Archive for the ‘The presence of God’ Category
Posted by appolus on January 15, 2021
Probably the most widespread and persistent problem to be found among Christians is the problem of retarded spiritual progress. Why, after years of Christian profession do so many persons find themselves no farther along than when they first believed? The cause of retarded growth are many. It would not be accurate to ascribe the trouble to one single fault. One there is, however, which is so universal that it may easily be the main cause;failure to give time to the cultivation of the knowledge of God.
The Christian is strong or weak depending upon how closely he has cultivated the knowledge of God. Progress in the Christian life is exactly equal to the growing knowledge we gain of the Triune God in personal experience. And such experience requires a whole life devoted to it and plenty of time spent at the holy task of cultivating God. God can be known satisfactorily only as we devote time to Him (A.W.Tozer)
Tozer is really highlighting the fact that diligence in seeking God, or the lack thereof is the primary reason why so many seem to lack any progress at all in becoming more like Jesus. And why they never move from being babes in Christ to being mature saints. This diligence starts with the Word of God. Show me the man or woman who has little time for the Word and I will show you people who are taken up with this world and not the next. They are taken up with the kingdom of men and their place in it rather than the Kingdom of God and walking there.
Being hungry for the Word of God leads to hunger for the God of the Word. And once one has tasted the goodness of God, then it creates a hunger for more. Once one has drunk from the heavenly well, it creates a thirst like the deer that panteth for the waterbrooks and a longing soul. Therefore the Scriptures tell us that we should move on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God (Heb 6) We have to make a decision as to what world we belong to. When we seek His Kingdom first and His Righteousness then the abundant life ( spiritual) and the contented life will be ours as we walk with our God.
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Posted by appolus on January 15, 2021
Jdg 6:13 Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles which our Fathers told us about saying,”Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
After Gideon gets through with his complaints to God, the Lord speaks to him and says “Go in the might of yours and you shall save Israel-have I not sent you?” (v 14) You see how God refuses to take on board what Gideon has just complained about and again affirms His calling on Gideon’s life? Saints, take heart at this for God has called you. listen to how Gideon replies and see if this reflects your own heart. “How can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manassah and I am the least in my father’s house.” (v15) To which the Lord replies “Surely I will be with you.”
The Lord picked the weakest man from the weakest clan. It’s not about the man brothers and sisters, it’s about the God that goes with the man. If God is with us, who can be against us? This truly represents the remnant believers today. We are the weakest men and women. The reply that Gideon gave to God is the right reply in the right spirit. Without God we are nothing and can do nothing, but by the same token, when God is with us, and He says to Gideon “Surely I will be with you,’ then there is nothing we cannot do. This is the spirit of the genuine saints of God today. They acknowledge their own weaknesses.They have experienced failure and they know what it is like to feel abandoned, this has been a journey and it ends with them knowing their utter helplessness without God being with them.
I want you to remember who you serve this day. No matter what situation you face today, the God who created the whole universe and set the foundations of the earth and hung the stars in the heavens above is with you. For His will and for His good pleasure God has been working on you and He is faithful to complete that what He has started. God is raising up an end time Gideon’s army and filling its ranks with the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Genuine saint, you are a mighty man of valour, you are a mighty woman of valour. What qualifies you to be counted in these ranks? God has called you, God is with you and God will equip you.
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Posted by appolus on December 27, 2020
To be in one world and suddenly in another. To be a pauper, and suddenly to be raised up and out of the gutter. To be taken into the first estate and to marvel at it all. To see the ones who’ve fallen and marvel at their fall. From the highways and the byways the beggars they all came, the blind and the broken, the rejected and the lame. The poor and the afflicted, all were welcomed in, delivered and set free from every kind of sin. And they came rejoicing.
In my wildest imagination I could never have imagined being here. A place of unparalleled beauty, a place where there’s no fear. To come from the lowest reaches and find yourself among the highest mountain peaks, to sit at the feet of Jesus and know that our Creator speaks, is to travel from life to death. Who will come? Wont you come? There is room at the cross for you. And in my Fathers house there are many mansions and one awaits for you, tis true. If it were not I would have told you so. There’s an invitation sent to the highways and the byways to see the God of glory, the universe displays. In all His finest majesty and magnificence He still reigns yet walks beside the pilgrim saint His presence there remains.
