Archive for the ‘The presence of God’ Category
Posted by appolus on February 26, 2020
Unless there has been an encounter with God how can there be a fear of the Lord? It is, for the most part, those who have never encountered God that do not fear Him. Even in the Word when people encountered angels they fell down like one who was dead, never mind encountering God. Isaiah felt that he was “undone,” as he stood before the Lord. The word “undone,” in the Greek is dawmaw which means to be cut down, to be destroyed, to utterly perish and at a very minimum, to be brought to silence.
There is a direct correlation between the proper fear of God and proximity to God. The greater the revelation of God in our lives the more we fear Him in a proper way. He is high and lifted up and His glory fills the temple. It fills every part of who we are to overflowing with awe and wonder and reverence. Our heads are bowed, our mouths are shut and our trembling hands are raised in submission and surrender to something so utterly otherworldly that it beggers the mind and transforms the spirit and leaves us changed and wanting to be changed even more.
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Posted by appolus on February 12, 2020
He comes to us in the majesty of silence and we are hushed and our heads are bowed in the glory. Tears begin to flow as He inhabits the very atmosphere around us and we breath Him in and He invades every part of who we are and we are willingly conquered. Trembling hands are raised up into the glory that now surrounds us and fills us to full and overflowing.
Surely our hearts and our souls will explode, surely our trembling bodies shall not be able to contain such glory? And we are changed forever. Modern worship can never really experience this because they can never simply be quiet and bow to the fact that the King has come, let all men fall before Him. He competes with no one. He is preeminent or He is not, there is no in between.
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Posted by appolus on January 28, 2020
What can happen in the Kingdom of God without sacrifice? Sacrifice is a fundamental concept among believers. Even our praise is considered to be a sacrifice and we know that the Lord inhabits the praises of His people. For the Lord to come in our midst we have to offer the sacrifice of our praise to God which is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name (Heb 13:15) You know I missed out one word when I was paraphrasing that Scripture, that word is continually. To praise God we must be in a position to give thanks continually. We cannot be in that position without sacrifice. We must sacrifice many aspects of the flesh in order to be able to genuinely give thanks. So sacrifice is a vital part of our walk.
Now in order to sacrifice,an altar is required. Under the law there were different types of altars, the golden altar of his intercession and the one I am interested in is the brazen altar of sacrifice. Now the altars of the Old Testament were types, types of Christ. They were the shadows of what was to be when the light came forth. Now the brazen altar lay at the beginning of the tabernacle in the outer court. There was three main parts to the tabernacle. The outer court, the Holy place and then the holy of holies. The temple also had, for the most part, three main parts. The court of the gentiles, the Holy place and the Holy of Holies. And so in every example of tabernacle , Solomon’s temple or Herod’s temple we see three main divisions.
The order of progression would go something like this. When entering the tabernacle we are faced with a huge brazen altar, a place of sacrifice. There could be no moving forward without a sacrifice or a burnt offering. A sacrifice was a partial burning, a burnt offering was all consuming. After that you made youR way to the laver bowl where you cleansed your hands. Now you moved into the holy place where you would find the Menorah and the table of shewbread then the altar of incense, a place where prayer is offered, then behind the veil and into the holy of holies.
Today we have an altar in most churches and for the most part it is a place where you come and get something is that not correct? And yet we see in the types of altar we just described that they were a place of sacrifice, a place where you brought something, where you laid something down. Nowadays for the most part its a place to get something. Come forward and get salvation, come forward and get healing, come forward and receive a gift. Now of course, none of these things are inherently wrong. Yet if it is in the context of looking for something rather than laying something down it becomes grasping and self fulfilling. A church I have visited runs to the altar. Seriously, they sprint to the altar to receive something. They believe their running is a virtue, that they so desire the things of God for their life that they run to it. It sounds kinda good, but there is no aspect of it that is sacrificial, it is only a place where you might get something. What a disaster. They will never, as a church or individually. make it past the brazen altar, they are forever stuck in the outer court.
So how does one rightfully proceed in our hearts as we come before the Lord? If there is something before us and the Lord we must lay it down, it must be sacrificed, there has to be a burned offering if we are to move beyond the outer court. Let me suggest that the greater part of Christendom dwells in the outer court, the court of the gentiles as it would later be described. They dwell there because they refuse to sacrifice, they refuse to lay down that foul smelling thing that requires to be burned in the refining fires of the brazen altar. And so there they stay and there they will stay. For those who would move forward to the holy place, they are the ones who are willing to lay their sin down at the altar. Jesus is the altar. Confessing sin one to another is the beginning of a burned offering.
