A long time ago, I remember flying into Glasgow Airport. Now Scotland is a country that spends a significant amount of the year under cloud cover. Yet here I was, above all the clouds, in a perpetually blue sky, about to descend into and below not just dark clouds but a storm system.
It suddenly struck me that no matter what kind of darkness or grayness or however driech ( good Scottish word for overcast) it was, or whatever storm was raging, that just above that storm or darkness was a perpetually blue sky. The answer was and always has been to come up higher. To rise up above every situation and come into and dwell in this perpetually blue sky.
It’s there in the deepest darkest valleys. It’s there when there seems to be no light and no way ahead. It’s there, it’s there, He’s there, He’s always there and He has given His children wings that they may fly through the gross darkness into His marvelous light. Wings strong enough to fly through the fiercest storms.
Spiritual wings that elevate us from even the deepest of dungeons that can create a way through the darkness. That can disrupt that very darkness with the turbulence of His holiness that pierces the darkness and causes light to fall to earth so that they who dwell in that very darkness can see this great light. The beauty of His holiness in mortal men. A beauty that points to immortality and the eternal. A beauty that penetrates the impenetrable light of God Himself.
In 1544 there occurred what became know as “The great debasement.” Ushered in by an impoverished Henry V111 in order to increase his revenue, he simply put less gold in a coin but maintained its face value. Gold was reduced from 23 karat to 20 karat and the amount of silver in a coin was reduced from 92.5% to just 25%. There was somewhat of an out cry but for six years this policy prevailed, thus debasing the value of the whole currency, it was ye old inflation.
Part of Solomon’s treasure was three hundred shields of gold. (2 Chron 9:16) It was only a small part of his treasure but it was worth a vast fortune in today’s money. When that treasure was foolishly handled and displayed in pride and arrogance under Rehoboam, Shishak, King of Egypt came and took them all. The divided Kingdom could not stand against the might of Egypt. Rehoboam’s solution was to make 300 shields of brass. As the rising sun glistened on the brass shields, from a distance no one could tell that it was not gold, but it was not gold, it was a poor substitute.
Today’s brass is dimmed lights, smoke machines, stadium seating, concert style worship, flashing lights and laser shows. Add to that salesmen pitches and the power of positive thinking and “sermons,” by men who could easily be self help gurus or motivational speakers and the brass is complete. When the real treasure is gone, the presence of the Lord, then the replacement is brass and if that replacement is brass then the heavens above them is brass.
The riches of our dwelling place is in the Lord. The beauty of dwelling with Him produces the finest gold of unconditional love. The walls of our dwelling place are encrusted with the jewels of forgiveness and mercy. The windows of our dwelling places are draped with meekness and humility. Trophies of grace hang on every wall. They are framed with the finest materials of patience and kindness.He is our exceeding great reward and His presence is pure gold that can never be devalued by men. It is the riches that will last throughout eternity. We have no brass heavens above us, rather we have an open heaven. And from that open heaven it rains and the skies are rent and down flows the treasure of Heaven, God Himself!
Suppose a company of ugly, unattractive persons lived together in one house. Suppose that they never saw any other man or woman, only themselves, they never saw anyone that was arrayed with the splendors and perfections of physical beauty. They would not be capable of comparing themselves with anything other than themselves, and consequently would not know and not be disappointed at their own ugliness and natural defections. Now, bring them them out of their cells and holes of darkness, where they have been shut up by themselves, and let them see the beauty and attractiveness of others and then, they will be sorry and dejected at the view of their own ugliness.
This is the case, men are marred by sin and are rotten, corrupted and depraved. When they dwell together in the dark they see neither God, nor angels nor saints in their excellent nature and beauty. Therefore they are apt to count their own ugliness and deformity as things of beauty and glory. Now, let such, as I said, see God, see saints, or the beauty of the Holy Spirit and know themselves that they have not any of this, and they cannot but be affected and sorry for their own deformity. (John Bunyan, The excellence of a Broken heart. )
John, very ably speaks, in his analogy, of a broken ugly world marred and deformed by sin. Those so marred rarely have any desire to be around what is beautiful. Think of David as he worshiped God and Saul tries to pin him to that wall with a spear. Saul hated David. He hated David first and foremost because David had God and every time he saw him it was a reminder to Saul that he did not. The saints of God would be hated is they never spoke a word. The beauty in them, that shines upon their face and is displayed by their love and forgiveness, is a terrible reminder to a dark and ugly world that they are dark and ugly. The worlds solution is simply to never be around Gods excellent ones. they must only be around their own.
Then their ugliness and sin is swallowed up by the perpetual darkness of their fellow ugly people. Lest some people make the claim that they are good and not ugly and deformed, God says that all the righteousness of men are like filthy rags before His eyes. The people of the world are ultimately united in their ugliness and their desire to avoid, at all costs, the mirror of truth. To look into this mirror is to see the vileness of the one looking back. The world has its own mirror and it is as deceptive as their blackened hearts. This is why, to genuinely encounter God is to fall down as one who is dead. To cry out “is there mercy for me.” To shout out from the depths of their exposed darkness “what must we do.” To see the ultimate beauty of God in His perfection and glory is to cast His light onto the lying mirror and suddenly we are horrified to see what is looking back.
The mask is ripped away. The fig leave falls to the ground. And there we are, naked before God and we know, no one has to tell us anything. We know of our deformity and ugliness. And now we must be swallowed whole by His majesty and glory. The mountain of our sin and darkness melts like wax in the presence of the Lord. That which was ugly now reflects the beauty of God. That which was deformed now is made whole. From the ashes of our fallen flesh rises the beauty of our risen Lord and He rises up in us. Now the world sees something of His majesty in us and sees their own wickedness reflected back. Only in this state, when a man or woman is confronted with who he or she truly is, and then discovers that there is mercy and grace to be found in the beauty of His holiness, can that man or woman truly be saved. To truly fall and rise again in the newness of birth, the second birth. Those who reject this revelation of who they are, their conscience accuses them, condemn themselves to an eternal life of ugliness.
Isa 62:1………….I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.
The genuine saint cannot keep silent, they can never rest, day and night the fire of the Lord and His brightness burns inside the depths of him. In Jeremiah 20:9 we hear the prophet cry out “then I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name……………but His Word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, I was weary of holding it back and I could not.” In another place the Apostle Paul says “For if I preach the gospel I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me, yes woe is me if I do not preach the gospel……..it would be better for me to die!” Can you see what passion drives these men who are filled with the Holy Spirit? There is a fire in their bones that flows from the furnace that is their broken hearts. Brothers and sisters, do we burn with such intensity? Do we have such a grand obsession that drives us and awakes us with the morning light, and yet still burns long after the sun has gone down?
Brothers and sisters were we not forsaken? Were we not lost and dead in our sins? Yet that which was forsaken is no longer forsaken. The hand of God holds the crown that He shall put upon our heads. We are a royal diadem in the hand of our God. And as the Bridegroom rejoices over the bride so does us our God rejoice over us. He has covered our nakedness with His righteousness, He has surrounded us with His glory and it fills our heart to overflowing, like a mighty waterfall of fire. Fire in the land and glory in the heavens. The earth is covered in His glory like the waters cover the sea. What ocean could contain Him? Is not just one chamber of His heart greater than the whole universe. Just one tear from His eye deeper than the deepest sea?
He heals our wounds, He tenderly touches our weary hearts. He feeds the deepest parts of us and sustains us for the journey. He restores the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary. He gives us hope when there seems to be no hope. He gives us joy when there is nothing at all to be joyful about. He gives us a garment of praise and takes away a heavy spirit. He bids us to lift up our eyes and see the celestial city, from where our help comes from. Stay the course brothers and sisters. Stand fast in the time of our vexation. Our Lord is coming soon and our journey will be at an end.
Isa 33:5 The LORD is exalted; for He dwells on high: he has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
The Lord our God dwells on high. He is high above the fray. He is high and lifted up above mere mortal men and their affairs. Nothing touches His glory, nothing defiles the beauty of His holiness. He is not righteous, He is righteousness. His judgments flow from justice. He is justice. He fills His children with righteousness and judgment. In a day where everything is spinning out of control, the wisdom of God in us, and the knowledge of God in us, this is our stability (And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Isa 33:6) Salvation is our strength and the fear of the Lord is our treasure. This is our solid ground upon which we shall not be moved.
