The older I get in the Lord, the more I see it’s not about answers from God. Self seeks answers. The immediate problems of life presses in and we desire to be through it. We want acceptable solutions. Yet where is God in our many graspings? What good is the glory gained on the mountaintops if it can not be seen in the darkest valleys? Should not our greatest desire in the world be that the valley is, to us, the mountaintop?
In the end, the glory of God covers everything, as the waters cover the sea. Whether that sea rages or is tranquil, should we not lie down and sleep in the boat? Shall we not sleep in the lions den? Shall we not praise Him in the dungeon? The mountaintop experience should only serve to give us the strength to reflect His glory in the valley. Did not the Lord come down from the glories of heaven? Did we not see Him glorify His Father in the deepest valley as He hung there nailed to a tree? Shall we not enter into His rest and cease from our works? Cease from our running to and fro.
Oftentimes the sadness of loss or trials becomes dark clouds that obscure the sun. Yet above the clouds, above the mountain tops there is a perpetually blue sky. Sometimes we simply need a single ray of sunshine to penetrate the dark clouds to remind us of this truth. And that ray reminds us of the glory that we reveled in and will one day spend eternity in. A shaft of light is what we must pray for when we are in the darkest reaches of the valley, and this light shall lead us through it. Our lives are like a vapor and soon enough we shall stand in eternal glory, but before that we must find the glory now.
He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies so that we may, with Paul and Silas and every other saint who suffered unspeakable losses down through the ages, glorify God in the very midst of our situations. In the light of this glory all loss is subsumed into Him and our spirits can truly say that our eternal desire is to be found in Him. The road home to glory will be a difficult one for all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus, but it will be a vital one.
See God’s glory and live. Cast your eyes unto the heavens and live. Cast your eyes to that eternal horizon and live. There is life in His glory and life more abundant. Find that now brothers and sisters, right where you are, and the road forward will open up before you, one day at a time, indeed one step at a time. The difficulties of life will become open doors to the treasures of heaven. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and the glory.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Just to be clear, when I say “Protestant,” I mean all of it, all denominations and non-denominations. Its not that I think that there are no genuine saints there, there are, in probably all of them. It is just that I was looking for a river to be carry me to the throne, to be engulfed in, and I found, for the most part, semi-dried up creeks. I was born and raised a Catholic in a mostly Irish Catholic community on the West Coast of Scotland. My whole education was Catholic, as it was for all working class Catholics, and it was free. One night my mother came home and announced that she had “found Jesus.” She was one of those “born-agains.” I was seven. My non-practicing alcoholic Catholic father was freaked out by it…… I was fascinated. They talked about God in chapel, but here was my wee mother claiming to actually know Him. I too longed to “know Him.” One thing was for sure, she was changed and she was bold.
All hell broke loose in our house. My father raged against my mother. He seemed to instinctively know that he was no longer “in charge,’ of her. There was something more important to her now than him. So he tried to beat Jesus out of her. In wild drunken nights he would rail against the Jesus that she believed in and that had changed her and won her over so completely. Black eyes and a broken jaw and nights where he almost killed her. And after fifteen years of this, at the age of forty nine, he got down on his knees and repented and gave his life over to the Jesus that he had assaulted and assailed so many times in his proxy war. He never drank again and my mum and dad retook their marriage vows and he was baptized. Such a huge thing for a man, already baptized as an infant who was raised by a staunch Catholic mother (my grannie)
So as you can see, I had saw the battle. I had saw how religion worked. I saw a genuine saint lay down her life for Jesus and be beaten black and blue for His sake. I had a ringside seat to the battle for a mans soul. So when I came to the Lord at the age of 26 I was ready to dive right in. I had only ever witnessed all or nothing. There was no middle ground in the battle of the ages. If I had metaphorically dived in I would have probably broken my neck as the church was only a few inches deep. Yet lets face it, when you had walked for almost two decades in the desert and came upon any kind of water at all, you would rejoice. Maybe not swim, but certainly rejoice. And those few shallow inches seemed so good. I saw other people come into the Pentecostal church from no church backgrounds and from dead denominational backgrounds and they all thought it was wonderful……..for a time.
There was multiple problems for me. I had such a great desire for genuine fellowship and discipleship. I wanted to be “a part,” of what was going on in the Body. Ushering and toilet cleaner or parking attendant was not exactly what I had in mind, yet for the most part, these were the “positions,’ available. Complain about that and you were simply proud. What I had in mind was what I had read about in the Bible. I had read the Word every day with a fierce thirst and hunger since coming to the Lord. As I read about the Body and every part having a function in 1 Cor 12 I wondered why we did not have such a Body. I left one Pentecostal non denominational church for another. I attended a Baptist church for a year. I went to a conservative Bible College. I went to Nazarene church for six months and I also attended IHOP (International house of prayer) for a year. Two of the aforementioned churches I stuck out for eight years and and seven years. I never found the river to swim in, only a trickle in the shadow of a dam (the dam being the Word and the manifest presence)
I saw patterns emerge in all of these churches I attended. In all of them the order of service was pretty much the same. There were variations but all within a popular theme. None of them allowed for the participation of the saints. All of them were tightly controlled by one man. This one man would appoint, for the most part, yes men for elders. In the end I had to think to myself “is this really different from the Catholic church?’ I know that will sound radical to some people, but in the end the Catholic church is all about authority and who wields it, certainly not the poor folks who sit in the pew. And what I had read in the Scriptures was not about authority at all, outside of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And if Jesus and the Holy Spirit had told us that we were to gather in a certain fashion, I could not for the life of me figure out why this ultimate authority was ignored. I was looking for the river deep, that flowed from the very throne-room of heaven.
