A Call To Anguish

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I was sent this today by my good good friend. How convicting it was.
The Call to Anguish - David Wilkerson

And I look at the whole religious scene today and all I see are the inventions and ministries of man and flesh.

It’s mostly powerless. It has no impact on the world.

And I see more of the world coming into the church and impacting the church, rather than the church impacting the world.

I see the music taking over the house of God.

I see entertainment taking over the house of God.

An obsession with entertainment in God’s house.

A hatred of correction and a hatred of reproof. Nobody wants to hear it any more. Whatever happened to anguish in the house of God?

Whatever happened to anguish in the ministry?

It’s a word you don’t hear in this pampered age.

You don’t hear it. Anguish means extreme pain and distress. The emotions so stirred that it becomes painful. Acute deeply felt inner pain because of conditions about you, in you, or around you. Anguish. Deep pain. Deep sorrow. The agony of God’s heart.

We’ve held on to our religious rhetoric and our revival talk but we’ve become so passive. All true passion is born out of anguish. All true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of anguish.

You search the scripture and you’ll find that when God determined to recover a ruined situation… He would share His own anguish for what God saw happening to His church and to His people. And He would find a praying man and take that man and literally baptize him in anguish.

You find it in the book of Nehemiah.
Jerusalem is in ruins.
How is God going to deal with this?
How is God going to restore the ruin?

Now folks, … Nehemiah was not a preacher,
he was a career man.
But this was a praying man.

And God found a man who would not just have a flash of emotion. Not just some great sudden burst of concern and then let it die.

He said: “No. I broke down and I wept and I mourned and I fasted. And then I began to pray night and day.

Why didn’t these other men… why didn’t they have an answer?

Why didn’t God use them in restoration?

Why didn’t they have a word?

Because there was no sign of anguish.

No weeping.

Not a word of prayer.

It’s all ruin.

Does it matter to you today?

Does it matter to you at all that God’s spiritual Jerusalem,
the church, is now married to the world?

That there is such a coldness sweeping the land?

Closer than that… does it matter about the Jerusalem that is in our own hearts?

The sign of ruin that’s slowly draining spiritual power and passion.

Blind to lukewarmness, blind to the mixture that’s creeping in.

That’s all the devil wants to do is to get the fight out of you and kill it. So you won’t labor in prayers anymore, you won’t weep before God anymore. You can sit and watch television and your family go to hell.

Let me ask you… is what I just said convicting to you at all?

There is a great difference between anguish and concern.

Concern is something that begins to interest you.

You take an interest in a project or a cause or a concern or a need.

I’ve learned over all my years… of 50 years of preaching.
If it is not born in anguish, if it had not been born of the Holy Spirit. Where what you saw and heard of the ruin that drove you to your knees, took you down into a baptism of anguish where you began to pray and seek God.

I know now. Oh my God do I know it. Until I am in agony. Until I have been anguished over it… And all our projects, all our ministries, everything we do… Where are the Sunday school teachers that weep over kids they know are not hearing and are going to hell?

You see, a true prayer life begins at the place of anguish.

You see, if you set your heart to pray,
God’s going to come and start sharing His heart with you.

Your heart begins to cry out: “Oh God, Your name is being blasphemed. The Holy Spirit is being mocked. The enemy is out trying to destroy the testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness and something has to be done.”

There is going to be no renewal, no revival, no awakening, until we are willing to let Him once again break us.

Folks, it’s getting late, and it’s getting serious.

Please don’t tell me… don’t tell me you’re concerned when you’re spending hours in front of internet or television.

Come on. Lord, there are some that need to get to this alter and confess: “I am not what I was, I am not where I am supposed to be. God I don’t have Your heart or Your burden. I wanted it easy. I just wanted to be happy. But Lord, true joy comes out of anguish.”

There’s nothing of the flesh that will give you joy.
I don’t care how much money, I don’t care what kind of new house, there is absolutely nothing physical that can give you joy. It’s only what is accomplished by the Holy Spirit when you obey and take on His heart.

Build the walls around your family.

Build the walls around your own heart. It will make you strong and impregnable against the enemy. God, that’s what we desire.
Here are a few things that really convicted and got to me.

1. I see the music taking over the house of God. I see entertainment taking over the house of God.

Honestly, the past few days and years i guess. I've seen this coming true. I've seen this happening into my life. I have to confess. Im not being as serious about media as i should be. Music especially. Although i say i love it for the harmony, the melody, the MEANING is where it truly accounts for. Just today, this message was perfect. Lady Gaga. Judas. Her new single. As catchy as it is, i have resisted, tried not to listen to it, but today i went into complete indulgence. The beat and melody is just so good and catchy and no matter what it means, i felt that it was "okay" when it really really isnt.

2. Why didn’t these other men… why didn’t they have an answer? Why didn’t God use them in restoration? Why didn’t they have a word? Because there was no sign of anguish.

I feel like this all the time. but we have to come to realize we have to be passionate. I guess this kinda showed me that we have the passionate, feel anguish have that much passion towards the issue to get God's attention, for us to reach the level where God can use us because we are ready. We are all capable, but our attitude needs to grow and develop until God knows its strong enough to fight against Satan. Its kinda of more motivation to me to step it up. Not to force it, but to naturally let it grow and be expressed through me.

3. Blind to lukewarmness, blind to the mixture that’s creeping in.

I completely agree the Christians and the church has slowly become mixed into society, slowly becoming more and more lenient to it. And just as myself, i have slowly been conforming to the world, saying certain things, "eh, its fine" when its actually not. Especially with things that are in the grey areas.

4. But Lord, true joy comes out of anguish.

Interesting. But at the same time i kinda see the with how suffering brings joy. How it helps with growth. How God allows this bad suffering to help us develop, help strengthen our faith. And also, as it states, i do believe that sometimes when you're in the most pain, you receive true joy. When you are at the lowest point, thats usually the moments when you turn to God the most, although you should turn to him for everything. Think about it. When people go through a lot may it be fearing the failure of a test, or committing a crime, they say "oh my God" or "i better pray to God that i pass". You can clearly see when people turn to God the most. And through those times when its genuine, then you realize God's love for you.

5. Build the walls around your own heart. It will make you strong and impregnable against the enemy. God, that’s what we desire.

We must all remember this. We have to stay strong in our faith. Have a firm foundation in Christ. We have to stay strong with our shield and sword, ready to fight against the enemy, Satan. Stay strong. Fight on.


verse of the day: 2 Corinthians 2:3-5
3And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.4For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

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