Monday, June 26, 2006

Out of Captivity

“Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.” Psalms 126:1

Many times Israel cried out with this Psalm to be delivered from captivity. They had been in captivity during the time of the judges, the time of the kings of Judah and Israel, and last into the foreign lands.  This was all because they refused to keep the law and commandments of God but went the way of the desires of their hearts.  

Today, much of the church is in captivity being drunk on the pleasures of this world, self-indulgence, self-seeking, and lust for money and recognition.  She’s drunk on the flattery of the world and has left off the Word of God in general.  There are prayers for salvation but only decisions not true conversions.  There are no life changes, no sanctification or consecration.  Those words are mostly in the past now.  The church is drunk on its own self-imposed beauty, backing away to see the wonderful works that its done, attributing it to “God” when it was done on their own professional wisdom.  The church has lost contact with God in general and doesn’t even realize it.  Truly the protracted prayer meeting and times of consecration are mostly in the past.  Revive us again Lord Jesus!!!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

How Great Is Our God

Psalms 89:11  The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

It is an awesome thing to consider how great God is.  He has always been here, he lives today, and he will be here forever.  It’s beyond human comprehension and reasoning.  Isaiah asks in Isaiah 40:12, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?”  All the waters of the earth are measured in the hollow of his hand. He can hold them all!  Think of it!  He can measure the heaven with just his hand and easily measure the dust of the earth.  Weighing the mountains and hills are no problem to him and all the nations are but a drop in the bucket to him as we read in the 15th verse of the same chapter, “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”  All of this is nothing to him.  He made it all and he will have the last word.

Then why do we worry?  He saw that man could not join him in heaven so he even sent his Son as a sacrifice so we could have a way through Christ.  What a thoughtful God and Father and what a Lord and Christ!  If we are truly his children, we now have access to his throne.  If you wanted to talk to the President or Governor, you’d probably get rejected as I would.  Even talking to a congressmen is rare at best.  You may talk to your mayor and councilmen but unless you’re on familiar basis with them, the conversation will be limited.  But one can talk to the Heavenly Father through Christ any time and all the time if he wishes.  This is what pray is all about.  

Yet, we have a prayerless society and I’m afraid much of the so called church is just as prayerless.  If the average American says a table grace he feels he’s doing his part.  God desires communion with his children and if you’re one of his you should be spending time with Him.  “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  Psalms 37:4  We’re missing out if we don’t, not only on blessings, but salvation for our loved ones, and perhaps eternal life itself.