And so I left the “organized church,”which was a semi-dried up creek, looking for the freedom of the wild river. I had studied revivals and became involved in the revival ministry. This is where I met folks from all over the world who also had a longing to see, in essence, a 1 Cor 14 gathering where all of the members of the Body operated rather than one or two and the rest sat passively by until it was time to write a check or pull out their wallets. Think about it saints, why would we want to gather in any fashion other than that which the Lord lays down in His Word? Multiple centuries of tradition had transpired and conspired against the simplicity and authenticity of the earliest Church. Its the tragedy of the ages that the Body, with multiple parts, lies unused. Imagine a car without wheels, without gas, set up on blocks where people can only stare at it, for it has not the ability to fire up the engine or go anywhere. It becomes just a dusty heirloom, and we can only read about how it used to run.
I want to name some of my findings from my studies and experiences which may help to explain why there is a just a trickle in the creek as opposed to a mighty flowing river.
.1. The senior pastor. Not Biblical, a made up position.
2. The order of service, pretty much the same in any church. Not Biblical, man made.
3. The sermon that so dominates the “service.” Not Biblical, established by man.
4. The way we “break bread,” together. Not Biblical, established by man.
5. The clergy/laity divide. Not Biblical, established by man.
6. The church building. Not Biblical, established by man.
7. Ordination. Not Biblical, established by men.
8. Where is the “two or three prophets,’ who are to speak to us? (1 Cor 14:29)
10. Where are the two or three who would speak in tongues with interpretation? (1 Cor 14:27)
11. Where are the teachings (plural) and a psalm given or a portion of Scripture? (1 Cor 14:26)
12. Where are the Apostles, prophets, miracles and gifts of healing and varieties of tongues (plural) ( 1 Corinthians chapter 12:27,28)
I want to ask you brothers and sisters. Does the above describe your gathering? How can God bless something that is so far removed from what He Himself laid down in His Word? The church as we have known it is dying. It is devoid of power and passion, and passivity is the order of the day. Let Diotrephes speak and let the rest remain silent. And the rest are quite happy to dwell in a wilful ignorance. I say wilful ignorance because they can read the Word the same as you and me. They want their Moses to speak to God and for Moses to speak to them even if the mountain burst forth with earthquakes and trembling they would fall back from it.
Will you remain silent? Will you remain passive? Will you sit by and not even question the order of service you just sat through? Did that order of service resemble anything you have ever read in the Scriptures? Do you really even care? The Word of God says this is 1 Cor 12 starting at verse 7…..But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecies, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit work all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Do you see the richness and the depth of what has just been described. Now brothers and sisters, that is a river to swim in. That is no dried up creek. “The manifestation of the Spirit,” starts out the verse. When was the last time the Spirit of God manifested Himself among your gathering, your church, your denomination? I’m not talking about hearing a great sermon from a professional or being delighted with the professional music, I am talking about the manifestation of the Spirit. Notice that every part is “given,” by the Holy Spirit for the edification of all. These Scriptures are describing a masterful orchestra directed by the Holy Spirit Himself. Each part intimately conducted and carried out by the Conductor. It is no one man band, it is no mere trickle in a creek, but rather it is a symphony written by God Himself and it floods our souls and overwhelms our spirits and changes us as it takes us to where it wants to take us. No mere mortal can control it. Do you want to be part of the orchestra or do you want to sit by passively and listen to the tune of a one man band that entertains you for a moment?
Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,
Are we modern day Christians really any different from our Galatians brothers and sisters of old? Paul says to the Galatians that they have fallen from Grace, those who desire to be under anything other than the Gospel that he himself had presented to them, but now he was an enemy to them for telling them the truth. This word “bewitched,” means to be “fascinated by a false presentation.” In the Galatians case it was the law they were fascinated with and men, who should have known better, who seem to be something in Christian circles from Jerusalem, had enticed them away from the truth, away from the Spirit and away from freedom. A fall from grace is a tragedy for it is by grace through faith that we are saved and not of works, including the works of the law, less we should boast and then the free gift is not free indeed but rather debt.
We have so many in our day who are “fascinated by a false presentation.” Consider the Charismatics and their prosperity gospel? How about men like Benny Hinn with a singular obsession with healings? MacArthur and his denial of the sign gifts of the Spirit? Catholics and every other denomination who are fascinated by their own dogmas and decrees which are quite apart from Scriptures. One man rodeo shows in the non denominational systems who promote themselves. What is the one thing they all have in common with each other and the Galatians? “They zealously court you, but not for good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.”(Gal 4:17) Think about the horror of that statement. Men and systems of men set up to promote themselves and in doing so, exclude those who follow them from entering into the freedom that Christ brought for them. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. It is for bondage that men would have you zealous for them and their systems that elevate them. Jesus has been usurped.
