Wrath of God vs. Love of God (Modern Day)

With the 40 day fast only two days away, many things are racing through my mind and occupying my conversations. Right now, the Lord is extending His hand in mercy toward the USA as a nation, offering us forgiveness if we rend our hearts and turn to Him. Yet, if we refuse to truly repent and tear our hearts (go to painful and costly measures to obey Him), He will judge our nation very soon.

We have been blessed in ways that other countries have never even imagined possible with economic abundance, political freedom, and spiritual renewal. And how have we lived before Him in light of this? It does not take a keen eye to know that we have delighted ourselves in ourselves, feeding the lusts of our flesh by overeating, big spending, casual immorality, and all while mocking the name and nature of God as though to say, "He doesn't see; He doesn't hear; He doesn't care." However, we are in the same predicament as those in each of the five case studies that I have gone through. If we refuse to come to Him willingly, He will do whatever is necessary to keep us from eternal torment, and the Twin Towers as well as hurricane Katrina will seem like mere whispers compared to the thunder of His voice.

That is why the Lord is giving us a window of mercy, and if we turn to Him willingly during this time, He will relent from bringing wrath. So, what does it mean to turn? What does it look like? Is it actually possible? Heartily and overwhelmingly the answer is yes. Turning is not some mystical event that happens to us, but actually it is a reality that is quite attainable.

It simply means two things:

1) coming to the Lord in prayer and repentance, with confession and gratitude. We do this with broken hearts, asking for forgiveness in faith that the blood of Jesus is enough to wash us from all sin and fill us with grace to walk in righteousness in relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is not a one-time event but a continual posture of the heart.

2) making daily decisions to refuse sin and choose obedience to the Word. This is where the tearing aspect really takes place, and it doesn't happen casually. It takes aggressive commitment and leaning on the Holy Spirit to choose righteousness in the little areas of life.

The Lord loves mercy, and therefore He really will receive us wholeheartedly if we turn to Him, just as a loving father receives back his lost son (Luke 15:11-32). Yet we really have to turn, for He also loves righteousness and hates wickedness. This is His name that He proclaimed to Moses in order for him to be able to rightly lead a rebellious people into righteousness: "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty (unrepentant) unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations" (Exodus 34:6-7).

He gave us the key to responding rightly to His name/nature instead of hardening our hearts like the generation of Moses did, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me" (Hebrews 3:15). It is today--choice by choice, moment by moment. When you realize you've been walking in disobedience or sin, turn back to Him. No matter how many times it takes, turn to Him with sincerity, truly asking for forgiveness and strength to walk in holiness. He will give us what we ask (in word and deed) of Him. We must ask rightly, for many will ask to be hardened before the end, willfully choosing eternal torment rather than the fulfillment and joy of loosing their lives to follow Him to gain eternal life. We cannot afford to wait for tomorrow to respond, for He will come at an hour we do not know if we are not being attentive right now.

In response to this call to return to the Lord, I am going to be joining this national fast by doing 40 days of silence. I know the Lord has called me to proclaim the word of the Lord, and therefore I am committed to consecrating my lips and heart to Him and Him alone. So, you can e-mail me (which I will be doing on a limited basis) during this time, but I will not be able to talk on the phone, etc. Please read the post from Wednesday if you are unaware of what fast I am referring to. If you aren't planning on joining this fast, I would ask that you reconsider. Feel free to call me before Monday night to discuss options of what you could fast.

If you do not feel that fasting food would be a good option, or even if you are simply wondering about whether or not to fast, I will this: take out TV and/or secular music for forty days and spend time reading the Bible instead, and see if He does not encounter you. A media fast is one of the most necessary things during these 40 days, so if nothing else, turn to Him in this way. But I challenge you not to do the bare minimum. He is offering so much if we will only posture ourselves to receive it (for we cannot earn His gifts, but it does take an open heart to receive them).

