The decision voiced by our president yesterday concerning marriage should break the heart of every person of faith, all who believe in the God of the Bible and have any confidence in His Holy Word. Marriage was the first institution put in place by the Creator, even before the church. It has been recognized and accepted by all civilized societies throughout history. Decisions like this coupled with the destruction of more than 54 million precious unborn babies should bring us to our knees in brokenness and repentance or our freedom and future security as a nation will be lost. We will have given to the enemy the land along with the lives our Father in heaven entrusted to our watchcare. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” We do not have to give one moment of our lives or one inch of our land to the destroyer.
Not for one moment am I condoning or encouraging any unkind expressions toward those enslaved by unhealthy attractions, desires, or addictions. Unkindness is uncalled for. Make no room for bullies, but don’t be bullied into abandoning Godly convictions. Jesus reached out to the most troubled and defeated individuals on this planet to offer forgiveness and hope, but He said clearly, “Go, and sin no more.” We do not have to live defeated, deceived, and downtrodden.
I believe we are about to witness the necessary great move of God. I certainly see the darkness, but I see the light of God’s glory about to shine forth through His people. I have never been so encouraged as I talked to church leaders across America in the past few days. This week I talked with Dr. David Jeremiah, Senior Pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in San Diego. I thanked him for the wonderful love and truth-filled prophetic and encouraging messages he has been preaching. I thanked him for his recent books including one he released last year I Never Thought I’d See The Day referencing issues that have been brought to the forefront like abortion, same sex marriage, sexual immorality, and infidelity promoted as the norm while commitment and responsibility are ridiculed.
Well, let me joyfully announce, I never thought I’d see the day when so many Christians are being resurrected to stand up like a mighty army in the face of the enemy’s onslaught. I never thought I’d see so many believers truly love one another and love their neighbor including those often considered enemies, while consistently and without compromise speaking the truth in love. The effectiveness of the assault on faith, family, and freedom is about to be stopped by true believers who will reclaim the land and watch God through His grace set captives free. To God be the glory for all He is about to accomplish through yielded lives!
Here is the truth we must receive and the lessons we must learn. Jesus said His sheep know His voice. All of His sheep can recognize His voice, but the only way to reliably discern sounds in the spirit world is by knowing His Word – the Scriptures. To know Him—His character, nature, and ways—you must search the Bible as a sincere, yielded seeker.
Believers, however shallow or serious they may be, will also hear the voice of the deceiver as clearly as they do God. For example, examine the conversation recorded in Matthew 16 between Peter and Jesus. Simon Peter proclaimed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and he was told by Jesus that, “Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you, but my Father in heaven.” In the same passage, the next time Peter opened his mouth disagreeing with Jesus, he was quoting Satan whom he had obviously heard just as clearly as he had the Father. Jesus rebuked him, “Get thee behind Me, Satan, for you focus on the things of man, not of God.” This re-emphasizes the absolute necessity of knowing the written Word in order to recognize the voice of the Shepherd and our Father in heaven from that of the deceiver who can masquerade as an angel of light.
Everyone who has lost their life in Christ’s purpose discovers life in all its abundant glory. The truly godly will have only one agenda, which is living for kingdom purpose. However greatly blessed by God they may be, they do not worship the blessings or the possessions they may be given to oversee. This includes wealth, reputation, personal belongings, and ministries. We must all seek to be totally committed to the will and kingdom purpose of God. These are the people who can offer the wisdom and counsel so greatly needed at this time. All rulers, including presidents, kings, prime ministers, and representatives, must have wise counsel in order to point to the best direction, decisions, laws, and policies.
The mistake comes when we make any good, effective leader or political power the source of our confidence and trust, such as Israel did with Pharaoh, who had received wise counsel from Joseph resulting in decisions that benefited the people. They erroneously began to trust Pharaoh and literally sold out to him, trying to secure their security, and rapidly found their way into bondage. The same thing happened again in the Promised Land when they wanted a king so they could be like the nations of the world. Big mistake! May I mention, as Americans, we are living in a land of promise. When we make blessings idols, we choose the yoke of bondage. We experience personal bondage any time we yield our lives to the enemy by believing his lies, and he produces his painful fruit in us. Pestilence, briars, predators, birds of the air, and beasts of the field unceasingly attack. The result is the fruit of our rotten, rebellious flesh. In the book of Joel, invading locusts came as a plague on disobedient and rebellious people to also consume the fruitfulness of their land. Today in similar fashion, our economy is being consumed because of bad decisions and ungodly practices. The fact that fruitfulness, productivity, and blessings are destroyed every time individuals and nations put any source above God is confirmed in every book of the Old Testament and clearly re-emphasized in the New Testament. Read Romans 1 and Second Timothy 3 for two examples.
Consider Job when the “hedge” was removed. Remember post-Katrina New Orleans when the dikes broke and the floods of destruction came in. The Word and wisdom of God, security, and safety for our lives and family are found in the shelter and shadow of Almighty God. He desires each of us to be His cultivated field. When yielded to Him, we will produce abounding spiritual and beneficial fruitfulness overflowing with a spirit of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. God honors us when we commit to the Him our communities, all the fields of opportunities, our states, and our nation.
If, however, we believe the lies of the enemy, we forfeit the blessings, productivity, and our prosperity will be consumed as revealed through the message delivered by the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. Like Job, we are all vulnerable when the hedge of God’s protection is down. America has forfeited many of freedom’s blessings and the assurance of a secure future because most professing Christians never suited up or showed up for the battle. The hour has come when those who hear the clarion call of God from those who are raising the trumpet on the holy mountain and are lifting up a standard for all to behold to come together in supernatural unity and stand against the forces of deception, division, and destruction.