Someone To Stand In The Gap

”I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land.  I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.  So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger.  I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”  Ezekiel 22:30-31

God’s priests and prophets were corrupt and had led the people of Israel away from God.   Verse 26 says, “Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not.”  Leaders were destroying people’s lives for money and the prophets were covering up for them.  “Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice” (verse 29).  Is this any worse than what goes on in America today?  Many pastors have blurred the line between right and wrong, greed has taken over, and the poor and needy are mistreated.   This is scary.  What if God is looking for just one person to stand in the gap for America?  What if no one answers that call?  Will America be destroyed for lack of just one intercessor?

A Hard Message

“The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn.  Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’  And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.  And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words.  Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions.”  Ezekiel 2:4-6

The messages that God gave prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel were not popular with kings or common people.  No one wanted to hear what God really thought of them.  Because of his faithfulness to God, Jeremiah was imprisoned numerous times and even thrown into a cistern and left to die.

Aren’t we just like the stubborn and rebellious people of Israel?  We don’t like it when we hear a message that brings real conviction—that requires us to stop doing what we’re doing and turn back to God.  It will take real courage to be God’s spokesperson in America today—the message will offend unbelievers and believers, alike.  But God says the message must be delivered and, whether they listen or not, they will know that God has spoken.

Where is Jeremiah?

“You must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.  And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and protect you.”  Jeremiah 1:7-8

In the Old Testament, God often used His prophets to confront the nation of Israel with their sins.  As I think about America, I know that God is not pleased with His people.  There is little difference between the Church and the world.  We no longer value marriage as a lifelong covenant, unborn children are not protected, we love money more than we love God, we are proud and refuse to forgive.  And that’s the short list.  1Peter 2:11-12 says, “I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”

My question is this:  “Where is our Jeremiah?  I am praying that God will raise up at least one prophet in America that will speak for God.  The sins of God’s people here are no less than those of Israel.  Does God not care?  Is there no one listening for His voice?  Or if they hear His voice, are they not willing to speak?

The Holy Club

“But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”  1Peter 1:15,16 

In the year 1729, John and Charles Wesley, along with a handful of other Oxford students, formed a group which was known mockingly as “The Holy Club”.  The members were devoted to holiness and serving others—many of them were used by God in significant ways.  These are 22 questions the members of John Wesley's Holy Club asked each day in their private devotions.  As we ask God to search us each day, why not ask ourselves the same questions?

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I'm better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying or self justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what I am doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

Can God Wake the Dead?

“The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley: it was full of bones.  He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel 37:1-3

The churches of America are full of dry bones—people that are spiritually dead.  The bones are very dry—they have been dead for a long time.  But God is able to make them live again.  Verse 5 says, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones:  I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.  I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.  Then you will know that I am the LORD.”   

It’s easy to look at others and think that they need to be revived.  The first question we must ask is “Am I dead or alive in Christ?  Am I just going through the motions or is Jesus actively living His life through me?  It all goes back to Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God…”  Any revival in our country, our community, or our church must start with personal revival in me.  We cannot pray for revival in others if we do not have it ourselves.

More on Faith from Manley Beasley

Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”  Mark 11:24

This is taken from a small book entitled Alive by His Life  by Manley Beasley and Robert Hensley.  Unfortunately, it is no longer in print but I obtained a copy on Amazon.com.

“Our faith is the God-endowed ability to:

1.      See a situation correctly

2.      Receive a Word from God concerning what to believe Him for

3.      Become absolutely convinced of it in our hearts

4.      Welcome it from afar as already being true

5.      Confess that it is so

6.      Stand and fight the fight of faith against contradicting circumstances

7.      Finally see the results in the physical world.”

Have you ever had the experience of reading God’s Word, when a verse or promise just jumps off the page and you know that this is God speaking to you?  Or you are praying about a situation and God responds by reminding you of what His Word says on the matter?  When God speaks to us through His Word, we can take that to the bank!  What Manley Beasley is saying is that once God has spoken, we need to accept it as being true and confess that it is so.  When we have done this, there will be circumstances that come which contradict what we believe God has promised, but we are to stand firm in our faith and believe until we finally see the results.  What an encouragement this has been to me as I began to recall the faith promises God has given me over the years.  Although I have not seen the results of some of these promises, I pray now with renewed faith that God has answered those prayers!

Have Faith! Part Two

Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24

Faith is a requirement for God to act. Manley Beasley was a great man of faith. His biography was the catalyst that started us thinking about revival. This is part of his testimony:

"I began to realize that God was waiting on me to act on His revealed truth because faith is acting on the word of God. I must not only believe He can meet a need; I must begin to act as though the need has been met, even though I might not be able to see it, feel it, smell it, taste it or hear it. I must begin acting as if it is so,when it is not so, in order for it to be so, because with God it already is so.”

I believe this means that, when we have a promise from God (2 Chronicles 7:14), we need to pray and act as though God has already done it because He has (Mark11:24). It may not look as though He has, but we are to believe that we have that thing we have asked for (1John 5:14). God already considers it done and He will bring it about in His timing.