Gomer

I just listened to part one of Mike Bickle's teaching on "The Divine Romance: The Book of Hosea," and I was struck by one phrase (well, more than just one, but this really hit me). If you don't know the story of Hosea, God called him as a prophet to marry a harlot named Gomer in order to show Himself as a Bridegroom to the human race for the first time in history. In speaking of Hosea's calling as a prophet to the nation of Israel Mike said, "God didn't say, 'Go endure her.' He says, 'Go and love this woman... Give your whole being to her like I am to Israel...' He called this man to embody the message."

What is man that You are mindful of him? What is man that You love him this way?

Calling America to 40 Days of Fasting and Prayer: May 28-July 7, 2007

God has graciously raised up Lou Engle to call America to a 40 day fast. Lou has mobilized thousands of leaders who are committed to this vision as well. All the major Christian TV networks are announcing it to get the word out - it is time for America to fast and pray as a nation. The article below, written by Lou, explains the urgency behind this initiative. The IHOP-KC family is standing with The Call and belivers during these 40 days. Please forward this to everyone you know who has a heart for America.

LOU ENGLE
http://www.fastandpray.com/

There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens, and great revolutions for good or evil spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these divine moments, key men, women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.

The rebellious generation of the ’60s seized its moment, and history crashed into the deep abyss of drug addiction, sexual immorality, hatred for authority and a rejection of the law of God. In 1967, there was a culminating and defining moment in that rebellion, when 100,000 young people, ages 15–25 flocked to San Francisco to experience the hippie movement. This mass convergence was sparked by the hit song, “San Francisco” (Wear a Flower in your Hair). Once there, these young adults experimented with LSD, pot, casual sex and Eastern mysticism in what became known as the “Summer of Love.”

When these newly recruited ‘Flower Children’ returned home at the end of the summer, they brought with them new styles and ideas, flooding the cities of the US and Europe with a message that opposed authority and scorned conservative morals. This counterculture rebellion was fueled by music and art, which rapidly shifted global culture.

For 40 years, we have been falling headlong into a black moral morass in America along with the western world. We are reaping the waves of destruction in every sector of our post Christian society. Can America survive another 40 years? We are declaring “NO! A thousand times NO!” Unless a massive spiritual shift occurs at this moment, our children will live under an antichrist system and Godless enculturation that will bring about the demise of America, as we know it.

But God has a prescription for such a massive shift and it is revealed in the power of the great transitional 40-day fast. God, in His sovereign control over the parade of history, delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. Longing to release a moral code that would give foundations for righteousness, for time and eternity, God summoned Moses to a 40-day fast on Mount Sinai. Through this fast, all of history changed and the law of God was delivered from Heaven to Earth. Therefore, if America is going to return to God, it must recover that law again as its foundation for truth.

Elijah, at the height of Jezebel’s cultic dominion over Israel fasted 40 days, broke the spell of Jezebel off of his own life and received a mandate to anoint the next generation. Elijah’s fast unleashed a movement that toppled Jezebel’s regime of hell, which perpetrated the destruction of family, the killing of innocent children, the silencing of the voice of God’s people and the widespread culture of sexual immorality. The fruit of this fast culminated in the utter destruction of Baal worship in Israel.

Also in the fullness of time, the Glorious Gospel era was born when Jesus fasted 40 days and those who sat in darkness saw a great light. Clearly the 40-day fast is Heaven’s great transitional prescription, moving nations from failure to fulfillment of promise. Is it any surprise that when Jesus was to enter into His great sacrifice—where death would be swallowed up in victory—Elijah and Moses appear with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration. All three were together as the 40-day fasters. They presided over the great transitions of history.

When the Israelites were poised to move into the Promise Land, spies were sent out for 40 days. When they returned carrying an evil report, a whole generation was infected with unbelief and they turned their back on the Promise Land. God’s sentence on that generation was “And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness for forty years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know my rejection.” (Numbers 14:33–34) It was 40 years of judgment for 40 days failure.

Conversely, the great prophet Ezekiel received a 40-day prayer assignment for a 40-year failure of Judah’s iniquity. “Lie again on your right side, then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, forty days I have laid on you a day for each year.” (Ezekiel 4:6) It was clearly 40 days prayer for 40 years of failure.