This which is to come has not overtaken us like a thief in the night. The Lord speaks to the hearts of His sons and daughters. They “see,” what is soon coming in the midst of a world overtaken by madness and blindness. The strength of our “knowing,’ God is the strength that will see us through. When all around us is spinning out of control and they come against us like men possessed, then they shall truly see the glory of our God. They will see indeed that He is exalted and magnified and they will see it in a people who know. What do we know? We know God in the intimate sense of that word. Tis not in the head but in the depths of the heart. And because His Spirit speaks to us we know that “now I will rise, says the the Lord, now I will be exalted, now I will lift Myself up.” (Is 33:10)
Christ is at the door. Let us lift up the eyes of our Spirit and see His appearing. Magnify Him from the depths of your heart to a broken and dying world which has plunged into darkness. The Lord promises us saints, that in that day there shall be a tabernacle that shall never be taken down. Not one of its stakes removed nor will any of its cords be broken. There the majestic Lord will be for us a a place of broad rivers and streams. Can you see it brothers and sisters? Can you see what the Lord will do when He comes back to judge the earth and raises up His children? Can you catch a glimpse of His glory? Magnify Him in your hearts today, exalt Him today and let your spirit go to where the glory is for He dwells on high and we dwell with Him.
There is an old black gospel song that says “Lord don’t move the mountain, just give me the strength to climb.” This sentiment for me, drives to the very core of a person who follows Jesus. There are those whose sole aim is for the mountains to be removed. Night and day they cry out for the Lord to remove the mountains. Night and day they look for miracles. Night and day they seek health and they seek wealth. At the core of these desires is the life that they have in the here and the now. It is self orientated, there is no eternal value to it. Self lies at the heart of it.
We all walk through valleys in this life. There are those who cry out to God night and day to get them out of that valley. They want transported through it. They have no desire to walk through the darkness, to walk through the fire, to wade through the troubled waters. Their only desire is that in the here and now they want out of that place. There is no eternal perspective, at the heart of it all lies self. Their eyes are not on Jesus, their sole focus is on the circumstances that surround them and their burning desire is for escape. They don’t want to climb that mountain therefore they would never cry out for strength. They do not want to walk through this valley therefore they would never cry out for the Lord to be with them in the midst of it.
Jesus was offered the whole world if He would only fall down and worship the devil. Not only was He offered the whole world, he was offered the opportunity to avoid Calvary. Avoid Calvary plus gain the whole world. There are two broad categories of saints within Christendom. On one side there are the many, and on the other side the few. The many desire the world and are repulsed at the thought of Calvary and therefore they cry out for it to be taken from them. The few want nothing to do with the world, they are certainly afraid of the valleys and the mountains. Yet, their prayer is that God would give them strength to climb those mountains and that He would be with them as they negotiate the valleys. They desire above all to do the will of their Father. Not their own wills but His be done.
There are no shortcuts in our lives saints. We must climb the mountains, with all the fears and dangers that go along with that, and we must walk through the valleys. Even as we walk through the valleys of the shadow of death, the Lord is with you. He is your rod and staff. He leads you, He guides you, He refreshes your soul by making you to lie down in green pastures and to sit awhile beside the still waters. In doing this He refreshes your weary soul which has suffered in the mountains and suffered as you walked through the valleys. In the very midst of these places He prepares a table before you. And His promise to you who walk this narrow path, praying eternal prayers, is that goodness and mercy follow you up and over the mountains and down and through the valleys. It follows you all the way home.
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.
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
This is the high water mark of faith. Only those who know the depths of the valley and have suffered through many seasons, can truly make this declaration. To suffer, to experience loss, to have God fall silent, not just for a day or a week or a month or even a season, is to be in the position to make this declaration. The three Hebrew children expressed similar faith when they declared to the king that even if they burned up in the fire that they would never bow down to the gods of this world. They were, of course, facing imminent death. Praising God in the dungeon as Paul and Silas did is an expression of this faith. Singing spiritual songs as the flames licked around their mortal bodies as the martyrs did, was an expression of this kind of faith.
