Archive for September, 2019
Posted by appolus on September 30, 2019
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.(Mic 7:8)
When everything else has failed. When we have no wise counselors left to turn to. When in the blackness of our situation we realize that whether we turn to the left or the right that all is darkness and there seems to be no way ahead. Then we can say this to the accuser of the brethren. Even if you take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea then you can say this. Even If you make your bed in hell then you can say this. “After this darkness I shall arise.”
You shall arise for in Him there is no darkness. You shall arise for He is the light of your life. You shall arise for He has not finished with you. You shall rise up in the morning, you shall rise up in the evening, you shall rise up when you have fallen. You shall rise up above the storm. You shall rise up for He is High and lifted up and He beckons you to come to where He is. The darkness of your sin is swept away by the light of His forgiveness. The tears of the broken and the contrite fall into the waters of life and they cry out “You are the light of the world and in you there is no darkness at all.” Even the darkness is light to Him.
I will bear the indignation of my God because against Him alone have I sinned. He bore my iniquity on Calvary and brought me forth out of darkness into His marvelous light and I beheld His righteousness. Yes I shall fall but I rise up for He rose up. Rejoice not oh enemy of my soul for unlike you I will rise again, for that which I have committed unto Him He shall keep. He shall complete the work He began in me. He is faithful to complete it. When I have cried all the tears there are to cry then I will arise, I will leave the darkness behind me, I will awake the dawn with His praises and follow the still small voice. I rise on the wings of victory only because He arose triumphant and ascended to the glories of His Father’s house. To the saint who has fallen, you shall rise up, you shall endure and overcome, He has not forgotten you, He sees the afflictions of His people and His knowing is your light. Trust in Him, wait for Him, and follow Him for He is the light of your life.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 27, 2019
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.(Jer 4:10)
Let all men be liars and let our great and mighty God be true. The people of Jerusalem rested on the promises of God yet ignored the conditions upon which those promises were made. People in general hate conditions, is that not true? For example, did Jesus not tell us by the Scriptures to be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving to let your requests be known unto God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hears and minds through the Lord Jesus Christ? What a glorious promise yet it comes with a condition does it not? Be anxious for nothing. Let your prayers be framed by a thankful heart in all that you do and pray, then, and only then will the promise of God come to pass in the heart of the saint. Let not any man or woman expect to know anything of this peace unless they, by a conscious act of their will in obedience to His Word and His command, lay down that anxiousness.
Should those in Jerusalem expect to be surrounded by the peace of God when they willfully and deliberately ignored the commands and the directions of a Holy God? Should Christendom expect to see the promises of God come to pass in their lives when they live in direct violation of God’s word and His warnings? Or should they not rather experience a sword that pierces through their existence and penetrates into the deepest parts of their soul? The prophet Isaiah had the wherewithal to cry out to a Holy God that he was undone, that he was a man of unclean lips who dwelt among a people of unclean lips. Yet in our day and age of once saved always saved, cheap grace for salvation and hyper grace that has replaced sanctification, we expect the peace and the promises of God in our lives. God forbid. We serve a Holy God.
The religious structures and the denominations who have thrown off the truth of God, who walk hand in glove with a Godless generation who gleefully violate Gods word, still expect to walk in and be covered by the peace of God. It shall not be so and they will be pursued by a sword that penetrates their very core. And with a rage and an anger that matches Saul as he tried to pin David to the wall, they will, with their troubled spirits and souls,lash out at those who do walk in the peace of God, who do walk according to His statutes. Who do walk in a peace that surpasses all understanding. The beauty of their holiness will reflect about their enemies wickedness. Their obedience will reflect upon their disobedience. The genuine saint of God is called to be a witness who testifies, by his walk, against the false professor, the religious man and the sons of disobedience.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 25, 2019
For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns Jer 4:3
What would become of seed scattered upon ground not broken up, not tilled, spread among the weeds and the thorns? In the parable of the sower and the seed in Matt 13 Jesus explains that the seed sown among the thorns is the man who hears the word of God but the cares of this world and the pursuit of its riches choke out that word and the seed dies. Fallow ground, fields that have not been broken up and tilled, cannot produce fruits. Only hearts that have been broken, tilled, turned over and made ready can be productive for God.
