Pentecost 22 Time for the Spirit of Prophecy and Return to God's Real Plan

[HKHaugan]

Pentecost 22 Time for the Spirit of Prophecy and Return to God’s Real Plan

Jer.2:7-8 "I brought you to a garden land
where you could eat lush fruit.
But you barged in and polluted my land,
trashed and defiled my dear land.
The priests never thought to ask, 'Where's God?'
The religion experts knew nothing of me.
The rulers defied me.
The prophets preached god Baal
And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.”

I am willing to say without hesitancy that God is speaking to us through the condition of our society. We are seeing economic and moral confusion springing up everywhere. Media propulsion aggravates anxiety in everyone. Scandals are daily not just occasional. Name a field and there they are. In education there is tremendous unrest in teaching philosophy. College campuses are awash in anti-God activity. In economics the daily news is bleak with rising unemployment, unsteady markets and the exposure of major swindles. In religion the rootless drift of denominational institutions from their origins leaves all to wonder if there is anything we can believe in that is true? In the arts, television, movies, profits are based on the titillation of sensuality where modesty and morality are obscenities while filthy language is the norm, its justification is freedom of speech. Pornography is a major obsession. What God has called abominations pass euphemistically as acceptable ‘alternative lifestyles.’

And, have we forgotten the multiplication of physical disasters that have come upon us in recent years? Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, droughts, diseases unknown in prior history; all just don’t happen out of nowhere.

At the bottom of it all is the spiritual truth---God’s judgment is descending upon us all. It is raining on the just and unjust alike. Society is rotating on an evil axis.

Given the condition of our society with its moral descent there is no better time to give God the glory and precedence as we meet each new day. We need to call for repentance, be repentant and become a repentant and prayerful Body. This is our calling. This is the living prophetic beckoning of God to His people. If there ever was a time to bring the name and person of Jesus to the forefront it is now.

The real purpose for the frequency of this column is to keep the Lord Jesus lifted up before any other consideration. So many columns (aka blogs) get sidetracked on church politics, social commentary and economic analyses. They get so immersed in the hostilities of the moment that the Lord Jesus is left out of the equation. They imply that if we can be right about now then tomorrow will be better. History is never that conclusive. There is only one perfect assurance. Yesterday, today and forever are all in the hands of the Lord of the universe, Jesus Christ. Letting Him be Lord of our hearts and minds is to relax our will and let His will take over. It is our mission and task to show how He can make a difference when we let Him assume authority over our mind and heart.

There are three things that show the difference between God’s plan for the world and man’s.

First, the fact that He is eternal means His perspective is eternal and He sees each person from that perspective. He sees and knows what is best for each one while they live here in the present. He reveals what enables an eternal existence with Him. Man’s only concern is about what happens to him in the present. He sees only what brings him satisfaction in the moment while he exists in his earthly life.

Second, that eternal concern means that the values He brings transcend the length of a person’s life in this world. It is not only what happens in each person’s life while they are here but also what they do to prepare for others who will come after them. Man’s perspective is not to worry about tomorrow but to get what you can while you can no matter by what means.

Third, God’s method for recovering a lost world is opposite the methodology of the world. Instead of building institutions, amassing wealth and accumulating possessions God recovers and rebuilds the world by recovering and rebuilding hearts and minds, one at a time in a spiritual family. This is why religiously run governments called theocracies don’t work. Governments don’t restore hearts. Hearts restore governments. The Body of Christ with hearts reaching out to other hearts is His plan. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2Cor.5:19).” And how? As He did it, one heart at a time.

More about this----stay tuned.