Sunday, July 27, 2014

THE OSTRICH SYNDROME PART 1 - SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing (Edmund Burke)

Just as the Nazis marked Jews during World War II, with the word "JUDE", their World
War II allies - radical islam - are now the rampaging moslem hordes of ISIS through biblical Iraq/Mesopotamia are marking the homes of Christians with an "N". This N stands for Nazarene, as in Jesus the Nazarene. One of their spiritual fathers was the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini of Jerusalem. (Al-Husseini was appointed by the British and himself supported the execution and persecuted of Christians. He met with Hitler in 1941. Click here for the photo of their meeting and more information).

Before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003,  over 1 million Chaldean Christians have lived in what had been their home for almost 2000 years! Strangely enough, they were protected by Saddam Hussein. Since the persecution began shortly after the liberation, less than 500,000 remained until this current conquering by the Mohammedans of ISIS. The sheer brutality of this mob of dangerous invaders into the ancient land of Abraham is unsurpassed. It is not just enough for them to burn down churches and steal homes and businesses of Christians. They have issued an ultimatum of flee, "convert to Islam" at the point of a gun, or face execution. Most have fled, but as they were fleeing with their meager possessions leaving their homes behind, they are being harassed, robbed and tortured.

While close to a half a million of God's people are persecuted in stunning intensity in Iraq.....while their Syrian brethren are decapitated and run out of their Aramaic-speaking villages...while Coptic Christians were murdered by the muslim brotherhood....and even in Nigeria, while entire Christian villages, schools, pastors, homes and people are being wiped out - American church leaders and most of their flock say and do NOTHING!  Absolutely nothing!

This stunning lack of courage (or caring) has been so bad that US Congressman Frank Wolf called out two well-known American preachers in November 2012, for being silent in the West while their brethren were persecuted in increasing numbers and brutality worldwide. The two preachers he called by name were John Piper and Rick Warren. John Piper is the retired pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota and his Desiring God website does contain messages on the Persecuted Church. However, there is no one speaking out nationally to even ask for a concentrated prayer movement for these saints. No one expects to hear from the big money prosperity gospel preachers like Joel Osteen, Copeland and others of the Word Faith movements. Thank goodness for men like Franklin Graham who just called for Christians to stand for righteousness, truth and Biblical values. Franklin, son of Billy Graham, seems to be the only one of God's men who stands for rightouesness and Jesus Christ in these last days.

Why is this so? Why is the Western church in general, and America's wealthy preachers
silent in the face of evil and loss of religious freedom? Why are they more like a combination of the two churches of Revelation 3 (rich and squishy Laodecia) and Sardis? Jesus said He would vomit the church of Laodecia out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16) due to their safe and comfortable lukewarmth. He said of the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1b "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." America has had the reputation of being a "Christian nation". Jesus knows us better than that - we are dead. The church in America is navel-gazing and caught up more in self-aggrandizement than intercession, evangelism and even being a Romans 1:16 kind of church. We seem to be more interested in getting along with the world and its pagan religions, cults and culture than the one thing which has eternal consequences - the Truth of the Gospel.

The great Moody Church pastor Erwin Lutzer recounted the testimony of a member of a small German country church during World War II whose conscience led him to repent of participating in "singing louder" as the Nazi trains carrying German Jews to the death camps of the Holocaust, so they could drown out the screams. Week after week, they sang louder and louder. In the West, we don't have to sing louder because the amplified electric guitars are drowning out the screams of the persecuted world wide. All that is left for the comfortable western church to do is to keep their heads firmly planted in the sand.
Associated Press Photo from Google Images.

What's the solution to this "Ostrich Syndrome" where these lambs (as Jesus called His church) and their well-off under-shepherds, ( those pastors and elders who have already gotten their reward on earth)? Well, the remnant should pray...and never let up. Pray and where possible, support Voice of the Martyrs and other such ministries like Gracia Burnham's financially, rather than giving to some organization so a celebrity "worship" leader can buy another $150 pair of jeans to perform on stage on Sunday morning.  This is the very least we can do. When one of our brethren hurts, we, who are turned into the Body and Will of Christ, should hurt and intercede on their behalf.  It is the very least we can do.
(Google Images)

Saturday, July 19, 2014

THE EYES OF THE LORD PART 3 - "ON THE RIGHTEOUS"

“ Behold, the Eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him (Psalm 33: 18 )…..”the Eyes of the LORD are toward the Righteous and His Ears are open to their cry (Psalm 34:15).
The razor sharp eye of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) easily resolves the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). 50,000 light-years across, the galaxy is located 28 million light-years from Earth at the southern edge of the rich Virgo cluster of g...
(Photo - NASA)
You have heard it said that “eyes are windows to the soul”. This is absolutely true. I have street evangelized in all kinds of settings for many years, and come face to face with souls that are dark and seemingly lost to perdition.  Those are HUMAN eyes. These are NOT The Eyes of the LORD! The all-powerful; all-seeing; all-knowing and all-wise Eyes of our Great God in Heaven  are good. They are alive. They were alive in Eternity past and can see the end from the beginning.

