Before I left for California, someone prophesied over me that the Lord was giving me a new way to deal with the stress of leadership--"just laugh it off." I knew what the Lord meant. He was saying that I needed to stay in the identity of being His child & stay in tuned with His love, affection, & delight for me.
While I was leading the team in California, anytime I began to stress over something, I would just close my eyes & connect with Jesus--His eyes looking at me & His thoughts toward me. I would feel the joy of His feelings for me. Nothing else matters if my life is pleasing to Him & I can connect with His love for me.
One day in California, there was a significant moment where the Lord touched me in a real way with His love & I have been different since then. Not only did I experience it in a real way, but I have also been able to release it to other people & they are able to connect with His love & affection for them. I was able to preach on the love of the Father that night & people were receiving His love in a real way. Ask the Lord to give you a deeper revelation of His love for you; you will never be the same again.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
"They Didn't Stand a Chance..."
On our trip to California & throughout our ten days there, we got to know our primary bus driver Keith really well. After we stopped at a gas station in Arizona & all the kids got back on the bus with testimonies, Keith said that those people didn’t stand a chance. They didn't know what hit them when a busload of 55 firey evangelists swarmed a truckstop. Keith had been in the ministry for many years & was so encouraged by watching the students. I was also so proud of them as I walked through the truckstop & saw groups of students praying for people in every corner of the whole place. Some unsuspecting bystanders rededicated their lives to Christ, others were healed, others were engaged with the Gospel message, & believers were encouraged & strengthened in their walk with God.
It was like that everywhere we went. Some bus drivers took us to a casino for breakfast. Although we did not want to go there, the enemy’s plan backfired on him as students were praying for healing & people were testing out their knees & hips that were being healed. The gospel was preached & even the lady cleaning the bathrooms commented on how well-behaved & polite these 250 students were. In college campuses, restaurants, gas stations, casinos, streets, and coffee shops from Kansas City to Southern California—and all over, the gospel was preached & demonstrated through power, love, & humble acts of service. In San Diego, every time our team preached in a spot, we would clean up trash in that area. One person was so moved by this simple act that he asked how he could be saved.
It was like that everywhere we went. Some bus drivers took us to a casino for breakfast. Although we did not want to go there, the enemy’s plan backfired on him as students were praying for healing & people were testing out their knees & hips that were being healed. The gospel was preached & even the lady cleaning the bathrooms commented on how well-behaved & polite these 250 students were. In college campuses, restaurants, gas stations, casinos, streets, and coffee shops from Kansas City to Southern California—and all over, the gospel was preached & demonstrated through power, love, & humble acts of service. In San Diego, every time our team preached in a spot, we would clean up trash in that area. One person was so moved by this simple act that he asked how he could be saved.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Modern Day Stories like Acts
In Acts 2, 120 disciples were praying in an upper room & suddenly there was a sound of a rushing wind, flaming tongues of fire & all of them staggered out seeming to be drunk & prophesying in other tongues so that languages of many nations could hear. Peter told them that they were not drunk with wine, but with the Holy Spirit...
Over the past year here at the House of Prayer, the Lord has been pouring out the "wine of the Spirit" healing our hearts & freeing us from the fear of man. Each day before we went out to evangelize at UCSD, the Lord would visit us with the wine of His Spirit on our bus ride to the campus. We would be so full of joy that people were just shocked that we were so happy.
Two different days, 60 of us set up handdrums & guitars on highly populated areas & sang the same songs that the Lord has been ministering to us--"Now I have a purpose, Now I have a destiny, You made me for your Glory, You made me for your Glory!" We made up songs--"My God is a God who heals! (3x) He's better, He's better, He's better!" People would be so curious that they would stop & look, and many of them would allow us to pray for them, tell them the gospel, and people got saved and healed.
We were so happy & laughing so much that two students walked by & one said, "That's why we don't legalize weed..." It was like a modern-day version of what they said of the disciples. One of our students stopped them and said, "Oh no! It's not weed--it's the power of the love of Jesus in our hearts!" And she preached the gospel to them.
Over the past year here at the House of Prayer, the Lord has been pouring out the "wine of the Spirit" healing our hearts & freeing us from the fear of man. Each day before we went out to evangelize at UCSD, the Lord would visit us with the wine of His Spirit on our bus ride to the campus. We would be so full of joy that people were just shocked that we were so happy.
