Articles
You think I Need Repentance? Who are You to Say!
Barbara L. Klika, MSW, Undershepherd, Life Coach
May 2014
Written for Wisconsin Christian Newspaper
Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine;
and we shall be saved.
Psa 80:19
We are under His Hand of judgment. He is allowing bold forces for chaos and confusion as they do what is necessary to bring about their worldwide control and the false Messiah; the things that He says must happen before Yeshua Messiah returns. Will we plug our ears and refuse to know, bow to the fear and tyranny, or will we seek our Elohim, turning our hearts and souls back toward Him, so that He may hear our prayers and turn back the enemy while we wait for Yeshua?
And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries:
but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Dan 11:32
As Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah, dare we ask: Abba, will You decree total destruction of this country or will you spare us for the sake of some number of righteous people who seek You in humility?
Though many people still do not know, or avoid knowing, there is great risk of nuclear attack to America as the Ukraine struggle continues. There are forces within America working to bring our planned demise. Multiple issues threaten the basic stability of our environment, sea, sky and land, the very things that sustain life. I suspect we are again as in the days of Noah, when the entire earth needed cleansing to begin again. This information is not being presented through the major news media nor is it being acknowledged in many Christian churches. In fact, there is an effort to “gaslight” people who see these things into believing they are not seeing them. (check out the old movie or Wikipedia on this subject.) Some are only too willing to comply and remain numb for it is indeed serious and frightening.
Our lifestyle here in America, and much of the western world, has been one of convenience and comfort. Solitary prophetic voices have called to us through this comfort from time to time, reminding us of the true status of this world and our place in it, but not of it. Too often people hear something but do nothing, missing the crucial aspect of faith: Shema! It’s usually translated as “HEAR” but which means to both hear and obey.
"As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the
doors of the houses,
saying to each other, 'Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.'
My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words,
but they do not put them into practice.
Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.
Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice
and plays an instrument well,
for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.
Ezekiel 33:30-33 NIV
Every age has a particular threat to faith. Efforts to encourage people to turn to our Father must address the need of that age or they are fruitless. Though other issues are not wrong, they may be penny solutions to dollar sized problems, keeping us lulled and unaware of the greatest need. I just saw a major Christian ministry article focusing on single parents as a primary source of poverty. While this is not a wrong concern, at this point, without exaggeration I see that the stability of our world and its ability to support life, as well as political corruption, threaten our very existence, single parents or not! Our need to turn back toour Father and His ways so that He will hear our prayers and perhaps relent toward us and turn back the worst of the judgment falling is a much bigger need! Current issues are on a global scale once again and the chaos must come, but will we stand or fall to it?
Our little home fellowship has made it a practice now for 14 years to regularly pray, asking our Father to expose anything within us or among us that is not pleasing to Him. It was terrifying to do this, but we were acutely aware of the high spiritual stakes and necessity for us to be made set apart for His purposes if we really were to be able to call on His Name with clean hands and a pure heart and be of help to anyone else. Later we learned to also ask for His courage and perseverance and adequate joy to sustain us while we worked through these matters for a resolution honoring to Him. Difficult? Yes. Rewarding? Yes. Continuing? Yes.
I have asked other group leaders about a similar practice and have found only individuals who have ever prayed in like manner. A teleconference participant recognized the importance of such prayer and brought it to his fellowship group. He was met with a “cold-shoulder” as people were offended, apparently by the audacity of suggesting such a thing. He saw it as a type of personal idolatry or Ba’al worship: valuing one’s own perceptions and desires above willingness to submit in humility to our Father. Essentially, they preferred to go on as always without such potentially revealing prayer. Is “let sleeping dogs lie” a God honoring precept?
So I challenge you, dear reader. Have you sincerely personally and corporately asked our Father to shed light on anything that remains in the dark for you personally or in your relationships? Do you know Him well enough to trust that He will honor your request and actively bring you and those in relationship with you into a cleansing, sanctification process? He is not there to bring condemnation, but when we ask, He will surely bring awareness and repentance and a desire to be forgiven and restored. From such a base of being restored and sanctified for His purposes, surely we can walk in boldness and His authority. Surely from there we can intercede with grace and mercy and strength.
Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine;
and we shall be saved.
Psa 80:19
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