Daily Huddle - Wed Apr 15, 2020 Repentance And Rest

Love you all, praying for you,
 
In yesterday’s huddle, we spoke of CDC guidelines and RPJ guidelines (Righteousness, Peace, and Joy – the Kingdom of God guidelines).  But in times like these, God has given clear instructions from His Word.  Ecclesiastes 7:14 – In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider:  Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other…  Yes, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you.  Yes, I will bless the LORD at all times, His praise will continually be in my mouth.  But in times like these – God says, “Consider.”  Many have opinions of what Covid is.  Some say it’s the devils attack, some say its God’s judgment, some say its China’s germ warfare, some say it’s the beginning of the end…  What does God say?  When times are hard, consider.  Today is the day to take inventory of yourself with God.  Like David said:  Psalms 139:23 - Search me O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  God said Isaiah 30:15 – This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…  Now is the time to repent – no matter what the cause or origination of Covid.  God warned the Israelites.   Deuteronomy 30:15 – See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love(obey) the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.  But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.  You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.  If you live right now in America – you are living in the most wealthy, the most benevolent, the most humane, individual freedoms protecting nation the world has ever seen.  The founding Fathers and even visiting dignitaries knew it was because of Divine Providence that this nation came into existence.  And that this republic "if we can keep it," is due to a constitution based on the eternal principals that come from the Word of God - The Holy Bible.  Our individual freedoms are based on the respect and kindness towards one another and the justice and fairness for every individual that God’s Word requires.  That which faith in the Almighty God requires – heart attitudes and behaviors impossible to be fully captured in a Constitution, nor codified in federal or state law.  When children in America learned to read and write, they used McGuffy’s Reader – which was full of lessons directly from the Holy Scriptures.  Our nation does not resemble these foundations today.  Political Parties have removed God from their platform, they have removed God from schools.  The very thing that brought the providence and favor of the Divine has been replaced by the foolishness of mankind.  Will God let wickedness go unpunished forever?  When the nation sinned, Moses repented for the sins of the nation, Josiah when he found the book of the law – repented for the sins of the nation.  Nehemiah – repented for the sins of the nation…  9:33 -  "In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.  Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our ancestors did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the statutes you warned them to keep.  Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.”  What could be more descriptive of this nation right now?  Today is a day to repent – for ourselves, and for a nation.  In 1996 in the State Assembly in Kansas, an invited pastor – offered this prayer at the start of the legislature.  It was met with venomous opposition.  There will always be those who want our nation to reject that which made it possible and prosperous since, according to our founding fathers… it’s Divine inception.   Here is what this Pastor Wright prayed on January 23, 1996 before the Kansas House of Representatives (augmented to reflect our current climate).  “Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. Lord, we know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.  We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism.  We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism and diversity. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.  We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.  We have neglected the needy and called it “the job of government.”  We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.  We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.  We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.  We have abused power and called it our ‘oath of office.’ Our politics are overrun with slander and we call it ‘speaking truth to power.’  We fabricate complete lies and false accusation, and we call it ‘patriotism.’  We have disrespected those in places of authority allowed by God, whom God told us to give honor to.  We have not honored them or the office they hold, and we call it freedom of expression.  We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition.  We steal from the rich and call it equality, we stir up race and class hatred, and call it social justice.  We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.  We train our children in lasciviousness and abomination and call it education.  We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our fore-fathers and called it enlightenment.  Search us oh God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.  Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas (and the United States of America), and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state,(and nation). Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ.   Amen.  you can imagine the reaction.  There will always be those who refuse to repent, and those who try to - they will deceptively call it bigotry, or some phobia or ‘ism.’  But God’s Word will remain long after the wicked are no more.  Will God let these sins continue forever?  Will He do nothing?  When times are hard consider.  But before we repent for everyone else’s sins.  Start with our own.  God said, If my people, called by my Name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.  Then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  The most important of repentance – is not you, but me, not them, but us, not what they did, but what we do.  Praying that you will Repent and Rest – that this is a time that we will consider.  If just His people, not the godless, or the evil people, if just His people will humble themselves and pray – God will hear, forgive, heal and restore.  May God have mercy on us, and forgive and restore.  Praying that you would pray for revival.  Praying that your peace and your rest would be in Him.  Praying that you will love others – especially your enemies.  They aren’t really your enemy, they don’t even know you – they are just held captive by the Enemy of their souls.  God loves them and so do we.   Pray that we won’t discover too late.  But that God will bring a miracle and a revival in our day – in this generation. Start with yourself.   Finally, know that God is a God of mercy and compassion, He longs to show mercy.  Lamentations 3:31 - For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.  Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.  Verse 21  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:  Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.  Praying that you will seek the LORD, repent for yourself and for this nation, turn from every evil, Seek the LORD with all your heart, choose His Word and His presence, and put your hope in God.  God will bring you out stronger.  He said when the storm is past, the wicked are no more, but the righteous endure forever.  This is humility not pride, this is an invitation, not an exclusion.  Praying that many will return to the LORD in these times.  That the righteous will rule, and the people rejoice, so that we as a nation will return to Him – the God whose ways are just and compassionate and right.  You O LORD reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.   
 
Love you all,
dad