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“And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people,lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.”” – Revelation 18:4
Today, our prayer focus is on losing the love of this world. The ancient city of Babylon was a city of great luxury, wealth, and notoriety. Babylon represents many of the things which are strongholds in America and the western world today. Because of the extreme comfort that we have grown accustomed to, the hearts of many are growing cold. We are fasting and praying that God might deliver us from the stronghold of the love of this world. The Apostle John warned the church in His epistle of the dangers that come with loving the world as well as the deceptions that would be at work in the last hour. I believe we are in that hour as well.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
The same love of the world that I warn you of today, that John warned those early believers of in His day, is the same problem the children of Israel historically faced in the days of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The problem is “Worldliness”. God has always called His people to live differently than the nations around them, when they violated the call to holiness judgement was often the result. The children of Israel had been exiled to the land of babylon as a punishment for their idolatry for 70 years. God’s jealous fire for His people was kindled and they were judged by being led captive for a period of 70 years. Of interesting note, the popular passage from Jeremiah 29:10-13 is titled “Jeremiah’s letter to the captives at Babylon” with that understanding it gives great insight into the heart of God, who always longs to show mercy even when we have gone astray.
Jeremiah 29:10-13 “For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.”
As we fast and pray today, let’s heed the word of the Lord which call us to seek the Him with all of our heart. There are many of us who may find ourselves in a spiritual Babylon of sorts, it’s a place of compromise and a foreign land. When Jesus had arisen from the dead, the call from heaven to all peoples, every nation, tribe, and tongue was to come out of from among them and be holy.
Revelation 18:1-8 “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. 7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ 8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.”
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