Mat 25:21 His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.

The seasons of God are good. One of those seasons is a time for weeping and mourning. Yet, if that is all that we have, if we lived forever in a perpetual winter of weeping and mourning then nothing would ever grow. We would not grow and neither would our effectiveness for His kingdom. Neither would we grow in the knowledge of God. There is a time to rent our clothes and throw dust on our heads, yet if this one season or any other one season becomes the whole then we render ourselves weak and ineffectual.

To be content in every situation, in every season is the high water mark of the servant of God. We have been called to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. He is our measure, none other than God Himself. This word perfect is to be complete. To find the fullness of the measure, to be mature. We were children and we played as children, now that we seek the fullness that is in Him then we put away childish things.

The fullness comes when we can walk in the Spirit whether the sun is shining high in the sky or whether the storms clouds threaten to explode over our heads. This is the measure of the fullness, to be unmoved from our standing before the throne. To weep? Yes. To laugh? Yes. To mourn with others? Yes. To comfort others with the same comfort we ourselves have been comforted with? Yes. This is the good and faithful servant. To be standing in this world, very much a part of it, but to be breathing the rarefied air of the Kingdom. To walk through this world but to exist in the atmosphere of the throne room.

The atmosphere. Science would tell us that this is the unseen gasses that surrounds the planet held in place by gravity. Ours is uniquely designed for life, made up of nitrogen and oxygen which we breath into our lungs and it sustains our lives and all life. The atmosphere before the throne is made up of holiness and glory and majesty. This is what surrounds the saints. The Holy Spirit holds it all in place. Our gravity is the word of God, our atmosphere is the Spirit of God, and it produces and sustains our spiritual lives.

We are called to be faithful in a few things. Just a few things, a few foundational things. Patient perseverance in doing what is right. Loving God with all of our hearts. Doing what our Lord commanded us to do. Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Glorifying God as we yield and surrender to His work in our lives. Do this brothers and sisters and you will hear those words we all long to hear “Well done good and faithful servant……..enter inot the joy of the Lord.”

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.(Eph 3:17-19)

If it’s the moon they say 250,000 miles or if it’s the sun they say 93 million miles. But after that they start talking in light years. They say that there are bodies millions of light years away—say 10 million just to get a start. So if you want to know how far it is from earth to that body I’m talking about, you multiply 5 trillion, 862 billion, 484 million by 10 million. Doesn’t that stun you? It makes my head ache! Seen over against this, you and I are terribly small (A.W.Tozer The Attributes of God)

Can you see what Tozer is getting at? He is showing us just how vast the universe is and yet how infinitesimally small it actually is in comparison to God almighty. This is beyond our ability to comprehend. It is too big. Yet right there in the Scriptures it says that those who have Christ in their hearts, and are rooted and grounded in love can indeed comprehend God. Think on that a while. Comprehend God. We can know the breadth of His majesty. We can know the depths of His love. We can know the heights of His glory. In short, we can know that which is beyond knowledge. We can be filled with the fullness of our God who is infinitely vast. This is astonishing that we can enter into and be filled with His fullness. It’s an invitation by our Lord who owes His creation nothing. And yet He beckons us to come into the glory. Our God wants to share this with us. And there is purpose in it.

For this purpose Paul bowed his knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus, his Father and our Father. The purpose is that we faint not in the midst of tribulations. When we apprehend His glory we comprehend His glory. When we comprehend His glory we are strengthened by His might in the inner man. On the outside we may be in prison, we may be hard pressed on every side, perplexed and persecuted and struck down but we stand fast and we are not overcome. We stand and do not fall because He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or even think according to His power that is in us, the fullness of His power. Glory to God in the highest. He causes us, whose heart He dwells in by faith and who are rooted and grounded in love, to stand.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.(Psa 51:6-7)

In another verse from this psalm David cries out “Cast me not away from your presence oh Lord and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” Here we are witnessing the agonizing process and the inner workings of a broken and a contrite heart. David knows his problem is an internal one. The external sin of adultery and murder was a direct result of the inner workings of his heart, his hidden parts. He realizes that he has sinned against God alone. This is where it started and this is where it must be finished. The sin is the end result of a disease that was working deep inside his heart. When we are stricken in such a way we no longer have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Joy has fled from us as the darkness of our souls floods the inner sanctums of our heart.

