For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; (1Co 3:11-12)
There is but one foundation and His name is Jesus. How then shall we build upon that which was laid down for us? There are those who receive the love truth of the Word and the Lord Jesus Christ, high and lifted up. Nothing will cause them to deviate from what they have been taught by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. Though cultures may change and systems may be added, they will have none of it. The traditions of men mean nothing to them, only the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They determined in their hearts to not know anything other than this, the great foundation of Christ. Though men may persecute them and burn them, the fire that men kindle cannot destroy the works of God in them, rather it but purifies them. They stand immovable upon the solid foundation and this is precious in the sight of God. Precious like spiritual gold and silver and precious stones.
Now, there are many who build upon His foundation with wood and hay and stubble. In any fire these elements burn up quickly and it leaves but ashes behind. Men will find out in that great day of what elements their work was of. I put it to you that most of what we see in Christendom today is but wood and hay and stubble. It shall all be swept away in the fire of God’s judgment and those involved will suffer great loss and come out of it with but his soul saved if he is indeed the Lord’s. Imagine the great tragedy of a lifetimes work gone in a moment of time. What you thought was precious, all of your works and efforts, revealed to be but wood, hay and stubble. Yet those whose works endure shall receive a reward. What works you might ask? The works of love and joy and peace in the midst of hatred and insecurity and anxiousness. The works of obedience to the Lord and to His word despite the traditions of men who set themselves up to come against anyone who would challenge their traditions and the authority they have.
God does not judge the outer man, he judges the inner secrets of the heart. He is not impressed with huge buildings and organizations of. He does not dwell in temples built by human hands. Heaven is His throne and earth is His footstool. In the last 2000 years these institutions have been led by stiff-necked men who always resist the Holy Spirit. They reject the Word of God in favor of the traditions of men and the pursuit of power and authority. It is all wood and hay and stubble. And yet there are the few who have built upon the true foundation with Truth and endurance, suffering and overcoming, to them belong the reward. They may have been hated here on earth but they walked in the love of God. They may not have a “ministry,’ as men measure these things but they minster to the Lord before His throne with the tears of their broken-hearts and their contrite spirits. Their narrow road home is laid upon the foundation of Christ and Him crucified. To walk this way is to suffer indignities. To be broken. To be ridiculed and rejected by men. To be seen as nothing according to the measurements of men but to have great treasure indeed in the economy of God. We are rich brothers and sisters, never forget that. Into our hands and hearts was placed gold and silver and precious jewels. And by these we have been called to enrich others.
1Co 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
This is the heartbeat of genuine Christianity. It is so central to who we are that it is forever before us. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. From this flows all things. From the Lord Jesus and His death for us flows life eternal. For us to walk in this life we must walk in Christ with a cross upon our back. Take up your cross daily the Lord commands us, that we might be worthy to be His disciples. Jesus is our singular identity. It is Jesus first and last and in all things. His cross draws us to take up our cross. Without a daily cross, without the breaking process, we are simply not worthy to be called His disciples. Tozer would say “you know one thing about a man carrying a cross our of the city, you knew he wasn’t coming back.” There is no turning back when there is a cross upon your own back. You are dead to this world and the world knows it. The testimony of Christ in you is the cross on your back and the supernatural joy that is in you that you are counted worthy to bear it.
It is not the words that we speak or the way that we speak them, it is the life that we live that is a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. No eloquence is required although when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of your tongue it will make William Shakespeare seem like stammering fool. It is our calling to declare the testimony of God and the testimony of God is Christ and Him crucified. It burns at the heart of who we are. It rises up in us and declares Him holy. Again and again and again in our lives we are reminded that we walk under the shadow of the cross. Of the One crucified, of the greatest sacrifice, and we are called to follow in our Lord’s footsteps. Oh how the disciples celebrated after they were scourged. They could not believe that they were counted worthy of entering into His sufferings. Do you see that Spirit today? Paul spoke in weakness and fear and in much trembling. Paul was not afraid to highlight his weaknesses in order to lift up His Lord, because it was all about Jesus, it was all about Him crucified, it was all about lifting Him up, not himself. Oh that we were surrounded by such men today, and yet, tragically it seems that we are surrounded by the opposite.
