Waiting On The Promises Of God

Nov. 15, 2007

Waiting on the Promises of God

Kathleen Maples

I've been reading about Abraham and Sarah lately. The Lord has helped me see things in their lives and how it relates to my own, in response to a cry from my own heart. If you are satisfied with your religion, this may not interest you. But if you are not content, and you know there is more than just religion to this Christian life, you just may enjoy what the Lord showed me in His precious Word. Abram was living with his wife Sarai, in a city called Ur of the Chaldees. Incidentally, Chaldea means "demons or robbers". They moved with Terah, Abram's father, and family, to Haran, and dwelt there. It was a prosperous commercial city, and the people were idolatrous. They worshipped a female deity, the moon goddess, and her name was sin. If it looked good, try it, if it felt good, do it, if it looked good and felt good, worship it. This was their theology. Abram had a cry in his heart. God looked down from heaven and saw among these people who worshipped pleasure and the planets, and found a man disgusted with the way things were. No one satisfied with this life would have listened to God and walked away into the unknown, leaving all the sin and idolatry behind. No, there was something in Abram's heart; he was discontent with the sin and idol worship. There was an inner knowing there just had to be more to life than what he saw around him. Somehow, he knew this wasn't right. Abram's father died in Haran. They traveled about 450 miles from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, and that is where Terah, Abram's father died. He decided to settle there, and he died. We have to keep moving on with God, or we will stagnate and die. In our lives, there has to be the death of everything that we depend on (self, reason, etc.) when God is working. God's grace works in wondrous ways. Abram's wife, Sarai, was barren, although the others in their family had born children. It was a source of grief to Sarai and Abram as well. Abram had gotten close to his dead brother's son, Lot. Perhaps, he viewed him as a son, since he did not have one. Perhaps it was something of a comfort to be a surrogate father to his dead brother's son, and also partially satisfy his own longing to have a child. God speaks to Abram and tells him to leave everything, to come out of this place of sin and idolatry and get away from his family's home, his comfort zone, and everything familiar to him. I don't believe that God spoke harshly. I believe He spoke gently to Abram, with love. The law of kindness was in His mouth. He saw the discontent of this man's soul. Something in the voice of God reached down and started a fire in Abram's soul. The voice of the Lord is powerful, full of majesty. (Psa 29:4) The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth (Psa 29:9) By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, He spoke and it was done! He commanded and it stood firm! (Psa 33:6, 9). This is the God who was speaking to the longing of Abram's heart for something he couldn't identify. It drew him to God. He heard something that made him willing to follow this God he was just learning to know to the ends of the earth without question. I don't believe it was just about the blessing, for Abram, either, though God said I'm going to bless you, Abram. I'm going to give you a new life, and make your name great.