Now one can cleanse their hands in the lavar bowl and move through the door into the holy place and leave the outer court and the gentiles (the world) behind. Jesus is the door. Jesus is the altar. Jesus is the laver bowl. In the holy place we are nourished by the shewbread. Jesus is the shewbread. He is the bread of life. We stand illuminated in the light of the Menorah, Jesus is the Menmorah, He is the Light of our lives and in Him there is no darkness. Then we move forward to the altar of incense. Jesus is the altar of prayer. He made the way for us to come before the Father and cry Abba. Then the incense of of prayers infuses the Holy place with a sweet smelling savor. Jesus is that sweet smelling savor for He has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. (Eph 5:2)
Finally brothers and sisters our prayers come before the throne of grace, we now stand in the Holy of Holies before the Living God Himself. In that place we touch eternity as we stand in the manifest presence of God. We are surrounded by shekinah glory. His glory. It fills the temple, the tabernacle, the place of meeting. This is not a place that is to be found in the court of the gentiles so to speak. Not in the world nor in the outer courts nor even in the holy place. The brazen altar and the altar of incense has done its work. Jesus has done His work, He has made a way for us to come back to the heart of God. This, I would argue, is far removed from the altars that men have erect4d in most churches. One is self serving and the designs of man, the other is sacrificial and the work of God. Sacrifice is the key. Are you taking up your cross every day? Are you continually giving thanks unto our great God who is worthy to be praised? Diligently seek the Lord our God today for in the diligence ( a word that encompasses sacrifice, taking up ones cross, overcoming, enduring and thankfulness) you will find that God’s manifest presence is your exceeding great reward.
I wanted to add one last thing. Almost 13 years ago I had a vision. I have only had a few in my 30 years of salvation. I was “taken up,” by the Lord.I Dont really know how to define that. I saw some kind of amalgamation of the tabernacle and the temple. The Lord showed me the court of the gentiles and how almost all of what calls itself after His name dwelt there and refused to move forward. There was a wide low door that led to the brazen altar ( so that would be more akin to the temple) It was wide because all were welcome. It was low because to enter one must humble himself and face the brazen altar. Most of the folks in the court of the gentiles had no desire whatsoever to humble themselves and face the brazen altar. They were quite content with their activity in the outer court. Only a few would come to the place of sacrifice. Then the scene changes and I saw people who flew in the lofty heights of the presence of God. Few there were. Most were earthbound, laden down with gifts they had accumulated. The gifts were love and mercy and forgiveness. They refused to share what had been freely given to them and the weight of what they had gathered to themselves and stuffed into their pockets held them down. In order to fly into the heights of His glory they would have to empty themselves and give to others what they themselves had received. The very gifts, that were designed to bless, when held back from others, became a terrible weight that held them earthbound. And the great irony was, those who gave to others what they had been given received even more in the presence of the Living God.
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Posted by appolus on January 23, 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 before the presence of God and grasp something of His majesty and be filled with his eternal beauty and not suffer upon his return from this 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.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isa 53:3) 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 January 15, 2020
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
The real test for us as Christians is how we walk along the path set before us. We can walk with the Lord by our side, and by that I mean we can walk with His empowering manifest presence. Not unlike the disciples that walked with Jesus after His resurrection and their hearts burned as He taught them. His very nearness and His Spirit caused their hearts to burn and glow. Or, we can walk alone, and by that I mean we can walk in our own strengths minus the awareness of His presence.
Now we know saints, as good Bible scholars, that God is omnipresent, meaning He is everywhere at the same time. And as saints we know that He also dwells in our hearts. This is not what we are here referring to here. We are talking about what it means to walk in the nearness of the Spirit of God as opposed to walking in the flesh. And as saints we can do both. If we would walk in the Spirit of God, walk in His awareness and therefore walk in His power, then we must, as the Lord told us to, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Every day. Every moment. We must be aware of the Kingdom and the Kingdom walk. Our eyes must be engaged in Kingdom sight. We must see things through the lense of the Lord and His word. Our mouths must be engaged in the Kingdom language, we must speak as ambassadors of the King. We must draw near to Him and not quench the Spirit of God. To quench the Spirit of God is to pour cold water upon our burning hearts. Will you throw another log on the fire and cause it to burn brighter, or will you douse it with the cold waters of the world?
A man and a wife can stay in the same house but never be intimate, perhaps even stay in two different bedrooms. Are they close? Yes, in proximity. Are they married? Yes, still married. Yet, because they are not intimate they are really no better than room-mates. One may call it a love-less marriage. Who would want to be part of a love-less marriage? It is considered by most as a tragedy. How greater a tragedy than to be room-mates with the Lord? Yes He is in your heart, yes you are saved, but you are never spiritually intimate. The real tragedy in a marriage is if one longed for intimacy but the other never responded or had no such need or desire. Jesus longs to be spiritually intimate with His disciples. Only as a result of this intimacy can we expect to be aware of His presence. We grow together in intimacy. We become alike in intimacy. Two become one in intimacy. The man or the woman who does not understand, seek or desire to be intimate with the Lord shall never grow and his or her walk will be a very lonely one.
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Posted by appolus on December 27, 2019
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
The freedom to do what is right, towers above the prison and the chains of commandments. One is initiated by love, the other is enforced by the whip. Holiness comes from freedom and freedom comes from love . And this love inspires and draws us and compels us to honor and respect and obey our Father in heaven. His love is the very air that we breathe and the air before His throne is rarified air and if we cannot breathe this air then we die. The impetus for us to follow the commands that are written upon our heart is love. It is more powerful than the commands that were written upon tablets of stone. Those who would sin without conviction and use some kind of legal fiction (cheap grace) to excuse or justify their actions simply do not have the laws of God written upon their hearts. The grace of God is such a beautiful and dynamic and fundamental part of our relationship with the Lord. It is never a license to sin, God forbid. It is the very opposite for those who know Jesus. When we sin there is a separation between ourselves and the one that we love. We cry with David “restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” The blood bought heart can never be at peace when there is any kind of distance between it and his or her Lord. Love compels us to humble ourselves, broken and contrite, and come before our Lord in confession so that we may once again walk in the beauty and closeness of His presence and holiness.