Who is hindering you from following the Word? This is not from God. Who elevates themselves rather than the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. In the third epistle of John he writes to “the church,” in Asia Minor. He runs headlong into a man called Diotrephes. A man who had zeaously courted the church in that region to elevate himself. A man who loved the preeminence and just like Paul, John had become their enemy because he spoke the truth. Yet there were still men like Gaius and Demetrius. Good men. Men who followed after Jesus and who “walked in the truth.” There are good men and women today who still walk in the truth. God has His remnant. They are few and far between. And there are is a scourge of men like Diotrephes who would hinder you from walking according to the truth because when we do that, Jesus, and only Jesus is elevated.
There is an inevitable clash between God’s people and men who promote themselves. John would clash with Diotrephes if he traveled there. Paul clashed with the Christian religious men of his day, and even with Paul and Barnabas over what was right and what would cause men to fall from grace. If one were in MacArthur’s church and criticized him openly, the same fate would befall them as those who criticized Diotrephes. They would be removed from the church, with violence if need be. To criticize the Catholic church over 1500 years would cause one to be excommunicated and most likely burned at the stake. To criticize the reformers would have resulted in certain banishment and oftentimes imprisonment and burnings too. It is the mark of insecure men who have set up their own systems in direct violation of God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And then of course there is the genuine Body of Christ to be found everywhere. Oftentimes isolated perhaps. Lonely and without a church home to call their own, but always part of the Body of Christ and the family of God. Sons and daughters scattered to the four winds but not abandoned. Faithful to the Word of God and the leading of the Spirit. Illuminated by the light of Christ and the freedom that dwells within them. At liberty to speak the truth in love despite the consequences. Seeking no office and seeking no titles. Only willing to wash the feet of their brothers and sisters and feed them spiritually. Discipling everywhere they go whether to the one or the two or the two hundred. The number is not important. I encourage you this day my brothers and sisters. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free and do not be entangled by the religious systems of men which causes you to become entangled by a yoke of bondage.
Walk in and according to the Spirit and men shall know you by the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, gentlesness, and self control. They shall also know you by your fierce loyalty to the Lord and to the Gospel of the Kingdom and to the Word of God. Live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and you shall avoid jealousies pride and envy. Those who sow these things shall reap everlasting life. We shall run and not grow weary, we shall walk and not faint. We shall not lose heart when we pay due attention to the condition of our heart and walk in the aforementioned fruit of the Spirit. Love the Body of Christ with a lavish and reckless love. Let us boast in nothing other than the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and the cross upon our own backs. Let us rejoice in infirmities that God may be glorified by the excess grace He pours upon us. The world has been crucified to us, it no longer courts us. We have been crucified to the world and we no longer have any taste for its pleasures. Let the peace and the mercy and grace of God fall apon the genuine saints today and let all who read this be encouraged.
The gifts of the Spirit in the church today are not only desirable but absolutely imperative. It is extremely necessary that we should have the gifts of the Spirit in the church and let me show you why…….Un-gifted men can do religious work, but it is only the human mind doing a human work. Mortality is written all over the church of Christ today because men are trying to do in the power of their own genius , what only the Holy Spirit can do. Genius cannot do immortal work, genius can only do mortal work…often talent alone runs the church today not the gifts of the Holy Spirit as intended (A,W.Tozer)
When we have a corrupted priesthood, it leads to the birth of Ichabod. If indeed God has departed then what do men do? They keep on going in their own strength. They cannot acknowledge their own corruptions, they cannot give up the power and the prestige they so desire but at the same time they cannot have God in their midst. So, the anointed is replaced by the appointed. In the absence of God we appoint men and women of talent. We try to recreate the giftings and the moving of the Holy Spirit. It never occurs to men to simply fall back on the Word of God. We are several generations into appointed men in leadership, men who are appointed by other men and not anointed of God. Men and women of talent. They have the gift or oratory, in fact it was a required qualification. They can sing like angels, in fact it was required of them before they were appointed. They can take the Word of God and teach it, for they were taught how to do this very thing in their Bible schools and seminaries.
All day long the Sauls of this world rise in our churches and the Davids are left in the fields. They are tall and handsome, they are beautiful and talented just like the world and that is what they wanted. They are appointed men and they have not the anointing of God. And without the anointing it can only ever be a house of talent and not a house of victory. The giants of this world are left to roar at us and mock us and come against us for we lack the David spirit. The appointed try to figure out how to survive with the least amount of damage as the Philistines roar. The anointed run to the battle and care not whether they live or die for they are full of the Spirit of God. The appointed worry about offending the people because they were appointed by the people and in order to keep their position they must please the people. The anointed speak as they are moved to speak by the Holy Spirit. They are not hirelings and they do not run from the wolves and the bears.
The appointed employ all the ways of the world in order to “build,” their own kingdoms. What else could they do? They use talented people, they use pop psychology and business methods. They employ sales techniques. And the latest addition to the appointed is technology. Dimmed lights, blackened walls, smoke machines, theatre seating and concert style worship. The anointed may not have any oratory skills at all. They may not be able to fit into skinny jeans. They may not be the most confident people. They may not desire to have any position at all. Yet it is God who does the anointing. He chooses whom He will use and He builds His church not on methods of the world but by the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit and upon the Word of God. The appointed must rip out whole chapters of the Bible in order to survive and the anointed simply stand upon the Word, even if it means a congregation of twelve.
