Sounding The Alarm ...777... A Call to Pray!! ( from Anne Graham Lotz )

I want to invite each person who visits my blog to join in with Anne Graham Lotz this first week of July for this time of prayer. You can visit her website link here A Call To Prayer - Anne Graham Lotz  Please join our group and sign up today!!

The following is written by Anne Graham Lotz: Please read and then visit her website and get in contact with her. Thank you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sounding the Alarm

Jun 18, 2014

378

Blow the trumpet…sound the alarm…for the day of the Lord is coming.  It is close at hand-- Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God…   Joel 2:1, 13

While at home caring for my husband, I have had time to be quiet and listen more to the whispers of the Spirit. He has revealed things to me in the stillness that I’m not sure I would have heard in my former busyness. One of the things He has impressed on me is that we are living at the end of human history as we know it.  In light of this, He has given me some practical assignments.  One was to be the Honorary Chair for the National Day of Prayer 2014 this past May.  He gave me the message I was to deliver, which was from Joel 1…the Day of the Lord is at hand. It was a message warning of judgment that is coming.

                    

Just recently, He has given me another assignment, which is to call His people in our nation to prayer.

This assignment came indirectly from a Syrian pastor through a National Day of Prayer attendee. In obedience, I am blowing the trumpet…sounding the alarm…issuing a national prayer initiative entitled 7 7 7:  An Urgent Call to Prayer.  The Call is for God’s people to pray for each of the first seven days in the seventh month—July 1-7.  Then on the 7th day, July 7, we are to pray and fast for 7 hours.

The purpose is three-fold:

·     For God the Father to restrain, protect, and deliver His people from the evil that has come into our world.

·     For God the Son to be exalted, magnified, and glorified in His church, in our nation, and in our lives.

·     For God the Holy Spirit to fall on us in a fresh way, compelling the church to repent of sin and our nation to return to faith in the living God, resulting in a great national spiritual awakening.

For those who sign up, I will provide a prayer for each of the 7 days to help unite us in one spirit and one voice as we cry out to God.  You can sign up for the daily email prayers on annegrahamlotz.com that will help give focus to our worship, repentance, and intercession.

I’m urging you to participate, as well as send out word to everyone on your email list, or who follows you on Facebook or Twitter.  I will be sending out an eBlast on Friday, June 20, and again next Friday, June 27. Please help pass the word. 

God’s people need to pray before it’s too late, and judgment falls on our nation.

Sincerely…and Urgently,

Ready or Not!! The Return of Jesus - Sunday Sermon Review

June 9, 2013
Sunday Sermon Review ( from my home church I attend regularly )
Matthew Series - Matthew 24:36-51 and Matthew 25:1-13
Speaker - Pastor Ben

We are continuing on in our Matthew series. This Sunday we covered a lot of verses. Pastor Ben started out by reminding us of the child's game of hide and seek. One person will count while the other children hide. Everyone is listening for the person who is counting to shout "Ready or not - here I come. Pastor Ben drew the comparison to our waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. When the time has come, Jesus will come whether you are ready or not.

Here is some more of what Pastor Ben said:

Don't be deceived - there is only one Savior and that is Jesus.
We know that before Jesus does return, things are going to get difficult - Christians will be hated and persecuted. Jesus will return and do away with evil. The question is - When will He return?
The  temple was destroyed in 70 AD. 
We do not know when Jesus will return.
Verse 36 says But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
We need to be ready to meet Him whenever He does return. We know He could return at any moment but we also know it could still be 2000 years from now. We just do not know.
We need to be ready to meet Jesus at any time. We could die at any moment - accidentally or tragically. We know we could be called to stand before God at any moment.

Keep Watch therefore and Be Ready

How do we get ready? We should always be ready.
When our church prepares for Communion, we announce it a week before to allow time for people to prepare. But we should always be ready to participate in Communion and to stand before the Lord.
Be ready in your ordinary normal life.

Repent and Confession
Make your peace with God and with others.
We need to accurately represent God in our world.
 Be ready in a moment of crisis to represent Christ in our world.
We confess we have failed many times.
We confess we have sometimes lived for ourselves and not served others as we should.

Ezekiel 36:20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land.

We will now kneel down in a prayer of confession and repentance.

Now is the time to move forward and to change.
Commit yourself to living the life God wants for you.

Watch - open your eyes to the realty of god.
We can meet with God now.
Jesus is present with us.
Do we have our eyes open to see Jesus in our present world and lives.

