|
|
|
|
MERCY OF GOD SERIES
FROM THE
MERCY SEAT
In the last message, we talked
about the growth from the realm of manifestation to the realm of revelation
into the realm of love and mercy. Let us start with the Old Testament in the book
of II Chron. 5. We realized that mercy comes after
judgment. Where there is no judgment, there is no requirement to show mercy.
Mercy is only shown after sentence is imposed. There may be a penalty of a
fine, jail term, or death, depending on the gravity of the crime. Mercy comes
in and says, “Cancel the penalty,” and the guilty one is now freed. When mercy
is really shown, the penalty is not required anymore. Of course, judging is
easy. It is easy to judge good judgment based on a clear interpretation of the
law. It is also easy to fall into poor judgment because of insufficient facts
or evidences. Sub-consciously, in our daily experiences with people, we judge
them into different categories. But yet, we need to learn an important quality
called mercy.
How do we withhold judgment
and not allow our hearts to judge others? Allow mercy to come forth in our
hearts. Jesus says in Matt. 7:1 Judge not and you will not be judged. He
requires us to learn the secret of withholding judgment and showing mercy. Mercy
is the quality required when judgment is due. Kindness
comes forth where there is a need. It does not mean that there is no guilt or
penalty involved but it means extending kindness to one who is in need, whether
it is a spiritual need, a physical need or financial need. When one does
something to meet that need, that is kindness.
Compassion is something different. Compassion is the constant presence of God
that we feel for His creation. Mercy relates to a king sitting on a throne or
to the Pardons Board. After a judge has passed his judgment on the guilty and
stipulated the penalty, the case is forwarded to the king or Pardons Board for
review. After studying the case, the king or Pardons Board may grant pardon to
the offender.
Kindness gives us a picture of
a father. Mercy is a picture of a legitimate authority that withholds
punishment. Kindness is a picture of a father and mother who show care.
Compassion is a picture of a Creator who bleeds and yearns for His creation.
That is what compassion and the love of God is like. It is that awesome sense of the Father when
He looks at His creation that did not turn out good as He intended it to be.
As
we look at II Chron. 5, we want to focus on a special
word here called mercy. As the children of
Now we
could enunciate many principles for the glory of God to come to a place. But I
want to focus on the principle of mercy. Mercy is the quality related to the
glory of God. If we want the glory of God to be on our life, we have to develop
mercy in our lives. Remember, the bible prophesied in Isaiah that His glory would
be seen upon us. Now before the glory can come the mercy must be there. We are
not just talking about the mercy of God for us. We are talking about how we
need to show the mercy of God to one another. If we want the glory of God to be
on our lives, then we must learn to show mercy. Mercy is to withhold judgment.
It is to refuse to judge another person. It is to look at the person from a
different point of view.
In
our earlier message, we saw how mercy and love are related to the power of God.
The power of healing, the signs and wonders are related to mercy and love. This
morning we want to point to the fact that mercy is related to the glory and the
presence of God. When the choir in the
If
we understand the debt that God forgives us, we can forgive every debt that
people owe to us. Nothing that other people may have done to you; that other
people may have hurt you and you can’t forgive them can be equal to what we
have done before we know God and God forgave you. Just like the parable of the servant
that Jesus talked about. The master has forgiven the servant of a great debt
but the servant could not forgive a small debt that another servant owed him.
Every time you find it difficult to forgive somebody, remember this - you have
been forgiven. God is not asking for something that we have not experienced.
Whatever you have experienced, you can pass on to somebody else. We have the
greatest experience of being forgiven of all our sins by God our Father. Out of
righteousness, He now requires us to forgive others as He has forgiven us.
We
need to emphasize on mercy because mercy brings the presence and the glory of
God in our lives. If you do something against somebody in your heart and in
your mind, it is going to affect the glory of God and the presence of God in
your life. We must do whatever we do with a sense of love for everyone and that
will release the glory of God in our life.