When Jesus fasted 40 days and was tempted of the devil He quoted from the book of Deuteronomy saying “It is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And again, “You shall not tempt the Lord thy God” and again, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you worship.” Jesus, in His victory over Satan, was quoting the book of Deuteronomy, the portion of scripture delivered by Moses to the generation who failed in the desert. Jesus, in His 40-day fast, was clearly identifying with that passage of scripture and the generation that came out of Egypt. As an intercessor in His 40-day fast, Jesus was fulfilling what a generation had failed in for 40 years.

Forty years are up! Could the Church of America in a 40-day fast deliver a nation out of a 40-year curse? We have scriptural precedent to believe for such a turning! Therefore, we are trumpeting a call to 40 days of fasting like Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel and Jesus. We must bear the iniquity in 40 days of fasting and intercession for the past 40 years of divorcing God in America, embracing a culture of sexual immorality, hedonism, materialism, abortion and the rejection of Christ in public places. But we are also calling for 40 days of fasting and prayer for the greatest outbreak of Kingdom power, in signs and wonders, and the spiritual awakening in America that will collide with this present darkness and topple its cultural dominion over our people. Thousands went on 40-day fasts in 1946 and in 1947, the great healing revivals broke out. In 1948, the Latter Rain outpourings began, Bill Bright and Billy Graham’s ministries were born, and Israel became a nation. Could it be that the 40-day fast preceded this explosion of power by the Spirit? After Jesus’ 40-day fast, the scripture says He returned in the power of the Spirit. Yes the promise of Joel 2 is that after the fast, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…”

Forty years ago, in 1967, the Jesus Movement broke out. A youth revival started on the streets swept across the country, exploding on college campuses and coffee houses. People were being saved everywhere. Now 40 years later, we are crying out for God to do it again, way beyond the Jesus Movement!

In 1967, in a war and obviously by the supernatural hand of God, Jerusalem was taken and once again brought under the control of the state of Israel. This was a monumental signpost in the shifting of eras. The dispensation of the times of the Gentiles was now beginning to shift to the times when Jerusalem will become the last days focus for God’s activity in the Earth. For 40 days, we are joining Israel in a 40-day fast crying out to God that Israel would see their Messiah and they would begin to receive their greatest spiritual awakening since the days of the Apostles.

Brothers and sisters, moments like these come only once in a lifetime. To miss such a moment could mean missing the purpose of God for a generation. The generation that refused to cross over the Jordan did not know that they had only one day to make the decision, and missing that day meant 40 years in the desert.

Even now we are receiving reports that other countries are calling 40-day fasts. Could we be in a Global 40-day season of fasting (like Jesus), to see a global outbreak of light when great darkness is covering the Earth? Beginning the evening of May 28, we are calling two generations to 40 days of fasting and prayer culminating on 7–7–07, the perfection of time. In a massive, national gathering of fasting, intercession, repentance and worship, we seek to declare our desire to remarry the Lord. We want to cross over into the promise land of national revival. We want to break this 40-year curse. May thousands seek God in water, juice and Daniel fasts from May 28 through 7–7–07, The Call in Nashville.
What would happen in America if for 40 days we sealed the electronic cultural sewer that flows nightly into our living rooms and instead, spent our strength seeking the Lord? What if tens of thousands of fathers and mothers across our nation fasted for 40 days repenting and cleansing themselves of inward toleration of sexual immorality, pornography, addiction to food, entertainment and materialism? What if they prayed daily for their spiritual and physical children to see them converted to Christ and freed from rebellion, from addictions, depression and suicide? What if the young generation fasted for 40 days to be cleansed from lust, media addiction and rebellion toward there parents, believing that a double portion of the Holy Spirit would come upon there lives?

