I'm sure you are concerned about what's in store for us in the days and months ahead. Rest assured the Lord will continue to provide His comfort, peace and provision in the midst of uncertain times. There is a shaking going on in our nation and our world and scripture is true when it says, "All that can be shaken will be shaken." It seems we are in the midst of the shaking even now.
Truly the Lord has been giving us a wake up call over the past few years. Even as we drive the highways in Houston, we see billboards that read, "Wake up, Houston!" He has been challenging us to be prepared. Part of the preparation has involved restoring the altar of worship for the ark of His presence.
In the late 1990's, I began to emphasize the importance of saturating in worship, saturating in His presence. We need His presence and we must prepare an ark of refuge for the coming shaking and revival. But we must ask ourselves this question, "Are we pushing our snooze buttons"?
In 1988, the Lord gave me a message about the shaking that was coming. It was entitled, "The Lord's Provision during the shaking." This later became the chapter, "Church Quake" in my book, It's Time to Cross the Jordan. He is shaking us, to wake us.
We are living in a day of global trouble and distress, very challenging and volatile times. We need the Lord's intervention and its His desire to deliver us in the day of trouble. There is something required of us though. I believe the Lord clearly wants us to withdraw from our cosmetic Christianity and compensatory facades (compensating on the outside for the lack on the inside).
The late Dr. Edwin Louis Cole referred to this as, "High Gloss/ Cheap Merchandise." We must depart from that which is only surface deep to that which is most precious. "Our passion for Christ must be greater than our desires for anything else." Through Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we see what the Lord is trying to speak to the church - even today.We may think that we are stable and strong as an institution but we must return to our first love. We're at a desperate place.
I posed this question in my book, The Fatherless Generation. "Is it because there's no living God in the church of America that we seek the gods of this age? Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots but we shall trust the Lord, our God." We're at a very critical time in our nation and the world and the answer is not going to be in the natural; it's going to take God's intervention. That only comes from the ark of His presence. That is why I feel it is crucial at this time to call the church to a season of fresh, and desperate prayer. We must return to purity, passion and purpose.
Our programs and institutions are not working. We need enduement from God. For this reason we're completing eight days of prayer and worship for our nation.We need more times like this to seek His presence. He is our ark of refuge; He is our peace; our provider; protector and deliverer. He loves us with a passionate, never ceasing love. The Lord allows the shaking to get our attention so that our focus returns to Him.
My encouragement to you is to make sure the Lord is first in your life and that your passion for Christ is greater than your passion for anything else.
Doug Stringer is the founder and director of Turning Point Ministries International, an evangelistic and discipleship ministry with outreaches to the Church and the secular world. He also founded Somebody Cares
For more information, email: doug@somebodycares.org