Two different days, 60 of us set up handdrums & guitars on highly populated areas & sang the same songs that the Lord has been ministering to us--"Now I have a purpose, Now I have a destiny, You made me for your Glory, You made me for your Glory!" We made up songs--"My God is a God who heals! (3x) He's better, He's better, He's better!" People would be so curious that they would stop & look, and many of them would allow us to pray for them, tell them the gospel, and people got saved and healed.
We were so happy & laughing so much that two students walked by & one said, "That's why we don't legalize weed..." It was like a modern-day version of what they said of the disciples. One of our students stopped them and said, "Oh no! It's not weed--it's the power of the love of Jesus in our hearts!" And she preached the gospel to them.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Prodigal Returned Home at Azusa Street
Our California trip was divided into two parts. The first half, I led a team of 60 people to San Diego to minister at JHOP-SD and UCSD. The second half, we were in LA & participated in the Fight Conference & Student Call with Lou Engle. The first night of part II, 350 from IHOP, plus many from local churches gathered at historic Azusa street where the Lord poured out his Spirit in 1906 resulting in the Pentecostal movement. We cried out for another historic wave.
Before we began, some of the students in my group came asking for my help with a lady they were witnessing to that had wandered up to the gathering. She was speaking many things that weren't true & yet she was hungry for the Spirit. I demonstrated to the students how you can take authority over the lies by interrupting & interjecting with truth. I told the story of the prodigal son. She began to cry & rededicated her life back to Jesus. Then, she began speaking in tongues. I explained to here what Azusa street was & why we were there, and then walked her through repentance and what she needed to do next. I explained to the students that as believers, we have authority over lies. When lies are spoken, we can reign in the conversation and speak truth that cuts through the lies. It is better for the person and can completely change the atmosphere. The power of the Holy Spirit--Christ in us, the Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27).
Before we began, some of the students in my group came asking for my help with a lady they were witnessing to that had wandered up to the gathering. She was speaking many things that weren't true & yet she was hungry for the Spirit. I demonstrated to the students how you can take authority over the lies by interrupting & interjecting with truth. I told the story of the prodigal son. She began to cry & rededicated her life back to Jesus. Then, she began speaking in tongues. I explained to here what Azusa street was & why we were there, and then walked her through repentance and what she needed to do next. I explained to the students that as believers, we have authority over lies. When lies are spoken, we can reign in the conversation and speak truth that cuts through the lies. It is better for the person and can completely change the atmosphere. The power of the Holy Spirit--Christ in us, the Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27).
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Adventures of Kingdom Life
Hello All,
I have decided to change the style of my blog. From now on, I will give short daily excerpts of stories, highlights, revelation from the word, etc...to keep you informed of what is happening in my life and to encourage you on a daily basis. I hope you will follow my blog and encourage others to do the same.
Over the next few days, I will write stories from our IHOPU trip to California that I just returned from last week. The International House of Prayer in KC sent 35o students to universities all over Southern California for ten days to preach the gospel on the streets. Lots of really cool things happened that I will be telling you about over the next few days...
I have decided to change the style of my blog. From now on, I will give short daily excerpts of stories, highlights, revelation from the word, etc...to keep you informed of what is happening in my life and to encourage you on a daily basis. I hope you will follow my blog and encourage others to do the same.
Over the next few days, I will write stories from our IHOPU trip to California that I just returned from last week. The International House of Prayer in KC sent 35o students to universities all over Southern California for ten days to preach the gospel on the streets. Lots of really cool things happened that I will be telling you about over the next few days...
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Devo 68: A Covenant of Life & Peace
Devo 68: A Covenant of Life and Peace October 14, 2010
“My covenant was with him (Levi), one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear me; and so he feared me and was reverent before My name. The law of Truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi 2:5-7
In this passage in Malachi, the Lord is addressing the backslidden and careless states of the priests of Israel during this time period. The Lord was stating that the covenant He gave to Levi was one of “life and peace.” Levi was the tribe that Aaron and his sons came out of and they were the first priests of Israel. The Lord promised that this tribe would be His priesthood, and through Moses, the Lord gave them many instructions to follow so that the Lord’s name would be feared and reverenced among the people. The covenant was put into place not to allow for carelessness and false grace to ensue, but for the Fear of the Lord and holiness to become a part of their lives.
The problem, however, is that over and over again it was the priests (and judges, and kings) who led the people astray. The Lord was constantly calling them back to holiness. The book of Malachi was the last book written in the Old Testament, just before the “400 years of silence” called the “Intertestamental Period,” or the time of the Maccabean Revolt in Israel. This last book was a call—primarily to the priesthood, to come back to holiness and the law of the Lord and stop leading people astray.
Some of the foremost accusations revolved around the degradation of marriage, marrying daughters of other gods, adultery, divorce, and not taking care of wives, orphans, widows and children. The Lord warned the priests that He would not hear a man’s prayers who abandoned his wife for a newer model. He also said that He would send a prophet who would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the children back to the fathers, otherwise He would smite the land with a curse. Unfornately, the Lord ended the very last sentence of the Holy Scriptures with the word “curse.” Four hundred years of silence followed that last word. Now days, Jews will not even finish the book of Malachi like it is written because they dislike the last word being curse, so they reread verse 5 at the end of their liturgy practices.
The problem was not just the outward behavior of the priests, but it was way deeper than that. They had no fear of the Lord. They did not honor or respect Him—Creator of the universe, Father of all, and yet they dishonored Him and disregarded His name as though He did not exist.
Unfortunately, these same symptoms are rampant in our society today—and throughout the world. However, we can still take the book of Malachi and apply it to our lives and ask the Lord to change us and make us Holy priests before Him. I Peter 2:9 says that we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.” Under the new covenant, they are no longer only certain ones who are priests, but now the identity of EVERY BELIEVER is a priest.
A priest is someone who stands before the Lord in worship and intercession. Worship is adoring Him and telling Him how beautiful He is and intercession is praying what He tells you to pray. Intercession is prayer on behalf of someone or something else. You can actually intercede for yourself as well, but the idea is that you are an “intercessor” or someone who is a voice for someone else. Jesus was the ultimate intercessor who lived and died for the people. He was our ultimate High Priest who sympathized with our weakness and now we can boldly approach the throne of God as intercessors and priests (Heb. 4).
Intercession and Communion are to different expressions of prayer but they both revolve around friendship and dialogue with God. The amazing thing about the new covenant is that now we do not have to go into a temple made with hands, but we can have fellowship or communion with a God who lives INSIDE US! He is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
Romans 8 is a classic passage that speaks of the indwelling Holy Spirit and His relationship with us in prayer and intercession. See, the Lord wants to make us 24/7 houses of prayer on the inside! In Romans 8:4, Paul says that a life in the Spirit is “life and peace.” I believe He is referring back to this “covenant of life and peace” God made with Levi. As long as Levi was walking in the covenant of God, He had life and peace.
As long as justice was on His lips and he was walking in peace and equity, and turning people from sin, Levi was walking in life and peace. As soon as he stepped outside that covenant however, and used the grace he was given as permission for sin and carelessness, he stepped outside of God’s covering. The grace given of “life and peace” was for the furthering of holiness, not for disregarding the Lord and forgetting about a relationship with Him.
It is the same for us to learn how to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). God has given us the Spirit so that we can walk in the priesthood of all believers and be in constant communion with Him (John 15) and constant intercession for others (Romans 8:26). Paul says that we do not know how to pray as we should, but that the Spirit will help us in our weakness and will intercede for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26).
The Lord gives us the same grace (or ability) to walk in the priestly covenant of life and peace that He gave the priests of Levi. He made each one of us to be messengers with the law of God written on our hearts and lips. Even if we are not Bible scholars at all, the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of Truth will come and teach us all things and bring everything He has taught us tom remembrance (John 14:26). Even if we are not able to spend long hours in a prayer room, the Holy Spirit will give us the grace for prayer and worship so that we are a walking, talking, living breathing house of prayer where God is worshipped in Spirit and truth from every place in the world (John 4).
So, let us take up that life and peace and enter into our identity as priests of the Holy God. Let us ask Him to truly give us the Fear of the Lord that enables us to live lives of holiness and dedication to Him. Let us lead others into the law of the Lord and become living houses of prayer.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Amanda
©Copyright Amanda Rich 2010
“My covenant was with him (Levi), one of life and peace, and I gave them to him that he might fear me; and so he feared me and was reverent before My name. The law of Truth was in his mouth and injustice was not found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi 2:5-7
In this passage in Malachi, the Lord is addressing the backslidden and careless states of the priests of Israel during this time period. The Lord was stating that the covenant He gave to Levi was one of “life and peace.” Levi was the tribe that Aaron and his sons came out of and they were the first priests of Israel. The Lord promised that this tribe would be His priesthood, and through Moses, the Lord gave them many instructions to follow so that the Lord’s name would be feared and reverenced among the people. The covenant was put into place not to allow for carelessness and false grace to ensue, but for the Fear of the Lord and holiness to become a part of their lives.
The problem, however, is that over and over again it was the priests (and judges, and kings) who led the people astray. The Lord was constantly calling them back to holiness. The book of Malachi was the last book written in the Old Testament, just before the “400 years of silence” called the “Intertestamental Period,” or the time of the Maccabean Revolt in Israel. This last book was a call—primarily to the priesthood, to come back to holiness and the law of the Lord and stop leading people astray.
Some of the foremost accusations revolved around the degradation of marriage, marrying daughters of other gods, adultery, divorce, and not taking care of wives, orphans, widows and children. The Lord warned the priests that He would not hear a man’s prayers who abandoned his wife for a newer model. He also said that He would send a prophet who would turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the children back to the fathers, otherwise He would smite the land with a curse. Unfornately, the Lord ended the very last sentence of the Holy Scriptures with the word “curse.” Four hundred years of silence followed that last word. Now days, Jews will not even finish the book of Malachi like it is written because they dislike the last word being curse, so they reread verse 5 at the end of their liturgy practices.
The problem was not just the outward behavior of the priests, but it was way deeper than that. They had no fear of the Lord. They did not honor or respect Him—Creator of the universe, Father of all, and yet they dishonored Him and disregarded His name as though He did not exist.
Unfortunately, these same symptoms are rampant in our society today—and throughout the world. However, we can still take the book of Malachi and apply it to our lives and ask the Lord to change us and make us Holy priests before Him. I Peter 2:9 says that we are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.” Under the new covenant, they are no longer only certain ones who are priests, but now the identity of EVERY BELIEVER is a priest.
A priest is someone who stands before the Lord in worship and intercession. Worship is adoring Him and telling Him how beautiful He is and intercession is praying what He tells you to pray. Intercession is prayer on behalf of someone or something else. You can actually intercede for yourself as well, but the idea is that you are an “intercessor” or someone who is a voice for someone else. Jesus was the ultimate intercessor who lived and died for the people. He was our ultimate High Priest who sympathized with our weakness and now we can boldly approach the throne of God as intercessors and priests (Heb. 4).
Intercession and Communion are to different expressions of prayer but they both revolve around friendship and dialogue with God. The amazing thing about the new covenant is that now we do not have to go into a temple made with hands, but we can have fellowship or communion with a God who lives INSIDE US! He is Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).
Romans 8 is a classic passage that speaks of the indwelling Holy Spirit and His relationship with us in prayer and intercession. See, the Lord wants to make us 24/7 houses of prayer on the inside! In Romans 8:4, Paul says that a life in the Spirit is “life and peace.” I believe He is referring back to this “covenant of life and peace” God made with Levi. As long as Levi was walking in the covenant of God, He had life and peace.
As long as justice was on His lips and he was walking in peace and equity, and turning people from sin, Levi was walking in life and peace. As soon as he stepped outside that covenant however, and used the grace he was given as permission for sin and carelessness, he stepped outside of God’s covering. The grace given of “life and peace” was for the furthering of holiness, not for disregarding the Lord and forgetting about a relationship with Him.
It is the same for us to learn how to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). God has given us the Spirit so that we can walk in the priesthood of all believers and be in constant communion with Him (John 15) and constant intercession for others (Romans 8:26). Paul says that we do not know how to pray as we should, but that the Spirit will help us in our weakness and will intercede for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26).
The Lord gives us the same grace (or ability) to walk in the priestly covenant of life and peace that He gave the priests of Levi. He made each one of us to be messengers with the law of God written on our hearts and lips. Even if we are not Bible scholars at all, the Holy Spirit who is called the Spirit of Truth will come and teach us all things and bring everything He has taught us tom remembrance (John 14:26). Even if we are not able to spend long hours in a prayer room, the Holy Spirit will give us the grace for prayer and worship so that we are a walking, talking, living breathing house of prayer where God is worshipped in Spirit and truth from every place in the world (John 4).
So, let us take up that life and peace and enter into our identity as priests of the Holy God. Let us ask Him to truly give us the Fear of the Lord that enables us to live lives of holiness and dedication to Him. Let us lead others into the law of the Lord and become living houses of prayer.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Amanda
©Copyright Amanda Rich 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Devo 67: Missions & Prayer: The Love of God & the Fear of the Lord
Devo 67: Missions & Prayer: The Love of God & the Fear of the Lord
October 12, 2010
“'From the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My Name shall be Great among the Gentiles; In every place, incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,' says the Lord of Hosts." Malachi 1:11
Have you ever had a moment where you had a sudden perspective change concerning something you have been passionate about for a long time? This happened to me recently. It wasn’t necessarily that my perspective changed completely, but it was like my eyes were lifted higher and I saw something from a different point of view.
