Embracing God's Agenda Under Pressure

One of the fascinating realities about human nature – including yours and mine! – is that the actual reality of our heart’s condition is made plain under the increasing pressures of times like these. The apostle Paul wrote about this dynamic to the Corinthian believers in his second letter in this way:

 

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.” – 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 

 

Under the extreme pressures of physical persecution, Paul was able to say that when his body, his “earthen vessel” was hard-pressed, persecuted, or even struck down, what was actually exhibited was the character of Jesus shining through! How was it possible for him to have that view of things when everything around him seemed not just difficult, but life-threatening?

 

There’s really only one way to take that posture. It is to realize, as Paul did, that when Jesus suffered He was actually being exhibited by the Father as the perfectly submissive, obedient, faithful and ultimately victorious Son who would by His obedience redeem you and me and everyone else who calls on His Name. Then, having realized this, Paul takes his own experience of suffering and counts it as a partnership in the sufferings of Jesus, laboring together with Him to defeat the strategies of Satan by simple, faithful and loving obedience.

 

You see, Satan’s goal is to use the pressure to expose us as frauds, as those who really only believe when everything is going well. God the Father, however, has His own agenda. He uses these same pressures to exhibit us as victorious children in the image of Jesus, as overcomers who win our personal battles just as Jesus overcame and won His ultimate battle. This is the conquering Bride who in the Day of the Lord be the suitable counterpart to the Bridegroom Son of the Father.

 

The Church of Jesus Christ is going to be exhibited as glorious in these troublesome times, not merely because we have the ability to use the Name of Jesus to rebuke all the trouble, but because we are found faithful to stand with Him in the midst of the trouble, no matter what effect it has on our personal comfort zones. 

 

May God’s Presence hold you near to His heart, that having done everything else, you may be able to simply stand and wait for Him.

 

Gary Wiens

The Urgent Need For Repentance And Faith

Loyal Rue, in an address to the American Academy of Sciences, gave a remarkable address where he explains how nihilism and relativism is the overwhelming lesson of the past two centuries. But then he says, How are we to react to this? 

He said there's either the madhouse option or the totalitarian option. The madhouse option is everybody just creates his own values and meaning which results in social chaos and incoherence. The totalitarian option is for the state to impose social coherence by power and by fiat which robs people of their own personal integrity and autonomy. 

And Rue says if we're to avoid these two extremes (the madhouse option, the totalitarian option) he says we have no choice but to adopt some Noble Lie that will trick us into believing that life really does have meaning, value, and purpose even though it does not, and so we must live in self-deception on this atheistic view. And Rue says without these sorts of lies we cannot live. 

Fortunately, we as Believers in God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, have another option. Our option is the Joel 2 response to the crises of our day - focused repentance with fasting and prayer, turning our hearts away from political "solutions" that will not provide the results we desire, and turning toward the only hope we have - the Kingdom of God established through the reign and rule of Jesus Christ. 

The result of a focused turning toward God and the longing for the Desire of All Nations to reveal Himself will be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the cultural chaos inspired by the spirit of the Antichrist. 

The dark night of Isaiah 60 is upon us, and there is only one hope - the Light of Jesus Christ shining brightly upon and among and through His people. Let us turn our hearts to Him alone, and let the knowledge of His glory fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. 

Gary Wiens

The Divine Chimney Sweep At Work

This past Sunday, during our worship service at SOZO Church, there was a strong yet gentle sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit moving on me and many others as we ministered to the Lord. The theme for us in this season is “Preparing For Glory,” with an emphasis on the importance of prayer in the secret place. We’re engaging in a seven-day fast for the purpose of sensitizing our hearts to His presence, anticipating a powerful move of the Spirit to be released in our midst, even as He has been speaking to many around the Body of Christ.

As I was experiencing His sweet touch on my own heart, I suddenly had a rather clear image in my mind of a chimney sweep quietly doing his work, hidden behind the scenes. I had the sense that this was an interesting picture of the Holy Spirit preparing us for holy fire to be released in this house, among this people. 

A chimney sweep is important because his job is to clear out things that would be damaging to the house if the fire was lit and the chimney had not been swept. The picture was of the Holy Spirit’s invitation to allow Him to find the soot and grime in our hearts, and to embrace the spirit of repentance and turning that would make us ready for the ignition of the flame.

The Old Testament prophet Malachi wrote of this same idea in chapter 3 of his prophetic book, where he speaks of the messenger of the covenant that is coming to the Temple. As we read that text, we get the sense that there are actually two messengers, one who comes to prepare the way, and the second One who comes as the burning fire to ignite the flame, to purify the priestly sons and daughters, so that the offerings brought to the Lord will be righteous, fully acceptable and perfect.

It’s that reality that I believe the Holy Spirit is communicating: He’s coming gently but insistently, helping us get ready through confession of sin, embracing a heart of repentance, and turning away from anything that would hinder or limit the presence of Jesus in our midst. It’s a quiet invitation, but an important one, similar to Jesus knocking on the door of the church in Revelation 3:20, where He is inviting the lukewarm church to open their doors and allow Him to enter. The surprise is that the Jesus that enters is the consuming fire of Malachi 3, and having been invited in, He will consume us, He will have His way.

The bottom line? Welcome the “chimney sweep.” Invite Him in to do His work in preparation for the ignition that is coming. Prepare your hearts for the Living Flame of Love to enter and have His way. He is coming, and our hearts will be satisfied.

Thankfulness Under Pressure

I was asked to share some thoughts on “Thankfulness” for our church Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sozochurchbelfair), so I thought I’d pass them along to all of you. I hope and pray that you’ll be encouraged through this.