Men always appoint men who will serve their purposes. God anoints those who will serve His purposes. In order not to share His glory with anyone He raises up paupers to walk with princes. He takes the teenage shepherd boy to replace the peoples choice. He takes the weak and the lowly, the contrite and the broken and He raises them up to high and lofty places to dwell and to fellowship with Him. The anointed walk, not in their human talents and genius, rather they walk in the anointing. In the power of the Holy Spirit. In the giftings of God that do not come through natural birth but rather come from the second birth. And by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How can we tell an anointed church from an appointed church? You will see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation in Gods anointed. Could it be that simple? Is the word of God difficult to understand? Does it all come down to that in the end, obedience to the Word? It always does, whether in our personal lives or our corporate gatherings. There is life in the anointing. There is activity in the appointed. While there can be activity in the anointed, there can never be life in the merely appointed when the appointment is of men.
So much of the mega church and movements like Hillsong are almost exclusively based on emotions. This is where the danger lies when your music ministry is the heart and soul of your church or movement. Young people especially are swept up in a tide of feelings, their foundations of why they worship, based on how they feel.
Worshiping God begins and ends at the cross. We worship a God who died for us, who shed His blood for us. The love we discovered at the cross is all consuming. It is life and death. It transcends feelings, it is so much deeper than that. It hurtles past the outer limits of our soul and penetrates into the depths of our spirits.
Our love for our Lord is based on the firm foundation that He first loved us and that He died for us! When that is the basis of your salvation then you shall not be easily shaken. God Himself will be your life and wild horses shall not drag you out of His hand. He is your reason for living, He is the very air that you breath, He is your very sanity, In short, you know you exist solely because of Him.
There are no grandchildren in the Kingdom of God only sons and daughters. Beware everyone of you that was raised in a Christian household and raised up in a church. Shine a spotlight on your faith and examine yourself to see whether indeed you “know,” Jesus. See whether indeed you are a son or a daughter of the Kingdom. Do you love the God of all creation above all things? Does He rule and reign in your heart or does He merely exist in your head? Eternity rises or falls based on these questions.
If you are merely a grandchild you cannot stand, you will fall. You may have walked an aisle when you were four or five and have been told all of your life that you are a Christian, but the cross will tell the story. Unless the cross has penetrated and transformed your spirit, you dwell in the dim recesses of your soul. A place where shades of gray dominate. To dwell there is to have become accustomed to the darkness and perceive it to be light. The eyes are very clever and soon master the grey dimness. Yet, if you were to walk out of the dimness, out of the shades of grey and into His marvelous light you would fall back and scream as the light tears through your eyes and explodes into your heart and mind and soul and spirit.
The cross tears away a mans soul. It penetrates every part of him, nothing is left un-examined, nothing is ever the same. Now this new creature takes up his cross, in the shadow of Calvary, “knowing,’ not in the head, but in the deepest recesses of his heart, that His lord suffered more than he ever could and it is an enormous privilege to follow in His footsteps. This is salvation.
Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the primary object. Jesus is the preeminent one. Without Him high and lifted up, front and center, without His presence in our midst we only have a form. A religious structure built by human hands to house our own desires. We have abandoned the real Jesus and constructed another Jesus. This other Jesus serves us. He serves our needs and desires, he entertains us through his creators. This other Jesus has never carried a cross nor does he require his followers to carry one either.
This cultural Jesus is a mere reflection of his adherents. He never judges, he never corrects. He has no particular requirements. He is a genie in a bottle even although they vigorously rub and he never appears. He does not walk with them, they walk alone. He does not talk to them, they merely engage their own imaginations. He lies to them through the prism of their souls. They hear him say peace and prosperity. He is a reflection of the better part of their natures and they do not realize that the better part of their natures is like filthy rags to the true and living God.
If these people ever actually encountered the true and the living Christ He would devastate them and upturn their lives. Everything they know or thought they knew would come crashing down. A God who judges? Hear the screams. A God who calls them to enter into His sufferings? Hear the wails. A God who requires their whole lives, their whole hearts, their whole allegiances? They writhe in agony. The flesh that refuses to die is enmity to God. He bids that flesh to voluntarily pick up its cross, the means of its own death. It shall surrender or it will rage against the author of the cross.
The narrow path never deviates as it winds its way home. It is fraught with danger. It slowly strips away all of the baggage that we took with us for our journey. It tears away at the flesh and passes through refining fires and floods. It often winds it way through hot and arid deserts. The narrow path has many exits and every exist is a path of least resistance. As soon as one steps onto it one can hear the haunting intoxicating sound of the siren call as it draws that one away from the narrow path.
For those who stay the course and stay on the narrow path, every so often, always suddenly, the Lord comes to us. He reminds us that we are His, He encourages us. He bids us look down and see that the path itself is the Word of God and that the path lights up and directs us in the way that we should go. We are instructed to turn neither to the left nor to the right. The Lord embraces us in His love and His kindness.
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.
