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The Call Virginia May 26, Fredericksburg VA. More info here.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to our friends near and far! May the Lord bless you, keep you, and grant you a lifetime of deep joy and satisfaction in your relationship with your children. THANK YOU for being God’s heart to them in good times and bad. Thank you for all the unacknowledged sacrifices you have made. BLESS YOU–we celebrate you today especially, but also throughout the year!

Hey… if you have the opportunity, check out Friday’s episode of Blue Bloods. It’s fantastic, and shows us all again why we should be grateful to the Lord for life, family, and freedom.

Today–Virginia’s Founding
Today is also the 405th anniversary of Virginia’s covenant consecration to Jesus Christ.     As we wrote yesterday, our covenant with God is our dedication to see His presence and government established in our midst! 

Biblically, the deepest expressions of intimacy are reserved for marriage. Many of you remember how, on July 4 in Washington DC, we together asked God for His hand in marriage, aligning again with our covenantal foundations. He confirmed His vow with signs following!

It is interesting how the Lord then began to emphasize Virginia to us. Our prophetic friend James Goll prophesied we should focus on Virginia in 2012. We actually began 2012 in Danville VA, with our friends Alan & Becky Greenstreet. Just a few weeks later, God’s hand relocated us to Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac from DC!

Tabernacle with Us
During the meetings with the Greenstreets, Holy Spirit quickened two things to us. First, He spoke, “I AM restoring the virginity of Virginia!” This is great news on the anniversary of the state’s consecration to the Lord.

Second, Holy Spirit spoke, “Light the lamps and pitch the tents, for this year I tabernacle with My people!” This word reaffirmed how the Lord longs to establish His covenant by tabernacling with us! And it also brought clarity on how the enemy would try to subvert God’s purposes.

The Presence War
“For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their actions are against the Lord, TO REBEL AGAINST HIS GLORIOUS PRESENCE. The expression on their faces bears witness against them, and they display their sin like Sodom; they don’t even conceal it!” (Isaiah 3:8-9).

The prophet Isaiah clarifies this “presence war” in our hour. With the diplomacy of a white hot bolt of lightning, he confronted the rise of militant homosexuality in his culture. “They display their sin like Sodom,” observes the astonished prophet. “They do not even conceal it!” (Isaiah 3:8).

Sin is always tragic in that it defiles those made in God’s image. God cherishes each of us, and He takes personally our willingness to continually defile ourselves and others through sin. On a corporate level, when idolatry, sexual immorality, bloodshed, and unjust gain are embraced and tolerated as acceptable behavior, God calls it rebellion against His Presence!

The result perceived by the prophet is tragic. “Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their actions are against the Lord…” Jerusalem, the capital city, stumbled–and God’s covenant land fell.

Beloved, the greatest war we are waging is for God’s presence to be established according to His covenant. This war encompasses and defines our battles against homosexuality, abortion, and idolatry. The governmental endorsement of sin ultimately has the potential  to cause God’s presence and covering to lift, even from our land.

Presence & Government
Note that to rebel against God’s presence is to rebel against His government–individually or collectively. That is because God’s presence and His government are inseparable! When we grieve Holy Spirit, and neglect to repair the relationship and return, we ultimately remove ourselves from the protection afforded to us by His government. By default, our gates become open to defilement, hardness of heart, deception and eventually even to destruction.

Far from the Sanctuary
In Ezekiel’s day, this rebellion became so prevalent in Israel that God literally lifted His presence from the capital city! God warns Ezekiel, “Do you see what they are doing–the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, SO THAT I SHOULD BE FAR FROM MY OWN SANCTUARY?” (Ezekiel 8:6).

Can you feel the depth of God’s heart as He prepares to vacate His temple? Like a man whose wife was found cheating, He confides in His friend His sorrow.

This passage has personally fueled my heart and ministry for a decade. My quest began with a “lovesick desire” to experience more of His presence. As I sought the Lord over years, He began to show me  just a little of His own desire to dwell with us! Yet this very desire has been blocked by our continual betrayals. Idolatry, sexual immorality, bloodshed, greed… rebellion against His glorious presence!

Beloved, we MUST see God’s presence restored… for His sake and ours! Lets become forerunners of this restoration. Lets remove the stumbling blocks, and prepare the way of the Lord!

Intentionality of Action
“Do you see what they are doing… so that I would be far from My own sanctuary?” In this passage, Ezekiel also exposes the intentionality behind many of these actions. Agents of sabotage performed these abominations with an actual goal to drive out GOD’S PRESENCE from the land. 

Why would anyone desire to drive out God’s presence? Here are a few thoughts. First,  remember Jesus died to become our Immanuel. Through His shed blood, and our repentance, a way has been made for God to tabernacle with us! Satan vehemently desires to deny God this desire–for which Jesus gave His own life.

Also, remember again that God’s presence and government are inseparable! Satan rejected God’s governance, and he is forever bent on persuading human beings to do the same. Ultimately, this antichrist spirit seeks to establish his own government in place of God’s.  And the void of God’s presence makes way for the presence of Satan’s void. 

Thirdly, as noted before, rebelling against God’s presence eventually caused Jerusalem to stumble. And when the capital stumbled, the land fell! There is no doubt in my mind  the enemy desires to sabotage our nation. Which is why now more than ever, we need to pray… and as required, we need to take a stand.

Pray for His tabernacle to form over you. Repent of any sin that could hinder the restoration of His glory. Lets stand together to see His glory established in our land.

Lord endue us with power! Restore Your glory in a second Pentecost! This is the dream not only of our hearts, but Yours.