Thursday, October 1, 2009

Overwhelming Sense of Urgency

For several weeks now, I've felt an overwhelming sense of urgency. I can't explain it, but it's taken over my mind and my heart. There's a passion burning inside of me that can't be easily put out. I've cried and prayed more in the last few weeks than I have in a while. Why? Because the world around me is lost, searching for answers, searching for security and peace and while we have the answer we're too busy fussing and complaining about how loud the sound is, "I don't like that song," or "the day the church gets a projector, I'm leaving." Oh it sounds funny, but don't laugh. It's the truth. These things are taking place across our spoiled nation. We've made this thing about us and that's where we've gone wrong. We've shifted our focus from God to self while our families, friends and neighbors die lost.

Lately, I have been overcome with grief. My heart has been heavy even to the point where you could see the effects of this stress on my heart through my clothes with every beat. I've written it off as anxiety, but it's deeper than that. I do not cry for myself, but for those who can't seem to see their own condition. I've wept and repented for my laziness, carelessness and for keeping my silence when I should speak out, but now I weep for those who are in trouble. They've seared their hearts and closed their ears. They've rolled their eyes and with their actions rejected God. How can God speak and those who call Him Lord just walk away as if He never spoke a word?

Yesterday, I drove down to the beach a little after 4pm. With my Bible and journal in hand, I found a secluded spot and began to pray. I'm so hungry for God, for a move of God. Nothing else will satisfy. Nothing else can compare to His glory. I stayed there for hours, just me and God. I read His Word, meditated on every word, but my heart was arrested by the words found in Matthew 23:13, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." Today across America, we have churches and those who are religious standing between people and God. Notice what Barnes Notes has to say regarding this passage of scripture.

"MATTHEW 23:13
Woe unto you—You are guilty, and punishment will come upon you. Jesus proceeds to state wherein they were guilty. This most eloquent, most appalling, and most terrible of all discourses ever delivered to mortals was pronounced in the temple, in the presence of multitudes. Never was there more faithful dealing, more terrible reproof, more profound knowledge of the workings of hypocrisy, or more skill in detecting the concealments of sin. This was the last of the Saviour’s public discourses; and it is a most impressive summary of all that he had ever said, or that he had to say, of a wicked and hypocritical generation.

You shut up the kingdom of heaven—Note, Matt. 3:2. They shut it up by teaching false doctrines respecting the Messiah; by binding the people to an observance of their traditions; by opposing Jesus, and attempting to convince the people that he was an impostor, thus preventing many from becoming his followers. Many were ready to embrace him as the Messiah, and were about entering into the kingdom of heaven—that is, the church—but they prevented it. Luke says Luke 11:52 they had taken away the key of knowledge, and thus prevented their entering in—that is, they had taken away the right interpretation of the ancient prophecies respecting the Messiah, and thus had done all that they could to prevent the people from receiving Jesus as their Redeemer.


We have an awesome responsibility. We're called and commissioned by God to go into the world and make disciples. We're called to deny ourselves, told to pick up our cross and follow Him. Jesus did not seek to be served, but instead chose to serve others. He left His throne in Heaven to done the robe of flesh, become like you and me and give His life on the cross. He didn't seek attention, but chose to bring attention to God. When and why did this whole thing become about us and what we want? Who are we without God? NOTHING!

God says in Job 38:4-14 NLT, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels£ shouted for joy?
“Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘thus far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’
“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? For the features of the earth take shape as the light approaches, and the dawn is robed in red...."

The LORD, your Redeemer and Creator, says: “I am the LORD, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. By myself I made the earth and everything in it. Isaiah 44:24


We must remember our place in the grand scheme of things and return to our creator. We must repent and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and become His servants once again. Time is running out and there's no time for playing games, being stubborn, hardheaded, stiff necked and selfish. There's no time for fussing and complaining. It's time to return to our first love and put away childish behavior. Let us open our eyes once again and see God in all His glory. Let us open our ears once again to hear His voice. Let us open our hearts once again and be moved with compassion for the lost. If not, we will be as the scribes and pharisees found in Mathew 23:13, rebuked by God. The world needs to see Jesus! This world needs to hear Jesus!

Pray with me. God forgive me! I see myself through Your eyes today. I see the filth that has corrupted and distorted my vision. I've been blinded by the god of this world, molded by this world's design and have compared myself to those around me instead of You. Please forgive me. Teach me, instruct me. Create in me a clean heart, God. Renew a right spirit in me. Don't remove Your presence from me, but allow me to be Your servant once again. Use me for Your glory. Revive me! Set my feet straight and I'll follow You, Lord. I am Yours! I need You, God! I love You, God! I denounce all other gods for You are the one true God. I surrender all -- ALL -- of me right now. I am Yours! Take me, use me, saturate me with Your anointing. Give me the words to speak and shine through me so that all may know You. In Jesus name I humbly pray, Amen.

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