So, what about this seeming difference between Psalm 33:18 and Psalm 34:15 (AS SEEN ABOVE)? What does He mean by both “The Eye of the Lord” and the “The Eyes of the Lord”? Is the Lord using a different “eyes” for different functions? Well, no – God does not compartmentalize. 

Look at it this way: in Psalm 33:18 we see that “the Eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him”. This is general statement.  God Himself said in Proverbs 1:7 that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge” and in Proverbs 2: 28-29, He says “Then they will call on me, and I will not answer. They will seek me diligently and I will not answer because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord”. The word for knowledge, which HaShem uses is also a Hebrew root word for "Truth"! Therefore, if you KNOW Truth, you will "fear" Him - which is to have the proper reverence, awe and understanding of Who God really is. Those who have no knowledge of the Holy, do NOT fear, reverence, worship, adore or even have the slightest clue Who He is....and increasingly, this goes for the majority of evangelicals (mostly young) and mainline churches.

At one point in time, America was known as the most God-fearing nation in the world.  Because of that, the late 19th and the first six decades of the 20th centuries were America’s time.  The favor of God was upon this country.  Everything most industrialists touched almost seemed  to gold.

A person could have come from the worst background, from any country in the world and with the Grace of God and hard work, build something completely out of nothing. To a certain extent, this can still be done - with perseverance. But corrupt politicians and a godless educational/cultural/judicial system has turned the mind of the hopeful into complete hopelessness. Now, those who have transformed this unique God-fearing country which God does not recognize anymore, will pay on Judgment day when the books are open before the Great White Throne, but as long as there is life, there is hope.
This is the Corporate "Eye of the Lord" - the Eye which sees entire tribes, tongues and nations - like America. You and I should be more interested in the "Eyes of the Lord" first, because once we find favor in THOSE Eyes, then we can work on being a society and a people favorable unto Him!

Scripture says "the Eyes of the LORD are toward the Righteous and His Ears are open to their cry (Psalm 34:15). 1 Peter 3:12 quotes this exact passage of this psalm in order to emphasize the Lord's point. The full quote used by Peter is For the Eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the Face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”(1 Peter 3:12). Both uses of this passage represent a conditional offer to man.  The majority of humanity alive today has chosen the latter, even if they don't think they are evil, or do evil. If they are not following Christ as Lord and Savior, they are already completely separated from God. They will enjoy the same "rain which falls on the just and the unjust" but that is only for this brief life. Those who walk in unrighteousness by following false and fraudulent religions and cults other than Biblical Christianity should get a notion what the full attention and "Face of the Lord" really means. This is no picnic!

What about you and I who are completely sold-out and committed disciples of Christ? 

Well, we have two wonderful promises here:
First, "the Eyes of the LORD are toward the Righteous": that alone tell us that He is for us! Just as God's Face is AGAINST those who practice iniquity, His entire gaze is TOWARD us - His elect, saved and set apart for eternity. We are not Righteous because of anything we have done, but are thus because we accepted the same offer that He made to even those who will face His wrath. The word "toward" means "on the basis of"....Christ the Advocate, being our Lord and Savior, that is the reason for His Loving Eyes on us!

Secondly, "His Ears are open" to our cry" (or prayer) is a definite promise that because we have His personal attention (EYES - as in both EYES), He listens. The fervent and effective prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). But it is more than that. When Scripture (and therefore God) promises that His "Ears are  open", the literal terminology used by the Holy Spirit in Scripture, in essence, means Abba Father is continually and perpetually bent towards giving us an audience when we approach Him in the proper manner of Prayer. He always answers our prayer. Even if we do not like the answer, He answers!

In the final analysis, this is what we should strive for, during our short time on this wonderful creation called Earth.  We should strive for the Favor of His Divine Gaze upon us, all our families and our goings and comings.  We cannot earn a single measure of it, and once we have it (through Mark 1:15 - repent and believe the Gospel and be saved), we can sure mess it up. But if your heart and mine and set on Above and are completely loyal, devoted and "all-in" for Him, when His Eyes go across the whole earth in search of those who are so, they will land on us and His entire sensory perception will be directed to us, lovingly. Do you know any better promise? Are you His? Do you know Him? If not...do not waste another moment.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

THE EYES OF THE LORD PART 2 - "ALL IN"

“For the Eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9)
The theme of the 2014 Fellowship of Christian Athletes annual sports camp (for high school kids and led by its powerful Chaplain Kirby Myers of the Naval Academy FCA) is “All In”…..as in totally sold out to Christ, or committed to walking in His Ways – which are not our ways.  At least one quarter of the high school teens are only there for the sports camp training from the best football, baseball etc. coaches in any state.  Some of these coaches are many times state champions like the Central Illinois father-son team of Ken and Derek Leonard, the latter having four straight state 4A High School football championships under his belt. We can say that kids like those are not “all in”.