The average man today who professes to be a Christian, his fields lie untilled and unbroken. He scatters seeds upon it and then wonders why it does not yield a crop. A generation or more of professing Christians have been raised on a steady teaching of cheap grace to be saved and hyper grace to walk in. None of this represents the broken-hearted saints who follow the risen Christ. Who every day arise and take up their cross and follow Him. To take up your cross in this instance it to be ploughed. The heart must be tested, it must be broken, it must yield to the Master’s hand. It must endure suffering and trials. Each furrow in the field is a trial endured by the saint and overcome by the power and the glory of the risen Christ. Into this field, into these furrows the Lord will will scatter seed. And because of the work of the Lord this field will produce fruit.
Saint, do not resist the testings of the Lord. If you desire to be fruitful then you must allow the field of your heart to be broken up, to be ploughed and to be furrowed for the removing of the weeds and the thorns. Let every suffering saint glorify the Lord in the midst of this ploughing knowing that this surrender, this yielding to the hand of God is for the sanctification of his soul and that he may be useful in the Master’s hand. Every true saint wants to produce good fruit. Even nature tells us that there is no other way to produce fruit from a field than for it to be tilled and to be ploughed. Saint, do you wish to be fruitful? Then today, yield and rejoice in the fact that you have been counted worthy to be ploughed.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 24, 2019
The Christian church cannot rise to its true stature in accompanying the purposes of God when its members operate largely through the gifts of nature, neglecting the true gifts and graces of the Spirit of God. Much of the religious activity we see in the churches is not the eternal working of the Eternal Spirit, but the mortal working of man’s mortal mind-and this is a raw tragedy.
From what I see and sense in evangelical circles, I would have to say that about ninety per cent of the religious work carried out in the churches is being done by un-gifted members. I am speaking in the context of men and women who know how to do many things but fail to display the Spiritual gifts promised through the Holy Spirit. This is one of the very evident ways in which we have slowed down the true workings of God in His Church and in the hearts of unbelieving men all around us- acknowledging and allowing un-gifted members of the Body to do religious work without possessing the genuine gifts of the Spirit.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and reminded believers that they were all baptized into one Body by the Spirit. But He went on at great length to explain the necessity for the functioning of the gifts of the Spirit in the Church- and I believe he was explaining that these Spiritual functions and capabilities are the birthright of every Christian. Lets bring it down to our level. Religious activists have many things of which they can boast. They build churches. They write hymns and books. Musically they sing and play. Some of them will take time to engage in prayer. Others will organize movements and crusades and campaigns.
No matter how early in the morning they begin and no matter how late at night they stay with their project, if it is an exercise in human talent for religious purposes, it can only wind up as a mortal brain doing a mortal job. I have taken the pains to say all this as a reminder that mortality and temporality are written all across the church of Christ in the world today because so many persons are trying to do with human genius and power of the flesh what only God can do through the Holy Spirit. (A.W.Tozer)
Brother Tozer here highlights the greatest tragedy in Christendom and the root cause of its fall all around the world. Without the gifts of the Spirit in operation in the Body, which was designed to edify, then the Bride would starve to death. The audacity and sheer arrogance to think we could ignore the express instructions of the Word of God and think we could do well. Well did Paul say to the Galatians “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” Paul here highlights the beginnings of the problem, disobedience. “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” It is the truth, of course, that the saints of God are made perfect by the Spirit of God and the gifts that He gave for that precise purpose. This is what Christendom needs to repent of. The disobedience that is manifested by ignoring the Holy Spirit and His gifts for perfecting the saints. There are not many ways to follow God, there is only one way and it is by His Spirit and the gifts that the Spirit gives. Human talent can achieve mighty things, it could even build a tower to the skies and say it was for God’s glory, but unless the Lord builds the house then we labor in vain and that tower built by the talents and ingenuity of man will come crumbling down by the hand of God, not one stone left un-turned……bro Frank
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 23, 2019
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(Jer 2:13)
Two great evils the people of God have committed. They have rejected God the fountain of living waters. In that fountain lies abundant life. A never ending source of life giving water. Mercy and grace and forgiveness flows from the source,life itself flows from God Himself. Only by drinking from this fountain can we fulfill our lives in Him. We cannot reject Him and expect to be the recipients of His wisdom and His favor and His life that comes with knowing Him and following Him in obedience. And the people cry out “how have we forsaken Him, how have we rejected Him?.” When you fail to follow His Words and His commands. When you rely upon the works of your own hand and reject the leading and the guiding of the Holy Spirit. So what do a people do who have rejected the life that flows from the fountain of living waters? They hew out for themselves cisterns that they find out cannot hold any water and the hewing of it is a great evil according to God.