You have to establish a non petitioning heart before you can truly petition the Lord. What do I mean by that? Does your prayer life consist mostly of petitions, meaning, is it just about you asking for things? Take a moment and reflect upon your prayers. I want to give you some examples. In Acts 16 we see Paul and Silas in a terrible situation. They were hungry and thirsty. They were seriously injured. They were held captive. They could well be killed. And here is what we know about their communications with God. ” At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” There is nothing to indicate they were praying for their personal needs, no, rather they were praising God in the midnight hour. That very same hour, the jailer, after crying out “what must I do to be saved,” got saved, his family got saved, Paul and Silas were delivered from their bonds, the stripes upon their backs were tended to and food was set before them.
In Acts chapter seven we see Stephen in a terrible situation. He had just spoken mightily by the power of the Holy Spirit and the crowd were riled up and they had murder in their heart. Did Stephen cry out for deliverance? Did He petition God to shield him in that moment? Here is what happened “He, being full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God…..then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. That day a young man called Saul witnessed what had happened and the seeds of his own salvation was planted.
Brothers and sisters, there is much power in not giving heed to the situation you find yourself in. The Kingdom of God transcends all situations, if only we had eyes to see the glory of God through the darkest nights, the good news is that we do. Every night is like the noonday sun to those with eyes fixed upon Jesus. Now, is it right and proper to petition the Lord? Yes, of course. Yet, we all know someone who only ever talks to us when they want something, is that not right? How do you feel when you see that person approach? Does your heart not sink? Does it not sink even deeper when they pretend to be nice to you? We have names for people like that. Hypocrites? Fair weather fans? People who only come around to get what they want or to be part of a success.
First and fore-most in our lives we have been called to glorify God. No matter what our situations are, no matter what chaos the enemy might have caused, we need to stand in the power that comes from glorifying God in our prayers. We need to lift up the name of Jesus. We need to glorify the Lord our God. We need to see Him high and lifted up and then we need to lift up our eyes to that vision of Him. He is with us and He is preeminent not just in our hearts but in every aspect of our lives. Glorifying God and praising His holy name causes the foundations of our captivity to begin to shake. God is not in the business of building prisons, He is in the business of tearing them down. He does not throw people behind prison cells, He throws open the doors. He breaks the bars of captivity. He is worthy to be praised and He has given us the way. Establish the proper order. Love Him, praise Him, give Him honor and glory. Let the principalities and powers know that no matter what, The Lord Jesus Christ will be praised, before any mention of our needs.
Philippians 4:6 Tells us “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” We see a very similar text in Matt 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothes? And so we see the two sets of instructions from Jesus, be anxious for nothing, or the almost identical phrase “take no thought for your life.” What might be the primary petitions of the saint? And how are these petitions to be framed? Well we see from Phil 4:6 that they are to be framed by, or bathed in, thankfulness. It is the thankful heart that breaks through to the throne-room. And with this thankful heart we pray, we glorify God, and into this heart He pours in His desires. And His greatest desire is that we would be like His Son.
And therefore, having put the cares of this life aside we stand devoid of distractions. We cry out to God that He would help our unbelief. That He would give us wisdom, that He would glorify Himself in whatever situation we find ourselves in. Whether in the depths of a dungeon or kneeling before an angry mob who is about to kill us. Whether we face bankruptcy or the grievous loss of a loved one, how shall we glorify you in this Lord? Job’s prayer was to praise God and acknowledge that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, there is a tremendous power at our disposal if we would only lay down the distractions of this world and lift Jesus us in our minds and hearts and spirits. There are walls to be shaken. There are captives to be set free. Yet we must be free ourselves from the distractions of this world in order to be used in setting at liberty others. Is it possible to live an anxious free life and walk in the power of God? Yes it is. Is it possible to “take no though for your life?” Yes it is. Jesus commanded that we do it and we must decide to do it. It is our decision.
I would like to discuss a word that is not used very often. It is the word Godliness. It is rather a mysterious word really. What is Godliness? Are you Godly? Who decides? Can it be measured or quantified? In 2 Pet 1:3 we see that the Divine power of Jesus has given us all things that “pertain” to life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him. Now, that word pertain means to bring us close to, or nearness to. And so we could say that the power of God, through knowing Him in an intimate way, directs us to life and this thing called Godliness. It is the tightest and most succinct three words in all of Scripture that alludes to our calling, “life and Godliness.” No life, no Godliness, one must be born again in order to have the life that will enable Godliness.