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Posted by appolus on November 24, 2019
The Lord spoke to me the other day as I was walking and praying, and the word that came to me was ownership. The Holy Spirit brought to my mind the parable of the tenants from Mark 12. Now the Master had planted a vineyard, He planted a hedge about it and He dug a great pit that would receive the juice from the crushed grapes and He built a tower. Everything that was needed to produce new wine was handed over to the tenants to look after while He was gone. Tenants mind you, He did not sell it to them, they were to look after it and at some point the Master would require most of the fruit that the vine produced. Now, because the Master tarried for a great time, as was His prerogative, the tenants, having possession of that vineyard, at some point began to believe that they had ownership over the vineyard. They were no longer simply workers of the Master, they had become, in their own eyes, the masters of the vineyard.
Now the audience to whom this parable was spoken to is an important part of the story. The audience was the chief priest and the scribes and the Pharisees. He was clearly talking to them and they knew it. He was peeling open their hearts for all the world to see. While on the outside they still pretended to be serving God in their capacity as priests and scribes, serving the Temple and the system, The Lord was clearly showing that in the deepest parts of their hearts, they had assumed ownership over the worship of God and His temple. They were no longer servants of the most high God, tenants merely looking after something that did not belong to them, they had arrogantly assumed ownership of it all. And they would not be accountable to the Master, in fact they would destroy anyone He sent in order to hold on to what they now believed to be theirs.
Ownership. How would this concept infect Christendom? In the early days pf the Church, as most know, brothers and sisters met in houses. Consider these following Scriptures and note the pattern.
Philemon 1:2 – And to [our] beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:
1 Corinthians 16:19 – The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.
Colossians 4:15 – Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.
Romans 16:5 – Likewise [greet] the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
Can you see the recurring phrase? It is “the church that is in their house.” You see clearly here that the Church is the people and the house is simply the place that they met. We have to jump forward almost three hundred years to the time of Constantine to see where it all changed. Keep in mind that the Church is the people and the Church met in people’s houses. The notion that the house was the Church is a totally foreign concept. How could the Church meet in the Church? And so, because the Church met in people’s houses, no one could have ownership of it. Yet, when Constantine decided that Christianity would be the State religion, great temples were built to rival and surpass all the pagan temples of the day. This is where the Church would now worship, this is where we see the building become the Church in the eyes of men. Now people “went to Church.” And this building that had usurped the title of the Body of Christ now had owners. They were not simply tenants or shepherds or elders, watching over the Masters flock, they were owners. And just like the scribes and the priests and Pharisees before them, the owners pretended to serve God but they in fact were merely serving themselves. Anyone who threatened their livelihoods were abused, imprisoned, tortured and killed. They were in fact worse than the Pharisees and scribes who went before them for they went out and actively hunted down and killed all who opposed them, searching high and low, near and far to find anyone who challenged their ownership of “Christendom.”
So we see a collision of two great errors that was to shape Christendom for the next 1800 years and we are still living with the consequences of error built upon error. The first error was that the Church, rather than being the people, became the building, and the second error is the building itself, for a building has intrinsic value and men fight over things of value and desire to have ownership over it. In practical terms, those who owned the building owned the activities that took place within the building. Rather than have a Royal priesthood of believers, we now saw a clergy/laity split. The clergy were the owners and the laity were the ones who served the clergy. Now because they had assumed ownership, they also assumed authority. This is the third great error that forms the foundation of religion rather than relationship. This authority was exercised with such brutality it is hard to even describe. God sent hundreds of thousand of saints over the last 2000 years to challenge these men and these men responded with a brutality that would make hell blush.
And now in our time we have the impotent aftermath of a thousand years of error. A thousand years of ownership, a thousand years of the royal priesthood being forcibly divided into clergy and laity. A rotten dying system of men. A system that denies the authority of the one they proclaim. There can only be one Master and it is He who must have the preeminence. Yet if that preeminence was actually acknowledged and bowed down to, the “owners,” would lose their possessions. What will the Lord of the vineyard do when He returns with those who usurped His authority and in practical terms exercised ownership and authority over that which did not belong to them? There will indeed be weeping and gnashing of teeth as they cry out “Lord, Lord, we did all these things in your name.”
Brothers and sisters let me encourage you. This rotten system is crumbling around us. The Tares are becoming self evident as the days of the harvest approach, as the hour draws near. The Master shall return and His return is imminent. Let Him find faith on the earth when He returns. Let us follow hard after our Lord and His Word. Read His Word and follow it with all of your heart. Let it be the great North star that guides you through the stormy seas of countless centuries of the traditions of men. Let these traditions fall away like the garments of death that were removed from Lazarus as he arose from the dead and emerged from his tomb as he heard the cry of the Lord Himself “come forth.” Brothers and sisters come forth out of the darkness of tradition into the light of the Word of God and His call. He is calling. The stone is being rolled away by the power of God. And into the dark and gloomy cave where the dead lie, the light of Christ shines forth and beckons you to “come out of her.”
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Posted by appolus on October 30, 2019
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 your place, you no longer belong to this world even although you are in it, you are not of it. Your place is in the Kingdom of God before His throne.