If our evangelism has become shallow, then it is only because our Christianity has become shallow. If our evangelicalism has become mechanical and predictable, then more than likely so have our lives as believers. If our proclamation of the good news is merely verbal and formalized, then that it is a sure sign that truth has become mere words and formulas in our daily walk. I cannot draw someone to a place I am not in myself. We can always speak the proclamation, to do so requires only that we remember the correct words. However in order to move men, we need also to be the proclamation, and that requires a life immersed in the Spirit of Truth (Art Katz, The Spirit of Truth)
Can you see what our dear brother Art is saying here? It is not good enough to make a proclamation, one must be the proclamation. Another pastor said that “I am not waiting on a move of God, I am a move of God.” Can you see the difference between mere intellectual assent to abstract truths and those whose lives are the truth? One knows about it, the other walks it. Jesus is the word made flesh. If we are to draw men to Jesus we must be in the place that we seek to draw them too. We cannot speak of coming to Jesus if we do not dwell in the glory. Our lives must be a manifestation of Jesus. It is not good enough to just talk to someone about Jesus ( I wish we really had that problem) they must see Jesus when they see us. After all, are we not living epistles read by men?
In the last several generations of Christendom, one shallow generation has followed after another. Each generation shallower than the one that went before them. What a tragedy that the church has been slowly and surely all but swallowed up by the world. In politics either the Liberals or the conservatives say something like ” I did not leave the party, the party left me.” This too could be applied to much of Christianity. Denomination after denomination has fallen and left its true believers behind. No longer could they be a part of the most shallow generation of Christianity that has ever walked the earth. And if shallowness was its only problem, that would be bad enough, but it is outright wickedness that walks the halls and assemblies of men today.
There must be a manifestation of Jesus on the earth today. He has to manifest Himself in us and He only does that in willing obedient servants. He has His people still, He is never without a witness. They are people who not only know the Word but who are themselves living epistles easily read by men. They are not “just a sinner saved by grace,” God forbid. No, they are sons and daughters. The Word of God is in them and by the power of the Holy Spirit the Word becomes life. It does not become life in the hands or mouths of those who are spiritually dead, that is the realms of religious men and pharisees. Life begets life. Glory leads to glory. Love and mercy and grace leads to the manifestation of love and mercy and grace. The talents given to each saint are multiplied by their willingness to share what they have as they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, we stand like well fed men and woman in a land that is dying from famine. The fat on our bones, so to speak, speaks to the life that is in us. Can men see that you are well fed? Do you stand out among the dead and the dying? Are they drawn to you because of the depths of Christ in you? Are those who dwell in the shallow places drawn to the deep? We must ask ourselves these questions for our calling is but salt and light. If we are not salt to the world, then what is our purpose? If we are not light to the world, then why are we alive? Tragically, over the generations, the people in the shallow end, the world, have drawn many to them instead of the other way around. We must fulfill our purpose here on earth. and we can only do that by dwelling where the the glory is for all the world to see.
For the last six months, I have suffered, almost non stop, from two pinched nerves. I have lived with chronic pain, but this is something “special.” Please, and don’t be offended by this, but please do not comment on the pain, my condition or express sympathy or remedies. My interest is in an analogy. The moments when, for no particular reason, there is no pain. It is overwhelming and quite emotional as I revel in the short window. The heavens seem to open up and I am surrounded by such satisfaction and appreciation for “normal.”
It occurred to me how much this experience is like the presence of God. That moment when all of a sudden and entirely unexpectedly my Lord is with me in His manifest presence. How, all the noise of the world just seems to melt away and I am in my “normal,” place. A place of no pain, no sadness, a place of radiating overwhelming beauty. I know it won’t last but I only know that afterwards. For eternity is always eternity even if it’s only for a moment. One day, one day soon, eternity will be moments no more.
I will wait for Him.
If I had to wait a thousand years,I would wait for Him. He is my all in all and I am swallowed whole by wholeness and it changes me. The world grows ever dimmer and the bright impenetrable light of His soon coming, beckons me. It calls to the depths of my spirit. I learned a long time ago that even if all the heavens above me are covered by clouds, that above those clouds there lies an eternal blue sky. And every now and then, the clouds part and a shaft of light engulfs me and renews my spirit and warms my soul.
Job 2:10 ….shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?
Brothers and sisters, this matter drives at the very heart of who we are. We are much more likely to discover who we are in the depths of adversity, than in any other state. So much energy in Christendom is expended in the stand against adversity. Rather than embrace it, as we certainly embrace the good, we fight it, often with everything that is in us. The adversity, and how it affects us, becomes the towering idol in our lives. Shall God not praised in any circumstances? Shall He not always be our primary focus? Should our eyes ever be moved from a gaze upon Him? In all my years walking through the corridors of Christianity, this single issue is the most pervasive. Our attitude towards infirmity or dire circumstances ultimately shape us and identify us. The fundamental core of who we are must be, whether we live or whether we die we shall praise the living God. Every other issue, if it is allowed, draws us away from God and towards ourselves. Rather than being fixated with God, we become fixated on ourselves and our circumstances.
In this verse Job addresses his wife. She, because of their circumstances, expresses what happens when circumstances are more important than God. She encourages her husband to curse God, abandon God, abandon his faith, abandon his life. For her, the circumstances of their life was more important than God Himself. She is a foolish woman and has been branded as such in the eternal word of God. Paul learned to be content whether he was hungry or full, in sickness or in health, in liberty or in the dungeon. He learned this. He learned that all loss, is mere rubbish, in comparison to being found in Him. In the end brothers and sisters the only thing that matters is being found in Him. Everything else, if we allow it, is idolatry. It is the curse of the last one hundred years that much of what identifies itself as Christianity, demands that God heals them and prospers them. This is the foundation of their so called faith. Madness and foolishness to stake your faith on the circumstances of your life rather than the holiness of a God who not only gives us good things, but also gives us adversities. Shall you accept that saint, or shall you rage against God and die in the wilderness?
Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?
How could something so simple, become so controversial? Paul is asking some disciples he happened upon in a certain region if they had received the Holy Spirit. Every professing Christian must ask themselves the same question. The answer will be between them and the Lord and the Word. How honest these disciples were , they say they have never even heard of such a thing as the Holy Spirit. That very ignorance was to them an advantage, and our modern day knowledge of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God can actually work against us. We have head knowledge of the Holy Spirit, we can read about Him and be taught about Him and not deny Him and somehow this passes for having received Him.
In Matt 3:11 we see that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. What does that mean to you? Jesus says in Acts 1:5 that not many days from now you shall be “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” In verse 8 Jesus tell us that we would receive power and become witnesses after the Holy Spirit has come upon us. In Acts 2 we see those gathered together in the upper room be baptized with the Holy Spirit as represented with tongues of fire, fulfilling Matt 3:11. In Act 4:31 we see the disciples filled again. In Acts 6 we see that Stephen was “full of the Spirit.” In Acts 10 we see the Gentile believers receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then of course in Acts 19 we see those who have never even heard of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We see this doctrine fundamentally established over and over again. And of course there were signs of such a baptism. I would argue that boldness was the primary sign, boldness and power to be a witness. Other signs are well documented, among them being tongues and prophecy.
Now brothers and sisters, these things cannot be denied. To deny them is to deny Scripture. So the question remains “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” It is a fundamental question and only you can answer it. Without this baptism you shall be powerless. You cannot possibly be a witness for Christ on the earth without this power, and these are the Lords own words. With the evil day fast approaching we must know that we have oil in our lamps. We shall not be able to stand without it. Without it we shall stand in darkness. Only by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit can we be a light to the world and a witness to the Kingdom of God. We cannot possibly stand in our own strength. We can do many things by our own might and power and much of Christendom is established upon the might and power of men. Yet, what men establish, men can tear down. That which is established by the Spirit cannot be moved for it is founded upon the solid Rock of Christ.
Act 4:2 Being greatly disturbed that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the priests and the captain of the temple were greatly disturbed that disciples taught the people. This was their first crime. When was the last time you greatly disturbed someone? Who were these unlearned peasants who dared to teach the people? The religious folks of the day were grieved in their spirits that they were being usurped. If the ordinary folks were listening and being taught by other ordinary folks, where would that all end? They were, of course, particularly grieved that they taught that Jesus was the Christ and that He was alive! Now, the rulers and the elders and even the high priest had the disciples set before them. Outside of the Romans, these were the most powerful men in all of Judah. They demanded to know by what authority they spoke. It is always about authority.
Peter stood up, and, filled with the Holy Spirit told them boldly and plainly that it was in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ they spoke “whom you crucified.” And then, to hammer home the point about Jesus being the Christ says “there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved.” Unlearned men, untrained blue collar workers. Their only qualification, which was recognized, was that they had “been with Jesus.” Praise the Lord. When they were commanded by the rulers to never speak of Jesus again, the disciples rebuffed them by asking, who should we listen to, you or God? Oh for a tiny portion of that boldness in our own days. Never in the history of the Church has this kind of boldness been more needed.
The same religious men in our days have attempted to silence “the unlearned and the untrained.” And for the same reasons. Authority. They desire the authority and the preeminence. If every ordinary man or woman could preach or teach or give a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge or a tongue or a prophecy then where would that leave the religious leaders? Probably out of a job. If Christians this day had the same boldness to stand and be counted for the cause of Christ as the disciples did, not afraid of what might become of them, then we would have a Church like the early Church. And when the disciples went back and recounted what had just happened to them, their brothers and sisters prayed over them for even more boldness “and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spake the word of God with boldness.” Would to God that we would pray that same prayer and experience that same shaking and filling.
The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be likened to that of king in a limited constitutional monarchy (think of Great Britain) The king, sometimes depersonalized by the term “the Crown,” is in such a country no more than a traditional rallying point, a pleasant symbol of unity and loyalty much like a flag or a national anthem. He is lauded, feted and supported, but his real authority is small. Nominally he is head over all, but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions. On formal occasions he appears in his royal attire to deliver the tame, colorless speech put into his mouth by the real rulers of the country. The whole thing may be no more than good-natured make believe, but is rooted in antiquity, it is a lot of fun and no one wants to give it up (Tozer)
This is a quote from the last piece Tozer ever wrote. It is a confession to being part of a system that had relegated Christ to being no more than a figurehead and that same system had robbed Jesus of His authority within their gatherings. In Great Britain there is a Queen. She and her family survive within what is known as a constitutional monarchy. She has no real power. The power all resides within Parliament and the Prime Minister. These of course are elected positions, the people choose. The Queen’s main role is cutting ribbons, launching ships and drawing tourists. She also is a symbol of stability, but in the end, she could be rejected from even this limited role if the people so chose.
