Archive for May 2020
This is from the blog Daily Meditation:
Jude 1:12: “These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.”
Water in spiritual parlance refers to the life of God.
Moses while speaking of the future to the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:1-2), said may his teachings drop as the rain. The word of God and water (in a spiritual sense) has been closely associated.
The purification of the bride of Christ, according to the teachings of Paul, is done by the washing of water via the word (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Blessings and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit have also been associated with water in the word of God, both being an extended and intensive expression of the life of God. The rivers of living water illustrates the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-38) and the well of living water like the one Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman about (John 4:10. 13-14), is about the life of God in people.
Paul said let your words be seasoned with salt, ministering grace to the hearers (Ephesians 4:29). The life of God and his grace are alike. If they are not one and the same thing. I see the former as the potential energy and the later the kinetic energy, the former the raw material while the latter is the product. Jesus was said, in the bible, to be “full of grace and truth” and, “in Him was life” (John 1:4, 14, 17).
Peter said ministering to others is about being a conduit of the grace of God, the blessing of God, whether in spiritual or physical form (1Peter 4:9-10).
Therefore to be a cloud without water, as the accusation of Jude against some people goes, is to be bereft of spiritual value maybe because your attention is on accomplishing some other things rather than being a blessing. You may want to be make money for yourself, or achieve a name for yourself, or have gotten swallowed up by fleshly drives.
A cloud without water is a contradiction. This is a person who, like a cloud, is in an elevated position. He is so positioned that people look up to him for spiritual value but they meet nothing but frustration and retrogression.
Jesus cursed a tree because he expected a “blessing” from it and he got nothing (Mark 11:12-14). A cloud without water is all sound but no anointing, no fire from the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).
Don’t be a cloud without water.
The number one thing to do is to value the presence of God. There, one on one with him, you soak in his rains as it falls on you so that you are full of water to rain on others (Hosea 6:3).
The king’s spokesman must hear, from the king before speaking for him. The task of speaking for God is so solemn that a declaration of woe is made upon anyone who says, “Thus says the Lord,” when God has not spoken (Ezekiel 13:1-3).
Since Jesus is full of grace and truth, it means that there is no grace (divine ability) anywhere else apart from in full fellowship with Him through the Holy Spirit. And any attempt to proclaim truth without Christ first expressing it (also by fellowship and sometimes hardship) in you, it is merely expressing an opinion.
Since truth makes free, therefore its expression is more than being articulate (and that is good [Proverbs 16:21]). You must have been actively engaging truth the person, to communicate truth in your message.
What I am saying is that you may say the right things (any parrot can do that) but you cannot communicate the truth that make people free without being in active fellowship with the truth. The quantity of time some pastors spend in the presence of God in prayer is so pitifully small. That is because being a pastor is just something they do and not who they are, therefore, they are pastors made in the church organization not made from the heaven.
They become a disappointment both to themselves and to the people they are meant to serve. They fall into depression, they burnout, and they mess around because they tried to output what they can’t. They are clouds without water. They want to give spiritual nourishment when they neglect the Father of spirits.
Sometimes some of these clouds have water to give but the volume of water is not more than a splatter, more a nuisance than a blessing. They move the people momentarily but there is no lasting impact for God. Not for lack of sincerity on their part, it is lack of familiarity with the ways of God which they can only learn when living your life from the presence of God.
These set of people suffer from underdeveloped capacity, they spend scanty time in the presence of God and therefore have scanty rain to give the people.
Moses was described as a person who knew the way of God (Psalm 103:7). God used him to sustain a nation in the wilderness. He had enough spiritual clout to command the deliverance of nation. But everything started from the presence of God (Exodus 3:1-5) and he continued in that form throughout his lifetime. Moses was one to spend extended periods of time with God.
His value for the presence of God borders on obsession. Moses was not moved in his resolve even when it was suggested that, not the Lord, but an angel would lead the children of Israel (Exodus 32:31-35, 33:12-16). He refused to settle for the second best. Is there such hunger in you that says, “for the presence of God I will give it all it takes?” For Moses God himself could not stand in his way. He’ll rather die than not see light, the light in his presence.