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Posted by appolus on October 25, 2019
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;(Php 1:29)
A wise man once wrote ” Friction is the polish that shines our graces.” Another way of saying that could be ” suffering is the path that leads to glory.” This is never a popular teaching, but suffering is a gift from God in the sense that it helps to sanctify us and shape us and teach us. The flesh screams out against ever going down that path. As mere humans we would never personally choose to go down such a path. Yet do you know what that path is called dear saint? It’s called the narrow path and it leads to life. One might ask “how can trials and humiliations , pain and suffering and even sometimes death lead to life?” As Christians, do we really need to ask that question? This was the life of Christ. He was acquainted with suffering, He was a man of sorrows. Some would teach that He suffered so that we would not have to. This is not true. He overcame suffering and hell and death so that we could overcome too in His name and by the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures tells us that “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Heb 5:8-9) If you are suffering today and in the midst of a sore trial, I want to encourage you. God is in control. He knows and He sees. There is nothing lost not a single tear. One day soon, all of those tears will be wiped away in the glories of heaven. Dear saint, you are not alone. You have brothers and sisters all over the world who too are passing through this vale of tears, this passage through the valley of weeping.
Now weeping may last through the midnight hours but joy shall find you on the morrow. You have a heart that cries out to the living God. Your soul longs to be away with Him to that place, the courts of the Lord. That place where just one moment in His presence is better than a thousand elsewhere. These moments are found along the valley floor, the valley of weeping. They are pools of living waters to refresh the weary saint as he journeys home. Living waters and the tears of all the saints that have went before you. Lift up your eyes saints and see the journey’s end. The Lord Himself and the place that He has prepared for you. Keep your eyes on the eternal horizon and remember your calling. It is calling to you, it is reminding you by by a whisper on the wind and that small still voice in your ear which speaks to your heart. Can you hear His voice calling you? Your steps are ordered of God, never let the enemy convince you otherwise. Put one more step in front of the other and the Lord will strengthen you. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, Daily devotional, Devotions, end times, Jesus, revival, sanctification, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on October 21, 2019
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?(Jer 12:5)
When the saints are brought together, most likely by persecution, they will be like a well watered garden spiritually. Their hearts shall be glad that all the pretense of this world shall be cast of. They will have counted the cost and the price will be total separation from a world that has turned on them. When the Lord passed through the veil of tears of Gethsemane and totally surrendered to the will of His Father in heaven, for the joy that was set before Him, He willingly endured the suffering of the cross.
If you are now wearied by the world’s attitudes towards us brothers and sisters, what will you do when you have to contend with universal persecution that is surely at the door? If the very thought of it perplexes you greatly, what will the reality of it do to your peace? Do not grow weary brothers and sisters in a day and age where those who call themselves by the name of Jesus reject you and despise you and would exclude you. We must not let the complaint of this be foremost in our minds but rather of Jesus and that we are His servants. The trials to come will be severe and we must be able to walk in it by faith and with love and with power and a sound mind. Today is the the day of our preparation for tomorrow comes the battle.
I would encourage you today, not by telling you that all of our problems are behind us, indeed they are not and the greatest challenges lie ahead in the near future. No, my encouragement to you is that our souls will be like well watered gardens even in the middle of a wilderness desert of persecution. The greatest fellowship you will ever experience, as some now so desperately desire, will be yours as the enemy comes in like a flood and the Lord raises up a standard. Firstly your depth of relationship with the Lord will exceed anything you have ever imagined, and after the wheat has been separated from the tares, your fellowship with your fellow brothers and sisters will be sublime. Let us now run with the footmen and not grow weary so that we shall then be as swift as horses in the Kingdom of our 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 persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 30, 2019
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.(Mic 7:8)
When everything else has failed. When we have no wise counselors left to turn to. When in the blackness of our situation we realize that whether we turn to the left or the right that all is darkness and there seems to be no way ahead. Then we can say this to the accuser of the brethren. Even if you take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea then you can say this. Even If you make your bed in hell then you can say this. “After this darkness I shall arise.”
You shall arise for in Him there is no darkness. You shall arise for He is the light of your life. You shall arise for He has not finished with you. You shall rise up in the morning, you shall rise up in the evening, you shall rise up when you have fallen. You shall rise up above the storm. You shall rise up for He is High and lifted up and He beckons you to come to where He is. The darkness of your sin is swept away by the light of His forgiveness. The tears of the broken and the contrite fall into the waters of life and they cry out “You are the light of the world and in you there is no darkness at all.” Even the darkness is light to Him.
I will bear the indignation of my God because against Him alone have I sinned. He bore my iniquity on Calvary and brought me forth out of darkness into His marvelous light and I beheld His righteousness. Yes I shall fall but I rise up for He rose up. Rejoice not oh enemy of my soul for unlike you I will rise again, for that which I have committed unto Him He shall keep. He shall complete the work He began in me. He is faithful to complete it. When I have cried all the tears there are to cry then I will arise, I will leave the darkness behind me, I will awake the dawn with His praises and follow the still small voice. I rise on the wings of victory only because He arose triumphant and ascended to the glories of His Father’s house. To the saint who has fallen, you shall rise up, you shall endure and overcome, He has not forgotten you, He sees the afflictions of His people and His knowing is your light. Trust in Him, wait for Him, and follow Him for He is the light of your life.