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Posted by appolus on December 16, 2020
Psalm 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted in me? Hope you in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Are you downcast today? Has the troubles of life, the trials of circumstances mounted up and overwhelmed you? Are you wandering in a spiritual wilderness? Perhaps you even feel abandoned by God? Has the multitude of your troubles somehow separated you from the presence of the living God? Is the only water you are experiencing right now the tears that fall in the shadows of the night and the darkness of your situation?
There is a term among shepherds called “casting.” It refers to a sheep on its back. If a sheep falls onto its back, it does not have the ability to get upright again. The blood will begin to drain from the sheep’s legs, and the weight of its body will press down upon its lungs and it will begin to suffocate. It will slowly die. Perhaps you feel like you’re on your back today? You do not have the ability to get up again. The situation and circumstances are out-with your control. You do not feel the presence of God, you feel alone and isolated, the joy is gone and you have lost you “song in the night.”
Let me tell you what the shepherd does when He comes upon a “downcast,” sheep. First of all He begins to rub their legs to bring some of the blood back to get the circulation going a bit. Then He takes one hand and grabs the two back legs, then the other hand and grabs the two front legs and hoists the sheep up and over His head and around His neck. He then carries the sheep until it has recovered and only then does He put it back down on the ground.
If you are downcast today brothers and sisters, cry out to the Lord with all the strength that you have left in you. Remember the days when you “used to go with the multitude. I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise.” I pray that today is the day that your joy returns, that you will have your song in the night.
Even in the midst of darkness, may your joy be complete in Him. The good shepherd of your soul will very gently take your face in His hands and say….. why so downcast my child, put your trust in me. See now I will lift you from this place and put you on my back awhile for when you walk with me I will share your yoke and lighten your burden.
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Posted by appolus on December 14, 2020
Ex 33:15… And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here.
We would all agree that God is omnipresent. This means that He is everywhere at the same time. This is an indisputable fact. Yet, the manifest presence of God, the felt presence of God is something entirely different. Moses had no desire to go anywhere unless God was with him and he could commune with Him. How long has it been since you have communed with God in the midst of His manifest presence? Perhaps you never have? Or perhaps you are going through a dry spell? In the midst of one of these dry spells I remember, in my distress, on my knees, just reaching my open hand up to the heavens and crying out to God.
And without any warning, He was holding my hand. And all of a sudden that world was there again. The world of endless possibilities. In this world it does not matter if there are dark skies or endless blue ones when I am holding His hand. Whether it rains or whether brilliant shafts of light break through ominous clouds, it’s all the same to me when I hold His hand. If I can barely see through my tears of if I wear the most illuminated smile, it matters not when I hold His hand. In the depths of trials or when all is right with the world I am at peace when I hold His hand. If I mourn the loss of a loved one or or cannot see my way ahead, I am never lost when I hold His hand.
The sweet all-consuming joy of His presence. This heart of a lion that beats within the chest of a lamb. This all-consuming power of love that rises victoriously above all the battles of life. This is life when we are walking in His presence. What battle field do you find yourself on today? Do you battle the unseen enemy of unforgiveness? Or has someone wronged you and bitterness bangs on your door? Is depression seeking to overwhelm you? Has the power of darkness in one of its many forms come to challenge you today? Perhaps the darkness comes from the outside, or maybe there is hidden darkness from deep within?
Today, right now, close your eyes and reach out your hand into the darkness of your situation. Cry out to Jesus, tell Him how much that you miss Him and ask Him to take your hand. Your situation may not change, but the darkness will flee. You will be blessed in the midst of your circumstances and you will stand upon the Rock which is higher than you. He will carry you on eagles wings as the updrafts of His presence hold you and keep you. Where could we flee from His presence?
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Posted by appolus on December 7, 2020
Ecc 1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
The more we know, the more our sorrow increases. Grief follows wisdom and sorrow follows knowledge. True wisdom from God is surely mingled with grief because our spirit resides within flesh. When a wise man hears the foolish speak then he is grieved in his soul. It is said that you cannot put an old head on young shoulders and it is true, yet neither can wisdom prosper in the hearts of the unwise. Only those who truly seek after the Lord can benefit from the wisdom of God.
To know the deep things of God, to have been touched at the very center of your soul with something of the knowledge of God brings with it sorrow. No man can stand in the presence of God and grasp something of His majesty and be filled with his eternal beauty and not suffer upon his return from that place. The world grows dim and dark and exists in shades of grey to the one who has stood in this impenetrable light. The closer we move into the depths of His heart, the harder it is to live in a fallen world.