I would argue that Godliness is an awareness of God in our everyday life. A constant awareness of God. Now this is not to be confused with the manifest presence of God. The manifest presence of God is the awareness of Gods actual presence. It is always dramatic, no matter how it comes. The manifest presence of God cannot be conjured up. No one controls God. It is not normative in the Christian life but it is vital that we have “encountered God,” at some point or many points along the way. Yet Godliness can be pursued. We are told in 1 Tim 4:7 that we have to train ourselves in the way of Godliness. It is up to us to constantly bring to mind the things of God in our daily lives. The Godly man has an attitude towards God that forms the core of who he is and it can be visibly seen in every aspect of his life.
We see in 2 Pet 1:5-9 that in the pursuit of a Godly life we must be diligent to add to our trust in God, excellence in everything we do for His name sake. We must be just men and women. And to that we must exercise the knowledge that we have been given and have experienced through God. We must exercise patience in everything that we do and continue on no matter what comes our way. We are those who persevere through trial and flood. Out of that comes our Godliness. We are exercised in the ways of God. His honor and His glory will be the most important thing in our lives and when we walk in this fashion then we shall be known for our love for one another. If we walk in the awareness of God then we shall never be barren, indeed we shall be fruitful all the days of our lives no matter the circumstances. In fact the circumstances will only prove the genuineness of our Godliness.
Those who walk in the awareness of God do so out of devotion to Him. What do we mean by that? We all know someone or maybe many people who are devoted to their wives or husbands. We hear the phrase “he is so devoted to his wife.” It carries all the more weight when the wife is bedridden or dying. The husband in this case spends every waking hour attending to her needs. Even although he himself maybe very tired, no matter, he is bound and determined to serve his wife to the best of his abilities with everything he has. Brothers and sisters, this is Godliness. Are you bound and determined to serve God with a love and devotion greater than we could ever have for another human being? Is He at the center of all of your thoughts? Are you constantly aware of His presence in your life day by day, hour by hour? This is Godliness and out of of this Godliness, this devotion, flows rivers of life. You must train yourself in these matters brothers and sisters. It takes diligence and a dogged desire to walk with God.
Walking with God is our daily life. Its our interactions with everyone we come into contact with. Its our first thoughts in the morning. Its our drive to work, its our grocery shopping. It is our lunch with a friend. It is everything and when He is everything to us, and in everything that we do, then we know that we are truly “walking with Jesus.” There is a great power that comes from this walk called Godliness. The power to love, the power to forgive, the power to never take up the offense. This is no mere fantasy brothers and sisters, this is our calling. When we desire to live in Godliness then everything that is in our lives that is not Godly has to go. I think this is why so few of us walk in Godliness. Godliness is to continually pray if you like. A constant awareness of His nearness that will transform your life. It is not for the lazy Christian. You wont get it by going forward in a service. No charlatan will lay his hands on you and suddenly you are Godly. No, it belongs to the diligent, the genuine devotee of God, and it will show. You cannot measure it yourself, it is something that is seen in you by others. Yet brothers and sisters, when you walk in Godliness you will realize the goal of “being anxious for nothing.” The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will rest upon your life.
It is a sad commentary on the established church that so little prayer, if any, takes place in their gatherings. If one were able to take the vitals of any gathering, the way the doctor takes our blood pressure and pulse, then prayer in an individuals life or a gathering would be the pulse. The heartbeat is at the center of our being and prayer is at the center of who we are in Christ. If your “pulse,” were to be taken today, would it show a healthy heart? A healthy prayer life?
When the doctor checks your pulse, he understands each pulse represents a heartbeat. There is the force behind the pulse and the regularity of the pulse. He wants to see a strong pulse because that indicates a good flow of blood to the extremities. The regularity of the pulse indicates that the heart is beating regularly. An irregular heartbeat is a dangerous thing that has to be treated. Now blood pressure measures the force of blood flowing against the walls of your arteries. Too high and there will undoubtedly be undue pressure on your arteries which will make them more elastic which in the end will decrease the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart. Too low and your bodies vital organs do not get enough oxygen and nutrients.
