July 1
2 Kings 18:13-19:37 | PS 149:1-9 | Prov 18:8 | Acts 21:1-17
A question which I often hear is, when we, as Christians, step out in action, is it in our own strength or in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a very fair question. The truth is, in the United States, we often live a complacent and easy Christian faith. Yes, we may get upset at various issues and injustices, but for the most part we don't really worry about our day to day lives, meaning our daily sustenance, or our ability to move about without fear of persecution or death. Many of our brothers and sisters around the globe do not have this situation. Many are being hunted, persecuted, starved, etc. for their faith. In these other countries they have accepted God's calling, no matter the consequences. From an earthly sense, we certainly have it much better than them. But, they are often the ones praying for us. They know that complacent Christianity is dangerous in that we do so much outside the Holy Spirit. In the U.S., the heat is beginning to be turned up. What is your response? Though there is nothing wrong with any of these things, have you placed your focus on prepping your house with supplies, spent much time in securing your investments, beefed up your home security, perhaps looked into protecting yourself with arms? These are the natural responses to outside persecution from a position of personal logic and human wisdom. We have our Bibles. We know how the story unfolds, yet we don't know the time. We know what our focus is to be from the lips of Jesus in the Great Commission. If we know the story, why is it that we continue to live and plan as though we don't know it. Though we don't know the time, we have been told to look at the times and plan. The planning is not for self-preservation but for spreading the Word. The churches in persecuted nations are exploding while ours in the U.S. is relatively stagnant. Their focus is spot on, ours is often not.
King Hezekiah was a good king who followed in the ways of King David. Though there were some difficulties, for the first 13 years of his leadership, the nation of Judah prospered. Like the U.S. they had experienced comfort and earthly success. But everything changed when Assyria, the empire which was in power at the time, placed their focus on little Judah in numbers which made the situation from a militaristic standpoint impossible. The Assyrians had 185,000 well seasoned and armed troops surrounding the walled city of Jerusalem. The Rabshekah, or Assyrian chief of staff, had just openly threatened Hezekiah, the people of Judah, and most importantly, the one true God. Hezekiah initially began to troubleshoot through payoffs, alliances, etc. He initially responded in the flesh, using human wisdom. But then this changed. He placed his focus on God and prayer. He didn't reach out to his counselors, but to the prophet Isaiah in 2 kings 19:1-4, to lift this dire situation up in prayer. He then waited for guidance through prayer. Then when the attack was imminent and he had in his hands the threatening letter from the Rabshekah, we read his response in 19:14-16, "And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God." Following this, the prophet Isaiah, is given a word from the Lord, that we read in 19:21-34, and then the battle, which really never unfolded comes to a conclusion in 19:35, "And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead."
There is so much prophecy in Scripture, some place that estimate at 27%. Much of that prophecy has already been fulfilled precisely as it has been foretold. But we are living in times when we are on the precipice of much of the End Time prophecies to be fulfilled. How do you feel about this? Our feeling should be based on our walk with God, not on our earthly positions. God revealed these things for us, to reassure us, to let us know that we are not, and will not be abandoned by Him. God refers to earthly things as "wood, hay, straw" in 1 Corinthians 3:12-13. But it is these things which we often hold onto so tenaciously. Corrie Ten Boom, who certainly knew of persecution, going through the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, said, "I have learned to hold all things loosely, so God will not have to pry them out of my hands." Fellow Christians this is not our time to double down on getting back to normal. This is our time to step out in boldness and in His Spirit. He has told us in Romans 8:31, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?", and in 1 John 4:4, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." We got this, because He has us in the palm of His hand. We need to remember who we really are.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: