The Time is Now!

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“America has its feet dangling playfully over a dangerous moral abyss. Are we at our lowest point and ready to turn toward God? He stands all day with His arms open wide. One divine moment is waiting for us. Let us come. The time if now!”

"Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” (Acts 2:40)

When we look at our nation and around the world, we are observing alarming levels of perverseness, criminality and moral darkness. The severity is critical and becoming more so every day. And the effects of our rebellious culture are far reaching. Suicide. Drugs. Alcohol. Divorce. Abuse. Mental illness. Rising interest in the occult. These effects and more are resounding alarms telling us to halt the brakes, change course and immediately stop what we are doing. The time is now!

Words of divine wisdom state, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12) We are selfishly feeding our depraved appetites, thinking all is good. We are giving no consideration to the deadly implications of our choices. We are walking morally blind, laughing all the way, as a dangerous precipice lay before us. The warning signs are there for all to see, but we are passing by them to our own peril, and that of future generations. Our own society’s blatant and unashamed warped behavior is destroying us. Unless there is an intervention, we will unknowingly walk right over into an abyss, and become the cause of our own national demise.

What is the answer? How can we reverse course? Is there hope? Often when people and nations come to their lowest point, and are forced to endure the consequences and face the truth of their debauched ways, they will begin questioning the status quo. It is during these societal moments, that the sovereign hand of Almighty God can begin stirring the hearts of a desperate nation. In times like these, a once-in-a-generation divine outpouring can happen. Is now, that time for America?

The Jewish people were at such a place when they killed the Son of God. It was the greatest evil ever perpetrated and became the darkest point in their storied history. Hopelessness laid across the land like a dense fog.

Then three days later, the Son of God overcame their evil plans and rose from the dead. Weeks afterward, the Author of Life poured out His Holy Spirit upon His followers. One of those, a man named Peter, stood as a leader. Under an anointing from God, he spoke words of life to a massive crowd that gathered to hear about this strange occurrence. In that moment, he declared the truth of his nation’s evils. He faced them with their wickedness, while lifting up the only One who could save them. Then, “…when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:37-39)

Thousands responded and were instantly changed! When the Jewish nation was at its lowest, God came and rescued a multitude of people from the evils of their own generation. It was a heavenly outpouring that altered the course of the future. It became a divine moment, that launched a movement from Israel, to the Roman Empire, then the whole, and continues to this day.

America has its feet dangling playfully over a dangerous moral abyss. Are we at our lowest point and ready to cry out, “What shall we do?” God is here. He has sent His precious Son to us. He stands all day with His arms open wide. Will we recognize our evil ways, turn from them, and to Christ with all our heart? One divine moment is waiting for us. Let us come. The time if now!

A prayer for you. “Lord God, save us from ourselves! We confess our evil ways. It is not the fault of others. We have done this. We call upon you to intervene. Only you can help us. Save us O, God! In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Revival and Reform

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“Why is revival so rare? We want the joyous experience of revival without the hardship of denying ourself and taking up our cross.”

Reform. It is often a word associated with politics like immigration reform, police reform and economic reform. However, there is also a spiritual side to the term. When God moves upon an individual, a city or even a church, He calls people to reform. And what happens if people respond to God? Revival!

Through Jeremiah, God spoke to the people of Israel saying, “I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds…” (Jeremiah 35:15) God was calling the nation to moral and spiritual reform, which reflects repentance, meaning a change of mind and life, that turns toward God and His Word by faith.

If Israel would have humbled themselves and responded positively, revival would have come, but instead, they stubbornly refused and their nation fell.

On the other hand, the Apostle Peter preached to the Jews in Jerusalem two months after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He declared to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37) And how did they respond? Thousands of Jews in Israel turned to Jesus by faith, changed their ways, then revival came. It swept across Israel, the Roman Empire and to the ends of the earth.

