The shaking has begun!

By Helen Jesze, 12th February 2016

„God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early, „

Psalm 46, 1-5 KJV

The weather people said a hurricane from Scotland would hit Germany, and it certainly did! Strong, howling winds which shook down branches, twigs, leaves, wrestled slates and tiles off roofs, and driving rain which got everybody scuttling for shelter – this is what we had for several days and nights. At the moment we are staying in a valley; tall trees and bushes hang right out over the road to the nearest town, and I had often thought that some of them looked really precarious. Now after the hurricane, several trees had uprooted and the road was partly closed.

Yesterday as we were driving up the (as we thought) newly-opened road into the town, we saw several stationary cars and a large forestry truck in front of us, and workmen were frantically signalling us to go back. We did not go immediately but waited to see what would happen. Suddenly a large tree came tumbling down the bank onto the road and the workmen got to work with their electric saws to cut this up. We thanked the Lord that no-one had been injured, but that this, and other uprooted trees were being dealt with.

When we returned in the afternoon, we saw this giant, partly cut up, at the side of the road. We could also see its rotten roots, which could no longer hold firmly into the earth and had caused its downfall. I remembered when we were in The Black Forest a few years ago, where after January storms, literally thousands of trees of varying sizes were blown down. Only those on the roads were cleared; the others lay there for a long time and thousands of people came to see and photograph the devastation of this beautiful part of Germany.

The shaking and tearing which the winds had been doing recently made me think of other ‘shaking’ which is happening all around us in our world today, of the challenging and uprooting of many of our values, particularly those which are based on a Christian or Biblical foundation.

Families, marriages, churches are being tested and shaken as never before, and this will continue and increase, for we are in the „Endtime“ , with battles being fought not only in the physical, but also in the spiritual world. Satan knows he does not have much time and is using every trick he can find to destroy or deceive Mankind and Christians in every denomination.

My husband was preaching in a church in South Germany, and mentioned that we have seen many churches being ‘shaken’. After the service the pastor said to him, „That couldn’t happen in our church, you know!“ Two days later, the shaking was there, for the Co-pastor had left the church and most of the people left with him. They started another church in the same town not far away. The first Church had just bought their meeting hall, and the group of people which had left were the best financial givers, leaving just a small group of young people still studying who had little money, and several people who had no jobs, to now pay the mortgage.

When our lives or a Church is ‘shaken’, the question we should ask ourselves is: Is this coming from God? From Satan? Is it just human failure? Co-incidence?

Many Christians think that anything unpleasant or disastrous in their lives is from Satan, and that is sometimes true. Yet we have often seen that there are usually several reasons for the shaking, and that sometimes God is shaking us, to shake off of us things that should not be there, or things that were good at one time, but do not belong to us now and we are not willing to let them go.

In the church I mentioned, God had been speaking to the leadership many times about particular things which were hindering His purposes and the growth of the Church, but the pastor would not listen. He was not prepared to discuss or pray about issues, deliberately closing his eyes to them. He recognised no other church in the town or elsewhere, until his church was in danger of becoming a kind of ‘sect’.

The Co-pastor could see there was no more place for his ministry there and as he was genuinely trying to follow the Lord’s leading, he left the church. Whether this young man was right to take so many with him, or to start another church immediately, I cannot say, and I am not criticising him, but just ‘reporting’. The new church has been very successful and God is working in their midst, while the original one is still carrying on with just a handful of people, and the pastor is still convinced he is right.

This misguided pastor could not or would not see that a shaking was coming, boasting that it could never happen to them! Each of us needs to be aware that this could happen in anybody’s life.

To go back to our tree — those rotten roots! They had caused the tree to topple when it was under the pressure of the storm. Sometimes God shakes things off of us or causes a ‘tree’ in our life to fall. We blame Him and cannot understand how this could be, but He can see any rotten roots and knows that if they are not dealt with now, it could bring much more damage later.

In 2008 we were in Auckland, New Zealand, visiting our children and grandchildren. Until then we did not realise that this country experienced earthquakes, although more so on the South Island – Christchurch side – than where they lived in Auckland. One day we walked by a building-site, and were surprised to see how many of the houses had a wooden frame. The foremen explained that the main framework was usually of wood, with a brick cladding, as wood would bend if the ground moved in an earthquake. The bricks might fall off, but the walls could be rebuilt again because the framework was still sound.

Again this was a parable, a likeness, to our spiritual life. Satan and circumstances come against us, the very ground beneath our feet seems to be shifting and giving way. But if we have built our life according to the Master Builder and His plans, we may have some damage which can later be put right, but we will not be destroyed. How is your life today? Are you enjoying a calm, easy ride at the moment, or are you in the middle of a shaking, where things and people you trusted in are no longer there, or are deliberately trying to destroy you?

Or are you like that pastor we spoke about, lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that nothing like that could happen in his church?! Many Christians are like that and cannot see, or do not want to see the rapid changes around us, the destruction that is coming. God wants to hold us steady in the storm, often warn us beforehand so that we can hide in Him and be safe, or take steps to avert it.

Politically, economically, in nations and in the Body of Christ worldwide, a new shaking has begun. Europe is being turned upside down with the wars in the Middle East and the resulting flow of millions of refugees. Well-known ministries and churches are sometimes shaken through persecution from outside or sin inside, and there are Christians who would turn away from the Lord when they see such things.

But this is the time to run TO Jesus, and to keep our eyes fixed on HIM, check our own spiritual foundations and roots, and open our spiritual eyes and ears wider to see and hear what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us, so that we might not be deceived, but that we should understand the times and purposes of God at this time, in our own life and in every other area we face.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, hold me steady at this time of shaking! Break the power of fear in my life and help me to trust in you! You are my Rock and my Fortress, my Strong Tower.

Pull out of my life every rotten root, that I might grow firm and stand strong in these days. Anoint my eyes with your spiritual eye-salve to see your ways and purposes at this time, and see with prophetic insight!

Thank you, Father, that I have the privilege to be part of your Endtime plan for this world! Help me to find the place you have for me and be a willing tool in your hand. I pray this in the Name of Jesus, Amen.