Everyone around you will be blessed because of what I'm going to do in your life. God blessed Abram with the ability to look past the seen to the unseen. His hope was set on a God who wasn't made by human hands. Abram doesn't question God and I believe it was because the word of the Lord lit a fire in him. It reached down to that empty place inside and sparked new hope, offered him new meaning to his life. He takes his wife, his nephew, who is like a son to him, and they go out of Haran as they start on this journey with the Lord leading the way. When we begin to walk with God, and start this new life He will give us, we have the promise in Acts 16:31 He will save our families if we believe Him. Ask and believe. God takes them out of a sinful, idolatrous city where sin is worshiped and leads them to the land of Canaan. These people were exceedingly sinful. They were strong, mighty, very idolatrous, and very wicked. God warned Israel in Deu 18:9-11 not to behave like these did for they practiced child sacrifice, offering their babies as burnt sacrifices to their idols. They practiced witchcraft, were heavy into the occult and astrology. They had their psychics, their mediums, those who claimed to communicate with the dead. They had their "false prophets" and God said in Lev 18:27 all these abominations had even defiled the land itself. God took Abram through this place, and settled him there among these people, but he lived separately, and did not follow their lifestyle. His eyes were not on what he saw around him, but on what he heard from the Lord. All around Abram were those who worshiped the work of their own hands and the pleasure of their own senses. He worshiped that which was not made with human hands-the God who had satisfied the longing of his soul. He had gotten a vision of something far more eternal, something human hands could never build. Gen. 12:8-9 tells us that after building an altar to the Lord and much prayer, he journeyed, continuing to drift south. God was watching very carefully over this man's life and wife. He was about to begin teaching them how to trust and depend wholly on HIM. On this journey Abram's faith would be severely tested. They set out and not long after they began their journey, famine arose in the land. Abram was a praying man, and would stop regularly and build an altar to the Lord and call on His name. I can't find where God told Abram to go to Egypt, but he kept going south, until that's where he ended up. God did not stop him, and I believe it was because He wanted to teach Abram something very important. The instinct to rely on human reasoning, and personal strength is ingrained into people. But when you belong to the Lord, that has to die. We must depend on Him. The methods and ways of the world will not work for the child of God who would walk in the Holy Spirit of God. The Lord was teaching these two people how to trust Him. When provision got scarce, and the effects of famine were felt, Abram went to Egypt. Egypt means "oppression, bondage" and is a type of sin and the world. Once there, Abram's faith falters, and he lies, and puts his wife in a terrible position. He is acting out of fear for his own safety. His wife, Sarai, watches as this man who had so confidently left everything familiar to step out into the unknown and follow this God only he had talked to, and heard, and here he is, his faith wavering. Fear and uncertainty, and perhaps some loss of respect wounded her heart. It had to. She is taken into the Pharaoh's house, likely feeling betrayed and abandoned. This

nation of people, much like the world today, highly esteemed female beauty. They provided her with all the beauty products they had, luxurious and sensual clothing, and everything she needed to cater to her flesh and pamper and adorn herself. Surely it was tempting. The world values female beauty. They worship it. But that kind of beauty leads to pride, and then arrogance, and then flat out rebellion. Kind of like Satan. That sheds new light on some things, huh? Consider the magazines, the commercials on TV, the movie stars, and singers, who wear very little clothing, advertise flesh, and all dress sensually, advertising self. They are proud, vain, and arrogant. This is rebellion. A godly woman cannot behave such. She is to be modest, which leads to humility and meekness, and gentleness, which in the sight of the Lord is of great price. Everything in moderation, not excess. But, the Lord knows how to deliver His people out of temptation, and makes a way of escape for Sarai. God plagues the Pharaoh's house, and makes sure the truth comes out. He watches over them and refuses to allow his plans for their lives to be ruined. He protects Sarai, and sees she is delivered from the captivity of the Pharaoh's house, and returned to her husband. Surely, Abram's wavering confidence, and scheming left an impression on her. Abram had not trusted God, nor depended on God in this situation, rather, he trusted his own thoughts and ways. Still, God protected them, and did not get angry. He knew Abram and Sarai had to learn some things as they walked with Him on this journey, as do we. But, she saw it had still worked out and that would, I believe be something she would keep in mind later on down the road when she would make a fateful decision. If you've ever failed God, and felt condemned, like you blew it, and ruined whatever chance you had for God to do something in your life, take comfort from these Scriptures. God is no respecter of persons. Just as an infant has to learn and will make mistakes and fall and get dirty, and need cleaning up, so will we as we learn to walk with Him. Now, consider Lot. God brought them out of this place richer than when they went in. Surely, this left a strong impression on Lot. He'd gotten a taste of big city life, saw the prosperity. It wasn't long after this that Lot's servants and family began to strive with Abram's. Sometimes people get impatient waiting on God, and get tired of doing things God's way. Lot's eyes saw much in Egypt that allured his heart. When they left, and had traveled approximately 250 miles back to the north, they were near enough that when strife broke out among the two people's families and servants, Sodom and Gomorrah were visible in the distance. Lot decides to go there, remembering the wealth he'd seen on display in Egypt, motivated very much by the sight of his eyes. His eyes were on things he could see, and Abram's were on the unseen. Lot could have been a part of what God wanted to do, but his heart was toward the world, not God. This may be stretching it a little, but consider this: when Israel was marching toward Jericho, the Jordan River was the last thing that separated them from entering in the promised land. Lot looked at the Jordan valley, and I believe he wanted in some measure the Lord in his life. But he wanted the promises of God without the sacrifice, without being led by God. He was led by the desires of his flesh and human thinking. There had to be a discontent among Lot and his servants, with this life they were living. They had seen some things in Egypt that made them long for the comfort and ease of living in a city. They wanted things they could see and hold. Abram sees the problem, and talks to Lot, and lets him make his own choice. Lot looked

toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, visible in the distance. In Gen 13:10, the Word says it was "even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt." Lot chooses based on the desires of his flesh. It's not long till a war breaks out among the local kings, and Lot ends up taken prisoner, and all his family with him. One servant escapes to tell Abram. Abram promptly rounds up 300 of his trained servants and goes after his nephew. God delivers them back into his hand, with all their goods. All is returned. Lot had a golden opportunity to return, and walk by faith again. I believe this was a merciful warning from the Lord who allowed this to happen. Lot was captured, could have been destroyed, but God spared him. Instead, Lot returns to the wicked city. Abram goes back to his own life, disappointed, I am sure, by his nephew's very carnal decision. Abram refuses reward of the wicked king of Sodom, and after all these things happen, God speaks to Abram in a vision and gives him one of my very favorite promises in the Bible:

Gen 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Abram loves God, but there is an aching desire in his heart, and unbeknownst to Abram, it's one God Himself stirred up. It's a longing to bear fruit. All of the wealth and spoil that Abram had recovered when he rescued Lot did not tempt Abram. He did not want the things of this world. He wasn't interested. He was trusting God. God had something better, He'd told Abram as much, and Abram believed Him. But surely, he was beginning to wonder because it had been some time. He was getting older by the day, and it looked to him like time was running out. He'd started this journey at 75 and now he's 85. But the Lord smiles on this man. He is so gracious to him.

Gen 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Gen 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. He brought Abram out of a place of sin and idolatry to bring him into a land of promise-obtained by faith in God who would not and could not lie. It's only by His promises we can partake of His Divine nature (2 Pet 1:3-5). God makes a covenant with Abram, and Abram prepares the sacrifice, and then guarded it. When the birds, a sign of the tempter, come to pick at the sacrifice, Abram drove them off and away.

Gen 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. We would do well to remember this when the enemy comes trying to pick at us as we seek to serve the Lord, and offer ourselves to the Lord as the living sacrifice He desires (Rom 12:1). The devil will come to pick at the sacrifice, point out our flaws, lie and tell us how worthless we are, etc. We can run him off because the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous can run into it and be safe. (Pro 18:10). God puts Abram asleep and then talks to him, and reveals the future to him. After

He tells Abram what will happen to Israel, HE seals the covenant. In the Bible times, two parties making a covenant would prepare a sacrifice, cut it in half, and then go between the two halves, in agreement to both be bound to the promise. But in this instance, there was nothing Abram could do to make the promise of God reality. It was all God. Abram had only to believe.

Gen 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. Remember, Heb 12:29 says our God is a consuming fire! Abram's wife, Sarai, has been thinking about some things. She's watching children be born in the camp, and she has heard from her husband the promise of God to make of them a great nation. As I consider this precious lady, I believe she beheld the promises of God afar off. She saw them, and believed they could happen, but to somebody else, they wouldn't be for her. Her heart was heavy, and her hope deferred. The Bible says the hope deferred makes the heart sick. (Pro 13:12). I think she had put off her hope of having this fruitful new life God had promised. Sure, when we get to heaven, it'll be there. But God promises it now. Jesus said I come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly. But Sarai has been watching, and she loves Abram. Perhaps she feels rejected of God, because He certainly has made her womb barren. She's like a dry tree. This must hurt her, because in Biblical times, a woman who could not bear children was a reproach to her husband. Likewise, when the Bride of Jesus Christ, the church, is fruitless, and dry, and weak, it is a reproach to Him. He has made provision so this need not be the case.