In
Exodus 25, when the tabernacle was built, the instructions for the ark are
mentioned there. Verse 16 And you shall put
into the ark the Testimony which I will give you. You shall make a mercy seat. Now
why didn’t God call it a glory seat, which was actually what it was. If you were to make a piece of furniture knowing that
the piece of furniture was going to symbolize the fullness of your power on
earth what would you name it? We could give it many names. We might name it the
seat of authority. We might name it the seat of power. We might name
it the awesome seat. We might name it the energizing seat. Of the
six pieces of furniture and all the ceremonies that took place in the Old
Testament, the whole life of
And
there is a revelation in that. Mercy and power are related. Mercy and glory are
related. If you want to learn the secret of the most holy presence of God, you
must discover mercy. You must discover how to show mercy to those who hate you
and to those who judge you. You must show mercy to your enemies. You must show
mercy to your fellow brethren who may have accidentally or ignorantly harmed
you or hurt you. You must discover mercy to discover the Holy of holies. So
many Christians desire to live in the Holy of holiest but so few have
discovered the way to it – through walking a life of mercy.
We
speak about living in the Outer court, the Holy place and the Most Holy place.
We speak about the awesome presence of God that is now inside transforming us.
We can imagine all kinds of power that we desire. How many of you desire the
presence of God in your life? We all do. Yet the secret of God’s presence, - listen
carefully; this one sentence contains the whole bible, - the secret of God’s
presence dwells in mercy. If you want the presence of God to increase in your
life, in your ministry, in your business, if you want to increase your
anointing by ten times, increase your mercy by ten times. Increase ten times in
mercy and then you will increase ten times, in whatsoever your hands lay upon.
The
secret of the universe is the mercy of God, who is Yahweh in the Old Testament,
who is the God of our salvation revealed in Jesus and our heavenly Father in
the New Testament. Deep in the heart of God, deep from where the wells of the
presence of God flow into the universe is a point in His being called mercy. No
wonder in the Old Testament they were extolling His mercy. He is good and
His mercy endures forever. It touches the Niagara Falls of God’s presence
and glory and it overflowed into their life. How great that mercy of God is.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life. That is
from Psalms 23. The whole of Ps. 23 revolves around God’s mercy. The Lord is
your shepherd, you shall not want, He leads you besides still waters, His rod
and staff give you comfort, He prepares the table in the presence of your
enemies revolve around the fact that His goodness and mercy will follow you.
When you take away mercy, you take away the Lord being your Shepherd, you take
away the green pastures, you take away the still waters, you
take away the rod and the staff. You take away all these blessings of God if
you take away His mercy following us. We need to learn His mercy.
And
yet, mercy is not something hard or difficult to learn. It is only our
willingness to let go and forgive. Forgiving is more letting go. How hardened
can the human heart be when they will hold on to everything that hurts and
grieves them and will not hold on to the mercy of God.
It is better to live in the mercy seat of God than anywhere else.
In
Exodus 33, Moses said to God, “Please show me Your
glory.” That is the desire of everyone who has walked with God. They want to
see more of God’s glory. When God showed His glory to Moses, He told him, “You
cannot see My face but I will show you the back parts
of My glory. Exodus 34:5-6 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with
him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him
and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abounding in goodness and truth.” You know He starts with Mercy. Mercy is the
meeting point where we contact the other parts of God’s presence. If we want
our lives to continue to flow with that mercy, we need to contact God at that
point.
In
the book of Acts 15, there is a prophecy about some things that will take place
in the last days that we want to read about. In the
Now
what is this tabernacle of David that will be restored? Of course, we know it
is related to praise and worship. We also know that it is related to the
restoration of the temple to the Jewish age. We also know it is the restoration
to the Jewish nation. But it is also the restoration of the fullness of the
Now
a cross reference will tell you that this passage comes from the book of Isa. 55:3. If you study it, you find that it is related to
the covenant that God has made with David, which was also the basic covenant
that they quote in Acts 15 the restoration of the Davidic covenant to the Jews.