This is Tozer’s argument. The average church in America has relegated Jesus to a limited role. Rather than a Prime Minister, we have a senior pastor or minister. Jesus is acknowledged as Lord, of course, but it practice He has been relegated and man has taken the position. The Holy Spirit, for the most part, has no role within the average American church. The Word of God is readily dismissed in favor of tradition and customs. The Protestant world readily criticizes the Catholic mass (as well they should) as nothing more than the same thing repeated every week. (laying aside the obvious erroneous centerpiece of the Eucharist) And yet, for the most part, you also know exactly what to expect every week at your local church.
Tozer blames the following two reasons for this disaster…..1. The power of custom, precedent and tradition within older religious groups. These, like gravitation, affect every particle of religious practice withing the group, exerting a steady and constant pressure in one direction. Of course direction is toward conformity to the status quo. Not Christ but custom is Lord. And the same thing has passed over into the other groups such as the full gospel tabernacles, the holiness churches, the pentecostal and fundamental churches and the non-denominational churches found everywhere throughout the North American continent.
The second cause is the revival of intellectualism among the evangelicals. This, if I sense the situation correctly, is not so much a thirst for learning, rather a desire for a reputation of being learned. Our Evangelical faith ( which I believe to be the true faith of Christ and His Apostles) is being attacked these days from many different directions. IN the Western world the enemy has forsworn violence. He no longer comes against us with sword and fire, he now comes smiling, bearing gifts. He raises his eyes to heaven and swears that he too believes in the faith of our fathers , but his real purpose is to destroy that faith, or at least modify it to such an extent that it is no longer a supernatural thing it once was. (Tozer-The Waning Authority of Christ in the churches-pages 14-16)
Tozer lays this out almost 70 years ago, on his death bed so to speak. The old prophet saw in one last sweep of history, what had become of the professing churches. Can I say brothers and sisters, it has degraded so much more so in the last 70 years. If the authority of Jesus was waning 70 years ago in the churches, it is all but gone now. So the question becomes “what must we do.” Tozer asks that very question in the last paragraph and I will leave you with his suggestions……….
What, then, are we to do? Each one of us must decide and there are at least three possible choices. One is to rise up in shocked indignation and accuse me of irresponsible reporting. Another is to nod in general agreement with what is written here but take comfort in the fact that there are exceptions and we are among the exceptions. The other is to go down in meek humility and confess that we have grieved the Holy Spirit and dishonored our Lord in failing to give Him the place His Father has given Him as Head and Lord of the Church. Either the first or the second will but confirm the wrong. The third, if carried out to its conclusion, will remove the curse. The decision lies with us.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
Oh saints, what damage has been done by men over this scripture. In eighteen short words, religious men the world over have stripped the gifts of God out of the hands of men based on a lie. The perfect is not the canon of Scripture. Jesus is perfect and when He comes again then all the gifts that edify the still imperfect Church shall cease. In that eternal state there shall be no more need for words of wisdom. In that eternal state there shall be but one heavenly language. In that eternal state we shall no longer need prophets or those who exhort the Body because the fulfillment of all things will have occurred. Love, the eternal state, shall go on for all eternity.
In this present life, in comparison to the glories of heaven, I speak as a child. I understand as a child, I think as a child. Yet in the fulfillment of all things, when the perfect has come, I will throw of this mortal childish state. I will know as I am known. For now I only see in part, but glory to God then I will see the eternal God face to face. Imagine knowing as you are known. Ponder that for a while. If the things that I know in part are glorious, what will it be like when I know the whole? The mere glimpses that I have seen of His glory has transformed my whole life, now what will be my state as I move and have my being in an eternal gaze upon Him.
Yet even now there are countless of millions of professors of the faith who would deny the reality of the glimpse. Of the supernatural experience of God. Can those who have never glimpsed and refuse to acknowledge the supernatural gifts of God ever move on to maturity? If one is not even a child then can that one become a man in God’s Kingdom? Only children of the Kingdom of God here on earth can become men and woman of God in our heavenly Father’s eternal. The children of this world will become men and women of their father in a very different eternal state. Whose child are you of? The children of light walk in the power and experience of their eternal God now, in part. Only by being a part can one become whole.
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
The question is, are you content? I would argue that the whole world is looking for contentment. I certainly thought when I became a Christian that the Church would be packed full of contented people, you can imagine my disappointment. It seemed to me that most folk that I met in the church were very much like the world when it came to contentment. The world makes every mistake possible while attempting to achieve contentment, yet so do many Christians. Many people in the world believe that contentment comes through material possessions and good personal relationships. While these things are nice, they could never possibly bring the deep kind of contentment that Paul is talking about.
Now some good Christian folk would argue that your personal relationship with Jesus brings you the kind of contentment Paul is speaking about in this particular Scripture, it’s simply not true but it makes it possible. In fact only through Jesus is it possible, but He aint doing it for you. Paul had to learn to be content. It was not a question of his relationship with Jesus, rather it was a question of enduring and overcoming as he walked through fire and flood. There are choices to be made as we move along the narrow path of life. We choose to endure. We choose to give thanks. We overcome much as Jesus did in the garden when He submits His will to the Father’s.