Trusting God. Having faith in God is an absolute. It makes no inquiries. Many saints know this in the depths of their beings and if the time ever came, then out comes this treasure and flesh is placed upon the bones of our declarations. God breathes and men live. The power of the Holy Spirit that enables His saints to stand. The breath of God blows upon the embers of what lies deep within the depths of who we are. Spiritual flames burst forth and consumes the fears and the ordinary state of man. It has to be there in the first place. Decisions must be made. It is we who must decide whom we shall serve. It is the outward circumstances that shall reveal whether the words that we have spoken are true. To the saint who already knows that he shall trust his Lord whether he lives or whether he dies, he will burn and be consumed by the glories of God. Circumstances shall become opportunities to prove that above all else and despite the loss of everything, they love the Lord their God with all of their heart and soul, mind and strength. He who willingly gave everything for them, they now willingly give everything for Him.
Every now and then, in a glorious symphony of realization, my heart is overwhelmed by the music of my Saviour’s love for me. I am swept up in its majesty! It carries me with the substantial fullness of a raging river and yet with the gentle sound of a thousand doves wings flapping in the wind. I am undone by it all. Every doubt and all the rocks of my flesh are removed and suddenly the river is in full unabated flow and all I want is to be taken. Time loses its meaning as I am swept towards the vastness of my Jesus. An ocean so vast that I am swallowed whole. Everything returns to its simplicity. All the barriers are broken down and I glimpse and am engulfed, once again, by the glory of it all.
Twenty eight years ago, just two years after being saved and six weeks after Daniel, our son with Down Syndrome was born, I began to have difficulty breathing. After the initial X-ray, it seemed likely I had lung cancer. I had been a heavy smoker from the age of fourteen until I got saved at twenty seven. Much of that had been smoking cannabis. The X-ray was followed up with a cat scan and then finally a lung biopsy. They discovered I had a disease called Sarcoidosis. It mainly effects African Americans in this country, I later discovered I had 5% African blood in my DNA.
Sarcoidosis can affect any of the organs in the body, and in my case it manifested itself as pulmonary fibrosis in my lungs. These fibrosis are irreversible and as they begin to build up in your lungs, your lung capacity is diminished until at some point you die. A third of my lungs already exhibited irreversible fibrosis. I was told by my Pulmonologist that I was stage three of a stage four disease. There was no cure. There was, however, a treatment that could prolong your life. Very high daily doses of prednisone. IN my case, 60 mg a daily.
As Christians we understand that the more we rely upon Jesus, the deeper our relationship is with Him. Dependence is the key to the depth of our spiritual life. We often see the martyrs testify of how their relationship with the Lord grew to greater depths in the dungeons of this world. When everything is stripped away, when we lose the ability to control our own lives, then we discover that Jesus is fully in charge. As the old adage says, we have to let go and let God. The letting go part is the battle, it is the refining fire, it is our sanctification.
After less than two weeks of taking the steroids, that still small voice spoke into my spirit. “Frank, come away with me, I am your life, I am your stillness, I am your peace when all around you is falling apart, trust in me….trust in me.” I knew exactly what the Lord was asking of me, asking mind you. I was to stop taking the pills. I was to trust in Him, I was to put my life fully into His hand. As you can imagine, the opposition to this was great. My son with Down syndrome was only a few months old and had life threatening issues that would require more than one surgery. My wife was devastated at this decision of mine. She was not a Christian. Yet even Christians did not agree with me and let it be known. The pulmonologist was very angry and told me bluntly that I would die and that it would not be a pleasant death.
Several weeks passed, and the many voices seemed to be right. My ability to breathe declined. It is imperative to note that the still small voice of the Lord made me no promises, my only command was to “trust ,” Him. A well known man of God from the last century said this “Lord, may I be an ox on the altar or an ox in the field.” None of is really know our purpose here in life, what we do know is that we have been called to bring honor to the name of Jesus, regardless of our situation. Whether we live or whether we die we have been called to glorify Him. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
There will be times, in every Christians life, when the Lord will “make you lie down in green pastures.” You may think to yourself, what is so “Green Pastures,” about an incurable disease? I do not have the words to describe to you the place I found myself in. Enough to say that it was glorious. The warmth of the sun upon my face was indescribable. The blueness of the sky was glorious. The little sparrow sitting on the wall was altogether fascinating. I became super aware of things that I had routinely overlooked or had taken for granted. I was in this mysterious place called “under the shadow of His wing.” I had to rely upon God for every breath that I took and it took my spiritual breath away. I was not burning at the stake and singing psalms and spiritual songs, but I glimpsed into that realm.
