What would you be willing to do to be blessed and anointed by the Lord? I think there are a lot of discouraged people today, and many are believers, because they don’t seem to experience the Lord like they once did or their prayers don’t seem to be answered like they used to be and for some reason there seems to be a disconnect between them and the Lord. From what I have read and heard this may be because you have backed away from the Lord in some way, or it may be a test, or even unconfessed sin in your life that you have not repented of.
It seems like with all the technology out there today; people
surfing the web and constantly on their IPhone, IPad, lap tops, multitasking
with different gadgets, they spend very little time with the Lord. Trying to keep up with your face book friends
and so on which takes a lot of time and energy, and if you are trying to manage
a family also and possibly a ministry at church, after a while all you are doing
is connecting with people and disconnecting from the Lord. You may be doing what you think you need to do
to please the Lord and others but the Lord gets kind of lost in the shuffle. If you find yourself in this situation, maybe
you have lost your first love you need to step back and reanalyze your
situation. Maybe you need to step back
and recall the days when you were so excited when the Lord seemed so close that
at times you could hear that still small voice in your mind and know what His
will was for your life. Days when His presence
was so real you could hardly contain yourself, where praise and thanksgiving
flowed so freely and your relationship was so unencumbered by so many other
distractions and you felt so alive and free. If this is your current situation you need to
be willing to do some radical things like shutting the door in you prayer closet
or wherever you choose to pray and get alone with the Lord with no other
distractions and start spending time with the Lord like you once did and repent!
Then recommit your life to the Lord getting
back to the things that you once did so that you can get that sweet communion back
and you can start rejoicing in the Lord once again.
Then, on the other hand, this may be a test and you are
going through a valley experience where you are not sure what is going on, like
in Job’s case where he was taken completely by surprise, everything going great
one day and the next everything seemed to be crashing down around him. Read Job 1 and Job 2:1-10, then if you would really
like to understand what was going on spend time reading the rest of the book of
Job and you will see the hand of God and His mercy, grace and His restorative
power and also His love. Everyone that
knows anything about the Word of God knows that we are living in the last days
which started after Jesus was crucified, died, was buried and rose again.
The devil’s wrath is being poured out on God’s people and he
is crying out on the airwaves through people and videos and other sources to
lie and deceive and manipulate God’s chosen people by distraction or any other
way that he can keep them from spending time with the Lord, because when you
spend time with the Lord it is like recharging your batteries, if I can use
that terminology. The more we spend time
with the Lord and in the Word and the more we spend time in prayer and loving
others the freer we will be and the closer we get to the source of our strength
and might and power which is in our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, the happier
we will be and our faith will grow to the point where we are furthering the
kingdom of God on the earth, praise the Lord!!
Some things only come by prayer and fasting and at times
repentance. Would you be willing to set
down your enticements for a time of prayer and fasting and repentance to get
back to where you were at one time with God?
Remember when Jesus told Peter that satan wanted to sift him as wheat? Read Luke 22:31-34, “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have
you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith
fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said
unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. And
he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou
shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.”
Now read what Peter did in Luke 22:54-61, “Then took they him,(Jesus) and led him, and
brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off. And when
they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together,
Peter sat down among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire,
and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him. And he
denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another saw
him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. And about
the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth
this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean. And Peter said, Man, I
know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of
the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me
thrice.”
If satan could intimidate and deceive Peter in this way as
well as a third of the angels when he was in heaven, what do you think he is
trying to do to the Lord’s people at this time when he knows his time is
growing shorter and shorter? He is
making war on God’s people and trying everything he can to get their minds off prayer
and fasting and repentance and the Lord and the things of His kingdom
completely. If he can keep you so
distracted that you spend very little time with the Lord, then you will be very
ineffective and possibly stagnant. Take
a lesson from Peter and what he did in his situation in verse 62 in that same chapter,
“And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.”
Peter was broken when he denied his Lord and he had what you
might call real godly sorrow, something we don’t see or hear much about in our
pulpits today. I think repentance and
godly sorrow are something that is much needed in our churches today. The Word says that godly sorrow brings forth
repentance and is what the Lord seeks from all His people when they sin against
Him and wander from the straight and narrow path that leads to His kingdom. Read what Paul says about this in 2 Corinthians
7:9–11, when he was speaking to the church in Corinth, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to
repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive
damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not
to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this
selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it
wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea,
what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all
things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
Now to get back to Peter; Peter receives an encouraging word
from the Lord, one that he really needed to hear so desperately. It is a comforting word from his Lord, when
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome went and found a man
sitting there in the tomb, who was an angel who told them that Jesus had risen
and was not there but he also told them to tell the disciples and Peter this in
Mark 16:7, “But go your way, tell his
disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see
him, as he said unto you.”
The angel mentioned Peter specifically and what an
encouragement that must have been to Peter knowing that the Lord didn’t forsake
him even though He had denied his Lord!! Because Peter repented, the Lord blessed him
and he was an anointed man and highly esteemed in the church. The Lord seeks the humble and contrite heart
that He will not despise, so, if you need to humble yourself before the Lord do
it and He will raise you up in His time. I encourage you to do whatever it takes to get
that sweet communion back between you and the Lord. I have given you something to think about and I
hope you will. Have a super day and may
the good Lord bless you and yours and don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord
for He is worthy!!
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