Nehemiah 9:2 (KJV)
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.
In the fifth chapter of Ephesians the Apostle Paul gave a brief description of the Church Jesus is returning to take away. Paul used words like: spotless, without wrinkle, without blemish, holy and glorious. It is encouraging to know that the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is not going to continue in it's stained condition forever. There is coming, and I believe in this generation, a mighty move of God that is going to restore the glorious beauty of our Lord to His body!
We are going to see a season of refreshing rain from God's throne that will elevate our standards and boost the moral climate within all of those that name the Name of Jesus Christ. This revival that I am speaking of will be of such a magnitude that every nation of this earth will be shaken by the touch of the Master's hand and multitudes of disobedient men will be made righteous in that day.
This is the object of my hearts cry and I lone for the day when the hearts of wicked men are crushed under the burden of their sins and call out upon the Name of Jesus for freedom. I lone for the hour when God steps out of the heavens and comes down and causes the nations to tremble. This is the object of our prayer!
Yet we are not experiencing this awesome move of God and we will not until the corruption and filth is cleansed from Zion. We have not separated ourselves from the strangers as we have been commanded. We have cleaved unto the world, borrowed their precepts, consulted their kings, copied their corruption and received their reward. We have touched their unclean thing!
The modern Church has not been concerned about touching the filthy disease ridden practices of the world; we seemingly have adopted their practices. We have not obeyed the Word of God, we have not come out from among them! It seems that God will not provide for this Church of modernism hence we implement the practices of the secular world to bail us out of the financial messes we have made.
Secular business precepts are now taught to believers in the house of the Lord to help them out of the pit of debt but their diseased, poverty-stricken hearts are never healed. These "strangers" are seducing us into a slumber and cursing us with a curse. We are taking "fire" into our bosom and we think we are not being burned. Yet, we are drifting further and further away from the Holy Ordinances of God and relying more and more upon worldly knowledge and secular solutions.
The secular has invaded the Church of Jesus Christ and the sacred and spiritual has vanished. Once again I say, "we now have substitutes for that which has departed." We have compromised our standards and the Holy and Divine has been replaced by worldly practices and the virginity of the bride has been stripped away and we have been left naked and ashamed.
One hundred years ago our parishes were filled and the lives of the saints were exemplary. When penitents were converted they were soundly converted and they were left changed by the awesome presence of the Lord at the altar of God. The Church then was a praying Church that wept and prayed all night for the lost but today we only invite the lost to join our Church league softball team and we feel evangelistic in doing such.
This is how far we have drifted and we have drifted because we have entertained the strangers instead of separating ourselves from them. Church we must separate ourselves from the strangers of the fleshly and carnal and confess our sins before heaven and return to the ordinances that were proved by our Puritan fathers. We must return to that tried and true doctrine of repentance, righteousness and holiness and do away with this carnal prosperity doctrine that has been born of the flesh. We must purge our hearts of the worldly and strive to attain the holy.
God desires to fill the Church again with His presence and glory but we must first separate ourselves from the worldly and cling to the Holy. Secondly we must confess our sins before Him as well as the sins of our fathers. Then we will begin to experience the restoration and revival that God wants us to experience. Do not be content with the ordinary. Be willing to set your face like a flint and press in to know Him. Seek Him while He may be found and lay hold of Him for our nation, our community and our families.
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