On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed. Five days later, as I was preparing this message, I looked out the window of my study in our 30th-floor apartment. Huge clouds of smoke were still smoldering from the ruins. They rose from the rubble and drifted out over the Hudson River, passing above the Statue of Liberty.
In Acts 3, shortly after the resurrection, we find Peter and John going to the temple to worship. Just outside the temple gate sat a beggar who'd been crippled from birth. This man had never walked a step in his life. He had to be carried to the gate daily to make his living from begging.
I know a certain young man who lives in constant dread and fear. These awful feelings began for him the day he walked away from the Lord.
The young man had been gloriously saved and filled with God's Spirit. He had testified of the power of God's grace in his life. And he'd been an effective witness for the gospel. He'd counseled many people in his church, ministering Christ's love to them. Then one day, out of the blue, he said, "I've had it. I don't want this life anymore."
Not long ago, I began planning a book on the suffering of God's saints. I've wanted to encourage Christians about the Lord's faithfulness to his people in the midst of their trials. Since then, many readers have written to me, testifying of how God has given them grace in their times of suffering. One woman wrote of an enduring physical trial:
Lately I have grown very discouraged over what we Christians call counseling. Right now there are more trained Christian counselors than in all of church history. And there are multitudes of "how to" books and relationship manuals available, offering spiritual advice on every subject, from marriage to physical fitness to child-rearing.
Yet, tragically, there are more troubled individuals, marriages and families in the church than ever before. The turmoil in Christian homes today is unspeakable -- and, beloved, this ought not to be so.
"Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared" (Psalm 130:1-4).
Scripture makes clear that it's possible for every true follower of Jesus to see and understand the glory of God. Indeed, our Lord reveals his glory to all who ask and seek for it diligently. Moreover, I believe the revelation of God's glory will equip his people for the perilous days ahead. Paul states that this revelation "...is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:32).
Here at Times Square Church we have designated this year as one of prayer for revival. By "revival" we are not thinking of some great emotional stirring, with people coming from miles around to see something sensational. Instead, we are wanting a prepared people — prepared in holiness to be a habitation of God's presence! We want a revival of the Lord's holy presence, where things are so pleasing to God, that He will come down to meet every need — where His glory is revealed!
God promised the prophet Zechariah that in the last days, he would be a protective wall of fire around his people: "For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about..." (Zechariah 2:5).
Likewise, Isaiah testifies: "For thou has been a...shadow form the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall" (Isaiah 25:4). "There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain" (4:6).
God can't use a man until He gets him on holy ground. A holy God must have a holy man on holy ground.
Holy ground is not a physical place, but a spiritual one. When God commanded Moses to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, He was not referring to a two–by–four piece of real estate. He was talking about a spiritual state.
God called Moses from the burning bush, commanding him: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground…" (Exodus 3:5).
