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JANUARY, 1999 |
ENEMIES TO GUARD AGAINST IN 1999 Several years ago the Lord gave me the following teaching out of the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. As a prophet, Malachi had to deal with the people's attitude toward God. They had become double-minded and this attitude was evident in their moral and religious corruption. Their double-mindedness produced empty ritual, cheating of tithes and offerings, mixed marriages, divorcing their covenant wives and great indifference to God's moral and ceremonial laws. HARDENED HEARTSDouble mindedness opened the door to discouragement, apathy and hopelessness. The end result was that their hearts became hardened and they became insensitive spiritually. Their rebellion toward God was not open rebellion because they were continuing with their ceremonies and their worship. They went through all the rituals of worshipping God, however their mouths gave them away. Read Malachi 3:13-25. It says, "Your words have been harsh against me says the Lord, Yet you say what have we spoken against you? You have said it is vain to serve God. What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance and that we have walked as mourners before the Lord of Hosts." So their attitude had become one of, "It doesn't pay to serve God." Back in chapter 1 verses 7-8 Malachi says, "…when you offer the blind as a sacrifice is it not evil and when you offer the lame and sick is it not evil?" They were supposed to bring the very best that they had for the sacrifice. Instead they were giving the lame, the sick and the blind. God's response was, "offer it then to your governor, would he then be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably says the Lord of Hosts?" In the middle part of verse 13 he says, "'You bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?' Says the Lord. But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and makes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished-- for I am a great King," says the Lord of hosts, 'And My name is to be feared among the nations.'" God wanted the very best for their sacrifices. God deals with tithes and offerings in chapter 3:8-10. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Then the verses that most of us are so familiar with are in Malachi 2:14-16 where they divorced their covenant wives. "Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. 'For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence,' says the Lord of hosts. 'Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.'" GOD'S HOLY INSTITUTIONThey were saying that evil was good. Verse 17 says, "You have wearied the Lord with your words; yet you say, 'In what way have we wearied Him?' In that you say, 'Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,' or, 'Where is the God of justice?'" God's people perverted His commandments. We see this today in the world and especially in the Body of Christ where divorce and remarriage are concerned. Even Christians say, "Well, it's OK, God will forgive." As covenant keepers we have understanding that this is not what God intended. In chapter 2 verse 11 they married foreign wives. The New King James Bible says, "Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which He loves: he has married the daughter of a foreign god." They divorced their wives, the wives of their youth and they married pagans, which God had told them not to do. The Lord began to impress upon me the similarities between Malachi and those of us who are standing for our marriages. He showed me things that we need to guard against because God wants our very best today just as He wanted their very best. First of all, He talked to me about their attitude that it doesn't pay to serve God. And I had to examine myself. Now, I had not said to anyone that it doesn’t pay to serve God. But I realized over the Christmas holidays that I had begun to think that way. That attitude just began to creep in. I wasn't speaking it out and I wasn't actually forming the thought patterns, but it was there, the seed had been planted. Eventually, it is always our mouth that gives us away. Recently, I have heard people (who would have never said it before) say things like, "You know this stand is just too long, five years is too long." So, I began to examine myself to get rid of any wrong attitudes toward God. Then He really dealt with me about empty ritual. Do we still praise and worship God at home in our own private devotions, the way we used to? Or have we gotten into the habit of praising only when we are at church or at a Bible study or at our group meetings? Can you remember when you first got filled with the Spirit? Can you remember the joy of singing praises to the Lord in the shower, at the kitchen sink or in your private devotions? And I realized that I had not been singing as much recently. The Lord dealt with me and I had to repent. Has it become easier to stay at home from church, Bible studies and our group meetings that it is to go? You know we can always find an excuse. Maybe we're too tired. I have been tired lately and I know you have been too. Is the weather bad and do we use that as an excuse? Maybe we just decide that we would rather stay home and watch television. Maybe we plan other things on church nights. EMPTY RITUALSAnd do you know something else that I noticed I was doing, just in the past few months? I had quit being diligent about taking notes at church like I used to. I don't know how many notebooks I have filled taking notes from sermons. The Holy Spirit convicted me and I had to repent in this area also. I, too, like in the book of Malachi, had begun to go through empty rituals. God looks at our hearts and I had to ask myself, "Is my heart growing cold toward the Lord? Am I spending time in the Word?" Remember when you first got saved or when you first got filled with the Spirit? You just couldn't get enough of the Word and you wanted to read it all the time. I can remember when my husband first left and I started getting up early so that I would have enough time to spend in the Word and prayer before I went to work. And I did it willingly and joyously. It wasn't a drudgery for me at all. I looked forward to it. Are we still spending that time like we once did? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word. And it is especially not just hearing the Word preached by someone else. It is reading and studying the Word of God for ourselves. Do we have some form of consistent Bible reading program? (Write, call or e-mail for our Read Through The Bible plan) How about our Wednesday fast day? This was another area the Lord dealt with me about. Have we become so complacent that we even forget that fast day? Is it easy to use any excuse available not to fast or just to fast one meal instead of observing the full fast day? We know that fasting is a discipline and we know that we don't want it the become an empty ritual. But it is something that we have to be aware of and we have to guard against. I had to repent because I had not kept that fast day as diligently as I had in the past. We too, can begin to question whether it's worth serving God. When prayer and Bible study and fasting become a ritual we develop the attitude that they don't really accomplish very much. If we truly believe that they accomplish something then we're going to do them. So we may not come right out and say that Bible study, prayer and fasting do not produce results but have we become double minded in these areas? And we know that James says, "a double minded man receives nothing from the Lord." JOY OF GIVINGIn Malachi the people robbed God with their tithes and offerings. Are we sensitive to God's spirit about giving the way we once were? Is it a joy to respond? Do we give cheerfully like to Word tells us to? Or has giving just become an empty ritual? Several years ago the Lord spoke to me to call an evangelist and make a vow to his ministry and to do it for the restoration of my family. I knew it was the Lord. He spoke clearly, but I was so busy that I just kept putting it off. And then one day the Lord spoke to me and I realized not only was I being disobedient, but the devil was trying to rob me of the blessing that I was going to receive from making that vow. The Lord didn't want me to miss that blessing so I called the number and made the vow. The counselor who talked with me was precious and all I did was give her the information she asked for and then told her that the vow was for the restoration of my family. She started praying and prayed for every area of my family. I had not told her divorce, separation - anything. The Holy Spirit showed her how to pray for my family. When I got off that phone I just shouted, "Glory!" It was worth the phone call just to have her pray for me and to know that she had heard from God. I thought, "Lord, I don't want to lose the excitement and the expectation of giving." Giving has been one of the joys of my life. Giving… so we can get the gospel out. Are we really giving in faith like we used to? Or are we just giving? We have to give in faith and believe God. At that time we were in a building program at the church where I was a member, and it had gone on for a long time. We were paying cash and building in stages. But you know, I had to examine myself many times during the building program and again when I read Malachi. Was I really giving with joy, knowing that it was a privilege to give to the building fund, or was I just a little bit resentful? In Malachi they ended up cheating and robbing God and you know we really have to guard against developing a wrong attitude. An attitude of, "Well, I have given enough, I am not giving any more." We need to truly examine ourselves because the people in Malachi developed insensitive hearts. I know I don't want an insensitive heart toward the Lord and I know you don't either. We don't want this ministry to be made up of people with insensitive hearts. Recently, the enemy has been throwing everything he can at all of us to try to wear us down. I haven't spoken with all of you but I know what it has been like here in Tulsa and at our office. We have had one attack after another. The devil has just tried to wear us down to the point where we will say, "Hey, forget it, who wants this, who needs this?" He wants us to give up. He wants us to faint. LONG STANDFor those of us with lengthy stands, another year has gone by. I said, "Lord, I need an example in the New Testament. I know all those Old Testament saints like Joseph and Moses. I want something in the New Testament." And He said, "OK, let's turn to Matthew 9:18." "While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshipped Him, saying, 'My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.' So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples. And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment." It was like the Lord said, "Twelve years was a pretty long stand." In one of the other Gospels it said that she had spent absolutely everything that she had, trying to get healed. So you know, we are not the only ones paying a price. There are some enemies to lengthy stands that we have to guard against. Enemies such as discouragement, apathy, and hopelessness. The Word says, "We shall reap if we faint not" Galatians 6:9. And He tells us we are not to cast away our confidence for it has great reward. In closing, during this new year let us guard against double mindedness, which produces empty rituals in our lives and rebellion toward God. Let us guard against our hearts becoming hardened and eventually deciding it doesn't pay to serve God. FASTINGFasting combined with prayer multiplies the effectiveness of warfare in the spirit realm. The dynamic of fasting with prayer is similar to God's warfare principle of "one chasing a thousand but two chasing ten thousand" found in Deut 32:30 (also see Psalm 91:7). Isa 58:6, Matt 17:18-21