As a former Bricklayer, I had an old craftsman when I was an apprentice. He would tell me that when he served his time as a boy, he spent a whole year hewing stone. For those who do not know, hewing stone means to take a block of stone and shape it by hammer and chisel. An arduous and very time consuming task. Blisters and calluses would have been the order of the day, work your fingers to the bone. So we see here in this verse from Jeremiah, that rather than worship God as He had called them to, and drink from the fountain of living water, a never ending wellspring of love and mercy and grace, in short abundant life, they chose to reject God in favor of their own will, and hew out water supplies from rock. It did not work of course, it could hold no water.
Today we see much of Christendom desperately trying to hold water by the work of their own hand. They refuse to worship God as He has called them to, so therefore they must also reject the fountain of living water. Can you hear the hammers and chisels banging away as each new program is brought forward? Will living waters be found in a program? Will it be found in the midst of our routines? Traditions and programs created over centuries. The traditions are the hammer and the programs are the chisels and the blocks of stones are our religious buildings. What it creates never holds any water nor can it ever, it is broken, fundamentally broken. Until and unless Christendom returns to the fountain of living water, it will languish and die in the water-less wilderness it has created for itself.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 21, 2019
My Father who art in heaven,
You are so kind to me
Despite the knowing of it all
And the things in me you had to see
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Hallowed be thy holy name
Your faithfulness is all I see
You love so deep beyond compare
Broke every chain and set me free
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Thy kingdom come thy will be done
Your mercy runs like the river deep
Your glory hides the morning sun
Your nail pierced hands still make me weep
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Thy will be done as it is in heaven
Your grace a marvel to behold
Before your throne a golden river
Full of mercies as yet untold
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Give us this day our daily bread
You fed my hungry starving soul
Your breath of life raised me anew
This brokenness that you made whole
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Forgive us Lord for our trespasses
You redeemed by broken sinful soul
With blood that flowed from Calvary
You died for me and paid the toll
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Let me forgive when I am wronged
And draw me always near to you
To that place of hope and glory
Above the skies of heavenly blue
From my mothers womb you saw it all
You saw me rise you saw me fall
You saw me wander far away
This broken shattered jar of clay
Lead us not into temptation
And draw us now beneath your wing
Deliver us from every evil
My Lord, my God, my All, my King
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, poetry, revival, spiritual poetry, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 20, 2019
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.(Mat 6:33)
Here we find one of the key Scriptures in all of the Bible. This is the cutting edge of what it means to be sold out to Jesus. The high water mark of walking in the Spirit. It comes in the context of the sermon on the mount, the most revolutionary teachings ever delivered where everything we know of humanity is turned on its head. The revolution goes so deep that it reaches down into our DNA. It is so counter-intuitive to who we are as a race. No matter what culture we were born into, the basics of food and clothing and a roof over our heads are fundamental to our survival. So when we are told by the Lord that the primary object of our lives is the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of a holy God, it sets up a direct conflict with the basic nature of our humanity.
Self preservation and looking out for our own dies a death when we are walking in the Spirit. To be Kingdom minded is to be transformed and transported from one world into another, while still walking in the former. It is supernatural. In the last verse of this chapter the Lord tells us not to worry about tomorrow, but rather focus on right now. Do you live that way saint? Can you imagine the peace that would rule and reign in your heart if you followed the direction of the Lord and simply lived for this day? If indeed you took no thought for tomorrow, no thought for the food on your table and the clothes on your back. Imagine living like the sparrow, the Lord says that they neither reap nor gather into barns yet our heavenly Father feeds them.