The pulmonologist was part of a national study on this disease and had been taking X-rays of my lungs every two weeks, he wanted to chart my regression. He told me that this way, my decision would at least do some good. He was quite angry with me and never tried to hide it. One Monday morning, at 5.30am I was awoken by a call. It was my mother calling from four thousand miles away in Scotland. She apologized for calling so early, but she had been compelled by the Holy Spirit. She very simply stated “The Lord told me that He is going to heal you.” The Lord had instructed her to attend a certain prayer meeting the following night and have me held up in prayer. I find it significant that my mom was instructed to call and tell me beforehand. This was an act of faith, a “stepping out.”
As she spoke, I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, I fell to my knees and in my spirit I knew that I was to be healed, I had no doubt whatsoever. I went for an x-ray two days later. The Doctor called me into his office, he seemed subdued. I had shared with him months before that I was putting my life in the hands of the Lord. He paused before flicking the lights on that would light up the X-ray and said words that i will never forget. “I do not know what you are going to call this.” He flicked the light on and pointed to my lungs, they were completely clear. Apparently the Lord does not know the meaning of the word ,”irreversible.”That was twenty eight years ago. Trusting God is the key to life. When glorifying Him becomes more important that anything else, including your own life, you will be propelled into new heights of glory.
Psa 149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
I was around the age of twenty the first time I ever flew on a plane.. As a boy growing up in Scotland, overcast skies were normal. In Scotland you can often go a month without seeing a blue sky. Imagine my surprise when we broke through the clouds and I discovered that there was an eternal and perpetual blue sky. Growing up with almost endless cloud cover had conditioned me. I reveled in this blue sky. I would never look at the clouds the same way again, for I now knew what lay just beyond them. Imagine the tragedy for saints who labor under a perpetual cloud cover. To never know the intimacy of God. To never, in a sense, see His smiling face.
The barrier between God and us is more often than nought self made. We often forget the pleasure that God has in us. We forget that the whole purpose of our existence is for His will and for His good pleasure. Tozer suggests a few titles for the man made barriers that keep us from seeing the smiling face of God. He calls it a wall of obscurity. 1. Self will. 2. Ambition. 3. Fear. 4. Self love.. 5. Money. 6. Fear of people and what they think. There are more to be sure and each one mentioned would take a long time to expound, but you get the idea. Just one of them, or some combination of them, form a barrier between us and the smiling face of God. Almost all of our activity in our walk revolve around them and they are a major distraction to who we are and the God that loves us.
I want you to ponder on this for a moment and do not confuse this with cheap grace. God loves His children, God loves you. His face towards you is smiling. He loves you. He saved you. He took the ashes of your life and He is making something beautiful out of it. His thoughts towards you are more numerous than the sands of the sea shore. He knows you by name and your name has been on His lips. The walls that you have erected that obscure the light of His glory shining down on you must come down. The wind of the Spirit must blow again in your life and that wind shall blow away the clouds. If you reach out your hand to Him He will take it. If you seek Him with all of your heart then you will stand under a beautiful blue sky with your hands raised toward heaven as you bask in the warmth of His love. Today saints, today is the day and now is the time.
Psa 77:2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing: my soul refused to be comforted.
Your soul will refuse to be comforted when only the Lord will do. Its the spirit within you that compels the soul to be unsatisfied with any natural solutions, especially when there are none to be found. Its at these times of desperation when our spirits are overwhelmed that we realize that nothing other than God Himself will do. We peer into the darkness, the abyss, the gross darkness that is all around us and we desperately seek the light. Picture the Lord when He is nailed to that cruel old tree, and the gross darkness descends and He cries out in anguish, the greatest anguish ever felt, thinking that He had been forsaken. Oh the agony of it. And then the moment of complete victory and the Lord gives over His Spirit into the hands of His Father.
The moment of victory comes at the end of darkness. When our hands are stretched out to heaven, without ceasing. I will not lower these trembling hands until I commit it all unto Him. Our poor Jesus could not lower His outstretched hands. They were held aloft for you. And then comes the light. You begin to remember all the works of the Lord in your life. You meditate on the goodness and the mercy of God that has followed you all the days of your life. You see the wonder of it. The waters of the deep see it and they are afraid, the Scriptures say. The depths tremble at His majesty. The skies cry out and the arrows of lightening flash across the heavens in a stupor.
