Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ:
The Lord put this Word in my heart last week and I shared it with the Great Northern District during our 44th Annual District Meeting. The Lord truly blessed us (two young men received the gift of the Holy Ghost) and I thought it might benefit our many followers.
The prophet Habakkuk was like many of us today. We see ungodliness and unrighteousness around us and we are disappointed and sometimes even disgusted. We witness corruption in our government, and unfortunately in the Church, and we have a tendency to question God’s sovereignty (“God why are you allowing this to happen?”). Sometimes we even complain and want to hasten the Lord’s judgment. It seems as the days pass, we see more and more ungodliness and debauchery. What makes things more bleak is we see a great deal of wrong in the holiness church. We should be the standard bearer, but too often we are the worst offenders. Habakkuk lived through the same experience.
Habakkuk ministered during Judah’s final days before they were conquered by the Babylonians. For generations, Judah ignored God’s numerous warnings and served other gods. It was one thing for the general public to sin, but Judah’s idolatry was led by its kings and leadership. How many times have you read in the Scriptures, …did evil in the sight of the Lord…?
Habakkuk poured out his complaints to God, and as He always does, God answered. The Lord told Habakkuk He was going to deal with Judah’s sin. He was going to rise up the Babylonians and they were going to capture Judah (Hab 1:6). As Habakkuk heard the Lord’s response, he became concerned. He asked God if He would allow the wicked nation of Babylon to wipe out all of Judah (Hab 1:13-17) and then he went.to his watchtower and wait for the Lord’s response.
The Lord tells Habakkuk to get pen and paper and to write His response and write it plain so everyone could understand. God then tells Habakkuk that His actions may seem slow in coming, but it was definitely going to happen!! God began to list the sins that were being committed: pride, idolatry, murder, extortion, corruption and idolatry. He was going to judge each and every sin.
Habakkuk then had what I call an epiphany; he began to worship God and His awesomeness. Here is another benefit of praise; it helps us re-focus on who God really is and what He can do. As Habakkuk worshiped God, his complaints turned to a new prayer request –…make my feet like hinds feet… In other words, he was not going to sit here and waste time complaining about sin and wrong doing. He was going to seek God for strength and courage to rise above sin and hypocrisy and live a life acceptable to God.
The hind is another word for a deer-like animal. Often times in order for them to survive (whether it be to escape from a predator or gain access to better feeding) they would climb to higher ground. Their hoofs were designed to climb to higher elevations. We must be the same way.
My brother and sister in Christ – be not dismayed; God is going to deal with sin and corruption. It may seem as though things are spinning out of control. It may appear as though wrong is getting the upper hand – but this is not so. Let me encourage you to worship and exalt God wherever you are. I guarantee, this will put things in proper perspective. God is still on the throne and He will have the final say.
As we worship the Lord, we are actually ascending to higher levels in Him. We can escape from those predators that will pull us away from God: pride, self-righteousness, gossip, unfaithfulness, unforgiveness, grudges, complaining, rebellion, disobedience, lack of self-control, etc. Yes, there is a higher place in God we need to get to and complaining about wickedness in those other “high places” is not the way to get there.
God has not called us to serve in mediocrity; we should be the examples of holiness to the people today. We are called to be the righteousness of God; we are called to be chosen, peculiar and God’s workmanship. Let’s be examples of God. The next time you see persons in leadership fall; the next time we become frustrated by hypocrisy or sin; the next time you feel as though you can no longer witness the eroding away of God’s holy standards, do slip into a state of complaining or throw up your hands in disgust. Begin to worship God – this will allow you to re-focus. Begin to decree as Habakkuk did; Lord, make my feet like hinds feet so I can raise my standard of living. I want to raise my level of service I want to raise my level of anointing. I want to raise my level of praise. I WANT TO GO HIGHER!!
I want to raise my level of service I want to raise my level of anointing. I want to raise my level of praise. I WANT TO GO HIGHER AND HIGHER AND HIGHER!!