Recommended reading: "God's Chosen Fast", by Arthur Wallis and "This Present Darkness" by Frank E. Peretti. This novel gives a beautiful perspective of the power of prayer in binding demonic forces. TOGETHER AGAINLee & Dolores were reunited in marriage on April 4, 1998 after she stood for 14 years. Dolores gave her testimony at the 1998 conference. It is included on the tape, "Marilyn Conrad and Testimonies" and can be ordered as part of the conference tape set or individually. Overall, I made an effort to focus on growing in God, through learning to really hear His voice. Of course, I did not come to this realization until after I’d made several "silly" attempts to bring about restoration in my own way. WITHOUT A DOUBT, my constant connection with Covenant Keepers, through weekly and annual meetings was key to my growth and understanding in the ways of God relative to marriage healing. In Chicago I was an assistant leader in a Covenant Keepers Group. In California I also attended a group. Since 1986, I have attended every annual meeting of Covenant Keepers. It became very clear to me that because my words carry power, I had to renounce the negative words I’d spoken, in ignorance, relative to my marriage. Therefore, I determined that I would only say what God says about our marriage or, I’d simply have no comment. That became quite easy to do! Learning to really follow God’s direction definitely included changing my talk, in order to be in line with God’s word. Particularly, I didn’t have a lot to say about our marriage around people who didn’t understand why I was standing for the healing of our marriage. Part of all this process in learning to hear and obey God included moving 2,000 and then 3,000 miles away from the city in which my spouse lived. I obeyed. The question that I asked myself often was this - if my spouse was present in my life on a daily basis would I make this particular choice? This really helped me NOT to get trapped in situations for which I could well be sorry about later. Specifically, I asked myself this question - "How would a married, spirit-filled wife respond to this situation?" Often, I’d think about the joy I anticipated of talking to my husband about what I had been doing during this time we were not together. (Praise God! I’ve had the opportunity to do just that!) Throughout my stand I prayed for other couples, and particularly during times that I felt especially vulnerable. Finally, I believed that it was important to live in the moment. Therefore, I was always active and involved in my church, as well as being involved with things relative to my profession, in every city in which I lived. My husband is a beautiful person, gentle, kind and tender. Two years ago when I finished my Doctoral program in New York and said, "Okay Lord, where do I go?" The Lord said, "California," and He opened doors. So we started seeing each other. This time was different because I had grown so much in God and there wasn’t nervousness or discomfort. So if he would say we would meet for dinner at five and then had to change it to six I was okay. "Maybe we don’t meet today at all, what about tomorrow or next week?" Because I really felt that way I didn’t have to pretend. I could look at myself and say "Wow, I’m so healed." You can think you’re healed and then you get around the person and there’s all this tension. So we began to talk and grow and I was using the word "Covenant" and explaining to him what I had been doing and he was sharing with me that he was always waiting for me to come back and he didn’t know why we had broken up in the first place. My prayer is that we walk in all God has called us to do. He is third generation; his grandfather was a traveling minister and his father was a minister for a time. I know he has a call on his life. God has a ministry for us. People can see the peace in our home. I thank the Lord for it because I know that He did it. I tried to do other things, it didn’t work! I know that it’s God’s doing and I’m so appreciative to Him and I know it’s time for us to move onto the next level. Throughout my stand, various scriptures were significant to me during certain "seasons" or phases. However, the following scriptures were most significant to me over an extended period of time. With respect to my stand, I focused my prayers in these three areas - for me, for my spouse, and for us as a couple. Recently, I was reading some of the Bibles I’ve had for years and saw references (notes I’d written) about my home. I’ve indicated a couple of those notes. ME: Ps 35:9 (1-16-77); 2 Cor 2:3-5 (1-3-78 God gave this scripture and said He has me in school); Ps 27:24; 32:8; 36:5; 56:4, 11; Pro 17:22; Jer 29:11; 33:3; Isa 41:10, 13; 50:4-5,7; Zec 4:6; James 2:3-8; 1 Jn 3:22; 5:14-15; 15:7; 1 Cor 15:57; Gal 6:9; Eph 5:19; Ph 4:8-9, 13; Col 3:23 MY SPOUSE: Deut 5:33; 6:5; Ps 1:1-3; 37:31; 40:8; 112:7; Prov 2:17; 5:18; 18:22; 31:10-12, 23; Isa 11:2; Acts 26:18; 1 Pet 3:7; Rom 12:1-2,9; 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 1:18; 5:25-28; 2 Tim 1:7 US: Ps 84:11; 40:8; Prov 10:22; Isa 54:17; Mark 20:7-9; John 10:27; 15:16; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Cor 13:4-8a; 2 Cor 9:8; Col 1:10; 3:17-19; Ph 1:9-10; 2:1-5; 3:13-14; 1 Tim 2:26; 3 Jn:2 |
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