Evening Thought:
I have been hearing “Remnant” for weeks, and I will be ministering Sunday morning on “The Character of the Remnant.” God has always worked through Remnants because of His grace. Do we understand that the Remnant church is not a special elite group, in the sense that they bear God’s undeserved favor? They were and are a special group because they will pay the price to get the job done and to represent our King’s will on the earth. They know that without God’s grace, they would fail, yet they refuse to let go of His assignment in their life.
This group brings something special to the table. They bring the “excellent spirit” of Caleb. They bring the Esther attitude, “If I perish, I perish.” They bring the warrior spirit of David, who refused to wear the armor of someone like Saul, who feared the battle. Instead, he brought the Spirit of God with him.
In the Navy SEAL program, only about 25% of those who enroll actually graduate. Why? Because the training is brutal. The SEALs have a developmental program called the “Pipeline,” and this is what they say about the Pipeline: “The pipeline builds skill, but it does not build your engine from scratch. THAT IS YOUR JOB BEFORE YOU ARRIVE.”
God is looking for the remnant who have built their engine ahead of time. These are those, like David, who have a heart after God. These are those who do not count the cost of obedience, only the cost of failure. These are those who will say, “If I perish, I perish.” They are like the 7,000 hidden away in 1 Kings 19 who did not bow to Baal. This is the remnant!
This nation needs the true remnant to arise, and not those who have put a superstar label on themselves because they can draw a crowd with their charisma but fail the character test of holiness, integrity, and reverence for God. The true church is the only answer to our nation’s dilemma.
I believe a remnant is still working in the background today. A remnant much like the 200 men who stayed behind while David and his 400 men recovered the spoils from Ziklag. A remnant that may be too tired or exhausted to go to battle, but they have the backs of those who do. And, just as David said of the 200, they deserve equal reward. The remnant has many different faces. Many will not be the ones expected by the masses. But they are the ones who revved up their engine and plowed through the obstacles that caused many others to drop out along the way. They prepared ahead of time and gained the attention of the King, who said, this one is after my heart. This one qualifies. This is the remnant.