And then, like the children of Moses, the sea parts before you, before your impossible situation, The darkness begins to recede as the light comes roaring into view on chariots of fire. It flees and is consumed by the utter holiness of our God. Lift those trembling hands tonight saints, is there anything too difficult for our God? The light from His glory causes the sun to look away in shame. He will flood your soul with living waters and you will cry Holy, Holy Holy. My anguish is drowned in glory and my anxiety is swept away by the tide of grace and mercy. Oh, the indescribable unfathomable atmosphere that is His presence. And suddenly. I am at peace.
Psa 27:4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek ; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
This is the answer to life and to our walk right here in this verse from the 27th Psalm. One thing I have desired. One thing brothers and sisters. This is what my life will be. That I would seek the Lord and that I would dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Its not that I would “get,” to heaven. It has nothing to do with getting anything in that sense, it is all about dwelling. Oh to God that men would seek to dwell rather than seek to get. Get into heaven, get out of hell. Sordid self seeking its own. It is the Lord I shall seek.
I will seek Him to behold His beauty. I will seek Him early in the morning and in the noon day. I will seek Him in the evening and before I retire to bed. I will seek Him as I lay my head upon my pillow. He is my all in all. When we have this singular mind then, and only then, in the time of trouble shall He hide me in His pavilion, in the secret place of His tabernacle. He shall set me high upon a rock.
As I dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, then I know of His grace. I know of His mercy. I have been delivered by His righteous right hand. He has hid me from my enemies. Even when all have forsaken me, even as it suggests in the Psalm, forsaken by father and mother, then the Lord has been a Father to me. These things I have known in my walk with the Lord. I would have lost my heart if I had not seen the goodness of the Lord in the here and the now. My Father is not watching from some far away distant heaven. My Savior did not simply come and then leave. They are here, right here, right now by the power of the Holy Spirit. What is your one desire? If it is the Lord then you will have an open door to heaven which no man can shut.
Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
The same God that brings us to our knees, also raises us up. Oh that we had no need to be broken, no need to be smitten, yet in the depths of who we are we are fatally flawed. Adam in us. In the flesh we bear the sin of Adam, we stood guilty before a Holy God. Yet in us too was a light, a smoldering ember in the depths of who we are. It speaks of our guilt. When the wind of the Spirit blows upon this tiniest of embers, the God given conscience, then it bursts into flames. “You crucified the Christ,” Peter cries out as he spoke with the power of God. Men’s hearts were rent and their blindfolds fell to the ground as they gazed upon their crime and saw that their very own sin crucified Jesus. He bore their punishment.
Imagine this. You are driving down the road and you check your phone, or you text someone. And in that split second a child runs out and is run over and killed by your car. The child is dead, and you are guilty. There is no doubt about your guilt. You are racked with that guilt. You cannot think, you cannot concentrate, you cannot live. You come before the judge and you plead guilty and you desire that he throws the book at you for you know you deserve to be punished because you killed an innocent child. Nothing can deliver you from your agony. Now imagine another scenarios, your eyes are opened by the wind of the Spirit. You see that it is indeed your sin that killed a willing and innocent Jesus upon the cross. And why was He willing? To fulfill the will of the Father that He should suffer in your stead. And in the very midst of your guilt, you “know,” that despite this, He loves you. “What must I do,’ you cry out as you heart is ripped open and you are smote with the sure knowledge of your sure guilt and the agonizing realization of His love.
“Arise in repentance,” the Lord would say “and I shall give you life”. I will bind up your wounds and set you free from the captivity of this guilt. I will raise you up from death to life that you may live. For my going forth is established as the morning and I will come like the rain, the latter and the former rain. Brothers and sisters, this is how we were saved and this is how we shall live. He still tears and He still heals. He molds us in the fires of sanctification. He scourges all those that He loves and the flesh is burned up in the fires and in this He raises us up in Holiness. Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap (Mal 3:2) He purifies His sons and daughters and purges them like gold and silver. Come brothers and sisters, let us return to the Lord.
