"The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth... "...I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains and the creature of the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me."
- Psalm 50:1,2...9-15 (NIV)
"Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the Lord Almighty.
- Malachi 1:10,11 (NIV)
The two passages above are spoken by God to a corrupt priesthood who semi-adhered to a religious system but failed to offer God their whole hearts in gratitude with a true spirit of prayer. Paul spoke of many in the last days who would be much the same: "having a form of godliness but denying its power."(2 Timothy 3:5) These people would be "lovers of themselves, lovers of money...ungrateful... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." (3:2,4) And Paul's description of these is preluded by this statement - "Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days." (3:1)
Why am I writing this? I guess because I see a convergence of themes in these passages that I believe are very relevant for this hour of history we find ourselves in. Many in our country are beginning to panic because of the rumblings in our current economy. Major banking institutions that many thought were unsinkable ships are either faltering or filing bankruptcy. The housing market is suffering from the fallout of unscrupulous loans made in the name of greed. Gas prices soar as the stock market plummets and speculation on Wall Street of the impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Ike only make matters worse. At the same time, we continue to hear of spiritual leaders falling into sin. We have seen many men with big ministries, but not enough with large interior lives before God. I believe what America is experiencing is just the beginning of the beginning of a shaking...something that all nations will be experiencing in the not so distant future, if they aren't already. Jesus calls it the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation. Haggai wrote about it: 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations (Jesus) will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty." (Haggai 2:6-9)
In the above passages, there is a reminder that God is the one who owns all the wealth of the earth. There is a cry for us to not find our security in anything or anyone but in God and in Him alone. In all of the passages, there is a decrying of religious form void of supernatural power and in each there is the promise of an end-time global prayer movement "from the rising to the setting of the sun" (see also Psalm 113:3, Isaiah 45:6, 59:19) that will truly bring God the glory that He deserves. (For the symbolic significance of incense see Ps. 141:2, Rev. 5:8, 8:1-5, Num. 16, Hebrews 13:15,16)
Do you find yourself stressing because of these financially stretching times? (Trust me, I too have been there myself of late). Prayer and thankfulness are what rises to God like a fragrant offering in such times. Do you want to know what the Lord is looking for? He is looking for a people who will take up their crosses and follow in the steps of Jesus our Great High Priest, who not only offered sacrifice - He became the very sacrifice for the sins of the world. Nothing can replace that once and for all ultimate atoning for sin. But we too, in gratitude for what we could not do for ourselves, are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). It is in doing so that we "are to God the aroma of Christ...the fragrance of life" and "the fragrance of the knowledge of Him" (2 Corinthians 3:14-16) John Wesley use to pray each day: "God set me on fire so that people would come from miles around to watch me burn." True, we are to burn before men. But first and foremost, our hearts are to burn, our very lives are to be like incense - an unbroken prayer to God, a pleasing aroma to the One who owns the whole earth, who holds it all in the palm of His hands and who paid such a price to see it restored, for He is worthy. When we choose to pray, we choose to make God's name great instead of our own...for when God answers prayer and does the impossible - no one can take the credit but rather His Great Name is exalted. God promises that if we call on Him in our day of trouble, he will answer and He will deliver. He promises that He owns the silver and the gold. It was a originally a promise to those who would rebuild the Temple after it's destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, but I believe it spoke also of the generation before the Lord returns. We find ourselves with the influences of Babylon all around us once again. God is looking for Daniels who will fast and pray regularly, regardless of the flack they get for it. God is rebuilding his Temple, restoring it as "a house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:17) once again. Where does this building project begin? Ground is being broken as we speak in the hearts of believers all over the earth who are hearing the call to pray. His name will be made great again by a praying church, for we are now the Temple of God's Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)
With the troubles you face and the pressures that seem to only be increasing all around us, I urge you to choose the pleasing aroma of thankfulness and prayer and find the Lord's deliverance. The Mighty One, God the Lord is perfect in beauty and He shines forth from Zion. Let His light shine in whatever darkness you are facing. He says, "the world is mine and all that is in it." Will you trust his leadership, even as it feels as all that can be shaken is being shaken? The shaking is a necessary prelude for the 'Desired of the Nations' to come. He will use the least severe measures to bring the greatest amount of people to Himself at the deepest measures of love at the heart level without violating man's freewill. But because of our great propensity to selfishness and sin, that least severe measure will be actually rather jarring from our perspective. The rumblings on Wall Street are nothing compared to what is coming, but they are a foretaste of the shakings to come. And as the shakings continue to occur, His name will be made great by a praying church. The word in Malachi 1:10 and 11 is a prophetic word for the church in this hour - shut down business as usual and give yourself to the place of prayer.
May you see God's deliverance and blessing as you choose this day the sacrifice of a thankful heart, (some days it feels more like a sacrifice than others) and cry out for Him to do what only He can do. I pray that in doing so, you will see the Mighty One as perfect in beauty, shining forth in answer to your prayers. ~Jason
Yesterday the IHOP community joined in Kansas City's St. Patrick's Day parade. Hundreds of "IHOPers" spent the morning talking to people along the parade route about who St. Patrick really was and his faith in Jesus. (The bottom picture is one of Jason and our friend Cory talking to a guy who was promoting a karate business in the parade.) Once the parade started we all walked and danced behind the big IHOP float. Our float (see middle picture) had a big green mountain with a guy dressed up like St. Pat giving mini sermons in an Irish accent. Behind him was one of our worship teams who would play the song "Grace Like Rain" while we all waved streamers and danced behind! It's hard to capture the feeling with words, but it was a fun celebration to dance down the street with a couple hundred people praising Jesus! To top it all off, it was the nicest day of the year so far- not a cloud in the sky and 80˚ warm! We believe there are people who came to the parade whose lives will be forever changed. For more stories on the St. Pat's day parade, keep an eye out for our newsletter in the next week or so. (If you don't get our e-newsletters and want to, email us. We'd love to add you to our list.) 