Prayer is the heartbeat of your personal walk with the Lord. Prayer is the heartbeat of any gathering. If it beats low we are quite ineffective. If it beats high and irregular then we setting ourselves up for failure. If our hearts stop beating we die. If there was a spiritual doctor who could take the pulse of your congregation would he find it healthy? Would He find life at all? If He ran the same check on you, how healthy would He pronounce you? Prayer is the strong and steady and vital beat of the heart of our walk with Jesus. The rhythm of the heart of God must be our rhythm. We align our hearts with His. We become one with His heart. We are strong in the Lord and the power of His might only in as much as we pray according to His heart. This is true not only of our personal walk but also of our corporate gatherings. No prayer, no life, no exceptions.
Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That scripture is a lovers call not a burdensome command. It calls us and woos us. It beckons us to come like the lover in the night in the song of Solomon. It caresses our hearts and our spirits. Shall we respond? Shall we walk with Him in the cool of the day? Shall we give ourselves to Him? Shall our hearts meet with His heart and shall we feel it burn within us? There are many distractions in this world, so many. Yet we must rise above them all. And we can rise, for we have been given wings that can spread out and catch the updrafts of His presence. He bids us come and it is His very presence that carries upwards, that carries us to the throne room itself. It is there, before the beauty of His Holiness, that we are changed forevermore. There before His glorious majesty that we are transformed. There before His resplendent glory that we are sanctified. It is there where all things are possible. Right there where very soon millions upon millions of saints from every tribe and every tongue and every nation shall cry with all that is within them, Holy, Holy, Holy, is our Lord God Almighty who sits upon the throne, who was, and is and forever shall be. Like a endless wheat field as far as the eye can see, moving as one like the waves of a vast ocean as the wind of the Spirit moves them in unison.
These hand of mine Father, so many times, in any number of situations, I’ve wanted to throw them up in the air in despair, or wash my hands of something completely, or use them to literally beat someone. Yet you Lord, have called me to raise my hands up, not in despair or anger but in surrender. For most of my life I never knew what that looked like, this “letting go.” Father, help my lack of surrender, show me always what that looks like in every situation that I may always walk in Your peace. Surrender, to the world, is defeat. Surrender to you Lord is victory. My hearts desire Lord is to always walk in the shadow of Your victory.
Isa 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You: because he trusts in You
Perfect peace. Oh what a marvelous state. Who among us would not revel in “perfect peace.” Yet here is a promise from the Living God to His people, with two conditions. Conditions you say? Yes, indeed. And the two here stated are firstly, “whose mind is stayed on You.” Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. See Him in all His glory. See Him high and lifted up above your circumstances. Was He not lifted up upon a cross for you? See Him high and lifted up above every storm. Above every set of circumstances, above every ailment and serious infirmity. For when you see Him as such and glorify Him as such does not the Spirit of Christ rest upon you? When the world and even your own mind and body attempts to wrestle you away from a singular focus on Him, shall we not resist this?
Secondly, trust in the Lord your God. Trust Him on the mountain, trust Him in the valley, trust Him when your enemies are all around and to your aid He rallies. Trust Him in the morning when the sun rises in the sky, trust Him on your sickbed when men say that you will die. Trust Him in the noonday when the sun is overhead, trust Him for your sustenance and for your daily bread. Trust Him as the sun goes down and in the twilight hour, for even in the darkness He is your light and He’s your power. To keep your eyes on Him and to trust Him in all things is to walk through the door of perfect peace. Won’t you go in brothers and sisters? Look up unto the heavens and revel in the glory of God and you shall revel in His peace, His perfect peace.
I was born by the river
In a dirty ol town of hard livin
And that old river just keeps on running
And I know I just got to keep on forgivin.
That old river is fast flowin
But it couldn't wash away all the pain
For in the eddy's and the alleys
The gutters of life kept pouring down rain.
Cobblestones streets illuminated by full moon nights
Lamp posts silhouetted, sandstone chimney pots
The thing about this rain that never seems to stop
It soaks you to the bone and everything rots
As I flew a long long way from the valley
And left it far far and away behind
To the big sky horizons of a different world
Yet the valley was never far from my mind
Still the river flowed, still the rain fell
And even in this land of vast horizons
I was walking though the long deep valley
Looking for a world I could arise in.
And then a hand reached down through the rain
Through the misty darkness of cobblestone streets
Where the gutters were awash with pain
A new land came forward and the old ones retreat
Now the river keeps running through the valley
And the rain keeps fallin from above
Yet the sun has broken through the landscape
And has filled that old valley with its love.