Gen 16:1 Now Sarai Abram's wife bore him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. Sarai is watching her maid, Hagar. Her mind begins to work, and reason. Why should her husband be denied the promises of God because of her? Surely she had offended God in some way and her barrenness was punishment. Perhaps the new life would come from Abram, but not her. What an agonizing thing she was thinking. She surely remembered how God had not held Abram's mistake against him in Egypt. Perhaps she felt to blame. She approaches Hagar with her idea, and logic, and Hagar, seeing a chance to improve her position from servant to wife of the master, jumps at the chance. Could there be a little envy that had been resident in Hagar's heart? She so quickly agreed to this proposal, and she had to see the very idea grieved the heart of Sarai. Remember, Abram's father had more than one wife, his brothers had more than one, but until now, she had been the only one Abram had taken. And it had always been enough. Abram himself readily agrees to this thing, without argument and that too, must have made her feel like this was the right thing to do, and it must have also caused her untold heartache. He didn't even resist the idea at all. When we come out of sin, in our human reasoning and thinking, we feel as if we can live for God and please God. We have gifts and abilities we will want to put to use for God, but we must learn to wait on Him and let Him lead us where He would have us go. We can't be in control and we can't be the "go to guy who has all the answers" anymore. We must look up, higher than ourselves. We must learn to look away from self and look to Jesus. They do this thing, and it's not long for Abram's new wife conceives. She is much

younger, physically attractive, I'm sure, and when she realizes she's conceived the child, she surely thinks God has finally brought His promise to pass and it came through HER not the WIFE! Oh, how her thoughts must have inflated her estimation of herself. She despised Sarai, possibly wondering why the Lord was punishing Sarai because she could not have children. Hagar became arrogant and defiant, and rude to her mistress. You know, when flesh thinks it's accomplishing something, it becomes proud and puffed up. In this warfare of the believer, a man's foes will be they of his own household. That flesh will fight the desire of the Spirit of Christ in us every step of the way. Hagar is a type of the flesh. Sarai and Abram were now looking to flesh to accomplish the promise of God, the new life He promised. As if God needed our help to do anything. Sarai soon realizes she's made a mistake. She goes to Abram and complains, and he tells her, she is your servant, do with her what you will. Like Abram, God says deal with your flesh-it's not to rule you, you are to rule it. You are to bring it under subjection to what you know is right. (2Co_10:5) You are to cast down every high thing, every thing that exalts itself against the knowledge or will of God and bring IT into captivity and obedience of Christ. She begins to treat Hagar very harshly, and Hagar runs away. The flesh will always run from the will of God. An angel finds her, and speaks kindly to her and tells her she must return and be in subjection to her mistress. Isn't that how God lovingly deals with us when we mess up and don't want to cooperate with Him? When our flesh is fighting us, and we make a mistake, God will forgive us, and tell us, we must walk in the Spirit not in the carnal desires of human thinking and living. If we follow after the natural man, we will die, for he does not want the ways or will of God. It means denying self, and that is something natural man in his own strength will not want to do. Thirteen years go by, and Sarai has completely given up any idea that she might ever bear a child. She has seen these promises seeming to work in other people's lives, but feels forgotten of God. Abram is content with his son, Ishmael. Then, when Abram is 99, God visits him again. For the first time, God mentions Sarai in connection with the promise of new life. He tells Abram he is changing their names to Abraham and Sarah. She is going to bear new life, God is going to renew her youth, and her womb. He says I am going to bless HER, Abraham, (Gen 17:16). Abraham asks the Lord about Ishmael, to accept Ishmael, and God says no, the promise will not come through him. It will come through your wife, Sarah. He will not accept what flesh does and works out. That's why God rejected Cain's offering, but accepted Abel's. Cain brought an offering of the works of his hands. Abel brought a life. I believe Abraham couldn't wait to tell Sarah the good news. He loved Sarah, and he was not unaware at her pain when she watched him with Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham knew he was too old, and Sarah was too. There was no longer any human hope that flesh could make the promises of God a reality. Then God tells Abraham about the circumcision of the males. God is saying the flesh must be cut off. Flesh can NOT work here. It will not. Then, one day, something awesome happens. I don't think Sarah believed Abraham when he told her what the Lord said. I can almost hear her saying, "Yeah, right. Look at me. I'm an old woman, it's impossible." She had carried around this pain, and sense of rejection for so long, she was used to it. I know how I would feel in her place. But look, here comes the Lord, right on time, showing up on the scene.