Thankfulness is a big deal to God, because being thankful requires that we become aware of the Father’s attentiveness and activity, not only in our lives but in all things that transpire in every situation. Consider this passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – 

Rejoice always! Pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Take note of these three things that the writer infers:

1.     choose joy in every situation, 

2.     choose intimate communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through prayer, and 

3.     choose a thankful heart even in the midst of difficulty

In order to make these choices while maintaining integrity with my own soul’s realities, I must be aware of several things that are true and unshakeable, and it’s these things that I’m thankful for:

-       There is a God in heaven who sees everything, knows everything, and according to Psalm 62:11-12 is strong and also loving. This means that God has the power and the desire to do what is best in every situation. 

-       That this God is our Father who according to Rom 8:28 works everything out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Imagine the 1000-dimensional chess game that God has to manage in order to make all things work together for the good of His chosen and beloved ones! Amazing!

-       For the Holy Spirit who helps us understand the Word of God concerning the times we’re living in, SO THAT we will be bold in love and not be overcome by fear or compromise. The Scriptures make clear that as the return of Jesus to the earth draws nearer, there will be increased pressures in society as well as increased anointing, power, and Christ-likeness in the Body of Christ. I am thankful that God knows what is happening, and what will happen, and is in complete control of the whole process!

-       For a community of believers like SOZO Church that worships Jesus, prays for Heaven to come to earth in our lives today, and serves one another with humility and grace. My prayer for all of you is that you are connected with a local family of believers that will help you connect more meaningfully with our Father God, and will stand with you during these pressurized times.

I want to encourage you: take time today to give thanks to God in faith that He is strong and loving, that according to Hebrews 11:6 He is who He says He is, and He will do what He says He will do. May your day be blessed as you walk in the light and favor of Jesus!

Gary Wiens

The Warring Bride, Not The Desperate Widow

In this unprecedented season of stress and pressure, when it seems as though the whole world has come to a standstill because of the enemy’s work, it is important that we as believers know our place as intercessors for such a time as this, and actually take that place to wage war.

Having said that, HOW we wage war is an essential issue. The tendency, when pressure rises, is to revert back to old patterns of prayer that are rooted in a wrong perception of who God is, and who we are as intercessors. We often fall back on strategies of prayer and warfare that are more like the prophets of Ba’al in 1 Kings 18, crying and begging for our God to do something, thinking that our volume and sense of desperation will get the job done. Like the widow of Luke 18, we are focused on issues, desperate for justice and restoration, but secretly convinced that God doesn’t really care, and that the only hope we have is that He relents under the pressure of our persistence.

It is in this time that the Holy Spirit is calling us higher, to stand in our true identity as the Bride of Christ, loving and worshipping Him, hearing His voice and agreeing with His declarations concerning our situations. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, because of the power of His blood, we have been brought into the presence of the Father, not like servants or petitioners, but as sons and daughters of the Father, and even more powerfully, as the glorious Bride of the conquering Lamb.

Our battle strategy is first of all to be worship – ascending to the presence of the Father and focusing on His power, His love, and His provision of everything we need through the blood of His Son. We minister to the King, even as Esther did in the banquet of wine, taking the cup of betrothal – we call it communion – and reminding ourselves that Jesus established a New Covenant of love with us by the shedding of His own blood. 

As we worship, we also listen. What is the Spirit of God saying about the pressures of this time? What is the reality of Heaven when it comes to Covid-19 and its effects on the nations? What is the intercession of Jesus that is ever before the Father, and how do we agree with His prayers?

As we hear, then we declare back to the Father what He is saying, setting our hearts in agreement with the agenda of Heaven. We wage war, not from desperation, but from rest and peace. We speak to the King about the enemy’s plan, and trust that the King’s love for us will move Him to deal with the issues that impact us and our world. This prayer of agreement, the prayer of faith, accomplishes everything.

Let us no longer pray as though we are strangers, foreign to the Father’s presence. Rather, let us speak to the Rock and let the Living Water flow over us again and again, until the will of God is fully accomplished in us and through us.

Gary Wiens

The Blood of Jesus: God's Ultimate Bail-Out Package

I'm meditating during this season on the power of the blood of Jesus, which is the ultimate "bail-out package" of all time. Every one of us was overwhelmed by the worst virus of all - sin. We were lost, sick, disqualified, banned from the life of God by our own choices, needing much more than any $2 trillion aid legislation could purchase - BUT GOD did it for us! 

Even as the blood of Abel cried out from the ground, and even as the blood of the innocents screams out for justice in our day, the blood of Jesus has a better word - justice has been served, mercy has been released, the door to the Father's Presence has been opened, and we are welcomed in! 

All that is necessary is that we agree with Him that we need what He has provided. The power of Jesus' blood covers it all - our rebellion and sin, our sickness, our loss of identity and destiny - all is restored by the power of Jesus' blood!

Drink deeply of this everlasting fountain today. As you wait for His intervention in this temporary circumstance, celebrate the sacrament of communion and appropriate the power of Jesus' body broken for you, and of His blood shed for you, and give thanks. Let your mind be renewed, your soul restored, and your body healed by the power of His blood. It is enough.

Finding Our Glory in the Knowledge of God

It's good to keep in mind the sovereign goodness of God, and that He is in charge of all the realities that confront us, even in times like these.

Marie was spending time in prayer last night, and was led to these statements from Jeremiah 9:23-24 -

Thus says the LORD:

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

Lovingkindness - God's covenant of love to act according to His own nature in relation to every person and situation.

Judgment - God's commitment to remove everything from our lives that hinders love.

Righteousness - God's perfect design that results in perfect satisfaction and fulfillment for all who submit to His will and His ways.

These Kingdom realities are the priorities of our God, as we become still before Him, submitting to His ways, we will come to peace and rest as He works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purposes.

Blessings on you all - Gary Wiens