Darkness vs Light
For every increase in darkness there IS a greater increase in light available, if God's people will go after it. Darkness requires no assistance, as most of the world is wired to embrace darkness quite naturally thanks to the fall, but the light requires a choice. It must be sought in agreement with God. God looks for those willing to agree with Him that He might break in and restore the land:
Ezekiel 22:30-31 “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!”
God is judging America. He really is. The violence is increasing...but it doesn't have to in our town. What is required is repentance, which is agreement with God that His leadership is good, His judgment is right, and His choices just, then an appeal for His mercy evidenced by a commitment to live "all-in" on what He is doing.
What God is doing is returning. Jesus is arranging the circumstances of His return. There is a process to His return. He is delivering light to darkness, which is uncomfortable. Labor is always uncomfortable. The Bible describes the return of Jesus like a birth process. These are the pains of labor:
John 16:20-22 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
The return of Jesus happens like a baby being born. Jesus is NOT going to show up in the sky any night this week and sweep you away, because He already told us how this would happen. He will not violate His own word. Lawlessness must increase, and the falling away must happen before He returns, and Jesus expects His Bride to be the answer to the tension He is allowing to grow, not to run away from His plan!
Sin and righteousness must both MATURE before the final activities of the harvest. What we are experiencing right now is the maturation of evil...but a greater maturity of righteousness is available if a community of people will go after it. There is a promise of zones of mercy...shelters in the coming storm of tribulation... for any geographic location that will simply agree with God like it is their only solution. This is the time all of creation has longed to see, but you must know Jesus' plan in order to reap the benefit of that plan. His plan is detailed and multi-faceted. There is much to do. Do you know His plan and how to agree with it? The violence is supposed to be an alarm clock. Time to wake up and go to school!
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ...’ ” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Right now, all over the earth, the tares are bearing fruit...but so can righteousness. The righteous will "shine forth like the sun." The righteous have some work to do to agree with the plan. The violence has a solution. It is the "fasting that pleases God." It begins with intercession, and it ends with the great commission. Prayer must be the starting point...making God our strength...making faith in the sovereign un-created God our ONLY plan, and agreeing with Him our ONLY desire...that which we seek. But that faith must overflow into works that demonstrate we love our neighbor as ourselves. It is really simple, but requires FULL participation of everyone who loves God. There are tons of passages about this.
When you see the trouble on the horizon....when you see the end time armies gathering around Israel and the end events coalescing on the earth, there is only one solution in the Bible:
Joel 2:1-2, 11-14 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations....(this is the LORD'S doing!).... The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it? “Now, therefore,” says the Lord , “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?
God is allowing the violence to increase in the earth because it is 1. What most of the inhabitants are actually desiring...which means living in agreement with, and 2. To wake up His Bride.
The Bride must awaken and take action. There is no good passivity described in the Book of Revelation, the gospels, or the epistles...
The enemy is raging against the plan. Don't let fear of violence keep you from directly addressing the violence in agreement with God. This is how violence is transformed to life:
Isaiah 58:1-12 “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord ? “ Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am. ’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Ezekiel 22:30-31 “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!”
God is judging America. He really is. The violence is increasing...but it doesn't have to in our town. What is required is repentance, which is agreement with God that His leadership is good, His judgment is right, and His choices just, then an appeal for His mercy evidenced by a commitment to live "all-in" on what He is doing.
What God is doing is returning. Jesus is arranging the circumstances of His return. There is a process to His return. He is delivering light to darkness, which is uncomfortable. Labor is always uncomfortable. The Bible describes the return of Jesus like a birth process. These are the pains of labor:
John 16:20-22 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.
The return of Jesus happens like a baby being born. Jesus is NOT going to show up in the sky any night this week and sweep you away, because He already told us how this would happen. He will not violate His own word. Lawlessness must increase, and the falling away must happen before He returns, and Jesus expects His Bride to be the answer to the tension He is allowing to grow, not to run away from His plan!
Sin and righteousness must both MATURE before the final activities of the harvest. What we are experiencing right now is the maturation of evil...but a greater maturity of righteousness is available if a community of people will go after it. There is a promise of zones of mercy...shelters in the coming storm of tribulation... for any geographic location that will simply agree with God like it is their only solution. This is the time all of creation has longed to see, but you must know Jesus' plan in order to reap the benefit of that plan. His plan is detailed and multi-faceted. There is much to do. Do you know His plan and how to agree with it? The violence is supposed to be an alarm clock. Time to wake up and go to school!
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
Matthew 13:24-30, 37-43 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ...’ ” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Right now, all over the earth, the tares are bearing fruit...but so can righteousness. The righteous will "shine forth like the sun." The righteous have some work to do to agree with the plan. The violence has a solution. It is the "fasting that pleases God." It begins with intercession, and it ends with the great commission. Prayer must be the starting point...making God our strength...making faith in the sovereign un-created God our ONLY plan, and agreeing with Him our ONLY desire...that which we seek. But that faith must overflow into works that demonstrate we love our neighbor as ourselves. It is really simple, but requires FULL participation of everyone who loves God. There are tons of passages about this.
When you see the trouble on the horizon....when you see the end time armies gathering around Israel and the end events coalescing on the earth, there is only one solution in the Bible:
Joel 2:1-2, 11-14 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations....(this is the LORD'S doing!).... The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it? “Now, therefore,” says the Lord , “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him— A grain offering and a drink offering For the Lord your God?
God is allowing the violence to increase in the earth because it is 1. What most of the inhabitants are actually desiring...which means living in agreement with, and 2. To wake up His Bride.
The Bride must awaken and take action. There is no good passivity described in the Book of Revelation, the gospels, or the epistles...
The enemy is raging against the plan. Don't let fear of violence keep you from directly addressing the violence in agreement with God. This is how violence is transformed to life:
Isaiah 58:1-12 “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord ? “ Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am. ’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
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