Now the whole restoration of God’s covenant revolves around one word and the
word is the word mercy. In these last days that we live in where the
love of many has gone cold and became cruel, the people of God need to rest
strong in mercy. We have to understand the high realm of mercy that He desires
to bring upon our lives and on the lives of others.
How
is it possible for God to show us such mercy as is
found in the book of Romans? In Rom. 8 even though the word mercy did
not occur but that’s the fullness of the act of mercy. In Rom. 5:8 But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. And part of that is expressed in chapter 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for
it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So even when our
minds were in enmity against God and we were enemies of God, God showed us His
love and mercy. He forgave us before we ask for forgiveness. John didn’t write,
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son but before He
sent His Son to the world, we have to ask Him for forgiveness.” If God had waited for us to ask Him for
forgiveness before sending His Son to die for us, we would never be saved.
Before we knew how to repent, before we knew how to ask for forgiveness, God so
loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. We were forgiven before we ask
because He is a faith God. That is point one: He is a faith God and therefore,
He forgives before we ask.
Now
Heb, 11:6 tells us, Without faith it is
impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must
believe that He is and He is the rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. The first point applies to us because we have
faith in people. Since you are a man or woman of faith, you forgive before
people ask for forgiveness. Be like God. God forgave us before we ask. He acted
out His forgiveness; He acted out His redemption before we even asked for
forgiveness and redemption. We must be a faith people who give forgiveness even
before forgiveness is realized or asked. Are you a man or woman of faith? Then
we must act the way God acted. Be like God. God forgives us before people ask.
Before people know they are in need of redemption, He acted out His forgiveness
and redemption by sending His Son, Jesus to the cross to take our place in
punishment. We must be a faith people who give forgiveness even before
forgiveness is realized or asked. Are you a man or women of faith? Then we must
act the way God act.
Firstly,
you forgive before forgiveness is asked – it is in your heart. You act as if a
person has been forgiven even before they ask. How many Christians have hurt
you? If you say that it is so hard to forgive, you are not acting like God.
What happens if God act like that to us? Whatever you want man do to you, do
unto them also. What would have happened to us if God acted that way to us? We
are finished. Because we are people of faith, we forgive and then we write off
the debts. It is important to guard our hearts from unforgiveness
and to always have tenderness and mercy in our hearts. When you act in faith,
it becomes possible.
Secondly,
part of acting in faith is seeing the blood of the Lamb applied on others.
Because God is a faith God, He does things before we ask. Because we are faith
man and woman of God, we act in love and we forgive. It is not just pretense;
it is not mere acting; it is really from your heart. You really release it to
God and you act it out in love. This second factor is important. The blood of
Jesus Christ is our camera to look at people. Many times, we have always looked
at the blood of Jesus for ourselves. We always want God to look at us through
the blood. Not a single one of us would dare to ask God to look at you without
the blood. We always need the blood to cover the sin of commission and
omission. We always need the blood to cover all our imperfection. We always
need the blood of the Lamb. How is it that when we want God to look at us we
ask Him to look at us through the blood? And when we are looking at one
another, we do not look at them through the blood of the Lamb? This is inconsistency.
We should be generously applying the blood of Jesus to people as much as to
ourselves.
Every
time you think that somebody had sinned against somebody else, whether you were
involved or not, wherever there is sin, you must see the blood. And through the
blood offer that sacrifice which was paid once and you will not need to pay
again. Plead the blood. When you look at the faults of people, what are you
pleading? The blood of Abel cried for vengeance. The blood of Abel wanted
revenge. The blood of Jesus Christ cried for forgiveness. We must look at them
through the blood of the Lamb. These are little secrets to exercise mercy. When
you look at people through the blood of Jesus, you don’t see their sin any
more. If you can see people’s sin, it means that you have forgotten to put on
Jesus’ glasses to see His blood. I like to see people through the blood of
Jesus. I don’t want to see people minus the blood. If that’s the way I expect
God to look at me, that is the way I look at people.