It is a very good thing to know God more and to move in His wisdom. Yet let us be clear, all attachments of this world will begin to lose their grip upon your soul. And one might say then where lies the problem? To the man or woman who walks only in the Kingdom reality it is no problem, yet for the rest who still has something of this world in them, which is most of us, then sorrow and grief are like two intimate companions.
No one knew sorrow and grief like our Lord knew them. Everything stood before Him, He knew it all. He could see the destruction of Jerusalem and He wept. He could see His own rejection and crucifixion and yet He loved. The greater the knowledge of Him, the greater the cost. The greater the wisdom of God in us the more we share in His grief. And yet all of this is offset by the glory and the joy. In this world knowledge and sorrow are life long companions. Wisdom walks hand in hand with grief. And yet for the joy that is set before us let us endure all things looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith and let us ever come before the throne.
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Posted by appolus on November 8, 2020
Keeping short accounts. This is one of the most vital aspects of our walk with Christ. The Scriptures tell us to be angry and sin not, but not to let the sun go down on our anger. Letting the sun go down on our anger is like a beaver putting one more stick in the dam. One more stick in the river. It keeps building and building and it slowly begins to choke of the water. Stick by stick, offense by offense, laying on top of one another, rising up into something bigger and bigger and bigger. Unresolved issues permeating our hearts and affecting every part of who we are.
There comes a point when the river is dammed up. It is no longer flowing. It is going to take an almighty effort now to break that dam and when it is broken, it comes rushing down in torrents, full of flooding power and debris. It is a big mess. It is so important that there is not this kind of buildup, that there is always a free flowing river, for this is the river of life that flows from the throne of grace straight to your heart. It is the source of your joy and strength in the Lord. This is the river that makes glad the hearts of the saints.
So keep a short account. If you fall out with your husband or your wife, do not let the sun go down on that situation. First, forgive them or ask for forgiveness depending upon the situation. And then put flesh on that forgiveness. It could simply be a kiss on the cheek. A cup of coffee. Reaching out and holding their hand. A warm smile. Very small things in the bigger picture of life, but sometimes an incredibly hard obstacle to overcome. Do it. It is the manifestation of forgiveness. It is your forgiveness made flesh. It is a proof and a seal to the work that has been done in your heart. It is so often a bridge over a chasm that has opened up.
Keeping a short account is to keep the river of life flowing. It is a spiritual artery from heaven that brings life giving sustenance straight to your heart. The condition of your heart is the most vital aspect of your walk with Jesus. It is from the heart that the issues of life flow forth. If it gets dammed up you have choked yourself of from that abundant life. It is hard to survive living on trickle, it is spiritual death when the river has dried up.
Get of the roller coaster of highs and lows, trickles and floods and life sapping drama. Instead, keep the river flowing. Make no mistake, it is by an act of our will and obedience to the Word of God and the still small voice that keeps us well watered. Start today saints and flow in the waters of life.
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Posted by appolus on November 6, 2020
“Lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.” (2 Cor 4:4)
I want to focus on “The Gospel of the glory of Christ.” What is the Gospel of the glory of Christ? We know that the word Gospel means good news, so we could say it is the good news of the glory of Christ. Do you know the glory of Christ? If the good news itself is about the glory of Christ, is it possible to share the Gospel if you yourself have not experienced the glory of Christ? And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one (Joh 17:22) Jesus is saying that His glory comes from the Father and that He has given us this very same glory. And why? So that we may be one. So, without the glory we cannot be one with Father and the Son and we cannot be one in the oneness of the Body. Have you been given the glory? And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) Have you saw His glory?
Do you know the Glory, have you been given the glory and have you seen the glory? In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple ( Isa 6:1) Have you had a vision of God? Have you experienced His manifest presence? In Hebrews chapter one it is stated that Jesus is the radiance of His glory. And so, if we know Jesus then we know the light that emanates from God Himself, this light is the glory of God. Many of have seen the corona of the sun when an eclipse occurs .The corona is the aura that surrounds and emanates from the sun. It is only at the moment when the moon blocks out the sun that we dare gaze upon it and see the aura. To gaze fully into the sun itself would render us blind. The glory of God is the aura that emanates from Jesus. He is so Holy that we can only know Him by His aura. Jesus is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. By taking on flesh Jesus was like the moon that enabled us to look with unveiled eyes about the radiance of the glory of God without destroying us mere mortals in the process.
