THE CHURCH (SAY, “THAT’S ME”) ISN’T READY

The signs of the times are evident. It is obvious to those who know and understand by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are in the “last days” spoken of in Scripture. Conditions upon planet Earth are deteriorating. We have had an increase in natural disasters—earthquakes, hurricanes, extreme weather, tsunamis, heat waves. The behaviors of mankind have become increasing wicked and extreme. That which read of in Matthew 24 and 2 Timothy 3 is certainly happening before our eyes. The situation in the Middle East is certainly volatile, which is another indication that the end of this age is rapidly approaching. However, I have found myself agitated lately as I behold what is happening on planet Earth, that the inhabitants of the land don’t seem to be learning righteousness. Here in the Greater New Orleans area, very few people seem to be “connecting the dots” and understanding what Katrina was about. Murder is on the increase and people are turning to drugs and alcohol instead of turning to the Lord. All we hear about on secular radio is how badly FEMA is performing and other complaints about the system not taking care of people’s “needs.” There is no sense that we should be turning to God Almighty for help and restoration. On the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, the casinos are being rebuilt, despite the fact that God destroyed them to show His extreme displeasure with them. Nothing seems to have changed, and I, for one, have struggled with the self-righteous emotions that Jonah had, wanting God to “whack” the area again, this time so that there would be no mistaking that He is angry with mankind. I have been impatient in wanting God to go ahead and deal with sin and unrighteousness on a massive scale.

As I was wrestling with my thoughts and feelings on these issues I felt that the Lord was telling me that the reason He cannot deal with planet Earth on the grand scale prophesied in the Scriptures is that His people are not ready. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first being at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17). The Church of Jesus Christ is to be the “salt of the earth.” But we are now in the state that the Lord Jesus prophesied of when He said, “But if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” (Matthew 5:13). The Church has in large part become useless. There is as much sin and bondage in the Church as there is in the world. Christians lives’ are in disrepair and ruin. Men and women of God, in positions of leading the flock of God, are divorcing. Their children are often lukewarm, backslidden or downright unsaved. The Scripture in 1 Tim. 3:5 is being fulfilled in “living color” in today’s Church, “For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” And if the leadership of the Church is confronted with this Scripture, the response is similar to this, “Well, if the pastor’s children all have to be serving God in order to be a pastor, then we wouldn’t have enough pastors to lead churches.” This is a very sad day for God’s people. The leadership cannot lead in righteousness, because it is not walking in righteousness. And we want God to judge the heathen. How can He, when His own people are not walking uprightly before Him? He must deal with us first. He must honor His own Word. He must purify His people first before He deals with those that are not His people.

There is another reason why God must deal with His people before He deals with the world, and it has to do with His love and mercy. Years ago Prophetess Linda Morton shared with us at the City of Refuge that the Lord had told her that when He judged the world in the last days that those of His people who were not walking in obedience would be judged right along with the heathen. The message was clear, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4) Now the Lord does not enjoy having to chastise and scourge His people. The Scripture says that He does not “afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men” (Lamentations 3:33) God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11) He is longsuffering, His mercy endures forever and His mercy rejoices over judgment (James 2:13). He dealt with Jonah when Jonah wanted Ninevah destroyed and let him know that He had compassion on the people of Ninevah and wanted them to repent. Romans 2:4 asks, “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” In our desire to see sin and iniquity dealt with we cannot forget the higher desire of God to reconcile men unto Himself. So He is patient and longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should be saved. And He wants His people to “get it right” with Him, because He does not desire to have to judge them along with the wicked. That is why He calls out to His children to “come out” of the world system and be separate (holy) so that He can receive us (2 Cor. 6:17).

Recently, I opened my Bible to the book of Zephaniah. In Chapter 1, verse 14, the Lord says, “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.” He goes on to let us know that this is a day of wrath, trouble, distress, desolation, darkness, and that the “whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy: for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” God is saying that the day when He judges this planet and all of the wickedness in it is very near and it will be a day of great distress and extreme suffering. He was speaking to my heart personally, “Don’t worry, I am going to deal with this planet.”

However, there is another point that He wanted to make to me, that being the subject of this message. That point is, “Lisa you are not ready for me to come and mete out this judgment. There are things in your life that must be made right so that you won’t be a part of this judgment.”

You see the Lord was showing me that I recognize the evil of the world and I can readily spot the wickedness in the Church, but do I really see, understand and abhor the evil in my own life? The answer is no, and not yet, but I need to get there. The Word of God says that “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts. (Proverbs 21:2). There are things in my life that I know are not holy and pure before God, but I have not come to the place that Job did where I truly abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6)

God wants His people to get real with Him and seek His face and ask Him to show us the evil in our own hearts in such a way that we can come to true, Godly sorrow and repentance. We need to have God appear to us out of the whirlwind and speak the Word of rebuke to us to chasten and correct us in His divine love. “The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.” (Proverbs 20:30). Just as the blood rushing to the site of a wound cleanses away the germs and bacteria that would get in the wound, so the chastening wounds of God to His people cleanse us of all filthiness of soul and spirit. We need God’s chastening hand in our lives, so that we can be made into those righteous vessels that will be the salt of the world and the light of the world. God must have a righteous voice in the earth in these last days to proclaim His Word to this planet, but it must come forth out of those in whom the enemy can find nothing with which to accuse or condemn. We must allow God to continue to take us through the cleansing and purifying fires of adversity, where His Holy Spirit is allowed to have access to those hidden sins of the heart. He will not be satisfied until He sees His reflection in us. We must not be satisfied until we “awake with His likeness.” (Psalm 17:5).

Let us “glorify the Lord in the fires,” (Isaiah 24:15). Let us say to Him, “Lord, don’t stop purging me and processing me until I am a completed work.” Let us not be complacent and be satisfied with being “half-baked,” but instead let us allow the zeal for our Father’s House (which is you and me as temples of the Holy Ghost) to consume us, until there is nothing left but Jesus Christ in us, the “Hope of Glory.”

Finally, let us be faithful to pray for one another and “exhort one another daily” (Heb. 3:13) and travail with one another until Christ be formed in us (Gal. 4:19). And, please let us not be self-righteously angry with others who are not walking uprightly, but let us cast the beam out of our own eyes. Then, and only then will we be able to see clearly with the eyes of the Spirit, in order to cast out the speck that is in our brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3-5).