2012--THE END--Pt.3

As stated, God's judgment is coming to cleanse us of all of our clutter. Whatever it is that hinders our relationship with Him. It could be our jobs. If our jobs are consuming more of our time than He does or our jobs consume our thoughts more than He does, they may have to be removed. Maybe it's our recreations and our pleasures that are consuming more of our time than He gets. If this is the case He may have to remove the funds to maintain our pleasures and recreations. With some of us our relationship with God is hindered by our pursuit of houses, cars, and other possessions that we pursue more than Him. If this be the case they may have to be removed. Sometimes it's something as simple as our character or immature attitudes or sometimes just laziness in the word and prayer, or possibly we have a lot of spiritual pride. If these things hinder our relationship with God they will be removed beginning in 2012. Even our religious activities such as church services with no real true worship. Prayer that is self-serving. Bible reading and studies that show no maturing in our lives. All these religious activities do is lead us into a false sense of security, and they just clutter up our relationship with God. These too may have to be removed from our lives beginning in 2012.

It may be false experiences with God that are preventing us from having a relationship with Him. A lot of people in the church today are going around and stating, "God told me," just to validate their opinions. Many preface their opinions with, "Thus saith the Lord." And my favorite one that I'm hearing the most today is,"Let me tell you what God showed me." In the book of Ezekiel chapter 13 the Lord had a stern warning for those who just loosely declare,"Thus saith the Lord." Verses one through three say, "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord: 'woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!'" Then in verse six Ezekiel states, "They have envisioned futility and false divination saying, 'thus says the Lord!' But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed." We have a many self-proclaimed prophets and prophetesses in the church today who go around constantly saying,"Thus saith the Lord." They're speaking out of their flesh, out of their opinion or sometimes right out of Scripture, and yet it's not the Holy Spirit speaking through them. They are in hopes that once they've spoken it the Lord will confirm the word by letting it come to pass. I personally have received numerous prophecies over myself or my family that never came to pass through no fault of our own; and yet these prophets, though false, continue right own with their ministries. It's time that the church holds people accountable for what they say when they state,"Thus saith the Lord,"or"God told me," or "Let me tell you what God showed me."

In verses 10 to 15 of Ezekiel chapter 13 God again gives a stern warning against false prophets. He speaks here of bringing his judgment to the church which has been "plastered with untempered mortar" or, to say, with false word or shallow use of the word. Please take the time to read these verses for yourself. Many voices are speaking to the believers today, many of which are designed to draw us away from God. Some are deceiving us with the message of, "I'm okay you're okay." Many voices speaking today are imitating Jesus or the Holy Spirit all again designed to lead us away from God. We're in the last of the last days and we must hear only one, His. This is the purpose of the judgment of God coming to His house beginning at a much accelerated rate in 2012. He wants us to get rid of everything in our lives that is hindering our relationship with Him. When we are in a close father/child relationship with God, we will hear only one voice and obey it.

Jesus said in John chapter 10:2-5,"He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep, to him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, they do not know the voice of the strangers." And verse 17 says, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me." It was not uncommon in Jesus' day for shepherds to bring their sheep into Jerusalem and into the holding pens to be used for Temple sacrifices. Let's say that 25 shepherds would bring 50 head of sheep into the corral for holding. When it was time for the shepherd to bring his sheep in he would simply stand and call out to his sheep. The only ones that would leave the pen and come to him were those sheep that belonged to him for they knew his voice. All 25 shepherds could stand at different times and even speak the same command but only their sheep would come to them because they knew only the voice of their shepherd, and they would not come to a stranger. This is what Jesus is hoping to accomplish in His church beginning in 2012 by bringing judgment to remove the clutter out of our lives; that being, that we will hear only His voice and will follow Him and not yield to any strange voice.

Yes, 2012 will hold many things for the church. We will begin to see the end of the deception that has caused self righteousness. We will begin to see the practice of holy humanism brought to an end. Anything that has caused us to rebel against His set authority in the church will be removed. 20"12", (from its Hebrew meanings), we will see God's people, flowing in the perfect plan of God, being led by God's set authority!

Rest assured, judgment is coming. It will touch all of us! The consuming fire of God's glory will either destroy all of our clutter or it will destroy us! We will fear Him or be consumed by His judgments! When it seems like a lot of bad things are coming your way don't be so quick to rebuke demons, it may very well be God's judgments brought into your life to remove the things that are hindering your relationship with Him. God wants to give His people a holy visitation. He wants to reveal His glory to His church as well as empower it. But He must first cleanse His house, His Temple, His church(know you not that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit). Just as it was with Jesus when He entered Jerusalem for His triumphal entry, He first entered the Temple and He cleansed it. Then during His passion week He taught in the Temple, but it had to be cleansed first.

In times past God showed long-suffering with His children in that He would at times take years maybe even decades to deal with the clutter in their lives. But because the time is short and we are entering the end times and the church must the made ready for the harvest of souls, God will no longer be so patient. He's going to turn up the heat in the pressure cooker of life as He makes His bride ready for the soon return of Christ.

Are you ready for 2012? Are you ready for the purging that "is" coming? Maybe we ought to pray, "Lord, here I am. I submit to Your cleansing. Please reveal all my "clutter". Whatever hinders my relationship with You reveal it to me. Give me the strength to submit to the cleansing process and the courage to do Your will in 2012. Amen."