We must know His glory. His glory is a gift from the Lord Himself, He allows Himself to be seen by the power of the Holy Spirit. We see His glory, we stand in awe, just like Isaiah, at the glory of God. We ourselves would be undone if it were not for Jesus. We could not stand in that place unless we were covered by His blood. By becoming one in the Father and the Son we can stand in the glory. We can bask in the radiance of His glory. We are empowered and renewed and strengthened by the glory. We rise up by the power of the glory. We speak of Him only by the empowering presence of His glory. In short, we do all things by the glory of God and for the glory of God and without the glory we can do nothing. Can you see how important the glory is? It is the power of God and the beauty of God and the holiness of God. If we would walk in the beauty and the holiness and the power of God we must know the glory of God. Do you know His glory?
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Posted by appolus on October 28, 2020
Neh 8:10 for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
The seasons of God are good and there is a time for weeping and mourning. Yet if that is all that we have, if we live forever in a perpetual winter of weeping and mourning, whether that is in our personal walk or in our ministries, then nothing will ever grow. We will not grow or flourish in the knowledge of God. Yes there is conviction in the presence of God. There is a time to rent our clothes and throw dust on our heads, yet if this one season becomes the whole then we render ourselves weak and ineffectual. Our real strength comes in the Joy of the Lord. If we cannot put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness then we will not stand in the evil day. We will be overcome by trial and tribulation and persecution.
When the Israelites were captured and taken away from Jerusalem, their captors sat them down by the river of Babylon and taunted them. They said to them, “let’s hear your songs of Zion now.” And the Israelites, once famous for their songs of praise to God, hung their harps on the willow trees, unable to sing, overcome in their spirits. The enemy had not only robbed them of their earthly freedom, they had been robbed of their joy. They no longer had a song in the night. The willow tree represents sadness and weeping. Can you imagine how powerful it would have been if the Israelites, trusted in a mighty God to eventually redeem them. This would have been an exercise in faith, the same faith that Abraham exercised when he knew in his heart and trusted that God would provide a sacrifice for Issac.
The Lord inhabits the praises of His people. In His presence there is fullness of joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You see how that works brothers and sisters? You see where it starts? Trusting in Him, praising Him even in the darkness and out of that praise comes joy and out of that joy comes strength. Not just spiritual strength in my opinion, but also physical strength. One effects the other. Praise God today, trust in Him and wait upon Him and He will raise you up. You will run and not grow weary, you will walk and not faint and you will rise up with eagles wings in the presence of God.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on October 27, 2020
Religion is just one more form of enslavement. It wraps its tentacles around every part of who we are and crushes the life out of us. It portrays itself as the saver but is in fact the slayer. It is an imposter, a chameleon that pretends to be all things to all people. It pretends to give while all the time taking. It feeds its monstrous appetites while it’s victims starve to death. What a grand deception.
Starving to death and not even realizing your hunger and all the time you are wasting away. An emaciated people starved by a grotesque monster that presents itself as an angel of light. Look again, stare deeply into the eyes of this “angel.” They are blood red and cold. Merciless and without natural affection. This entity, even in the midst if its delusion, can barely conceal its maniacal hatred for the ones who follow it.
If religion is all about deception and taking then Jesus is the antidote to it all. While religion takes and enslaves, He sacrificed and freed the captives. While religion crushes the heart, Jesus restores that which was crushed. While religion starves its followers, Jesus feeds the hungry. While religion is aloof and separate from its adherents, Jesus makes His home in His children’s heart. He feeds us, He dines with us, he laughs with us and He cries with us. In short, He enters into a relationship with us and we become one with Him.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on October 27, 2020
In the ancient world, oftentimes men would sell themselves into slavery just to eat and put a roof over their heads. In fact, it was not just the ancient world, but in our own western world men and women would join the clergy or some order of nuns and monks to put food on the table. For hundreds of years men would join the army or the navy for the same reasons. They were selling themselves into slavery in order to survive. When men and women are hungry, it tends to captivate the mind. Not a lot of room for the luxury of contemplation or philosophy when you are open to the elements and have not eaten in days.
