THE CONVENTION

THE CONVENTION

                Last evening Bonnie and I and Abishai, headed for Sevierville Tennessee to a convention of the Church of God. There we met with Pastor Acres and his wife Alice and we sat together in a crowd of about 900 people, many of them ministers and their wives. The general overseer was there as the keynote speaker and the music was put on by a group called “The Isaacs.”

                It was a powerful evening with powerful music and powerful preaching, and for Bonnie and me, it was our first taste of the church of God beyond, the relatively small church where the Lord called us to minister. Our only other exposure to the bigger Body was a visit to a Perry Stone prophetic meeting at his headquarters in Cleveland Tennessee, which is also the headquarters for the Church of God.

                As I understand it, the Church of God was started in Cleveland Tennessee, when a group of Pentecostal people set out to feed and minister to the poor in Cleveland and the surrounding area. Their ministry to the poor became a church group and then two and then three, until today they are world -wide and 7.5 million strong. Their foundations are built on the fact that they believe and preach the Word of God from cover to cover and they live by the Spirit of God and they remember the poor as Paul admonished us to do...

                The overseer’s message last night was directed to the pastors and he used three stories from the life of Elisha, that when combined, give powerful instruction to those who minister to the people. AS it turns out this message is powerful and useful for not only those who minister, but for all of us.

                The first story is about the axe head that flew off and sank into the bottom of a nearby pond. The servant was distraught and came running to Elisha saying: “Alas my master! For it was borrowed.”

                In speaking to the ministers gathered there and to us the overseer brought the message into our present situation. He said: “When you have lost your cutting edge, you can either keep on beating the tree with the useless blunt edge of the axe handle, or you can go to God and to His Word.

                So when the servant came breathless to Elisha, the prophet asked him an important question. “Where did it fall?”

                To ministers and to us as well, we should ask this same question. Where were we when we lost our cutting edge? Where we and what were were we doing, or not doing that caused us to lose the fire that once burned brightly in our lives. When and where were we when our life and ministry began to feel like we were beating the tree with a useless blunt handle?

                So Elisha went to the place where the axe head sank and he threw a stick of wood into the water and it made the iron head of the axe float and the servant recovered it.

                Likewise, when our lives become dull and meaningless and we feel that we have lost our purpose and we have lost the fire that once powered our lives, we need to return to the wood, to the cross. We need to apply the cross to our dead lives, because even when we have the best of intentions, we can unknowingly begin to operate in the flesh instead of in the Spirit and in time we find ourselves beating the challenges of life with a blunt handle. For all of us, recovery begins with Galatians 2:20.

                “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life form me.”

                We often times lose our cutting edge, not because of something evil that we have done, but simply because little by little we have resorted to the abilities of the flesh rather than the power of God. When emergencies come up, do we go to God and place our full faith in Him, or do we go one struggling trying to cut the tree down with a blunt axe handle… with human ingenuity rather than divine power? The question is important because it is in this subtle move from Spirit to flesh that we lose our cutting edge.

                There are many other things of course that can cause us to lose our cutting edge… giving up, becoming discouraged so that we begin to replace our fervent prayer and study with the things of this world, like TV and the internet. We stop searching the Scriptures as we once did when we were literally feeding upon the bread of life, Jesus Christ. We didn’t mean to do it, but in our blunted lives we are becoming like the world… thinking like the world… relying on our own cleverness instead of drawing from the exhaustless resources of heaven. Our mouths are no longer filled with the Word of God and our hearts no longer burn with the Spirit of God and renewal always and only comes when we return to the cross and to the death that brings new life.

                At this time Samaria was under siege by the Syrians and the king of Syria was frustrated, because all of his plans were being leaked to Israel. So when he sought for the traitor who was betraying him, it was reported that Elisha, the prophet of God knew all of his plans even the ones he shared only in his bedroom. So the King asked where Elisha was and sent a contingent of soldiers to capture Elisha in the city of Dothan.

                Opening the door, Elisha’s servant saw that they were surrounded by the army and he slammed the door and said to Elisha: “Alas my master. What shall we do? So Elisha prayed that God would open the servant’s eyes and God opened them to see that the armies of the Lord’s host were far greater than the armies of the king of Syria. Then Elisha prayed again that God would blind the eyes of the soldiers and so God blinded them and after God had answered his prayer, they led the blinded soldiers to the king of Samaria and the king asked, Shall I kill them? And Elisha said “No, feed them   and so they prepared a banquet for the blinded soldiers and after they had eaten, their eyes were opened and they returned to their own land.

