A heavy burden for America.....

America. It is safe to say I love her. I love her people. I love the beautiful cultures that make up our tapestry. I am drawn to her history, good and bad. I am a patriotic, flag-waving, soldier-supporting, gun-toting, firecracker-wielding American! I know she has her scars. She has her open wounds. She has her great faults but don't we all? She has been through war and heartbreak, terror and in ways, decimation. She has received pain from others and she has caused pain. She can be a brooding, hurting old woman and yet she can shine as bright as the noonday sun and seem to be as youthful as she ever was. Her faults are easily seen when we look around at the grief which now plagues us. You can see her deeply furrowed, tan brow wrinkle with disdain as her rich history is misunderstood and trampled upon. You can see her face wince in pain as her people deliver to themselves blow after blow, believing their cause is greater than their brother's. We are a hurting people but we are also  a beautiful people. We see ashes but I believe, if we can look with the eyes of our Lord, we can see beauty in the midst of chaos. We currently walk with a spirit of heaviness on us but I believe, if we will heed the voice of God, He will take that heaviness from us and replace it with great praise. I believe the Lord wants to anoint this nation with oil of joy! But I also believe that currently there are not enough of God's people even listening to the voice of God as He painstakingly attempts to get our attention.
As I sat with my bible in prayer time this past Friday morning, June 19, 2020, I believe I heard the Lord begin to speak to me out of His Word- a heavy Word for our nation. I have always had a soft spot for my country. I have always loved her and always maintained a burden for her....a longing to see her salvation. I still long to see that salvation and so it is with a heaviness in my heart that I now expound upon what I believe the Lord showed me in His Word. It concerns the "church" in the United States of America as well as the "remnant" which I believe will arise in these last moments of our time on earth. I know that there currently is and will continue to be great moments of revival sparked around this world during these end times as Joel 2 prophecies but I have long wondered what that meant for America as there has been a decided lack of longing for a true move of His Word and Spirit in the majority of the American church world. A complacency, if you would. Maintain the status quo seems to be the modus operandi. And so, because my family and I ARE "churched Americans" , I believe what the Lord is showing me is for our American church landscape rather than those around the world.
Pray for me.

On June 19, 2020, the Lord led me through my devotions and prayer time and brought me out to Isaiah 30. The Lord says here, "Woe to the rebellious children; who take counsel but not of Me and who devise plans, but not of my Spirit. Who walk down to Egypt and have not asked my advice."

I say this with all caution and prayer but for many years the church in America has basically done as she pleased, never asking what God wanted but always coming up with plans and programs that ended up stanching the very flow of Jesus' blood and Holy Spirit.We have oh so many plans....oh so many ways...devices...programs. The lord says to the church that these things have now failed you and would caution His church not to enter back into such agreements with yourselves. We have , as Is. 30:2 says, "trusted in the shadow of Egypt". We have allowed the world to dictate to us what is culturally advisable...what will work and what won't. The Kingdom of God was NOT MEANT to be in competition with this world but we would not allow ourselves to be truly set apart therefore the strength we relied on has now failed and will continue to fail us. If the "Church" so desires for the ways and vices of this world to lead us in how we should act in these moments, then His Word says we SHALL be humiliated. (Is. 30:3) The church must not continue to ask those of the world what we should do in these moments. We must HEAR AND HEED the voice of the Holy Spirit.

 Isaiah 30:6-7 speaks of great trouble and anguish. It also speaks of a creature that was a legend in Isaiah's day called "Rahab-Hem-Shebeth." You can do a quick study and find out this was a so called sea monster with a huge mouth. A big-mouthed sea monster, if you will. One who is identified with chaos, confusion, noise and powerlessness.  The Lord spoke to my heart that this is identified with the apostate church. That is the church that the Bible speaks of which will have no real power...only form...having denied the power. BECAUSE the church in America won't listen to the voice of God but instead devises plans according to what the culture around her is speaking, then she will be no more than a loud-mouthed chaotic character with zero power. The Lord says "the church" is currently making alot of chaotic noise, causing more confusion and acting in less power than she ever has and that time is drawing to a close.  Mind you, He did not say HIS CHURCH. The gates of hell cannot prevail against HIS CHURCH and He will have a remnant arise in these last days but it will look nothing like anything you and I have ever seen His Church look like. Understand there are TWO "churches". There is the apostate church taking its cues from a secular world and there is God's True Church. I believe the Lord is calling us to come out....to set ourselves apart and make ourselves known as the Remnant...as the true bride of Christ.