God sent a prophet to speak to David. The prophet reached into the dark places and exposed the process of David’s spiritual death. He brought it into the light and the full horror of David’s actions are suddenly visited upon him. He staggers into the light from the depths of his darkness. God had called David out from the grave. David had placed himself into the tomb and a stone was rolled in front of it. In the story of Lazarus, Jesus has the stone rolled away and commands Lazarus to come forth. He staggers out of the tomb and the grave clothes are removed from him. Who do you know that has buried their hearts in the depths of darkness and rolled a stone in front of it? Perhaps the garden of your own heart, the most intimate part of who you are has been buried in death and sin? It has become a grave and you have robed yourself in the the death clothes of sin and separation from God. The Lord requires truth in the inward parts, the most intimate part of who we are. Without this it is impossible to walk in fellowship with God.

God desires that the joy of your salvation would return to you. He desires that you would walk in the newness of life in the Spirit and not the darkness of spiritual death. In the very depths of who you are He desires to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you. The question is, do you desire such a thing? Do you want to have ears to hear the Lord cry out ‘come forth.” Do you want to have eyes to see the light of a brand new day? Do you want to awaken the dawn with the praises of God? Listen to what the Spirit is saying to you and with a contrite and broken spirit come back into that place from where you have fallen. Today is the day.

1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

How many of us know that the Temples of old were magnificently adorned? A rich man’s status lies in his home, his car, his belongings. The richer a man is the more elaborate is his dwelling place. He fills his house with symbols of his wealth . The man of God also decorates his temple, the temple of the Holy Spirit, with riches. His dwelling place will be no less elaborate than the richest men of the earth. He will decorate his temple with the finest gold of unconditional love. His walls are encrusted with the jewels of forgiveness and mercy. His windows are draped with opulent coverings of meekness and humility. Trophies of grace hang on every wall. They are framed with the finest materials of patience and kindness.

Let us ask ourselves this question, do we pursue the riches and the glories of heaven with the same vigor and single-mindedness that men here on earth pursue the treasures of the world? And the treasures that we have attained in Christ, do we protect them with all the resources that we have? Do we value the treasures of our heart in the same way men value their wealth? There is a direct correlation between how much we value something to the lengths we will go to protect it. Guard your hearts brothers and sisters in Christ, for we have an enemy who seeks to steal and destroy what we have.

Share your treasure this day. The more we give our treasures to those who have none, the more our treasures shall increase. The word says “He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might, He strengthens them.” We have been called to empower the weak, to bind the hearts of the brokenhearted, those who are weakened, we come along side and strengthen. We have been called to wipe the tears of those who mourn, to grieve with them. Let us move in Christ brothers and sisters, and know that He that goes before you is He that lies within you.

Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

The real test for us as Christians is how we walk along the path set before us. We can walk with the Lord by our side, and by that I mean we can walk with His empowering manifest presence. Not unlike the disciples that walked with Jesus after His resurrection and their hearts burned as He taught them. His very nearness and His Spirit caused their hearts to burn and glow. Or, we can walk alone, and by that I mean we can walk in our own strengths minus the awareness of His presence.

Now we know saints, as good Bible scholars, that God is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere at the same time. And as saints we know that He also dwells in our hearts. This is not what we are here referring to. We are talking about what it means to walk in the nearness of the Spirit of God as opposed to walking in the flesh. And as saints we can do both. If we would walk in the Spirit of God, walk in His awareness and therefore walk in His power, then we must, as the Lord told us to, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Every day.

We must be aware of the Kingdom and the Kingdom walk. Our eyes must be engaged in Kingdom sight. We must see things through the lense of the Lord and His word. Our mouths must be engaged in the Kingdom language, we must speak as ambassadors of the King. We must draw near to Him and not quench the Spirit of God. To quench the Spirit of God is to pour cold water upon our burning hearts. Will you throw another log on the fire and cause it to burn brighter, or will you douse it with the cold waters of the world?

