A Call to Anguish

I now have had at least 4 friends post this video with a clip from a message delivered by David Wilkerson. I must say, it has totally stirred me. I have been experiencing some of what he is talking about lately: anguish in intercession. When I listened to it, it dawned on me that that is exactly what I was experiencing.

I wrestled with God on the calling on my life. I wanted to go to the lost, but He wants me to minister to the Church. People cannot grasp that concept: a ministry to equip the believers. (You see, when that happens, believers can more effectively go out and take the Good News to people who don't know.) I don't have pictures of starving children to show people to get funding. My message seems to not pull anyone's heart strings to help us like some foreign missionaries. (Although, these days, foreign missionaries are suffering from lack of funding from the church...so sad!) How many times have I almost thrown in the towel? But I can't! When I think that way, God sends someone to give an encouraging word, give a sacrificial offering, or be set free in an Inner Healing Prayer Session. Then I know it's worth it all to keep going! This time, God used someone to post a video on facebook to remind me to keep going. WOW! After watching it, I was stirred to get alone with God and pour out my soul in anguish about the Church.

Rise up, Body of Christ! The enemy wants to distract you from what is important; he wants to make you lethargic; he wants to silence you; he wants to drain you of any strength physically or emotionally; he wants to give you so many things to do that you will not have time to pray or read the Word; he wants to keep you poor so you won't have any money to give, or rich and not caring to give. When we see his tactics, we will rise up and be stronger in Christ because of all that that has been thrown at us.

I thank God for David Wilkerson. For those of you who did not know, he died this past Wednesday in a car wreck. He has completed what God called him to do here on earth and is now enjoying the reward of Heaven. Now, it is up to us to carry the torch...will you?

Confident Compassion

I woke up early this morning with the title of this blog ringing through my spirit. Think about it...confident compassion. What does that mean to you? If we have confident compassion, we will stand firm in the faith, yet not be judgmental toward others.

Some of us need more of the confidence. Others need more compassion. All of us need both the way God views each one, not the way man does.

CONFIDENCE
If we have confidence in our faith, we will not waiver. We will not question our salvation after we already have accepted Christ's sacrifice that He made 2000+ years ago so that we could have LIFE in Heaven for eternity and not an eternity in hell! (Yes, there is a hell, or there would not be a need for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.) We will not stray from the truths of the Word of God. God warned us that more and more false teachings would arise. Confidence in His Truth will keep us from falling prey to those "itching ears" teachings.

Jesus also told us that as long as we are on this earth, we WILL have trials and suffering...especially as we see the Day of His return approaching. I don't know about you, but I sense trials increasing. We have to have God's confidence to stand firm through them all. I, myself, have been experiencing an intense trial in the last few days and now weeks. I can't explain it, but it has been through this trial that I have had a renewed confidence in God carrying me through. I have been emptied of any confidence in my self and filled with confidence that He is my strength. Praise God for the deeper level of intimacy with God that I have experienced while I lay prostrate, humbly at His feet. It was then that all anxiety melted into assurance that HE KNOWS what I am facing and HE WILL CARRY ME THROUGH! I'm CONFIDENT that His character will be built in me to a new level.

COMPASSION
Lest we forget what we are celebrating on this Good Friday, may I remind you that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is the ULTIMATE act of COMPASSION! Most people know, and can even quote, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life." But, do you know the next verse? "For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." We need to remember that. All of us have sinned, yet God's grace reached down and rescued us--that is, if we let Him.

The more people come to me for Inner Healing Prayer, the more compassion God grows on the inside of me. He shows the root problem of why they sin. He then shows them truths that totally transform them and allow the to be free from the chains that held them captive. Before you start judging someone sitting in the pew next to you at church, know that you have NO IDEA where they came from or the situation they currently face.

Compassion does not mean we do not call sin sin. It does not mean we excuse sin and dismiss the need for confession and repentance. If it did, we wouldn't truly be compassionate, because we would be allowing the people around us to just keep going to the consequence of sin, DEATH. No! The Grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to say no to ungodliness! (See Titus 2:11-12.) Compassion causes us to pray and ask God how we can help others who are trapped. We cannot just haphazardly start going and preaching to everyone. With some, God just wants us to pray. With others, God wants us to act. He will let us know if we seek Him. Compassion causes us to be in a position of readiness to whatever the Holy Spirit nudges us to do.

Confident compassion. To me that is a tender heart that is protected by a wall of God's protection. When I think about this weekend's commemoration of Christ's death on the cross, where He bore all our sin (Wow!), and then knowing that He rose from the dead on the 3rd day bringing triumph over death (Wow again!), I start having confident compassion!