..."and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness; evil minded people shall not travel on it, but it shall be for those wayfarers who are traveling toward God. (Isaiah 35:8, adapted)



Thursday, February 05, 2009

When the Storm Breaks....

"When the storm breaks, each man acts in
accordance with his own nature. Some are
numb with terror, some flee, some hide,
and some spread their wings like eagles
and soar on the wind..." --from Elizabeth,
the Golden Age


Recently I watched this movie and
was struck to the very depths by this quote
made by the Queen's prognosticator when
she frantically comes to him to help her
see the future and how to act.

We can only hang onto ourselves for
so long. We can only hold up a front so
far, can only pretend to be brave or good
or holy while things are in a manageable
state. It is when the perfect storm
breaks over our bow that we will find
out who we are. It is when our inner
England is besieged by a great Armada
that we shall find out what we are made of.

Dear ones, the perfect storm approaches.
You cannot escape it. It will test who
you are--and you and God, and the devil,
and a great cloud of witnesses will get
to see who you are. Prepare for that day,
but know that you cannot really prepare for
it, certainly not in your own strength.

You must give yourself to preparation, but
it will be bigger than any preparation you
can muster, and more powerful than
anything you can do to oppose its onslaught.
That day may come to us in different ways--
whether singly or corporately--that is up
to God. Either way, throw yourself now
into the arms of God!

Perhaps it will come, as the Day of
the Lord, to all of us, all at once.
Perhaps it will come in persecution or
disaster or terrorism. Perhaps it will
come to you individually in sickness, or
personal meltdown, or grief too heavy to bear.

On that day you will act in accordance
with your true nature. Allow God to
hammar away at your inward parts, allow
Him to purify and cleanse and reinforce.
Allow Him to strip away and to build upon.
Allow Him to tear you down and build you
back up.

He knows what He is doing and He is doing
it so that you will stand in the coming
evil day. You must trust His Hand in your
life. You must trust that He sees what you
do not see, are afraid to see, and that
His judgments are good and true and lead
to life.

He wounds to heal, for we are most
certainly already weak unto death
from our own self-inflicted wounds,
and the wages of sin within and without.

Some day you will meet yourself.
It will be the person that God already
sees and knows you to be. No doubt
it will be a surprise, even a shock.
Turn up the heat and impurities rise.
There is no shame in this, we are
all cut from the same infected stock.

God is our only answer and what He
wants to make of you is glorious:
a candle upon a hill, a light to
the nations, a testimony to
principalities! But first, you
must let Him make you like Himself.
Trust is the key.

Take out of the closet all that
you seek to hide. Even if you cannot
run toward Him, fall toward Him,
Even if your legs feel like cement
blocks, and you cannot move, look
to Him. Even if you feel He has
forgotten you, keep at your post--
He most certainly has not forgotten!

What the devil seeks to destroy
is your simple trust in your
God and His goodness. Think of
how many times you have been
misunderstood, thought poorly
of, unfairly accused of some evil
that was not in your heart. When we
believe that God is not good
and pure and true and a present
Help in time of need, we do
to our Father the same injustice--
meanwhile, the devil laughs with glee.

It is our time to give ourselves
fully to the inseparable Covenant
that Jesus provides for us.
It is time to allow ourselves to
be inexorably united with God.
It is time to allow Him to purge
out anything in us that would make
walking with Him disagreeable.

An evil armada is on the horizon.
Draw near to God. Make use of the
daily insights that He gives you,
however disturbing to your ego,
to look at yourself through His
eyes. He is trying to save you
great embarrassment and shame
by allowing you to experience
small humiliations. See them
as a gift. Allow the daily deaths,
and you shall rise to life indeed.

A difficult day is coming but
a great and marvelous one
is coming, too. Look past the
coming storm to see the Son
rising and calling all those
who are hidden in Him to
rise gloriously with Him.
Therefore, hide yourself in Him.

The pure in heart see,
and shall evermore and
only see,
God.



3 comments:

The King's Pen said...

The Holy Spirit has given me this message also in this season of time...so I have been writing about it in a series of short exhortations called, "Getting ready...".
This is the latest one:

Getting Ready…”the” voice.
1/25/09


“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts….” Hebrews 3:7,8

What does the voice of the Holy Spirit sound like to you?
If someone asked you to describe it, what would you say?

Can you easily spot it in the midst of all the voices you hear daily?
Is His voice distinctive to you above all others?

It will need to be in the coming difficult days. There will be much confusion and hardship and rejection for each of us that love the Lord Jesus. We will have to rely on Him to carry us through moment by moment.
But our relationship with Him will blossom and grow like never before!

If we don’t know His voice by then, it will be very difficult to try and learn ….many who do not know His voice will easily cave in and fall away. The pressure will be too great.

But, it is not too late, now…

Why not ask Him to teach you….starting now .
Ask Him….and surrender yourself to Him and become a student of hearing “the” voice.
It is one of the most thrilling things there is in this life!

You might hear something like this…
“I love you…I always have. I always will. Do not fear the days ahead because I am with you and I will not leave you. We have many adventures together ahead!”


rich

The Pen of The Wayfarer said...

thank you! May we learn to listen and discern the Lord's voice in these days! --Rose-Marie

Adam said...

This is exactly what I needed to hear right now in my life. Thank you for your words.