Isa 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
In verse five we see Isaiah’s description. The whole head is sick. The whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot to the head, there is no soundness. Wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, they are open wounds for all to see. This is our world today, there is no soundness in it. There is no nation that has distinguished itself, they are all alike. The only thing that has averted all out disaster and ruin raining down on us like fire from heaven is the very small remnant of God’s people around the world. They are a gift to the world. The only light that presently exists is the light of remnant saints.
Christendom is a forsaken people, such has been their fall. Their house has been left to them desolate. Shall they be forgiven? Shall they humble themselves in the sight of the Lord? Is their coffers not full of silver and gold? Do they not worship the works of their own hands, in fact is not the work of their own hand all that they have? Isaiah says to such a people “Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty.” (Isa 2:4) Proud men shall cry out in terror and flee from the Glory of His majesty. The “very small remnant,” shall not flee from the Glory of His majesty, but rather they shall run into it and they shall be safe. His glory is their high tower. His majesty is their very life blood. His presence is their very existence.
He has stretched out the heavens like a curtain. His ministers are a flaming fire. The clouds are His chariots and He walks upon the wings of the wind. He looks upon the earth and it trembles, He hides His face and the whole world is troubled. His glory shall endure forever. His hand, for a moment, is stretched out to a undeserving people. Shall the haughty humble themselves? Shall they give up the works of their own hands? Shall they abandon the many centuries of tradition that has caused them to wander so far from the source of all life? They only life that exists is in Him. When He arises to shake the earthy mightily, and He will do so very soon, will He be a terror to you and will you flee from the glory of His majesty? Fall down now and live, or, enter into the rock and see if you can hide from the terror of the Lord to come.
Psa 13:2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long shall I suffer Lord? Every day I search my heart and reason within me and yet I find nothing, only sorrow and suffering continually. David is at a loss. He has no one else to turn to. The comforts that he had known before have fled him. The good man suffers greatly in his affliction. He searches himself and tries to find remedy and yet there is none. At the very same time he knows that God is good and greatly to be praised. The knowledge of this adds to the mans sorrows for in his heart he knows it is a madness to complain before God. It goes against his spiritual DNA, and so we come to this place of crying out. God hears your cries.
Brothers and sisters. Are you in this place? Have you been in this place? It is like a certain spiritual death where sleep may overwhelm us. David cries out to God to consider him and bring light to his eyes. A certain kind of malaise, a melancholy has insidiously crept in. And now he cries out for light. He reminds himself that he has trusted in the mercy of God. He remembers how the Lord, in all of his ways, has dealt bountifully with him and this causes him to sing unto the Lord. Trust in the Lord your God brothers and sisters. Cry out to Him, do not remain silent. Remind yourself of how far the Lord has brought you and how much grace and mercy He has given to you. I cannot say how much longer you may suffer, but we know this. We know that no one suffered more than our Lord and that He also felt the despair of being seemingly abandoned. Rejoice in your salvation today, for the Saviour of your soul knows and sees your suffering. He committed His Spirit into the hands of His Father, you do the same.
Act 15:39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
This is a well known incident. Paul and Barnabas fall out with each other, so much so that they change their plans and Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus leaving Paul behind. The plan had been to go back and revisit the brothers and sisters in every city and encourage them. It was a good plan, but the personalities of these very Godly men got in the way of the plan that very well was their own. Has this ever happened to you? Has you temper or some other personality trait caused you to fall out with someone and it seems that you have completely blown it? I have lost count over the last thirty years how many times it seems that I have “stepped on,’ the plan of the Lord. It never left me unaffected, quite the opposite. I would aid and abet the enemy in beating me up.
I am sure that as Paul watched Barnabas and Mark sail away, he must have regretted his “sharp contention,’ with his dear brother in the Lord. They had been through so much together. Barnabas must have looked back as the ship sailed away and had similar thoughts, the Holy Spirit, no doubt, convicting both for their parts in the contention. Yet I want you to see something. Despite us, despite our many failings, God has a plan and He is working it out. Paul decides to take Silas in the place of Barnabas. Little did not Paul know that he and Silas were about to live out one of the most famous incidents in the New Testament. Very shortly after leaving, they find themselves in the bowels of a dungeon, whipped to within an inch of their lives and in stocks.