Many people are not wearing the glasses of Jesus to look at His blood upon
other people.
I
am sharing with you a very practical way to exercise mercy and to practice
seeing and applying the blood of the Lamb in our daily lives. Do not just think
about it for your own life. Hundreds and thousands of Christians see the blood
only for themselves. But switch it around. You already have the blood, thank
God for it. But see the blood on people covering them. Think about anybody you
may have a grudge against or may have some difficulty with. Think about
somebody else whom every time you remember them, you always see their
wrongdoings. Do not look so innocent. There are people like that all the time.
This is human life. That is why He provided the blood of the Lamb. There are
people whom you think about or the moment their names are mentioned to you,
your face turns red with anger. Every time you remember them, you can only see
their sin and their iniquity. Why not look at them through the blood? The next
time you remember them, remember the blood. The blood is freely given for them
as it is for you. You say they did not receive the blood yet. Neither did you
when God first saw you. Remember the first point is faith. And practice this in
your life.
Whenever
I think about people, I must think about the blood and I cover them with the
blood. No matter what faults they have, I see them under the blood and I see
them forgiven. I see them cleansed where the blood of Jesus is. Look at people
cleansed the way God sees them in faith all the time. You will not have an
angry thought against them anymore. You are redeemed from your anger. You will
not have a thought of hatred in your life again. You will not have a single
negative emotion against people. Isn’t that a wonderful life to live? It is as
good as living without sickness and disease. It is a wonderful life to live
without any wrong emotion towards people. Every time a negative emotion arises
in your heart towards anyone, see the blood of the Lamb applied on him or her
and your heart will soften. Every time you forget the blood, you will see
people differently. (Singing “What can wash away my sin; nothing but the blood
of Jesus. What can make me whole again; nothing but the blood of Jesus. O precious is the soul that washes white as snow. No
other fault I know; nothing but the blood of Jesus.“)
The next time you sing this song, don’t just think about yourself. As you sing
it, remember it is being applied on others too whom you cannot see the blood
on. You must see the blood upon them as much as upon yourself. The second
point: put on the blood of the Lamb.
God
shared with me these little secrets about looking at people the way He looks. I
have never seen that before. In the past, I have always seen the blood of the
Lamb as only applying to me, I and myself. Even in the
Old Testament, there is a pattern. On the Day of Atonement, the lamb was
sacrificed for the high priest and another sacrificial lamb for the whole
nation for whatever sin the whole nation may have committed against God. On the
Day of Atonement that blood is for every single man, woman, and child in
Thirdly,
we must see like the Creator, as He sees things from the beginning. Look at
Genesis chapter 6 even though the people were sinning against God yet the heart
of God was grieved. Gen. 6:5-6 tell us something that
is quite astounding if you look at it from a different point of view about how
this feeling can be in Almighty God. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every intent
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry
that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Now
what was actually causing that grief? Read the next verse. So the Lord said,
“I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for
I am sorry that I have made them.”
See
them through the eyes of the Creator. Now this is how it applies here. God saw
man from the beginning. He worked with man from the beginning. He saw every little
weakness and every faulting step that mankind took as civilization progressed.
Now that sin has greatly increased, God has to pass a sentence because He is a
righteous God though His heart was grieved. It is like spanking your own
children. It is like having to cut off your own arm. Understand that was what
God felt like. He was remembering from the beginning.
Now
every time you look at somebody, try to recall how long you have known him or
her. Some of you know each other over a period of a few years and some a few
days. Didn’t something happen in your life when you know someone over a period
of years? Perhaps, you first knew that person when he or she was born. You saw
every faulting step that little baby took. You saw every mistake that the baby
made. You have seen every bright side that the baby has. Now that little baby
grows into a teenager and into an adult. You have been with that baby. You have
been with that person. You know the good side and the bad side. And there is
something in you that love this child.
