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DAY 42: ELUDING DESPERATION–STATE OF THE UNION

I am generally eager to hear from the council of God. But last night, during a service at the Gate DC, the Holy Spirit whispered a phrase I almost would rather have… um… eluded.

It was a warning against eluding desperation.

You can tell the proximity of a thunderstorm by the number of seconds between the lightning and the thunder. With the storms of God, this might hold true as well! Because immediately after I heard this phrase, a prophetic singer began to thunder the word “desperation.”

Wow, was that ever close…

During the course of these 44 days, God has given a number of personal invitations into a deeper level of desperation–some which I have responded to, many of which I have honestly eluded. The Lord has really dealt with me about “fragmented obedience.” Where my pre-programmed “response of obedience” actually aligns with personal preferences rather than the complete counsel of the Lord.

State of the Union
Eluding desperation is perhaps our true “state of the union.” Both in our personal relationship of union with God, and our state as a nation. I want to share what the Lord spoke to me, and then give some perspective.

I am coming to a self-satisfied people, says the Lord. Their prophets and presidents have given me the slip. They are eluding desperation.

Many are joyful when I’ve called them to mourning and weeping between the porch and the altar. I WILL BE ELUSIVE TO THOSE WHO ELUDE ME. Turn to me now and repent, or your desperation will be awakened in a tide of loss, WHICH I AM INVITING YOU THROUGH WHOLEHEARTEDNESS TO ELUDE.

To clarify–I feel the Lord is saying that our wholehearted repentance now will help us “elude” significant loss that could be coming in the future.

Methodically Elusive
The safest way to make sure you are in God’s will is to connect with His heart. Align your emotions with His, and your responses will match his. We have found God to be wonderfully playful and light, but also know him to be intense about a particular task, and He remains so until that task is completed.

Have you noticed that genuineness is actually God’s relentless pursuit? He wants to get behind the masks we wear, to our hearts. That’s where we manage to elude Him. We hide behind self-satisfaction in religious expressions, exercises, and alleged accomplishments. Having a form of godliness, we deny the power thereof.

I know of entire prayer movements emphasizing a doctrine of joy, while methodically eluding God’s call to tears, repentance and desperation. Things can get so tangled up–with our self-protective doctrines, responses and behavior–that we completely elude God’s heart. And perhaps we even elude our own.

Understand the Times
Friends, this is hard language. And it’s meant to be. We now live in a culture where it’s chic to be positive, almost to the point of fantasy. We are encouraged to ignore the ever-accumulating challenges right before our eyes–be it the debt crisis, abortion, or the Mideast views of political nominees. Just believe things are ok, declare things are ok…and they are ok.

Meanwhile the heart of our Father is comparing our watch to the days immediately preceding WWII. And He literally wants us to pray like Rees Howells, as if London is targeted, the blitzkrieg is almost upon us, and there’s no escape but through Him.

Rend Your Hearts
Our travail will bring a New Birth of Freedom. We need time of being real. Rending our hearts, not our garments, and weeping between the porch and the altar. Exodus is our example–where the desperate groanings of God’s people provoked Him to hold court and render judgment (Exodus 2:23-4).

Remember the stunning prophetic experience of Crystal Kain-Ross. How she saw the tears of Jesus Christ over the unborn. She described the experience as “gut-wrenching.” Jesus then apprehended her, and THANKED HER FOR SHARING IN HIS SORROWS OVER THE UNBORN.

“Even now, the tears of the intercessors and those who walk with Me are all that keep total collapse and annihilation from commencing to destroy America.” Friends, these words from Jesus quite possibly describe our true state of the union!

Crystal saw a river of tears flowing from the National Cathedral to the Capitol. Not joy and proclamation, but tears.

The experience continued. “Jesus said to the destroying angel (who still had his sword pointed towards the center of Washington, DC,) “’Stay your hand for forty days, for this is the period of grace the intercessors have purchased for America.”

“I asked, “What will happen after the 40 days?” Jesus said, “That is in the hand of the intercessors and My prayer warriors Worldwide. The fate of America, and the terms of her demise, whether gradual or sudden, is in their hands.”

Desperation or Delusion: Our Choice
Friend, what if the fate of America is actually in your hands? What if there really is a destroying angel hovering over the National Cathedral, with sword outstretched to bring down our land? What will heaven record as your response?

When the Angel of the Lord appeared over the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, the eyes of all the people were upon him. In a similar way, it is as if the eyes of our spirits are aware of His presence today. Despite the rhetoric, deep inside our spirit we cannot get away from a sense that something is urgently troubling the heart of our Father. Eluding this sense can ultimately produce delusion. Embracing this sense, and responding to it biblically, produces desperation.

The Lord is not asking for religious rhetoric nor weightless declarations. He’s asking for our tears.

“She did not consider her destiny, therefore her collapse was awesome” (Lam. 1:9).

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.

“Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him, even a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?” (Joel 2:12-14).