A man and a wife can stay in the same house but never be intimate, perhaps even stay in two different bedrooms. Are they close? Yes, in proximity. Are they married? Yes, still married. Yet, because they are not intimate they are really no better than room-mates. One may call it a love-less marriage. Who would want to be part of a love-less marriage? It is considered by most as a tragedy. How greater a tragedy than to be room-mates with the Lord? Yes He is in your heart, yes you are saved, but you are never spiritually intimate.

The real tragedy in a marriage is if one longed for intimacy but the other never responded or had no such need or desire. Jesus longs to be spiritually intimate with His disciples. Only as a result of this intimacy can we expect to be aware of His presence. We grow together in intimacy. We become alike in intimacy. Two become one in intimacy. The man or the woman who does not understand, seek or desire to be intimate with the Lord shall never grow and his or her walk will be a very lonely shallow one.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me (Psa 23:4)

Isn’t that the beginning and end of it all? No matter what we are suffering, no matter what we are going through, as long as He is with us then we can go through it. Through the waters, through the floods, through every trial and tribulation and vexation of heart and soul and mind and body. If we are found in Him and He is in us and with us then we shall prevail, we shall overcome. And not only prevailing and overcoming but also victory. There is victory in Jesus and that is why there is and can be joy even in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death. For when He is with us, and we are aware of His presence, He is our green pastures. His presence restores our soul. His presence is our still waters.

A few years ago I needed a round of shots in my spine for old injuries from a fall in construction many years ago. I had them before, they are not pleasant. I was asked prior to the shots if I needed a valium to calm me down. Like a good Scotsman I said no. I had people praying for me. Just before going in as I waited in a room, kinda regretting my decision on the valium, the Dr came in and asked me if he could pray for me. I was taken aback. I said of course. Then when I was lying face down on the table the radio was on. Some terrible rock music was playing. I heard the Doc tell someone to turn that of.

Just a moment later, a nurse started singing a hymn I had never heard before. The presence of the Lord filled the room and I quietly shed some tears. The Lord, in His manifest presence had come into the room to let me know He was with me. The nurse finished her hymn and the Doc said to me “your very lucky, in twelve years she never sung for me.” It all seemed otherworldly. When the injections were finished and I could look up, I asked who had sung the hymn. A little black nurse said “it was me.’ She came over and I hugged her.

I find in Him I have no want, He is my all and all and He is my everything. And because He is my everything He is my path and He leads me and guides me. He anoints my head with oil and my cup is overflowing, whether in the valley of the shadow of death or the glorious mountaintops of His transfiguration. This table that He sets before me is an everlasting and eternal one. There has been served upon this table the delicacies of goodness and mercy and love and forgiveness. A feast fit for a hungry heart that pants and longs for the good things of the Lord. Saint, today is the day that you are invited to sit down at this table and the goodness and the mercy that you shall find there will follow you all the days of your life.

Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life.

Where shall we go, those of us who know Jesus? To the world? Impossible. Back to the life that we came from? Who would want to be dead again and wallow in our own vomit? No, those of us who know Jesus, no matter how hard the calling, no matter how difficult the road, shall stay right there by His side for in Him is life and everything else is death. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God. His Word and His words are life to us. They sustain us in the rain, they keep us in the storm, they cover us when the darkness rages all around. His Word, His presence keeps us and upholds us.

By coming to Him, by staying close to His presence, His manifest presence, you receive His power like living waters through your pores, through your senses, through your spirit through every particle of your being right down to the very molecules that makes up who you are. You are infused by Him and by being infused by Him, by consuming Him, by being consumed by Him, you are changed by Him. And you become more like Him and worship Him more. You read the Word more and you pray more and you weep more and you live more and you love more. And most importantly, you are obedient to His Word and that still small voice.

You are more compassionate and you are more joyful and more grateful and more thankful and you witness more, not out of any legal requirement but out of necessity because your bones burn within you. Your heart is on fire, your whole body glows in the residue of your encounter. You are infused by Him and it makes you diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge in every place(2 Cor 2:14) So many men choose their own strength to try and achieve everything that can only be achieved in His presence because to come to Him, to come close to the light, it illuminates our dark deeds.

Yet eternal life dwells within His presence and it draws us and it keeps us close to our Lord. Better to come before Him in intimate confession and dwell in the light and in life, than to stay in the darkness and in the shades of grey where only death dwells.