The Lord has been stirring my heart tremendously concerning the uniting of Missions and Prayer. I have been burning every day for the lost and for a Spirit of travailing intercession that births souls (see Rom. 8:26).
I have been passionate about missions and evangelism my whole life, and I have also been a person of prayer. When I was in college, I was in the Missions department trumpeting prayer; Now at the House of Prayer, I have been trumpeting missions. I have always been like, “God, what am I doing here? I’m an evangelist, how long am I going to sit in this chair? Why can I never fit in with the rest of everyone else?”
Well, recently I had the opportunity to be a part of an evangelistic campaign in the area, and I was doing the work of missions and evangelism over 40 hours a week for over a month and a half—on top of my normal prayer room and house of prayer staff responsibilities. As I worked with them, I loved it and wanted to just jump full-swing into a mission organization. However, the Lord made it clear that He wants me to continue being a part of the House of Prayer for right now. He said that He needs “missions people” in the prayer movement and “prayer people” in the missions movement—because He wants the two to be completely married and no longer separated. He needs people with the DNA of both to be in both movements.
As for the perspective change, I cry over lost souls all the time—lately nearly every day. I go through seasons where the burden is more strong or less strong, but I am always asking for the salvation of the lost.
Thursday, however, the Lord drastically changed my perspective to the fact that it is not just lost souls I am crying out for but it is the fact that Jesus is worthy of all worship, honor, power, and praise from every nation, language, tribe, and tongue. I can’t just cry over the fact that people are dying and going to hell, but also over the fact that Jesus is worthy of worship from people who are rejecting Him. He is worthy of songs and prayers of thanksgiving and lives of worship from literally every person on the planet.
Only the combination of the Love of God AND the Fear of the Lord can bring about this perspective. Sometimes we get so caught up on mercy and compassion that we completely forget about justice and we make God out to be the “bad guy” who is trying to kill all the people in the world while the people are looking at a beautiful, wonderful, loving, Holy God who they are turning their eyes away from and denying.
Jesus is not willing that any would perish but that all would have eternal life. However, we must also understand that Jesus is worthy of worship. He is worthy of the praise from every person and winning souls and praying for the lost should always be God-focused and not man-focused. Only God can truly give us a heart for the lost. His heart is way more broken over the sin and depravity of man than ours will ever be.
The passage in Malachi is a wonderful piece of writing that brings the Fear of the Lord and Love for the Son together to bring the reality that every nation should worship the Son of their own free will because He is worthy, but nevertheless, they will worship Him. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. However, now people have a choice. When that time comes, they won’t.
The book of Malachi was not written to the lost, however, but it was written to the priests and the people of Israel who had lost reverence and honor for God and His law. They had put God on the backburner and had lost the Fear of the Lord. God said that regardless of how they responded His Name would be great among the nations and incense would arise from every place.
Malachi addressed the injustice primarily regarding the institution of marriage, which God loves, and he addressed adultery and divorce which God hates. Malachi used the terms God loves marriage and hates divorce in chapter 3.
He also addressed the lying and man-pleasing lips of the priest who God would come to purge and that the priests were to teach the law and not change it to please the ears of the hearers.
Malachi ends with a promise that God would send Elijah who would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He also says that if those hearts are not turned, He would smite the land with a curse.
In all, Malachi is about repentance and the Fear of the Lord. The Lord is Holy and to be revered and His plan will come to pass. He gives man freewill, but He is also sovereign, and those who deny Him will perish, and those who turn to Him will be as happy as a fatted stall-fed cow turned out to pasture in the springtime (to use Malachi’s expression in ch. 4). Also, he says that to those who Fear the Lord, “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings…”
These passages were written to the priests whose job it was to stand before God and worship Him and they were to be the messengers who taught all others to worship Him. His name shall be great among the nations and He is worthy to be worshipped.
So now, I look at the uniting of missions and prayer not just with the Love and Compassion of God for the lost, but also with the Fear of the Lord and reverence that His name should get all the worship He deserves. He is worthy of worship and praise from every nation, tribe, and tongue and He desires a Holy priesthood throughout the earth who chooses His name because He is worthy.