Many want to begin to show people the way when they have not experience the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ (2Corinthians 4:5-7). Moses said to God, “Show me your glory.” You can only lead the people of God to glorious place when you have experienced God’s glory in the place of seeking.
God rebuked certain prophets in the book of Jeremiah, saying they prophesied but not according to him and have led the people astray (Jeremiah 23:16-23). But the solution was simple: God said if they had taken the pain to find out what He has to say then they would truly speak for him. And not be clouds without water.
Dreams from the LORD 2011-2020
22 May 2020
Last night I had a dream about Barack Obama. It was a long dream. We were both in the same house. He was acting very strange. The Lord showed me that Obama was very wicked. Obama tried to talk to me, but I avoided him like the plague. Then Obama became afraid of me. This other guy showed up in the room and told me that Obama knew my name.
Acts 19:15: “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”
Be Known by Hell – Leonard Ravenhill
The Bill Gates of Hell
Paga (Intercession)
ObamaGate – ItalyGate
The Death of Hillary Clinton
Prophetic Dream: Assassination of Kim Clement
Barack Obama and Africa
Turkish News Report on Adrenochrome
Execution of SEAL Team 6
_____
ObamaGate – ItalyGate
Obama Should Be Executed for TREASON
ItalyGate – Obama Orchestrated Election Steal in Italy
COMMENTARY: ObamaGate will make Watergate look like a misdemeanor
By Wayne Allyn Root
Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 23, 2017
An ancient Chinese philosopher once said, “May you live in interesting times.” Congratulations, we’ve hit the jackpot.
We are in the beginning phase of Obamagate. This is our generation’s Watergate. Except far worse.
Here’s a refresher course for those too young to remember. Watergate was the biggest scandal in modern political history. Republican President Richard Nixon desperately wanted to know what Democrats were planning for their 1972 presidential campaign against him. He ordered a team of trusted aides to spy on them. They literally broke into the offices of the Democrat National Committee inside the Watergate Building. That was the beginning of the end for Nixon.
But today no one needs to physically break into an office to spy on a political rival. All you have to do is use the high-tech electronic power of government. A corrupt president can use the government to listen in on anyone, anytime.
The media and liberal critics went ballistic when Donald Trump tweeted in March that Barack Obama spied on him. CNN tweeted, “Trump’s baseless wiretap claim” and, “Trump just flat-out lied about wiretapping.” Well guess who was right? Trump — again.
According to multiple media reports out last week, officials in the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign. They wiretapped Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort both before and after the election. It appears other top Trump aides were also wiretapped, as was Trump Tower.
If these media reports are proven true, then the Obama administration was spying on the entire Trump campaign staff. Even if they were listening in on only Manafort, to whom do you think he was speaking? Trump and every high-ranking member of Trump’s campaign staff.
Which means while government agents were supposedly listening for “criminal activity,” they just happened to hear every plan of the Trump campaign … they just happened to know what would be in Trump’s speeches … they knew his line of attack versus Hillary … they knew his debate prep … they knew everything Trump was planning before he did it. That’s some valuable inside information.
Obama just happened to pick the perfect guy to spy on — if he wanted to fix the election for Hillary.
It was the perfect crime — or so Obama thought. Because with all this inside information on the Trump campaign in the hands of Hillary and her campaign team, she couldn’t lose. And after her easy victory, Hillary would be in control of the Department of Justice. So who would ever investigate or prosecute?
Except Trump ruined everything by winning a “fixed” election against all odds. And now Trump controls the DOJ. Trump can investigate and prosecute. Obamagate is directly in Trump’s crosshairs.
Does this Obamagate gameplan sound familiar?
These are the same people who successfully “fixed” the primaries for Hillary. They cheated Bernie Sanders. They even gave CNN’s presidential debate questions to Hillary in advance. These are the same people who used the IRS to destroy Obama’s leading media critics and slow tea party fundraising and activism to a trickle during the 2012 Obama re-election run. Isn’t that an attempt to “fix” the election?