So it was with a king of Judah named Asa, who was ruled the southern kingdom around     the 9th century BC. When he had been king for 36 years, the southern kingdom of Judah was attacked by the northern kingdom and its vicious armies.  But instead of turning to the Lord, Who had favored the southern kingdom, Asa made a treaty with the pagan kind of Aram (Syria)….a man named Ben-Hadad.  The Lord had already sent the prophet Azariah to warn Asa that if he (Asa) sought the Lord, the Lord will be gracious and open to him. But God also warned Asa that “if you forsake Him, He will forsake you”!  2 Chronicles 15:17 said that Asa’s heart was “blameless all his days”.

But then, something happened. When Asa made his pact to seek Ben-Hadad’s assistance to defend Judah, he disregarded the Word of the Lord. The Lord then sent another prophet, Hanani, to deliver the word from on high. When Hanani went to tell King Asa of the direct admonishment of the Lord, for relying on a pagan alliance with Ben-Hadad rather than God whom Asa followed for most of his life, the King through Hanani in prison! Not just that, but King Asa had a complete shift in character from the majority of the many decades of good rule, and began oppressing his own people. In due course, King Asa developed a severe disease in his feet and instead of turning to the Lord for healing, as apparently he used to do, he turn and trusted only in his mortal doctors. There was a strange end to this once Godly turned prideful and selfish man - King Asa. When he died, he was buried in a grave - WHICH HE DUG FOR HIMSELF!

There are some critical lessons for us to learn from a man like King Asa. They are relevant for even these modern times. The first one is that you can do all kinds of wonderful work for the Lord. You can do go missions to dig water wells for people or build churches in Central America. You can feel the homeless at the local breadline or even win souls for Christ in passionate street ministry. You can be the best preacher in town with the liveliest church. If all of this means your self-reliance on your own judgment, is more important than seeking the Lord.... or you have some notion about making friends with the world to "get along", then you are in mortal King Asa territory. In this case, it would be a good idea to search your own heart to see if you are truly born again!

Secondly, the scary thing was - Scripture said Asa's heart was "blameless all his days"....until that 36th year when he committed a HUGE sin by taking the gold and silver from GOD's TEMPLE in Jerusalem and giving it to Ben-Hadad, for some defense "alliance". We can be deceived into thinking we are alright for most of our christian life and show our true colors towards the end of life, when it counts the most. We can appear to live the perfect life, in the eyes of the world, yet suffer shame and loss on Judgment Day. Asa shook his fists in front of Holy God not once, but many times in the last three years of his long reign as king. He knew the power of God - we know the power of God. He knew God would fight his battles, if he asks - we know the Source of our Strength, but sometimes do the opposite of Philippians 4:13. 

He knew the prophets of God (Azariah and Hanani) and persecuted them for speaking truth - we stick our heads in the sand because we, as a church, are afraid to acknowledge sin, call it sin, call evil evil and then stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are no different from King Asa sometimes...to the point of doing it our way, with no apologies to Frank Sinatra. Some of us refuse to even pray and/or intercede for our families and friends or country, because "God knows I'm okay". Some of us are so full of our own pride and self-importance that we even dig our own philosophical grave, as King Asa did so we could be buried "his way"!

The Scripture, whose context anchor this historic event, says that "the Eyes of the Lord run and move to and fro" across all mankind....to find AND support those whose hearts were ALL IN, or LOYAL to Him! King Asa was NOT loyal to HIm when it counted. Are you?
Jesus said in Matthew 24:13 "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." What the Savior really means is that the elect - those who are called by His Name and are saved WILL make it all the way to the end of all things.  This is absolutely true. True believers have the capacity to persevere (also called "Perseverance of the Saints") because the Holy Spirit of God, who lives in us to guide us to the path of all Truth, leads us into the path of all Truth. The challenge from now on is for each of us to set our eyes and hearts to "Jerusalem" to fix our gaze on Him; to never waver and to never, never, never give up and never give in.

Let us then resolve to be like King David in Psalm 139:23-24" Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any wicked way within me". Then beseech the Lord to remove all filth, sin, iniquity and the propensity towards transgression, that His Eyes may find us "all in" for Him! Amen.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

THE EYES OF THE LORD, Part 1 - NOAH

Genesis 6:8 says "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD".
The eyes are the windows to the soul, but how are the Eyes of God…the Almighty, All Powerful, All-seeing; All-knowing Mighty Eyes of our God?

In human terms, our field of vision is limited to the physical environment we currently occupy. Not so with the Lord.  The Voice that spoke the Creation into being has Eyes which always WERE, ARE and WILL BE. Therefore those Eyes pierce to the quick of the matter, the core of the human condition.

Those are also the Eyes which looked down at Creation in the Book of Genesis and said "it was Good"! In this short series of posts, we wish to look at some of the mentions of the "Eyes of the Lord" and what each one means. Today, we see right of the bat at the beginning of time (in the sense of humanity), that Noah, the great grandson of Enoch - found Favor in the "Eyes of the Lord".