©Copyright Amanda Rich 2010
October 12, 2010
“'From the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My Name shall be Great among the Gentiles; In every place, incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,' says the Lord of Hosts." Malachi 1:11
Have you ever had a moment where you had a sudden perspective change concerning something you have been passionate about for a long time? This happened to me recently. It wasn’t necessarily that my perspective changed completely, but it was like my eyes were lifted higher and I saw something from a different point of view.
The Lord has been stirring my heart tremendously concerning the uniting of Missions and Prayer. I have been burning every day for the lost and for a Spirit of travailing intercession that births souls (see Rom. 8:26).
I have been passionate about missions and evangelism my whole life, and I have also been a person of prayer. When I was in college, I was in the Missions department trumpeting prayer; Now at the House of Prayer, I have been trumpeting missions. I have always been like, “God, what am I doing here? I’m an evangelist, how long am I going to sit in this chair? Why can I never fit in with the rest of everyone else?”
Well, recently I had the opportunity to be a part of an evangelistic campaign in the area, and I was doing the work of missions and evangelism over 40 hours a week for over a month and a half—on top of my normal prayer room and house of prayer staff responsibilities. As I worked with them, I loved it and wanted to just jump full-swing into a mission organization. However, the Lord made it clear that He wants me to continue being a part of the House of Prayer for right now. He said that He needs “missions people” in the prayer movement and “prayer people” in the missions movement—because He wants the two to be completely married and no longer separated. He needs people with the DNA of both to be in both movements.
As for the perspective change, I cry over lost souls all the time—lately nearly every day. I go through seasons where the burden is more strong or less strong, but I am always asking for the salvation of the lost.
Thursday, however, the Lord drastically changed my perspective to the fact that it is not just lost souls I am crying out for but it is the fact that Jesus is worthy of all worship, honor, power, and praise from every nation, language, tribe, and tongue. I can’t just cry over the fact that people are dying and going to hell, but also over the fact that Jesus is worthy of worship from people who are rejecting Him. He is worthy of songs and prayers of thanksgiving and lives of worship from literally every person on the planet.
Only the combination of the Love of God AND the Fear of the Lord can bring about this perspective. Sometimes we get so caught up on mercy and compassion that we completely forget about justice and we make God out to be the “bad guy” who is trying to kill all the people in the world while the people are looking at a beautiful, wonderful, loving, Holy God who they are turning their eyes away from and denying.
Jesus is not willing that any would perish but that all would have eternal life. However, we must also understand that Jesus is worthy of worship. He is worthy of the praise from every person and winning souls and praying for the lost should always be God-focused and not man-focused. Only God can truly give us a heart for the lost. His heart is way more broken over the sin and depravity of man than ours will ever be.
The passage in Malachi is a wonderful piece of writing that brings the Fear of the Lord and Love for the Son together to bring the reality that every nation should worship the Son of their own free will because He is worthy, but nevertheless, they will worship Him. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. However, now people have a choice. When that time comes, they won’t.
The book of Malachi was not written to the lost, however, but it was written to the priests and the people of Israel who had lost reverence and honor for God and His law. They had put God on the backburner and had lost the Fear of the Lord. God said that regardless of how they responded His Name would be great among the nations and incense would arise from every place.
Malachi addressed the injustice primarily regarding the institution of marriage, which God loves, and he addressed adultery and divorce which God hates. Malachi used the terms God loves marriage and hates divorce in chapter 3.
He also addressed the lying and man-pleasing lips of the priest who God would come to purge and that the priests were to teach the law and not change it to please the ears of the hearers.
Malachi ends with a promise that God would send Elijah who would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He also says that if those hearts are not turned, He would smite the land with a curse.
In all, Malachi is about repentance and the Fear of the Lord. The Lord is Holy and to be revered and His plan will come to pass. He gives man freewill, but He is also sovereign, and those who deny Him will perish, and those who turn to Him will be as happy as a fatted stall-fed cow turned out to pasture in the springtime (to use Malachi’s expression in ch. 4). Also, he says that to those who Fear the Lord, “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings…”
These passages were written to the priests whose job it was to stand before God and worship Him and they were to be the messengers who taught all others to worship Him. His name shall be great among the nations and He is worthy to be worshipped.
So now, I look at the uniting of missions and prayer not just with the Love and Compassion of God for the lost, but also with the Fear of the Lord and reverence that His name should get all the worship He deserves. He is worthy of worship and praise from every nation, tribe, and tongue and He desires a Holy priesthood throughout the earth who chooses His name because He is worthy.
©Copyright Amanda Rich 2010
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