Mark Pavlot
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Joined: 07/03/2010 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 228
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Posted: 08/16/2011 at 2:40pm
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I had chuckled softly to myself when I read a comment one said about me which basically was that I like to post old writings. Scripture teaches us in; Matthew 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
Alert!
By
Frances Metcalfe
"Alert!"
The order is issued from the commanding officer, and every man of the
regiment is brought to attention. Uniform intact, weapons at hand,
every man at his post. Awake and ready to go into action at a
moment's notice! Danger is near, the enemy must be faced and
encountered, and every man is alert, ready for defense or attack!
The
Holy Spirit has issued an Alert command to the entire Church of
the Living God. The greatest battle of the ages is just ahead, and
the Lord of Hosts, the Lord Mighty in Battle, is mustering His
earthly army, the soldiers of the Cross. Every man must be clad in
the whole armor of God, sword in hand. The prophet Nahum, speaking in
the Spirit of this day, the day of His preparation, issued a
stirring command: He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy
face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong,
fortify thy power mightily.
"Raise
the battle cry, see, the foe is nigh!
Lift
the standard high, for the Lord.
Gird
your armor on, stand firm every one,
Rest
your cause upon His Holy Word!"
"He
that dasheth in pieces."
Satan the prince of this world, the destroyer, as this word is rendered
in some translations, he who is come to steal, to kill and to
destroy, the whole earth is filled with the terror of his
violence. The heavens above are made horrible with smoke and fire,
and death rains from the skies; to the depths of the seas he carries
multitudes of his victims; and through every land he stalks with
famine and pestilence, violence and bloodshed. His time is short and
his wrath is great! Outwardly we see his forces on every hand
despoiling the nations; but behind that which is visible, we see with
eyes of the Spirit, the spiritual forces of Satan marshaled and
arrayed for Zion's war. He is out to make war on the saints and to
overthrow them. Leeser's translation reads; The destroyer is come
up against thee, to enclose thee with works of siege. What a
picture of the Church in this hour, surrounded, and undermined with
the works of the enemy. Alert! Church of the Living God, you are face
to face with the arch-enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot, you
dare not slumber in this hour. To do so is to invite certain defeat,
and eternal loss in the Kingdom of God!
"Keep
the munition."
"Defend
the fortress," in another rendering. We must sing anew this
stirring song: Hold the fort, for I am coming; Jesus signals
still. Wave the answer back to heaven, By Thy grace, we will. The
Church must be set for the defense of the Gospel, prepared to war a
good warfare, and to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints. For the past thirty years or more, the Church as a
whole has been steadily yielding ground, retreating bit by bit,
appeasing, compromising, growing weaker, and more ineffectual with
every passing day. But the Spirit of God has called this retreat to a
dead halt! Strengthen those things which remain. We dare not
yield another inch of ground, we must be prepared at any cost to
wrestle, to contend, and having done all, to stand!
"Watch
the way."
"What
I say, I say unto all, watch." Our Lord again and again
commanded watchfulness in the evil day. Watch and pray, always
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things which
shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. Watchman,
what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also
the night. The morning of translation for the saints, the night of
tribulation for the unsaved. Isaiah, called to be a watchman in his
day cried, My Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the
daytime, and I am set in my ward every night. The Church at last
awakening from her disastrous slumber, is commanded now to watch and
pray as did Isaiah. Vigilance in prayer. The very word, Alert,
is derived from the French word, Alerte, meaning to be on a
watchtower or height, on a look-out. Instant in prayer, said
the Apostle Paul, be one of God's minute-men! The mid-night hour
approaches, and as Paul Revere rode out into the night, sounding the
alarm, calling the minute-men into action, so God's minute-men
and women, must be ready at any moment for the call of the Spirit. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out
of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Romans 13:11.
"Make
thy loins strong."
"Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." So spake
the Spirit through Paul. Likewise He spike again through Peter. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to
the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13. Throughout the Word of
God, the girding of the loins typifies a preparation for action, and
the loosing of the girdle typifies the preparation for rest, or a
loss of power. When the children of Israel were to be led out of
Egypt, they were commanded to gird their loins, and put on their
shoes. Woe unto the one who was not prepared to flee when the order
came. So in this hour the Church is called anew to gird herself with
God's whole Word, the Truth. Thus girded, she is ready for defense or
advance.
"Fortify
thy power mightily."
The
command to the Church is to seek for a mighty endowment of the Spirit
of God for the evil days just ahead. This is the hour of preparation,
the hour to "seek the Lord, till He comes and rains
righteousness upon us. The Lord has provided a double portion of
strength and grace for his Church in the End-Time. He must finish His
work in the earth, a quick work, cut short in righteousness. He must
sanctify and bring forth His Church, holy and triumphant. Who is
she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear (pure)
as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? Without this
fortification of His Spirit, the Church would go down in ignominious
defeat; with it, she shall emerge triumphant, with much spoil!
Alert!
God's command to the Church, and to you as an individual, is
three-fold. Be watchful and vigilant in prayer. Gird your mind with
His Word, the Truth, and seek for a mighty endowment of His Spirit. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep
munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power
mightily.
Edited by Mark Pavlot on 08/16/2011 at 5:46pm
__________________ MarkPavlot.OCM@gmail.com
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