Shelter From The Storm
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PART VIII

 
THE AGE-OLD REMEDY TO RESTORE THE PRESENCE OF GOD INTO ONE’S LIFE

 

 
        So what does the LORD say? How do we approach Him in the manner in which true reformation can come, and a new wave of GOD’S power of deliverance can begin to awaken the church from its slumber and sweep over the land? “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.” Lev.26:40-42.
 
        We simply need the humility to corporately repent of the sins that have held back the coming of the LORD, and acknowledge our share of contributing to every affliction experienced of the last 150 years. Daniel’s prayer of repentance, even repenting for the sins he had no part in, deserves an awakening in the Church (Dan.9:5). These are sins the LORD is eager to lavish His forgiveness to those who stand in both the knowledge of the corporate nature of the human family in need of divine rescue and the posture of regret.
 
        The church cannot afford to shun the command of heaven to share the matchless love of Christ with the common man. The church can only prove its love to Christ and man by its implicit obedience to the Ten Laws of Utopia. This love includes our warning every man and woman of the Earth’s utter destruction and how GOD has ordained the world to fall because of sin. But cradled within the warning is the promise that GOD has also provided a way of escape! The sinner does not have to perish with the Earth! When GOD commanded the prophets to speak in His Name, and they were repeatedly murdered for carrying out GOD‘S Word, did they not have love in their hearts for those trapped in the bondage of sin? Did they not desire to see them in heavenly safety. Did they not love GOD so deeply regardless of the cost to their lives, the GOD Who bid His prophets to speak to those who only responded with hatred and violence? None can claim to love their fellow man and at the same time withhold the counsel the LORD has blessed His People with to minister to all of their needs.
 
        The Christian’s litmus test using Christ’s counsel is guaranteed: “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matt.7:16. Ultimately, men treat the Gospel like its nothing more than elevator music: just a soothing background while they ascend the floors of life. And people by the BILLIONS are perishing, dying in pride, ignorance, fear, and sin! In addition, the economic stranglehold, designed of Satan to maintain his system of slave labor over the world’s population through his financial distribution system (Matt.4:8,9) has forced crippling limitations on the work of Christ; thus, maintaining his power to deceive, ensnare and destroy. To not strive for the calling that GOD Himself endorsed through the Words of Christ is to reflect a cruel indifference to the needs of those who stand in ignorance, danger and despair (Lu.10:30-32).
 
        The LORD Jesus Christ lived out the principle beautifully stated of Paul: "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." I Cor.10:24. Jesus did not obey to make sure He got to heaven: He obeyed to make sure we got to heaven, as the LORD said in prayer, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself.” Jn.17:19. Our obedience to GOD through His Holy Word should likewise not be for ourselves but for those within our reach. This is the only way Satan has no avenue into the soul! The very foundation of selfish motivation (as typically used in Christian evangelism) is a corrupt concept and maligns the true character of GOD as demonstrated on the Cross of Calvary. Christ desires us to take our eyes off of ourselves and fix them upon Him, as all were directed to do from the moment sin entered the Earth (Gen.3:7-19).

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for GOD loveth a cheerful giver.” II Cor.9:7.

“The goodness of GOD leadeth thee to repentance.” Rom.2:4.

 
        In closing: All are not called to the same work or to the same talent as Paul expounded so beautifully (I Cor.12). But the LORD is raising up men from around the globe who have begun this closing work of providing life support for the LORD’S faithful in the days ahead. As Noah built an ark to preserve the life that GOD commanded him to watch over, so the church is called to build another ark: a safe-haven to preserve the lives of His children while they wait for the coming of the LORD as it is written, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt.24:37.