Likewise, people put themselves under the authority of lords and warlords for centuries. The grand bargain being that they would be protected and in return they would serve their “masters.” People were also enslaved to religion because not only were they afraid of death, but they were also terrified of the what would happen to them in the world beyond this one. So, religion thrived along with witch-doctors and so on. Mankind has always had these great fears. Poverty, sickness and death.
Now in our modern world we may think that we have moved beyond all of that. We have not, quite the opposite. We are moving into an age where scientists are the new overlords. And what empowers them? Fear of death. Fear of disease that leads to death. And in our age of communication, we can spread that fear and reinforce that fear every single day right where the people are. Now, imagine an unholy alliance between science and government and leaders of industry. This is the age where total control over all the populations of the world is a possibility. And, it would be voluntary. Just as voluntary as the men and woman who sold themselves into slavery in the ancient world.
I believe that by government and industry and scientists making themselves indispensable to the general population, then we are on the precipice of complete control. It will be presented as a virtuous service to humanity and the planet itself. We must do what we are told not only for our own good but for the general good of society and if we do not capitulate then we are a danger to the general good. Now, all of this rests upon fear and especially the fear of death. There are other fears, such as the fear of being shamed or being labelled, they all play their part in control but in the end death is the greatest fear.
By and large men and women will gladly enslave themselves in exchange for security. Security of life and limb. Security of food and shelter. Threaten these in any way and it sends people into a tailspin. Their thin veneer of civilization is soon enough stripped away and we see the raw brutality of humanity. Yet the one force they most often will refuse to bow down to, even under the most dire of situations, is Jesus. Men will gladly bow down to other men if the situation warrants it, but they refuse to bow down to a Holy God. And of course the great irony is this, men and woman who genuinely bow down to Jesus are set at liberty. Liberty from what? From the forces that have shaped mankind. The fear of death and all other fears.
Oh death where is your sting, oh grave where is your victory? (1 Cor 15:55) It is swallowed up in Christ. He conquered the grave not only physically but spiritually. The chains that had bound humanity for all of its history were broken. It is a true freedom. For the saint is no longer bound by the restraints of this world and the fears thereof. It is the Lord Himself who told us that He knows the things that we need. He told us to consider the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin. Consider the birds of the air. Consider even the sparrows, for the eye of our Father is on them. And if it is on them, how much more His own children?
And so, in the near coming age, the enslaved and the en-slavers will look with great hostility upon the freed men and women of Christ. Free people cannot be allowed in an age of control and chains. Hitler and his cohorts came up with the final solution to their “problem.” Scientists and politician, government forces and religions will likewise have to come up with a final solution to those who reject their authority. Lest the “virus,’ of rebellion spread among the population at large. It will be a “virtuous,” act by those in control for the general good. And the people in general will celebrate the ridding of a troublesome people.
I write to true saints. The Lord’s remnant people here on earth. And in doing so I do not have to explain that “they loved not their lives unto death.” This is how we overcome, this and by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of His testimony. Even in the midst of death we who have died to this world will be living an abundant life. The truth that burns so gloriously in our veins will overshadow any beggarly fears of this world. We already know that there is something worth dying for. Something that is more important than our lives. The Truth. Our history is replete with examples of this, down through every age. And now they cry our from beneath the altar.
So saints. It is almost upon us. The end of the ages and everything that comes with it. We stand on the shoulders of our brothers and sisters who went before us and who stood strong in the midst of terrible darkness. Who loved not their lives unto death because our Christ has overcome death. They were able to slip the surly bonds of this earth long before they ever faced physical death.
They would run and not grow weary, they would walk and not faint. They would mount up with wings as eagles and fly in the heavenly realms. The Kingdom of God. Seek it first today and His righteousness and you too shall run and not grow weary, you too shall walk and not faint. We as the Body will mount up with wings as eagles and soar into the lofty heights of His presence. Perfect love casts out all fear.
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Posted by appolus on October 21, 2020
I have no hesitation in saying that it is my honest and charitable conviction that the Christ of the average religion today is not the Christ of the Bible at all. He is a manufactured Christ, the Christ painted on canvas, the Christ drawn from cheap poetry, a Christ of the liberal and the soft and timid person. He is an imitation Christ that has not in Him the iron and the fury and the anger, as well as the love and grace and mercy (A.W.Tozer-Living a Christian life. pg 218)
Tozer was right in his day, and, I put it to you, we find ourselves in very much more degraded days than his. The Christ, for the most part, that is propagated today is a mere Santa Claus figure, gentle and timid and somewhat fearful of man. This man made Christ watches over men and smiles approvingly at all of their sins. Like a father who cannot discipline his children and they run wild, Jesus has been reduced to this in the minds of most men who would call themselves by His name. They have created this Jesus in their own image. They would gladly say “behold the goodness of God,” while not finishing the sentence “and the severity of God.”
