And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. (Zec 13:9)

The refining fire of the Lord is to be found in the furnace which we call our lives and the world. Now there are different degrees of fire, some are hotter than others. They all refine, yet the greater the fire the greater the refinement for those in whom faith reigns. Now a man or a woman can say that he or she has faith but who can know it but the fire knows. It is in the storm and in the fire that faith blazes brighter than the flame. Does faith reign in your life? Is your trust in Jesus the essence of who you are? Can we believe our own hearts in this matter or must it be the fire that reveals all? The fire reveals and consumes the dross in our lives, if we stay in the fire.

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. (Dan 3:17-19)

When the Hebrew children are confronted with he who represents the world and the world demands that they bow down to their gods, they refuse. And this refusal to bow down to the gods of this world causes fury. The heat of the furnace was increased sevenfold. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace(Dan 3:23)

The time is coming soon brothers and sisters where it will be required of the saints that they bow down to the gods of this world, in fact it has already begun. When you refuse, the fury of the world will begin to rise until it shall burn with a ferocity against us that has never been seen before and we shall” fall down,” in the midst of this fire and the world will rejoice.

And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:4-8)

Yet even when the world should think that they have overcome the saints because they have made them to fall down in the furnace of afflictions, the world will look again and they will see something most remarkable. In the midst of the great tribulation of the saints the world will see the Son of Man shining through like heavenly gold in the very center of their sufferings. And in the end the world will see the Son of God coming in His glory and they will acknowledge , just like Nebuchadnezzar that ” there is no other God that can deliver.”

So brothers and sisters. Rejoice in your triumph in the midst of your trial. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. (Zec 13:9) You see, your reward is your relationship with Jesus. You can call upon His name and the Lord hears you and speaks to you and you are His child and He is your God. And for all eternity you will look back at your sufferings and know that in choosing to suffer with the Lord and counting it as a small thing you now rule and reign with Christ forever. Stand fast brothers and sisters. The Lord sees your afflictions and is with you in the midst of them.

1Pe 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

The dark night of the soul is not something pleasant to go through and does not end with a fellowship supper after church on a Sunday night. It is a grueling experience that requires an absolutely strict detachment from everything that you normally rely on so that you are only left with Christ.

The dark night of the soul separates those who are genuinely interested in following Christ from those who just have a curiosity about the deep things of God. We surely want God to do His work in our lives, but we want the lights left on. We want God to do in our hearts and lives that which will bring Him honoring glory, but we want to know and understand every step that He takes in our lives.

Darkness speaks of not knowing. We want God to do, but we want Him to do what He does within the scope of our comprehension. The dark night of the soul, however, is a work of the Holy Spirit that exceeds the ability of any man or woman to understand. When we come through the dark night of the soul, we do not know what has really happened to us, but we do know what has made it happen (A.W.Tozer)

Tozer is here talking about the dark night of the soul. This is a concept well-known to the Body of Christ. Tozer describes it very well in the above quote. I would say that for centuries men here and there have went through this experience and they have had a profound effect on the Body of Christ. It is a kind of refiners fire that purges away reliance upon anything else other than God. It has happened to individuals and small groups of people but now I want to suggest that God is taking the Body of Christ, the genuine saints, the remnant, through a dark night of the soul corporately so to speak. He is and has been and is continuing to separate his children from ailing and compromised institutions. He is drawing them out. And as they come out He is drawing them into the desert. Now the desert is typically a place of death but the saints in their dark nights of the soul, in their journey to complete dependence upon Him will find life in the desert.

Perhaps you are being drawn out? It is scary. You are full of doubt, you are surrounded by darkness, you cannot hear from the Lord or discern His purpose for your life but you are being driven. As much as you cannot see the way ahead you know you cannot stay in a place of compromise and lukewarmness. No one understands you where you are. When you speak of deeper things and desiring to take up your cross for Christ people look at you like you are an alien. So you are driven. Driven into darkness and solitude and loneliness. Driven to a place where your only fellowship is the Lord Himself and His word. This is alien at first but the longer you journey into this place the more you realize the wonder and the glory of complete dependence upon the Lord for all of your spiritual needs. He is establishing your feet upon a broad place. He is equipping you to be a light in the gross darkness to come. He is enabling you to be a source of encouragement to the Body of Christ in the age in which we live.

