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Last Day Cowards?

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Throughout the Old Testament, God the Father, repeatedly calls people to revival and repentance. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus’ message to the seven churches echoes the same refrain. Why? Mt. 24:10-12 And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error. And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,… AMPC

As lawlessness, and iniquity increase the love of many grows cold. Sound familiar? Lk. 18:8 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth? AMPC

What’s frightening about this passage is its context: Luke 17:33 Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and quicken it. Luke 18:1 Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up). AMPC The parable ends with Jesus’ summation: Lk. 18:8 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth? AMPC

What’s the overall message? Lose your life – praying. Don’t become a coward and lose heart and give up praying. But when Jesus returns will He find people of faith – praying? What’s frightening about this passage? – We have arrived! I have been in ministry since the 80’s and have observed the attendance of corporate prayer dwindle down to a hand full of people. Why? We have lost heart because we have lost faith and hope. Losing heart is connected to this very thing. We have succumbed to a “spirit” (demon) of heaviness instead of having the Spirit of Faith and Hope!

Hosea 10:12 reminds us: Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. NKJV

Fallow ground is cold, hard ground. C.H. Spurgeon reminds us: “BREAK up your fallow ground.” Our nature at its largest is but a small farm, and we had need to get a harvest out of every acre of it, for our needs are great. Have we left any part of our small allotment uncultivated? If so, it is time to look into the matter and see if we cannot improve this wasteful state of things. What part of our small allotment have we left fallow? We should think very poorly of a farmer who for many years allowed the best and the richest part of his farm to lie altogether neglected and untilled. An occasional fallow has its benefits in the world of nature; but if the proprietor of rich and fruitful land allowed the soil to continue fallow year after year we should judge him to be out of his wits. The wasted acres ought to be taken from him and given to another husbandman who would worthily cherish the generous fields and encourage them to yield their harvests.

Jesus said, His house is to be a House of Prayer. Are churches ceasing to be Houses of God? You and I are to be God’s House. Are we ceasing to be God’s House because of a cold love, and a hard heart? Have we become cowards? The opposite of faith is fear. Faith and hope are what fuel prayer. It’s time to seek Him for rains of righteousness in the gift of tears to break up the fallow, cold, hardened soil of our heart.

To God Be The Glory!

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To God be the glory! Great things He has done!
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son;
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice!
O Come to the Father, through Jesus the Son:
And Give Him the glory! Great things He has done!

This beloved hymn sung by many of us over the years was written by a little lady by the name of Fanny Crosby. Fanny’s legacy lives on through many of her songs – 8,000 according to her own recollection. What many do not know about Fanny is that she lost her eyesight when she was six weeks old due to the negligence of a country famers prescription of hot mustard poultices to remedy a cold which had infected her eyes. This caused her to lose her sight completely. Years later a preacher sadly remarked, “I think it is a great pity that the master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you. “ Fanny quickly replied, Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind? “Why? asked the surprised minister. “Because when I get to Heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.” (The Fire That Once Burned, Frank JJ Di Pietro)

While Fanny’s mother was busy making a living for the family (her father had died before she was a year old), her grandmother was busy influencing her life. At her feet Fanny would learn to pray for hours, and develop a thorough knowledge of Scripture. Before long she could repeat from memory the first four books of the Old Testament, Ruth, most of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and the Four Gospels.

What many do not know is that although Jesus, was her closest and dearest Friend, and everything in her life revolved around Jesus, she always felt that something was lacking in her walk. Frank JJ Di Pietro, in his book The Fire That Once Was describes what happened next: It was a complete conversion, a sanctification, with her Lord that she lacked, and in 1851, at the age of 31, the Holy Spirit suddenly poured into her life. This “glorious happening” occurred at a revival service held at John Street Methodist Church in New York. Recalling the incident years later, she said: Some of us went every evening, but although I sought peace, I could not find the joy I craved, until one evening I arose and went forward alone. After the prayer the congregation began to sing that grand old consecration hymn, Alas and Did My Savior Bleed? And when they reached the third line of the fifth stanza, “here Lord, I give myself away” I surrendered myself to the Savior, and my very soul was flooded with celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting, Hallelujah!”‘

Isaiah the prophet, calls from the past, exhorting his listeners to pay whatever price to access this Living Water of the Spirit: Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing].2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy].3 Incline your ear [submit and consent to the divine will] and come to Me; hear, and your soul will revive; and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with you, even the sure mercy (kindness, goodwill, and compassion) promised to David.4 Behold, I have appointed him (Him) [David, as a representative of the Messiah, or the Messiah Himself] to be a witness [one (One) who shall testify of salvation] to the nations, a prince (Prince) and commander (Commander) to the peoples.5 Behold, you [Israel] shall call nations that you know not, and nations that do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you.6 Seek, inquire for, and require the Lord while He may be found [claiming Him by necessity and by right]; call upon Him while He is near.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundant pardon. (Isaiah 55:1-7 AMPC)

Listen to his words: Wait and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy….Seek, inquire for, and require the Lord while He may be found [claiming Him by necessity and by right]; call upon Him while He is near.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord,…

Rarely would we ever consider that a wicked or unrighteous man would be someone who would not wait, listen, seek, inquire for, and require this “Water.” But that is its implication. Will you join with the other believers around the world who have heard the call, and walk through this door in time, to pursue and seek for this Baptism and Infilling of the Spirit that is so lacking in the Body of Christ? Will you call upon Him while He is near? Are you willing to say with Fanny and so many countless others, “here Lord, I give myself away?”