That
is why no matter how hard a criminal is, no matter how cruel a man or woman has
become, no matter how a monster society seems to view them to be, there will
always be someone who weep, if that someone is still alive, for that monster.
You know who? The
mama. No matter how monstrous a human being has become yet in the heart
of hearts, the mother still feels for her criminal son or daughter. Many were
the times when that child was on his way to becoming a monster, many people had
rejected that little critter. The mama is the first one to defend her little
boy. The mama will scream, “DON’T TREAT MY SON THAT WAY.” Some of us logical,
intellectual, and analytical nerds would say, “It is not very logical for you
to consider him that way. We have known him and worked with him for the past
ten years.” Yes but the mother was the one who nursed him from the breast. See
the difference? At which point do you know a person?
Let me share something from my
heart to you. Every person is loveable if you can see him or her from the
beginning. After you hear the words from the beginning, the next word to
focus on is exchange. Now what would happen if you had been through what
that monster went through, if you had lived the life that monster had lived
through? You have been through those incidences that monster had been through.
Try exchanging your life for that monster’s life. And I ask you this question. Would you have become a monster too? No
matter who you could be thinking of that may resemble Saddam Hussein and Adolph
Hitler to you. No matter who around you that you disliked intensely and find
unlovable, nasty and a monster. (A) If you knew him or her from the beginning and
(B) understand the exchange, you will never see that person the same way again.
If you have seen that person from the beginning and if you had gone through all
those things he had gone through, you would not have so easily condemned and
judged him. Maybe some of them have been deprived from childhood. And here is a
sad thing. I weep for them. Every monster has been abused by some other
monster. The cycle of abuse goes on since a seed of abuse gives rise to more
seeds of abuses. Every human being on this earth was born loveable. But
somehow, some had gone through a different path and had a different life,
different family, different upbringing, different society, different kind of
influence, and different kind of friendships. Do you see the hurt they have gone
through? Do you see the suffering they had gone through? At first, that
suffering was a cry of anguish. A cry for help but no one was around. They
cried when they were little babies. They cried when they were little infants.
They cried when they were teenagers. They cried in their loneliness, but no one
was around. When they grow into adulthood that cry turned into anger and they
became monsters.
But you and I never saw that
cry for help. Think of any monster out there. Think of anyone who is so worried
about judgment and hell that you could think of. Let me tell you, it is because
before you knew them to be the way they are now, when they were crying there
was no one to love them. When they were crying there was no one around to heal
that hurt. The church was not where she was needed. There was no one to be
Jesus to them. If somebody had been there to offer a hand of love and a word of
love to them when they were hurting at that time, they wouldn’t have become a
monster today. It is because there was no one to love them. But maybe it is not
too late. Maybe now if somebody somewhere who learn,
No. 1, you could be like God who love by faith; No. 2, you could see people
through the blood of Jesus and No. 3, like the Creator you could understand and
see them from the beginning.
Maybe now it is still not too
late. Maybe now if you reach out in love even though at first that love was
rejected countless times maybe now you still can turn that monster into a
prince or princess. Maybe now love still
can reach out. Sometimes the scars of life are so thick that it takes great
love to reach into that monster’s thick skin, touch the heart, and bring out
the beauty. It is still possible since God can so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, having faith that somehow He can make something
beautiful out of ashes. True Christianity is to have this power of love. Maybe
if you and I would have that kind of love to reach out to the unlovable, where
everything else has failed, love will not fail.
