Do you see? Do you see? All the people sinking down? Don’t you care? Don’t you care? Are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb? Not to care if they come You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done
“Oh, bless me, Lord! Bless me, Lord!” You know, it’s all I ever hear No one aches, no one hurts No one even sheds one tear But, He cries, He weeps, He bleeds And He cares for your needs And you just lay back and keep soaking it in
Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin? ‘Cause He brings people to your door And you turn them away As you smile and say: “God bless you, be at peace!” And all Heaven just weeps ‘Cause Jesus came to your door You’ve left Him out on the streets
Open up, open up And give yourself away You see the need, you hear the cries So how can you delay? God’s calling And you’re the one But like Jonah, you run He’s told you to speak but you keep holding it in
Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin? The world is sleeping in the dark That the church just can’t fight ’cause it’s asleep in the light How can you be so dead when you’ve been so well fed? Jesus rose from the grave And you, you can’t even get out of bed Oh, Jesus rose from the dead Come on, get out of your bed
How can you be so numb, not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done Don’t close your eyes, don’t pretend the job’s done
Come away, come away Come away with Me, My love Come away from this mess Come away with Me, My lo-o-ove Come away from this mess Come away with Me, My love Come away Come away with Me, My love
–Keith Green, “Asleep In the Light”–
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and PREACHED every where, the Lord working with them, and CONFIRMING THE WORD with signs following. Amen. –Mark 16:15-20 (KJV)–
Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit In the History of the Church (Walking Barefoot Ministries, 2007), ch. 7. John Knox and the Scottish Reformation preachers were all into dream interpretation and the gift of foretelling prophecy. Knox regularly received a list for divine healing prayer during the Sunday service.
We referred in our previous meditation to the link between Elijah and John the Baptist. At the end of the Book of Malachi, in the last few verses of his prophecies, it is foretold that, before the great and terrible day of the Lord, Elijah would be sent. When you open the New Testament you find the disciples referring to that prophecy and asking the Lord Jesus about it, seeing that He claimed to be the Messenger of the Covenant, the Lord Who had come. With that in mind, they were in reality voicing their own perplexity: The prophets said Elijah would come first, but we have not yet seen Elijah! The Lord Jesus pointed them to John the Baptist and said that this was Elijah, that Elijah had come and they had done to him what they would. When you go back to the prophecies concerning John the Baptist, you find this among the things foretold: “And he shall go before His face in the spirit and power of Elijah…” (Luke 1:17). In thinking upon that second chapter of the Gospel by Luke, in which occurs the account of the birth of the Lord Jesus, and the birth of John the Baptist, you can hardly fail to be impressed with the way these two are brought together in the chapter. It is a most remarkable thing. We are shown Zacharias fulfilling his course in the temple, the angel appearing to him, and all that the angel spake as to the birth of John. Then there is a breaking off, and the record of the angel appearing to Mary is given, and the annunciation. This is followed by the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country, and the two coming together in that way. It was said that John the Baptist should go before the face of the Lord, and that he would do so in the power and spirit of Elijah. You look for the inner meaning and significance of this, and you remember Elijah and what he stood for. Elijah is an abiding example of a consuming jealousy for the rights of God. Now that spirit is transferred to John the Baptist, and he runs before, clears the way, announces the coming of Christ in the spirit of Elijah. He is bringing in the rights of God in the Person of Jesus Christ. He is, in effect, in purpose, bringing God into His place in the Person of His Son. John the Baptist closes the great succession of the prophets (he is the greatest of the prophets in one sense) by handing the Lord Jesus into the place of God’s full rights, and pointing to Him, and saying to all who beheld, “Behold, the Lamb of God…” That was to say, in effect, This is the One in Whom God secures His rights; here is God coming into His place. Are you prepared for Him to rule in your life? That was the issue from that time onward.
That is the zeal of the Lord, and that is the way—as becomes instantly patent—to heavenly fulness. When we speak of heavenly fulness we cannot dissociate it from the Lord Jesus. In Him all the fulness dwells, but the question is, How are we coming into that fulness which is in Christ, and of which we saw the life of Elisha to be typical? It is by the Elijah way; by that way wherein God has His full place and all His rights secured to Him. You can see this throughout Elijah’s life.
