Saturday, July 05,
2014, 11:08 p.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “Songs in The Night.”
Recap
I have been sick the past several days with some kind of
cold/virus. It began on Thursday with a sore throat. By Friday I now had fever,
chills, extreme face pain, congestion, sore throat, cough and dry heaves. I
could not eat or drink anything. I prayed and sang songs of praise to my Lord quietly
in my mind all through the day and night and by Saturday morning all that
remained was cough and congestion. Praise Jesus! Yet, by Saturday evening I had
a bad sinus headache, which has not totally gone away, but I am praying it through,
believing my Lord Jesus for complete healing and restoration.
In the process of praying just now I was reminded of my time
with the Lord earlier in the day when I read Isaiah 31-32. The passage began
with a warning to God’s people to not put their trust in “Egypt” for their
strength and help in place of trusting in the Lord. Then, in verse 4 it spoke
of how the Lord Almighty would come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its
heights. Typically the term “heights” is a reference to places of worship,
usually a reference to the worship of idols. Mount Zion is now a term connected
with the church, the Body of Christ, as is Jerusalem. But then in verse 5 it
says that the Lord will shield Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where the temple of God
dwelt. For those who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, his temple is now
our hearts and lives, so we are heavenly Jerusalem. The passage said, “He will
shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”
This, to me, was an obvious reference to the captivity of
Israel in Egypt and how God brought down judgment as a means to rescue and to
deliver his people out of slavery. It is also symbolic of our salvation. As God
passes over his true ones, he will shield us and will rescue us, not
necessarily from physical harm, but from the flames of eternity in hell because
of the blood of Jesus Christ which we have applied to our own lives by faith in
Jesus Christ in salvation from sin. Yet, this reference to Egypt as a place of
slavery from which the Lord rescued his people is in context to the Egypt upon
whom the people were placing their trust for help and support over trusting in
God.
I believe the Lord Jesus is saying to me here that the
institutional church is the true church’s Egypt, but not just the institutional
church alone, but the whole world’s system which has taken over much of today’s
church life and gatherings. The people of God have become too dependent on
humans and on “stuff” for their help and support, and for their sense of
happiness and fulfillment. God will thus visit this “Egypt” in judgment as a
means to rescue his true ones out of captivity to the lies, deceptions and
manipulations of truth coming from the institutional church, the government to
whom she is “married,” and from the mainstream media, which is just an arm of
the government.
Then, the Lord Jesus reminded me of the song that was in my
head, “Songs in the Night.” When the
Lord Jesus first gave me this song to write I felt it was concerning Christian
persecution, and it was the persecuted church throughout the world singing the
song. Christian persecution is a judgment or a divine discipline of God on the
church, not to destroy her, but to deliver her from her dependence and trust in
humans over her trust in Almighty God. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would show
me where I am still putting trust in humans or in other things as my means of
support and help over and above you. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I
read Isaiah 35:3-10 (NIV).
Be Strong
Strengthen
the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
say
to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your
God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with
divine retribution
he will come to save you.”
For those who are presently being persecuted for their faith
in Jesus Christ and for their testimony for him, and for those who face the
prospect of such persecution, this encourages our hearts. We should not fear
whatever comes our way, whether it be sickness, hardship, persecution, or death,
but we should put our faith and trust in the Lord. As well, for those who have
eyes to see the lies, the manipulations of truth and the deceptions going on in
the world and inside the church, and who have called on God in prayer to
deliver his people out of this slavery (blindness), although the prospect of
divine judgment is not encouraging by any means, the prospect of the end result
should strengthen our hearts and our resolve to keep speaking out and to keep
on teaching what is true and to continue exposing the lies, for God will come
to save his people. Amen!
Times of Refreshing
Then
will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then
will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water
will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The
burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In
the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
When I had that fever all day on July 4th I
believe the Lord Jesus put it in my heart to get out a washcloth, to get it wet
with cool water, and to wipe down my face and neck. Whenever I did that, the
fever would subside, and I was able to sleep for a little while. As I was doing
this, and I was praying, I thought about the times of refreshing that our Lord
Jesus brings into our lives, but specifically I was thinking and praying about
the revival of the church. I believe that is what this passage describes.
Scripture talks about a time of great deception on the earth when even the
elect would be deceived, if that were possible. I believe we are living in such
a time, and that so many believers in Jesus Christ have fallen under the spell
of deception and lies and don’t even know it. When God judges his adulterous
church and her “Egypts,” the church’s eyes will be open and they will see all
the lies they have believed, and they will listen to God’s truths instead of
the lies. Amen!
The Way of Holiness
And
a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The
unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
No
lion will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But
only the redeemed will walk there,
and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They
will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness
and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Then the church, who had been placing her trust in the
institutions of humans and in the ways of this sinful world over and above her
trust in her Lord, but whom the Lord had delivered from all that, will now walk
in the Way of Holiness, as will all the Redeemed of the Lord. To be holy means:
to be set apart (different; unlike) the world, and to be set apart to God and
to his service. The Way of Holiness is thus the way of the Lord and of his
word, not the way of the world and the way, thinking, values, and philosophies
of humans. Those who practice lies, deceit, manipulation and all kinds of evil
will not walk in this way. The Redeemed of the Lord, including those whom he
will rescue from dependence on the flesh, will enter into fellowship with their
Lord Jesus with singing, and everlasting joy will be the crown on their heads.
Amen! They will sing a song of deliverance, of God’s mercy, justice, and of his
great love for them in rescuing them from the lies and deceptions of humans.
They will be overtaken by the joy of the Lord, and sorrow and sadness will be
gone. Amen!
Songs in the Night
/ An Original Work / December 18, 2013
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God,
And the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts
16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
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