Are you hearing me? Love will
still reach out despite many rejections. No, it is not going to be reaching out
once and then giving up. It has to be that kind of love that Jesus loves us
with that will go to great lengths and great sacrifices. Even sometimes to the extent
of that person who try to save that monster and loving that monster and caring
for that monster and that monster only repay with anger, in cruelty and finally
that person who loves that monster dies for that monster. And the monster
realizes that the person who was killed and destroyed was actually trying to
love. Maybe sometimes many lives may be lost. But one day I can assure you,
love will break through. It may take the sacrifice of many lives to love, to
win one terrible monster but in the end, love never fails. For the Word of God
declares in Rom. 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you can in No. 3 see that through the eyes of the Creator from the beginning you will always find the love for such people. Not even sometimes but you will always find the love for such people. Christianity is about love and mercy. Christianity is not about judgment, is not about the power that calls down fire from heaven and destroy people although that can be a sign under God’s permission. It is not about the power to rule and reign and influence nations although that is possible because Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. But the essence of Christianity is about a love that we have found so powerful that changes our life and that we learn to release it through our life to change other lives. Faith is great. Hope is great but the greatest is love. And Jesus says, “This is My new commandment that I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
I
want to end this message by reading a few pages of Rick Joyner’s The Final
Quest, an excellent book that has so much wisdom. What Rick Joyner wrote
here confirms what we have been saying so far. However, his confirmation comes
from meeting actual individuals in heaven, and understanding how Jesus viewed
their lives. Rick Joyner began by narrating the vision of a man who was
zealously serving the Lord. He says:
He was
continually witnessing to people, teaching, and visiting the sick to pray for
them. He was very zealous for the Lord, and had a genuine love for people. Then
I saw another man who was obviously a tramp or a homeless man. A small kitten
wandered into his path and he started to kick it, but restrained himself, but
still shoved it rather harshly out of the way with his foot. Then the Lord
asked me which of these men pleased Him the most.
“The first,” I
said without hesitating.
“No, the second,”
He responded, and began to tell me their stories.
The first man had
been raised in a wonderful family, which had always known the Lord. He grew up
in a thriving church, and then attended one of the best Bible colleges. He had
been given one hundred portions of His love, but he was using only
seventy-five.
The second man had
been born deaf. He was abused and kept in a dark, cold attic until he was found
by the authorities when he was eight years old. He had then been shifted from
one institution to another where the abuse continued. Finally, he was turned
out on the streets. To overcome all of this the Lord had only given him three
portions of His love, but he had mustered every bit of it to fight the rage in
his heart to keep from hurting the kitten.
I now looked at
that man, a king sitting on a throne far more glorious than Solomon could have
ever imagined. Hosts of angels were arrayed about him, waiting to do his
bidding. I turned to the Lord in awe. I still just could not believe he was
real, much less one of the great kings.
“Lord, please tell
me the rest of his story,” I begged.
“Of course, that
is why we are here. Angelo was so faithful with the little that I had given to
him, I gave him three more portions of My love. He
used all of that to quit stealing. He almost starved, but he refused to take
anything that was not his. He bought his food with what he could make
collecting bottles, and occasionally finding someone who would let him do yard work. He could not hear but he had learned to read,
so I sent him a gospel tract. As he read it the Spirit opened his heart, and he
gave his life to Me. I again doubled the portions of My love to him and he faithfully used all of them. He wanted
to share Me with others, but he could not speak. Even
though he lived in such poverty, he started spending over half of everything he
made on gospel tracts to give out on street corners.”
“How
many did he lead to You?” I asked, thinking that it
must have been multitudes for him to be sitting with the kings.
“One,” the Lord
answered. “I let him lead a dying alcoholic to Me to
encourage him. It encouraged him so much he would have stood on that corner for
many more years just to bring another soul to repentance. But all of heaven was
entreating Me to bring him here, and I, too, wanted
him to receive his reward.”
“But what did he
do to become a king?” I asked.
“He was faithful
with all that he was given, he overcame all until he became like Me, and he died a martyr.”
“But what did he
overcome, and how was he martyred?”