And despite the previous failings of Paul, we see God had a plan. I believe that plan was for the jailer and his whole family to be saved. Silas was probably the perfect guy for this job. We find them both praising the Lord at the midnight hour and all the prisoners listening to them and then, a great earthquake. God came down. The doors flew open and the men, taken by the presence of God no doubt, stayed right there in their cells. The jailer, supposing the very opposite is about to kill himself but instead he gets saved and all of his family and goes on to have a house church in that city. Gods plan. Remember, God had forbidden them to preach the word in Asia, they also being refused permission to go to Bithynia. Then they had a vision of a man pleading for them to come to Macedonia. You see how every step of the way, God had a plan and He was bringing it to pass? Paul and Silas were on a need to know basis. Brothers and sisters, more often than nought we are on a need to know basis. I would imagine that knowing they were going to be scourged and put in stocks would not have helped them along.
If you have messed up and missed the mark, take heart brothers and sisters. You have no idea what God has in store for you. He uses imperfect individuals to carry out His perfect will. It is always about His plan and never about ours. We may go crashing ahead sometimes with what seems to be right, and yet it is completely wrong, its is simply our own plan. God will interrupt our plans. He will use what is useful to Him and bring you to where He wants you to be. My only advice is to listen for the direction or as in this case, the redirection of the Holy Spirit. Stay humble and broken and contrite and no matter what, move in forgiveness. Be quick to forgive those that have wronged you. After all, we are but vessels in the hands of the Lord, and if we are quick to forgive then He is faithful and just and merciful to forgive us. In the end, it is all His work and it is all His glory and it is His story. Keep walking brothers and sisters, God will use you.
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
This unspeakable joy that is full of glory belongs to those who truly know Him and to those alone. The glory of God and His manifest presence in your life causes immeasurable joy even in the context of 1st Peter where Peter is addressing grevious trials and fires of afflictions. The mark of the saint is that his mind is set on things above. His spirit is led by the Spirit. The Spirit of God magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts and all the more so when we wade through troubled waters. Imagine, rejoicing in the midst of troubled waters! Imagine having a vision in the midst of being stoned to death and crying out to God to forgive those who cast the stones. We can rejoice in everything brothers and sisters.
Have you experienced unspeakable joy? Do you know what it is to rejoice and give thanks in the midst of various trials? This, we are told, is for the testing of our faith, the genuineness of our faith. The joy of the Lord we are here told is “unspeakable.’ There are no sufficient words to describe what it means to experience His presence. Even although we do not see Him, we sense Him in the deepest parts of who we are, in the bear essence of our existence. He comes to His own. We draw near to Him, He draws near to us. And His very nearness cause our hearts to burn within us. The joy of the Lord begins to fill us and as it does it begins to strengthen us in our inner man. We change in His presence. People can see it in our faces. They do not know how to describe it but they can see it on our “countenance.” The Love of God , His love for us, our Love for Him is the foundation of it all. Rejoice today brothers and sisters.
Can you remember as a child, when you first discovered the power of a magnifying glass? I remember the first time I was able to start a fire with it. Harnessing the power of the sun. The magnify glass does not change the power of the sun, it intensifies the light that shines from the sun. You can cause a dormant match to burst into flames. You can melt an ice cube with it. Scientists can harness the power of the sun and create lasers that can cut through almost anything. The Holy Spirit is our magnifying glass. For those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit He causes the love of Jesus to explode in our heart.
He magnifies the Lord Jesus Christ to us. He causes the light of His love to set our hearts on fire. That concentrated power is aimed directly at you. One is powerful, a whole gathering is incredible. His grace becomes magnified in us and we weep because of it. His mercy is intensified in our consciousness and we cry out to Him. His intensity causes our own sin to be magnified in our conscience and we cannot bare it, under the power of conviction. Upon the crumbs of our bravery and obedience He shines this light and we stand as David stood against Goliath. When we speak with the intensity of this power men are stabbed in the heart and His word does not return void. A mere thimble of compassion in us becomes a mighty raging river by the power of the Holy Spirit. What absolute madness to think we could do anything without being endued with the power of the Holy Spirit.
