July 2001                                                               Issued Monthly

          Sunrise Of David/Sunset Of Saul

One day while exploring an ocean reef at low tide, I found a young moray eel that had been stranded in a small coral rock pool and left to die. The out-going tide had trapped him and he was already lifeless when I arrived My heart hurt for him for he was just inches from the water he desperately needed. But while I was wishing that I had arrived soon enough to help, another fact came to mind. I could not have rescued him anyway. Had I attempted to pick him up, he would have misunderstood my motive.  Instinctively, he would have fought me, thinking that I was an enemy.  In that tragic confusion he would have chosen death rather than life--not because death was necessary, but because he would not have recognized the danger he was in or that rescue was genuinely possible.

I came away from the reef that day with a deep impression in my heart. It was as if the Lord were saying, "What you have seen in the eel is the circumstance of my human children too. Many do not realize that they are in pools that will soon be dry. Since they refuse to look beyond the reef of their own churches, they cannot see how much their water level has fallen. Warn them what the receding tide really means. Tell them that they are in the final days. Even when they distrust your motive and mistake you for an enemy, offer your help. Love them. Keep on loving them. Let your love encourage them to believe that my Spirit, like an ocean of living water is ready to come as a tidal wave upon  them. They  need  not  perish  the  dried up  pools  of  their  own  reef. . I  am willing to give my Spirit to those who ask me and it will become a river of living water flowing out of them."   

THE CHURCH IN TRANSITION

 After God chose him King over Israel, Saul enjoyed his brief day in the sun. His dis­obedience to God's will quickly brought disfavor and the Holy Spirit departed, followed by the descent of his career into the sunset. By contrast, David's anointing ushered in a magnificent sunrise, that because of his steadfast obedience to God's commands, endured through a succes­sion of rulers down to the coming of Jesus. At the appearance of Jesus, who was the promised "Sun of Righteousness," Malachi 4:2, David's sunrise turn­ed to the glorious day of the Church. One simple explanation in Scripture accurate­ly forecast the spiritual destinies of both King David and King Saul:  

"The Spirit of the Lord came upon David ... But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul." I Samuel 16: 3,14.

This single factor not only determined the success of David and the failure of Saul, but also deter­mines the destiny of churches and ministries to­day. Those with the anointing of the Holy Spirit will successfully make the transition for end-times ministry; those without it will  not. There  is  no  other way.  Christians promised "Sun of Righteousness," Malachi 4:2, David's sunrise turn­ed to the glorious day of the Church. One simple exp lanation in Scripture accurate­ly forecast the spiritual destinies of both King David and King Saul:  

"The Spirit of the Lord came upon

David ... But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul." I Samuel 16: 3,14.                                                                             (continued on page 2)