Taken in its fuller context, we see from this chapter 6 of Genesis that everything man was doing was perverted, evil and corrupt. It was so horrible and horrid, as a foul aroma to the Lord, that He said in Genesis 6:6, that He regretted ever creating man! How bad is it, for the gracious and most merciful God of Heaven, to be so aggrieved (according to Scripture) that He was so sorry that He made man, He wiped everyone out except Noah and his immediate family?! 

We know how disgusting and foul-smelling evil is. We see it from border to border, from sea to shining sea, from culture to church corridors all over America and western Europe. What we need to focus on, is goodness and righteousness and the veritable FAVOR OF THE LORD.  Noah found favor. How did that occur?

Well, we look back to a man named Enoch who lived only a "few" years compared to others in his family tree! Enoch, a direct descendant of Adam, became father to Methuselah at age 65. Then Scripture says that Enoch "walked with God for three hundred years" after Methusaleh was born...(Genesis 5:22). Then in Genesis 5:24, the Lord says that "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him".


There was something about this family. All Enoch's ancestors were fruitful and multiplied and created enough people to populate the known earth at that time. Before Enoch was taken into Heaven without dying at age 365, he had other children who are not mentioned here. Only Methusaleh and his son Lamech and Lamech's son Noah (and his three sons) are mentioned by name before the great Flood. This family had the Favor of the Lord upon them. This was literally four generations of men who were preachers for the Lord!

In the original Paleo-Hebrew language (which Moses wrote and is different from modern day Hebrew) we start with Enoch and immediately notice that his name means "teaching or commencement".

Methusaleh, was the prophet of doom, for the corrupt around who refused to listen to his messages. He lived the longest life in the Bible, because like the prophet Jeremiah, God was trying to give His people time to repent and turn from their wicked ways. Methusaleh, who was preaching God's message of repentance (like Jeremiah) means "his death shall bring"....and as soon as he died - BOOM - the Flood's plans were put into motion by the Lord.

Lamech, the grandson of Enoch, son of Methusaleh and father of Noah, means "lamentation" or "despairing". You see the parallel to Jeremiah here, who wrote the book of Lamentations about the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians!

Noah, the last of these four great preachers for the Lord, means "to bring rest, or comfort". He brought rest and comfort, not to the evil what was wiped out by the Flood but to the new earth after God had reset things. 

By being obedient to the Lord and taking ridicule for decade after decade while he painstakingly built that Ark, and raised his family in righteousness, Noah was loved mightily by God - he found favor and grace was showered upon him. God literally saw, with His own Eyes, Noah's faithfulness and loved him, with a mighty love.  The fourth in this line of preachers, then got to save a portion of all creation, and even the members of his own family.

Are the Eyes of the Lord looking into your heart and mine, and seeing that same faithfulness, love, obedience, integrity and more? Let us then search our heart to see if our walk is like Enoch through Noah, and if we even merit the Favor and Grace of the Lord! This can only occur, if we, like Enoch through Noah, are walking in the Light of the Lord - and that Lord is Jesus Christ, Messiah of the whole world.
Amen.