These are the same people caught spying on journalists of Fox News, The Associated Press and CBS’s Emmy Award-winning correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. These are the same people who unmasked Trump advisers and transition officials. Samantha Powers was unmasking names at a speed unheard of in political history.
This is Obamagate. It makes Watergate look like child’s play. The real question is: What did Obama himself know and when did he know it?
Fifty Cubits High
Barack Obama and Africa
Trump Won’t Be Impeached, But Obama Will Be – Mark Taylor
Philandering FBI Agents Blow Obama’s Cover on ObamaGate
The Biggest Political Scandal in Our History – Sebastian Gorka
The Enemy is Down but not Neutralized – Mark Taylor
Why Obama had to take out Flynn – Sebastian Gorka
The Obama Legacy will be Stripped and Destroyed – Mark Taylor
It’s Not A Criminal Investigation Against Obama – It’s Treason – Mark Taylor
ItalyGate:
.
.
“The Watergate break-in was strictly based on one thing – the pedophile records that were being kept at the Democratic National Headquarters.”
–Detective James Rothstein, (NYPD, Retired)
[from Eyes Wide Open by Fiona Barnett, Chapter 1. “Watergate was Pedogate”]
.
This is from the blog My Dreams and Visions:
I had a dream last night where I was observing from the back of a church the goings-on inside. What I saw was appalling. I saw a black snake in and among the pews of the church. As people would try to move out from the pews it would entangle their feet causing them to fall. No one around helped those fallen back to their feet. Not one of the leaders in front of the church acknowledged the snake’s presence or the fact that people were being made to fall. Hence the title of the post. I remember crying out several times in the dream, “where are the watchmen?”. As the days grow darker watchmen are needed more so now than ever. Deception is creeping into the house of God and the watchman is needed to expose it.
__________
Ezekiel 33: 7-9: “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
This is from the blog A Word in Season:
“And Jacob was left alone”
Genesis 32:24
Alone with God. God’s greatest work within an individual is often done in secret, away from the sight of others. God takes aside those upon whom His call rests, to achieve His end within their hearts. Wrestlings, breakings and spiritual insights are common to those who are “the called according to His purpose”. It is the broken vessel which most easily pours forth the fragrance and living waters of Christ. A vessel broken in the hands of God can never be broken by the circumstances of life. Broken ones are strong in God; they know that their weakness is the place of God’s power. They have learned of the One broken for them, from Whom springs joy and delight. In the secret places of God, they have discovered their call, their purpose and their destiny. Many circumvent this sanctified place of the preparation and dealings of God. They choose instead to fill their time with activities, entertainment, shallow relationships and even religious exercises in order to avoid the mystery of this alone time with God. The narrative of Lot (Hebrew meaning: veiled one) is an accurate portrayal of many today. Though righteous (2 Peter 2:7-9), he clung to the vestiges of the world while simultaneously being vexed by it. It is the conundrum of His own: loving God but also hanging on to the ways and wisdom of this world. Loved of God but lacking the intimacy and deep knowledge of Him reserved for those who come to that secret place with God.
The Faith of Lot
“And when the dawn rose, then the angels urged Lot, saying, Rise up, take your wife and your two daughters who are found, lest you be cut off in the depravity of the city. And he lingered. And the men lay hold of his hand and his wife’s hand, and on the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah having mercy on him. And they caused him to go out, and they put him down outside the city. And it happened as they led them outside, he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be swept away. And Lot said to them, Please, no, Lord! Behold, now, Your servant has found grace in Your sight, and You have magnified Your mercy which You have done to me in saving my life. And I am not able to escape to the mountain lest some evil overtake me and I die. Please, now, this city is near, to flee there, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there! Is it not a little thing, that my soul may live?”
Genesis 19:17-20
God’s call was to the mountain but, because of his undeveloped faith, Lot was fearful. He refused and asked God to change His call (on the basis of mercy) and deliver him to a small city! How sad is such a request; how dismal a faith that would forebear the call to be alone with God and choose a smaller inheritance in this world and the one to come. Interestingly, this is the first use of the world “mercy” in scripture. Calling upon God, on the basis of mercy, to deviate from God’s original purpose is a compromise that leaves one, though still righteous, stunted in faith and growth.
