Word for Exiles
Greetings in the Lord!
As many of you may know, I have been living and working in South Korea and China for over a year and a half now. Both those contracts have been fulfilled and now I am preparing for a new place to live and work. But before I get to that, I would like to talk some about who I've been seeing and ministering to for the past 20 months: "exiled" Christians. What does that mean, you ask? Well, before I started my stints in South Korea and China the Lord spent a great deal of time teaching about the concept of "being put out of the assembly" for persistent, unrepentant sin.
In the Old Testament there were many things that would get someone put out of the assembly. It was a procedure meant to cause the person some hardship and loneliness so that they would repent and desire again the closeness of God and the company of God's people back again in their lives....an ancient "time out," if you will. That's the same as how I understood what the Lord was teaching me---He was going to go through the ranks of the Church and give a time out or "exile" those people who had been raised Christian but had long since left that life behind to follow their own self-described ideas of God and religion. Sometimes included in that bunch were people who currently adamantly rejected God altogether in their lives. They embraced the "time out" willingly and would not acknowledge it as discipline, even though they experienced the loneliness and hardships that came with being put out of the assembly.
So, in essence, I was being sent to minister to the lost sheep on the one hand, and also to deliver correction to the rebellious (same group) on the other hand. It was the task that Ezekiel was given in his day: "speak to the exiles in Babylon and tell them everything I tell you."
So what did I see? Many, many, many callings left unfulfilled, that's what. Preachers, teachers, priests, evangelists, ministers, worship leaders, counselors, singers, and yes, even a couple prophet callings all left by the wayside as these folks pushed ahead content to live their lives the way they saw fit. Funny thing is, nearly all of them still cared about doing and being "good" and had created a system of self-righteousness to meet this need in their heart.
I found myself acting and feeling much like the prophets of old too, heartbroken at what I saw, and yet, fleeing their hostility and rejection in the various forms in which they lashed out at me. At the end of the day my exasperated comment to God all too often was: "Tough crowd, Lord..."
Today is a word from Ezekiel 13. It is an admonishment to the false prophets that speak peace and good tidings and give false visions of hope when correction and serious warning is needed. Instead of "rebuilding the walls" or standing guard of God's people to take care of their spiritual needs, these false prophets "are like jackals among the ruins," opportunistic and selfish, looking to take and not provide, neglecting and not building up, satisfying their own hunger and not meeting the needs of others.
With one person I met the Lord gave me this vision: I saw a basket of apples and the Lord's hand was sorting through it, selecting the good ones He wanted. Then the hand picked up a rotten apple and said, "Rejected," and threw it away. I knew the Holy Spirit was referring to this person, saying to me, that even though I clearly saw their spiritual gifts and realized the intended calling the Lord had for them, they were not being selected. When I prayed again for this person the Lord said again, "Rejected silver," as in, even with all the extreme heat He had used to burn out the impurities, they simply were not submitting to the purifying process and could not be used.
Of course, that doesn't mean that these people don't go on living, they do, just not for God. They continue to live life on their own terms and advocate their own system of self-righteousness and leave a trail of rubbish everywhere they go...but, they will not be permitted to continually corrupt others with their lies and debauchery under the guise of being a "Christian." No, they will be put out of the assembly. In fact, today's verse tells of 3 things the Lord promises to do to those who continue to ensnare His people with their deception, who "disheartened the righteous with your lies...and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives..."
1) "They will not belong to the council of My people" ---their calling to a leadership position within the church is currently denied.
2) They will not "be listed in the records of the house of Israel"--they will be put out of the assembly of believers or lose the ambition to join an assembly in an official way for now.
3) They will not "enter the land of Israel."---they will not receive the personal deliverance and peace and prosperity they desperately desire now because they are refusing to be purified.
"Then you will know that I Am the Lord." That means, these things will be carried out by God until those to whom it applies will acknowledge God as Sovereign in their lives and submit to His ways. Let it be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray that You, O Lord, who began a good work in us and is well able to complete the work, will have Your way in our lives by any means possible; to return us to your loving embrace; to receive us again after our prodigal years have worn us down to a godly humility before You. Thank You for the eternal salvation that is made readily available to those who put their faith in Christ, and yet, for the perfect way you deal with us even when we resist the purifying process of growing in Christ-likeness after we have put our faith in Your Son, Jesus. We thank You Lord that Your mercy triumphs over judgment, and that nothing can separate us from Your love. Amen
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
As many of you may know, I have been living and working in South Korea and China for over a year and a half now. Both those contracts have been fulfilled and now I am preparing for a new place to live and work. But before I get to that, I would like to talk some about who I've been seeing and ministering to for the past 20 months: "exiled" Christians. What does that mean, you ask? Well, before I started my stints in South Korea and China the Lord spent a great deal of time teaching about the concept of "being put out of the assembly" for persistent, unrepentant sin.
