Day 6 | Make It In March
Pastor Andrew Owen
Dear eNews friends and church members,
Day 6
PRAYER & FASTING666
Six, as with all numbers, carries significance in the Bible.It was of course the day man was created, so it represents ‘man’ in the Bible.Seven is the number for God - being and meaning 'perfection'.When we see these numbers in the Bible we should always think about the deeper truth behind the text.
What about the infamous 666 found in the book of Revelation? (Revelation 13:18)
Firstly, we should always remember that Revelation is a hugely positive book, written to inspire faith, and was a book of great comfort to the early church.It’s a positive book because it prophetically tells us, the church, that we win!But we should also remember it’s a book of symbols. In fact, John in opening the book tells us just that, we read:
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show His servants - things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John."
Revelation 1:1
‘Signified’ in the Greek is the word semaino, which means to express by a sign or a symbol.So, we know immediately that everything coming is being told by a sign or a symbol. And all the symbols that appear in Revelation have already appeared elsewhere in the Bible. It makes a really good personal Bible study to look into all of that.But back to our 666.The big story of the Bible is always about choices. Who will you have as Lord and King over your life?The issue in becoming a Christian is not really accepting Jesus as your Saviour but accepting Jesus as your Lord. (Romans 10:9)And of course, if He is not Lord of all - He’s not Lord at all.The Bible constantly encourages man to choose God and warns of the consequences of making the wrong choice. But man has persistently chosen to be his own god, not realising that in so doing he is actually submitting to other gods, demonic and dark forces. This is the story of Revelation.Simply put, 666 is a number trying to become 7. It’s 6 recurring, but never getting there.Life without God is always the story of man striving to be in control, to build a better world, and the whole time leaving God out of it. This is 666.This week, our parliament has been in utter chaos, as political leaders strive for their own party-political interests, taking the country to the edge of chaos, unwilling to work together for the good of the whole. And the truth is, whichever political party drives the agenda, all will always be frustrated when God is left out.We have been watching 66666666, man trying to find a solution, with not one thought of prayer or asking God for help.In the days of the last world war, national days of prayer were often on the agenda. Today, we can’t even get most of our politicians to come to a prayer breakfast once in the year.But hey, we win!God will bring this world back to Himself.Our part in the meantime is to:
- Get the Word out by preaching, talking, telling and witnessing.
- Pray for the success of this Word as it goes forwards into healing meetings and Easter outreaches.
- A 100% tithing and giving community. Tomorrow is the day of decision. We want to Make It In March, make sure that we ourselves have made the correct choice, that Jesus is our Lord, and we are doing as He asks. That is really what this month is all about.
Of course, we must call on God for our nation, pray for our leaders. But this is required of us, not to be ‘nice’, but to be vigilant. It’s required of us, because prayer does and can change things.A national leader once said:
'A nation always gets the political leaders it deserves, for they echo their own inner selves, since they came out from these same people.'
The Bible on the other hand teaches us that we as God’s people, actually get what we pray for.Let’s pray big, walk sincerely and believe passionately.
Don’t forget it’s Spring forward time, clocks go forward 1hr at 1am tonight.
Love you guys,
Andrew
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