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                             The Touch of God

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By David Wilkerson
August 5, 1991
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          During the revival days of my youth, a phrase was often
          used to describe certain Christians: "He has the touch
          of God upon him". Or, "She has really been touched of
          God."

          These particular saints were easily recognized because
          they were unusual, even among those who followed the
          Lord. They were on fire, wholly given to God, detached
          from the things of the world. They were God-possessed,
          broken-hearted, grievers for lost souls. And you knew
          this about them: They had a touch of God upon their
          lives! In those days we had what were known as, "camp
          meetings". Everybody looked eagerly toward camp meeting
          time - three weeks spent in tents and a big, old,
          wooden tabernacle.

          Services were held in the morning, afternoon and
          evening. Usually an unknown preacher spoke in the
          morning, and the afternoon featured a better-known
          speaker. In the evening, we heard the best-known
          evangelist. People flocked to the evening meetings to
          hear this featured speaker.

          Almost always, the man was eloquent - experienced,
          intelligent, fiery, educated, and well accepted among
          the people. After the meeting, people would mill around
          the snack building, congratulating him and telling him
          how powerful his sermon was.

          But after two or three days, the camp would be buzzing
          with excitement about the morning meetings. It seemed
          some young, unknown pastor of a small church had
          stirred things up - and fire was falling! People were
          not able to get through the meeting. Instead, they were
          running to the altar area, falling under conviction and
          repenting.

          Finally, things would get so exciting that even the
          main speaker had to come and see what all the noise was
          about. But usually he would find the speaker
          unimpressive. The young man was often uneducated; he
          mispronounced words and said nothing very profound.

          But everyone else who heard him knew he was different.
          He had something that touched them - and the well-known
          evangelist would wonder, "What is it this young man
          has?" It was the touch of God upon his life!.

          He had spent days alone with God. He spoke with
          authority. He opened up the heart of Jesus through the
          Bible. His words were like burning coals. No one patted
          him on the back for his messages, and no one wanted to
          socialize with him. It was because they really didn't
          see the man speaking. Instead, they left the meetings
          saying, "Come hear a man who's got the touch of God."

          Preachers and evangelists weren't the only ones I saw
          marked by God's touch. There were also laymen,
          ordinary, hardworking farmers, housewives, grandfathers
          and grandmothers. A grandfather with the touch of God
          usually was referred to as "Daddy" I remember Daddy
          Dodge, Daddy Myers, Daddy Smith.

          These were simple men whose lives were given to God,
          and they always had a word from heaven. They were
          encouragers to the preacher - and often they knew more
          than the preacher did. You knew they were shut in with
          the Lord, and that He had put His hand on them.

          The grandmothers were called "Mother": Mother
          Greenaway, Mother Baily. These were prayer warriors,
          intercessors, lovers of lost souls! They usually came
          into church praying under their breath, interceding for
          hospital and nursing-home visits. They prayed for
          everything. And they were sought out by the younger
          women for spiritual advice - because they too had been
          touched by God.

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               The Prophet Daniel Was a Man Touched by God.

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          Often when we study the lives of men like Daniel, we
          become overwhelmed. We think, No wonder he had the
          touch of God. He was disciplined courageous, especially
          gifted. He was not an ordinary believer like me. How
          can his life be an example to me?"

          But the Bible says all the Old Testament characters
          were subject to like passions as we are. They all were
          human and showed the frailties of the human condition.
          No, Daniel is no fictional man - and the book of Daniel
          is not a fable about fiery furnaces and a lion's den.
          This man is our example. His story is meant to teach us
          how to touch God - and be touched by Him.

          Daniel represents God's holy remnant in an evil time.
          And his captivity in Babylon illustrates our present
          struggle here in modern Babylon. Daniel shows us today
          how to persevere in seeking God, until His hand is upon
          us as well.

          The book of Daniel tells me three things:

             * If Daniel can stay true to God in a day of
               apostasy and idolatry, it is possible for us
               today, no matter how wicked the times become.

             * If Daniel can not only keep his faith, but also
               become so engrossed with the Lord that He comes
               down and touches him, it is possible for us today
               as well.

             * The same God who touched Daniel can touch us - if
               we will pay the same price Daniel paid.

          My question to you is, "Do you want a special
          miraculous touch of God on you?" If you want only to be
          saved - only to have daily devotions and to do what is
          right - then this message is not for you.

          But if you hunger for more of God, if you want Him to
          lay hold of your life - there is a price! Consider the
          price Daniel paid:

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                  1. Daniel "Set His Face to seek the Lord
                      With All His Strength And Will"

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          We know Daniel already was a praying man. Scripture
          says he prayed morning, noon and night: "And his
          windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he
          kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed,
          and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime"
          (Daniel 6:10).