“He overcame the
world with My love. Very few have overcome so much
with so little. Many of My people dwell in homes that kings would have envied
just a century ago because of their conveniences, but do not appreciate them,
while Angelo would so appreciate a cardboard box on a cold night that he would
turn it into a glorious temple of My presence. He began to love everyone and
everything. He would rejoice more over an apple than some of My
people do over a great feast. He was faithful with all that I gave him, even
though it was not very much compared to what I gave others, including you. I
showed him to you in a vision because you passed by him many times. You even
once pointed him out to one of your friends and spoke of him.”
“I did? What did I
say?”
“You said, ‘There
is another one of those Elijah’s who must have escaped from the bus station.’
You said that he was a ‘religious nut’ who was sent by the enemy to turn people
off to the gospel.”
This was the worst
blow that I had yet suffered in this experience. I was more than shocked, I was
appalled. I tried to remember the specific incident, but couldn’t, simply
because there were so many others like it. I had never had much compassion for
filthy street preachers who seemed to me that they were specifically sent to
turn people off to the gospel.
“I am sorry Lord.
I’m really sorry.”
“And you are forgiven,”
He quickly responded. “And you are right. There are many who try to preach the
gospel on the streets for wrong, and even perverted
reasons. Even so, there are many who are sincere, even if they are untrained
and unlearned. You must not judge by appearances. There are as many true
servants who look like he did as there are among the polished professionals in
the great cathedrals and organizations that men have built in My Name.”
He then motioned
for me to look up at Angelo. When I turned, he had descended the steps to his
throne and was right in front of me. Opening his arms, he gave me a great hug,
and kissed my forehead like a father. Love poured over me and through me until
I felt that it would overload my nervous system. When he finally released me, I
was staggering as if I were drunk, but it was a
wonderful feeling. It was love like I had never felt it.
“He could have
imparted that to you on earth,” the Lord continued. “He had much to give to My people, but they would not come near him. Even My
prophets avoided him. He grew in the faith by buying a Bible and a couple of
books that he read over and over. He tried to go to churches but he could not
find one that would receive him. If they would have taken him in they would
have taken Me in. He was My
knock upon their door.”
I was learning a
new definition of grief. “How did he die?” I asked, remembering that he had
been martyred, half expecting that I was somehow even responsible for it.
“He froze to death
trying to keep an old wino who had passed out in the
cold.”
As I looked at
Angelo, I just could not believe how hard my heart was. Even so, I did not
understand how this made him a martyr, which I had thought was a title reserved
for those who died because they would not compromise their testimony.
“Lord, I know that
he is truly an overcomer,” I remarked. “And, it is so
just for him to be here. But are those who die that way also considered
martyrs?”
“Angelo was a
martyr everyday that he lived. He would only do enough for himself to stay
alive, and he gladly sacrificed his life to save a needy friend. As Paul wrote
to the Corinthians, even if you give your body to be burned, but do not have
love, it counts as nothing. But, when you give yourself with love, it counts
for much. Angelo died every day because he did not live for himself, but for
others. While on earth he always considered himself the least of the saints,
but he was one of the greatest. As you have already learned, many of those who
consider themselves the greatest, and are considered by others to be the
greatest, end up being the least here. Angelo did not die for a doctrine, or
even his testimony, but he did die for Me.”
“Lord, please help
me to remember this. Please do not let me forget what I am seeing here when I
return,” I begged.
“That is why I am
with you here, and I will be with you when you return. Wisdom is to see with My eyes, and not to judge by appearances. I showed you
Angelo in the vision so that you would recognize him when you passed him on the
street. If you had shared with him the knowledge of his past that I had shown
you in the vision, he would have given his life to me then. You could have then
discipled this great king,
and he would have had a great impact on My church. If My
people would look at others the way I do, Angelo and many others like him,
would have been recognized. They would have been paraded into the greatest
pulpits, and My people would have come from the ends
of the earth to sit at their feet, because by doing this they would have sat at
My feet. He would have taught you to love, and how to invest the gifts that I
have given you so that you could bear much more fruit.”