The persecution of the saints worldwide is beginning to appear on the horizon. There is no mistake in the timing. God has been preparing us for the time that will soon be upon us. We will be like a well watered garden spiritually. In many ways we will be glad that the world shall no longer be pretending to be tolerant. All the cards, so to speak, will be on the table. It’s a time of revealing, on both sides, and there will only be two sides. The wheat shall be one side and they will be a people who have counted the cost, and the price? Total separation from a world that has turned on them. We shall pass through a veil of tears and a garden of Gethsemane. And then, the world will put its hands on us and take us, yet we shall be surrendered in it.
If you find yourself wearied right now, by the world and by it’s attitudes towards us, what will you do when all the pretense is gone and their hatred is in no way veiled? If the very thought of coming persecution causes you to lose your peace, what will the actual persecution do to your mind? You must do the business of Gethsemane before they take a hold of you. You have to pass from agony and despair to total acceptance and surrender in the sure knowledge that you have been called, and equipped, for such a time as this. For the joy that is set before you, for the fulfilling of the will of God, let us set our face like flint, as our Lord did. Flint is hard and resolute, let us be strong and resolute is our cause.
Our primary focus in life, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, must be the glory of God. This rends the heavens and fills our heart with the power that we need. Paul and Silas did not cry out in the dungeon that God would release them. They did not cry out “woe is me, help me Lord.’ They sang praises unto God. And the power of God came flooding down and the the jail was shaken to its very foundations. This is power, for the hour of our testings that is to come. This is instructive to the saints. Praising God when everything is stripped from us is how we glorify God, it is a sign of our unconditional love for Him and it disarms the enemy of our souls and it looses the shackles of this world.
I would encourage you today, not by telling you that all of our problems are behind us, indeed they are not and the greatest challenges lie just ahead. No, my encouragement to you is that our souls will be like well watered gardens even in the middle of a wilderness desert of persecution. The greatest fellowship you will ever experience, as many now so desperately desire, will be yours as the enemy comes in like a flood and the Lord raises up a standard.
Your depth of relationship with the Lord will exceed anything you have ever imagined, and after the wheat has been separated from the tares, your fellowship with your fellow brothers and sisters will be sublime. Let us run with the footmen now and not grow weary, and in the running let us rather be conditioned and strengthened. And when the swift horses of persecution comes we shall be swifter. We shall run and not grow weary, we shall walk and not grow faint and we shall rise up with the eagles and soar in the updrafts of His presence that surely falls upon us when we praise Him in the midnight hour.
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trusted, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?(Jer 12:5)
Psa 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
The context of this psalm is that David is fleeing from his own son. David is not a young man anymore. In his lifetime, David has seen much trouble. And one would think that when you get to a certain age and have battled many battles that you get to retire into your dotage and leave all your troubles behind. If you are reading this and have lived long enough, you will know this not to be true. David cries out to God that he is surrounded by those who trouble him. They rise up against him, even from his own family and would seek to do him harm. He is mocked for his troubles and people say out loud that there is no help for him from God, surely God must have abandoned him.
They are all wrong of course. David would indeed once again flee just as he had fled from Saul but it is a very different, older, wiser David. He acknowledges God in the midst of his troubles. He testifies that God is a shield to Him, the glory and the lifter of his head. He lays down and sleeps. He awakes with the morning and he is sustained. He says that even if ten thousand people set themselves against him, he will not be afraid for his faith is in a God who hears him.
Maybe you had thought all your troubles were behind you? Maybe you have fought many battles in this life and thought that they were also behind you? Yet here you are, in the middle of maybe one of the greatest battles of your whole life. Sleep is a luxury that you know little of. You wonder if God has abandoned you. You have cried until there is no tears left to cry, as David once did. And you know people whisper and wonder “where is his/her God.” I want to assure you today that “from His holy hill,” the Lord has heard your cry.