As the saints come out of this desert I believe God is drawing them to each other. All around the world in the days to come God is drawing His Body together after they have come through the darkness and complete separation from the world and now completely rely on Him. He is and will continue to equip the saints in every generation for what they have to face. I believe our generation will face the greatest darkness that has ever faced the Body of Christ universally. Men and woman of the past whom the Lord brought through the dark night of the soul, as few as they were, had a tremendous effect on the Body of Christ. Imagine what effect the Body of Christ will have on the world when the Lord has finished His work of taking His Church through this experience.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. (Mal 3:2-5)

I give you rags, you give me wedding garments. I give you ashes, you give me beauty. I give you dry bones, you give me flesh. I give you sadness , you give me joy. I give you a spirit of heaviness , you give me a spirit of praise. I give you my failures, you give me a way ahead. I give you my temptations, you give me a way of escape. I give you my anxiety, you give me a peace that surpasses understanding.I give you lies, you give me truth. I give you my ambitions, you give me satisfaction. I give you past hurts, you give me reconciliation. I give you my wounds, you bind them up and they are healed. I give you my perversions, you give me purity.I give you my heart and my soul and all that is within me holding nothing back . It is painful and humiliating to come before your alter with only these things Lord. Brothers and sisters, the altar has always been a place of sacrifice, we have turned into an ” all you can eat bar,” where one simply chooses what one wants. God have mercy on us and restore a right spirit within us…..bro Frank

Isa 61:3 to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified.

What have we come to, that the people of God are not shocked enough by Calvary, a man dying on a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem? And not just a man, but the God-man, dying for the sins of the world? Why does this leave them dull and unmoved? The recent outbursts of modern theatrics has now taken over Protestantism. What started in the beginning as a small seed has grown;the dragon’s seed has grown more dragons. The seekers of God do not like what is happening and the hungry-hearted saints of God do not want it, so they read with great eagerness the lives of holy men in the devotional books from centuries past. But where is the doing? (A.W.Tozer)

Tozer wrote this back in the early 60s. Can I suggest that the combination of theatrics and entertainment in general have swamped the churches of today. If there were dragons about in the early 60s, one might well argue that the dragons now reign supreme. If the seekers of God did not like what was happening back then, they must surely be beside themselves now at what has unfolded as the modern Church? If they were hungry back then, they must surely be on starvation diets now? Can I suggest that the whole process has been part of Gods plan for His people. God is found in the arena of hunger. He is found by those who thirst after nothing but the living waters. Now there are many waters and many kinds of foods but there is only one living water and only one food that ever satisfies the hungry heart of the God seeker. Both are found when we encounter Him. God has to separate a people so that He can strip away centuries of traditions of men who more often than nought simply follow the winds of the world. Are you a God seeker or a pew warmer?

I was walking this morning and praying and this thought came to my spirit. ” What does victory look like,” and the Lord spoke into my heart. Victory for the Christian almost always comes against a backdrop of darkness. Some battle against the flesh, some taking up our cross, some trial or tribulation. These circumstances, these events bring to the fore a confrontation. If we look at the biggest picture of all it is darkness against light. By the very nature of who you are in Christ you are walking in confrontation. We know that the Scriptures tell us that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”(2 Tim:3:12)

Interesting is it not that even the desire to live a Godly life will bring about immediate confrontation. Maybe you have noticed this in your own life? And why is this? Because it is fundamentally at its root a spiritual battle that we face.Living Godly lives is a disaster for Satan because of the witness that Godly lives are to the world. I want you to know that when I use the phrase Godly I mean victorious overcoming lives. In the verses that precede verse 12 we see that victorious living is in juxtaposition to people who have a form of godliness but who walk without victorious power. They are ever learning but they never come to the knowledge of the truth. The Godly man is the victorious man. He walks in the power of the Spirit and He has knowledge of the truth. Knowledge in the true sense of that word. Not head knowledge but an intimate knowledge of the Truth.

