As we continue to Count the Omer, today we reach Day #23. The number
23 has long been associated with death. A prime example of this within scripture is Psalm
23. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" is probably one of the most well-known verses in the Bible.
In our ongoing harvest analogy, many people don't realize that crops appear to be dead when they are ready for harvesting. They turn amber when they are ripe. The song "America the Beautiful," mentions the "amber waves of grain" referring to this farming reality. "Harvest-ready" means the green tissue within the plant has ripened and turned brown. This must occur otherwise the grain will have too much moisture and a short shelf life. In fact, if crops are harvested too soon they will become moldy and not good as a food source.
Once again, I am in awe of God's scriptural analogies. The Word speaks in analogies of harvesting people and we must be ripe and ready for harvesting.
And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come." ~ Mark 4:29 (Berean Study Bible)
Only once we appear DEAD TO THIS LIFE will we be ready. If this harvesting were to occur before we have reached this stage, we will have a "short shelf life" and be ridden with incurable soul rot.
The Hammer and Sickle has long been associated with Communist/Marxist ideology. In Nazi Germany, the sign above the Death Camps was "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work makes Free." The devil always has a counterfeit to a true spiritual reality. Earthly utopian societies never succeed. It is man's humanistic and evil version of building another Tower of Babel. However, the works set before the Church, that God appointed us to do from long ago truly DOES set people free!
For we are His workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for GOOD WORKS which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
~ Ephesians 2:10
If we refuse to do His Work, does this mean that God's plan will fail? Of course not! Make no mistake about it, God will raise up SOMEONE ELSE to do His Work but the disobedient person who refuses to do His Work will perish along with their family!
Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, BUT YOU AND YOUR FATHER'S HOUSE WILL PERISH. Yet who knows whether you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?
~ Esther 4:13b-14
These 50 days of devotionals are intended to deepen our walk with Christ by removing old sin strongholds through repentance. In doing so, we receive the full abundant-life power of the Holy Spirit. It's a time also to confess our nation's sins, such as the slaughter of innocents.
We have been living in the valley of the shadow of death with this sin in most nations. The killing of innocents is the first in a series of major national sin issues which bring the Lord's Judgment. Despite knowing that we are incessantly breaking one of the Lord's Commandments, 3,000 live babies a day in this nation alone are killed. As this practice continues to grow in scope and intensity, we as taxpayers are paying millions to anti-life agencies such as Planned Parenthood to keep the murders coming.
Every single unique, amazingly created Human Being is a walking, talking, thinking, breathing testament to God's incredible Glory. Every time a baby is born...we are witnessing a miracle that screams GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST! New life is an affront to the evil forces of the universe which seek to silence this testimony in any way that they can.
Join me in repenting of any apathy thinking someone else will make all this happen while we sit on the sidelines. For too long we have murdered babies, allowing the spirit of death to permeate our lives.
It's time to follow God's Instruction to heal this nation:...
"if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
(2 Chronicles 7:14)
As we repent and call for His Life to spread throughout this nation the promise of Psalm 23, verse 3, personally and as a nation will come alive:
"He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."
On this 23rd day of counting the Omer, we thank You Lord for Your presence. On our knees we cry out for Your Mercy Lord --------heal our land!
