Come Out of Babylon 4-28-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift up my eyes and open up my heart to You, as I watch and wait for the leading of Your Spirit in these first moments of my morning. … “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples exhaust themselves for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire” (Jeremiah 51:58). In Your Word, “Babylon” seems to speak of worldly pride—the world centered in man rather than centered in Christ; the wisdom and ways, the mindset and might of insisting on living our lives apart from You and Your authority. It was at Babel that man said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4). It was in Babel that Nimrod built his own kingdom out of his own might and his own pride for the glory of his own name (Genesis 10:8-10). And it was at Babel that the pride of man and the kingdoms of this world opened their gates to confusion and division as a result of their sin and rebellion against the authority and honor of God (Genesis 11:5-9). When we give in to this spirit of humanism and pride that centers our world around ourselves apart from You, we soon exhaust ourselves and weary ourselves. All our straining and striving to succeed in this world by the wisdom and might of our own ways for the glory of our own name will ultimately come to nothing. All that we build and all that we become will only amount in the end to nothing more than wood, hay, and stubble reserved only for fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-13). All will soon pass away, built upon the pleasures and for the purposes of the moment and the kingdoms of this world instead of storing up for ourselves the treasures of heaven in the Kingdom of God that will not pass away. So in Your mercy and love, You have called to us and cried out to us, “Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the Lord!” (Jeremiah 51:45). Your fierce anger is turned against Babylon and all that the spirit of this world and its false pride does to destroy Your people and steal away the inheritance of our possession in Your Kingdom in exchange for the false blessings and the false promises of the kingdoms of this world that will not last and cannot fulfill. Bablyon will fall; in all its confusion and division, centered in the pride of man rather than the glory of God, insisting on its own ways instead of trusting in Your ways, it cannot stand (Jeremiah 51:44). This is the voice of Your Spirit speaking to Your Church in this hour as well. “ ‘Come out of her, My people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so that you do not share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities’…. She will be burned with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who judges her…. For in one hour all this wealth has been laid waste…. With such violence Babylon the great city will be thrown down and will be found no more” (Revelation 18:4-22). Reawaken us and restore us to our calling to be salt and light in the midst of this world, no longer content and complacent to lose our saltiness by compromise and confusion with the ways of this world and no longer allowing our lights to grow dim under the veil of its darkness and deception (Matthew 5:13-16). Instead of turning to the spirit of this world for our salvation and success, our sense of pleasure and purpose, let us again turn our hearts to You alone. Let us be found faithful and fulfilled in You, embracing Your authority and Your ways for our lives. Then we will celebrate with heaven in the victory of Your Kingdom over the kingdoms of this world: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God, for His judgments are true and just; He has judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants” (Revelation 19:1-2). As we proclaim the victory of Your Kingdom in our hearts by Your grace now, we will be able to proclaim the victory of Your Kingdom by Your grace forever, shouting with heaven, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in prayer this week for our 4 Day Intensive School of Spiritual Ministry I will be leading here in Lexington, teaching along with Dan Van Nice and Lisa Preston. By the grace of God through the Holy Spirit, we will be equipping and empowering spiritual leaders in the ministry of healing and deliverance to prepare the Bride of Christ and prepare the way of the Lord. DVD's of our teaching on Level 1 and Level 2 of our Schools, along with Powerpoint Outline presentations are available for order for personal or group study if you're not able to come but may be called to this area of ministry or interested in learning more. This follows the teaching in my book Free to Be Like Jesus--Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Please share these morning prayers with anyone who may be interested. Subscribe by email to Tommy Hays at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!