Saturday, July 12, 2014

MIRACLES LINKED TO PRAYER AND FASTING

The following insight and blessing was written by frequent blog contributor CHERI MAJORS M.S., a former (and occasional) movie actress, model and more:
God Hears the Devoted Prayers of His People 
The Bible declares that any need or insurmountable problem, requiring quick resolution, should begin with prayer and fasting. Miracles always followed these events in Biblical days of old, and can still happen today.
I was not raised with fasting and prayer, as it was even a foreign concept to my Christian Sunday-School-teaching grandmother. Fasting or any other means of self-control was certainly never followed in my immediate non-practicing Christian home, so the very concept of starving myself seemed extremely uncomfortable at first.
I had even questioned whether fasting was Biblical, because my family dismissed it as a spiritual concept (not literal starving) but I had my doubts. I did however fast faithfully during my modeling years, without employing Christian or other religious doctrines as the basis for my exercises in restraint.
Practicing Restraint
Every Monday I would fast, in an effort to clear out the damaging effects of weekend dating, drinking, and dining (the Devil's playground) and although I tried, I was not very good at throwing-up the excesses. God did however patiently allow me to continue my wildly-excessive weekends, without losing my modeling face or figure, as I enjoyed the abundance of His undeserved, yet unending grace.
Miracle Fasting
As idiotic as my "Barbie" logic was, fasting once a week to continue living wild on the weekends, God blessed me anyway. For my simple, 1-day-a-week fast and show-of-restraint, He kept me thin and semi-flawless through many years of self-inflicted misery-filled weekends.
As I got older I began hearing more about Biblical fasting through various televangelists, and the whole concept started making more sense. God didn't want to deprive us (He was the One providing for us) but He did want us to show restraint, and dedication, along with prayers to get us past any roadblocks.
Biblical Miracles
There are 25 passages in the Bible (New International Version) about fasting, as well as the book of Esther. A short story in the Old Testament, turned into a novel, inspiring the movie "One Night with the King" (2006) explaining how an orphan girl "found favor" with King Xerxes and with God.
Queen Esther uncovered an insidious plot, intended to destroy her heritage along with the entire Jewish nation, so she called her people to prayer and fasting, in an effort to save them from extinction (mass genocide) at the hand of the King's adviser. The nation of Israel needed a miracle, and God not only granted their prayer requests, by allowing the survival of the Jewish race, but turned the extinction plot around on those who would harm the "apple of His eye".
Other Biblical miracles can be found in the book of Daniel, showing how his refusal to bow down to a foreign King (in place of God) or even eat the King's food (not ordained by God) got him, and his friends, thrown into a furnace, and a lion's den. However Daniel's devotion to God, coupled with his restraint, brought God's angels to ensure that no one was harmed in the fiery furnace, or in the lion's den. 
Following Biblical Instruction
Isaiah 58 gives us the Lord's instructions and guidelines for fasting and praying, and offers us miracle solutions for our problems. Although God is not specific about the food and liquid intake (or lack thereof) he does tell us how we should be acting toward one another while fasting, in order to experience the fullness of our miracles, and blessings from Him.
The "Esther Fast" is an extreme 3-day liquids-only fast. We learn through the book of Esther that the Jewish people prayed and fasted while only drinking water for 3 days. The first day begins after eating dinner, and after the sun sets. Only healthy liquids are consumed until the sun sets on the 3rdnight, when you can once again eat dinner.
The "Daniel Fast" is a much longer 40-day fast, without eating meat, sweets, or bread, but those are the only restrictions. Vegetables, grains, nuts, pasta, beans, fruit, dairy, (some say fish is allowed) along with healthy liquids, such as water, milk, and juices. If you are already a healthy eater this extended fast is not as difficult as you think. 
Remember to pray along with the fast of your choice, to bring miracles, even if there doesn't seem to be any hope left. Today we can stand on the same miraculous promises as provided by God, and documented in the Bible, whether personal, national, or world-wide. But don't take my word for it, try it for yourself, and wait for your promised miracles to happen.
A former model & actress who cared for more than 70 special-needs foster children, while earning a Masters degree in Human Sciences & Early Childhood Education. Authored 5 books (including childrens bilingua...  View profile

Monday, July 7, 2014

777 - SEVEN DAYS OF PRAYER (JULY 1-7, 2014)

DAY 7 - RESTORATION
Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth....(Hosea 6:1-3)


Our rebellion against God is breathtaking. As a people we are more broken, more corrupt and more in desperation than anyone can imagine. The people meet in high places and bow down to strange gods. They dance around every green tree and burn incense to foreign gods, then come before the Holy One of Israel and think He will be there for them. We take His changing the weather patterns, because He can, and call it "climate change" or "global warming", when all we are doing is what Lucifer did when he tried to mount a mutiny with 1/3 of the angels in heaven and got tossed out - as recorded in Isaiah 14.

Decades and decades of turning away from the God of the Bible is now coming home to roost.  America and the world are facing a future and a judgment of horror while they - we - bury our heads in our respective sand castles. We pretend this is not happening and it will all go away. We pretend God is okay with all our sin. We are people broken by sin and torn apart at the seams. But there is hope!

God showed His Prophet Hosea how he should pray as an example for us, on a day of fasting and prayer, how we should go about doing what 2 Chronicles 7:14 says "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land".

So Come Let us return to the Lord - Father God, most Holy One in Heaven, we repent in the middle of our sin for all we have done to cause You pain. We cry out as individuals and a people and plea that as we repent, You will accept our confession and bring us back from the precipice of hell as a people. Though we in the remnant may be personally saved, too many of our brethren and our entire country are being led off the cliff by those who should know better. So we pray that as we cry out, many will hear this call and want to turn back to you at this very hour in Jesus Holy Name, amen

He has torn us, but He will heal us - Father God, I believe that with all my heart as we approach you in the spirit of Brokenness. Break us now, bend us now that we may be remade, remolded and restored in Your Image, for Your Glory, forever and ever, amen.

He has stricken, but He will bind us up - Lord we are a people under the Judgment of Heaven and are too blind to see it. Open the eyes of our heart Lord, that we may see You the One True God of the Universe, and surrender to YOUR Will for our Lives, in Jesus Holy Name.

On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight - Holy Father, just as You raised the King from the grave, three days after He was crucified,  You will revive, resurrect and restore if we seek you NOW...if we see Your Restoration NOW and as we do that Lord, may You accept our sacrifice of praise and let us live in Your Sight once more. We beg and beseech You, oh Most Glorious God in Heaven to the Praise and Glory of Your Name, oh God Who revives and restores, amen and amen.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ FOR HER LEADERSHIP IN THIS POWERFUL AND INSPIRATION PRAYER MOVEMENT ACROSS THE FRUITED PLAIN!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

777 - SEVEN DAYS OF PRAYER (JULY 1-7, 2014)

DAY 6 (JULY 6, 2014):

TODAY: WHAT IS BIBLICAL FASTING?
TOMORROW (DAY 7 - RESTORATION)
As all students of Scripture know, Fasting is a biblical discipline, recognized in both Old and Testaments.  The old Bible heroes - from Moses, to Daniel to Ezra the Scribe to the Messiah Jesus Himself - fasted. Daniel fasted from the corrupt food of the pagans to show himself approved of the Lord. Though he ate a diet full of vegetables and water, the Lord allowed him to gain weight (for this purpose only). 

