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Today we start a 40 day journey; a journey of repentance and drawing
near to GOD. Some may ask, "40 days of repentance seems a bit
excessive. Is it really that bad?" It is obvious that the world is in
great turmoil, however, it is not so obvious to us that GOD could actually
be disciplining HIS people with this pandemic and totalitarianism. Many in
the Body of CHRIST don't even believe in the judgment or discipline of the
LORD. This should give us great concern because GOD doesn't abide by our
belief system; HE functions based upon HIS Word.
I would like to share some words that I heard the LORD say to help us
understand the importance of 40 days of repentance. The following are
questions that I asked the LORD, and HIS response:
LORD, it doesn't seem like YOU are hearing our prayers. "I am
son but you are not ready for the answers. They will cost you too much and
you don't want to pay the price. Pray for a heart change, a genuine
transformation of the heart. You need ME, not the answers to your prayers.
Repent of self-effort and trying to make things happen. I do things
differently than you do. I am at work, but it doesn't look like what you
want it to. Tell MY people to turn to ME, not their prayers or hopes for
change. They need ME right now and nothing else. MY people are hurting and
don't even know it. They think they are ok, but they are not. They are
desperate and hungry for righteousness in their own lives but can't see it.
There is a purging that needs to happen but they have been unwilling, so
far, to go that deep with ME. The pain for them is too great, but it will
bring great results like they have never known in all their life.
You must be clear with them and share their need. They may not accept it
but it must be done. They are MY children and they must be corrected to see
the light of MY goodness and live in the grace of who I AM."
Another day I heard:
"MY people are following what seems right to them because they have
no King."
"In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was
right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6)
LORD, are these just my thoughts? "No. I am very disappointed
in how MY people are behaving. They don't listen. They don't want to follow
ME. Their appetites are so strong for what they want they can't imagine that
I would want something different. This will be their ruin. They think
they are fighting a good cause, but they are fighting ME."
And yet another day, I heard:
"MY Church doesn’t know what love is. MY love plans for the future
generations. It cares about what I care about and brings that to people. It
doesn’t pretend to love and then do its own thing. That's right, it does
not pretend."
I pray these words stir your heart to want to engage in these 40 days of
prayer, fasting, worship and outreach with the preeminent theme of
repentance. The LORD is after us with what is going on in the world. Will
we surrender, trust, and give our entire lives into HIS hands, or will we
continue to do what seems right in our own eyes? The LORD has laid these
questions before us. What will be our response?
These are very serious times. I pray that we will bow our knees to King
JESUS and follow the instructions of 2 Chronicles 7:14. HIS word is true,
and if we do what HE says, HE "will hear from heaven and will
forgive their (our) sin and heal their (our) land." Let's
take a knee during these 40 Days of HOPE and humble ourselves, pray, seek
GOD's face and turn from our wicked ways! Now is the TIME!
"...if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2
Chronicles 7:14)
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