Sink or Swim
April 17th, 2016Separation
A little more info.
What’s going on in my life this weekend is a little like the Rapture, but it’s also a little like the Tribulation.
The Rapture will be the proximate cause of the Tribulation. God’s wrath is held back by the presence and prayers of people who believe in him. Once those people are gone, God will have nothing to hold him back. Virtually no one on earth will be praying for his help, and a great number of people will be insulting him and provoking him.
I have a prayer list. It’s a list of people I pray for every day. I pray for them to receive help in most areas of their lives. This morning, God shook up the list. I only prayed for two people.
When I was a physics teaching assistant, we had kids paired as partners. They did experiments together, and they were allowed to help each other write reports. When exams rolled around, though, they were on their own. The head T.A. I worked for said that if you want to see who’s pulling the train, you separate the cars.
Right now, God is separating the cars.
There are people who benefited from my prayers over the last several years, who are about to be tossed in the pool to see if they can swim. The objective of Christianity isn’t to carry people on your back forever; it’s to teach them to walk. They get a certain amount of help, and then they either walk on their own, or they sit and fail.
I’m getting some rest. Other people are getting a wake-up call.
I know most of them will not do very well. Most are stuck in churches that teach garbage, and they don’t listen to me. Some pretend to listen but do whatever they want on their own time. I am going to have to sit back and watch some people fail.
This is what God’s life is like. Even though he is exalted, he has abased himself in order to help us. Time after time, he has put himself out, stretching the envelope of what he can do without losing his status as God. He gives us everything we need to succeed, and then he rests, and we throw it all away and fail.
To be a child of God, you have to endure a certain amount of what he endures.
Am I wrong to quit praying for people? Don’t I have a choice? Not really. If you’re Spirit-led, you get guidance from God, and you’re supposed to listen and obey. God told Paul to avoid the people of Asia Minor instead of going to preach to them. You’re not always supposed to do every nice thing you can.
God brought about these events in my life by teaching me to exalt him. Once I started doing that. things started moving faster. He also showed me that exalting him is the key to protection.
God is a person of dignity and high office. He has to be treated with respect at all times. This principle applies on earth, too. It applies to human beings. He hates it when people mistreat and insult people who are better than they are.
There are certain things God will permit his children to suffer, but if you exalt him and give him his dignity, he will exalt you, and that makes him less willing to allow others to abuse you.
God limited the suffering of Jesus. He only suffered for one day, the Jews and Romans were only allowed to do certain things to him, and when it was over, God did not permit him to experience rot. His corpse was not left in the tomb long enough to stink.
God hates the behavior of brats and churls. He mutilated the children who insulted Elisha.
The world has become filthy and crass. The things people say to each other now are unbelievable. The problem is worst on the political left. They glory in filth and viciousness. They say things so disgusting that merely to read them is to be harmed.
When things get sufficiently bad, God is going to remove people he has exalted. Watch and see.
I started doing a better job of exalting God, and suddenly, I was pulled closer to him. I was pulled aside. I am seeing less of the world’s filth. I know I’m going to receive more protection now. As the psalms say, if you satisfy certain conditions, including contemning vile people in your heart, you will be protected; you will not be moved. Contemning the vile is just the flip side of exalting God.
We have a nation that exalts the vile. We have shock humor, musicians who literally receive worship, and a culture of cruelty and disrespect. No wonder America is defeated by people who used to run from us.
Learn from this stuff if you want to do well. Don’t wait for hard knocks to beat it into you.
April 17th, 2016 at 8:02 PM
I’ll have to ponder a bit on this one. I might not be seeing something in the equation that you’re talking about. While I do see and agree with the fact that God is getting fed up with the world–I’m looking also for the brokenheartedness of God as the other part of the equation.
Help me out here, because I do respect your walk and your posts. What is happening with the other part of God’s calling for us all–the “Father-Heart of God”. The burden for the world that is going to hell.
