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Pastor's Pen

JULY 2008 THE CALL TO THE FUTURE “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 and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.” [Prophetic Word by Lou Engle] WHICH WAY WILL THE DOOR SWING? For the past 40 years we have been falling headlong into a black moral morass in America and all through the West. We are reaping the waves of destruction in every sector of our post-Christian society. Can America survive another 40 years? 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. GOD HAS A PRESCRIPTION! God has a prescription for such a massive shift, and it is revealed in the power of the great transitional 40 day fast. When the Israelites were poised to move into the Promised 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 Promised Land. God’s sentence on that generation was: Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. According to the number of the days which you will spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know my opposition [rejection] (Num. 14:33-34] 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 for forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year” (Ezek. 4:6 NKJV). It was clearly 40 days prayer for 40 years of failure. 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 a scriptural precedent to believe for such a turning! That is why I am participating in The Call on 8-16-08 at The Mall at the Washington DC monument. We are trumpeting the call to 40 days of fasting like Moses, like Elijah, like Ezekiel, and like 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 the public place. But we are calling for 40 days of fasting and prayer for the greatest outbreak of the Kingdom power, in signs and wonders, and spiritual awakening in America that will collide with this present darkness and topple its cultural dominion over our people. I was saved on March 30, 1974, at the tale end of the Jesus Movement. People were being saved everywhere. It was radical for its day. Can we believe for something even greater for our day? Now years later we are crying, do it again God, way beyond the Jesus Movement! Way beyond the charismatic movement! Do it again, God! A MOMENT IN TIME! Brothers and sisters, moments like these come only once in a lifetime. To miss such a moment could be to miss the purposes 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. LASTING CHANGE OR PASSING CLOUD? There is a story in the Old Testament that tells of one of the greatest revivals ever recorded – a revival that took place during the reign of a teenage king by the name of Josiah. Josiah was eight years old when he took the throne. At 16, he began to earnestly seek the Lord. By age 20, he launched a vigorous purge of idolatry in the land. His heart burned with passion for God, but the fires of that passion were further stroked by two prophets: Zephaniah, a veteran in prophetic ministry, and Jeremiah, a young voice barely 20 years of age himself. Zephaniah was first on the scene, and his message stirred Josiah. But it was Jeremiah’s call to God’s people to return to their bridal love for Him, which became the pivotal issue upon which Josiah’s reformation turned. Jeremiah, a celibate prophet, was given one of the most profound insights into the depth of intimacy God desires with His people. To a people flush with an awakened desire for righteousness, the word of the Lord came through Jeremiah with a call to go beyond the mere return to a form of godliness. This message, which is recorded in Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, goes right to the heart. And it was a message that uncovered something in the heart of the nation. They had lost the fire of their “first love” for God. They had not turned their backs on Him, they had just… drifted away. There were sobering points about this message. This sermon was probably preached well after Josiah’s reforms were launched. God’s people were already turning back to Him. The land had been purged of idolatry, the laws of God fully embraced. ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE And that’s where Jeremiah’s message hits home. This message spoke to the key issue that was going to determine whether Josiah’s revival was a “flash in the pan” – or whether it would truly transform the nation! Whether it would lead to lasting change or evaporate like a passing cloud. This message came to a man who was to see the full-scale judgment on the people of God. Jeremiah would witness one of the greatest revivals ever recorded. Yet, he was also to endure the total destruction of Jerusalem. We, too, are living under the shadow of judgment. Ours is a generation whose young are losing their sense of innocence before they even know they’ve got a innocence! Three years olds are robbed of their moral sensitivities by a 30-second seduction scene in a TV ad aired during afternoon cartoons. When we jade the youngest, it’s “Ninevah time.” We are ripe for judgment. I suggest that when a nation