How wicked does the world have to get before we pray on our knees, I am talking to myself!
Psalms 34:18 KJV
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
When will the church finally realise that they can do nothing without consulting the Lord!
John 15:5 KJV
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing .
We so need Jesus! We need the brokeness so jesus can fill us! I so want to obey the Lord!
Matthew 15
24 But he answered and said , I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying , Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said , It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. 27 And she said , Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt . And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
This lady was willing to do anything to get her daughter healed! What are we willing to do, to see Jesus come in great power. How long are you going to spend on your knees, without him we cannot do nothing!
Mark 2
1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 2 And straightway many were gathered together , insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was : and when they had broken it up , they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay . 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
They were prepared to go through a roof which involves a lot of hard work, what are you prepared to do, to do seek the Lord?
He may have Palsey but we have prayerlessness and things worse than that! We live in a world devoid of a saviour, what are you prepared to do to reach your saviour!
I can remember reading about a story of a man who helped heal the broken leg of a dog and it went to another dog and brought it to the man who fixed his leg, I think it is J R Miller the story is from!
How broken do we have to be before we come to Jesus! I am asking myself this question, In some churches in India it is easy to fill the prayer meeting, why is it so hard in the UK or to have all night prayer meetings!
I have been thinking about the question, we tend to condemn people being slain in the spirit but we are not on our knees fighting it! It so pains my heart!
Matthew 24
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased ; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted . 13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in . 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer : therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made , ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say , Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor ! 17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty . 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon . 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon . 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment , mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done , and not to leave the other undone . 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say , If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? 34 Wherefore , behold , I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together , even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold , your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth , till ye shall say , Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Matt 23
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased ; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted .
This is a very important part of the verse, this is why we should cry out for the lords brokeness in our life, it says whoever is the greatest should be the servant, this includes things like washing up and practical things and househould chores, Lord help me be a servant I know I am not very good at it?
Verse 12 it is alot more harder as whoever humbles himself shall be exalted! This is dying to the flesh, we cannot die or even humble ourselves without the Lord! This kills the pride! So the Glory
Isaiah 14:13 KJV
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Some of us have different things that humble us such as speaking in public and others it is different things but we all have this rebellion in which we want to exalt ourselves higher than God! That takes a major breaking!
There is so much in this rebuke to the Pharisees in which we could learn
Matt 23
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say , If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
It is not wrong to go to places of where great moves of god has been, I think I remember Art Katz saying about the Toronto Blessing if you want a Blessing go to your own closet! We cannot neglect History as an encouragement and something to try out. Like with the Welsh Revival they had prayer meetings to 3am in the morning!
We cannot be sentimental about past people, my biggest reprimand is Saul in the Bible. He so wanted to have the power of Samuel! He concentrated on the Person Samuel rather than the God of Samuel in whom he had rejected!
I know with my friend Jim who died I had a hard time, he was a man who prayed with an oxygen machine for an hour a day! It really convicted me that I should pray as if an old man who can barely walk can pray an hour a day on a oxygen machine and my prayer life is terrible!
When he died I only went to his grave once to bury him! As I knew he was in Heaven and probably dancing!
Hebrews 12:1 KJV
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
We need to realise that we have people like Evan Roberts, my friend Jim, D L Moody, Finney and others! Cheering us on in prayer!
1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
If we are reaching a Crisis as Andrew Strom says with the say Word of Faith movement and other false things in this world! We need alot more of Jesus to cope with this world!
With the amount of deception and other things that are in this world we need Jesus! We cant even pray without him or do anything.
We live in a digital age with Bibles in every bookshop and we have the bible on Itunes and our mobile phones!
Matthew 11
21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Capernaum got rebuked just for seeing the miracles of Jesus! We need all the help we can get! We live in a dying world in which we have the answer in our bibles and with our saviour!
America and the Uk, have bibles and every resource imaginable, we should use every techical resource to gods glory but we should also know enough if all that was taken away.
How much of the bible would you know if it was taken away from you! Would you be able to preach in the open air if you left your bible at home not actually! How much do you trust god is your resources went, how much do I trust God if my resources went!
Do you know enough songs of Zion in your heart to praise god during the hard time, do you sing to the LOrd alone at all! Most of my crys are Jesus help me!
We all have that Pharisacial root in us! God deliver us from it!
Luke 7
34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking ; and ye say , Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35 But wisdom is justified of all her children. 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat . 37 And, behold , a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping , and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying , This man, if he were a prophet , would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith , Master, say on . 41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing to pay , he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said , I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged . 44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint : but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven , the same loveth little. 48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven . 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
This talks about the women who was bold enough to break into a Pharisee's house which you need alot of guts to do and then break a bottle of ointment over Jesus's feet!
We will wash our saviours feet with tears for our nations and for our personal situation or we will sit unmoved at things that go on in this world
Job 41:24 KJV
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
Will we have hearts of stone! Jesus was sensitive to the Spirit, he knew this women had sin and had problems!
Job 23:16 KJV
For God maketh my heart soft , and the Almighty troubleth me:
This women is crying at the feet of her saviour! We need to cry are saviour, we need him! Our world is a mess and he is the only who can sort out any of the problems in this world, Goverments cannot
Luke 21:25 NKJ
"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
The greek here is [url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/aporia.html]Aporia[url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/aporeo.html]Aporeo
The goverments have no solution to the problems that our going on in this world, the only person is Jesus!
We need him desperatly and even if God tells us to do mad things like Break into a Pharisees house and pour ointment over someones feet!
Isaiah 55:9 KJV
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Corinthians 14:40 KJV
Let all things be done decently and in order.
But Gods order is somewhat diffent, we still need order but his order!
It is hard to stress both points of view!
1 Timothy 1:17 KJV
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
We need the Glory to go to him as a choice of our will!
Isaiah 42:8 KJV
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
Exodus 20:5 KJV
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Amos 4
1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring , and let us drink . 2 The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks . 3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD. 4 Come to Bethel, and transgress ; at Gilgal multiply transgression ; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: 5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. 6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered . 8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased , the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
He deserves the Glory! and you to choose him, we need help to do that! Help us be sensitive to you oh lord!