And so what does victory look like? Well it looks like Gethsemane. It looks like Calvary. It looks like an empty tomb and it looks like an ascension up into heaven where the Lord finds His place at the right hand of the Father. This is what victory looks like and this is the process that all of us who would desire to live a Godly victorious life find ourselves in. There is no other way. You will be confronted if you desire to live a victorious life. And it is how you react to that confrontation that will determine the kind of life that you will ultimately live for there is no other kind of life in the Kingdom that is a witness for Christ than the victorious overcoming life.

And so the first part of victory, for it is made up of parts, is surrender to the will of God no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. You must remember that the circumstances you find yourself is not the problem, nor are the people who play their roles in your circumstances. People will always act according to their nature. A key point to remember as you face the trial or the persecution or the circumstance is that this is for the glory of God. And please, do not get me wrong brothers and sisters, I am not underestimating the pain of your trial. Yet the darkness of your situation will become the black velvet backdrop for the glories of Christ in your trial. We know that jewelers set their diamonds and gold on black velvet because it highlights the shining beauty of the gold and the gems. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood and agonizing about the cup that He faced is our perfect example of this.

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What do I mean by the triumph of form over substance? Well, it typically means that content or the subject does not matter, what matters is how a thing looks. In other words the subject itself does not have to have any depth or true meaning it only has to look good and feel good.

I would argue that this current political cycle is a perfect example of form triumphing over substance. The rise of Donald Trump is the rise of form over substance. He merely taps into the mood of the people and says what he needs to say to get elected. He is an amalgam of our personality cult culture and business and now politics. This is the end result of a long process that could only truly find its successful conclusion with the rise of media and especially social media.

Now there have been notable people from the previous century that gives us clues as to how we got here. If we look at Hitler we see a man who could never have arisen without the aid of radio and the camera and of course circumstances. The circumstances are obvious. There was social unrest caused by a financial meltdown. This of course was severely aggravated with the rise of socialism and communism throughout the world. Given these fears and others, the people turned to someone who promised to make Germany great again. Someone who would face the problems of the day head on. Now they knew that he held extreme views but their fears for their present situation overcame any misgivings they may have had for him. The basic premise throughout the ruling classes was ” he would at least sort out the Communists,” which of course he did yet they had unleashed a monster.

Along with all those reasons, Hitler could still not have come to power without the aid of media. Radio of course was the social media of the day. People gathered in their living rooms and listened to his captivating speeches. They also went to the movies and saw such productions as ” Triumph of the Will.” A movie about the rise of the Nazi party that combined music and clippings of speeches and rallies. It is purported to be the greatest propaganda movie of all time and truly shows the power of media, form over substance, to move a whole nation. And of course that power has only increased exponentially over the last 80 years.

The first ever televised interview of two politicians debating was in 1960 and was between Nixon and Kennedy. Unbeknownst to Nixon, Kennedy had the heat turned way up in the studio because he knew Nixon had a tendency to sweat. When they both sat down to debate, Kennedy looked cool and collected while Nixon sweated badly. This had a great effect on the viewing audience. No matter what one of these men you liked, it could easily be argued that Kennedy knew the value of form over substance, it was less about what they were saying and more about how they were coming across to the audience.

In the church we are living, for the greater part, with the triumph of form over substance and the evidence of that is the depth or lack thereof of Christianity in our society. While we have had no Hitlers in the church(many mini ones) we have had many charlatans that used the power of the media and the rules of entertainment to water down the message while promoting themselves. Now three of four generations into an entertainment driven church we are left with a shallowness of showmanship that engages the ” audience.” Tozer writes “The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.” I would argue that all across Christendom in the west we are seeing leaders who lead the people by providing entertainment.

Tragically we have seen that as the world goes so goes the church. Of course it should be the exact opposite, yet here we are. You will hear excuses about staying relevant and keeping up with technology and so on. I personally have nothing against technology but when it becomes an integral part of the “show” on a Sunday morning then you know that the plot has been lost. Today we are being driven by the form and not the substance. The cultural winds have simply taken a hold of the church and the church is being driven along by these winds towards what destination? What is the end for such a church? The complete amalgam of the world with the church. This is a tragedy. The church was supposed to be a counter-culture not a sub-culture.