“And Jacob was left alone”
Genesis 32:24
It was when he was all alone that Jacob, the conniver, schemer and manipulator, met HIS GOD! It is here that the natural man is crippled, and the inward man begins to rise by God’s grace. It is here Jacob receives the New Name. It is here that the God of Abraham and Isaac now becomes the God of Jacob! Such glory awaits those who embrace the secret of being alone with God. In this place we discover who we truly are and are forced to face the flaws and horror of our true condition. In his wrestling with God, Jacob must respond to this penetrating question:
“What is thy name?”
Genesis 32:27
In other words, what is your nature and motivation?
“And he said, Jacob*”
Genesis 32:27
God well knew his name. This rhetorical question was for Jacob to admit and confess the truth of himself. This is an essential requirement for those whom God uses. Jesus told the woman at the well to go get her husband. At that moment she had the choice to be authentic, honest and open with God or remain unchanged and miserable. Her choice determined whether she would receive the revelation of the One who spoke with her or remain a lost and wandering soul. So it is with us. Does our encounter with God bring us to the brink of the truth of ourselves, or do we hide behind a confession of faith, a doctrine or a religious cover? Do we avoid the call to come to Him in truth and instead find a “little one” in which to hide from the penetrating eyes of God?
Alone with God
Do we dare draw near to Him? Do we dare venture alone to tread this holy ground of piercing and revelation? Do we have the stamina of heart to cast aside the offerings of a religion more concerned with covering our sin than to find in Christ the power to be free from our sin. The one leaves us bereft of any sense of spiritual identity; the other brings us to the place of “becoming” like Him in truth!
Alone with God has ever been the experience of those used mightily of God regardless of covenant (New or Old Testament).
We read of John the Baptist:
“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel”
Luke 1:80
And Paul:
“…immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus”
Galatians 1:16-17
We read of John on the Isle of Patmos, Daniel, Moses, and many others who by faith drew near to the One who can take “worms” and make them “sharp threshing instruments having teeth” Isaiah 41:14-15
“Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff”
Isaiah 41:14-15
Do not be fearful or tempted to compromise your walk with God in order to fit in with the consensus of many; either the cloistered ones who walk in their own counsel, nor with the multitude who frequent the broad paths. Let the lonely times, when friends, brothers and sisters reject you, be a blessing. Only as we are alone with Him can He truly purge us from the uncleanness of our own ways. Never be afraid to be Alone with God.
“Therefore, I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words…”
Daniel 10:8-9
*Note: Jacob – “Adjective עקב (‘aqeb) means overreacher; adjective עקב (‘aqob), insidious or deceitful; adjective עקב (‘aqob), tricky or treacherous (of terrain). Noun עקבה (‘aqeba) means deceitfulness and noun עקב (‘eqeb), consequence..” Abiram Publications
Brian Troxel
Jacob will remain Jacob until He is Broken
The Saint Must Walk Alone
God’s Face is God’s Presence
Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel
This is from The Missing Cross to Purity:
[Note: Francis Howgill and Edward Burrough once traveled together to Ireland, according to the Lord’s instructions to both, to preach the true gospel. They were very successful, reaching many people, and then they were arrested and expelled back to England. This appears to have been written when they were in detention in Dublin, awaiting their transport back to England. He is writing to those who they had just convinced and set up in silent meetings in the weeks before their arrest. It serves as an excellent statement of what happens in the spiritual journey: from the touch, to the tribulation, and the kingdom, and then the union.]