Again, passing in review some of the salient points of his life, you see that his jealousy for the Lord marked every step of the way. The introduction of Elijah is very sudden and abrupt. You are simply told that Elijah the Tishbite confronted Ahab one day and said: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” Thus suddenly, coming from we know not where, appearing on the scene and making his declaration, we meet for the first time this man who stands for the rights of God.
Bloody rain Floods these streets, came falling onto the Earth Run away A thunder hangs above me like an eye
Holy Ghost I’m on fire Holy Spirit I’m on fire
Blows a wind It fills and quakes the houses from above Wide awake Burning out the foxes from the vines
Holy Ghost I’m on fire Holy Spirit I’m on fire
A display Tongues of fire against the night The display Ignites your mind (ignites your mind)
Feel the waves Crash against the concrete from below A new wine Intoxicates you slowly out of time
Holy Ghost I’m on fire Holy Spirit I’m on fire
A display Tongues of fire against the night The display Ignites your mind
Holy Ghost I’m on fire Holy Spirit I’m on fire (I’m on fire) Holy Ghost (Save, save, save) I’m on fire (Save, save, save) Holy Spirit (Save, save, save) I’m on fire (Save, save, save; I’m on fire) Holy Ghost (Save, save, save) I’m on fire (Save, save, save) Holy Spirit (Save, save, save) I’m on fire (Save, save, save; I’m on fire)
–Deftones, “Milk of the Madonna”–
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He that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. –1 Corinthians 14:3 (KJV)–
Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience (Banner of Truth, 1996), ch. 7.
Ira Milligan, Understanding the Dreams You Dream (Treasure House, 1997).
Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit In the History of the Church (Walking Barefoot Ministries, 2007), ch. 7. John Knox and the Scottish Reformation preachers were all into dream interpretation and the gift of foretelling prophecy. Knox regularly received a list for divine healing prayer during the Sunday service.
Augustin Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer (Kegan Paul, 1921). Avoid the Catholic errors of Purgatory, earning salvation by good works, and praying to saints.
Jeff Doles, Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit In the History of the Church, ch. 7. John Knox and the Scottish Reformation preachers were all into dream interpretation and the gift of foretelling prophecy. Knox regularly received a list for divine healing prayer during the Sunday service.
P. C. Nelson, Bible Doctrines (Gospel Publishing House, 1948), ch. 8.
Harold Horton, The Gifts of the Spirit (Gospel Publishing House, 1934).
John Sherrill, They Speak With Other Tongues (Chosen Books, 2018).
CBN, “Joan Fitzgerald: In the Authority of His Name.” In 2005, Joan prayed for a woman named Leslie in North Church in Carrollton, Texas. Leslie suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. In 2005, Joan says Leslie’s knees deteriorated so far that both needed to be replaced. In a wheelchair, Leslie was unable to bear her own weight. Joan asked Leslie to stand up on her own in the name of Jesus. When Leslie got out of the chair, the congregation held their breath. Then she began to walk, then run and then dance. The room went wild…Joan prayed for a man named Mike who was confined to a wheelchair after suffering a severe neck and spinal cord injury. His hands and feet had grown severely twisted and he was in constant pain. Then Joan prayed for Mike and anointed him with oil. His feet untwisted, he stood, kicked the wheelchair behind him and began to walk. Today he is totally healed and living a blessed life.
Charles Spurgeon, “The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus.” This proves the futility of all opposition to Christ. The learned are going to destroy the Christian religion. Already, according to their boastings, it has pretty nearly come to an end. The pulpit is effete, it cannot command public attention. We stand up and preach to empty decently benches! Nothing remains for us but to die decently, so they insinuate. And what then? When our Lord was dead, when the clay-cold corpse lay, watched by the Roman soldiery, and with a seal upon the enclosing stone, was not the cause in mortal jeopardy? But how fared it? Did it die out? Every disciple that Jesus had made forsook him, and fled, was not Christianity then destroyed? Nay, that very day our Lord won a victory which shook the gates of hell, and caused the universe to stand astonished. Matters are not worse with him at this hour! His affairs are not in a sadder condition to-day than then. Nay, see him to-day and judge. On his head are many crowns, and at his feet the hosts of angels bow! Jesus is the master of legions to-day, while the Caesars have passed away!