With a magnifying glass, you need three things to make it burn, You need the glass itself, the person and the sun. If the sun is not shining then the glass is not working, it has nothing to intensify. Yet, with the Holy Spirit, the whole earth could be covered with clouds and darkness and gross darkness.We could find ourselves in the depths of the deepest dungeon or walking through the darkest valley, yet the Holy Spirit can magnify the light of Christ into our hearts under any conditions. Where could we flee from His Spirit and His magnified presence? If we ascended up to heaven, He is there. If we make our beds in hell, behold He is there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall His hand lead me, and His right hand shall hold me. Brothers and sisters, even the darkness is light to God. His glory, magnified by the Holy Spirit is all powerful.(Psalm 39)
There is a scripture that alludes to one who would hide Himself in hell to avoid God but that the hand of God would reach right into hell and pull that one out (Amos 9:2) If indeed the hand of God would reach into hell itself for judgment, what circumstances could you face where the light of the glory of God, magnified by the Holy Spirit, could not reach you? Could not penetrate the darkness of your situation? There are no such set of circumstances, glory to God. Far too often, the flesh is being controlled by it own magnifying glass and not the Holy Spirit. It magnifies our fears. It magnifies our insecurities. It magnifies the darkness that would come against us. The Holy Spirit intensifies the light, the enemy intensifies the darkness. What will be magnified in your life this day brothers and sisters?
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into various temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith produces patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. (Jas 1:2-4)
To be joyful when you are being tested is the high water mark of the saint. It separates us, in a supernatural sense, from all others. It separates saints from the world and it separates saints from people who merely profess to be saints. There are plenty of people in this world who can be stoic in the middle of a severe trial and testing in their lives. The Brits call it “the stiff upper lip.” It comes from the head. It is a mere philosophy. It has many admiral qualities but they all reside in the realm of this natural world. Much of the world knows how to grit their teeth and put one foot in front of the other. Only the saint can be joyous in the midst of a trial and it stems from the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Yet we still have to “count,” it all joy, meaning it is up to us to decide how we shall react and when we have made the decision, then the Holy Spirit enables us. The joy of the Lord is our strength therefore we are strengthened by our decision to follow the commands of God.
When we realize that each trial can draw us nearer to Jesus then we press in. We rise up in our spirits and lift holy hands to the heavens. We cry out to God. As we rise up, as we are drawn heavenwards, with our eyes looking unto Jesus, then we rise above the circumstances. The trial still rages, the fire still burns, the water yet rises, but we rise higher. He raises up a standard in us. A flag of victory is hoisted over the battlefield of your life and we charge on-wards and upwards and we exhibit the joy of the Lord and the world marvels. Our friends marvel, our families marvel as they gaze into your situation and see one like the Son of man in the midst of it all. Glory to God. It is He who is elevated and when He is elevated, when He is lifted up then He draws all men to Himself. This testing and finding that God is faithful increases our faith. Our faith only ever increases as a direct result of seeing Him who is faithful to us. And in this, He gets all the glory and we get the benefits of becoming more like the One that we love.
Have you ever stood beneath a violent storm? The lightening fractures the sky above and sends down bolts that touch earth and sky. The ground shakes as the thunder roars. The dark clouds swirl in violent contortions. Tornado’s begin to form as the earth is battered by giant hailstones. The immensity of the power that surrounds you overwhelms you. Have you ever been caught up in a storm as sea? Waves of tremendous power rise to towering heights and fall with unspeakable power. The wind howls as it drives the waves into a frenzy and the noise is deafening. You quickly understand your place in this world. Fear and humility course through your veins.
When a man encounters God he is quite simply undone. Everything he knows about himself convicts him in an instant. His very existence crumbles as he encounters the immensity of God. He falls to floor as if dead. He is man and God is God. He dare not speak unless he is spoken to. He understands that the very voice of God, a single word could totally destroy both body and soul. Does this God offend you? This is the God of the Bible. Not a kindly grandfather with silver hair. Not the “man upstairs.” He is God and you are man and when man encounters His Majesty then you are undone. In Christ alone we stand. In Christ alone we are ushered before the throne. In Christ alone we are swallowed up in the glory. Christ is the fire from the altar that has refined us and given us voice before Majesty.
God’s righteousness reflects upon our humanity. The righteousness of Christ in us reflects upon a a dark world untouched by the glory of God. Is there a fire that burns within you brothers and sisters and does the fire light up the dark deeds of this world? Does it reflect upon the shadows and the shades of grey? There is but one reason for the fire, one reason for the light. We have been called to go into the darkness of the valley. This world is the valley of the shadow of death. Yet we fear no evil, for we are bearers of the light. He has restored our souls and He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. In an ever darkening world, remember your calling brothers and sisters.
A Call To The Remnant 