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 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on September 15, 2019
I have been thinking about the subject of suicide in the last couple of days as two well known people committed suicide this week, one of them a mega pastor. As someone who was first overshadowed by the darkness of that thought when I was around twelve and then in later life just prior to coming to Christ I know something of that struggle. I came from a very broken background and that was undoubtedly the breeding ground of these thoughts
I listen to much of what is said today on the subject and it is always or almost always spoken of in terms of mental illness. I disagree for the most part. It is not a mental illness but rather a spiritual illness, a malaise of your very soul. And so the answer does not lie in the head but in the heart. It is a deep darkness which can only be truly combated by Light.
I sought desperately for this light at the age of twenty six. Sin and despair and brokenness had weighed me down. It was almost as if gravity was slowly being eradicated all around me making every step, every thought, every action heavier and heavier. At the same time the darkness increased daily and so I lived in an ever darkening world where every step took enormous effort. It was quite literally mentally and physically exhausting.
Have you ever been very tired behind the wheel of a car at night? Your eyes are getting heavier and heavier and a small voice inside your head whispers “just close your eyes for a second, it will be okay.” And the more tired you get the more sensible that voice begins to sound. There is a craving for sleep. Now imagine a voice much louder than a whisper trying to convince you that the ultimate sleep is the ultimate relief.
This is the lie of the darkness. Oh the sweetness of the light that shone into my broken sin sodden heart. Jesus stood up in the temple and told the people that He had come to heal the broken-hearted, to set at liberty the captives. The answer to the darkness of the suicidal thought is the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. This daily abiding in Him, this taking up of the armor of the Lord, taking on the shield of righteousness that quenches the fiery darts, sometime flaming arrows is so vital.
Spiritual brokenness lies at the heart of most suicides. Men and woman who, in their own minds have no worth and have no purpose for living, who cannot see any light. It is darkness that threatens to consume them and it is the Light of Christ that will deliver them. This is the Word of God and it is my own testimony of the reality of His Word. In Him I have found worth. In Him I have found purpose and in Him I have found that light which comes against and destroys the darkness.
Dear Father in heaven. I pray for all of those who are afflicted and tormented by this scourge. In the mighty name of Jesus I cry out for all those who are going under, drowning in gross darkness and being brought down very low by the heaviness of this world and their place in it. May the light of Christ shine into every dark corner and may the victorious work of Calvary liberate the captives from their chains and from the darkness of sin and brokenness.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 5 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 8, 2019
A building or a heart, where does the Lord dwell ? A heart beats, it has chambers , it has blood that pumps and travels to every part of the body bringing life sustaining oxygen. The Body, while complex and made up of many parts, is totally dependent upon the heart. To meet in the name of Jesus is to meet with saints who are identified by the character and the nature of Jesus.
People who have His blood pumping through them, have His Spirit that has set them ablaze. Burning embers gathered together create the potential for a great fire. Throw a log on one ember and it may catch fire after a while, throw a log onto a group of burning embers and it will catch fire right away. One fire, many embers greater light, greater heat. Now, gather a bunch of branches together with no fire and you will just have a bunch of branches. It could not call itself a fire for it clearly is without fire. Just because you call yourself a Christian and gather in the name of Jesus means nothing if you are not actually Christians. A bunch of dead wood is a bunch of dead wood.
Yet, those set ablaze, gathered together could potentially turn the whole word upside down as it burns away all the dross. This scripture that where two or three are gathered in my name, is far more important than we know. To gather in the name of Jesus is a deeply spiritual thing for those who have been born again according to His Spirit, His character and His nature. The enemy has done his level best to dilute that to the point where any fire that existed would be smothered out. The name of Jesus in the form of the word “Christian,” meaning follower of Christ is no mere adjective. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.
Being a Christ follower means to bear the life of Christ in us. So, when two or three genuine Christ followers come together for the sole purpose of Spirit being drawn unto Spirit then there is a magnification that takes place. Like a magnifying glass that captures the light of the sun and turns it into something so very potent, then the Holy Spirit takes the light that is within us, the tow or the three or the however many and turns it into something very powerful. Darkness is the mere absence of light. It cannot be magnified. Take a thousand dark souls and gather them together and what do you have? Darkness. Take the light from two or three or one hundred or a thousand genuine saints , undiluted by the darkness of unbelief and down comes the power of God in a unique way.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 6, 2019
The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70ad by Rome. They Roman army that destroyed Jerusalem and the temple were led by a general named Titus. He gave instructions that no one was to enter the famed room in the temple, the holy of holies. He would have that honor. He entered behind the veil and when he re-appeared he reportedly said “what was all that fuss about an empty room.”
You see, there was no Ark of the Covenant there. It was quite simply an empty room. It was reckoned that the room had been empty for almost 500 years when the temple had previously been destroyed. Some think Jeremiah may have removed it and hidden it, but no matter what actually happened to it, the fact is that for several hundred years the Ark of the Covenant , the presence of God, was not there. So the question becomes “why were the high priests going through the rituals every year knowing fine well that at its very core, it was lie.”
Now, let us think about our own religious organizations. Are the pastors of today any better than the high priests of Israel? Do they not have the same motivations that the high priest had? The system itself was all important. Without the illusion of the presence of God at the very heart of it, it could not have survived. For it all to work the people had to think that the Ark of the Covenant existed, dwelt in the temple. Yet, when the veil was pulled back, just an empty room.
