Comments on David Wilkerson article- The Most Important Issue of This Hour

Posted: 2008-12-03 15:19:57

Comments on the following Article by David Wilkerson

The Most Important Issue of This Hour by David Wilkerson (6-2-08)

(For the complete article please write and request it)

 

“In this time of mounting crises and growing fears…for every follower of Jesus, the question of the hour is this: “Will my faith endure what is coming?”

 

In Matthew 24:13 it says, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” When Christ spoke this, he had just described the frightful trials to come upon his disciples: false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, nation pitted against nation, upheavals in the natural world, earthquakes and pestilences, persecutions…. (see Matt. 24:4-12) Jesus also said, “Many will come in my name and shall deceive many.” (Matt. 24:5) Also, because iniquity shall abound (increase), the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt. 24:12)

 

Even with all the economic collapses all around us, according to David Wilkerson, for the Church of Jesus Christ, the real issue is not economic collapse. It isn’t even about who will preside over the nation. Rather, it is all about our faith enduring. David Wilkerson asks every true believer: do you at the present have an abiding trust in the Lord (and a living relationship with Him) that is holding up and that will hold up when the world descends into chaos? (Which he predicts is still coming). As the fearful things Jesus said would come begin to appear on the earth will our love for the Lord, our confidence in Him and our relationship with Him endure? Or will we grow cold, as Jesus predicted would happen to so many believers?

 

Christ asked, “When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

 

We must not be like those whose faith “endures for a while” but when tribulations and persecutions arise, by and by he is offended (or stumbles). (He has no root in himself” Matt. 13:21).

 

(Our root must be that we know our God, we walk with Him, we know His voice and hear His voice. Ask the Lord to give you that kind of relationship with Him that you know when He speaks, you know Him and hear Him and love Him. The Lord will speak to you clearly if you want Him to. If you draw near to Him He will draw near to you. If you seek Him with your heart of hearts you will find Him and He will come near to you. Do you believe these verses and see them coming true for you? I believe you are hungry for Him and want Him more and that is why you are even reading this!)

 

Don’t just “endure for a while.” “When your prayers are not answered- when the deadlines for your requests are not met- do not fall into unbelief.” This is a testing which the Lord has been sending upon all of us to see how much we will endure and keep on going with Him.

 

In Heb. 10:32-36 it says that even though “we must endure a great struggle with sufferings or must joyfully accept the plundering of our goods, etc., we will have need of endurance so that after we have done the will of God then we will receive His promise.”

 

As David Wilkerson shares, “Too often when afflictions begin showing up in believer’s lives, they become offended. They have read God’s Word, they have claimed certain promises, they have prayed earnestly, but still the trial continues. And, over time, because they haven’t seen an answer to their prayers, they become offended by the Word they’ve been clinging to. At some point, a seed of unbelief is planted in their heart. They can’t shake the nagging thought that the Lord has failed to keep His promises to them.

“Lord, why haven’t you intervened for me? Why have you allowed such confusion in my marriage, my family? You have put on me more than I am able to bear.”

(All of us have felt this way. The Scriptures are full of honest hearts crying out to God. In the Psalms many times it says things like this, “How long will you forget me, O Lord? How long will you hide your face from me, O Lord?” (Ps. 13:1) Certainly Job had family problems, death, and sickness too, with no immediate answers coming).

 

In II Chron. 16:9 it says that the Lord is looking to and fro through the whole earth for someone (whose heart will not fail in adversity and who will continue to trust Him and believe in His love through all troubles allowed by Him). “God is searching diligently for a man or a woman of faith who is wholly given to Him in trust (through all things). (Of course, this is not easy, we are in a crucible of fire to purify our faith which is much more precious than gold (to us and to the Lord).

Maybe you have had some great victories of faith in the past. And you have made it thus far. But one or two or even 30 years of glorious victories of faith are not enough. We must endure to the end, finish the race, fight the good fight until the Lord is through with our time on the earth. Do not think that this is too much for you, do not be discouraged. The Lord has always made you equal to the trials at hand and He will continue to make you equal to every trial ahead.

 

Is it not true that more trials have come to pass for you as time goes on? It is true of every believer.” Indeed, the more you seek the Lord, the greater your call, the deeper your walk with Him- you’ll encounter further afflictions and sufferings, for ever-increasing tests (and purifying) of your faith. These will continue until the end, the Scriptures assure us of this.

 

We must not be shaken in our faith when even greater tests come upon us. God is shaking all things and we must stay close to the Lord. You may say, I can’t do it, I’m afraid, I am shaken! Well, I (David Nelson) have felt all this which I have spoken above. Also David Wilkerson has experienced all these things. What David Wilkerson is teaching (and what I am sharing) has been born from his own personal crucible of great sufferings, hard times and crushing trials of faith. He watched his wife Gwen and his two daughters come close to death from cancer. His own grand-daughter died from cancer. He has seen all his children and grandchildren under attack at various times and he has gone through personal fiery trials. I too (David Nelson) could share with you so many hard times for myself. But are we not all going through these same things? Yes, I (David Wilkerson) have experienced eclipses of faith where the Lord’s face seemed completely hidden from me during my ordeal. But are we not still standing even to this hour by His grace?

 

So what we must do now when the enemy of our soul says to us, “Now, how are you going to make it through this crisis? What will you do now? If God loves you so much, why did He let this happen to you? What is going to become of you, your family, your job, your ministry? I will answer these nagging questions with, the Lord has brought me thus far by faith (and His grace), I will trust all future events to Him (He has brought me safe thus far by His grace and grace will carry me home too). “He has proved Himself faithful time after time, He can be trusted with my future.”

Is not our confidence (and enduring faith) in our God and Father, is not such faith and His grace capable of making us ready for whatever the present hour brings? Amen! So be it!

Please realize that I (in myself) nor any of us are equal to all that is to come. But this we must do and must pray, “Lord, I am weak but you are strong, Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so, and I have tasted of it again and again.”

Keep having times of prayer (to stay focused on the Lord and allow Him to speak to you), whether 15 minutes or an hour, keep asking the Lord to help you and speak to you. Show me what to do, Lord. Give me strength, Lord. Speak to me, be my Comforter, be my Shepherd, be my Friend, be my Father, let me walk with you and you with me. Let me thank you every day for the little and the big things you do for me every day. This living relationship and walk with the Lord will be all you need, and His grace will be sufficient for you when bad things don’t go away or when things don’t go the way we had hoped.

As the coming of the Lord draws nearer and nearer let’s keep encouraging each other and also drawing near to each other. As the world gets darker and darker the Lord has promised that His glory will rise upon us (like the rising of the morning sun). (Is. 60:1,2) His changes in our lives with all of our growing pains will be worth it all, and the glorious life He is creating in us will far outweigh all the hard pains we have felt. The Lord be with you all!!