          Even when Daniel knew it could cost him his life when
          others were listening and ready to report him - he
          prayed on. "These men assembled, and found Daniel
          praying and making supplication before his God" (6:11).
          Daniel was so faithful in his devotion to God that even
          the king said of him, "Thy God whom thou serves
          continually, he will deliver thee" (6:16).

          Daniel's prayer life had turned him into a man of great
          faith. When he was lowered into a lion's den, he didn't
          utter a word. But his faith in God shut the lions'
          mouths and instead made them pillows for him to sleep
          on! When he came out, the king attributed Daniel's
          deliverance to his faith: "No manner of hurt was found
          upon him, because he believed in his God." (6:23)

          Daniel's life was indeed blessed. He walked in the fear
          of God and in revelation God spoke to him of the great
          mysteries of the future. He walked in holiness,
          separated unto God, untouched by the apostasy and
          wickedness about him. He had a heart that yearned for
          Jerusalem.

          You may be saying - "Lord, let me just have that, and
          I'll never want more". But even that wasn't enough for
          Daniel. He discovered there was more, much more. He
          could have spent his remaining years praying three
          times a day, studying the Scriptures and taking a stand
          for God, But instead, he said, "My generation is in a
          crisis. And it's going to take more than ordinary,
          daily praying!"

          You see, something happened to this man of prayer. He
          was reading a copy of a prophecy that had been smuggled
          into Babylon, penned recently by a contemporary named
          Jeremiah. And while Daniel was reading he came to a
          passage that must have leaped off the page: "For thus
          saith the Lord, that after seventy years be
          accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform
          my good word toward you, in causing you to return to
          this place (Jerusalem)" ( Jeremiah 29:10) .

          A truth smote Daniel's heart: "God's time has come; He
          is ready to deliver and save us. We stand at the very
          time in history for a glorious outpouring. But we are
          not ready! We are lazy, indulgent, idolatrous. We have
          this great promise - yet nobody is taking it
          seriously!"

          Fear gripped Daniel's heart, and he began to agonize
          before the Lord. Nothing would be the same for him
          after that. He soon came to this conclusion: The times
          demanded more than ordinary devotion, ordinary praying,
          or simply doing what was right. It was time for an
          extraordinary, sacrificial laying hold of God. He had
          to lay everything aside for a season - to fast, to be
          humbled, to set his heart to seek God.

          Why does God use our prayers to move His heart? If He
          gave us great and precious promises, why can't we just
          take them by faith? Why must we weep, beseech, fast and
          mourn for something that is already secured?

          It is because God wants us to know the glory of His
          divine cause and effect! He's saying "I want my
          children to see that midnight is upon them. Where are
          the young men and women, the grandfathers and
          grandmothers, the parents who will step out and say,
          "God touch me - set me apart to seek Your face?"

          Yet this is why we have no revival in America. We heed
          God's calling to fast, pray and seek Him - but later we
          back off because we are not willing to pay the price.

          Many times in the Bible God says, "I had My heart set,
          but you would not...." He had something prepared and
          said, "Here it is - now, come and claim it!" Beloved,
          He does this because He knows He can trust His promises
          only to those who value them enough to lay hold of
          them!

          Daniel got hold of God as if the whole promise depended
          on his praying, as if, in fact, there were no promise
          at all. He agonized in prayer as if he had never heard
          a word about a soon coming deliverance. He fasted and
          prayed with a greater intensity than in all his praying
          lifetime. The fact is, he prayed even more after the
          promise was given. God promised Israel, "I will visit
          you... causing you to return... then shall ye call upon
          me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will
          hearken unto you" (Jeremiah 29:10-12).

          Nehemiah also got desperate before God, even though he
          had a promise of total victory before he started. And
          it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat
          down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted,
          and prayed before the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 1:4). He
          didn't sit around saying, "Praise God, the promise is
          before me." He wept and mourned before God!

          Ezra had the same glorious promises of restoration and
          victory. Yet still he "prepared his heart to seek the
          law of the Lord, and to do it" (Ezra 7:10). God had
          said to Ezra "I will restore..." Yet when Ezra saw the
          sin and compromise of Israel all around him, he didn't
          just say, "God said it. I'll just stand on His promise
          till I see it come to pass."

          Instead, Ezra said "I rent my garment and my mantle,
          and plucked off the hair of my head, and of my beard
          and I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto
          the Lord my God, and said, "Oh my God, I am ashamed to
          blush and to lift up my fact to thee... for our
          iniquities are increased over our head, and our
          trespass is grown up unto the heavens" (Ezra 9:3-6).