They would gladly tell you that “the gift of God is eternal life,” while refusing ever to say that the “wages of sin is death.” They will gladly tell you that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but they will never mention the very next sentence which says he who refuses to believe is condemned already. There is no iron and fury and anger, as Tozer puts it, in the God that they have created and worshiped. There is only grace and mercy and woe betide anyone who suggests otherwise. In the end, this will separate the wheat from the tares. Those who refuse to acknowledge a God who will judge the living and the dead will throw their lot in with a world who will be taken up with the god of this world.
The only iron and fury and anger we will see will be that of the apostate and the fallen world who will come together to judge the saint who worships the true and the Biblical and the living God. Their fury will be great and their anger without measure. They will have murderous hearts and will gnash their teeth and fall with great fury upon those who refuse to compromise, those who love the Word of God and who long for His appearance.
Yet, like Stephen, the saints of God will see the heavens open in that day and will see the glory of God in ways and depths that they have never seen nor experienced Him before. It will be their honor to stand upon the truth and to suffer and die for it and the Holy Spirit will rise up in them in ways the world has never seen. God will be glorified in His children and that glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
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Posted by appolus on September 18, 2020
Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
A door opened in heaven!! What is this, what can it mean? If such a door existed and we had access to it should we not find it and walk through it? Just a few sentences earlier we hear about the door;Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.(Rev 3:20) There is, it seems, a door that we as children of God can open, and when that door is opened we can sit down with the Lord at His banqueting table, glory to God. Again a few sentences before that we hear Jesus say I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.(Rev 3:8)
This open door to glory, this door to heaven, this access to the throne room belongs to the child of God. The ability to come before the Father and bow down and cry out Abba uniquely belongs to the enduring overcoming child of the living God. No man can shut this door, no power on earth can shut this door, Satan himself cannot shut this door. It has been given by the hand of God to His child and no one can rob him of it.
This is the glories of walking with the Lord with an open heart, to walk in His presence and according to His ways. This is the promise of Jesus to His faithful followers, that no matter what happens, no matter how dark the hour , no matter how fierce the opposition, the saints can walk in the glories of God and have access to His throne and to His presence and that He would keep them from the hour of temptation.
Now that word keep is better translated guard. To the loving Church who does not deny the name of Jesus and keeps His word, He guards them from that hour of temptation that is coming upon the world. Temptation loses its power for those who draw near to Jesus. To draw near to Jesus we must have an open door in our hearts, our hearts must be open to His glories and then we shall have the power to stand fast and let no man steal our crown.
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Posted by appolus on September 15, 2020
A skilled hunter has many tricks up his sleeve. One could call him crafty and devious, having the ability to get into the mind of that which he hunts and set many snares as he thinks necessary. There is often a carcass that has been torn to pieces but not yet fully consumed. The hunter knows that his prey will return to this carcass many times until is is consumed. Knowing this, he sets many traps around it.
He manipulates the landscape in an effort to funnel his prey in certain ways as to lead him right into the trap. The prey may smell danger and decide not to come to the carcass and go another way, the hunter knows this and has set many traps in order to maximize his potential of trapping the target. As long as the prey is anywhere near the carcass he is in great danger.
Do you have a rotting carcass in your life that you keep returning to and feeding from? It could be anything that is not of God. It could be bitterness, anger, hatred or unforgiveness. It could be sexual sin. Anything that is not of God and is a recurring theme in your mind or your life is a rotting carcass. The danger of course is that the hunter of your soul awaits your return. He has set snares and traps all around. Rotting carcasses also attract other wild animals. Now you may be fortunate for a time, but the hunter is very patient. While there is still meat on that carcass he knows that you will return, he knows where to wait for you.
Saints, we have to be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove. Lets say you do very well and avoid responding to someone or something in a manner that is not pleasing to the Lord. You have done well. If you then stumble into a secondary snare, such as bitterness or unforgiveness, then you have been trapped all the same. There are sins to flee from and there is a devil to resist.