                We need to realize that the same God who is blinding the eyes of the enemy is the same One who will open the eyes of those that trust in Him. Even in this crazy world that we are now living in, it seems like we are being surrounded by the enemy and we need to pray that God will open our eyes to see that greater is He that is in us and with us, than He that is in the world. God’s armies are much bigger than Satan’s armies and if we will stand our ground remaining true to the Word of God even as others abandon it, and if we will live by the Spirit of God even as others are abandoning the Spirit of God, we will yet see victory in our lives.

                The third story is that of Samaria being under siege and surrounded by the Syrian armies and separated from their crops until all of their stores had been depleted and the people had been reduced to eating donkey’s heads and doves dung and finally even eating their own children. It was a desperate situation and the King of Israel didn’t know what to do, so he blamed Elisha for it and sent his servants forth saying: “May God do so to me and more also if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.” (Even today, people tend to blame the prophets who warn us, saying that they are actually bringing on the problems with their warnings, but no, it is the sins of our nation that are bringing America to its knees.

                Sometimes we don’t need a whole lot of words to change a situation. We just need the right words. And Elisha the prophet of God had the right words to speak. He said to those who had come to take his head: “Listen to the word of the Lord, “Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria.” 2 Kings 7:1

                So the people of Samaria were surrounded by the armies of Syria and starving to death and just outside the wall were the lepers. They too were starving to death with no place to go. They couldn’t go back into the city and it would have done no good anyway, since the people of Samaria were dying also. Neither could they go out to the Syrian army for they would be put to the sword. The lepers could smell the smell of baking bread in the enemy camp and so they decided that, having nothing left to lose, they would follow the smell of the fresh baked bread.

                As they walked through the fields to the camp, God caused their footsteps to sound like the approaching of a huge army and the Syrians fled, leaving behind their gold and silver and their armor and their food. So when the lepers arrived at the camp, they found it deserted and full of food and plenty for everyone. So they returned to the City and reported what they had found and just as Elisha had said, by the Word of God, there was now food for all, in just one day’s time.

                There are many churches today that are starved for the Word of God. We feel that we are being surrounded by a huge enemy army. But the words of the prophets are being ignored and many preachers are still feeding their people with donkey’s heads and dove’s dung. And we are eating our future, sacrificing our sons and daughters to the gods of this world. And yet many pastors are not feeding the people fresh bread from heaven. They have no prophetic word from God to give to their people. They are still feeding their people with three points and a poem and some people, smelling the scent of fresh baked Bread are going out to find it.

                Whatever your situation may be… if you feel that you have lost your cutting edge, like you have lost the fire that once burned so brightly in your life… if you feel like you are not receiving a prophetic Word from God that deals with our current situation, it is time to return to the foot of the Cross and to begin with a new death to the flesh and the world and a new Birth into the kingdom of God. If you feel like you are being surrounded by the enemy, ask God to open your eyes so that you may see that the armies of heaven are far greater than the armies of this world… We serve the Commander of the Lord’s hosts.

                It is time to leave our desperate situations behind and to follow the scent of freshly baked bread of the Prophetic Word of God. We need more than thousands of empty words today. We need the right words, the prophetic Words of God that speak to our current situation. Every bit of God’s Word is prophetic and it is all set within a framework of God’s plan and purpose for the human race. Victory is assured, but sometimes we have to face desperate situations before we begin to look in the right direction. We need the fresh baked bread that is based upon the Word of God, and anointed with the incense of the Holy Spirit of God. When we get hungry enough we will take the risk to go out and to find it.

                “We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:36b-39.

                “Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshua went to him and said, “Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, “What has my Lord to say to his servant?” And the captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:13-15.

                Are you standing on holy ground? Are you in the place where God has appointed you to be? Are you feeding on the fresh bread of heaven? Has your cutting edge been restored to you by the Holy Spirit so that your life has become effective and filled with power? Have you laid down you earthly life at the foot of the cross so that you may live in the power and heavenly presence of the kingdom? Have you fallen on your face before the Captain of the Lord’s host?

                If you feel like a starving leper with no way to turn, you may have to be willing to follow the scent of fresh baked bread where the anointed prophetic words still open the eyes of those who believe? Hear the words of the prophet, for tomorrow at this time you will receive that for which you hunger. Believe it and receive it, for we serve the Captain of the Lord’s host.