DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

                Bonnie and I believe in living life by divine appointment. Jesus lived His entire life by divine appointment. He did only what He saw the Father doing and said only what He heard the Father saying. And even when His disciples or others tried to press Jesus into doing things they thought would further His kingdom, Jesus would say, “My time has not yet come.” But when the time of His divine appointment finally came He set His face toward that divine appointment even when everyone around Him was saying “No.” God’s ways are not always our ways… in fact they usually aren’t our ways.

                Now first of all let me frankly tell you that we are lightyears away from living by divine appointment the way Jesus did. And no matter how I may come across in my writing, I struggle with decisions, make mistakes, falter, grapple with shaking faith, agonize over issues and struggle to see God’s hand in the affairs of my life just like you do.

                The Christian life is not easy. It is filled with uncertainties and questions. We live in enemy territory and Satan is always and forever looking for the slightest excuse to mess up our lives and to throw us off course. And in spite of the fact that the world is out there with all of its distractions and distortions, our biggest battles are usually the ones inside of us. Our soul (mind) is the battlefield where spirit and flesh clash and we are in a never ending war zone between the Spirit of God and our own stubborn flesh.

                This is why, in a recent article I talked about our need for both mercy and grace. We need both on a daily basis for mercy is God’s forgiveness by His blood sprinkled on the Mercy Seat on our behalf and His grace is the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, making the Christian life possible as we learn to overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

                In this battle between good and evil, we need to be fully engaged with the Holy Spirit. We need music that speaks of both mercy and grace. We need music that engages the soul in spiritual warfare. We need prayers that break through to victory. We need a faith that believes that God is actually involved in our struggles, like Israel around Jericho, like the many battles in the Promised Land that were recorded for us upon the whom ends of the age have come.

                God fought their battles for them, but never when they were sitting at home on the couch. His miracles occurred when they were in the heat of battle. The Jordon River parted when the priests stepped into the water. Israel escaped Egypt by faith and obedience. The battles were won when they held up the hands of Aaron.

                People often wonder why all of these battles were recorded and why on some occasions every man, woman and child was killed and even the animals. That is a different subject having to do with the genetic corruption of the Nephilim in which complete destruction was required in order the preserve the human race, just as in the flood of Noah. But the main point is this: Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:11-17:

                “Now these things happened to them as an example and they were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and god is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape also that you may be able to endure it. Therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry. Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.”

                We may divide ourselves into denominations, each division following the insights of someone who at one time or another decided what was important and what was not. But in reality, our oneness is in the blood and the body of Christ.  It is in the blood of Christ that we gain the victory and it is in the one loaf that we are found to be one family… and it is by the one Spirit of God that we are animated in our faith and it is in the one Word of God that we are trained in the ways of God. It is in the one Christ that we find both our substitute and our example, for He died in our place, but He lived to show us the way.

                So when Paul later warns us about a great falling away that will make way for the rise of the antichrist, (1Thess. 2:4) is it not a falling away from the faith? Is it not a falling away from the blood and the body of Christ? Is it not a falling away from an active life in being animated by the Holy Spirit? Is it not a falling away from the Word of God in which God has written His truth? Is it not in falling away from the example of Christ that we cease to live by divine appointment?

                Paul, in his instructions to Titus said:

                “For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:11-14

                Further on Paul said to Titus:

                “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

                And as a parting shot, Paul warned Titus:

                “But shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law; for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after first and second warning knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.” Titus 3:9-11.

                When it comes to the forming of the Remnant people of God in these last days, unity is of key importance. Not unity through compromise… not unity through globalism…not unity by embracing the sins of this world for God abhors sin in every form. Our unity must be found then in the body and the blood of Jesus Christ… in the infallibility of the Bible, in the active and transforming work of the Holy Spirit as He brings us into conformity with His Holy Word?

                In reality we are watching the beginning of the great apostasy even now as it wreaks havoc on the body of Christ. Many are abandoning the basic foundations of the Gospel, the blood and body of Christ, the infallibility of Scripture, the abandonment of the Old Covenant foundations, a turning away from repentance and the blood and cross of Jesus that saves us. There is a turning away from obedience as many choose to live by the flesh rather than by the Spirit. There are many who deny the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit as being active in our day. There is also a general abandonment of Bible prophecy by which we might know and understand God’s agenda for these last days.

                This falling away or apostasy is clearing the way for the arrival of the antichrist, for indeed the spirit of antichrist is alive and is pervasive in our culture today. WE are literally watching America fall into idolatry just as Israel did in days past. We must all choose decidedly who we will serve and we must do so at all costs. We must count the cost for we can easily see that the freedoms we have enjoyed for so long are closing in on us. There is a time coming and very quickly when we will not be able to share our faith openly. It will become illegal to preach from the Bible or even to sell Bibles because they speak against things that society has embraced as “normal.”

                God and His Word and His Holy Spirit are being written out of our society and we will soon be considered to be terrorists for preaching against sin. Who ever thought that we would see this day?

                But know this: No matter what denomination or church you attend, being a remnant person is a personal matter. There are no remnant trains to glory… only remnant people who follow hard after the Lord… who are learning how to live by the Spirit of God and the Word of God and not by the flesh. Selah.