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And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. (Exo 2:2-3)

We see here a great story of faith and agony. Can you imagine that the law demanded that you kill your new-born child if he were a boy? Moses mother saw the beauty of her child and kept him hid. When she could hide him no more she made him an “ark of bulrushes,” and cast him out upon the waters. I cannot even begin to imagine the agony his mother must have suffered as she let go of that ark and let the current slowly carry her child away.

As Moses’ sister watched the ark, she saw the daughter of Pharoah arrive and discover the child. Pharoah’s daughters  heart is filled with compassion. Then with boldness, Moses’ sister steps out and tells Pharoah’s daughter that she knows someone who could nurse the child. Moses mother is soon reunited with her child and Moses lives. It’s an incredible story with much to learn from.

First we see that God’s children are being persecuted and now this incredibly evil law is enacted whereby every Hebrew male child is to be killed. If that was successful, then their heritage would die out. Satan was trying to destroy the Hebrews but God had a plan. We know that Moses had an older brother so the law must have been relatively new. It is very possible that even as the law was enacted, the solution was already taking shape in the womb of Moses mother.

Now many of you brothers and sisters are facing a trial in which there seems to be no way out. I want you to imagine the pain of Moses mother. For three long months as she nursed her precious child, not one day would have went by without her knowing that at best what she was doing was temporary. Many of you are living each day as it comes, it being just enough to get up each day and get through the day. I want to reassure you brothers and sisters,  God sees your affliction. Now Moses mother could never have imagined in her wildest dreams what would happen when she cast her child upon the waters. She must surely have spent the previous months agonizing over his certain death. Can you see that God can be already working on a solution to our problem long before that solution every comes to the light of day.

Sometimes we have to cast our cares upon the waters. It might be your child, your adult child, your husband or your wife. Can you let them go and allow God to take them? Believe me, I do not underestimate the agony of  letting go, especially for mothers. Yet sometimes if we do not let go it would mean certain death for all involved. Trusting God is no easy thing, it comes with a cost. The innermost flesh of your heart has to be torn, it is a rending of soul and spirit. Yet the Lord has asked us to trust Him and no where is this more important than with our loved ones.

Can you imagine the pain for Moses mother as she put this ark together? This is no simple thing. She is constructing an ark of faith, piece by piece, in order to allow her child to float away with the current. The fear that must have gripped her soul, the pain that must have coursed through her with every strand of that ark, with every application of that pitch. This would have been the same pain that Abraham faced as he climbed that hill with the necessary pieces for a sacrifice, his son being the sacrifice. Imagine that, This child that Abraham had waited for twenty-five years, this child of promise, this seed that would produce a multitude greater in number than the sands of the seashore or the stars in the night sky. And yet he is compelled to take his son up the hill. Yet God had a plan.

God sees your pain today brothers and sisters but I want to assure you that God has a plan. Despite the pain and the agony of your situation the Lord is calling for you to trust Him. Will you trust Him today? Will you cast you cares upon the waters? Will you allow your cares and your deepest fears to be carried away by an act of your will, by an exercise of your faith, trusting in Him? God bless you today as you walk through your valley of tears and yet remain steadfast. A steadfast heart still bleeds. It still weeps and feels the crushing weight of circumstances yet it endures and overcomes. You will endure brother, you will overcome sister. You will overcome because you stand in the shadow of the Almighty who walked this earth and overcame so that you too could overcome.You will overcome, stand fast in the beauty of His Holiness.

There will come a time soon when the Body of Christ corporately and individually will seem like they have been cast away. Yet God has made a way for His children for He is a Father to the fatherless and a lover of those who have been outcast, those who find themselves outside the established order of things. God will supply every need as we cast ourselves upon the waters and into His eternal plans. This is the agony and the glory of faith. This is where true peace is born. There is a peace that surpasses all understanding and it is forged in the crucible of the decision to trust in God. Nothing this glorious comes without a cost. There is a Jordan river to cross in our hearts. One side is the wilderness and the other side is the promised land of rest. There are rivers to cross and cities to encompass. Those who trust in God shall see a way through the raging waters of life and see the walls of opposition crumble as we stand fast and declare His glory with a shout.

