Bring back the fear of God to our land – Reverend Lambert
Published:Sunday | July 11, 2021 | 12:07 AMTamara Bailey - Sunday Gleaner writer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester:
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” 2 Chronicles 7:14-15
As Jamaica continues to battle with criminal elements that seem to be stronger than the forces of good, Reverend Sacha Lambert of the Zorn Moravian Church in Christiana, Manchester is of the view that persons must place a stronger emphasis on spirituality and God’s power.
“We must hit the root of our problems because what we are experiencing as ills of our parish and nation - inhumane actions, immoral behaviour, injustice, corruption - are defiled fruits of a diseased tree,” Lambert said.
She noted that it is not man’s power or man’s might, but the mighty moving and the working of the spirit of the living God that will cause a shift from immorality.
“It points to our desperate need for divine realignment and reassignment. It is an urgency to heed to the right hand of God, planting seeds of kindness and striking out immorality.”
Lambert, who was speaking at a recent Manchester prayer initiative at the New Beulah Moravian Church, said divine intervention should not be viewed as merely going through the motions, but as a significant part of our lives.
“If we know anything about God and earthly crisis, He first requires His people to repent. We have to confess that we have sinned, missed marks, and rebelled against the standard and truth of God Almighty. We can come and pray, but if we don’t decide to repent and turn from out wicked ways, then we pray in vain.”
She added: “The Lord is looking for us as His people to fully persuaded by His truth ... . A people who will still sing His song in a strange land and not hang up their harps ... . A people who will live the reality that God is able to do what He says He will do and deliver His promise to us. But the people who are called by His name must know they cannot defile themselves.”
Lambert said the responsibility is on the Church to stand up and show righteousness as that is the only way we can succeed.
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. I hear the Spirit of God saying, ‘Can you take a leaf from the book of those four Hebrew boys in Daniel .. . The same God that freed our ancestors from slavery is the same God that is keeping us today.”
The reverend, in her sermon, added that God has a a way of making impossibilities possible but only when our ways align with His will.
“When you decide to stick under the banner of the living God, men will not understand how you are blessed, men will not understand how you are prospering. If you don’t bow to idols of Babylon, your God will come through for you.”
She continued: “Don’t we think that God will have a problem if our demonic altars and high places of witchcraft, our balm yards, our astrological havens, our tarot and crystal ball reading dens, our mixing His name with ground spirits and spirits of the air ... . My God says He is a jealous God. How I expect to be mixing his name with all of these things that are offensive to God and still think that God is going to work.”
She said as a people who have a prayer for an anthem, we must refrain from desecrating the words by our lifestyle.
“In order for us to turn our nation around, we have to understand what the fear of the Lord is about. Bring back the fear or the Lord back to the house of worship, the house of Parliament, to our land, the boardroom, the schools. We cannot continue to mix light and darkness. That’s not how it works.”
As she gave her final charge, Lambert admonished those present to be steadfast in faith even when things are daunting.
“Sometimes the ways of Babylon can seem so captivating. We have to be reminded that Jehovah is not captive. God is going to do new things in our land. We are going to see new people running with the torch or righteousness.”
“Today, I say stand up in Babylon, be counted among the righteous. Let us not mix the light with the darkness. Let us not think that our acts of religiosity please the Lord. What He needs is surrendered hearts,” she noted.