Nature is infused with the glory of God. Spend time in nature - see God's creations.
Are we awake to the reality to the reality that God is here ever present with us?

Get Ready
To prepare for something you must practice ( examples are - learning to drive, rehearsals, sports events, playing music ) We have to practice.
So practice showing love to people.
Practice . It's okay if its not 100% right away - keep trying and practicing.
Practice praying. - keep practicing.
Practice reading your Bible. - Work at it. Its okay if you don't understand everything.

God is all around us, inviting us to be involved.

Watch, Wake up to the reality of God, Be Ready!

Matthew 24:36-25:13 (King James Version)

36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

25 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

Questions and Answers from my Church

Sunday March 24, 2013 - Palm Sunday
Sunday Sermon Review ( from my home church that I attend regularly )

During this season of Lent, our Pastors invited the congregation to submit questions and so today was the day where the questions were answered.
The service began with singing "Lead me to the Cross" and How Great Thou Art".

Our Scripture passage was Mark 11:1-11 - the story of Palm Sunday

 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,

 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.

 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.

 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.

 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?

 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.

 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.

 And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.

 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

Pastor Ben was our speaker today and here is some of what he said:
Question 1 - What role does repentance play?
Jesus died on the cross for our sin.
He loves us with an unconditional love.
We need to get a definition of the word repentance: it means to choose God, it is a decision that we make. We decide to choose Jesus over ourselves, we choose God above ourselves.
We choose to follow God because He loves us so.
Romans 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is action.

( Note from me - please also read a post I wrote on repentance - it is a good indepth study on repentance and what it looks like) link here -    http://livebyfaithonlinebiblestudies.blogspot.ca/2012/10/repentance-psalm-51.html

Question 2 - Why will we have to give an account of our actions and words on judgment day?
In our justice system, a person is judged either guilty or innocent
God's system works a little differently. It is about restoring relationship, repairing damage and fixing things.
In the Old Testament God sent judges. They proclaimed a message of repentance, for the people to change their ways.
We have forgiveness through the cross of Jesus. Jesus took the punishment we deserve.
The question becomes - How should I live since I've been declared innocent through the shed blood of Christ.
At the judgment, there will be rewards for what we have done here on earth.
God sees all that you do - God will reward us for what we do, even if no one else ever has seen it.
Our choices here ripple through eternity!
The judgement will be uncomfortable ( we must give account for every careless word ) but we must remember our Judge loves us. He is on our side!

Question 3 - We are taught to confess our sins to each other, how about confessing our sins to God?
Yes, we must confess our sins to God, name the sin and acknowledge it as sin before God.
Living the Christian life is not a "just me and God" thing - He wants us to do life together.

Question 4 - How do you find an accountability partner?
1) pray about it - God's Spirit lives with you so He will guide and direct
2) Take a risk - talk to someone and ask that person to be your accountability partner
( if someone asks you to be their accountability partner and you feel you cannot do it, then be kind enough to say "no" so they can find someone else who will actually be able to do it.
3) agree on some questions that will be asked - Meet on a set regular basis and ask these questions.

Question 5 - What does it look like to walk with a believer who disagrees with you about a right/wrong issue  especially if the Bible is very clear on this issue?
Ask your self if there is any possibility that you could be wrong.
Ask the person questions about the Scripture passage that this issue is based on/
Don't be condemning or judgmental
we must remember that a Christian is a person who has chosen to live his/her life for God
It does not mean that there will be doctrinal perfection.
We can have conversations with people who disagree with us.

The Holy Spirit's job is to convict of sin.
Billy Graham once said " my task is to bear witness, the Holy Spirit's task is to convict of sin and God the Father is the Judge."

The Holy Spirit is really good at His job!(Note from me - It is important that we remember that the Bible has authority in our lives and we must never back down from the truth found in Scripture. No matter who it is that is challenging us - the Bible will always have the final say in the matter and we will be wise to stand with the Bible and not against it at any time. )  

The reason people do not want to admit to the truth of Scripture is because then they will have to change!

Talk about things that matter - we need to get deeper than the weather and sports etc.
We are God's ambassadors - we challenge, we debate but always in the atmosphere of love and respect!

God has sent you to represent Jesus in your school, home, place of work!!

In the world but not of the world...

1 John 2: 15-16  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

We all live here in the world but according to the Bible, God requires that as Christians we do not become attached to the worldly things that we see around us everyday. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Those are pretty strong words. We cannot be loving the things of this world since then the love of our heavenly Father will not be in us.

