Will You Stand on Your Post and Watch?
February 10th, 2009 | Michael Q. Pink
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12)
Jesus tells His disciples they are not ready to bear many things He wants to tell them. His words have weight. They are heavy and they are not able to “carry” them. You cannot carry what you will not receive. So let’s take a look at Truth that you may not be receiving because until you accept and receive and begin to carry foundational Truth, how will you carry what is built upon it?
For example, when you sin, do you withdraw from God or run to Him? Most of us withdraw. We feel guilty and condemned and unworthy, blah, blah, blah. While we should not treat sin in a permissive way, neither should we be weighed down by it. When sin abounds, grace does much more abound. You will not exhaust the grace of God anymore than you will ever drain the ocean with a thimble. If you will not forgive yourself you are saying that your standards are some how higher than God’s. When you sin, repent and move on.
1 John 3:21 says that “if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God.” The opposite is also true that if our heart does condemn us, which happens so often when we fall short, then we lack confidence toward God. When we lack confidence toward God, we shy away. We avoid His presence just like Adam did in the garden. We might not be naked, but we feel naked. But God seeks us out. He clothes us with righteousness. He welcomes us into His presence.
The times we live in remind me of Habakkuk; as one reader pointed out on our blog, “justice is perverted.” Calamity stands at the door (Isn’t that what Barack Obama keeps telling us?) and God is saying to us what He said to Habakkuk… “Behold you among the nations, and regard, and wonder and be astonished: for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it be told you.” (Habakkuk 1:5) This is essentially what the Lord spoke to me some time ago when He asked me if I would believe Him if He told me what was coming.
We read in Habakkuk’s day, God was warning the wicked. He spoke specifically to those who increase what is not theirs. That is a reference to taking more and more of what does not belong to you. “Woe to him that loads himself up with promissory notes for usury.” Hmmm. Know of any institutions that have loaded themselves up with promissory notes for usury? Can you say sub-prime mortgage? Think it’s not usury? You don’t understand finance or God’s Word on the matter. So what does God say will happen?
“Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty.” This is actually happening on two levels. Personal home foreclosures are at an epic scale and about to increase dramatically. Secondly, now that we borrow money from China and they are becoming disenchanted with the strength of the almighty dollar, I wonder how they might extract leverage. But I digress.
The Lord has some mighty important things to say to this generation. Who will be like Habakkuk who said he would “stand upon his post of observation and station myself on the tower and watch to see what He will say within me…” I will stand on my post, but I beg you to stand on yours and watch and see what the Lord will say.
Important Note: You may have noticed some of our websites being down lately. It caught my attention too… (o-: We switched servers last week and things are not working right. For two days last week, none of our email got through and is lost for good, despite promises to the contrary. If you wrote us and didn’t get a reply, that may be why. We are working through it all now and would appreciate your prayers on our behalf. Gratefully yours, Michael
February 10th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Michael, Your emails are such a comfort and encouragement to me. Before I started listening to your seminars and teachings I felt very alone in my belief that a person could use their business to glorify God. I know that God is trying to take me to another level in my business through all the wonderful mentors I now have thru your website.(Sunday,Eric,John Louis,etc..)and of course you especially! I know this doesn’t have much to do with your email today,but last night I listened to the replay of the seminar you did for Kingdom Business Journal and I was so proud of you and the way you stood out among your peers. It really gave me more confidence in the things I have been learning through your site. I wish I could see down the road to know where God is trying to lead me to. I wish I wasn’t so stubborn and lazy, I wish my mother hadn’t died this year and made me question everything I think I believe about God now. I wish I wasn’t embarressing myself right now. Things are so weird right now. Thankyou for chasing after God so strongly for people like me who can barely even pray right now let alone see what the times are for our businesses. Sorry about the therapy session-I’ll try to buy something from you in the future to make up for it! Your friend in Christ,Tammy
February 10th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Hi Michael, I have given the subject of your blog today considerable thought over the last several years. The Chinese, Japanese and the Saudis have to fund America’s annual trillion-dollar shortfalls for the well into the future. These creditor nations, who already own trillions of dollars of U.S. government debt, are the only entities capable of underwriting the spending that our government imagines and that U.S. citizens demand. Every time they buy a US Bond, T-Note and T-Bill they are increasing our indebtedness to them.
We have sold the idea to our creditors, that they, must never use the money to buy other assets or fund domestic spending initiatives for their own people. When the old Treasury bills mature, they can do nothing with the money except buy new ones. To do otherwise would implode the market for U.S. Treasuries and start a run on the dollar. We have told our creditors they must give up all hope of accessing the principal, and may earn only the paltry 2%-3% yield our bonds currently deliver.
But at some point human nature, reason and self-preservation will kick in and our creditors will decide they are better-off not to hold US debt. Already the largest creditors have bought fewer Treasuries than in the past (aka loan us money). Private citizens and funds have been make up the difference. But what if China, Japan and the Saudis begin to spend the money on infrastructure, to spend the money on their own people, to fix their own financial problems and just outright become net sellers of US Treasuries?
The only thing left for our government to do is to inflate the dollar until it is as abundant as air.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
As Brother Yun says in Living Water our focus should be on our own repentance as we enter these times. True repentance is so awesome as we stand before our FATHER and we are cleansed. Keep up the good work Michael. I am waiting as we ALL (beleivers) come into HIS presence and we are able to meet face to face. Blessings and peace to you all! In HIM, Kara
February 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Your word confirms what I spoke about yesterday to our congregation “be a watchman on your wall; the adversary is seeking to devour us”. One of our deaconess’ mentioned to the congregation afterwards about the scripture the Lord gave her last week that confirmed my message, and it was in Habbakuk! Go figure. God confirms what he wants to say thru multiple channels.
PTL - blessings to you.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Thanks again for your timely word, Michael,
I don’t ‘get out’ much these days–because of ‘technology’ being used the wrong way (maybe not quite the way your new server people approach your issue. I think you know the day after Christmas I got wiped out by what the police describe as “an international bank card fraud ring”. My wife and I are still suffering for it. But Romans 8:28 is still followed by 8:29 and God is still soverign so we are learning to lean more heavily on Him! And it’s all good, right?
Will be praying for you even when I don’t ‘appear’ more often! Please know that, Brother!
In His grace,
Steve
February 11th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Thankyou Michael - Will pray….May the joy of the Lord be your strength! So often the Lord is confirming His word to me though your words - We are all in this together - and God is good - He will see us though - He is Faithful to His Bride!! ANd will strengthen and sustain us as we wait on Him.
Please, a prayer request…. I am from Victoria, in Australia - the state where the horrendous bushfires are. We are quite safe where we are even though there are fires only an hour away….The loss is almost indescribable - please pray that people will turn to the Lord in this, instead of away. Aussies are amazing - and will help each other - but this is a loss on a scale that we have never seen. Everyone seems to know someone who has experienced loss…..
Please pray for the church here that we will know how to extend the Lords help and comfort..
Bless you all - so encouraging to know we are connected in Him….
From Marita in Australia
February 19th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
All believers in God need to be on the watch. These are timely words. This is the first time I read your blog, but I appreciate the message you put out. It is a timely warning to everyone who professes to have faith. Thank you, Michael.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with
March 14th, 2009 at 8:23 am
This is the first time I commented here and I must say you share genuine, and quality information for bloggers! Great job.
p.s. You have an awesome template for your blog. Where have you got it from?