Get rid of every carcass in you life, draw close to the Lord and He will draw close to you. Resist the devil. That word resist in the Greek means to stand against, to withstand, to stand your ground. Submit to God and His Word and stand your ground and you will endure, you will overcome, you will not be trapped by the enemy of your soul. There is a way of escape and a way of entrapment. Lets not aid the enemy of our souls.
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Posted by appolus on September 14, 2020
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.(Joh 14:6)
There are many earth shattering moments when Jesus spoke. Moments and words that changed everything. This scripture is among the most profound truth ever written. This is why in the end of end days it will become the most infamous of all Scriptures. This will be banned and become illegal to share in our life time. It will be deemed as hate speech and once that occurs, almost all of what Jesus spoke will be considered detrimental to the spiritual health of the population at large. His words will then be cherry picked and the rest will simply not be spoken of.
Let us affirm this truth. Jesus is the only way to heaven and every other road leads directly to hell, whether that be the Islamic road or the Judaic road or the Hindu road or the Buddhist road. The only way to God is through His son Jesus. He is the way. And in the depths of that meaning we are shown that it is not good enough to say that you are His or that you believe in Him, there must be fruits of your salvation. We will know a saint by the way that he or she walks. In the days of the inquisitions, many saints were identified for persecution because it was said of then that they lived “exemplary,” lives.
This is the way of Christ. We live and we strive to live as He did and taught. The truth is the word of God. It is not open for debate among saints, starting with the above Scripture. Jesus is the Truth and Jesus is the word made flesh and we stand upon it, even with our very lives. It burns at the center of our souls, it is a fire in our bones and flames upon our lips. The truth spoken in love scorches a Godless earth. To the ungodly it is a fire that must be extinguished.
Finally He is the life and no man truly follows Him without having His life in Him. His life in us is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. It is peace when all around us is turmoil. It is joy even in the depths of despair. It is love when we should hate. It is self control and meekness. It is a giving of ourselves and a crucified life. In all of this we are long suffering and the very least those around us will say is that we are good people. And so saint even in these ever darkening days let us stand upon the fundamental truth of our Lord and never waver even as the inevitable assaults come flooding in. He is true and let all men be liars.
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Posted by appolus on September 13, 2020
Sometimes I forget that I am a fighter. Every now and then the gross darkness comes in and I forget who I am for a moment, for a day, for a week. Then I remember. I look back and I remember. I remember battles. I remember being battered black and blue. I see the war torn terrain. I see the smoke and the mist and the darkness and I see the hand that reached down to me. From heaven itself. My God who rules supreme over every battle. My Lord Jesus, tried and true warrior who has rode through every battle and stood right there, back to back. I remember that and as I do the light comes flooding back. The darkness retreats. Don’t forget who you are today saint. Jesus has your back. In Him you are more than a conqueror. You will endure, you will prevail, you will overcome. Somebody need to hear that today. He sees you
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Posted by appolus on September 11, 2020
He is the still small voice. His presence has weight, it’s the weight of His glory. The atmosphere of the earth is dominated by gravity, it holds all things down, yet this law does not apply to the Kingdom, it has its own gravity, its own weight. It is like the fabric of space. It appears to be just empty space between the planets and the stars, but it is not. It has substance and the planet weighs down the fabric of space it rests upon and this causes the light to bend.
The weight of the presence of God causes us to bend. Not only bend in our spirits but also causes the head to bow down. With fabric of His glory all around, the head bows low and hands are lifted by a rising tide of His glory. The seen being affected by the unseen and in that space, in that atmosphere we are stilled. And in that stillness, in the throes of His glory, we are completely surrendered to it. We find perfect peace and a realm where there are no impossibilities. All things are possible here. A place of pure joy awash with a river of tears. The manifest presence of God.
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Posted by appolus on September 9, 2020
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being.
The Lord is the very source of our lives. We breathe because He first breathed life into us. The very essence of our lives , our existence, depended upon and depends upon God, whether men know this or not. He holds it all together. Not only is He the creator but He is the very fabric of all that exists. We move because He created these bodies and we think because God created our minds. This is the universal truth of all men whether they care to acknowledge it or not.