I was so ashamed
that I did not want to even look at the Lord, but finally I turned back to Him
as I felt the pain driving me toward self-centeredness again. When I looked at
Him, I was virtually blinded by His glory. It took a while, but gradually my
eyes adjusted so that I could see Him.
“Remember that you
are forgiven,” He said. “I am not showing you these things to condemn you, but
to teach you. Always remember that compassion will remove the veils from your
soul faster than anything else.”
As we began to
walk again, Angelo spoke, “Please remember my friends, the homeless. Many will
love our Savior if someone will go to them.”
His words had such
power in them that I was too moved to answer, so I just nodded. I knew that
those words were the decree of a great king, and a great friend of the King of
Kings. “Lord, will you help me to help the homeless.”
“I will help any
who help them,” He responded. “When you love those whom I love you will always
know My help. They will be given the Helper by the
measure of their love. You have asked many times for more of My
anointing; that is how you will receive it. Love those whom I love. As you love
them you love Me. As you give to them you have given
to Me, and I will give more to you in return.”
My mind drifted to
my nice home and all of the other possessions I had. I was not wealthy, but by
earthly standards, I knew that I did live much better than kings had just a
century before. I had never felt guilty about it before, but I did now.
Somehow, it was a good feeling, but at the same time, it did not feel right.
Again, I looked back to the Lord, as I knew He would help me.
“Remember what I
said about how My perfect law of love made light and
darkness distinct. When confusion such as you are now feeling comes, you know
that what you are experiencing is not My perfect law
of love. I delight in giving My family good gifts,
just as you do yours. I want you to enjoy them, and appreciate them. Only you
must not worship them, and you must freely share them when I call you to. I
could wave My hand and instantly remove all poverty
from the earth. There will be a day of reckoning when the mountains and high
places are brought down, and the poor and oppressed are raised up, but I must
do it. Human compassion is just as contrary to Me as
human oppression. Human compassion is used as a substitute for the power of My cross. I have not called you to sacrifice, but to obey.
Sometimes you will have to sacrifice to obey Me, but
if your sacrifice is not done in obedience, it will separate us.
“You are guilty
for the way you misjudged and treated this great king when he was My servant on earth. Do not judge anyone without inquiring
of Me. You have missed more encounters that I have set
up for you than you have ever imagined, simply because you were not sensitive
to Me. However, I did not show you this to just make
you feel guilty, but to bring you to repentance so that you will not continue
to miss them. If you just react in guilt you will begin to do things to
compensate for your guilt, which is an affront to My
cross. My cross alone can remove your guilt, and because I went to the cross to
remove your guilt, whatever is done in guilt is not done for Me.
“I do not enjoy
seeing men suffer,” Wisdom continued. “But human compassion will not lead them
to the cross which alone can relieve their real suffering. You missed Angelo
because you were not walking in compassion. You will have more when you return,
but your compassion must still be subject to My Spirit. Even I did not heal all
those for whom I had compassion, but I only did what I saw My Father doing. You
must not just do things out of compassion, but in obedience to My Spirit. Only
then will your compassion have the power of redemption.
“I have trusted
you with the gifts of My Spirit. You have known My
anointing in your preaching and writing, but you have known it much less than you
realize. Rarely do you really see with My eyes, or
hear with My ears, or understand with My heart. Without Me,
you can do nothing that will benefit My kingdom or promote My gospel. You have
fought in My battles, and you have even seen the top
of My mountain. You have learned to shoot arrows of truth and hit the enemy.
You have learned a little about using My sword. But
love is My greatest weapon. Love will never fail. Love
will be the power that destroys the works of the devil. And love will be what
brings My kingdom. Love is the banner over My army. Under this banner you must now fight.”
|
HOME I INDEX I PRAYER
REQUESTS SITES I LINKS I CONTACT US I TOP |
|
|