How about the clothes on your back? The Lord says that we are to consider the lilies of the field how they neither toil nor spin yet Solomon in all of his glory was not clothed with such splendor such as the grass of the field which is today but tomorrow is gone. There are many degrees in our walk with the Lord, but the two broad categories are these. Kingdom minded or worldly minded. Your effectiveness for the Kingdom of God cannot begin until your primary focus is on that very Kingdom, on the Lord Himself and on His glory and His beauty and His majesty and indeed, on His righteousness. Make this the focus of your life and the struggle, the rat race, becomes something entirely different. The rat race is exhausting, particularly to the saints. It wears you down and depletes you. It diminishes who you are as a mother, as a father, as a human being. Maybe you are feeling depleted today and exhausted, worn out and worn down. Let this be the day that you turn your attention to His instructions, His commands.
When you do, you will find something remarkable. Living the exact same life, getting up and going to work every day, running your household, raising your children, being a husband or a wife, instead of being depleted you will find yourself strengthened. For when we seek first His Kingdom in everything that we do, when His righteousness in our lives is our primary concern, then when once we were weary now we are strong. You shall renew your strength daily when you make Him your daily focus. You will indeed mount up with wings as eagles and the former obstacles that would have defeated you, you will now soar above them as you walk and then take flight in the Spirit. You shall run , just as you ran before, but contrary to the human experience you shall not grow weary when you run in Him and towards Him. God bless you this day saint.
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Posted by appolus on September 17, 2019
Many pastors I have known measure the effectiveness of their preaching by the numbers who “come forward.” I am not necessarily or even primarily thinking about salvation, just in general. Although it certainly could apply to salvation. And yet, the way to measure the effectiveness of a word given, if it is given by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the change that it effects in the hearer. Fruits of repentance are the measure.
If repentance is changing one’s mind that leads to a change of one’s actions, and it is, then change would be the flesh on the bone of genuine repentance. If Christendom needs to repent, and it does, then change would be the measure of it. To simply say the words or acknowledge the need and continue on the way it has always been is a sure sign that… these people come near to God with their mouths and honor me with their lips but they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.( Isa 29:13)
If a man is satisfied with giving the Word and having people come forward for repentance, but does not agonize over a lack of any change, then he is merely perpetuating the traditions of men that they have learned by rote and in fact is a contributor to the very tradition they claim not to be a part of.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology | 6 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 15, 2019
I have been thinking about the subject of suicide in the last couple of days as two well known people committed suicide this week, one of them a mega pastor. As someone who was first overshadowed by the darkness of that thought when I was around twelve and then in later life just prior to coming to Christ I know something of that struggle. I came from a very broken background and that was undoubtedly the breeding ground of these thoughts
I listen to much of what is said today on the subject and it is always or almost always spoken of in terms of mental illness. I disagree for the most part. It is not a mental illness but rather a spiritual illness, a malaise of your very soul. And so the answer does not lie in the head but in the heart. It is a deep darkness which can only be truly combated by Light.
I sought desperately for this light at the age of twenty six. Sin and despair and brokenness had weighed me down. It was almost as if gravity was slowly being eradicated all around me making every step, every thought, every action heavier and heavier. At the same time the darkness increased daily and so I lived in an ever darkening world where every step took enormous effort. It was quite literally mentally and physically exhausting.
Have you ever been very tired behind the wheel of a car at night? Your eyes are getting heavier and heavier and a small voice inside your head whispers “just close your eyes for a second, it will be okay.” And the more tired you get the more sensible that voice begins to sound. There is a craving for sleep. Now imagine a voice much louder than a whisper trying to convince you that the ultimate sleep is the ultimate relief.
This is the lie of the darkness. Oh the sweetness of the light that shone into my broken sin sodden heart. Jesus stood up in the temple and told the people that He had come to heal the broken-hearted, to set at liberty the captives. The answer to the darkness of the suicidal thought is the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. This daily abiding in Him, this taking up of the armor of the Lord, taking on the shield of righteousness that quenches the fiery darts, sometime flaming arrows is so vital.
Spiritual brokenness lies at the heart of most suicides. Men and woman who, in their own minds have no worth and have no purpose for living, who cannot see any light. It is darkness that threatens to consume them and it is the Light of Christ that will deliver them. This is the Word of God and it is my own testimony of the reality of His Word. In Him I have found worth. In Him I have found purpose and in Him I have found that light which comes against and destroys the darkness.
