Omega Message – December 1997
Janet Jantzi
(Message given Saturday afternoon at the Sonlight Gospel Conference, Illinois July 1997.)
“Lord, let us hear what Your Spirit is saying to us. But, Lord, let there be a cry of our heart to hear, to understand, and to quickly respond in the way You want us to respond. Lord, that Your Spirit and the fruit of Your Spirit would be made manifest in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
I was around the house, and I was busy, and the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me. He said, “Too many of My children are still in the marketplace!”
I said, “God, what are You saying?” He took me to Matthew 11:16-19,
“Whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets (marketplaces), and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you and you have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But, wisdom is justified of her children.”
Then, He took me to Jeremiah 2:11-13, and in Jeremiah the Lord gave me the word,
“Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but MY PEOPLE have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. FOR MY PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED TWO EVILS; THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS, AND HEWED THEM OUT CISTERNS, BROKEN CISTERNS, THAT CAN HOLD NO WATER.”
Now, the thing that the Lord began to minister to me is that too many of His children are in the marketplace. The marketplace is a place of activity, and of calling and crying one to another; a place where “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” is (Ref. 1 John 2:16). He said that this is where many of His children still are!
I said, “Lord, what does that mean?” The Lord says that when we are in need, when there is something going on in our lives, He wants us to come to HIM, and not to cry out and call out one to another. He said that instead we are going and we are making “cisterns” of our own that we draw from, to comfort ourselves, to help ourselves, to feed and nourish ourselves. I am going to tell you specifically what the Lord has shown, and that is that tapes are not to take the place of your time with God. If you put a tape in, and you say, “This is my time with God,” that is not what God ever intended it for! We have had an abundance of knowledge and of the word, but it is time that God wants us to come back to Him.
We have a well in us—a “well of salvation”! Jesus spoke of it,
“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”, (John 4:13-14).
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”, (John 7:38).
Also, in Isaiah 12:2-3 it says to us,
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
So we are told, “Draw, with JOY out of the well of salvation,” and instead we are going to one another; and you know what we are doing? We are talking about our problems instead of dealing with our problems; and God says, “I want you to come back!”
When you make your own cistern to draw from (so as to comfort yourself, to feed yourself, to nourish yourself, to give you life, to give an encouragement), you are turning your back on God! It is like Brother Emanuel said this morning, you are taking something and you are making an “idol.” You are finding a substitute, and God said, “It is time to leave it and come to back to Him!”
Come back to your time with God! Do not substitute a book! Do not substitute a tape! Do not let anything interfere with that prayer time and knowing God, because God wants to reveal Himself to us. He wants us to know Him, so that in that day we would be able to stand.
However, it is not that we be concerned just with ourselves, but God would have us to be concerned about our families and all the people we are surrounded with and that we know. If we are just calling and crying out to one another and not the Lord, then we are not going to able to stand, nor will we be able to stand for our families in that hour! Because we are not drawing out of the “wells of salvation!”
It is not out of yourself, but GOD is a well of “living water.” We need to be drawing out of the wells of salvation, so that when you need deliverance, it is there; and when you need healing, it is there! He wants us to hear what He is saying, but we are not going to hear what He is saying if we are not spending time in His presence! There are many, many Christians, even in the midst of us, that do not hear the voice of God! How are you going to walk [and survive] in that hour?
The Lord said to me, even as [Jesus said to the multitudes], “Who did you come out to see?” (Ref. Luke 7) and I want to ask you the question, “Who did you come out to see?” Did you come out to see the building? Did you come out to see the brethren? Or did you come out to see the Spirit of God move and work? The Lord is saying to us that He has business! Jesus said, “I must be about My Father’s business.” The Lord is saying to us that there is business. The Father’s business has to be done first! Fellowship is second, but the Father’s business is first! He has things He wants to deal with in each one of us, to set us free! To give us a victory! To bring deliverance, and to bring healing!
There are three things then:
(1) Too many of His children are in the marketplace! IT IS TIME TO COME OUT; and if God has shown you any place (whether it is the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh or the pride of life), do not go home with it! [You must receive deliverance.]
(2) Let the Holy Spirit see if you have been hewing out your own cisterns!
(3) Know also, that the Father has business that He wants to take care of now in your life and in the lives of others so that you might stand in victory, and that God might use you for a vessel for those in your family and for those God puts in your pathway!
Sonlight Devotional 