Gen 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; Abraham is waiting, enduring the heat of the day. Oh, Isaiah tells us they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength! He says, look up, do I have an equal? Is there anybody like Me? Look up here and see Who created the host of heaven, calls them by name, and none fail. Don't you know you can never understand or figure Me out? My ways are not your ways, and I don't think like you do. I don't get tired, I give power to the weary, to them who are ready to give up, I will strengthen. Just wait on Me, I will renew your strength, and you will be lifted up like on the wings of eagles, and you will be able to run this race, you won't be weary or fall or quit. (Isa 40:25-31; paraphrased). Don't stop hoping, don't believe it can't happen, for with God nothing is impossible. If He said it, He will do it so long as we don't give up on Him and stop believing. Don't look in the mirror and think this mighty big God can't fix little old you. What an insult to HIM! That is called limiting the Holy One.

Gen 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; Gen 18:2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, Gen 18:3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: First, Abraham is sitting in the door of his tent. Jesus is the Door! (John 10) Second, he's enduring the heat of the day. He looks up! (Heb_12:2) When things are hard, when we are feeling pressured, and tired, and weary, we must look up! We must look to Jesus, the Author, the Finisher of our faith. He started this work in our lives and He is a big enough God to finish it! Notice, here, that Abraham first ministers to the Lord. Somehow, he recognizes Him, and sets an example we all need to remember and seek to emulate. Abraham gets a calf from the flock, and had it prepared, and has Sarah fix this meal for the Lord. She is in the tent, and suddenly, she hears this Voice. Remember, the voice of the Lord is life, it is spirit, and when He speaks, it has to be. He says it, and it is done.

Gen 18:9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. In the religious world, women are often set at nought, and not considered to be anything valuable to the work of the Lord. They are okay to sing, and care for the children, and cook and clean, but better not to be heard. It's a man's world. But here is the Creator, and something awesome happens inside when you hear HIM speak your name. I believe Sarah's heart began to pump wildly, for as He spoke her name, something inside her recognized Who this was. There was a spark sprang to life inside of her, a fresh hope, that hope that she'd put off long ago as not for her. The hope of ever having the promise of God work in her life. She no longer had any hope or idea of ever being able to see it happen, her flesh was too old, too dry and her womb long dead. That's when God will move. When we know and are totally convinced flesh can't do it, that if it gets done it will have to be God. Then HE alone gets the glory and honor. Sarah laughs deep inside

herself....knowing there's no way this could happen in her own strength.