Dear Father in heaven. I pray for all of those who are afflicted and tormented by this scourge. In the mighty name of Jesus I cry out for all those who are going under, drowning in gross darkness and being brought down very low by the heaviness of this world and their place in it. May the light of Christ shine into every dark corner and may the victorious work of Calvary liberate the captives from their chains and from the darkness of sin and brokenness.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 5 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 10, 2019
Time must become our primary resource for encountering God rather than the primary cause of our disconnect from Him -Nick Franks
Time is so mysterious. One hour spent in an enjoyable pursuit can seem like a day if doing something we don’t like. If I were to spend a week with my grandson on an a Island as a couple of beach bums, building rafts and building sandcastles and building fires, that week would “fly past.” On the other hand if I were to spend a week in solitary confinement, it would “seem like an eternity?” The difference between the two scenarios is not time, for one week is one week no matter what you are doing. Yet, we know what we are doing is part of the calculus of how fast time actually passes where it counts, in our minds. We are told in Scriptures that “one day in your court is better than a thousand elsewhere.” We also know that one day is as a thousand years unto the Lord. Time spent with God is the perfect use of time and everything else, no matter how good, how virtuous or noble, is something lesser.
Nick Franks, the author of the above quote shares with us a word the Lord spoke to him in the same book “Body Zero.” “Nick, are you willing to wait for me for an unreasonable amount of time.” For those of us who know something of the Lord’s presence , who have been touched by the glory, have tasted of the good things of God , waiting on God can seem like a week in solitary confinement. How long are you willing to wait upon God? How do we live when the vine-dresser has gone? Do we faithfully, patiently wait, carrying on, knowing He will return? Or do we, after a while, begin to act as if He shall never return? I cannot sense His presence, I cannot hear His voice. Have you walked through seasons like this? How long Lord is your cry. Saint, you will be tested on this. Would you serve God with joy and gladness and faithfully if you never sensed His presence again in this life? Would you love Him even if you knew that for the rest of your life you would not hear His still small voice? Is He not worthy to be praised and worthy to be worshiped for who He is despite what we “feel,” or in this case do not feel? Moses went up the mountain and in less than 40 days the people had thrown of God and created for themselves an idol that allowed them to rise up and play.
The saints of God worship Him no matter what, this is what distinguishes them from false professors. They have been sealed and their faith is not dependent upon circumstances or feelings. They will wait upon their God, it will be difficult but they know in their own spirits that God is always working whether they see it or not, whether they feel it or not, whether they hear it or not. The Word of God is a lamp unto their feet and bread unto their hungry souls and metaphorically speaking they use that lamp and go down to the docks and scan the horizon of their souls to see if today is the day. With infinite patience they faithfully wait upon their Lord. And even although they would wait a thousand years, their patience is rewarded when suddenly He comes to them in the depths of their spirit. They find themselves at the banqueting table, feasting upon His presence with a banner of love flying over them. Time stands still, it loses its meaning. Was it a moment or was it a thousand years? Wait faithfully upon the Lord saints, it pleases our Father in heaven to see that no matter what, we love Him unconditionally. And when we do experience his manifest presence it is all the more glorious for the waiting. And the ultimate coming of the Lord, when He comes with all of His glory, very soon I believe, will be so above and beyond what we could think or imagine, that we just have to leave it in that part of our spirits that just “knows.”
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 8, 2019
A building or a heart, where does the Lord dwell ? A heart beats, it has chambers , it has blood that pumps and travels to every part of the body bringing life sustaining oxygen. The Body, while complex and made up of many parts, is totally dependent upon the heart. To meet in the name of Jesus is to meet with saints who are identified by the character and the nature of Jesus.
People who have His blood pumping through them, have His Spirit that has set them ablaze. Burning embers gathered together create the potential for a great fire. Throw a log on one ember and it may catch fire after a while, throw a log onto a group of burning embers and it will catch fire right away. One fire, many embers greater light, greater heat. Now, gather a bunch of branches together with no fire and you will just have a bunch of branches. It could not call itself a fire for it clearly is without fire. Just because you call yourself a Christian and gather in the name of Jesus means nothing if you are not actually Christians. A bunch of dead wood is a bunch of dead wood.
Yet, those set ablaze, gathered together could potentially turn the whole word upside down as it burns away all the dross. This scripture that where two or three are gathered in my name, is far more important than we know. To gather in the name of Jesus is a deeply spiritual thing for those who have been born again according to His Spirit, His character and His nature. The enemy has done his level best to dilute that to the point where any fire that existed would be smothered out. The name of Jesus in the form of the word “Christian,” meaning follower of Christ is no mere adjective. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.
