Monday, January 23, 2012

THIRTY DAY PRAYER CHALLENGE - DAY 23

PRAY THE NAMES OF GOD


DAY 23
GOD IS WRATHFUL


Think about this for a second - Holy Father, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are up in heaven looking down on the unformed mass called planet Earth. Jesus speaks our world into existence and then all Three say "Let Us  make man in Our Image".

Adam the perfect man is breathed into existence, given everything and a beautiful woman....except one thing - Do not eat from that Tree! Sure enough, Adam broke covenant with the Maker and all hell has since broken loose! It got so bad around the time of Noah that God Himself regretted publicly that He even made mankind (Read Genesis 6).



There was not just vile and evil acts of men - murder, mayhem, greed, pride, idolatry, devil-worship etc.. - but the fallen angels were committing a no- no! Angels, who were created before man, began having sexual relations with women, because they saw how beautiful women were. This created the Nephillim as well as a breed of giants. 


In His Wrath, God destroyed the earth once by the Great Flood, when only Noah and his family were spared.
In His Wrath, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, not just for sexual perversion, but for the sins of pride, greed and idolatry.

In His Wrath, God destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel, after they abandoned Him and committed the worst acts any human can devise.
In His Wrath, God destroyed Judah and Jerusalem by sending the Babylonians, after they did the same and both ignored prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah.


This is God's Corporate Wrath, where He judges an entire people. But what mortal men and women should be concerned about is His Personal Wrath! For 2000 years, the world has ignored the plain-as-day Message of Reconciliation brought from Heaven by Holy God, in the form of the Lord Jesus. The Ancient of Days, stepped off His Throne, gave up all His Rights to be born a baby in Bethlehem and lived for 33 years as a lowly man.


He showed us the Father in Heaven. 
He showed us the Love of God.
He showed us the Salvation of God.
He showed us the Way to God.
He showed us the Grace of God.


He was beaten. He was humiliated. He was persecuted and then killed by religious men. Yet He said not a word except "IT IS FINISHED". For that living Sacrifice of God, Who gave the explicit way back to Him, so that Adam's sin can be paid for, through all time, has been trivialized by evil men and women until today.


The majority will continue to rebel against Him. While they see no judgment coming, they live in perpetual sin and degradation. They mock God. They blaspheme God. They spit in His Eye. They curse Him. They deny Jesus Christ and more. They have no idea they are storing up Wrath for themselves. But a day is coming, declares the Lord. Read the following two distinctive passages from the prophet Nahum and then pray with me:

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD is avenging and wrathful;
the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
(Nahum 1:2-3 ESV)

Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
But with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
(Nahum 1:6-8 ESV)


Father in the Name of Jesus, I thank You that You are patient with us. I thank You that You did not destroy us again, after the Great Flood, where You gave Your rainbow as a covenant You will never flood the earth like that again to wipe out evil man and his sin.


I thank You that You gave a way of escape from the coming Wrath and Judgment through the Passover Lamb, Who died on the Cross for my sins.  I thank You that You gave us the church age so that we may be saved, before the Day comes when it is no longer available.


Lord, day after day, night after night, many of all ages, including those who call themselves Christians die in their sins because, for their own stupid personal reasons, they refuse to come to You, to seek forgiveness and make their peace with You. Countless billions will spend eternity in Hell and the Lake of Fire, away from You, because they believed the Lie from the Pit.

They believed the Lie that it's okay to believe what they want.

They believed the Lie that they can say what they wish against the Lord Jesus.
They believed the Lie that there are other ways to You and Heaven apart from Jesus.
They believed they Lie that they can live as they wish, with no cost..."because in the end, it will all work out"!
They believed the Lie that a "Loving God won't send me to hell", while rebelling against You all the days of their lives. 


While they believe all those Lies, Father, they stored up Wrath for themselves, which they will realize on the moment of their death, means eternal separation from You. Still, while they stored all of that up, You gave them the way of escape through Belief and Forgiveness through the Son, Jesus...and they continue to ignore it. You could wipe all that away, if they would just come to the Cross!!!!


Father, in these last days, I pray many will open their eyes and hearts, before it is too late for them...and I pray many will see the signs of the Times and confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord....and BE SAVED through His Blood and His Name, amen and amen! Oh God, let it be so, in Jesus' Holy and Precious Name, amen!



TOMORROW: GOD IS FULL OF GRACE


(image by google images)



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