It looks like it will be a busy Spring here at Calvary. We are pressing into the final stages of the construction on our Prayer Tower. It was dedicated on Sunday, January 6th during the National Week of Prayer with many a prayer offered up within it. An impromptu prayer circle gathered within the tower during the Week of Prayer and prayed over many of our members and ministry leaders. We are off to an awesome start in 2013 praying for revival in our community and among our sons and daughters.
Now we must take the next step and raise up a prayer ministry surrounding the tower. This ministry will be a community-wide prayer group to not only pray over our church, but the spiritual and physical needs of our entire area. I am excited about this because another Pastor in our area already wants a weekly time alone in the Prayer Tower to meet with God. I hope to expand this idea with several Pastors meeting each month in the Prayer Tower to pray for our area.
Death in the Family
My uncle in California died the last of January. It’s like an end of an era, being he was the last of my mother’s brothers and sisters to pass on. He never married and the estate was willed over to a niece of his who has already passed away. Therefore I was called as the next-of-kin to handle his final affairs. This will necessitate a trip to California next week to tie up his property and accounts. He had already arranged for a cremation and sprinkling of his ashes at sea, which I took care of that paperwork this last Friday. They are sending me the death certificate so I can begin the process of closing his accounts and notifying the federal government of his death.
My uncle’s name was Phil. It’s where I got my middle name, Phillip. It is also the name of my first son, Phillip Thomas Jenkins. We took my middle name and my dad’s middle name to construct my son’s name. I like the heritage it conveys. My dad’s middle name was Thomas and so was my grandfather’s, Stanley Thomas.
My uncle Phil’s oldest sister, Rowena, was a famous artist and fashion designer over in England. She passed away a long time ago, but Phil has maintained her collection of artwork and designs. When Susan and I go to California, we hope to retrieve this collection so that it will stay in the family. Phil also loved to paint, as did I and most of my family. My sister, Marilyn, did a portrait of my wife, Susan, for my birthday, which currently hangs in my office. I guess all of my family has been creative and involved in art and design most of their lives.
As a matter of fact, my whole family has been very talented in music, art, and writing. My mother, Edith Jenkins, loved to write. When she was saved, no one knew this gift lay within her until she started writing many articles, poems, and eventually books for the Lord. She has been published in Reader’s Digest and Guideposts. she even wrote a major book entitled Elijah and Elisha, about the two Old Testament prophets.
Fear Factor
The newest thing on the agenda in the Spirit, is God has been instructing me in the fear of the Lord. The Bible is very clear on this topic, but I have never addressed it directly. However, what we find is that many believers do not possess the fear of the Lord as it is revealed in the Scriptures. We all know the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is to depart from evil, but there is so much more.
I guess the reason the Lord wanted me to preach on this is so that I would study this subject more closely. So far it seems that the fear of the Lord would have a great impact on the Lord’s increased presence in our church. We recently finished John Bevere’s Honor’s Reward video series on Wednesday nights and it got me to reading some more of his books. The book The Fear of the Lord has opened my eyes to an additional aspect of God’s nature — the judgment of the Lord. Some of the things we experience in the Lord will happen whether we understand them or not. God’s judgment is one of them.
God spends much time trying to get our attention. Many times he calls to us through his Word, through the gifts of the Spirit operating in others, and through our own conscience as well. However, blindly ignoring the Lord will not allow us to bypass his judgment on our actions. This is because ignoring his guidance eventually takes us out of the covering of obedience to his will. This leaves us open prey for the devil’s attack. Once the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ stops operating in our lives we can mess it all up very quickly.
I believe that along with the problems we introduce into our own lives, there is also a loss of favor before the Lord when we don’t fear him. This removes the covering of protection that we need to prevent the enemy from coming in and stealing everything from us. This is seen in the Lord’s favor over Israel all through the Old Testament. Their enemies were not keep at bay by their armies. They were keep in fear by the presence of the Lord. When Israel lost the Lord’s favor, their enemies were no longer afraid of them. This is why is says in Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” The companion verse for this principle is found in Romans 12:18 where it says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” God does not willing bring judgment upon us because we make a mistake. However, he is just and must act so that we “will not be condemned with the world.”
“When we are judged by the Lord,
we are being disciplined so that we will
not be condemned with the world.”
1 Corinthians 11:32
Even the judgment of God is an act of his mercy. That is unless it is a sin unto death. All sin works death in us and it hardens our hearts. However, we can recover if we will accept the discipline of the Lord and return to obedience to his will.
As God begins to show us more about the fear of the Lord, I believe it is in preparation for a greater manifestation of his glory among us. If we will simply follow his instructions to clean up our lives and get on our knees and pray, not only will revival be among us, it will spread to our sons and daughters, and this entire community as well.