Ezra, the spiritual leader of the Return from the Babylonian Exile, found that things were needed to correct the direction his people were going in and he said in Ezra 8:21 "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods." We see a specific reason for his corporate fast in this verse and it should serve as the guiding post for us, on this day as we prepare to fast across America and the world for Seven (7) hours on July 7, 2014 or 7/7/14.


Here is why Ezra proclaimed his fast for the returning Hebrews (from Ezra 8:21):
- To seek a safe journey for the people and their possessions
- To seek the protection of God rather than that of man (read verse 22 here)-
- To show his humility.

This is a solid reason to fast. Christians today are under increasing bondage and persecution around the world and here at home in the US. Now is the time to humble ourselves and seek God's Hand of Protection rather than the promises of politicians, and quite frankly - even those of the majority of preachers. Fasting is the best first step in humility before the Lord as by doing so, we are willingly telling Him we love Him more than that meal(s) or thing or distraction which sometimes put Him in second place in our daily lives.

Fasting is for our benefit because it is by fasting, after we have temporarily surrendered that portion of our lives which we love the most, we are then reprogrammed to be tuned into the high frequency transmission from Heaven. In my own life, I know that Fasting has brought revelation of Spiritual things and events, which I do not speak about publicly. Fasting brings healing from past hurts.
Fasting brings restoration of our relationship with God, through Christ, as fasting also brings Repentance to the fore, more prominently that in normal times. The reason for this is Fasting lays our spiritual condition bare, so that the Holy Spirit now has free and unfettered access to minister to us, in correction and revelation, BECAUSE we are now open to the discipline and direction of the Lord.

So how does one fast when you have never done so and how do we answer folks who said "the Bible never told me to fast"..."that was old Testament" etc. Well, Jesus did say “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you (Matthew 6:16-18).

Therefore, the first thing we do in fasting is not to post in on Facebook and Twitter or boast to your friends. 
The second thing is - clean up - physically and if you need to, throw out all questionable books, movies, music etc from your home. 
Third - prepare to meet the Lord in a special way, but anointing your own head with oil, as some of us do and then begin praise and worship and preferably - getting on your face for as long as it takes or as long as you can. Then pray the Scriptures back to Abba Father.

Father in the Strong Name of Jesus I thank You for the discipline of Fasting, which though not commanded in the Law and the Book of the Law, is necessary for Your people to get even closer to you than before! I thank You that You have strengthened us in the inner man to be able to turn aside from the ways and wiles of the world to the Wonder and Wisdom of Jesus Christ 

Lord, when we think of Jesus in the Wilderness being tempted by the evil one and going without for forty days and nights...when we think of Moses on Sinai getting the Law from You for those long periods of time, we realize that You are our Bread, You are our Life, You are our Food. There is no other. This body may need sustenance in the natural, but in the Supernatural, all we need is You!

Father, as we fast together for 7 hours on 7/7/2014, may our prayers of repentance and pleas of Restoration for first,  our fellow Christians worldwide and secondly, our country, rise up to You as an aroma, pleasing to the Lord. Help us to prepare our hearts, minds, bodies and souls for a powerful divine encounter that we may be empowered to then proceed and do the Work of the Kingdom, with urgency and power, in Jesus' Strong and Holy Name, amen.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

777 - SEVEN DAYS OF PRAYER (JULY 1-7, 2014)

DAY 5 (JULY 5, 2014):
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen... (2 Timothy 4:18 ESV).
The popular cultural and societal notion is "there really is no evil" in this world. Even those in the liberal mainlines churches  refuse to come to terms that there is a devil - Satan - who is the accuser of the saints seeks to kill, steal and destroy. The atheist and the liberal deny the existence of evil for a simple reason. That reason is, to accept the existence of evil, one has to accept the existence of Good....and Who is Good? God is good!

Those who are under the oppression of evil know it exists. They know it in the Christian towns of the Islamic Middle Eastern Countries, in Pakistan, throughout Africa where hordes are rampaging through Christian countries. The persecuted know that evil is not just those who suffered under Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Mao and Pol Pot. 

