I appreciate your prayer cover for the weekend. On Friday night one young man gave his heart to the Lord. Had nothing else happened that would have been worth it. Sunday was a blessing at OSU. I met some wonderful people, and several are seeking to go to the mission field with us. I Praise the Lord for His provision.

Isaiah 6 has long been a chapter from the Word that holds an explosive amount of meaning for me. Some of its imagery has captured my imagination, and caused me to meditate upon it. When the Lord called me into ministry, the pastor I was under at the time used this same passage to convey the kind of change that was taking place in my life.

I admit, I find myself wondering what it will be like to come into the physical presence of the Lord and His Throne. The Holiness that is held in that one thought moves me. I am quickly reduced to a weeping mass when I look at the sinfulness of my life, and consider the absolute purity of His presence.

When I worship, I often envision the Spotless Lamb on His Throne before me. If a prophet of the Lord such as Isaiah crumbles before His Majesty. How much less am I worthy to stand in worship, mouth barely moving, going through the motions of what should be an all encompassing experience and trading it for my own disconnected thoughts about who knows what.

I am in the Presence of the Almighty! How can I stand there week after week as if it was an unimportant part of who I am. The Lord has so much work to do in His children if we are capable of standing before Him without humiliation.

Isaiah collapsed in His presence. He knew that He was experiencing something that was uncommon. He had not even been introduced in this setting, but could gather the verbal and visual cues and realize that in the presence of such Holiness, he was unworthy.

Is it not interesting in our churches today how "worthy" most of us must think we are to being offering praises to the King of Kings, in such predictable posture? Standing erect, hands forced deep into empty pockets, searching for distraction. Yawning, looking around as if the Holy one was present and would certainly be pleased by our mere presence, and nothing more need ever be required of us. After all, we could be home sleeping.

The last couple of Sundays, my pastor has preached anointed messages with incredible passion and power. His conveyance seemed largely missed by God's chosen ones. I confess how appalled I am to be in the midst of such lethargy. How can we offend God's heart with such carelessness.

Body of Christ, if we do not begin to view our Savior as the Holy, Spotless Lamb, the only One who was worthy of this sacrifice, then how can we expect a lost world around us to care or be impacted by our lives?

His very Presence in our lives should cause us to seek Him with abandon. The stronghold of apathy grips many of our churches, and many of His people. Content to simply be standing side by side with other believers, who cannot wait to get out and get to lunch, we are more concerned about how we look than whether or not we will encounter the Holiness of the Lord.

Our own churches in America are largely dead to His movement within our midst. We seem to prefer He remain in lofty places where we do not have to entertain Him, than to have Him come down and call us to our faces before Him. That would be awkward. We might get dirty...And this outfit is new.

I want the God of Zaccheus to come and make me uncomfortable, and tell me He is coming to my house today. Of course it is not in the order it should be, but that is the point.

I need to get uncomfortable to the point that I recognize a Holy movement, and allow it to affect change in my life!

Can you imagine where America would be if we would surrender our lives to Him the way we have sold out to materialism? All of it will be burned up. Consumed in Holy fire. It will fall away as dross. What will be left? Have I let Him move and change me enough that there is something to offer after the fire of 1 Corinthians 3:12-15?

We need to surrender.


brent