We need to remember that God is allowing us to live on two planes at the same time. He lets us live on this religious plane where there are preachers and song-leaders and choirs and pianists and organists and editors and leaders and promoters and evangelists, and that is religion. That is religion in overalls-that is the external garb of religion and it has its own place in God’s work and plan. But, brethren, inside that and beyond that and above that and superior to all of the externals in our religious experience is the spiritual essence of it all- and it’s that spiritual essence for which I am pleading, and what I want to see enthroned in our communion and fellowship in the Church of Jesus Christ……If we do not see beyond the visible, and if we cannot touch that which is intangible, and if we cannot hear that which is not audible, and if we cannot know that which is beyond knowing-then I have serious doubts about the validity of our Christian experience ( Tozer)

If our Christianity is not supernatural then it is superficial ( David Legge)

At the beating heart of everything that we are and do must lie the Golden chalice of Christ Himself. Our relationship with Jesus quite apart from any religious externals must be the driving force of our lives. Externals can change and even fall away but our relationship with Jesus never changes. He walks with us daily, He comforts us hourly, He intercedes for us at all times. It is Jesus that is the centerpiece of who we are.

I know people, good people who will say things like, and with all sincerity, ” you must come to my church, you must hear my pastor, you must come and see our worship team,” and so on. I have said it before and I am sure many readers have heard it and said it before as well. What happens when your church fails, when your pastor falls, when your worship leader runs off with the youth pastor? Now hopefully that will never happen and I say it tongue in cheek but you get my point. Each one of us should have such a relationship with Jesus that if we ever happen to have an opportunity to speak to anyone about eternal life and eternal death matters then we should be able to talk about the Jesus we know.

I say that we are for the most part, a spiritually impotent generation. And let me say first and foremost that it is our own fault. Each of us who know Jesus have the ability to share with others. Remember that the steps of a righteous man and woman are ordered of God. If you ” happen,” to be speaking to someone and that conversation turns towards the spiritual then know that God knew that and the fact that you are speaking to that someone is no surprise to God who brings order to the universe. He knows that person and He knows you. He makes no mistakes.

Yet, the very overalls, the religious externals, have grown to discourage that kind of sharing. We have made professionals out of our churches whether it be our pastors or our worship leaders. Only they teach, only they lead, only they or something connected to them is ever shared from the pulpit. The dividing line between the clergy and the laity has fundamentally weakened Christendom. It has served to disenfranchise the believers and has turned most of them into pew warming spectating tithers whose main purpose is to pay the bills and play their part in a religious spectacle that typically serves to promote the professional pastor and the professional worship leader so that they can build their kingdoms and franchise their organisations. And since we now have the technology, when it is franchised then they can simply pipe in the original ” team,” into another location thus nullifying the prospect that anyone may rob them of any of the glory they have so dearly sought while typically hiding it under a mask of humility.

If our denominations and churches only exist on the plane of external religion, then how can they ever make any significant impact on our communities? If our communion, our fellowship, is not enthroned upon the Spiritual, if the central aspect of our gatherings is around anything other than a supernatural Jesus who gives sight to see that which is not visible and gives ears to hear that which is not audible then what do we have? If we are left only with the religion externals then all we have is religious entertainment of one sort or another, a building or an organisation that only truly exists to perpetuate itself and promote certain individuals. We must cry out for Jesus and for Him to once again be preeminent in our gatherings. If we make Jesus the centerpiece, if we allow Him through His Holy Spirit to be central in our gatherings then I believe we would then be truly equipping the saints to be witness to His glory in season and out of season and especially in this day which could very possibly be the end of the ages.

