Praise In the Last Days by Brother Duke Hansen

         Division has always been present in scripture. Two groups to look at for deep division are the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were similar in that both were of the ruling class of their day.  They had distinct doctrines that put them at odds.The Sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead or in the afterlife while the Pharisees did. Paul would exploit these differences when he was on trial in the book of Acts. If you get a chance to, read Luke chapter 12 starting in verse 49. Jesus himself had said he was not here to give peace but division. So, when you have handwringing and whining of how awful things are within denominations that are splitting over doctrine, remember that this is nothing new. It is in mankind to divide and separate for himself.

        If you look at King David in the Old Testament, you see a highly emotional Pentecost at work. His praise is unmatched and his worship was something that people did not understand. David also had a generous well spring of anger within him. The thing too many people today have neglected, rejected, or straight forgotten is that God himself has a great anger. We are going to go to Psalm 109 and start reading at verse 1. We see the anger put into song in this psalm.

        Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;

        2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 

        3 They have compassed me about with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

        4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

        David would opt for prayer rather than the sword. How much different would our life and walk be if we actually prayed for our adversaries and the wicked? They hit you with words of hate, you pray for them to the almighty. 

        5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

        6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

        7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

        There are a lot of believers who have this misguided idea that when the wicked is mentioned in the Bible, it is a reference to the unbeliever or the lost in the world. Often times the wicked is in the house of God who live a reprobate life and profess the faith. 

        8 Let his days be few; and another take his office.

        9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

       10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread out of their desolate places.

       11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath: and let the strangers spoil his labour.

       12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.

        As we can see in the following 5 verses, David is breaking things down in his anger. Not only to those who have been against him, but to their children. God has an anger like this as well. In different places in the first four books there is generational curses written about. There are still those walking to this day who may be under a curse for a sin someone in their bloodline had done.

        There are similarities in the western church of today and the Pharisees and Sadducees of yesterday. We are in the ruling class often who have the power of law on our side. We pick and choose which books we believe as well as our understanding of what sin is bad and good. We take the true nature of Jesus, take it and break it down. We shape that nature and mold it into maybe a corner spot of our heart. Our purpose is to maintain and grow in our faith. We need to allow God to work and strengthen our faith. Our all shouldn't be a corner spot, or 30% of our time on a good week. It shouldn't be some little feel good scripture posted on Facebook to your friends where everyone feels better about themselves. 

        The devil is an adversary to you and me and not God. God already defeated the devil. We are living out the hour at hand. It began as soon as Jesus came to earth. The church has a lot of woes today and it should cause you to pay attention. We are so asleep in the faith we no longer have a healthy fear of God because our understanding has made God one of us. There is no battle, fight, or war between God and the devil because the devil has already been defeated. We mistake our flesh a lot of the times for the devil. If you can get past blaming the devil for everything and realize that your flesh is the enmity of God, you are on the gospel trail. All that's left is to put down our flesh. This is a hard truth to fully understand because we let our flesh run too much of our lives.

        Turn to the book of Micah chapter 7. We will start at verse 1. The message of the book is a mixture of judgement and hope. It was written in time of Israel being judged for the social evils, corrupt leadership, and idolatry. It also has a hope of transformation and restoration to the nation as we will soon read. 

        Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe fruit. 

        The first ripe fruit in this verse is prophecy for the coming of Jesus.

        2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

        The good men are gone. Integrity has long left us as a people. We have to sign a dozen things for something today because a simple handshake is meaningless. What does your name mean to you? If you don't care for your name, you certainly don't care for God's name. Schemes in the world is the net referenced at the end of verse 2.

        3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asks, and the judge asks for a reward; and the great man, he utters his mischievous desire; so they wrap it up.

        Same today as then, but you cannot trust your lawmakers, your authority figures, sometimes even your own family members. 

        4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation comes; now shall be their perplexity.

        Micah is referring to the church in this verse and not the world, the nation at large, nor the lost. This is a perplexing time we live in because as professed believers, we should be good, watchful, and growing in our faith but often times we are the opposite. 

        5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her the lies in thy bosom.

        6 For the son dishonors the father the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

        Similar words spoken by Jesus and by the apostles listed above. Micah tends to lean toward hope than rest in despair. Your relationship with God should develop and grow by your time with him personally through reading and studying the scripture. Pray for the lost and your enemies. If your relationship is made around what your pastor says, or whatever charismatic personality says online to feed your flesh and dull your spirit your relationship isn't long at all. Men who can speak well and stir your emotions cannot save you from hell. Your relationship with God does!

        Micah believes in God, but also believes God loves mercy. There is a difference between making mistakes and living a lifetime of them. We all are going to slip up and fall. Do we have the faith to get back up and go again?

        7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

        What Micah writes we need to do still today. Look unto the Lord and wait. I'm still going to be who I am meant to be. You are not the word of God nor the plum line where others measure their walk from. You know God, have a relationship with what can speed up time or slow it down or cause the sun to stand still. God will work for and with you. 

        8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in the darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

        I don't know everything in this world or life, but he knows everything and shares those things with us if we just listen. God doesn't walk out on you or quit when you quit. You are carrying those burdens and cares upon your back when he wants you to set it at his feet.

        9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgement for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. 

        I will bear the indignation because I sin. How many times have we turned back to a sin after a victory? When we know that it's wrong in the scripture but right to our flesh? The portion of execute judgement in verse 9 is referenced to Calvary. This is cause to praise God daily. The Lord is a light unto me and I praise him! Whatever you have gone through in life, the pain, hurt, struggles, downs, losses. Every negative slight, backbiting, gossip, maliciousness, the cross took this from you!! Another way to define the word iniquity is doing it your way than God's way. God will bring you forth to the light, out of the darkness of fear. Give praise to God in these last days! He didn't have to do the things he did, he wanted to do them because he loves us. If we truly love him, let the praises come from our mouth and his word be in our hand.