To all of you who believed the report, and who received the testimony, and to whom the word of the Lord came in power, to the turning of you, in any measure, from darkness to light, our souls’ wish and desire the multiplying and abounding of the grace and love of God in you and among you; that thereby, you may grow in union and favor with God, and into the fellowship with all the Children of the Light; and may be nourished as newborn babes, by the milk of the word, which endures forever. And truly, though we are now separated from you in the body, we are present with you in spirit, not ceasing in prayer to God for you; but with heart breathings to Him, our souls are poured out at the throne of Grace on your behalf that your faith may not be made void, knowing your state and condition; being full sensible of your weakness to resist temptations of the enemy, but young and tender in the experience of the way and operation of God; and unacquainted with the wiles of Satan, who will not cease in seeking whom he may devour, and whom he may lead aside in the bypaths of iniquity, from the obedience and faith in Christ Jesus; that shipwreck may be made of those good desires now begotten in you, through the ministry of Christ sent to you; by whom a good work has begun in you, which will bring forth the redemption and salvation of your souls, if you abide in the patience, enduring the cross and sufferings unto the end.
And dear friends, this charge, in the name of the Lord, we lay upon you; that in the fear of the Lord, you meet together, waiting in the patient hope, in the Light which leads out of the night and out of all the works of darkness, unto the day, glory, and rising of the Sun of Righteousness that all clouds and veils may be removed and the night of darkness and stumbling may be wholly finished; that as Children of the Light, and of the day, you may walk, bringing forth fruits of righteousness, to the glory of God; being judged in the flesh, and condemned as men in the flesh, and changed, from its nature of transgression and disobedience, into the Divine nature of God, and into the likeness of the Father; that from this time forward, as a people redeemed by Him, and saved by Him, you may serve Him in newness of life, by the Spirit of his Son; who dwells in you, as you dwell in the Light.
May the Lord God Almighty preserve you, to the finishing of your course with joy, in the way of the Lord; that you may know as you are known; and victory may be given you over death, hell, and the grave; and that through the war you may partake of the crown immortal, which fades not away. Therefore be faithful in obedience to the will of God, made manifest in the Light, which condemns the evil, and chooses the good. Daily become subject to the cross of Christ, taking up his yoke and burden, which kills and crucifies the fleshly man, with his affections, desires, and lusts; that being slain to all mortal, you may reign immortality over all your enemies inward and outward; against which you are to war, even against spiritual wickedness in high places, and against exalting thoughts and imaginations. Therefore put on the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ, and gird yourselves with his power; and be low in heart, and subject to the Father in all things; and be not high-minded, but fear; and stand in awe, and sin not; neither flee from the cross of Christ, but let it be your rejoicing; and let love abound among you, even the love with which you are loved by the Father; being of one heart, and like minded with one another, and forgiving one another, and humbly reproving one another, if any are overtaken with a fault.
Wait for discerning, to have salt in yourselves, to know and savor one another in the spirit, and operation, and working of it; that being sensible, and feeling one another’s conditions in the spirit, you may speak to the informing of one another, to the building up on one another, in the precious faith. But be slow to speak, and swift to hear; and do not feed each other’s sensual wisdom, which is the serpent’s seat. For words without knowledge darken counsel, and betray simplicity. But take heed to the measure of the Light of Christ, and be watchful in it; having the loins of your minds girded up, as obedient servants, waiting for the will of God; to be doers of his will from the simplicity and sincerity of the heart. Be watchful, for fear that the tempter by imaginations presents himself in a way and voice, like the way and voice of the True Shepard; and thereby the simplicity is ensnared, and your way and savor is lost, and darkness and clouds come over you; and so deceit strengthens itself; and takes an offence in Christ Jesus. The last end of which will be worse than the beginning, and the way of truth will be blasphemed; and the grace of God will be turned into lack of restraint; and the door of Life will be shut against them. But be upright hearted; and single minded unto the end; for he who overcomes shall eat of the hidden manna. Rev 2:17, John 6:31-35.
Do not strive with each another, neither judge each other, in whatever you do not see in the Light; but keep at home in your own conditions, waiting until judgment is perfected in victory, and your redemption is brought forth. Though you have trouble in the world, and suffering and reproaches from it; yet in Christ shall you have peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For your present troubles, and sufferings, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in you. Coming through the same entrance of tribulations with us, you shall be made partakers of the same life, and glory, and inheritance, to rejoice, and sing the song of the Lamb for evermore, over the beast, and over his mark, and over the number of his name.