The key word I would argue in understanding this is “learned.” He had learned to be content, there was no magic wand. No one came along and laid hands on him and suddenly he was full of contentment. Paul, time and again had to walk through the fire and continue to praise God. We see in another Scripture that we are admonished not to be anxious at all but to pray and give thanks and make supplication to God and if we did that, something supernatural would happen, a supernatural peace that passes all understanding would actually stand guard over our hearts.
Can you praise God today in spite of your circumstances? If you learn to do this, if you walk through the fire with your hands held high, trusting in God, you will come to the place that Paul came to. You will discover that peace and contentment will have nothing to do with your circumstances, which are ever-changing, but have everything to do with praising and trusting in God who is never-changing. Choose to praise the Lord in the lower reaches of the dungeon, and you will learn to be content.
One day the Lord will rend the heavens and His glory will flow down the mountains and fill every valley with His majesty. The seas will flee away at His presence. The mountains will humbly bow and say ” Glory , glory to the risen King.” The sun will turn its face away in shame for it has been outdone by the brilliance of His illumination. A mere flickering candle in comparison to His unadulterated light. The moon and the stars will cry out ” Holy, Holy is He who was and is and forever shall be.”
And every voice from every tongue will say “Jesus,” and acknowledge the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And the beasts of the earth will fall down and cover their faces and then the lion will rise up and approach the lamb and they will lay down together. And every knee shall bow in every tribe and in every nation and even the hordes of hell will fall silent as He approaches. The earth itself will grow silent and shall be still and then a glorious noise will begin to arise and will fill the earth, it will fill the sea it will fill the night skies and it will fill the whole universe.
And all that will be heard will be the choirs of angels, that heavenly choir and the glory of God will not only cover the earth but will fill up everything that there is or has ever been. Gods saints will rise on this glorious symphony, they will arise in the updrafts of His glory and majesty and it will carry them into the heart of God. And those who rejected this magnificent glory will fall and their cries will be heard as they fall into the depths of darkness forever.
Luther did not invent a new doctrine when he announced that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works. He rediscovered it and presented it to a church that had long ago forgotten this most fundamental and vital aspect of what it means to be saved. This most basic fundamental truth was lost in religiosity and liturgy many centuries before. The clergy had robbed the laity. Century after century Christendom slowly drifted away, each generation losing something from the previous generation until they were totally adrift from the Truth. Once they were totally adrift from the truth then with every passing century the errors solidified and grew in strength. Walls like Jericho rose up and stood, formidable.
Then comes Luther and as he hammered that nail into the door, the whole of Christendom shook. A bloody revolution then ensued as the clergy, keepers of the error and the status quo, fought with all of their might against this upstart priest of no account who was challenging their religion and their liturgy. I believe a similar revolution would have to take place today in order to rediscover the truths of 1 Cor 14 and how we interact in gatherings. The sign gifts and their purpose of edifying the saints and the unsaved and the unlearned have fallen into disuse and have been forgotten. God help this starving and dying generation. If we do not have eyes to see then we cannot be fed. The walls of Jericho were rebuilt after the reformation. Brick upon brick, stone upon stone, error upon error.
We need to rediscover, once again, the fundamental truths of our faith as it is plainly written in the Scriptures. Who has dared to bypass or take away from the Holy Word of God? Do they not know that they shall be removed from the book of life? The walls of religion and the devastating clergy/laity divide need to come down. And if they will not then the saints need to abandon those strongholds. We need a mass exodus from behind those walls. We need to allow God Himself to be a wall of fire around us. Dear saint, you must follow the fire by night and the cloud by day and not the doctrines of the Nicolations. You cannot be immersed in the culture of religion, which is a mere reflection of the prevailing culture around us, and serve God at the same time.
Joh12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Today the saints must establish in their hearts what they are living for. Are you living for the things that are eternal? Will you be willing in the coming days to lose everything? In the coming days, there will be darkness and various shades of grey on one side, and there will be light on the other. There is no darkness in God. We cannot stand in shades of grey. If there was an earthquake and you were standing on the fault line, one foot on one side and one on the other, as it began to open up, you would have to choose what side you were going to stand on. Continue to straddle the line and you would plunge to your death, you would be swallowed up.
There is a spiritual earthquake going on right now. Everything than can be shaken is being shaken. What side will you find yourself on? On one side there is the world and all its attractions and distractions. For most of us our way of life is wrapped up in the world. On the other side there is the way of the Kingdom and the word of God which almost entirely contradicts everything the world holds dear. If the civil war split families right down the middle and pitied one against the other over issues of slavery and so on, what will the ultimate separation look like? America tore itself to pieces in the bloodiest civil war ever seen and yet the coming separation will go much deeper and on multiple fronts.
A famous group of colonists once declared independence from Great Britain and a shot was fired that was heard around the world. When the colonists signed that declaration of independence, death was assured for them in the event of defeat. They were, with their signatures, totally committed to the cause and willing to pay the ultimate price. If mere men can make declarations of independence and give their life for that cause, what can an army of saints around the world achieve by their own declarations?
Not of independence, but of dependence upon God alone. And how will we declare such things? By the lives that we live and the stands that we take. If one cannot take a stand now, that one will not be able to stand in the evil day. For those who stand upon the Word of God and walk in His Kingdom reality, God will pour out His Spirit upon them. He will equip those He has called to stand. Stand fast brothers and sister.
A Call To The Remnant 