Rebuilding the Ancient Ruins

The purpose of perils

• July 31st, 2005

“The righteous person suffers many evils, but Adonai rescues him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19) Why do bad things still happen us when we’re saved by the Spirit of the sovereign Lord, resurrected by His power? It may seem strange, but it’s because of His love for us that we still experience many evils, but we are delivered from the all, every one. “I sought Adonai, and he rescued me from everything I feared.” (Psalm 34:4) There is a purpose in these trials, a magnificent purpose to bring glory to His name and to build up our faith.

We can learn how God uses difficult situations to display His glory in Exodus, “as for me[Adonai], I will make the Egyptians hardhearted; and they will march in after them; thus I will win glory for myself at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, chariots and cavalry. The Egyptians will realize that I am Adonai, when I have won myself glory at the expense of Pharaoh, his chariots and his cavalry.” (Exodus 14:17-18) God loves mankind and it’s His heart that all of us be saved, but God has always used His chosen people demonstrate His power and thereby save the world. God chose you and I to go through evils so that He may have the opportunity to demonstrate His power to the unsaved world. The humble of heart who hear and see God’s power will be saved, “when I boast, it will be about you; the humble will hear of it and be glad.” (Psalm 34:2) The only catch is that we’re in the middle. God will be using us in our seemingly adverse circumstances to show the mighty arm of the Lord. During these times, it may be the He is quiet and we won’t hear much, but “don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I am calling you by your name; you are mine. When you pass through water, I will be with you; when you pass through rivers, they will not overwhelm you; when you pass through fire, you will not be scorched – the flame will not burn you. For I am Adonai, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1b-3) The Adversary is bent on distorting our view of God, he would want us to believe that God’s love is conditional, that what God does is not always for our own good – he lies, always has, always will. When we’re going through the valley, he IS THERE. He says, “I love you with an everlasting love; that is why in my grace I draw you to me.” (Jeremiah 31:3) The more we know of God’s unfailing love, the greater the trials and the more spectacular the salvation. Hollywood has figured out that it’s part of our makeup. I’ve seen several movies where the hero narrowly escapes his trial only to be faced by yet another seemingly impossibly circumstance and he comes through unscathed. This is the kind of life God has for us, if we’ll grow in faith, our life will grow in excitement.
The other purpose of perils is for the building of our faith, “when Israel saw the mighty deed that Adonai had performed against the Egyptians, the people feared Adonai, and they believed in Adonai and in his servant Moshe.” (Exodus 14:31) Now these Israelites were trapped in the desert on one side they had the dead sea and the other the horses, chariots and cavalry of Pharaoh. They feared for their lives, some of them had said, “Was it because there weren’t enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out to die in the desert?” (Exodus 14:11b) I guess they could either remain calm as Moses did, or panic. If we know he loves us, we’ll not “worry about anything; on the contrary, make your requests known to God by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving.” (Philippians 4:6)

God wants to take us to the edge and demonstrate His power in our life, we need to “stop being so fearful! Remain steady, and you will see how Adonai is going to save you.” (Exodus 14:13)

We also need to realize that it’s “`not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit’, says the Lord. “ (Zechariah 4:6). No army, no wealth, no horses can deliver us, but the strong and mighty arm of the Lord. “A king is not saved by the size of his army, a strong man not delivered by his great strength. To rely on a horse for safety is vain, nor does it’s great power assure escape.” (Psalm 33:16-17)

Rain comes before the restoration

• July 26th, 2005

“Be glad, people of Tziyon! Rejoice in Adonai your God! For he is giving you the right amount of rain in the fall, he makes the rain come down for you, the fall and spring rains - this is what he does first. Then the floors will be full of grain and the vats overflow with wine and olive oil.” (Joel 2:23-24)
I love this scripture, here we can see that God’s blessing indicated by the wine and olive oil comes only after he sends His rain. First God sends the rain. This is how he operates in the natural and in the spiritual. Although in the scripture mentioned here has no reference to the spiritual, the book of Hosea provides the connection, “Come, let us return to Adonai; for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck, and he will bind our wounds. After two days, he will revive us; and the third day, he will raise us up; and we will live in his presence. Let us know, let us strive to know Adonai. That he will come is as certain as the morning; we will come like the rain, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3) The rain is a reference to the Word of God, the living and active Word coming “as rain and snow fall from the sky and do not return there, but water the earth causing it to bud and produce, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my word that goes from my mouth - it will not return to me unfulfilled; but it will accomplish what I intend, and cause to succeed what I sent it to do.” (Isaiah 55:10-11) God’s Word coming to the earth causes it to produce wine and oil to satisfy us. There are some things we need to do to bring on the rain which were listed in Hosea.

First we need to return to the Lord, even although he has torn, even although he has stricken, because it is He who will heal us, it is He who will bind us up and then he will revive us and raise us up by His Holy Spirit. The three days mentioned are the three days that Jesus had died, because when He arose, He sent the promised Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit of God that will raise us up so that we may live in His presence just as the angels in heaven do. It was sin that caused us to die. It was sin that separated us from God just as it separated Adam and Eve from His presence. But praise the Father that He sent “his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life instead of being utterly destroyed” (John 3:16). Returning unto the Lord is accomplished by knowing Him, by striving to know Him. That He will come to us is as certain as the morning. We don’t even concern ourselves about the breaking of the dawn and so we do not need to concern ourselves with the coming of His presence, He will come just like the rains and he will accomplish in us what he intends for us to do, he will fulfill His promises to us.

We don’t need to be where the water is either. We don’t need to find the nation, the state or the city that is abundant with His presence, we need to be where He wants us, even if it’s in the desert because “How happy are those who live in your house; they never cease to praise you! How happy the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart are [pilgrim] highways. Passing through the [dry] Baka Valley they make it a place of springs, and the early rain clothes it with blessings. They go from strength to strength and appear before God in Tziyon.” (Psalm 84:4-6) Wow! If we’re just passing through the desert, God will bring the rain in the desert and change it into a place of springs, and we grow strong AND appear in His presence. His praise is always on our lips. How great is our God, His ways are perfect and His Word is true. Also, “the desert and the dry land will be glad; the `Aravah will rejoice and blossom like the lily. It will burst into flower; will rejoice with joy and singing, will be given the glory of L’vanon, the splendor of Karmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of ADONAI, the splendor of our God.” (Isaiah 35:1-2)

When we strive to know the Lord, we can be sure that He will come to us and that we will live in His sight and see the glory of God, he will raise us up and come to us like the rain and we will be restored. The floors will be full of grain and the vats overflowing with wine and olive oil.

Chuck Pierce: “52 Days of Rebuilding Your Spirit, Receiving a New Anointing, and Unlocking Your Future”

• July 13th, 2005

We are pressing into the time to gain victory completely in our thought processes. Allow the Lord to draw out old desires. He will remove some and activate others. Your thought life can be revolutionized during this time. Even though this may be a hard couple of months of war, these are your breakthrough times. Stick close to the Lord and develop a prayer shield around you. Stay in the Word, pray in the spirit and let your discernment increase. - Chuck D. Pierce on the Elijah List

“Sons of Jacob — Ask Again”

• July 3rd, 2005

God is inviting the Josephs to move to a wholly different view of life.

He wants to show us what He sees, to see his leading love throughout all the circumstances of our lives. He wants to clear the fog of our unbelief that perceives rejection rather than His leading love.

He is going to give a gift to those of us who want to receive it: taking us to the “summit,” the high hill over the city, to see His heart and His promises over our lives and our cities. He is asking us, “When are you going to allow Me to give you the best view in town?” — Bob Hartley on te Elijah List