April 29, 2020 Strengthened & Prepared

The Lord spoke to our pastors this week. “God is not pleased with the priesthood. They are not in their place, and suddenly many leaders will fall.”
 
When I heard this I was grieved.  We need our leaders, especially our spiritual leaders. We are after all like sheep. Sheep tend to focus on the grass they are eating, and not on what is ahead of them. That is the job of the shepherds. They are to look out for dangers that lie ahead of the flock.   But if the shepherds are distracted and not paying attention, they and their sheep could be in a lot of trouble.

Jesus spoke several times to His disciples warning them NOT to follow the teachings of the Pharisees. He called them blind guides, and those who follow them will end up in a pit with them.
 
Luke 6:39.  And He also spoke a parable to them: "A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?

​If we are blind and our shepherds are blind, then we will both fall into a pit.
 
Then I thought of the story of the demon possessed man whom Jesus set free. The tormenting spirits left the man and went into a very large herd of swine – pigs. I could understand how the first few pigs accidentally fell over the cliff, but all 2000 of them followed the pig in front of them, and they all died.  (Mark 5:1-20)
 
Who are we following? Who are our leaders following?
 
We must pray for our leaders to be strengthened and prepared for what is coming next. We guarded ourselves from death and sickness by “sheltering” in our homes, but we have not prepared ourselves spiritually. We must pray for our church leaders to clearly hear from God as to how to proceed and how to prepare for what is coming next.  I sense we were just holding on waiting for this crisis to end, but not really allowing God to prepare us for the future. 
 
Isaiah 42:16-17  "I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone."
They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, Who trust in idols, Who say to molten images, "You are our gods."
 
Are we going to follow the Lord into the light, or are we going to follow our idols into the darkness?