Prepare Ye the Way
These are times of great expectation and anticipation for the Church
of the Living God. The sense that something is just about to happen
permeates the atmosphere as world’s events set up the stage for the
greatest appearance of something or Someone who can take control and
bring order and peace in this nation and across the world. We call it
Revival, Renewal, Spiritual Awakening…but what we are waiting for - in
short- is the Coming of the Immanuel, God with us. What do I mean by
that? We are waiting for the Manifested Presence of God in our midst,
revealing His Power, His authority, His Majesty, and His glory, through
His Church - the Bride of Christ.
When Jesus came the first time 2000 years ago, His arrival was
heralded by John the Baptist, a powerful voice that spoke powerfully to
the sinful world of his days.
The same needs to happen in our days, but the Church, who is to be
God’s voice on the earth, is not prepared to speak to the world. Before
that can happen, there needs to come a prophetic voice that speaks to
the Church first, like that of John the Baptist.
God needs mouthpieces, spokespersons having a message that prepares
the Bride for the coming Glory. Like John, those spokesmen or
spokeswomen, have to be prepared by God to be that “trumpet” or
prophetic voice that will make the people ready to prepare the Way of
the Lord.
John was kept in the desert until his time came to come out with one
message: Repent! We need radicals, like John the
Baptist, man and women filled with the Spirit of God who will turn the
church around and restore God’s favor to her.
I believe the Lord has prepared many of them; they have been kept in
the desert, soon to come out with the same spirit of Elijah resting on
them like He rested on John the Baptist; their voice will cry out the
same message.
The prophet Isaiah and the prophet Malachi prophesied that there
would be a messenger coming out of obscurity, just a voice with a
message so grand that the person would vanish behind it:
Mal 3:1 “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me…”
Isaiah 40:3 “…Prepare the way of the LORD; make
straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be
exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places
shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; the glory of the
LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the
mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Isa 57:14 (NKJ) And one shall say, "Heap it up!
Heap it up! Prepare the way, take the stumbling block out of the way of
My people."
Isa 62:10 Go through, go through the gates;
prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather
out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
From the reading of the above scriptures we see that it is God’s
desire to fill the earth with His glory but before that can happen,
there is a preparation that needs to take place. To prepare is to make
arrangement or to set things in place so He can appear. What are the
preparations that need to be made?
*First of all HIS WAY must be prepared. It’s God’s
Way, not ours that will usher in His glory. He says, ‘ my ways are
not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts’. So then, we
must seek His Way, know His way, conform to His Way and surrender to it.
*Everything that stands on that Way must be
removed. Take out the stones, the stumbling block or anything that
blocks out His coming in Glory. The prophet Jeremiah gives us a clue
about the nature of the stumbling block that needs to be cleared out,
and it is IDOLATRY
“Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to
worthless idols. And they have caused themselves
to stumble…” Jer 18:15.
Isaiah says: Heap it up, heap it up, in other words: “make a
heap of all of them (idols) and get rid of them all! As we continue
reading in Jeremiah 18 we discover that this is the stumbling block that
makes us fall from the ancient path (of righteousness). He leads in
the paths of righteousness for His name sake (Psalm 23), but idolatry
causes us to stumble and fall.
*“Cast up, cast up a highway…” A Highway
facilitates a communication from one city to another and is a way open
to all passengers. It is the highway of holiness through which heaven
communicates with earth and over which the Lord will walk in mighty
Revival. We, His people, are the highway of the Lord. When our life
is conditioned to the will of God, and our heart is clean and pure, He
promises to manifest His glory. “…and the glory of the Lord will be
revealed” Isa. 40:5
*“Make straight in the desert a highway for our
God” The wilderness experiences in our life prepare our heart to
become a “straight” highway. A heart that is “straight” is a heart that
is upright. Here is the place where anything that is crooked is made
straight and everything that is rough is made smooth. The crooked
things have to do with anything that is opposite to
upright, anything that deviates from truth and rectitude, like distorted
thinking, dishonesty, insincerity; depravity (which is corruption of
moral principles) and any action of injustice.
Bob Sorge, in His book “ Glory” points to the fact that John called
the Pharisee “brood of vipers” because of their twisted and warped ways.
Vipers, in fact, move sideway and their path is crooked.
There is going to be an exposure of “crookedness in us personally, in
the church and in the Government before the coming of the Lord in glory.
In the desert the rough places are made smooth. When I think of
something rough, I think of a porcupine whose self-defensiveness can
become painfully abrasive to those who dare to come close. So, I think
of anger, self-justification, defensiveness, and lack of vulnerability
(which translates in lack of love). On the contrary, anything that is
smooth is even, leveled, nor easily provoked; it is also sharp like the
edge of a knife or a sword, penetrating the heart of our enemy.
Proverb 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh
word stirs up anger. (NAS).
Finally, a Highway that is straight and smooth cannot have Mountains
and Valleys. Therefore the valleys in our hearts need to be filled and
the Mountains need to be brought low. Those areas of lack in our life
God wants to fill. Our unbelief, our lack of confidence, our
insecurities, our depressions, and hopelessness He will permeate to make
a leveled path. In contrast the mountains of Pride, ambition, strife,
competition, personality, self-sufficiency, and anything that exalts
self and the flesh is going to be brought low because nothing will stand
in the Way of God.
Oh God, let the John the Baptist come out of the wilderness and let
their thundering voices made ready a people that will prepare your Way.
Give us a heart that wants to be holy. Do the work that cleanses us and
builds us into that highway of holiness that will cause Heaven to touch
Earth until your Glory covers it like the waters cover the Sea.
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