          Today God needs ordinary Christians to prepare
          themselves for His outpouring, to set their hearts to
          seek the Lord as Daniel did. We will not lay hold of
          His promised, last-day outpouring, unless we set aside
          a time of seeking God, as if it all depends on us. It
          won't happen until God raises up intercessors and puts
          fire in their bones!

          Yet we do not want the discipline of being shut in with
          God. We don't want to lose sleep, we don't want to
          fast, we want to settle for the status quo. God wake us
          up! Let some of us get so hungry to be touched by Your
          hand, so set on fire and burdened for Your will and
          purpose, that You will come forth and pour out Your
          Spirit mightily!

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                    2. Daniel Agonized Alone, But
                     Not for Selfish Reasons. His
                     Burden Was, Not for Himself,
                      but for The House of God!

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          You can hear the loneliness in Daniel's voice: "In
          those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I
          ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in
          my mouth ... and I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the
          men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great
          quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide
          themselves. Therefore I was left alone" (Daniel 10:2-3,
          7-8).

          Daniel agonized all alone. Evidently there were others
          who had set their hearts on God as Daniel had. But,
          like so many who say, "We're going to have a great time
          of prayer and seeking God" - one by one, they fell away
          till there was one man left: Daniel.

          Beloved, God is calling you to set, your face like a
          flint. Others may fall away, but you must go on without
          them, because they do not share the vision. "Therefore
          I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there
          remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was
          turned in me into corruption, and I retained no
          strength" (Daniel 10:8).

          Are you willing to go alone as Daniel did? Can you say,
          "I don't know if anyone else is going with me but I'm
          going to set my heart on the face of God till I see His
          glory come to His house"?

          Saints, the church today does not see all that God has
          promised us because we waver! We vacillate between hot
          and cold. One day we have the burden, and the next we
          say, "Where is it?" You may claim, "I'm waiting for the
          Holy Ghost to put the burden in me." But the Bible
          says, "You prepare your heart!"

          An athlete preparing for the Olympics sacrifices eight,
          ten and twelve hours every day for years. He eats
          special foods and works night and day, straining and
          enduring great pain, all to win a gold medal! If a
          human being can discipline himself to obtain a crown of
          fleshly glory, why can't we discipline ourselves for a
          crown of heavenly gold?

          Daniel did not agonize over some personal need. He
          prayed for God to shine upon His church! "Now
          therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant,
          and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon
          thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake
          .... O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own
          sake... for thy city and thy people are called by thy
          name" (Daniel 9:17,19).

          Daniel did not pray and agonize for more revelation and
          power, or more fullness of God for himself. Rather, he
          humbled himself and confessed to blackness of heart. He
          wanted God to be honored on earth. He wanted pure
          worship and a return to holiness. His faithful devotion
          was totally "for Your sake, O Lord." He grieved over
          Israel's sins saying, "This is Your house, Your
          sanctuary, the city of holy Jerusalem. God restore it
          to Your glory!"

          Try to imagine this unusual scene: Daniel goes on all
          alone, mourning and weeping over sin. He prays until he
          has no strength left. Finally he falls to the ground,
          face down, unable to pray or weep any longer, or even
          to utter another word. That's when Jesus appears to him
          (Daniel 10:5).

          Yes, Jesus is standing nearby - the same vision John
          later sees on the Isle of Patmos! Daniel is exhausted
          when suddenly the Lord draws nigh: "And, behold, an
          hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon
          the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a
          man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak
          unto thee, and stand upright" (10:10-11). Imagine - the
          Lord laid His hand on Daniel's head and called him
          beloved!

          Daniel didn't have the strength to utter anything -
          until God touched him. Then he had a fire in his bosom
          a new strength. In the other passages that say Daniel
          was touched by God, Scripture says, "And the word
          came... direction came..." You see, direction comes to
          those men or women who set their hearts to receive the
          touch of God. They don't live in confusion, they hear
          clearly the word God sends to them.

          The reason many Christians today are confused is
          because they have not pursued the Lord in prayer. They
          have not given time or sought His face. I tell you, if
          you will set your heart like Daniel and get the burden
          for God's glory - not giving up, and going on until you
          can go no further - you will get what Daniel got: the
          touch of God!

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                    3. Daniel Knew That Every New Crisis
                     Required a Fresh Touch From God.

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          Daniel had experienced the touch of God throughout his
          walk with the Lord. Whenever a crisis came, he again
          would shut himself up with God and get a fresh
          revelation and a new touch.

          In Daniel 8, during the third year of Belshazzar's
          reign, Daniel is on his face in deep agony of soul,
          receiving an end-time vision. He is "touched... and
          set...upright" (8:18). In Daniel 9 we find him again on
          his face agonizing, in yet another crisis. It is now
          during the reign of King Darius, and again Daniel has
          set his heart to seek God. Once again he is alone,
          prostrate and weak - and again he is touched!