Moses fasted 40 days and mentored a spiritual son named Joshua, which means the Lord saves. Elijah fasted 40 days and threw his mantle on a double portion son, Elisha, which means the Lord saves. Also, John the Baptist fasted in the desert and prepared the way for a double portion son named Jesus, which means the Lord saves. Jesus fasted 40 days and unleashed the apostolic glory of the eternal Son of God into the Earth. What if we are preparing a generation for the greatest day of salvation in history? And so, what if tens of thousands of both generations fast together and gather on 7–7–07 for The Call Nashville in LP Field, to cry out to God in a Joel 2 moment for great national returning to the Lord?

The parade of history has brought us into a profound generational landmark, and a great vacuum has opened again. If the church does not seize this moment, Muslims will! Antichrist rage will! Sexual perversion will! Anarchy will! But now is the time for key men and women, even an entire generation to risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point which determines which way the door will swing in America and in the nations of the Earth. It's 40 Days or 40 Years—seize the day!

We will be launching this fast with a worldwide simulcast on GOD TV on May 26, 2007. For all information on the 40-day fast and The Call Nashville please visit our websites. www.fastandpray.com

Saint John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (June 24, 1542 – December 14, 1591) was a major figure in the Catholic Reformation, a Spanish mystic and Carmelite friar born at Fontiveros, a small village near Ávila.

He is renowned for his cooperation with Saint Teresa of Avila in the reformation of the Carmelite order, and for his writings; both his poetry--my favorite is The Spiritual Canticle--and his studies on the growth of the soul (in the Christian sense of detachment from creatures and attachment to God) are considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature and one of the peaks of all Spanish literature. In Catholicism, he is one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church.

I've been listening to Thomas Dubay's radio series on this man, as well as reading John's poetry in sync with my journeys through the Song of Solomon. Though he was known as being one of the most skilled Spanish poets, his greatest contribution to the Church and the world is nothing that could ever be put on paper. He was a burning heart of love for Jesus, and the heat of his flame shows us where God will take a person in love (on this side of eternity!) if they are given wholly over to Him. As John says, "A little of pure love is more precious to God, to the soul, and more beneficial to the Church--than all other works put together."

When we read scriptures like 1 Peter 1:8,

"though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory..."

we often gloss over the words, taking the phrases for granted. However, scripture is never exaggerated, but rather it is only a glimpse of the reality of which it speaks, as a painting is in relationship with the beauty which it captures.

It is the reality Paul spoke of in his own experience in saying, "God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me..." (Galatians 1:15-16). This is similar to what he prayed for the church of Ephesus,

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father... that He would grant you, according to the [unfathomable] riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith... and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:14-19).

What on earth was Paul's vision for the Ephesian church? Why didn't he pray that they would prosper financially or grow in numbers or have "more impact" on society? He was a man set on fire with love for God! He understood that nothing else would give more glory or delight God's heart more than if they loved Him likewise.

He speaks of his own life saying,

"But whatever things were gain to me (speaking in reference to his former life of scholarship and success in Judaism), those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things (both legitimate and sinful) to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:7-8).

In ministry and in hiddenness, Paul was ruined with the vision of fulfilling the First Commandment ("you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" Mark 12:30), as the other Apostles also attested to in their own souls. Why would we then go after anything less?

This is our call and our promise if we are willing to come to Jesus to get it. We have to get a higher vision for love in this life if we are to fulfill the will of God. Oh I want to burn with love for God! Why not me?

I would suggest if you want to listen to any of Thomas Dubay's radio sessions on John, that you listen to The Great Exchange.

Just Passing By

This weekend I went to Reno to visit my dad for his birthday. His birthday was actually on May 5th, but I had to be in KC until Wednesday, so I flew out on Thursday and surprised the whole gang. No one knew I was coming but my best friend Kellie, so it was really fun.

My dad is a cookie making machine. He's literally starting his own business because so many people have asked him to make his famous oatmeal scotchies. He's building a website here: www.RenoCookieMan.com, so if you have a hanckering for some amazing cookies, drop him a line. Yes, I am unashamedly advertising for him.

While I've been in KC, my family has become active out of nowhere. They take bike rides together across the city, and my dad rides an average of 20 miles a day. It's kind of weird because we have never been very active as a rule. Lot's of things have changed but for the most part, life just goes on as usual.