Section II - Introduction

 

~~2Chronicles7:14~~

The hand cannot say to the eye I do not need you. We need each other; the famous cannot say to the unknown “you’ve got it wrong”, just because he is an ‘unknown’. We do not earn the gifts or the calling on our lives: if this were the case, the Church would be the proudest most competitive structure on earth. God gives gifts and callings to whomever He will, and in whichever season He chooses: The purpose being that we would work together, to enhance and fortify each other as One Body: We are not the ‘Club of Hands’ or the ‘Tribe of Eyes’: We are the Body of Christ; where the eyes need the nose as surly as the foot needs the toes. When we work together under One Head - especially in the prophetic, we validate, strengthen and clarify what God is trying to show us, providing we do not contradict  His will (revealed in the pattern of his Word). So if one prophesies persecution, while another prophesies revival, let’s get on our knees and prayerfully take to heart  both: Because I believe that one is needed to produce the other. It’s not that the one prophesying persecution does not believe in God’s goodness and mercy- not at all. We see in part and prophesy in part, which is why we work together. I am no prophet: I only know what the Lord has shown me: The Church in the West has been asleep - deeply, comfortably asleep; and in order to see an awakening of this magnitude, there must be a significant shaking. If God has to shake us HARD to wake us up, that we would run ONLY to Him; cling ONLY to Him; stand in the gap and cry out ONLY to Him, that mercy instead of judgement would fall on this nation....If God has to shake us to wake us; to send the fire in order to prepare us for the rain...if He HAS TO do this...is this not the goodness and mercy of God?

1Corinthians 12; 1Kings18:38-44; Romans11:20-22;Ezekiel 22:30; Psalm119:71&75-76; Hosea 5:15 Written July 23 2020

“Exiled”

Psalm 42:7

“Deep cries unto deep at the sound of your waters”: 

Written during the time of the exile, the Psalmist finds himself far from the Place of the Temple, the House of the Lord…the Place where he can worship God freely…and he cries out to God: 

“I am far from home and troubles overwhelm me…” Read Psalm 42

(See also Psalm 32:6-7)

Likewise the prophet Jonah, from the depths of the sea, at the gates of death itself…also in a place of “exile” far from the House of the Lord, cries out to God:

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.” (Compare Psalm 42:7)

“Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ (Psalm 27:13) The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.” (See Psalm 16:10; 103:4)

“When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.”Jonah 2:2-7

And then finally, the Lord God Himself, in the form of human flesh, taking the iniquities of the world, faces the ultimate “exile” - the complete and total separation from the Threefold Godhead - those same gates of death and bars of Hell…and he too cries out to God: 

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

Matthew 27:46

Do we not realize…or have we forgotten; that we who follow Jesus Christ are also “exiles” and sojourners in this world (see 1Peter ch. 1:1-17 & 2:11): We no longer belong to it, and should not therefore, be loving or coveting its substance.

And when our freedoms become restricted and limited through persecution…when we too are exiled in our own Land…unable to go up to the House of the Lord, and feeling far from His Presence, the ‘deep’ within us will also begin to groan: Like the deer panting for water, our souls will begin to thirst for Him as though our lives depended upon it…and then the Lord will come down (Exodus 3:7-8; Psalm 34:4) 

And we shall discover Him in a way we have never known before…we will press in to know Him - not just the power of His resurrection, but the fellowship of His suffering: Becoming like Him in death (Philippians 3:10). We will finally understand what it is to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20) and to be truly resurrected in Him.

Because He has dealt with the reproach of our exile: He has conquered Death…and paved the Way to everlasting Life - for all of us!

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)

“Deep cries unto deep” - it is a longing for God - but in a hard, dry place of chastening - of exile. A place which we will not experience until we too are chastened. From this place, the Psalmist shows a humble and broken spirit - a deep penitence for himself and his nation. And from this place, we the Remnant of the Lord, will be the same. We must allow the Lord to bring us there: To humble and break us. This is what this next part {Section II} is about.

He will continue to put us through the Olive Press until we realize…We have One Head, under whom every knee must bow. How can we possibly follow or worship any other? {See also 1Peter ch.1}

Written 04/18/23