allows the mind rape of children, a seismic shift occurs in the way God deals with that nation. Like Jeremiah, we may witness both the sizzle of a Josiah-like revival and the severity of God’s “mercy.” Jeremiah’s message of lost bridal affections is a somber one, and its conclusion resounds in stark contrast to the apparent success of Josiah’s initiatives: “You have lived as a prostitute with many lovers – would you now return to Me?’ declares the Lord… ‘You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness… You have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame’” (Jeremiah 3:1-3 NIV) One would think that in light of Josiah’s passion, God would have given the nation an encouraging prophetic word simply urging them to press on. But instead, Jeremiah receives a divine oracle castigating the nation for its whoring heart – strong words, especially when seen against the backdrop of such an intense revival. It seems perplexing. It doesn’t make sense. Why would God utter such scathing words when things seemed to be going so well? It would be like Billy Graham preaching on the theme “The Prostitution of the Church.” Not the kind of message that wins many friends. But that is essentially what happened to Jeremiah. Why? God saw deep into the hearts of the people. Though He loved them with an everlasting love, though He was indeed their Father, He saw that for all their zeal and passion there was – as we said earlier – something missing. That “something” was a heart that craved intimacy with Him above all else. THE KEY TO LASTING REVIVAL: RESTORING OUR MARRIAGE WITH GOD The overriding theme in Jeremiah’s sermon is unfaithfulness. Again and again, he sketches the picture of marital infidelity to portray Israel’s rebellion against God. I believe this is a model of revival – Jeremiah’s sermon sounding a return to marital faithfulness to God. Today, many are repenting and seeking God’s face. Many pastors are laboring hard to ground God’s people in His Word. Many spiritual leaders are preaching righteousness and mobilizing God’s people to stand for His standards. These are days of spiritual intensity rarely seen in our history. These are days … like those of Josiah. Yet for all his passion – and for all ours as well – God still thundered through Jeremiah, “My people have…forsaken Me, the spring of living water” (Jer. 2:13 NIV). Which brings me to the second reason this model is appropriate for us: For all the advances being made, God is after something deeper. He was after it in Jeremiah’s day, and He is after it in ours. A sense of re-ignited mission is not enough; moral outrage over wickedness is not enough; adherence to biblical standards is not enough. This young prophet jarred the nation’s sensibilities by challenging it to examine its deepest affections. Did the people really love God? Was the reformation a sincere but shortsighted attempt at recovering their moral bearing? National reformation did not go far enough; moral reformation did not go far enough. Jeremiah comes and introduces this model for revival: the restoration of a broken marriage. As a Church, our marriage to Christ is fraying at the edges. And perhaps this same theme is relevant for us: Our marriage to the Lord needs to be restored. The key question for the Church in America and the nations is this: Is Christ truly our first love? 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 that determines which way the door will swing in America and in the nations of the earth. It is not time to let up or to stop. When you have the enemy on the run, it is time to pursue! What is God speaking to your heart? What actions of faith is the Lord declaring to you? How are you to mount a Prayer Storm to combat the evil of our day? The breath of the Holy Spirit is still speaking to hearts around the world about intervention in a time of crisis. Are you marching in the parade of history being written before the throne of the Almighty One? Yes, it’s the Call for the sake of our future! Come on and “Seize the Day” with us – for your family – for your city – for your nation – for Israel’s sake. The call has gone out! A great revolution is underway! The Lord is raising up a new generation of radical revolutionaries: “Elijah’s,” “Elishas,” “Jehus,” “Esthers,” “Deborahs,” and Nazarites who are fired with passion for Jesus and are committed to live fully and completely for Him alone, whatever the cost. Their lives are marked by holiness and a steadfast refusal to compromise with the Jezebel spirit in the land. They are stretching themselves out as living sacrifices, offering themselves up in fasting and prayer for the turning of a nation and the salvation of its people. They are the Bride making ready for her Bride-groom, and their hearts echo the cry, “Come, Lord Jesus!” It’s time for the Church to rise up and take a stand! The call for passion and sacrifice for radical change is being issued. Will you say, “Yes, Lord,” to this Elijah Revolution?

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