Message from God today...

For the past two weeks Pastor David Wilkerson, founder of Times Square Church, had been ministering and preaching on Sunday mornings. It was indeed a refreshing departure from Pastor Conlon's preaching (not that I don't relish it; Pastor Conlon's a fantastic speaker and a tremendous man of God that I respect a lot, especially his leadership and zeal for God).

Today, Ps. Wilkerson preached an amazing sermon that I just felt the urge to post about here. I won't go into a long rhetoric but I'll just share the essence of it. His message entitled: "God's people will never be ashamed", and was based on Psalm 37:

16 Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;

17 for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

18 The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
and their inheritance will endure forever.

19 In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

20 But the wicked will perish:
The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,
they will vanish—vanish like smoke.

21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;

22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be cut off.

Pastor Wilkerson was speaking this timely message in response to the crisis ahead in the nation and the world at large. Many are living in uncertain times, not knowing what the future beholds. He mentioned how the "wicked" will reap what they sow, and how this is already happening to some with the financial turmoil. In contrast, God's people will, as stated in verse 19, "in times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty". Apart from taking comfort from the fact that God's stated woes will come to pass, we are to rest on His promises that we will not be ashamed and will continue to be well-provided for during calamity. Imperatively, God's reputation is at stake here; whenever a promise like that is made in the bible, we can be rest assured that it will come to fruition because God must keep His word, like how he did when he delivered the Israelites out of Egypt by enabling them to cross the Red Sea--a seemingly futile endeavor by human standards, He made possible.

God cares about His namesake. In Isaiah 48, it is written:

9 For my own name's sake I delay my wrath;
for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,
so as not to cut you off.

And in verse 11, He reiterates Himself:

11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.

In this context He is saying that He won't allow Himself to go back on the promises He made to Israel even though they were stubborn and disobedient towards Him. In the same way, we know that God will fulfill His promises. And we need to look at eternity and not just here on earth.

One last line that Pastor Wilkerson said which impacted me was this: "Unity is not a feeling, it's a choice". Often in church, we feel dissatisfied because we feel that we lack a sense of unity, or we don't feel united as a church. But Pastor Wilkerson gave me an alternative perspective of unity as an action word. Unity does not mean no disagreement. Disagreements, in my opinion, can sometimes birth healthy discussions and collective action towards a common good, if managed appropriately. Unity means wanting a common goal, and sharing the burden as the team surges forward to achieve it.

Dear God,
I pray that those who fear will seek comfort in Your promises,
That they will always put their plans in Your hands
Because You know what's best for them.
Amen.