To deny the existence of evil, and blame "society, or capitalism or democracy", is easier than recognizing that our own sin opens us up to be brought down and put in spiritual bondage by evil.  This sort of thinking prevents many from coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and it remains an obstacle to most professing Christians, who accept the defeat of the devil. Both sets of people are outside of the Victory which God, through Christ, provides in the following:

Romans 8:31-39:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
LET US PRAY:
Most Holy and Righteous Father in Heaven, our Help in ages past and our Hope in years to come, be Thou our guide while life shall last and our Eternal protector from the wiles of the evil one. Father, You, through the Mighty Son - Jesus Christ - rescued us from the dominion of darkness, set our feet upon a rock - the Rock of Christ - and put a new song in our heart, and saved us out of the pit. Father, we know that we are victorious because of the Cross and are under the protection of Heaven.

Holy Father, we also know we are under the attack and accusations of the evil one who desires not just to fall, but failing that, to keep us distracted from you. Father, entire generations have been lost to the kingdom in the recent past because we have confused works for worship and self-praise with prayer.

Your church, which Your Son gave His life for, has gone silent, ineffective and even corrupt. Because we have failed You as a Body and a unit, we have failed in our mission to keep our families together, our towns and cities together, our country together and as a result, both the culture and the country now stand in Judgment of You. 

By doing almost nothing, saying nothing and even conforming to this latter day evil, those who call themselves by Your Name are a defeated  and ineffective bunch themselves. For that, I repent, oh God. I see Your forgiveness and ask that You not just keep us from Temptation but deliver us from the wiles and cunning of the Accuser. I pray that You, from Your High and Lofty Throne in Heaven, look down upon us, send Your angels to watch over us to keep us from getting blinded-side. I pray that You not just build strong fortresses around our families and homes, but that You build a wall of fire around our hearts that our love for You will growing stronger and stronger and never grow old or cold.

Lord, we thank You that You are our standard-bearer and is always there for us when we call on You. We love You, praise You and worship and adore You and ask Your Mighty Hand upon us as we rest in the very shadow of Your Mighty Wings, in Jesus Strong and Mighty Name, amen.

Friday, July 4, 2014

777 - SEVEN DAYS OF PRAYER (JULY 1-7, 2014)




DAY 4 (JULY 4, 2014):

FREEDOM AND DELIVERANCE
One cannot truly understand any type of freedom without grasping the concept of Deliverance. All peoples everywhere yearn to be "free" - free to live their lives; free to walk their streets; free to raise their kids; free to move from place to place....and just free to conduct themselves in the manner which seems appropriate.

The purposes of man sometimes work against this kind of universal freedom because the worldly, who seek power, also seek to oppress and dominate others, in order to exercise that power. We see this in the godless (and deadly) centuries of oppression of Communism, socialism, national socialism (Nazis), and other forms of pagan idolatry and tyranny. These godless philosophies of the god of this world - Sin, the Flesh and the devil - have nothing to do with the purity and passion of the Freedom which comes from Christ, the Son of God.

God's Freedom and "freedom" given by men are two completely different entities. The difference could not be more obvious. 
God's Freedom is called Deliverance. Man's "freedom" is called dependency. 
God's Freedom is about "setting the captives" free. Man's "freedom" is control and confiscate. 
God's Freedom allows the person to soar to be the best they can be. Man's freedom gives just enough largesse to captivate the individual into conformity to the corruption of this world. 
God's Will and Freedom is about transforming by the "renewing" of the mind (Romans 12:2). Man's Freedom is mind control and ultimate destruction of the human soul. 
Which would you rather possess?

Scriptures says "he whom the Son sets free, is free indeed" (John 8:36), because it was "for Freedom, that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1). Jesus Christ, the Son of God has set us free by this single act 2000 plus years ago when an event happened in Bethlehem where the Majesty of Heaven was revealed in the little baby Who grew up to give us the blueprints of Freedom. He gave us those blueprints in the Gospel of the Kingdom, that if we repent, and believe it and accept His sacrifice on the Cross, we too will be saved, by putting our complete Faith alone in Him for our deliverance.

So Father, in the Mighty Name of that Jesus, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, of Whom the Scriptures spoke from Genesis to Revelation, I thank You for setting this captive free! I thank You for the saving power of the Cross which offers the only true Hope for all mankind for all time, that if we would just see beyond our own myopic vision, we can see Your wonderful plan to rescue humanity.

I thank You for that same rescue from the bondage of sin....from the bondage of the cycle of despair....from the bondage of the circle of corruption and the vortex of fleshy desires, dependency and degradation. I think You for setting me from my inaccurate notions about the true nature of You, Heavenly Father. 

You set me from the misleading interpretations of those who do not have Your interests at heart and who therefore, seek to give glory to themselves...a glory they seek for their own goodness and profit and not the Glory and Power of the Kingdom. I thank You for therefore setting me on the right track of truly understanding your character and amazing attributes that I can more accurately interpret Your Word; more correctly seek You in Prayer and more purposefully WORSHIP You in Spirit and in Truth.

Thank You, Father, oh most Righteous and Holy God, for the covering You have provided, through the Full Armor of God in Ephesians 6, where You have equipped us to stand against the pagan gods of this world in high offices, from academia, all the way down to politics, whose plans do not ever line up with Yours. 
Thank You for the Helmet of Salvation. Thank You for the Breastplate of Righteousness. Thank You for the Belt of Truth and the Shoes of the Gospel. Thank You for the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit because those Supernatural life-giving/freedom-believing resources enable us to continue to be free from sin, the flesh and the devil while living in this perishing world, so that we may share that good news with those who see the same deliverance You have given to us.