In the Old Testament there were many things that would get someone put out of the assembly. It was a procedure meant to cause the person some hardship and loneliness so that they would repent and desire again the closeness of God and the company of God's people back again in their lives....an ancient "time out," if you will. That's the same as how I understood what the Lord was teaching me---He was going to go through the ranks of the Church and give a time out or "exile" those people who had been raised Christian but had long since left that life behind to follow their own self-described ideas of God and religion. Sometimes included in that bunch were people who currently adamantly rejected God altogether in their lives. They embraced the "time out" willingly and would not acknowledge it as discipline, even though they experienced the loneliness and hardships that came with being put out of the assembly.
So, in essence, I was being sent to minister to the lost sheep on the one hand, and also to deliver correction to the rebellious (same group) on the other hand. It was the task that Ezekiel was given in his day: "speak to the exiles in Babylon and tell them everything I tell you."
So what did I see? Many, many, many callings left unfulfilled, that's what. Preachers, teachers, priests, evangelists, ministers, worship leaders, counselors, singers, and yes, even a couple prophet callings all left by the wayside as these folks pushed ahead content to live their lives the way they saw fit. Funny thing is, nearly all of them still cared about doing and being "good" and had created a system of self-righteousness to meet this need in their heart.
I found myself acting and feeling much like the prophets of old too, heartbroken at what I saw, and yet, fleeing their hostility and rejection in the various forms in which they lashed out at me. At the end of the day my exasperated comment to God all too often was: "Tough crowd, Lord..."
Today is a word from Ezekiel 13. It is an admonishment to the false prophets that speak peace and good tidings and give false visions of hope when correction and serious warning is needed. Instead of "rebuilding the walls" or standing guard of God's people to take care of their spiritual needs, these false prophets "are like jackals among the ruins," opportunistic and selfish, looking to take and not provide, neglecting and not building up, satisfying their own hunger and not meeting the needs of others.
With one person I met the Lord gave me this vision: I saw a basket of apples and the Lord's hand was sorting through it, selecting the good ones He wanted. Then the hand picked up a rotten apple and said, "Rejected," and threw it away. I knew the Holy Spirit was referring to this person, saying to me, that even though I clearly saw their spiritual gifts and realized the intended calling the Lord had for them, they were not being selected. When I prayed again for this person the Lord said again, "Rejected silver," as in, even with all the extreme heat He had used to burn out the impurities, they simply were not submitting to the purifying process and could not be used.
Of course, that doesn't mean that these people don't go on living, they do, just not for God. They continue to live life on their own terms and advocate their own system of self-righteousness and leave a trail of rubbish everywhere they go...but, they will not be permitted to continually corrupt others with their lies and debauchery under the guise of being a "Christian." No, they will be put out of the assembly. In fact, today's verse tells of 3 things the Lord promises to do to those who continue to ensnare His people with their deception, who "disheartened the righteous with your lies...and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives..."
1) "They will not belong to the council of My people" ---their calling to a leadership position within the church is currently denied.
2) They will not "be listed in the records of the house of Israel"--they will be put out of the assembly of believers or lose the ambition to join an assembly in an official way for now.
3) They will not "enter the land of Israel."---they will not receive the personal deliverance and peace and prosperity they desperately desire now because they are refusing to be purified.
"Then you will know that I Am the Lord." That means, these things will be carried out by God until those to whom it applies will acknowledge God as Sovereign in their lives and submit to His ways. Let it be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray that You, O Lord, who began a good work in us and is well able to complete the work, will have Your way in our lives by any means possible; to return us to your loving embrace; to receive us again after our prodigal years have worn us down to a godly humility before You. Thank You for the eternal salvation that is made readily available to those who put their faith in Christ, and yet, for the perfect way you deal with us even when we resist the purifying process of growing in Christ-likeness after we have put our faith in Your Son, Jesus. We thank You Lord that Your mercy triumphs over judgment, and that nothing can separate us from Your love. Amen
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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