Aborting God's Call

Greetings,
It's been a month or better since I've last written. Phyllis and I were on vacation for a couple of weeks and, also, I didn't have anything "pressing me" to write about.

I do have something to share now, though, and I'll start with one word - ABORTION. I realize that just the mention of the word can get all kinds of reaction, and that's exactly why I used it. However, I am not referring to the 1.5 million babies that are killed every year. I'm not referring to a woman's "right to choose" or to the "pro life" side, either. Instead, I am going to write a little about the abortions that are taking place daily in the body of Christ and, specifically, in the lives of God's people. It is my whole-hearted opinion that one of the main reasons why the world is in its present condition is because the Body of Christ has allowed God's purposes for it to be aborted - terminated prematurely, not allowed to grow to full term. To stop in the early stages what God has intended us to be, ie - salt and light, righteousness, His witnesses, etc. We have sown seeds of "abortion" by running after our own desires and it now reaps a harvest throughout the world. Don't get me wrong; I have much hope in the God of hope. He WILL finish what He's begun. But it would do us well to understand how we get into this condition and therefore, just possibly, break the cycle that has continued for years. I am going to use the story of Samson and Delilah as the scripture reference; Judges 13-16.

Judg 13:5-"For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

Samson’s life was to be one of purpose and destiny. He was one of many biblical characters that had their life’s work prophesied before their birth. Ishmael, John, Jesus, to name a few.

He was to be a “Nazirite” from birth. That is, wholly consecrated to the Lord. His focus, as ours should be, was to be “what is the will of God for me and in this situation”

Judg 13:24-So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

Samson means “sun”, “ray”, and can be implied to mean “ray of light”, or, a “ray of hope”. The children of Israel needed a “ray of hope” because their lives were in captivity to the Philistines. The Philistines represented “the sin within”, or, “the flesh”; that which always keeps us beat down, rolling in despair, never able to reach our potential in Christ. As long as the Philistines are in the land, no real joy can be realized. And, as long as we allow "the flesh" the final say for decisions we make day in and day out, we will always be just a "feeling" away from getting our eyes finally gouged out. You see, what we don't protect we will lose. If we really don't care enough about "seeing" things the way we should, there will come a time when we'll "see" no more...

So God set the stage for Israel to be delivered and the “ray of hope” to be His vessel of deliverance. Kind of sounds like God's plan for us; Jesus refers to us as "the light of the world" (Matt 5:14).

But, the call of God doesn’t automatically insure victory and deliverance. Remember, Judas Iscariot was "called" by the Lord. The “philistines” are not quitters. They don’t just roll over and die. Samson, armed with all the power he needed to defeat the Philistines, forgot to do certain things. Because of his error in judgment (actually, failure to control his fleshly appetites) he fell prey to Delilah. Delilah means “to weaken”, to “fizzle out”, to “run out of gas”, to “languish”. Whenever we allow things in our life that are contrary to His Word and His Call upon our life, we will come face to face with a “delilah”, and we will be robbed of all strength, and our life/ministry can be stopped short! You know, sometimes our "feeling" may be one of "dryness" and "unworthiness". Understand this, that feeling has a friend by the name of Delilah who will quickly sell you out if you let it get close enough.

Judg 13:25-And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Here’s where we can start to miss it. We start looking more at “how God is using me/anointing me” that we forget about the Nazirite vow-the command of the Lord to “come out from among them and be clean”, the reminder that “evil company corrupts good morals”. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO HAVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVE UPON US, HE DESIRES TO FLOW THROUGH US IN UNLIMITED POWER. Look at the following verse:

Heb 1:9-”You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions."

Though the Anointing of God is not earned, to consistently walk with God under “opened heavens” we must “love what is right and good” and “hate what is sin/lawlessness”.

Samson went after the wrong stuff. He took for granted the call, the anointing, and lived according to the flesh, not the Spirit. And Delilah was just “bound” to happen! And, Samson's life was cut short because of his ungodly desires (Galatians 6:7,8). The Lord had great plans for Samson. He intended for Samson, the "ray of light" to be the light to the nation of Israel and to the surrounding people. Yes, he did go out with quite a bang, but he went out prematurely just the same. He went out before he could build the next generation of "light rays". His ministry, purpose, calling, anointing...was ABORTED; aborted by Samson.

Begin looking at Judges 14 where Samson “saw a woman”...take note of all the times reference to his flesh are mentioned over the next 2 chapters.

THERE IS A MOVE OF GOD THAT IS BUILDING, BUILDING, AND BUILDING. IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL THING HE HAS DONE IN THE EARTH THUS FAR. BUT IT WILL NOT BE MINISTERED THROUGH THE HANDS THAT ARE HOLDING ON TO THE WAYS OF THE FLESH. IT WILL BE MINISTERED THROUGH THE HANDS THAT ARE HOLY, THAT ARE CLEAN, THAT ARE RAISED IN SURRENDER TO HIS WILL. THESE WILL BE HANDS OF HIS PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND THE SACRED VOW TO HOLINESS. AND REVIVAL SHALL COME IN SUCH AWESOME POWER THAT PEOPLE BY THE MILLIONS SHALL BE SAVED.

"Open my eyes, oh Lord, that I may behold You and the wondrous things you have prepared for my life."

May the Lord's work in us go "FULL TERM"! He will perfect that which concerns us...as we turn our eyes upon "the Author and Finisher of our faith. Let's not let the philistines or the delilahs keep us from walking in the ways of the Lord.

Blessings,
Pastor Jan