The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner…for godly sorrow worketh repentance” (2 Corinthians 7:9–10).
What is happening to the House of God today? Where is the preaching of the Word? Why is there such a lack of messages about sin? When we do not preach the Word, rather we preach a watered down version according to what we believe the people want to hear, we do an injustice to the Lord. And we end up with a church filled with weak Christians stumbling from defeat to defeat! They choose to listen only to soft, flesh-assuring preaching. Where there is no convicting word, where there can be no godly sorrow over sin. And where there is no godly sorrow for sin, there can be no repentance. And where there is no repentance, there is only hardness of heart.
Thank God, David had Nathan, who was not afraid of what the King would do to him, he walked with a holy reverence for the Lord God and the Truth!
David saw what happened to Saul when he rejected the word of the Lord. Saul, who once walked a godly life style, living as a Spirit-led king continually rejected the Spirit’s reproving words, delivered by a holy prophet. It didn’t take long after he began to stop listening to God that Saul began to walk in self-will, bitterness and rebellion.
Finally, the Holy Ghost departed from him: “Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king” (1 Samuel 15:23). “The Lord…departed from Saul” (18:12). Saul ended up turning to a witch for guidance, which many Christians do today – they seek out a person who does not treasure the gifts of the Lord and they will for the recognition of men give a pleasing truth-less word. Saul knew the Lord had left him, he even confessed to the witch, “God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do” (28:15)
All this came crashing back to David memory, all the madness, ugliness and terror surrounding this man who had shut out God’s word. Suddenly, the truth pierced his own heart: “God is no respecter of persons. I have sinned, as Saul did. And now here’s another prophet, in another time, giving me God’s Word, as Samuel gave it to Saul. Oh, Lord, I’ve sinned against you! Please don’t take your Holy Spirit from me, as you did from Saul.”
We need men and women of God today in the pulpit who fear the Lord more than they fear the people or the lack of their treasure chests being filled!
We need men and women of God who are on fire for the Lord and His truth, that will not compromise the truth of the scriptures even if it means death. We need to get back to the Bible and stop with all these foolish functions, conferences and hyped up emotional meetings to stir the hearts, minds and wallets of the people. Holy Spirit will stir the hearts of the people. When we release the Word of God with the power and authority of the King, it will bring conviction – not only to those hearing the Word, but first to those preaching the Word.
Friends, let us not be fooled any more about the “Revival message” coming by simply willing it – that if we get loud enough He will come, that if we dance hard enough the Lord will show up in power. The Bible clearly shows that whenever we return to the Lord in genuine, heartfelt repentance, God responds by bringing absolute reconciliation and restoration. Reconciliation – a rejoining of our hearts and spirit with that of the Lords! Restoration a true Revival that brings us back to the redemptive and transforming purposes of the Lord! It’s when God’s [people fall on their face, truly repent and call out upon the Lord with every part of their lives, then we shall see a people rise up who themselves are the Revival of the Most High!!!
Is dancing and shouting praise to the Lord wrong? Of course not, but if there is no conviction that we are not completely following Him, that there are things in our lives that limit Holy Spirit from fully releasing from our lives, that which the Lord has poured in, how can the Lord use us? He could show up at any church He desires to show up at, but He is looking for a people who are hungry for Truth, a people who are not simply moved by a song that spurns emotions – He is looking for a people who have been broken, who have come to the conviction that it is not because the Lord does not love that He has not showed up in His Glory – it is because we have not loved Him enough to get rid of everything that is an idol in our lives.
This does not mean that we have to “fade away” from life, biding our time in quiet shame until the Lord takes us home. Lets get real, listen to what the Word has to say, such as what we read in the book of Joel. Here we see where the prophet Joel assures us that God steps in immediately when we return to him: “Rend your hearts turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil” (Joel 2:13)
Now that a powerful promise – The Bible is filled with these promises, they are not dead words, they are alive even in this present day. The Words of the Lords speaks from generation to generation. Look again in Joel, for God then gives us this incredible promise: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten and ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed” (2:25–26). The Lord promises to restore all.
And this happened after God had pronounced judgment upon the land!
Even as He has pronounced judgment upon those who forsake His Word – if we will but turn towards Him, with a repentant heart cry out, Father forgive me – He will run to us as did the father to the prodigal son and restore unto us all that He has desired. A true revival is not ushered in on the wings of eagles, it is ushered in upon the broken hearts that cry out in repentance. Just look at the revival of times past – the heavens opened up as the people having their hearts pierced cried put to God to forgive them. We saw the revival in individuals hearts and lives being transferred into the hearts of others
We need to get back to preaching God’s Word with Fire, with conviction, allowing it to do its job to pierce the sinner and saints hearts alike.
Today the church has swallowed such a fallacy that has been placed upon the good ole Hellfire preaching to the point that the people of God have been dumbed down to believing that the pulpit should give us a word that build us up which is non offensive and easy to swallow. The truth is, God does not want to build us up on a foundation of hay and stubble – He wants to build us up on a solid foundation, on the foundation of the Rock of His salvation Jesus Christ – thus we need to have that Word of God that divides asunder, even to the piercing of the heart to render us in a broken state, that the breath of His revelation can come in with new birth and build up in His way.
What has been known to be an offensive message of Hell and sin, is in all honesty, is that which is preached through tears by one who has been through the valley of conviction and emptied out on the alter humbled under the mighty hand of God, called “grace preaching.” If you’re your heart is being pricked and probed by God’s Word — if Holy Spirit is refusing to allow you sit comfortably in your sin — then you’re listening too truth and being shown mercy. It is the deep love of God at work, calling you out of death and into the true Christ birthed life.
The question is – do we want to turn back to preaching and hearing the truth, are we willing respond to him as David did? If we the people of the Lord God desire such truth and seek after it with our whole heart then we will know true restoration and reconciliation. And we shall see that our God will restore everything the enemy has stolen.
Let the pulpits across this nation once again be set on fire – it is not to late for America or any other Nation to repent and turn towards God. His grace and mercy abounds and will be poured out upon all who call upon His Name!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My prayer is that the Lord will strip me of everything that is not worthy of Him, everything that would limit the power of Holy Spirit flowing through my own life. That what ever is in my own life, whether pride, godless desires or what ever the sin may be be burnt up and thrown out. That from this point on I will never preach another Word that is not baptized in the fires of His holiness – that I will not listen for the Amen’s of the people – rather I will turn my ears to hear the Amen’s of heaven. That Holy Spirit will sweep across this nation and move upon every man and women of God in the pulpit seeking to only proclaim His truth this week and set them ablaze with the passion of the Father and open the ears of the people to those who refuse and see how empty their words are – the words that contain death and not life.
May the Lord God bring a conviction upon the Bride in this nation and all nations to repent and turn back to Him in Truth through the Spirit!
AMEN AWESOME WORD I pray the very same thing for myself and all HIS people In YESHUA’s Name!
AMEN AWESOME WORD I pray the very same thing for myself and all HIS people In YESHUA’s Name!
Reply