He is a shield for you. You stand because of Him. He has picked you up more times than you care to remember. He is the glory of your life. His glory and His majesty lies at the very core of who you are. He is the lifter of your head, He has lifted it a thousand times and He will lift it again. You will lie down and sleep, even this night for you are lying down in the very palm of His hand. It will not go well, in the end, for those who oppress you and would see you fall. Remember this saint, and it is more costly than any earthly treasure, His blessing is upon you. Stand strong in the Lord today, for great is your reward in heaven.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
John Bunyan said “let us learn like Christians to kiss the rod, and love it………many of our graces are kept alive by those very things that are the death to other men’s soul.” Speaking for myself, I can imagine, perhaps, on my best day, kissing the rod, but loving it? It is just as well it is not my best efforts that empowers me to truly love my enemy. To walk in such a way, empowered by the Spirit of God, is to know that we have truly turned the corner on this world and see only the Kingdom perspective.
You simply cannot be walking in the world and be dictated to in anyway by the flesh if we are to kiss the rod that wounds us and greater still, love the unrepentant one who wields that very rod. Yet Bunyan would argue that many of the graces we enjoy and walk in are empowered by the very testing of our souls by the cruel actions of our enemies. Outside of the Spirit of God the actions of such cruel enemies engender rage, hatred and revenge and leave the soul embittered and dying. So to one it means death and to another, life. Shall we live brothers and sisters or shall we die? Our chains were broken and our fetters loosed on the cross, let us cling to that very cross and say with Christ “forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”
The greatest revelation of God in my life has come in the midst of my needs. It has not come in my wants or desires or accomplishments it has come in my needs. The greater the need the greater the revelation. The next time of greatest revelation of God in my life has come when I have sinned against Him. There is no deeper humiliation for a saint than to have failed his Lord badly. Yet, when I approached the throne of grace with my head hung low and with a spirit within that was crying out ” woe is me for I am undone,” suddenly I am encountered with love and forgiveness even although I myself had desired punishment and penance to atone somehow for my sin.
Now I am undone not because of my unworthiness but because of the realization of the depths of His love and faithfulness to me, one who is so unworthy. It is His holiness that saves, it is his grace that is sufficient and it is His faithfulness that will never fail. He increases in my heart and I decrease as I realize the very source of all that I am in Him and in Him alone. The encounter itself dramatically increases my intimacy with my Lord. It solidifies in my mind who He is and who I am in the presence of the Almighty.
If our sins lead to humility and repentance and brokenness before the throne where we receive a greater and deeper revelation of who God is, and they do, then would not the enemy of our souls do everything in his power to keep us from this place? And the easiest and most effective way to do that is to convince us that we never have to seek that place out. Do not be fooled saints, God is glorified and revealed to us in the depths of our needs, our infirmities and our failures. Should we then seek to be in need or to be infirm or to sin so that God may be glorified?
God forbid. I can guarantee that you wont have to seek out needs or infirmities or sin. They will find you because you are finite and corruptible. But an infinite God will one day raise you up in in-corruption. And until that day comes His grace will be sufficient for you. He will meet you in the depths of your needs. He will be faithful to forgive all of your sins when you come before Him and confess them. And in all of that you are drawn ever deeper into the heart of the Father.
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
Eze 47:3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
There is a river that flows from heaven itself. It flows through our hearts and beckons us to come deeper. This river is spoken of in many places in Scriptures. It is the presence of God and it brings us deeper into the heart of the Almighty. There are trees on either side of this river and their roots are directly connected to the river and they are perpetually green, evergreen trees for the healing of the people and the nations. The river itself brings healing everywhere it goes. To be walking in the Spirit is to be swimming in the river of life.
As we see in Ezekiel 47, the Lord brings us to through the waters. Always the Lord, compelling His children to come deeper into Him. Not ankle deep, not knee deep or even waist deep but fully immersed in a river so vast that it cannot be crossed, it can only be swum in. We must give ourselves to the river, let go and give way to the current of the Holy Spirit. Whether you are ankle deep, knee deep or even waist deep, you are still standing on your own two feet. In many respects you are still in charge. Yet to give ourselves completely to the river we are no longer standing.
When we are fully given to our Lord. When we are yielded to the depths and the power of this vast river, the power of the Holy Spirit, only then can we truly be led. All resistance is gone in its depths. It is carrying you towards the sea, the vastness of God Himself. Ever closer, ever deeper into the Father’s heart. And the Lord says to to you “come, I will bring you through the waters into the deep.” “Seek me with your whole heart and I shall be found and you shall be rewarded for your diligence, I am your exceeding great reward.”
A Call To The Remnant 