          In Chapter 10, Daniel is now nearly ninety years old, a
          wise, respected man of God who has weathered many
          crises. But he refuses to sit back and rest on past
          victories. He has set his heart again, as if he had
          never carried the burden of the Lord before. Like a
          rookie soldier, he holds nothing back: he returns to
          fasting, weeping and mourning. He wants a new touch, a
          new work of the Spirit.

          Daniel isn't saying "Lord, I've put in my time. Let me
          live out my days in quiet, undisturbed devotion. I'll
          pray that you raise up some young prophet in my place."
          No! Daniel recognizes the responsibility of mature
          believers to set the example - especially those who are
          ministers of God's Word.

          He knew from his history with God how to lay hold of
          God. He knew that when God wants to move, He first
          calls upon those with experience those who have been
          touched by Him in the past, who know how to reach Him
          by saying, "I've got to lay hold of God again!"

          Beloved, God is getting ready to pour out His Spirit.
          And He comes first to the Christian who has been an
          intercessor - the one who in the past has shut himself
          in with Him and received the glory of His touch. You
          too may have experienced His divine touch in your past.
          Now the Spirit of God is saying to you, "Will you once
          again chasten yourself before Me? Will you set your
          heart to seek Me as never before? This is a new day,
          with bigger problems. Will you be My vessel once more?

          Once more, Daniel chastens himself to seek God anew -
          and God responds! "Then said he unto me, Fear not,
          Daniel: for from the first day thou didst set thine
          heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before God,
          thy words were heard, I am come for thy words" (Daniel
          l0:12).

          Dear saint, the moment you say, "Yes, Lord, I'll stand,
          in the gap and pay the price," God hears you! And when
          God gets a remnant who'll really do that, He'll shake
          heaven and earth. No demon in hell can withstand the
          power of what God wants to do. But He'll come first to
          touch you!

          Listen to God's own explanation for His coming to touch
          Daniel: "You chastened yourself before your God...."
          (10:12). The Hebrew word for chasten here means "You
          paid attention and responded. You browbeat your flesh
          into submission. You afflicted yourself for Me. You
          abased yourself to seek Me."

          In Daniel l0:18, the fresh touch of God comes to Daniel
          again: "Then there came again and touched me one like
          the appearance of a man and he strengthened me." Daniel
          was no longer alone; now he had free-flowing communion
          with the Lord Himself!

          That is what I want - a new touch of God, something
          fresh. Why? Not so that I can be looked up to by men,
          nor to be powerful or revered - but to be strengthened
          by Him like Daniel was.

          I've had four amazing touches of God in my life. The
          first was at camp meeting when I was eight. The second
          was when God first called me to New York City. The Holy
          Spirit came on me and said, "David, I'm calling you to
          prayer." I said, "Yes God" - and I began to weep like I
          never wept. After three days, I felt the burden of the
          Lord in a way I'd never felt before.

          Then one day, I went home, picked up Life magazine and
          saw the faces of seven young men who'd committed
          murder. And God said - "Go to New York. This is what
          it's all about."

          Years later, I had a third touch. I began to feel a
          pull, a restlessness - a divine dissatisfaction. God
          said, "Go into your closet again and seek Me."

          I spent three weeks in deep prayer, agonizing before
          God feeling His grief over the church and His hatred
          for sin. One day I stood by a lake and began,
          prophesying at the top of my lungs. What came out of
          that touch of God, was the book, Set the Trumpet to Thy
          Mouth.

          The fourth touch I received was five years ago. It
          happened here in New York, when I'd come up for several
          summer street rallies. I gave an altar call in the
          Bronx - and backslidden Pentecostal ministers came
          forward!

          I went to Times Square and heard drug pushers shouting,
          "I've got the stuff that killed Len Bias!" They were
          selling death, and it broke my heart. That's when God
          said, "You're going to seek Me again."

          I started praying right on the streets, and in the
          middle of Times Square, God told me, "Come to New York
          City and start a church - right here in Times Square. I
          want to warn the city of coming judgment. And I'll send
          such an awakening, you'll never have to borrow or want
          for money!"

          Beloved, our labor is not just in daily prayer or
          ordinary service anymore. God is saying to us "You've
          come so far - but if you're not careful, you'll waver."
          We'll miss the revival, the outpouring of His Holy
          Spirit, unless God gets hold of true intercessors.

          Yet if You and I will lay hold of God, like Daniel we
          will receive a touch of God. But it will not happen
          unless we get desperate and say, God, I'm going to pray
          - and I'm willing to pay the price!

          "But if from now - thou shalt seek the Lord thy God,
          thou shall find him, if thou seek Him with all thy
          heart and soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29).

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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