Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
In my travels across the United States, I’ve come to a greater understanding of the racial divisions which seem to characterize much of the restlessness in America. While I was in Little Rock, Arkansas I spent time with a black pastor who was taught of the true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. While historians will rightly record MLK as a civil rights leader, he was first and foremost a Baptist pastor, and was a biblical rights leader who saw that, in the Kingdom of God … there is NO RACE! That was the revelation which inspired MLK to speak out against the social injustice of his generation.
And King was not unique in the history of those who stood up against social injustice, but one voice among many others who understood and believed the Word of God. William Wilberforce in his mission to end slavery in England was compelled by his understanding of the Bible's view of humanity and God's ideal of human freedom. Through great perseverance, he succeeded in establishing God's perspective into the legal code, setting a modern precedent to this day. During the Civil War, the abolitionists were fighting to free those in the bondage of slavery, based in their understanding of human dignity, in that all men are made in God's very image.
Social justice is a Kingdom issue, as we’re called to defend those who cannot defend themselves, and to stand against all injustice. We recognize, however, that the deep root of injustice lies in the sin nature of every living soul, and has permeated all of society, in many ways entrenching itself in governments and laws in our time. Since we believe that righteousness can only begin with individual repentance and regeneration, we recognize the limits of our capacity to affect social change, especially in light of the Lord's descriptions of the Last days. But we are called to be salt and light, and our presence does preserve and illuminate culture through the gospel, so we seize every opportunity, individual and social, to represent Yeshua (Jesus), His truth and His salvation.
Some believers will be specifically called to champion issues of social justice, while others will minister personally to the disenfranchised and miserable victims of it. Wherever we are called in ministry or battle, the Holy Spirit will empower the solutions we bring, whether politically, socially or individually.
Be part of God’s solution by discovering and walking in your gifts and calling. Yeshua said, "Apart from me you can do nothing". The changes, improvements and reforms which emerge from Spirit filled ministry will good yield fruit, both now and in eternity.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Some of the wealthiest individuals in the United States are real estate developers. They make their money by buying a piece of property that is terribly run down, seemingly useless, without any value to the naked eye and reforming it completely, making it look brand new! These businessmen are not as much interested in what is on the property as they are interested in the land it’s on!
A sailor who was shipwrecked on a desert island was captured by some of the natives of that island. They carried him off on their shoulders to their village, where he was sure he would end up being the main course. But instead, they put a crown on his head and made him king. He was enjoying all the attention he was receiving but was growing a little suspicious. He started making inquiries and discovered that their custom was to crown a stranger king for a year and at the end of that year the crowned king would be sent to a deserted island where he was allowed to starve to death.
With war drums beating even more intensely in Iran and Syria, we’ve received numerous phone calls and emails expressing their concerns — and understandably so! Nevertheless, even in this climate of anxiety, we are preparing to enter into Shabbat (the Hebrew word for Sabbath) this afternoon. And as we do, we are remembering again, the deep lesson of God’s entering into His rest following the six creation days.
This is one of my favorite promises in the Bible — that God turns mourning into dancing! He takes away the anguish of being clothed in sadness and replaces it with gladness. However, notice what God doesn’t do — simply stop your mourning and make it disappear. No, He transforms it…into joy!
As we discussed last week, the word for “sign” in ancient Hebrew is “oht”. It was used in Genesis to designate God’s covenant sign with Noah, (the rainbow). And we see now the same word again, in Exodus, identified with the deliverance of the Jewish people from the tenth plague, when the angel of death passed through all Egypt to strike the firstborn. Anyone under the “sign” of the blood was spared.
Yesterday we wrote about one of the greatest moves of God … the Moravian Revival. When the community was in complete disarray, Count Zinzendorf focused on how they could live together in love despite their differences. He called all the men together for an intense study of the Scriptures to focus on how Christian life in community was portrayed. These studies combined with intense prayer convinced many of the believers that they were called to live together in love and that their disunity and conflict were contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.
In the late 1800s, an awakening in South Africa led by Andrew Murray was a powerful move of God. Studying that revival yields essential insights concerning the events occurring now throughout the United States. As the spirit of God began to move in Cape Town, Murray compared the SA revival with past experiences of revivals in Europe. He decided that the intense “emotionalism” was a false experience of God and charged in to break up the meeting. Stepping out of the church, he encountered his father standing and weeping. His father rebuked Andrew, “How dare you stop something that I have prayed to happen for 30 years!”