Many voices are crying out for a smooth word and many voices are offering that smooth word. The true church will understand that this cannot always be so as we are hurtling towards the redemption of this earth. As we move towards redemption, there WILL be chaos. There WILL be disorder but as the true church of Jesus Christ, we must hold out hope. We must hold the blood-stained banner of Jesus Christ high! The Lord continues to speak to my heart and tells me to LIFT HIS NAME HIGH! He said if He be lifted up from this earth, He will draw all men to Him! Do not let yourself become buried in the chaos. Make sure your grip is firmly place on Christ. Make sure you are standing with Him and IN Him so that when these storms come, you will still be standing! Keep your eyes on the cross and your mind on Christ!

An apostate church will always cry out for smooth talk. We have done this in our churches for oh so many years and we are therefore seeing the fruit of such teaching and preaching. By all means, encourage your congregation. Encourage God's people to press on...keep moving forward....God's grace is enough! But we cannot negate the FACT that God's Word says we must put away sin. We must put away the doctrines of devils. We must come out and be separate. When we ignore the Words of caution in God's Word and only cleave to the sweet stuff, we find ourselves in the exact predicaments we are currently in. Chaos. Confusion. Noise. Powerlessness. God's Word says that because the church has rejected and despised His Word and instead rely on perversion and oppression, then we shall be broken in pieces.

God calls for true repentance. He says in Isaiah 30:15 " In returning and rest shall you be saved. In quietness and confidence shall be your strength, but you would not."
This scripture not only calls for repentance but it calls for quietness and confidence in who your God is. This is why, we the true church, simply cannot be lured into the fight that wreaks havoc around us. We cannot take the enemy's bait and fall for what is happening. It only SEEMS hopeless. It only SEEMS like a lost cause. The enemy would have you lose your peace over all we see. He would have you loose your quietness and confidence.  We cannot walk away from His peace. We cannot say, "No I am going to get on my hobby horse or my soapbox and I am going to ride this thing til the cows come home!" NO! The Lord says this is NOT how we, the true church, are supposed to stand and fight in this moment. If you fight in a way the Lord has said not to, if you fight according to the world's standards or according to the apostate church's standards, you will end up just being a pole on top of a hill with no flag...no banner and no one will ever know what you stood for. Your life in essence, will end up having been wasted.

THE LORD SAYS THERE IS HOPE IN CHAOS!!!
This is how the Lord directs (Is. 30:18) "Therefore the Lord will wait that He may be gracious to you. And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD IS A GOD OF JUSTICE. Blessed are all those who wait for Him!"

We are to lift Him up! Exalt His name above all others!!! He will be merciful and be who He is-A God of Justice- when we wait and worship!!
He says further (Vs.19-21) " For the people shall dwell In Zion at Jerusalem. You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry!. When He hears it, He will answer you. And thought the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers and your ears shall hear a Word. THIS IS THE WAY-WALK IN IT...whenever you turn to the right hand or the left hand."

In other words, even though we are having to taste affliction in the land, even though there is great adversity, there is still hope! God hears you and no matter which way you turn in life, if you will truly seek Him and His ways, HE WILL SPEAK TO YOU AND SHOW YOU THE RIGHT PATH. There is hope, even in chaos, for those who make that choice to fully obey God's Word.

Make no mistake, God is angry over our sin and disregard for His Holy Word. It is not a 'I am sending you to hell for it" anger. It is righteous, holy indignation. Our ways send us to hell...not God. He reaches out his arm still....He will not draw it back from those who truly come to Him with repentant hearts. He loves us. He loves America. He loves this world, red, yellow black or white, we are precious in His sight.

As I leave this blog, I want to say one last thing from the last few passages of Isaiah 30.
He says we shall have a song! there will be gladness of heart! The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard! He longs to restore us to His heart! He has come that we might be truly free....beauty for ashes, oil of joy for mourning and garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness!

Lay all your junk on Him.....He cares for YOU!