The Church with Holes

A Walk on the Walls

The Holy Spirit and I have been walking on top of Nehemiah’s walls rebuilt.

“The Lord is looking for today’s Nehemiahs,” He said. The Holy Spirit is saying He longs for those like Nehemiah, ready to follow the heart of the Father.

For some time now in our small groups, we have been following in the steps of Nehemiah, and the Holy Spirit has been very talkative about this servant of God.

 

Nehemiah was not called, yet he responded to the call

“Nehemiah was not called.” That was the first thing I heard the Holy Spirit say. And it got me really confused, most especially when He went on to say “yet he responded to the call”. So wait a minute he was not called yet he responded to the call.

“This -the Holy Spirit said- is what I am looking for: Nehemiahs who know the heart of the Father, and know the Father’s desire for the Body of Christ this side of eternity.”

So I reread the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah and the Spirit pointed to some interesting facts. Nehemiah did not have a “bells and whistles” call, not a burning bush, not a voice from heaven, not a thunder from a whirlwind, or such other experience: No, Nehemiah heard the report from his brother concerning the situation in Jerusalem, he visualized the need, and he KNEW the heart of the Father; he knew what Jerusalem meant for God, and because he aligned his heart with the heart of the Father he was ready to go.

“This is what I mean, -the Holy Spirit said-: His heart responded to the heart of the Father.” His own heart -Nehemiah’s- was resonating with the heartbeat of the Father.

Wow! Just Wow!

 

The church of Nehemiah

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit said: “Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to pastor it.” He became the pastor of a Church that was so dear to the heart of God.

So I asked the Lord: How does the story of Nehemiah compare to a Church today? I felt I had to ask about “a” Church and not “the” Church, although at first I did not realize why I had that distinction in my own spirit.

The Holy Spirit said: “The Church, -as the universal body of Christ- is alive and well, being built by Jesus Christ, just as He promised: “I will build My Church”. But it is the local church, -as the local expression of the body of Christ- that is in trouble, pretty much as Jerusalem was when Nehemiah came to pastor it.”

Now the Holy Spirit had my full attention, and granted, a lot of my curiosity was raised. I was like “all ears” by then. I felt like eating some corn on the cob in Missouri and asking “show me.”

So the Holy Spirit and I went back to our reading of the book of Nehemiah.

 

The Outside was Inside

Jerusalem had the Temple already rebuilt. The center of their religion was rebuilt, reestablished, and there was a form of religiosity at the center of the congregation of Jerusalem. But the life was pretty much gone: Enemies within and without. Those who were intent on hindering the well being and advancement of Jerusalem have gained access through the broken walls. And they were out in force to keep things the way they were. The enemy does not want change; Not if it means advancement for God’s people.

The Holy Spirit showed me that it is is just like that, in these days. The churches -both as local expressions of the body of Christ and as national churches- still have the religious center, the traditions, the methods, the programs, etc. in the middle of their sphere of action, but many have their walls in disrepair and because of that, the world has crept inside and wreck havoc.

I heard Him say: “Only when the Church will have rebuilt their walls and cast the world out of their midst, will she be able to reach out to a world in desperate need of hope with the message of Jesus Christ. The Church that allows the world within cannot influence the world without. The world cannot be saved by the world itself, it takes heaven to save the world.”

The Church will not be effective outside if it allows the outside world system rule within.

 

A Spiritually Derelict Church does not show heaven.

In our conversation, the Lord pointed to the fact that Jerusalem was representative of the whole nation, and as long as Jerusalem showed herself deprived of identity and devoid of integrity -as symbolized by the walls torn down and full of holes- the rest of the nation had no referent to which to look for a Godly pattern upon which to build the spiritual health of the country.

As the Church goes, so goes the nation.

Now I was getting not just what He meant in words or concepts but I started to feel His longing and His heart toward the Church, as He continued to speak.

The Holy Spirit showed me He is in the process of restoring the Churches everywhere to their place of actual influence as extenders of the Kingdom of God. “There is hope –He said- because soon local churches all over the world will begin to move in the power of Heaven like never before, even more than in the times of the first Apostles.” Again, “This will be possible because I will be with them as I was with Nehemiah, and the daunting, even intimidating task of rebuilding the walls of holiness and cast out the world system that wants to take full control of the Church, will not look impossible anymore.”  Also, “remember the number 52. Fifty-two days.” They had to clear the debris, make room for repairs, and put the whole wall and the gates together.

 

Impossible! Until the message was declared

Fifty-two days. It was impossible! Until Nehemiah came with a message. It was this message of supernatural power that rallied the people together to rebuilt. Nehemiah, knew the heart of God, he has seen the supernatural intervention of God in his dealing with the heathen king who provided the resources for the construction, and so he spoke in the ears of the people: “According to the powerful hand of God that was upon me”

 

The identity of the Church restored and sent

The nation will not rise to God’s Kingdom levels until the local churches everywhere start rebuilding the walls of identity. The Holy spirit again reminded me that only when the Church rids herself of the world system within, she will be able to bring changes without.

It is time for every church in every city to turn to heaven for wisdom and power. The Church cannot be the great factor of change she is meant to be unless she is sent. The Holy Spirit got very serious now, I could almost feel as if He was frowning and in a somber mode: “My church needs to be sent from heaven to a world in need. The world is not the “sender”,  “My church must realize that unless they relinquish the “sending appointment” the world system has presumed to establish in the Church, her effectiveness is null and void. The Church must come to Me that I may resend her with true apostolic credentials, to go and make disciples of all nations.”

The Lord also pointed to the fact that a majority of Christians speak about the situation in the nation: About issues: life, marriage, economy and ungodliness, as well as how the church is under attack. He says, don’t forget that the gates of hell shall not prevail. Much talk and even ranting, but My people need to realize and move in the true power available to the Church, which is MY power. Spiritual influence is not exercised by mere detached talk.

 

Back to the holes

Finally, in our talk-walk we went back to the walls and He said: “Many local Churches are to some extent this Jerusalem, with the religious apparatus in the middle, but the walls of identity and integrity full of holes.”

“I am as in the days of old ‘ranging to and fro to find those whose heart is aligned with mine’. I am looking for the Nehemiahs who will pastor every local Jerusalem; and I am about to turn every city church into a Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of true spiritual identity of the nations.”

 

And then the end will come

“When My Church in every place will have realized their identity and from a position of heavenly power will have reached into a lost world with the fullness of power of the Gospel, then the prophecy will be fulfilled in all its forceful significance: ‘and then, the end will come’.”

JC