The man who has passed on into the divine presence is actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. A certain amount of social fellowship will of course be his as he mingles with the religious persons in the regular activities of the church, but true spiritual fellowship will be hard to find. But he should not expect things to be otherwise. After all, he is a stranger and a pilgrim, and the journey he takes is not on his feet but in his heart. He walks with God in the garden of his own soul-and who but God can walk there with him? He is of another spirit from the multitudes that tread the courts of the Lord’s house. He has seen that which they have only heard and he walks among them somewhat as Zacharias walked after his return from the altar when the people whispered ” He has seen a vision.” (Luke1:22) (Tozer)

Tozer rightfully identifies the loneliness of the walk of the saint who has stepped behind the veil so to speak. Certainly it has always been this way. Yet in these days this loneliness the saint feels, this isolation that plagues him can only get worse. For part of this loneliness has always been associated with separation down through corridors of time. In every age every group of saints has faced the challenge of their time and they faced it, for the most part alone or in smaller groups.

Now why do I say that it can only get worse? I believe that it will only get worse because this world is growing darker, darker than it ever has been before. There is coming a time such as has not been before. Before it is all over right will have become wrong, day will have become night and every saint who has walked in the garden of the Lord’s heart will be more isolated that any group of saints ever have been in the past. Can I suggest that when a saint is compelled deeper into the heart of God then that is a deep blessing. Yes in the natural sense of the Body of Christ we yearn for fellowship, deep genuine fellowship. Yet there is a an even more powerful force that grips us. This force lies at the center of who we are. If we were to drill into the center of who we are we would find this here. If we could see with spiritual eyes into the deepest parts of who we are we would see this. What is it? Its a gift that we received upon which everything stands. It is the Truth and our love for it.

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Th 2:10-12)

It is such a serious thing is it not, the truth? By it we stand or fall. Those who receive the love of the truth are saved, those who do not, perish. Now, if you have received the love of the truth, nothing will compel you to give it up. You have received it as a gift from God Himself and it burns in your bones. This is why there is more loneliness ahead in this world for the saint. For the world and indeed much of Christendom has turned its back on the truth. They are willing to trade the truth for the love of man and the acceptance of the world. We know that perfect love casts out all fear. This love, which we saints have received will do its perfect work. It will keep us in power and give us a mind that is not shaken by circumstances, a heart and a mind that stands upon the unshakable Word of God. Yet not just the Word of God but the dynamic reality of the presence of God.

And that is the separation. Only in like-minded saints can we ever find fellowship. Only that kind of fellowship moving forward will be acceptable. The reality is that there is an ever-widening gap between those who call themselves followers of Jesus and those who, as Tozer would put it, have seen as opposed to heard.  On the road to Emmaeus two saints said ““Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” The Holy Spirit opens up the Word to His saints as they encounter the living God in their hearts. He leads them and He guides them and at the bottom of it all is Truth and the saints love for it. What is Truth? Jesus is Truth and in that Truth He give us life and that more abundantly and He shows us the way. If that way leads us down the dark and narrow road of circumstances and loneliness, then that will not stop us from going down that road.

And so the gap indeed widens for the genuine saint who has received the love of the truth. The world and all of its ways have forced itself into Christendom and demands allegiance. Not total  allegiance to begin with for that old serpent is far too wise for that. Just a foothold, juts a little foothold that’s all, today, but tomorrow comes the stronghold and then the stronghold becomes the base from which total dominance of all the land becomes a reality. The genuine saint flees away from all of that and will find less and less places of refuge until at last he has no where else to run. Yet the man or the woman of God has found a hiding place that can never be conquered or taken. It is the high tower of the Living God. It is the shadow underneath the wing of the most high. It is the secret garden of the heart of promise given to us. There we walk saints. It is a place where we know. It is common to us. I have met saints from all over the world who ” know,” this place. And my spirit witnesses with theirs and theirs with mine.

Before this dark old world is finished with us saints we will have gathered there as the reality of this present world comes. There are but two worlds, two realities. This world and the Kingdom of God. When the Lord returns, which world will He find  us in? Each world is exclusive and demands total loyalty. We are witnessing the stripping away of all of the pretense of this world. There is more stripping to come as the master of this world exposes himself for who and what he is. And antidote to this world and the father of lies is the Truth and our love for it. Let us stand fast in the coming days and follow the passion of our hearts no matter where it leads us.