Thirty seven years prior to the destruction of the temple, where not one stone was left un-turned, Jesus hung on a cross outside of the walls. God Himself rent the curtain from top to bottom at that time? What was He revealing? He was revealing that the true presence of God, Jesus Christ, was not behind a veil in a room in the temple, He had been rejected and taken outside. The presence of God was to be found at Calvary, not at the heart of a system that had long since lost the presence of God.
How many churches could you walk into next Sunday and there be struck by the manifest presence of God? I ask you reader, do you know a single church where the manifest presence of God is found in the midst of the gathering? Is the cloud of His glory there? Do people stand with their heads hung low in the glory? Do hands rise and tears fall as the glory of God overtakes His people? If that is not so for the vast majority of churches, then why are the pastors of these churches any different from the high priests who for several hundred years went in and out of an empty room and let the people think that the presence of God dwelt there in the heart of their religious activity?
The charade only ended when Jesus Himself walked into the midst of it and was rejected and killed by it. God has a “house,” a temple and has a zeal for it. He created a royal priesthood of believers and built Himself a temple out of each and everyone of them, living stones one and all. This is the temple that He inhabits and this is where the Spirit and Truth reside, in the beating hearts of his saints. Men may rebuild temples and make claims about them, but without the presence of the living God we now have a million empty rooms. God dismantled and destroyed one religious system devoid of His presence, stone by stone, will He not do that again? There are royal priests and their are high priests, we now call them pastors, which one serves God and His presence and which one serves the system? You cannot serve two masters for you will love the one and despise the other. Who do we serve?
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on September 2, 2019
O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Why should we not be wearied and troubled if we take our gaze off our Lord? Christendom is wearied and troubled. To think that the answer is this close. A turning of the head away from the world. Away from the traditions of men. Away from systems and institutions. Away from men themselves. To look into the fullness of God. To look full into His wonderful face. To stand corporately where there is no division, but simply a royal priesthood gazing upwards.
There is an abundance of life that awaits the royal priesthood. To stand in the unity that the Lord Jesus spoke of in John 17 is to stand in awe as the cloud descends and fills the temple with Glory. This is the glory, this is the presence that the Father and the Son dwelt in before the world began. Lord, let your glory fill your house, your temple. Fill us with your glory for your name’s sake. Let the things of this world grow strangely in the light of your glory and grace.
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Posted by appolus on August 27, 2019
When the spiritual stands to confront the merely formal, traditional, nominal and “natural,” then there is going to be trouble. This is not now merely the reaction from the world: it is the reaction from religion. I would go further, and say it may be the reaction from Christianity. There is a very great difference between formal, traditional, nominal, “natural” Christianity, on the one side, and spiritual Christianity, on the other; a great deal of difference. So much so, that this also becomes a battlefield – the battlefield of a lot of trouble.
Leave formalism alone, and everything will go on quite quietly. Leave traditionalism alone – that is, the set order of things as it has always been; that framework of things as it has been constituted and set up and established by man; that Christianity which is the fixed, accepted system of things – and you will escape a great deal of trouble. But seek to bring in a truly spiritual order of things, and trouble arises at once. And YOU are the trouble maker! The truth is that the trouble lies in the existing condition, the situation, the state; but it is only brought out by your action.
And so spiritual men and women, and spiritual ministry, are called “trouble makers,” because the two things cannot go on together. That is where Israel was. They had the traditions, they had the oracles, they had the ordinances, they had the testimonies; they had the forms, they had the system – they had it all; but, in the days of the prophets, there was ever this vast gap between the “externals” and “internals” of life in relation with God. The heart is far removed from the lips. The spiritual reality is not found in the formal. You may have it all – but then bring in the truly spiritual meaning of things, and trouble begins in that very realm. It is the trouble which arises when what is external and traditional comes into conflict with something which is truly spiritual……T.A.Sparks
Brother Sparks has identified an eternal truth. There is enmity between the flesh and the spirit. Can the two co-exist? No, one must die. It is often a slow tortured death, but death nonetheless. We cannot serve two masters, Jesus identified this truth for us. We are told that we shall love the one and hate the other. This word hate is the Biblical word for prefer. People take comfort in the fact that they do not hate “the other.” No, but they prefer the formal, the traditional, the nominal. In the end, we can only worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Take away Spirit and Truth and you are left with an argument about where you should worship. It is not where we should worship, it is how we should worship. In Spirit and in Truth. The flesh, represented by the formal, the traditional the nominal and the natural is the deadliest enemy of the Spirit and the Truth.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 3 Comments »
Posted by appolus on August 17, 2019
There is the presence of God to be found in enthusiastic and energetic worship, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head that hangs low and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and leave you strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of worship that seems to have fled the land. A worship where we breath in rarified air. Oh how desperate is our need for this kind of encounter in our day.
The first kind of presence lifts your heart to gaze upon the Master, the second kind of presence invades every part of who you are. It falls from heaven like a heavy dew, heads are lowered and hands are raised. All becomes quiet, one barely dares to breathe as the Spirit of God slowly descends down through our out-strecthed hands and our hearts and minds and down to the very soles of our feet, and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. The first kind of presence uplifts us, the second changes us fundamentally. As living waters pour into us then it rises up like a great river that is so full that it overflows its banks.
