The season is beginning to change where I live. I have smiled as I walked outside this week to the sound of birds singing for the first time since late autumn. The calendar says that the official arrival of spring is on March 20th and the warmth of the sun testifies to us that it is indeed time for the winter to pass away and for flowers to once again bloom upon the earth. If I were a gardener, I would expect to be ordering from seed catalogs and nurturing indoor containers of seedlings to be nestled into the earth as soon as the ground is warm enough and the soil has been prepared to receive them.
Just as the Father determines seedtime and harvest, so He brings change to the seasons of our lives, and from the things He has been showing me, I believe we are at such a point in history.
In the coming days, I will be sharing with you some dreams that He has given to me that I believe are pointing to this season. Will it be the spring of 2015? I don't know. All I can do is obey the urgency He has placed upon my heart and share with you what He has revealed to me. The rest, as always, is up to His perfect timing and the condition of our hearts.
As for this post, I pray that we will let it serve in the way that the Father has intended.
While I was in the midst of prayer, I asked Him what the title of this post should be. A Clarion Call was as clearly spoken to my spirit as if I had heard it with my ears.
"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."
1 Kings 18:21
This one verse is an excellent example of a clarion call. An urgent cry to action that is very applicable to our day.
"And the people answered him not a word." Perhaps they didn't answer Elijah because his question caught them by surprise. They might not have realized how far they had fallen from the true worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So much time had passed from back when they had demanded a king. A demand that sprang from them wanting to be like the nations around them. Samuel was displeased and spoke to the Father about it in First Samuel the eighth chapter, at which time the Father told Samuel that the people had done this because they had rejected Him as their King.
At the command of YHVH, the people were warned through the prophet what their king would require of them and that they would live to regret their choice. Samuel prophesied, saying, "18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of the king ye have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day." Upon hearing this, did the people reconsider their dictate and repent before the King whom they had grieved and insulted? The text answers that question in verses nineteen and twenty. "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us. That we may also be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."
There is no way that we, being human, can even being to comprehend the emotions of the Father at that moment. Oh, He knew how they felt. Their thoughts and actions had long been "speaking" to Him of the adultery that lay beating in their hearts, but to hear it from their lips is another matter entirely. What did they have that He did not supply? Was there ever a more righteous Judge? One more mighty in battle than their EL? Where could they ever find a more loving or forgiving husband? They could not. Their search would always be in vain. For there never was and never will be one greater than The Originator and Sustainer of Life!
Approximately one hundred eighty years had passed since the people had received their first king and I can't help but wonder if there may have been some puzzled expressions shared between people on the day Elijah told them to choose whom they would serve. Perhaps they were so immersed in the cultures around them, so accustomed to observing and participating in their practices, that they couldn't see that their worship was tied to Baal and thought they were following the Great I AM. How could this be? Because they didn't know or believe the God they claimed to serve, because if they did, they would have trusted Him and been convicted to obey His commands and teachings.
Which brings us to the time in which we are living.
Rather than knowing Him through His Word, which is the only way to truly know Him, we have formed our own opinions about Him based on our thoughts and the thoughts of those around us. We don't realize that because of our lack of knowledge of the Word - the written Word and the example set before us through the Living Word, the Messiah - and because we have embraced the teachings, traditions, and doctrines of those around us, our worship has become polytheistic. One possessing even a nominal knowledge of the Scriptures knows that that is something the Almighty will not accept.
At this point someone may be thinking, "Oh, please, knock it off! God knows my heart!"
Yes. He does. Are you sure you want to use that as your argument?
Let's say you are married and your spouse insists upon bringing into the marriage things that pleased their first spouse, but make your skin crawl. All the while they tell you how much they love you and how grateful they are for all the things that you bring to their lives. But they interrupt you when you try to talk to them. They have no interest in spending time with you or getting to know the real you. You've been honest with them and told them that these things offend you, hurt you, and make you angry with them because they refuse to respect you or your marriage covenant and because they won't let go of their first spouse's ideas of expressed love. Your heart, what you want in a marriage covenant, is irrelevant to them. They will "love you" their way.
Or ...
Let's say you know of a Christian college that has become one in name only. Oh, they keep the name and proclaim it with pride, especially to their contributing alumni, yet they hire professors who admit that they do not believe in the teachings of the Bible and in their not-so-subtle way they tell their students that they think the Bible is erroneous, and without conscience they belittle those who try to follow its truths; treating them unfairly, and with contempt. Though professing to be a Bible college, the focus is money and they are in the business of making it. Some sincere believers still attend, but what they expect and desire from a Christian college education and experience is irrelevant to the board of trustees and some members of the administration. Do you honestly think the Father is pleased? Do you think that their deeds, their hearts, their motives, are hidden from Him?
More importantly, do you want to continue using argument that, "God knows my heart."?
Babylonian worship of the sun didn't come from the minds of humans. It was birthed from the bowels of beings that once lived in the presence of YHVH. Beings that would not live with the commands of their Creator and can't stand the thought of humans following them, either. We are only kidding ourselves if we think that that thick thread with its teachings and traditions, didn't make its way into the church and go like a wild (false) fire, because the enemy knows full well what it would have taken to remain in the presence of their Creator. They also know what will cause you to live forever in His presence, or not.
Our obedience to accepting the plan of salvation is only the beginning. Only those " who endure to the end will be saved." The Israelites were saved from the wicked pharaoh and the slavery of Egypt in order to begin their journey to the promised land but because of their murmuring and disobedience to His marriage covenant, that they had agreed to follow, every person in that generation, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, died in the desert of testing. They never made it into the promised land.
It should come as no surprise to us that the beliefs and condition of our hearts always precede our actions. It is time to stop messing around with what everyone in our churches or Face Book think, and examine ourselves within the light of Scripture to see if we are truly in the faith because disobedience to His marriage covenant, (that we agreed to follow when we accepted the atonement of His Son, thus being grafted into Israel) isn't grace; it's spiritual adultery.
"How long will ye halt between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: if Baal, then follow him."
The clarion call has been given. He awaits your answer.
Bible references:
"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Genesis 8:22
"Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt even unto this day, where they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king."
1 Samuel 8:4-10
"For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding. They are skilled in doing what is evil, but they do not know how to do what is good."
Jeremiah 4:22
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are in the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
Romans 8:3-8
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh unto God and he will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up."
James 4:4-10
"Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient path, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up."
Jeremiah 18:15
"And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?
Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:
Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favour.
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
For mine eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from my eyes.
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord."
Jeremiah 16:10-21
"And God spake all these words, saying,
I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Exodus 20:1-3
"All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."
"Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him."
Deuteronomy 8:1-3, 6
"Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him."
Deuteronomy 13:4
"Moreover, Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
1 Corinthians 10:1-12
"Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day; Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (lawlessness)."
Matthew 7:21-23
"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.
And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
And Moses came and called for the leaders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.
And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord."
Exodus 19:1-9
"These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
For the Lord had said to them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun."
Numbers 26:63-65
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates."
2 Corinthians 13:5
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ."
Jude verses 3-4
"And then many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many.
And because iniquity (lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many will wax cold.
But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved."
Matthew 24:10-13
"For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;"
Romans 11:16-17
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us."
Ephesians 2:12-14
