Helping the Broken

A dear friend of mine is at the end of her rope - trying to help a person in trouble. I wrote this to help and encourage her today:

You can only do so much for people in situations like this. You cannot save them - they HAVE TO RISE UP ON THE INSIDE FOR THEMSELVES. I know you know this, but so many fail in the healing process because they want others to do the hard work for them. ...And it is very hard work to break bondages. No one can win these victories for us - we must find the strength of God and character inside ourselves, or the victory will never "stick." We go round and around the same pole.

Broken people are always looking for "saviors," or "messiahs." Stronger people who will "save" them when they don't want to do the hard work of overcoming for themselves. Kind friends can be sucked into the losing battle of trying to help - in the end they get worn out and abused.

There is only one Savior - He has done it all, and His victory is more than enough for every sin and brokenness. His Salvation is free...but it will still cost us our lives to change from our pathetic and broken wee selves into champions of His grace.

Victory can only come from daily decisions to walk in wholeness and holiness despite the cost - these are moment-by-moment, day-by-day, year-by-year choices that arise out of the seemingly ordinary situations we find ourselves in. Slowly we build pathways of grace - out of our darkness and into His light...but the old self is lost in the process and all that He has intended for us to become - our destiny - comes into view. We can no longer hold on to those lies, addictions and habits that framed our former selves. We are, indeed, made new.

What your friend needs is a vision to hold onto of their true destiny and identity in Christ; a Church that will be patient with them - all the while, not putting up with all the games that go along with this struggle to become whole; a strong commitment to this war and its many battles - this includes a commitment to Christ, His Word and the relationship of life that only He can give; Grace.

The love you want to show to your friend must be filled with these things - full of grace...yet grounded in uncompromising truth. An honest seeker will thank you for it and be changed by it.

God bless you as you serve her as Christ would serve her. Wash her pain, but hold her to the enduring and unyielding holiness of God. None of this means that we cannot falter at times...but He makes it possible for us to stand up again and again in the face of every mistake, injustice and suffering. NOTHING is strong enough to negate the power of His blood or the supremacy of his grace in anyone who has the audacity to fling themselves upon Him.

Gatekeepers - Part 2

I am continuing from 2 days ago - a study on being gatekeepers. All worship ministers need to walk in the ministry of a gatekeeper. We are intercessors on behalf of the people of God, and we are gatekeepers of God's presence.

There Are Three Gates In Scripture

These gates are not necessarily physical gates or a particular place of entry. They represent the spiritual entrance to our cities, churches and the presence of our King.

1. City Gates: Gen. 19:1; Ruth 4:1; Ps. 87:2; Ps. 122:2

2. Temple/Church Gates: 2 Chr. 31:2; Ps. 100:4; Jer. 7:2

3. King’s Gates: Esth. 2:19; Ps. 24:7; Dan. 2:49

Gatekeepers were also watchmen upon the walls. (They were intercessors)

1. The city gatekeepers were to be loyal and trustworthy. They were responsible for:

            • The safety of the city.

            • To admit or refuse entrance. (2 Ki. 7:10)

            When Jerusalem fell to Babylon, three gatekeepers were symbolically slain.

Jer. 29:7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

Jer. 29:7 And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare.  (AMP)

Jer. 29:7  “Make yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare. “Pray for Babylon’s well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you.”  (Message)

2. The Temple Gatekeepers:

            • Were to be from the Tribe of Levi. (1 Chron. 9:26; 15:23; 23:5)

            • Cared for the temple. (2 Ki. 23:4)

            • Watched temple entrances. (1 Chron. 9:23-27; 2 Chron 23:19)

2Chr. 23:19   And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in. 

               Helped perform service of purification. (Neh. 12:25)

3. The King's Gatekeepers (Es. 2:21; 6:2)

            Prov. 8:34   Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my

            gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

"hears"  shâma  (Strongs # 8085)  To hear intelligently, give attention, attentively call or gather together, consider, be content, declare, diligently discern, give ear, make a noise, proclaim, publish, report, show forth, tell, understand.

"watching"  shâqad  (Strongs # 8245)  To be alert, fix attention to, sleepless, to be on the look out (whether for good or ill), hasten, remain awake, watch for, to guard the threshold.

"waiting"  shâmar  (Strongs # 8104)  To hedge about, to guard, protect, attend to, to take heed of, to keep, save, lay wait for, watch for.

Worshipers - We are gatekeepers over our cities, churches and before the courts of the King. Just as the Queen has soldiers who guard her presence - so we stand in the gate of our King and watch. We have the privilege of listening to the sounds of heaven ad declaring what He is saying in all the earth. We also get to watch intently as He prepares layers of glory for His people and we are guardians of His presence day and night. This doesn't mean that the Lord is unable to defend Himself - it just means that we are those who watch over His presence as sons, His Bride, His friends and His servants.       



Part One: HERE

7 Things - Revival Fire

I am taking a little detour into one of the points from last night – the verse in 2 Chron. 7:1.

When Solomon became King, he offered lavish worship to the Lord. In fact, the very first thing he did after being crowned king was to worship. He built an altar to the Lord and then just offered more and more to the Lord. Then he made bigger and bigger altars until he placed himself in the middle of the whole thing!

This would be like us passionately worshiping God and then increasing expanding our hearts (altar) so that we could give God more of our time and more of our heart to Him.

God responded to Solomon’s prayers and offerings with fire from heaven. In this scripture we are confronted with the challenge for revival. Seven aspects of revival are found in this one verse:

                                          

Prayer is the.................. preparation and provision for revival

Fire is the...................... nature and necessity of revival

Heaven is the................ origin and order of revival

To be consumed is the... cost and condition of revival

Burnt offerings are the.... fuel and focus of revival

Glory is the.................... purpose and product of revival

The whole house is the.. extent and evidence of revival

Prayer is the first foundation of revival. I don’t think there has ever been a revival in the Church that has not been preceeded by fervent, all-out, heaven-shaking prayer. Prayer makes way for the manifest presence of God.

Fire is the nature of revival. Look at the fires of God’s presence I talked about yesterday – God’s fire must touch every area of our lives – this is what revival is all about.

Heaven is where revival originates. Moses told God that if He didn’t go with  Israel into the promised land then they would not go (Exodus 33:15). We need to say the same thing – we must have God – nothing, snd no one else will satisfy.

                           

Being consumed is the cost of revival. The Lord must have all of us – just as we cry that we must have all of Him. He calls us to be living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). Every sacrifice requires death. We are not put to death physically, but we need to pray with Paul that we would die daily to all selfishness and pride (1 Cor. 15:31).

Burnt offerings are the fuel for more and more revival – they keep the fires burning. Our offerings are our worship, surrender, and daily laying down of self.

Glory is the purpose of revival. The Lord has promised that His glory would cover the earth like the waters of the sea (Hab. 2:14). God desires to fill us with His glory and the world with us!

The whole house is the whole Church. God does not want revival fire for just a few – He invites the whole Body of Christ to experience His presence and glory in these days. We know it is revival when the power and presence of God touches churches and nations beyond our little group.

(Congratulations to the Catholic Church for the election of Pope Francis today. May he be filled with the fire, Word and wisdom of God! We need to pray for the Catholic Church – they experienced the Charismatic renewal in the 1960’s and like all of us, they need a fresh revival in these days!)  

Every one of us needs such a fire in our lives and ministries. We will remain barren and passionless without the revival fire of God burning within us.