The banks themselves begin to crumble and fall into this river of pure life as it swells up and floods through every part of who we are. The landscape is being changed by this flood, the very topography of our lives is being flattened by its powers and everything that is not securely rooted to its foundations is simply swept away. Changed forever. And when the flood recedes we are left with a glorious afterglow. As the deer pants for the waterbrooks, I wonder, do our hearts pant after this kind of encounter.
The Lord Himself does not need professional worship teams. He does not need people to encourage us to stand and jump up and down and raise our hands. In the Welsh revival two young women singing either acapella or simply backed by a piano typically sang “Here is love, vast as the ocean.” And there was Love, in the very midst of them, vast as the ocean, flooding the hearts and minds of all who attended.
Brothers and sisters, in all our modernity, what have we lost? In the programs of our churches and the professional class of worship leaders and pastors have we lost the simplicity of it all? And in the losing of it we now have to entertain the people. Spirit led worship is exactly that, it is Spirit led. In work we have a routine. In life we have a routine. Prisoners in prison have a routine. Oftentimes we are slaves to the routine, it is what gets us through life.
Yet, there is nothing routine about the Holy Spirit of the Living God. He is dynamic and you can never know what way the wind will blow next. Have we sold out our souls to the routine? Routine in the home, routine at work, routine at church. Routine people do not change the world. Routine people do not do wage war on the battle-fields of life. Saints, you are extraordinary because of the great treasure that lies within you. Extraordinary people change everything by the overflowing power of God that flows through every part of who they are.
The Spirit of God is dynamic and those filled with His “dynamis,” change the environment around them because of the environment inside of them. Their spirits have been filled to capacity and is overflowing their banks. And all who come near are caught up in the flooding overflow of a mighty all consuming God. Lord fill us again to overflowing with the kind of presence that invades every part of who we are and may all that we encounter be caught up in the flood that overflows our spirit.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, praise, praise and worship, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, worship, worship music | Leave a Comment »
Posted by appolus on August 15, 2019
So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.(1Sa 4:4-5)
This is a truly horrifying scene. The ark of the covenant was in the hands of Hophni and Phinehas, two very evil men. In the beginning of Chapter three of 1 Samuel we see that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there was no widespread revelation.” So, when the people were facing a great calamity they could not turn to the Lord, they did not even know why they had been defeated that day because the Lord was silent to them. They had to rely on their leaders who could not or would not see their present state. We can be sure that when men have turned from God they are left to their own devices and their own solutions.
Perhaps today we see that in the form of dimmed lighting in the sanctuary which is very ironic when we consider that it is the light of glory they are seeking. Or perhaps a smoke machine that would conjure up an “atmosphere,” of holiness? What about a worship team that could create a great noise, much like the noise that was heard in the camp of the Lord that day in the scripture above? So, when is a noise, just a noise? When the presence of the Lord has departed. Even if it is a beautiful noise, we know that the world creates beautiful noises as well. That very day the Irsaelites were slaughtered in a great slaughter and “every man fled to his tent.”
We live in an age where the word of the Lord is very rare and there is no widespread revelation. Do not be mistaken, we are not talking about the Scriptures here. This is not the word Logos nor the rhema word, this is the word debar. This word means to answer, to appoint, to bid, to command, to commune, to declare to promise or pronounce. Can you see what is missing in times of God’s presence being withheld? Men seek answers to specific problems and they get no reply. In the absence of God’s presence they appoint men like Hophni and Phinehas.
They lose their ability to commune with God, to be able to make any declarations or pronouncements. Into this vacuum comes the false prophets. Yet in the midst of all of that, God speaks a “word,” to Samuel. It is a hard word, a very hard word indeed, especially when you consider its his first word from God. The word is judgement upon the leaders of a corrupt system. Samuel was compelled to give it to Eli. God is raising up a generation of Samuels who speak a hard word of judgment to those of our own household so to speak just as Samuel was compelled to do. Time and again we see God raise up His anointed to replace the established.
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Posted by appolus on July 31, 2019
I want to convey to the saints a word the Lord gave me yesterday (29th July, 2019) He gave me Joshua chapter four and then opened it up to me. I pray that this word will bring you some peace and understanding. It is much easier to suffer when we realize what we are suffering for. May your eyes be opened to see how the Lord is using you. This is the bigger picture and it effects all remnant saints around the world. God bless you my brothers and sisters, you are not alone in the battle.
In Joshua chapter four we see the children of Israel passing from the wilderness, across the raging spring swollen river Jordon, into the promised land. It is a highly significant event, it is as significant a day as any in the Jewish calendar. It is akin to the Passover and was to be remembered as such. This was indeed another kind of Passover as they passed from the wilderness and forty years of wilderness wandering, into the promised land. The Apostle Paul in 1 Cor 10:1-4 likens the journey of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness as our baptism in the sea and in the cloud. They all ate spiritual meat ( manna) and drank spiritual water from the Rock (Christ) And yet our baptism is not the end of things, it is the beginning of things. The Israelites were at the beginning of their forty years in the wilderness. Now the time between the Lord ascending through the clouds and coming back in like fashion is the time of our troubles. A time of trials and testings. In this time we see who has a firm foundation and who does not. Who would stand in the many evil days and who would fall? Flesh and sinew was being added to the dry bones in the valley.
