March 17, 2002
Cry Out to the Lord
Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord. Joel 1:13-14 (NIV)
And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them and then they will fast. Matthew 9:15
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4
When we see the things that we have talked about, the lack of the harvest, the lack of the fruit, the coldness of heart of the people of God, we should call together the elders and all the people to fast and to mourn, repent, before God. That is what the Lord has said we are to do. We eat, drink and are merry when we should be wearing the garment of mourning. The bridegroom is no longer with us, in the physical; so now is the time to mourn, to fast, and to cry out before the Lord. We need him! We need to see him manifested, as we have never seen him before. Come, church, this is the call to gather. The Lord has spoken to me of the gathering for a long time now, many years in fact. He is calling us to gather together the saints to be prepared for the time to come. Jesus is coming and we must not be caught sleeping. We must be ready. Call together all who love the Lord and let us fast before him. Let us seek him and his forgiveness until he restores to us that which has been taken.
I call to you, this day, to fall on your face before him. We must not remain cold any longer. Mourn before the Lord for in the mourning come the light! The sun (son) rises in the mourning (morning). We need him to rise. We need him to come in power as never before. We are not pleasing unto God. It should be the desire of our hearts to be pleasing unto God. If that is the desire of our hearts, and we hear from him that he is not pleased, we must fast until we learn what it is he desires of us. We must be willing to go where he wants us to go and to do what he wants us to do and then let him show us what and where and how that is. Come, gather with the assembly of the saints, fast, mourn, repent, seek him face and wait for the day of the Lord is near!
Father, in Jesus name, we thank you that you have called us to fast before you. Lord, let us gather with the saints to seek your face and to fast before you. Lord put within our hearts to mourn before you, that the one who comforts, that same Holy Spirit whom you called the comforter, might comfort us. Lord, in Jesus name, forgive us that we have grown so cold as to not care that we are a disgrace to you. Forgive us that we have fallen so far away. Father, I cry out to the Lord and beg of him to restore me, in Jesus name, amen.
All rights reserved: Amy Seelbach
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