Gen 18:13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Gen 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Gen 18:15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. She knew. It was HIM. No one could have known what she was thinking in the depths of her being. I always wondered in light of God's anger against unbelief why He didn't become angry with Sarah right here. Then He helped me see her unbelief was directed at herself and Abraham. She had lost faith in her ability to make this happen, but not God's ability. He knew the pain and misery she'd endured all these years, longing for the promise. Perhaps it would have come sooner had she not interfered by trying to help it along. Once upon a time, God moved mightily among His people in this nation. But flesh rose up and began to exalt itself and take the credit. Flesh touched the glory and people got their eyes off God and on the man who was speaking, and on the miracles and signs, and people began to revere flesh, not the invisible, all-wise and HOLY God who actually did the work. He had to pull back because He will not share the stage. No flesh will glory in HIS presence. I believe He's pulled back and waited until the church has worn itself out, and I mean the church, the religious folks who think they are holy because of what they wear, how they act, but they for the most part have a form of godliness with no power. There is no anointing destroying the yoke. There are no signs following them who believe like the Word says there will be. People aren't being baptized in the Holy Ghost anymore-at least not where I am. (I'm not saying it won't happen, but it's not as common in the church world as it used to be-and we MUST have the Holy Ghost. Eph 5:18 says BE filled and we can't fill ourselves!) The church has traded the real power of God for a form or appearance of godliness. They think they are holy if their women let their hair grow, refusing to cut it, and refuse to wear pants, and make up and jewelry, wear their dresses and sleeves long, and that makes them holy. People's ideas of holiness and what that means differ. But, pure and simple, it means "PURE and WITHOUT MIXTURE. It's not mixed with anything else." Pure Holiness is a PERSON and the only way we can be holy is to provide Him a habitation, and let Him have His way. Consider the Sabbath day. He said keep it holy. People will argue is it Saturday or is it Sunday? What difference does it make, so long as you set aside that day and spend it differently than the other 6? Spend it in the House of God, in the Word of God when you get home, in prayer, and don't mix it with going out to eat, going home and watching the ball game, going shopping. If you have to work, meditate on Him, talk to Him, if you can do that and still do your job. It's where your heart is-is it, like Abraham, seeking a city whose Builder and Maker is God? Is it on this wonderful, magnificent God who loves us, or is it on the world and worldly things? Is it on our problems, bills, the pressures of life or is it looking to HIM? You aren't keeping the Sabbath day of rest holy if you spend it on yourself, pleasing yourself. Read Isaiah 58. People say I work all week, it's my day off. If we can't give God the time He requires now, can we really expect to meet Him in the air when He sends

for us? He's coming after those who are watching, and prepared, with their lamps burning. It takes time in the Word, in His presence, in prayer, to be filled, and to have the supply of His Spirit we need to take us out of here, folks. He wants His people full of His Spirit and He wants to move again, mightily among His people. There are those like Abraham, who want the God they can't see, who know they are helpless to have that abundant life He promises without HE make it a reality. But then, there are those who are like Lot, after the things of the flesh. This is the danger. God sent two angels to Sodom, and by this time, Lot was a judge, who sat in power in this city. When you read "Lot sat in the gate of Sodom" that means he held a position of power in the city. He sees right away there is something different about them. He knows the wickedness of this city and pleads with them to come home with him. They finally agree but they haven't been there long before the other men of the city surround the house, and start calling out. "Lot! Send out the strangers that we might have a go at them, too! Don't hold out on us!" Their conversation indicates they thought Lot like themselves. After all, he lived and worked and prospered among them, did he not? He even calls them brethren! What was he thinking? But they insist, and he even offers his two virgin daughters for their abuse and pleasure if they leave the visitors alone. I have never understood how the Bible could call him a righteous man in 2 Peter, but it does, and I will leave that alone.

Gen 19:9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. The angels pulled Lot back inside and smote the men outside with blindness and they could not find the door. Just before the judgment of God falls, people who have risen up against righteousness, whether they are hypocritical religious folks, or just sinners who don't pretend religion, they will be blind to reality. They will think they are alright. They will be fumbling in the dark, groping for a way out but be unable to find the Door. Jesus said this:

Luk 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. What a frightening thought. Self can't enter that Door. Flesh can't enter that door. Unsurrendered sin, or pride cannot enter that door. People will want to be able to go in but be unwilling to lay down the weights they carry to get through. They will hold on to the very thing that will damn their soul. Blind. Right now there is hope. We can pray the Lord open our eyes. He said I will bring the blind by a way they know not. I will lead them in paths they have not known and I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. (Isa 42:16). But there will be those who don't want to see. Remember, He said if you walk after the demands of your flesh you will die. God wants to move. There isn't a lot of time. Soon, Jesus is coming. We have lost loved ones who need Him. Let us lay our all on His altar, before Him and trust Him to give us that new abundant life in HIM. Our life must be hid in Him. He is a merciful, Gracious God and He wants to reach out to us, but we must be prepared. We need to be praying more than ever, saturating ourselves with the

Word of God, more than ever, and seeking Him! Fast, pray, read, and then start over and do it again! This kind of exposure to the Word will break up our fallow ground and prepare us, make us humble. He loves us. He's coming. Are we ready? Will we listen? I pray you will all take heed, myself and my family, included.