Small Beginnings Blog

Prepare The Way!

..the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“THE VOICE OF ONE CALLING OUT IN THE WILDERNESS,
‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD,
MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT! ‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,
AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE LOWERED;
THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT,
AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH; AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD!’” (Luke 3:2-6 NASB Blue Letter Bible)

I recently read Luke’s account of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. It was enough to get me in the Christmas spirit and cool me off a little from this August heat! Let me share what I have been pondering with you:

The message entrusted to John from God was weighty and direct, much like the Old Testament prophet’s messages. John was definitely the man for the job. Jesus even said of him, “I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.” (Luke 7:28 NIV Blue Letter Bible)

So who was John and why should we still heed his message?

John the Baptist was a New Testament prophet. The son of Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth, cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. His birth was announced to his father, Zechariah by the angel Gabriel, while he was offering up incense at the temple. The angel proceeded to tell him:

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF FATHERS BACK TO THEIR CHILDREN and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:13-17 NIV Blue Letter Bible)

John was called a FORERUNNER. Forerunner means: precursor, harbinger, herald, one that goes before or announces the coming of another. forerunner is applicable to anything that serves as a sign or presage. (Miriam Webster.com)

Did you ever stop to think about the amount of stress a prophet is (was) under? To “ready a people for the Lord?” How do you do that? For one thing we humans tend to be an extremely arrogant bunch, thinking we already know all there is to know about God and His ways and laws. No one likes to be told they are wrong or to step it up because they have become slack. A tricky job description for sure! Currently everyone seems to be “triggered” (offended) by someone or something and we are living in an age when we think our opinions matter most, when in reality they matter very little unless it’s the opinion of a family member or close friend.

Church planter and New York Times best selling author, Francis Chan states in his latest book, Unity, that: “We are currently the most divided faith group on earth, and there isn’t a close second. If you think I’m exaggerating, name another religion with more than two or three factions. We have thousands of denominations and ministries, each believing their theology or methodology is superior.”

We need the forerunners to come into view. Here’s a few questions we need to ask ourselves so that we will be receptive to any “forerunners” that carry the words of God: Does your actions suggest that you think you have God pretty much figured out? How much scripture do you feed on each day? How much time do you give to meditation and studying God’s word? Do you have a few mature Christian friends whom you go to for wisdom and guidance? Are you mentoring someone or a few people right now? There are those among us who are forerunners. There are still Habakkuks, Joels and Johns. Maybe God has called you to be one! There are those who’s senses are attuned to God’s still small voice to bring His people out of the darkness into His marvelous light. Are we listening? Do we have spiritual vision and hearing so that we are attuned to their messages? Because If not we are missing God’s message to us we are missing the biggest part of the puzzle. The most important part. He uses all who has His Spirit working in them to bring unity. No unity. No Spirit. “Those who sow to the flesh reap the flesh. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

Galatians 6:8

Like I said before we are too easily offended. We are timid and think that it’s fine to leave churches if someone hurts our feelings. Have we forgotten all that Christ suffered for us? He said that, “ In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

What if a modern day prophet gave you a hard word? Would you pray and seek God’s face, fasting and meditating on His holy word? Or would you dismiss it in unbelief? In this independent age it isn’t easy letting yourself be vulnerable.

I had to deliver a message from God not too long ago to a community. I had to tell them that, “times would be tough soon and they needed to put away the gossip, slander and backbiting or they would cease to be a community!” This was much different than the prophetic words I have gotten before from God. I usually receive a word for myself or a person I know, mostly encouraging words. This was a rebuke and much harder to deliver.

I could have decided not to but then I was reminded of God’s word to another prophet. God told Ezekiel,

“When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. “Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” (Ezekiel 3:18-21)

A few weeks ago a “forerunner”gave a message of warning to the same people I had previously told, “put away your gossip, slander and back-biting.” His word to them was that “God was taking his hand off of them!” (meaning His hand of protection) It was alarming to some. But, there were some, like myself who were not that surprised.

Remember the valley of dry bones? What did God tell Ezekiel to say to those old dried out bones? “Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD!” and “Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.”

Ezekiel 37:4&9

Anything that is dead can surely be brought back to life again. It’s when we are only half dead, trying to do things on our own and lukewarm are we truly hopeless. (My husband’s wisdom)

-Carole Ann Landon

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