LIFTING MY VOICE: LIFT HIGH THE BANNERPart 2
So shall they fear My n...: LIFT HIGH THE BANNER Part 2 So shall they fear My name from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy co...
Saturday, 25 January 2020
LIFT HIGH THE BANNER
Part 2
So shall they fear My name from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a
standard against him. Isaiah 59:19
As I stated in the previous blog, in an ancient army, there would be a man called the standard bearer out front, who, when the army needed to regather as one unit ready to advance in battle, would hold up the standard - or banner, or flag identifying that particular army.
The standard bearer for the church of the Living God is the Holy Spirit, and the standard or banner He is lifting up is the LORD Jesus Christ, and the uncompromising Word of God.
For every person living today, or for every church today, there is a clear unambiguous decision that each must make. That decision is: When they look to the standard of the Christian Church, the LORD Jesus Christ and His Word, the decision made is either: That's my standard, OR
NO:That's not my standard.
There can be no middle ground here! The time for Christians and churches to play games is over. These are difficult times in which we live. As Christians, we are in a never-ending battle with Satan and his minions, and we dare not slumber of sleep spiritually while the battle is raging!
The apostle Paul admonishes the church to "Redeem the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:16
Backing up a little in that same chapter of Ephesians, Paul writes
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light...…….And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. …………..But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says:
"Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light." Ephesians 5:8,11,13-14
Last week, our church pastor in Campania, here in Tasmania, Australia preached a message called "A Consecrated Bride - A Living Sacrifice." This was a call for the church to make herself ready to meet the Lord. In Ephesians 5, the apostle Paul speaks of the church as the Bride of Christ readying herself to meet the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. There are commands related to the way husbands and wives relate to each other, in the same way Christ relates to the Church and vice-versa.
Husbands are to love their wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water of the word, and that He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27
The church will accomplish this, not by focusing on ourselves, but lifting our gaze to Jesus, and worshipping Him, as the Bible says "in the beauty of holiness."
Ps Anthony stated that: We must align our hearts with His heart - through
1) Purity
2) Integrity
3) Maturity, and
4) Humility.
As far as God's church is concerned, "there is a line being drawn in the sand. A new wave of Righteousness and Holiness is coming."
In Joshua 3:5, as Joshua was about to lead the children of Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land, he told them: "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you."
The Lord is similarly admonishing His Church and each Christian in particular, to separate from all that contaminates our witness for Him and which would hinder our ability to hear His voice and to progress forwards into this year with 20/20 vision spiritually.
In Hebrews 12:1,2 following on from the Hall of Faith chapter of Hebrews 11, the writer says: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
As Bible believing followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our :forerunner", we need to have our eyes firmly fixed on Him, not looking back, not looking back, longing for the past to be revisited with a longing sense of regret.
Jesus said to some who wanted to follow Him, but who were distracted by seeming lesser priorities: "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62
We all need to "Position Ourselves" for blessing, and breakthrough, that we might see the fulfillment of all that the Lord has purposed for us.
Like many, we are believing for this year to be a Breakthrough year for our family, for our church family, and for our state of Tasmania and indeed, the nation of Australia to see greater evidence of its prophetic destiny proclaimed in 1606 by Portugese explorer, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros as the "Southland of the Holy Spirit."
We are believing for a great Harvest of souls committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit - saved, healed, delivered from darkness to light. God's miracle working power to bring honour and glory to the name of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Glory! Hallelujah!
There can be no middle ground here! The time for Christians and churches to play games is over. These are difficult times in which we live. As Christians, we are in a never-ending battle with Satan and his minions, and we dare not slumber of sleep spiritually while the battle is raging!
The apostle Paul admonishes the church to "Redeem the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:16
Backing up a little in that same chapter of Ephesians, Paul writes
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light...…….And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. …………..But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says:
"Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light." Ephesians 5:8,11,13-14
Last week, our church pastor in Campania, here in Tasmania, Australia preached a message called "A Consecrated Bride - A Living Sacrifice." This was a call for the church to make herself ready to meet the Lord. In Ephesians 5, the apostle Paul speaks of the church as the Bride of Christ readying herself to meet the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. There are commands related to the way husbands and wives relate to each other, in the same way Christ relates to the Church and vice-versa.
Husbands are to love their wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water of the word, and that He might present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27
The church will accomplish this, not by focusing on ourselves, but lifting our gaze to Jesus, and worshipping Him, as the Bible says "in the beauty of holiness."
Ps Anthony stated that: We must align our hearts with His heart - through
1) Purity
2) Integrity
3) Maturity, and
4) Humility.
As far as God's church is concerned, "there is a line being drawn in the sand. A new wave of Righteousness and Holiness is coming."
In Joshua 3:5, as Joshua was about to lead the children of Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land, he told them: "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you."
The Lord is similarly admonishing His Church and each Christian in particular, to separate from all that contaminates our witness for Him and which would hinder our ability to hear His voice and to progress forwards into this year with 20/20 vision spiritually.
