Marriage in the Mountains
Greetings in the Lord!
Recently I've been reading an 8-day prayer "focus" prepared by a respected prophetic voice directed at getting people launched into 2008, a year of "new beginnings." Today's Scripture passages were taken from Genesis 1, Exodus 1, Joshua 1, 1 Samuel 1, Matthew 1, and Acts 1 and dealt mainly with significant Biblical births, new endeavors, and the Creation story.
After reading those passages, I asked the Holy Spirit what I should be getting out of those "new beginning" chapters from the Bible, and He led me to read Jeremiah 4:23-28)
"I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before His fierce anger. This is what the Lord says: "The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not turn back."
~I don't know about you, but I had to ask the Lord, "What kind of 'new beginning' is that?!" It was certainly not the "feel good" one most people come to expect (demand) from a prophetic word. Why would the Lord be giving me a passage from Jeremiah that basically talks about a complete return to the primeval chaos? a reversal of creation? So, I thought about the Scriptures and words He has been giving me lately that talk about what He is seeing in our land.
Mark 3:4-6) Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man,"Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Cf Matt. 12:1-14)
Zephaniah 1:4-6,11-13) "I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests--those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molech, those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of Him. Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near....Wail, you who live in the market district; all your merchants will be wiped out, all who trade with silver will be ruined. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine lift on its dregs, who think, 'The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.' Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine."
Well, indeed the Lord is talking about a 'new beginning' in our land...at least in the area where He currently has me living---outside of Denver in a very affluent city in the mountains. In an area that is also saturated with New Age beliefs and pagan practices mixed together comfortably with "Christian" ideals. In a very practical sense, the 'new beginning' has already begun for this spiritually compromised population. Failed businesses, bankrupties and house forclosures are already very prevalent. I had a conversation with the director of the local Christian outreach organization that I work for and she told me there is homelessness and poverty like never before. And what's interesting for me is the outright hostile stubbornness to keep the spiritual compromise intact; a resistance that stems from a basic unbelief in the Word of God and rejection of Jesus as the Christ. The only other place that I remember encountering such resistance was in Syria. They, too, were zealous for religion (New Age here, Islam there), but would likewise pick and choose what they wanted to believe of the Christian faith, and denied Jesus as Christ.
And how does the Lord have me relate to the people here and speak of His truth? Like Hosea did with Gomer--he had to "marry" and keep her and show his love to her, to woo her back to repentance and fidelity. Interesting, huh? Yeah, I think so too. :)
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
Recently I've been reading an 8-day prayer "focus" prepared by a respected prophetic voice directed at getting people launched into 2008, a year of "new beginnings." Today's Scripture passages were taken from Genesis 1, Exodus 1, Joshua 1, 1 Samuel 1, Matthew 1, and Acts 1 and dealt mainly with significant Biblical births, new endeavors, and the Creation story.
After reading those passages, I asked the Holy Spirit what I should be getting out of those "new beginning" chapters from the Bible, and He led me to read Jeremiah 4:23-28)
"I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before the Lord, before His fierce anger. This is what the Lord says: "The whole land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not turn back."
~I don't know about you, but I had to ask the Lord, "What kind of 'new beginning' is that?!" It was certainly not the "feel good" one most people come to expect (demand) from a prophetic word. Why would the Lord be giving me a passage from Jeremiah that basically talks about a complete return to the primeval chaos? a reversal of creation? So, I thought about the Scriptures and words He has been giving me lately that talk about what He is seeing in our land.
Mark 3:4-6) Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man,"Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Cf Matt. 12:1-14)
Zephaniah 1:4-6,11-13) "I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests--those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molech, those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of Him. Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near....Wail, you who live in the market district; all your merchants will be wiped out, all who trade with silver will be ruined. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine lift on its dregs, who think, 'The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.' Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine."
Well, indeed the Lord is talking about a 'new beginning' in our land...at least in the area where He currently has me living---outside of Denver in a very affluent city in the mountains. In an area that is also saturated with New Age beliefs and pagan practices mixed together comfortably with "Christian" ideals. In a very practical sense, the 'new beginning' has already begun for this spiritually compromised population. Failed businesses, bankrupties and house forclosures are already very prevalent. I had a conversation with the director of the local Christian outreach organization that I work for and she told me there is homelessness and poverty like never before. And what's interesting for me is the outright hostile stubbornness to keep the spiritual compromise intact; a resistance that stems from a basic unbelief in the Word of God and rejection of Jesus as the Christ. The only other place that I remember encountering such resistance was in Syria. They, too, were zealous for religion (New Age here, Islam there), but would likewise pick and choose what they wanted to believe of the Christian faith, and denied Jesus as Christ.
And how does the Lord have me relate to the people here and speak of His truth? Like Hosea did with Gomer--he had to "marry" and keep her and show his love to her, to woo her back to repentance and fidelity. Interesting, huh? Yeah, I think so too. :)
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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