Come to Me. Let Me inform you about what is about to happen; what you need to let go of, and what you will want to bring in abundance. I’ll make it clear to you, if you only ‘Seek My face’. (Psalm 27:8)”
Beloved, the judgements of God are here. We’re heading into the fire. (Many of us are already there – and don’t know it; haven’t even been taught that that kind of thing could happen to a Christian.) Today is a day to understand what it means to deny self (and all the stuff that’s precious to self), take up our cross, and follow after the One Who is coming, Who alone can open our eyes to everything that it eternally good, and secure that unshakeable stuff for us. (Luke 9:23)
This is what the judgements are for. This is why the fire is here.
The judgements will divide – they will divide and separate those heart attitudes which do not fit under the administration of the coming King, from that which magnifies the administration of the King; they will even divide and separate those who are yielding to the King and those who are not.
“This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering.” (2 Thessalonians 1:5) [NET]
Father, give us, give the Church in America Your 2020 vision.
____________________ JSB • Originally posted in September, 2020
3 days after the inauguration of Joseph Biden. The many prophecies (though many have been redacted 3 and 4 times since November 3) have finally and utterly failed.
Valkyrie The Jericho March The Trump Rally I The Christmas Surprise The December Miracle The New Year’s Miracle The Trump March II The Insurrection
Where was the fire, beloved? What walls came down? What power was released? What coup was averted? In all our phrenetic activity, the evangelical Church ended up looking profoundly more like the desperate pagan priests of (1 Kings 17) than the man called, “Yahweh is my God”.
Even now, (after all the redactions, and the inauguration of another) numerous prophets are abusing the people of God to continue to believe their prophecies.
One “false prophet” (it’s vital to call them what they are), based in Dallas, whose prophecy failed miserably, now talks about having two presidents, one spiritual and one physical. He is also disgusted with Christians who disagree: “Those nut jobs that have not understood the times, and understood what (Trump) represents, and understood where we are and understood what we’re up against, they’re responsible for not showing up in the spiritual battle of their lifetime, being AWOL and worse yet, trying to hinder, harass and persecute those that do show up,” he said on a YouTube broadcast. So, post-election, “He’s going to continue to do what’s he’s doing,” he said of Trump. “We’ll continue to see what happens.”
When gripped with the same realities in his day, the prophet Isaiah wrote: “The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys… This is why my stomach churns. Cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am wrenched by what I hear, aghast at what I see. My mind reels, shuddering assails me. The twilight I longed for terrifies me.” (Isaiah 21: 2, 3-4)
The twilight that we longed for in the prayer movement, now terrifies me. What will the dawn bring? What is amassing against the people of God while we wrestle in our state of great entanglement?
Our family is bound up in the morass of idolatrous, political nationalism. I use this phrase carefully.
IDOLATRY is how we understand our behavior in light of God’s Word. Regardless of how much religious verbiage we attach to our political engagement, it’s clear, the American Church’s hopes for Kingdom change has become an obsession, and even indistinguishable from conservative political power. Any way you slice it folks, that’s out of keeping with anything we see or are admonished to in the Bible.
POLITICS is the means by which we inordinately hope to “keep our nation great and Christian”.
NATIONALISM is the cult-narrative; it’s the way we understand what we’re fighting for; what we’ve “lost”; who our enemies are – and who our champions are. All this is supported by conspiracies, false-prophets and a bonafide idol of worship.
Idolatrous, political nationalism has become a full-on cult within the household of God.
In the storm that rages around us, millions of our sisters and brothers, leaders, teachers, evangelists etc. are seeking refuge, and shaming others into seeking refuge in this tower of human elevation – rather than humbling ourselves in our failure, our loss, our great inabilities, our need, and with weeping honesty “seeking the Face” of the One True God Who promises to be our strength (Himself) in the time of such trouble (Psalm 27:1,5).
You don’t believe me? Thousands traveled to DC two weeks ago to pray for four more years of an idolatrous man – with no Biblical precedent for doing so. How many believers would attend a national prayer rally today to nakedly obey the explicit dictates of Joel 2 in the fear of the Lord – with nothing to gain politically; no one to enthrone; only a declaration that we have committed spiritual adultery and need to ask forgiveness of our Bridegroom God?
Crickets from the prophets. Crickets from national leaders. We’re in the Eye of the Storm. We need more than a tweak of our navigational system.
We’re in the Eye of the Storm. We need more than a tweak of our navigational system.
Who do you hear honestly asking, seeking and inquiring, “How have we, and how have ‘I’ given myself to idolatry? How have I been unfaithful to my marriage covenant with You, Jesus?”
Some of the prophets will admit their prophecies were wrong. Few will ask why they were wrong. Fewer still will ask where these words came from if not from the Lord.
Few leaders will ask “Why did we worship at the idol of the false prophets?” Fewer still will ask: “Why were we bartering for another god anyway?”
A few shepherds will ask, “Why did we say nothing about the idol and the false prophets?” Fewer still will ask: “If the prophecies led us astray, could it be that the passion that inspired the prophecies was already astray?”
Who will dare ask these questions?
The Lord, the One Whose zeal is preparing a Bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish for His Son; the One Who is calling us to bring our self-inflicted wounds into His tent of repentance, mourning, and the tearing of our cultural garments, where He can give us the bandage of a cross; He Himself is asking these questions: Who will humble themselves, and quiet our clamoring hearts to hear the sound of His voice?
Isaiah 2:11 “Proud men will be brought low, arrogant men will be humiliated; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”
Psalm 25:9 “He will show the humble what is right! He will teach the humble His way!”
Zephaniah 2:3 “Seek the Lord’s favor, all you humble people of the land who have obeyed His commands! Strive to do what is right! Strive to be humble! Maybe you will be protected on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.”
Matthew 23:12 “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
2 Chronicles 12:7 “When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the Lord’s message came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them. I will deliver them soon. My anger will not be unleashed against Jerusalem.”
Zephaniah 3:12 “I will leave in your midst a humble and meek group of people, and they will find safety in the Lord’s presence.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who belong to Me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please Me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
SPIRIT WORD & CROSS 