We thank You, oh most Gracious and Loving God, that You have allowed the great country of America to be the beacon of human freedom it has been for 200 plus years and the example, until recent decades, of Christian virtue and ethics. 
We thank You for the fruited plains; the magnificent mountains; the spectacular oceans and lakes; the lush food baskets which feed the world and the bustling industries, shipyards and freight trains which move the engine of economic freedom. 
We thank You for the men and women who toil in the financial sectors; the hospitals; the services industries; the over the road trucking outfits and the schools' and colleges. Most of all we thank You for the homes You have so freely provided if we work hard and play by the rules of God and man. All of this was only possible because of Your Grace, oh God, Your Grace. 
We thank You for our families and spouses and children and grand-children and extended families that grew this country from day one. We know oh Lord, that men and women, who are not of You, have these God-ordained institutions targeted for destruction, for the glory of themselves and their father - the god of this world. But You, Oh God of all Heaven and Earth and the Universe, are a patient and long-suffering God. Therefore, we surrender this now into Your Mighty Hands.
We repent of our part in any of this and turn back to You right now, humbling ourselves; seeking Your Holy Face and praying that You would hear from Heaven. Keep us Free oh God, in this world, as You already have ordained, by bringing us into the Eternal Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom all Power and Glory now belong - now and forever more, amen.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

777 - SEVEN DAYS OF PRAYER (JULY 1-7, 2014)

DAY 3 (JULY 3, 2014):

PRAYER FOCUS: REPENTANCE
We are in a bad place, corporately, as a people.  Individually, we are sinners saved by Grace, but as a corporate humanity, we are a foul odor in the nostrils of Holy God. We as a people have committed three types of sin against God, of which, if we as a people do NOT repent and turn from our wicked ways, the Judgment of God will fall swiftly.

On a national level, we see the swift decline in not just the western world but specifically here in the one country which everyone worldwide considered a Christian country - America. The Hand of Protection of Almighty God was pulled off the United States on September 11, 2001 when the biggest attack on the country since Pearl Harbor was allowed to strike. Right after that, there was a huge show of "religiousity" with people flocking to churches etc for a few weeks. The problem with that - it was all show! America and its church leaders quickly went back to business as usual and now, we are in a societal as well as spiritual free fall over a cliff. The reason this is happening are three things related to Sin, which are listed in the first two verses of Psalm 51 below and underlined in RED. They are Transgessions, Iniquity and Sin. All three of them fall under the umbrella of sin which God abhors.

Just briefly, Transgression is OPEN rebellion against God. It is what King David did when he knowingly sinned, even though God spoke directly to him and allowed him to write the Psalms under inspiration. He knowingly went and took another man's wife- Bathsheba, impregnated her and then killed her husband. He knowingly lived with that sin for two years before God had enough and sent the prophet Nathan to finger him and call him out. America has spit in the eyes of God with idolatry, celebrity culture, removing God from schools and crosses from churches. We have judges forcing unbiblical re-definition of Holy Matrimony and certain mainline churches sanctioning same-sex clergy and other sin. This is open rebellion against God - Transgression - which if not repented of as King David did in Psalm 51 below, will lead to the spiritual death of a nation.

So Father, in the Name of Jesus, I repent of my part, in participating in this evil celebrity culture and for supporting those things and people who have openly rebelled against you, because "it was the cool thing to do". Please forgive me, most Holy and Righteous Father and forgive us all, those to whom You have given the Spirit of Repentance.

Iniquity, the other type of sin, is not as vile as Transgression, but is just as deadly. Iniquity is repeat, habitual sin - like looking at pornography or R rated movies and feeling guilty...but stilling going back to Family Video Stores and renting some Sharon Stone or Robert DeNiro movie because you think it has a good story. It is like becoming a weekend drinker of beer or something and thinking that is okay, since you do not do it daily.

Father in the Name of Jesus, I repent of all my iniquity. Search my heart oh God and seek and find ALL that is evil within me, which cause me to go back "there" again, even though I (we) promised many times to "never do this again" - and then root it out. Then give me the strength to replace all those things with Thy Word and prayer and praise that I may grow in the Wisdom and knowledge of Christ and it is in His Name I pray, Amen.

Transgression and iniquity - the two big sins against God - will get anyone into deep trouble with the Father. The misdemeanor sins one commits daily are easily forgiven but iniquity and open rebellion are deeply troubling. If those are not taken care off, then God help us. Today, (and always) let us go into a deep mode of repentance and seeking His complete and absolute forgiveness or face the Wrath of God here on earth and then on the soon coming Day of the Lord. Amen

Psalm 51(1-11)

Have mercy upon me, O God
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,[a]
And blameless when You judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.