Worldliness is the enemy of holiness. God is holy and he wants to make us holy through Jesus Christ.

Worldliness is satan's way. We must not love anything that is in satan's domain. Unbelievers being a part of the world system oppose Christ. This is obvious in their lifestyle - living for self and for the things of the world.  Christ demands our complete loyalty and devotion. We cannot be on the fence with this. Choose to live wholeheartedly for the Lord and do not allow self and worldliness to rule your life. We are living in worldliness when we allow our fleshly desires to control us - that is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It is an evil attitude, it is a heart that says " I want this for me and I want it now, I don't care if others are hurt by my actions". As Christians we can not be living a life that serves self and the world. Neither can we live in worldliness and live for the Lord Jesus at the same time. There are many things that people will use to try to satisfy themselves, to fill that loneliness and the emptiness of their heart. Examples are money, hobbies, travelling, job, food, sex, music and entertainment. The truth is that Jesus is the only One who can fill that void in our lives.

Proverbs 11:6  The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.

The unbeliever is trapped by his own evil desires. Each of us is accountable to God Himself for our actions. God does not play favorites and each one will receive accordingly to what he or she has done in this life. This is why it is so important that turn our lives over to the Lord and we take our sins to God. We need to confess our sins to the Lord God, turn from them once and for all. He is faithful to forgive us when we come to him in this way. God doesn't give anyone a break or make excuses for anyone's sin - no, he poured it all on Jesus. Jesus took our sin to the cross and died there in our place. Our sin was paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent of every sin and turn your life over to Jesus. May I encourage each of us to CLING to JESUS!!

Ephesians 5:8-10  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Biblical Repentance....

We see the need of repentance in our own personal lives. We see the need of it in our churches and on a national level. If we want to see God withhold His Hand of judgement in our lives and in our churches and on our nation, we need to come to Him in humility and repent - turn from the wickedness and seek the Lord God with our whole heart.
But what is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind to the point where it changes your actions. It is a point of turning. You are going in one direction - you come to the knowledge of sin and you make a complete change and turn from it. You seek forgiveness from that sin with a determination to not repeat again.
In the Old Testament we read many places where it uses the word repent to describe how God withheld the punishment he was going to inflict on people when they turned from their sinful ways. A good example of this is in the story of Jonah. Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh saying that God would destroy Nineveh in 40 days if the people continued on in their sin and in Jonah 3: 10 it says  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
The story of Jonah is also a good one to show us what real repentance from sin looks like. It is not just saying "oh sorry God I messed up" and then continue on without any further thought and next thing you know, you are doing that very same thing again and the quick "sorry God"  did not change you at all.
Our sin grieves the heart of God and in the story of Jonah, God was grieved over the sin of the people in Nineveh. In Jonah 1:2 God says to Jonah - Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. Jonah did not go as the Lord God instructed and he had that whole experience inside the belly of the great fish. But in Jonah 3 God again sends Jonah to the city of Nineveh.and this is the message he brings -  Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. At hearing this the people acknowledge their sinful ways and turn to the Lord for forgiveness. Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. Here we see that the realization of their sin brings sorrow to their hearts. They believe God's message - God is Holy and we have sinned against Him.
Jonah 3: 8-9  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

Repentance involves your mind, your emotions, and your will.
1) Mind - within your heart you must be convicted that God has the authority to tell you what is sin. You must believe the Bible when it tells you what God considers to be sin. The Ten commandments tell us the heart of God. I would encourage everyone to read my blog post on the Ten Commandments. If anyone reading this doesn't know what grieves the heart of God, Galatians 5: 19-21 tells you
¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
²⁰ Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
²¹ Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

2) Emotions - You become broken and ashamed of your sin. This definitely involves crying out to God for mercy and you grieve over your sin and for most people this would involve the shedding of some tears.
3) Will - You need to have a plan of action. You need to plan how you together with the help of God are going to make this change happen. This involves making things right with other people. This involves prayer, burying yourself in the Word of God, seeking Him with your whole heart. You hate the very sin that you used to love because now you see it as God sees it. You hate the sin and want no part in it at all.