Now the twice born man is very different from the once born man. He no longer lives, in the sense that he merely exists. It is now Christ that lives in Him. He is a new creation in Christ and is a son of the living God. The Father and the Son have taken up residence in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. So his life is now supernatural. Yes he exists, he lives, but its no longer he but Christ in him. This body of the saint that was once only a vehicle for the soul of man, is now the residence of the most High God. The life that he now lives is maintained and sustained by faith.
To move in God is to walk in the manifest presence of the Lord. In the natural, to move means to go from one place to another. In the supernatural, to move in God is to draw deeper into the heart of the Father. And from that place comes power, and so we can move in the power of God. We can move in the love of God. We can move in forgiveness and grace and discernment. Like the natural man, when the spiritual man moves, he is moving from one place to another. It is part of his spiritual journey home, from precept to precept. Ever closer, ever deeper.
Our being is our very existence. Every human being exists in time and space. Yet the man or woman who is born again now exists not only in time and space, but in the Kingdom of God that was and is and is to come. When we have our being in Him by virtue of the new birth we live and move and have our being in the Kingdom of God. We breathe rarified air. Our atmosphere is different from the rest of humanity. We breath in the poison of the world and we breath out life. In the place of darkness we bring life from the light of God like spiritual photosynthesis.
Brothers and sister, let us reckon this to be so as we live and move in this world. Know who you are and know your place in this world. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9)
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Posted by appolus on September 8, 2020
Can you hear the silence? It calls to me from the mountains and it calls to me from the valleys. From the great plains to the vast forests the silence calls to me. Come away from the noise. Are you drowning in the noise? In the silence my soul longs to rejoice. Lift me to higher ground Lord, take me up, away from the noise that everyday grows louder and louder. Everywhere I turn the noise assaults my soul. In the golden shades of glory that surrounds your majesty there is such a stillness that touches my stormy heart. The sirens call with such a din, calling us onto the rocks and disturbing our peace within. May the silence take me to the Rock that is Higher than I. May my weary soul find wings and may I fly to the glory that is you. Can you hear the silence? Is it calling to you too? Listen, listen, can you hear the still small voice.”Come away with me.”
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Posted by appolus on September 7, 2020
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith, what an incredible word. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Think about that for a moment. Things hoped for has no substance in this material world. Yet it forms the foundation upon which we stand. It exists in a realm we cannot see. Yet in the depths of our heart and the heights of our spirit we know it to be true. By this understanding we know that the Word of God Himself framed this world and every star in the night sky. The things that are seen was not made by what can be seen. It is only by faith that this can be known.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Think about that for a moment. It is a totally otherworldly statement. In this material world in which we dwell, evidence consists entirely of things seen. Yet in the Kingdom of God and the hearts of men, the evidence of things unseen is the entire basis for our existence. We believe in the unseen world. We believe in the unseen God. We believe in the unseen heaven and we also believe in an unseen hell.
This knowing that has been given to us, is the evidence of the things to come. The evidence of things not seen, that sentence absolutely runs counter to everything man is and knows. There in enmity between the heads of men and the hearts of the saints and never the twain can meet. There is a vast gulf between the two and it is impassable. The man who follows his head can only believe in what he can see. He will say “show me.” The man who follows the dictates of his heart and the leading of the Spirit will simply say, “I believe.”
Only by knowing God can these truths be known. It is in this realm of the knowing that we exist as saints. We walk in that realm. This is walking in the Spirit. We know what cannot be known. We know beyond the knowledge of man. There is an old song called “He lives.” The chorus goes like this…..He lives , He lives, Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way He lives , He lives , salvation to impart, You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.
Ask me how I know He lives. You see He lives inside of me. He walks with me as the old song says. He talks with me. Faith may be the evidence of things unseen by this world but I have saw the Lord high and lifted up. I have knelt before the throne of God and all His glory filled the temple and it filled my heart and it filled my very soul. I have sat at His feel and He has taught me. I have cried out in the night watches and He has wiped away my tears. I was dead in the valley of dry bones and He raised me up. He gave me a new heart and He breathed His very life into me.
Yes, I trust Him and my hope is in Him but my hope is not like the hope of this world. My very hope has substance even although you cannot see it. My hope is Christ Himself, the Christ that dwells within my heart. The Christ that raised me from the dead. The Christ who whispers in my ear. The Christ that conquered every fear. The Christ who showed me how to die and the Christ who taught me how to fly. He is my sunrise in the morning and He is the sunset of my life. The beginning and the end and everything in between.
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A Call To The Remnant 