As we draw near to Him, we also get His heart (and burden) for a lost and dying world. There are still many lost souls to be saved and people who need to hear and see more of the Gospel in our lives in order for them to come to Christ. John Hyde, also known as Praying Hyde, once called out to God in tormented prayer, “Give me Souls, O God, or I die!” To truly become like Christ, as we are called to do, we will truly begin sharing His burdens for the lost.
What you’re saying is on target as I see and pray in many of the same ways. Christ also calls for us to carry within us the pain and suffering for lost souls and be burdened with the need for others to draw closer to Him. I’m just checking to make sure that this is also a part of the equation you are talking about.
I do get it–we’re all called to different areas in living our lives for Him–some to pray, some to preach, etc. But no matter what we are called to do, there will always be a burden for a lost world. And a burden for His Church, the Body of Christ.
I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive. You can have both. How it manifests is, of course, dependent upon the person and that person’s calling.
This is not a criticism in the slightest. I am just checking to see if we are on the same page here.
April 18th, 2016 at 10:09 AM
You can’t carry people forever. God shakes things to show who is standing and who is hanging from other people’s shoulders.
April 18th, 2016 at 2:27 PM
I do realize that and your point is valid. And He is shaking things up now–but not in judgment. Remember Nineveh and remember Sodom. Timing is everything.
I am often reminded of the fact that He has had grace and mercy upon me (even as I was faced with truths and chose to marginalize them) for many, many years.
As I am drawn into His presence, I am also drawn (as we all are) into sharing His burden for the lost and for the indifferent in the Body of Christ. And this is something I struggle with because it brings such frustration, rejection, and pain with it.
However, as I have seen time and again, it is impossible to truly draw near to Him and not share (at some significant level) this burden of His. John 21:17 is only one of many, many verses where we are told (like Peter was) to do His bidding and care for His sheep.
Romans 15:1 is pretty clear on this, too–while I Thessalonians 5:15 puts it into greater perspective.
Paul was an excellent debater, sometimes irritable, and sometimes harsh in his dealings with others (Paul and Barnabas’ attitude towards John Mark for example), and yet he was given greater revelations about the Lord and the Kingdom to come than any other man in the Church. He was an Apostle over rebellious and arrogant churches who thought they were just as spiritual has he was. Yet, he also wrote I Corinthians 13 and I Thess. 5:15.
We all have different traits of God that we will manifest more than others when we are walking in the Spirit, these include specific gifts as well. But we will always manifest the Father Heart of God or everything else means nothing–not my words, but those of Paul.
Smith Wigglesworth was known to be gruff at times, certainly uneducated, and was sometimes harsh in his dealings with Christians and even those who were not saved. However, he also wept bitterly for the lost and those who could not see what God was saying through him.
Now again, let me be clear: this is not a criticism of you or of anything you have written of late. You’re pretty much spot on with the things you are saying. I’m just checking on the balance and asking you to share more about the other side of your walk.
I enjoy reading your posts and hearing what God is showing you when we talk. I always have. I will enjoy this even more as you begin to share what God is showing you about His love for the lost and those who are trapped in the chains of flesh-controlled churches.
I have told you in the past that you have an important and specific calling on your life. I have never shared with you what that is, because it is not my place to do so. However, you are moving more rapidly towards that calling than you think.
I have been remiss in not telling you how much I love and appreciate you. It has been many years since we first met at your old blog. Though we have never met in person, I consider you a close brother in Christ and one for whom I have nothing but respect and best wishes.
A king’s watchman has a deep love and concern for the city over which he watches. And the pain is deep when his words are not heeded and the city dances while death approaches. However, just like in Ezekiel 18:32, there is no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
Have you ever asked yourself why God is giving you closeness with Him and insight into what He is doing? Where you are going, my brother, you will need this in order to fulfill your ministry. You will be picking up the pieces. And my dear brother, we will be weeping as we do it.
I hope you do not feel I have overstepped my bounds with you. But you are loved and prayed for more that you could ever know. Do not stop with the warnings and the unction that God has put in your spirit, but never forget to tell me and others about the love and compassion that is behind those warnings. That love expressed by you will be like a hammer driving those warnings through the heart of the matter.