All of you, whether masters or servants, parents or children; whatever calling or condition, walk as becomes the gospel of Christ Jesus, in all holiness, and purity, and humility in your conduct; and be examples of righteousness to each other, that in your several places you may honor Him who has called you, by works of faith and righteousness; that thereby the mouth of those who wait for your halt of progress may be stopped; and by your good works God may be glorified in the sight of your enemies. For the gospel preached to you was not to lead into words only, but into life and power, and our unity stands with those who are in the life and power; and we shall never be ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Therefore dear children, be diligent in the Lord’s work, and steadfast in watching over your own hearts in particular; and watch over one another in general for good, and not evil; that you may grow up into one body, members of one head, joined by the Spirit to Christ Jesus, who is the Light of the world; upon whom you have believed to your salvation, if you continue in the faith. And your rock of defense and salvation, has become the stumbling stone, and rock of offence to the princes and to the rulers. Beloved, truly our bowels are troubled for you, not being ignorant of the very purpose of Satan; who has now stirred up his agents, thinking to make void your faith and belief, and even to slay the child [within] while he is young: but our confidence in the Lord in this is strong, that He will preserve you to his praise, and the little seed shall never be forgotten of Him; but though it was sown in weakness, it shall arise, and spring, and be raised in power to the torment of all the Lord’s enemies.
You whose hearts God has touched, and who have entered into the way, look not back at any glory left behind; but freely give up all, and press on in the straight way, through the death of the enmity upon the cross; and as you deny yourselves for Christ, so will your reward be from Him manifold. Dwell in the judgment until the ground of all unrighteousness is removed; and so eternal peace be manifested to the seed of immortality. Do not look back at hardships or at the multitudes of temptations; but mind the Light, which is the whole armor of God, whereby you will receive strength to overcome all your enemies; and the Covenant of God will be established with you, in which you will receive the blessing in all things, and will know how to use all things to the glory of God; seeing his pure presence in all his blessings. Stand always in the cross to the carnal, and your understandings will be kept open and clear, to receive the pure teachings of the Father; and his wisdom from above will grow in you; and the wisdom of the earthly will die. If you abide in the Light that is from the beginning, you need no one to teach you; but by the anointing which you will receive, you will be taught all things in the way of God perfectly; and so stand witnesses for the Lord, and against all the world and its deceits. Beware of the love of the world; and of the bad ground; and of the envious man, for fear that he sow tares among the good seed, and so you become corrupted, and the just principle in you is betrayed; and so Satan exalts himself above the measure of God’s Spirit revealed in you; and so you perish in the arguing. But our hearts hope better things of you, even your growth into the inheritance with Christ; to reign with Him over the world, in the incorruptible inheritance; that we may reign together in one heart and mind, one with another. And truly herein will our joy be increased, in the midst of our troubles and sufferings, to hear and understand of your faithfulness and obedience, in the faith of the gospel declared unto you.
To the Grace of God, upon whom you have believed, we do commit you, in the bowels of everlasting love and pity, with tenderness of soul and spirit, to be kept in the power of God unto the day of salvation. The eternal presence of the Lord God, the Everlasting Father be with you all. Amen, Amen.
We are yours in the Lord and are fellow prisoners for the testimony of Jesus, which we hold, known to you, and not to the world.
From the house of the Sergeant at Arms in Dublin, the 24th of the 12th month 1655
Francis Howgill
Edward Burrough
Revival in Ireland?
William Edmundson, The Irish Hammer
This is from the blog A Word in Season:
I woke up this morning burdened in my heart. I spent some time in prayer concerning the things I was feeling. I felt to write upon the phrase “the righteous will live by faith”. While writing this article the Spirit of God moved upon me as to the Day we are in. I make no apologies for this writing except for the clumsiness of my own words to express the fire that burned within. The words in blue are when His Spirit fell on me.
“the righteous will live by his faith”
Habakkuk 2:4
This word spoken by Habakkuk, somewhere around 650BC, was directly quoted in the New Testament on three separate occasions: Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. It was a word by which the Apostles presented the power and the truth of God’s Kingdom.