In Hebrews 12:1,2 following on from the Hall of Faith chapter of Hebrews 11, the writer says: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
As Bible believing followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our :forerunner", we need to have our eyes firmly fixed on Him, not looking back, not looking back, longing for the past to be revisited with a longing sense of regret.
Jesus said to some who wanted to follow Him, but who were distracted by seeming lesser priorities: "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62
We all need to "Position Ourselves" for blessing, and breakthrough, that we might see the fulfillment of all that the Lord has purposed for us.
Like many, we are believing for this year to be a Breakthrough year for our family, for our church family, and for our state of Tasmania and indeed, the nation of Australia to see greater evidence of its prophetic destiny proclaimed in 1606 by Portugese explorer, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros as the "Southland of the Holy Spirit."
We are believing for a great Harvest of souls committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit - saved, healed, delivered from darkness to light. God's miracle working power to bring honour and glory to the name of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Glory! Hallelujah!
Wednesday, 22 January 2020
LIFTING MY VOICE: LIFT HIGH THE BANNERIsaiah 59:19-21So shall they f...
LIFTING MY VOICE: LIFT HIGH THE BANNERIsaiah 59:19-21So shall they f...: LIFT HIGH THE BANNER Isaiah 59:19-21 So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the su...
LIFT HIGH THE BANNER
Isaiah 59:19-21
So shall they fear
The name of the Lord from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a
standard against him.
"The Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob",
Says the LORD.
"As for Me", says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them:
My Spirit who is upon you, and My words
which I have put in your mouth,
shall not depart from your mouth,
nor from the mouth of your descendants,
nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants,"
says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore."
These powerful words were spoken by the prophet Isaiah some seven hundred years before their fulfillment in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of the Living God from His humble birth in a dirty stable in Bethlehem to His death on a Roman cross at Calvary and triumphant subsequent resurrection three days later. Isaiah's messianic prophecies of the life and ministry of Jesus make His book a most inspiring account to be read and re-read and studied.
I first heard a message preached from the above verses and following verses in Isaiah 60 some fifty years ago, as a very young Christian, newly baptized in the Holy Spirit - via a taped message by Derek Prince, one of the foremost Bible teachers from the Pentecostal and Charismatic streams of ministry during the second half of the twentieth century. A former Kings College and Cambridge scholar and professor, his Bible teaching was profound, yet explained with such clarity as to be understood by all who had "ears to hear what the Lord was saying to them."
So shall they fear
The name of the Lord from the west,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
These words of Isaiah were expressed slightly differently, but with the same import, by Habakkuk, one of the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament, in Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,
As the waters cover the sea.
For those of us living in the twenty-first century, this truth is becoming a greater reality with each passing year.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ - the GOOD NEWS of salvation from sin and freedom won in Christ - with signs and wonders following the preaching of the Word of God, is being attested to upon every continent and to the far flung islands of the seas. The Lordship of Christ is being proclaimed and countless lives are being transformed by the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit of God.
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a
standard against him.
It does not take much spiritual discernment to realize and acknowledge that, in the times in which we are living, the enemy [Satan] is coming in like a flood. As Isaiah says in chapter 60:2 of these times
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
One only has to look at the news of the day in any part of the world to see that Satan is alive and well on planet Earth. In western nations, such as my own nation of Australia, in many aspects of society, increasingly the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 5:20 with its sombre warning is relevant to our day:
Woe to those who call evil good,
and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light
for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet
for bitter!
One only has to look at the news of the day in any part of the world to see that Satan is alive and well on planet Earth. In western nations, such as my own nation of Australia, in many aspects of society, increasingly the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 5:20 with its sombre warning is relevant to our day:
Woe to those who call evil good,
and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light
for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet
for bitter!
Lest one is inclined to a state of despair concerning the intensity of evil encroaching upon our nation and indeed all nations, the second part of verse 19 of Isaiah 59 gives great hope for the future for those committed fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It says: When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
Referring back again to the message I heard all those years ago by Derek Prince, I remember him saying, in reference to this verse, in an ancient army, there would be a "standard bearer" who would go out in front of the army. He would hold up "the standard" or banner, or flag identifying clearly that particular army. As he held up the standard, it would be a signal for all the scattered troops to gather to the standard as one fighting unit, ready and equipped to advance in battle.
The Standard Bearer for the church is the Holy Spirit, and the standard that the Holy Spirit is lifting up is the Lord Jesus Christ
……………………...to be continued
Referring back again to the message I heard all those years ago by Derek Prince, I remember him saying, in reference to this verse, in an ancient army, there would be a "standard bearer" who would go out in front of the army. He would hold up "the standard" or banner, or flag identifying clearly that particular army. As he held up the standard, it would be a signal for all the scattered troops to gather to the standard as one fighting unit, ready and equipped to advance in battle.
The Standard Bearer for the church is the Holy Spirit, and the standard that the Holy Spirit is lifting up is the Lord Jesus Christ
……………………...to be continued
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