Being a Christ follower means to bear the life of Christ in us. So, when two or three genuine Christ followers come together for the sole purpose of Spirit being drawn unto Spirit then there is a magnification that takes place. Like a magnifying glass that captures the light of the sun and turns it into something so very potent, then the Holy Spirit takes the light that is within us, the tow or the three or the however many and turns it into something very powerful. Darkness is the mere absence of light. It cannot be magnified. Take a thousand dark souls and gather them together and what do you have? Darkness. Take the light from two or three or one hundred or a thousand genuine saints , undiluted by the darkness of unbelief and down comes the power of God in a unique way.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 6, 2019
The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70ad by Rome. They Roman army that destroyed Jerusalem and the temple were led by a general named Titus. He gave instructions that no one was to enter the famed room in the temple, the holy of holies. He would have that honor. He entered behind the veil and when he re-appeared he reportedly said “what was all that fuss about an empty room.”
You see, there was no Ark of the Covenant there. It was quite simply an empty room. It was reckoned that the room had been empty for almost 500 years when the temple had previously been destroyed. Some think Jeremiah may have removed it and hidden it, but no matter what actually happened to it, the fact is that for several hundred years the Ark of the Covenant , the presence of God, was not there. So the question becomes “why were the high priests going through the rituals every year knowing fine well that at its very core, it was lie.”
Now, let us think about our own religious organizations. Are the pastors of today any better than the high priests of Israel? Do they not have the same motivations that the high priest had? The system itself was all important. Without the illusion of the presence of God at the very heart of it, it could not have survived. For it all to work the people had to think that the Ark of the Covenant existed, dwelt in the temple. Yet, when the veil was pulled back, just an empty room.
Thirty seven years prior to the destruction of the temple, where not one stone was left un-turned, Jesus hung on a cross outside of the walls. God Himself rent the curtain from top to bottom at that time? What was He revealing? He was revealing that the true presence of God, Jesus Christ, was not behind a veil in a room in the temple, He had been rejected and taken outside. The presence of God was to be found at Calvary, not at the heart of a system that had long since lost the presence of God.
How many churches could you walk into next Sunday and there be struck by the manifest presence of God? I ask you reader, do you know a single church where the manifest presence of God is found in the midst of the gathering? Is the cloud of His glory there? Do people stand with their heads hung low in the glory? Do hands rise and tears fall as the glory of God overtakes His people? If that is not so for the vast majority of churches, then why are the pastors of these churches any different from the high priests who for several hundred years went in and out of an empty room and let the people think that the presence of God dwelt there in the heart of their religious activity?
The charade only ended when Jesus Himself walked into the midst of it and was rejected and killed by it. God has a “house,” a temple and has a zeal for it. He created a royal priesthood of believers and built Himself a temple out of each and everyone of them, living stones one and all. This is the temple that He inhabits and this is where the Spirit and Truth reside, in the beating hearts of his saints. Men may rebuild temples and make claims about them, but without the presence of the living God we now have a million empty rooms. God dismantled and destroyed one religious system devoid of His presence, stone by stone, will He not do that again? There are royal priests and their are high priests, we now call them pastors, which one serves God and His presence and which one serves the system? You cannot serve two masters for you will love the one and despise the other. Who do we serve?
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Posted by appolus on September 2, 2019
O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Why should we not be wearied and troubled if we take our gaze off our Lord? Christendom is wearied and troubled. To think that the answer is this close. A turning of the head away from the world. Away from the traditions of men. Away from systems and institutions. Away from men themselves. To look into the fullness of God. To look full into His wonderful face. To stand corporately where there is no division, but simply a royal priesthood gazing upwards.
There is an abundance of life that awaits the royal priesthood. To stand in the unity that the Lord Jesus spoke of in John 17 is to stand in awe as the cloud descends and fills the temple with Glory. This is the glory, this is the presence that the Father and the Son dwelt in before the world began. Lord, let your glory fill your house, your temple. Fill us with your glory for your name’s sake. Let the things of this world grow strangely in the light of your glory and grace.
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A Call To The Remnant 