Habakkuk’s day was much like today. Israel was filled with unrighteousness and the law of God was “slacked” (KJV); the Hebrew word used here means faint or grown feeble in power and in effect. (The power of the things of God expressed in the earth will ever be relative to the attitude of the hearts of God’s people to His Word.) When the word of God is lightly esteemed in the midst of His own, when it becomes a concept and an ideal (rather than the very life and breath of His people), lawlessness, chaos and sin will be rampant in His house.
In Habakkuk’s day iniquity (self-will) infested the land and few took to heart the condition of God’s house. The greatest sin in religion is men and women taking the things of God and using them for their own ends. Self-will is man’s rebellion to God’s will. Men walk in their own paths, according to their own wisdom whereby they devise and scheme their own ways, all in the name of God. Self-will in God’s name is the ultimate defiance of His Lordship. It makes a mockery of the first commandment: “thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord in vain”. It brings the greatest judgment upon a land and a people. The fruit of self-will is powerlessness, apathy and disobedience to Christ Himself. Self-will renders obedience passé with the explanation that we are no longer “under the law but under grace”. Grace becomes the basis for disobedience! Grace becomes the means by which we excuse our obligation to serve our God and instead live unto ourselves. Right living is set aside; we embrace a gospel which declares us righteous while dishonoring God by how we live.
In the midst of this God speaks to the burden and cry of His prophet who in agony of soul cried out to God “Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity?” God’s answer was judgment (Hab. 1:6-10). In the midst of God’s decree, He speaks this word to the man who bears in His heart the cry of God: “but the righteous shall live by his faith”.
In the midst of the iniquity in God’s house, a word is spoken to the true in heart: “the righteous shall live BY faith”. This faith imparts the life and power of God to walk uprightly in a day when His law is set aside by a “new gospel”; where men and women are “freed” from their accountability unto God and they exalt in a new “freedom” to live out their lives unchecked and forgiven for past, present and future sins. It is a gospel which desensitizes the conscience and brings His people to the place where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. The moral depravity of this gospel is swiftly bringing the Judgment of God upon our land; it is at the door and even now upon us. As God raised up the Chaldeans in Habakkuk’s day, so in our day nations are rising that will bring judgement on a haughty and rebellious people. Peter has declared of our day:
“For the time is come that judgment MUST begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
1 Peter 4:17
God has brought upon the world a SELAH; a divine pause for men and women to consider their ways. This pause is the precursor to the unfolding of a day of Judgment; lawlessness, rioting and the failing of any judicial restraint. It is, after all, the DAY of THE LORD. There will be a revelation of the filth, greed and arrogance in His house that will culminate in the destruction of our land as God’s judgments move from His house to those who know not God. God’s people need to comprehend that God is righteous; He cannot judge unbelievers while His own people are guilty of the same sins as the world. Judgment MUST come upon His house first so that He remains righteous when He brings His wrath upon all.
THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH
In the midst of all that is upon us, God’s decree stands. His eye is upon those in whom HIS faith is bringing a growing righteousness; a faith which enables His own to honour and obey God by the life they live. Judgment must fall upon a people who have divorced righteous living from faith, the works of God from faith, and have fallen into the horror of a faith which covers and excuses sin in the Name of God!
THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH
Even in all this disorder the validation and the seal of God rests upon those who are found within the faith OF the Son of God. There is an ability to shine His light into the world (secular and religious) by the indomitable truth of the righteousness of God. This faith is not in word but in the power and demonstration of God Himself.
God’s judgment in this Day, is revealed in the declaration of Christ Himself.
“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats”
Matthew 25:32
The sheep are those who followed and obeyed the Lamb and submitted to His Way; the goats are those who walked in iniquity (self-will) and insisted upon their own way, even in the Name of God.
God’s Word to His People
“Even from the days of your fathers
ye are gone away from mine ordinances,
and have not kept them.
Return unto me, and I will return unto you,
saith the Lord of hosts”
Malachi 3:7
Ω
“And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
and the haughtiness of men shall be made low:
and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day”
Isaiah 2:17
Brian Troxel
The Day of the Lord
Hog Pen Christianity
The Babylonish Church
The Road 