Happy Fourth of July!
This week as we celebrate our independence, God is also calling us to re-examine our foundations. It's easy to see that our nation's foundations are crumbling, in light of the recent Supreme Court decision and the slippery political and economic slopes we are traveling. Is there hope for America as we know it?
I had a dream several nights ago about the Fourth of July. On this day, as a parade marched by waving our flag, I saw military and police officers assembling on the tops of several tall buildings in Boston. One military man in dress uniform was shooting down into the streets, attempting to rout out a terrorist who planned an attack on our city. I saw all this from a vantage point inside my church, where I was sitting. Suddenly, from the basement below me (the foundation of the building), a bomb went off. The explosion threw me into the air and across the room, and our church began evacuation with the help of both natural and angelic authorities.
Two days after having this dream, I learned that the military had indeed thwarted an attack on police in the city of Boston - just days earlier. Scary? Yes. Wake-up call? Definitely.
What does it all mean?
It is no accident that the foundation of the church was shaken. (Note that it was not destroyed!) Aside from its immediate relevance, I believe the dream holds a prophetic picture of what the enemy is trying to do in this hour. We know the devil is busy trying to overthrow the foundations of our nation. Yet the enemy desires to overthrow our spiritual foundations as well.
It's true that the gates of hell CANNOT prevail against the Kingdom of God. However, that does not mean the church can sit back and relax while the world crumbles. While we are here on earth, there are still human lives at stake, both inside and outside the church, and we have a job to do.
I believe there is hope for America, but only if the church rises up in prayer and proclamation. What should we proclaim? That homosexuality is sin? That our leaders have led us astray? These things may be true, but they are not the declarations God has asked His disciples to focus on.
Instead, we are to both pray for and proclaim the key attributes of our lasting, spiritual foundations: repentance, faith, and the words of the gospel. (Hebrews 6:1). The prophets of old did this, John the Baptist did this, and Jesus did this.
2 Timothy 2:19 tells us that God's foundation stands firm, sealed with a two-dimensional inscription: "The Lord knows those who are His," and "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness." As one commentary notes, the foundation of our faith includes not only God's election, but also man's holiness. The definitive test of our foundation's integrity is whether we are IN HIM and departing from evil ourselves.
A Word for our Times: Psalm 11
The Lord brought me to Psalm 11, which asks, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3). Far from being a cry of resignation, the psalm goes on to focus on the Lord, who is still in His holy temple in heaven, still on the throne. He sees the wicked and tests the righteous. He is righteous, He loves righteousness, and he beholds those who are righteous (11:7). When our nation's foundations are destroyed, we need to do the same.
This week, it is clear to me that what we MUST do now is repent of any unrighteousness within ourselves, and make sure that our lives are tightly intertwined with Jesus, our righteousness. Apart from Him, our lives are full of dead works.
Please join me this holiday in praying more fervently for the protection of our police and our military, who devote their lives to defending us, even from secret threats we never see. Pray for repentance and faith to re-emerge in a crumbling society and a sleepy church. Cherish and pray for your loved ones as you get together, asking God to give you His love for them. I will be praying, too.
Gratefully,
Deborah Perkins
His Inscriptions
Key Thought:
The definitive test of the integrity of your foundation is whether or not you are abiding IN HIM.
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Comments
Very grateful for your post; we are indeed living in the midst of perilous times, just as the Word of God has told us. So much is going on in the world, that we as people of God must continue to be watchful unto prayer. More than ever before, we must be living epistles, and salt and light to this dying world.
Let us fast, and pray like never before for God's divine intervention in the decisions that are made by the Supreme Court. Regardless of how things might seem, God is still in control, and nothing happens outside of His divine will.
We have God's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church, therefore, let us continue to be all that He will have us to be in these troubling hours