In the letter to the lukewarm church of Laodicea, Jesus makes it very clear how He hateslukewarmness. He would rather we be even cold than lukewarm. He has a special compassion for the deceived lukewarmers. He says, `To those I love I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent'. One translation calls it `the comfortable church'. I tend to call it `the easy gospel church'. It is not the gospel that Jesus taught.
Many Pentecostal-Charismatic churches have a very subtle deception to handle. They have not only forgotten about the old revival hymns which taught about the cost of surrender, but have put all their emphasis on the gifts and baptism of the Holy Spirit without the fire. The fire as experienced at Pentecost and in the great revivals included total forsaking surrender as Jesus required of His disciples. It was the secret behind the remarkable success of the Finney revivals in the USA. The devil will do anything possible to keep us away from true surrender. He will even allow the gifts to operate-even the dead raised. Jesus warned in Matthew 7 that they shall perform many mighty works in My Name but miss the Kingdom. Crowds will follow the spectacular as in Jesus' day on earth but that does not make many disciples.
How many babes have been taught that they are saved and in the Kingdom upon a few syllables of tongues. That is sad as the fall away is frightening. Jesus is well aware of all these deceptions. He readily forgives even the pastor and does not condemn but has a great compassion to rescue the victims.Those in evangelical churches to are more likely to surrender to Jesus for whom He is and not for what He does but they also can be deceived by an easy gospel.
God's plan is to make disciples of every nation. The effective fervent prayers of the righteous from His bride without spot or blemish will bring about that plan. To exalt is to lift up to the highest place. It is like the word repent — `re' means return and `pent' means God's top plan for your life.
Jesus said, `Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This is our priority above anything else on our Christian journey. He would not say `seek' if it were not possible to find His righteousness. It has nothing to do with our righteousness which is filthy rags in comparison. We must understand that we must first be entirely emptied of all our past worldly achievements and securities.` He that forsaketh not all that he has cannot be My disciples' (Luke 14:33). We take on God's righteousness only after death of self when we enter God's Kingdom.
The effective fervent prayers of the righteous is the only power that can bring down the ancient principality powers that hold nations or cities captive. It only needs a remnant of righteous believers to establish an `open heaven' over your locality. The uncontrollable fire of the Holy Spirit will then spread across your land and righteous conversions will take place like after Pentecost. They will be baptised with the Holy Spirit and with fire and thousands will be added to the kingdom of God daily.
Nehemiah was a righteous man of God – when he humbled himself and prayed. The ancient principalities and powers over the land were cast down. Nehemiah knew he had the victory and so the temple, walls and doorways were restored. Nehemiah asked forgiveness for the sins of his forefathers and wept for many days before God. It was the fulfilment of 2 Chronicles 7:14.