You will know you have repented when you see these Fruits of Repentance in your life:
1) Absence of rationalization - you are no longer looking for a way to justify what you have done, or blame it on others or explain it to make it seem like no big deal. There is an absence of phrases like - "everyone is doing it" or " the devil made me do it", or "I just couldn't help it", or " it's just how I am and you will just have to accept it", etc
2) Genuine Sorrow, Heartbrokeness - You are genuinely sorry for what you have done. Even if you get the chance to do that sin thing again, you will not do it because now you hate it, the very thought that you did it other times sickens you. As I mentioned earlier you are grieving over your sin.
3) Open Confession of Sin - You are no longer trying to hide it. It is out in the open now. You have stepped away from that former lifestyle. You need to confess this to the people close to you and sometimes to your church. You are accountable to God.
4) Restitution - You want to make things right with those you hurt. You are willing to do whatever it takes to make things right. We see the heart of one who wants to make restitution in the story of Zacchaeus  Luke 19 verses 8-9 :  And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.  And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

So again I say we see the need of repentance in our own personal lives. We see the need of it in the churches and on a national level. If we want to see God withhold His Hand of judgement in our lives and in our churches and on our nation, we need to come to Him in humility and repent - turn from the wickedness and seek the Lord God with our whole heart.

Drought Awakening 2012...

Those of us who watch the news regularly will know that there is widespread drought in North America, both in the USA and in parts of Canada. The experts are warning us of higher food costs due to the very hot and dry weather that has kept the crops from producing the normal bushel amounts. So when we see this we can not help but wonder what is going on and why is this happening? The scientist blames it on climate change but I disagree with that. I certainly do not have the all the answers but as I read my Bible, I get a small glimpse as to the reason why God sent droughts at other times. I believe that God is in direct control of the weather as well as who He allows into government, etc and I believe we can trust Him with every area of our life.
This morning as I read my Bible, I was in Haggai chapter 1 for part of my devotional time. I was kind of shocked by what I read. The people were building up their own houses and wealth but were not giving God what was rightfully His - that is they were not giving Him the glory and honor that He deserves. Please read the following verses from Haggai 1: 3-6  Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴ “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” ⁵ Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! ⁶ You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
So while the people were living selfishly and kept busy working to build up their own properties, for their own pleasures, they were neglecting the things of the Lord. In those days God required the temple - that is His House to be kept up in a certain way but the people had not done so. In Verse 7 and 8 God says : Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways! ⁸ Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord.  Notice that God specifically asks that they do this in order to please Him and to bring Him glory.
Because they were not living in obedience to the Lord, He continues in verses 9-11 ⁹ “ You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹ I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
God says that He called for the drought to come because His house lies desolate. So thinking about our life today and making application here - I have to ask the question - By sending the droughts in 2012, what is God saying?? Is He saying that He is not pleased with the way the Christian church ( as Christians we make up His temple today)  is operating and that Christians are living selfish and worldly lives? Has the Christian church lost sight of Christ and become too much like the world, becoming more and more a place of entertainment rather than the place where people are called to repentance and to faith and to solid Biblical teaching? Is the church teaching life-altering faith in the Lord Jesus that is committed to following Him and will  not run with the world? Are these droughts indicators of the spiritual condition of the Christian community today? These are the questions that I am asking? When I think of my own church that I attend regulary, I would have to say that there is both there - people to are deeply commited to the things of the Lord and others who try to make it a place of entertainment, a place to show off your fashions, and  to distract from honest worship.  It is heartbreaking to see the looseness of so called Christians. How long has it been since your church has preached to warn people of the ongoing sin among so called Christians - such as abortion, homosexuality,sex outside of marriage and  pornograghy, as well as immodest dress, alcohol and drugs, immoral music and movies, the excessive spending, the saturation of oneself with pleasures, etc.  I would have to say that at my church these issues are not being addressed.
So we can see that the drought is not only real in the fields and crops across North America but the drought seems to also be equally as real in the church itself in the lukewarm pleasure seeking hearts of those who worship the pleasures of this world. It is time to come back to the Lord and seek Him with our whole heart. I believe God is drawing a line and is waiting for people to turn back to Him in sincerity and truth. Let's earnestly pray for people to turn back to God, to give Him the glory and the honor that He so very much deserves. Time is of the essence here.
Psalm 33: 17-21
¹⁷ An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.
¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
¹⁹ To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
²⁰ Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.
²¹ For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
Heavenly Father, In the Name of Jesus, I ask you for a real turning in the churches today. I ask that You would help people to see where it's really at and that in repentance we would all seek You and turn from the wickedness within our hearts and within our churches. I especially ask You to alert the Pastors to what You are saying and where it is all heading. Thank-you for Your loving "nudges" that You give. Amen