At the end of the wilderness wanderings it comes time to pass over into the promised land. I want to suggest to you saints that we have come near the end of the wilderness wanderings of the saints. Christ is at the door of our own promised land, and He ushers us to come in, come across the river and enter into His rest. In order for the saints to cross, the raging river must be stopped. On the one side we have the wilderness where all who name the name of Jesus dwell. This wilderness is a place of separation. It tries and tests the saints for loyalty and strips away everything until only Christ is left. The times of trials and testings will soon reach its zenith and so it is time for the priests to take up their places in the middle of the river holding aloft the glory of God.
The river signifies the force of this world, it is a barrier separating the wilderness from a land flowing with milk and honey. The remnant saints find themselves in the middle of a river holding back the powers of darkness represented by the rivers flow. They cannot move from this place until the Lord Himself directs them. The priests could not move until the children of God crossed over. God’s presence in the midst of the river stops the circumstances of life from overwhelming the saints as they cross to the other side. His presence interrupts the works of darkness, His light, His manifest glory allows for safe passage and His promise is that He would be with us as we pass through the waters.
When the ark is removed then the flood waters will come back unabated. There is no crossing the river when the priests and the presence of God is removed. From the world to the wilderness to the promised land, God makes a way. He removes mountains and splits the seas wide open and stops the flow of mighty rivers. All of these things are barriers. Mountains, rivers and oceans, all bow to Jesus. It is He who gives us this way of escape. There is no force that can stand against our God. The very way of escape for His children becomes the means of judgment for His enemies. The might of the Egyptian army found this out. When God lifts His hand, the seas return and drown His enemies. When the presence of God is removed from the Jordon, the waters return and render the river impassable.
Remnant saints, you represent the presence of God. By holding up the glory of God in the midst of the river bed, you are beckoning and directing those still languishing in the wilderness. Most of Christendom dwells in a great wilderness desert. God is calling to all those who are named after His name. He is warning that soon the presence of God will be completely gone from this wilderness place and Christendom. The time to pass over is now before the priests who hold aloft the presence of God are commanded to come up out of the river and the waters of this world return with a great force.
There are two monuments to this passing. One is seen, the other unseen. They are intimately connected to one spot, the very place where the priests stood with the glory of God all around. And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night (Jos 4:3) And then again in verse 9. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day. For the priests which bare the ark stood in the midst of Jordan, until every thing was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua: and the people hasted and passed over (Jos 4:9-10)
To my brothers and sisters in the Royal priesthood can you see the two monuments? One at Gilgal which is seen and celebrated and God is given all the glory, and the other unseen, but marked by God, known by God. The remnants work is for the most part unseen, not applauded by men but marked by God. God sees your work brothers and sisters. He sees your anguish. He knows, He knows. He has marked you on the forehead with an ink-horn. That which is done in secret, one day God will reward openly. He is using you to uphold His glory, to maintain His presence in a day and age where gross darkness has overtaken the land like a mighty rushing river.
Remnant saints, your place is in the middle of the Jordon until the Lord commands you otherwise. The Lord is using you as a marker, a sign post if you like, along the narrow path that leads from death to life. In the crossing the people rushed over while the priests held steady in the midst of the river, a crossing only possible because they held aloft the glory and the presence of God. Few hold up the glory, most rush on not wanting to get swept away. We walk according to our calling. Hold steady, stand firm, do not move. God will direct you. He will tell you when. Keep lifting up the name of Jesus.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, the persectuted church, The presence of God, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Posted by appolus on July 16, 2019
At some point after you were born, did you have to fill out membership forms to join your family? Were you not a member of your family the moment you were conceived? Was there not great joy in your family the day that you were born? The day that you were born again was there not great joy in heaven?
Are you a member of that heavenly family due to signed paperwork or rather are you a member of that heavenly family due to you being born again? In your family as you grew up did you all believe the same thing? Did you form yourselves into groups according to your opinions? Did you turn on one another based on disagreements? How did that work out?
Did you parents divorce due to irreconcilable differences? How did that effect the family? Did it help? Do you know many of your friends whose parents are divorced due to irreconcilable differences? When did divorce become a legitimate way to resolve our problems? Where was God in the midst of all that? Does God like divorce? Is divorce His solution to problems?
Of course, in all of this I am talking about The Church using the tragic analogy of our modern culture of divorce. If we are truly born again we are one Body in Christ, not some ecumenical or utopian dream, but one as He and the Father are one. We are one in Him. This was His plan.
We were not to be unequally yoked but rather equally bound together in Christ our Lord so that the world may know that He was sent by His Father. And the glory which was given to Christ, He has given to us. Father forgive us for not walking according to your Word. Forgive us for being more sold out to the systems of men rather than to the Word of God.
You instructed us not to be unequally yoked yet in order to maintain a system devised by man we ignore that, somehow believing that by defying the Word of God we are fulfilling the will of God. What blindness has overtaken us Lord and we wonder why we have fallen into a ditch. Open the eyes of our hearts Lord, we want to see you, high and lifted up, where the Glory is, the very glory that you have given unto us.
Posted in Christian, christian living, Christianity, church of scotland, end times, Jesus, organich church, pentecostal, revival, the crucified life, the deeper life, The presence of God, the remnant, the state of the church, theology | 5 Comments »
A Call To The Remnant 