We want revival, but not the reform. We want the spiritual experience without the change. Why? Because that is the hard part. For over 40 years, Jeremiah preached reform with no revival. And prior to Peter’s message, John the Baptist and Jesus labored at reform for three and half years. John’s preaching got him executed through decapitation and Jesus’ preaching got him crucified. And even in the midst of the revival under Peter and the Apostles, believers were brutally killed for their message. But despite that, among the multitudes who did respond, the flames of revival continued burning brightly.

Why is revival so rare? In part, because calling and responding to moral and spiritual reform is resisted. Preachers rarely call for it because it is naturally offensive to their congregations, and people do not heed the message because they want to continue in their ways. They come to realize it is not about giving up drinking, smoking and cussing. It is about a complete reordering of one’s life under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. It means a new set of beliefs, habits and life direction.

And this reordering starts with the individual, but the kind of reform that brings real and lasting revival also affects institutions. There comes a change in the family, in how daily life is handled in the home. There also comes change in the operation of a business, change in the programming of a church, and change in the policies of a government.

God is calling you to amend your ways. He is inviting you to turn in a new direction. He is leading you into doing the hard thing. Why? He wants to save you from His judgement and the consequences of ungodly decisions for yourself and future generations. He also wants to pour out His Spirit within you, bring you into His family and give you an eternal inheritance in a blessed and glorious heavenly kingdom.

A prayer for you. “Lord God, we acknowledge we have resisted your call to reform. We want the experience without the pain of changing our ways. Come Lord, this day, we yield ourselves to you and accept your call to reform. Change us, O God, by your wise and loving hand. Then change our families, businesses, churches and cities. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Longing for Perfect Love

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“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude…" (1 Cor. 13:4-7) This is perfect love! Imagine this kind of love sweeping across the world.

Do you know that once upon a time there was perfect love? No, it is not a fairytale, but it really did exist. It was between the first two human beings, Adam and Eve. Their love also existed in the most beautiful place on earth, the Garden of Eden.

What was their love like? The kind we all hope for. It is described in the Bible this way, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Can you imagine every husband and wife having this kind of love? Their home and family life would be absolutely amazing. Imagine if this kind of love was present among family members, friends, co-workers, classmates and neighbors? Our world would be totally different.

How come this type of love did not continue after Adam and Eve? Because something happened that changed the course of human history. God created the couple and brought them together as husband and wife, but then they turned away and rejected their Creator. The rebellion caused a separation with God and a moral corruption within them. The love they originally had was still there, but it was altered.

The once perfect love was damaged in two ways. First, God is what made the love between Adam and Eve perfect. It was Him working in and through them toward each other that did it. After their rebellion toward God, they believed they could have that perfect love without Him. But it became the kind of love that puts a husband, wife, child, grandchild, boyfriend or girlfriend above God. Second, the original love between the first couple was pure, but after the rejection of their Maker, love became perverted and replaced by evil. In an example of this, one of Adam and Eve’s children, Cain, took out his anger on his brother by murdering him. In this case, love between family members was replaced with hate.

Down through human history until this day, we see daily examples of corrupted love. A man loving his wife through physical abuse. A teacher loving a student with intimacy. Two men loving each other, like a husband and wife. A dad loving his daughter, like he should only love her mother. A boyfriend and girlfriend loving each other in ways only a married couple should.

What kind of love is this? It is a love guided not by God, but human desire. When we love this way, we are doing it through the, “…passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind…” (Ephesians 2:3)

What results from this kind of love? There are moments of bliss, but it ultimately produces sorrow, division, pain and destruction. It also does not bring about the pleasure of God, but rather His anger. For He detests those who perpetuate this kind of fake love.

Can we ever have perfect love again? God has made a way to remedy the problem. He has given us a solution to rid the corruption in our hearts. How can we have peace with God, others and with ourselves? It is only through Jesus, the Son of God. He died and rose again to provide it for us. If we admit how we have failed before God and call upon Him for mercy, He will come and change our hearts, and fill it with heaven’s love.

A prayer for you. “Lord God, we long to have perfect love in our home and family. But we admit we have failed. Our corrupt hearts have torn asunder many of our relationships. We repent and call upon you to change our hearts, wash it clean and fill it with your holy love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”