Many evangelical churches and most pentecostal or charismatic churches you go into today, raise their hands in worship. Like everything else in Christendom, there can be the mechanical act of doing something because it is supposed to be done, or there can be the true living dynamic response to the very presence of the Living God. Every single aspect of the natural worship of Christianity can be reduced to some dusty empty ritual that has long since replaced the living reality of God’s manifest presence. It is interesting when you watch secular concerts that you see arms aloft all over the stadium or concert hall, swaying to the rhythm of the song. Good music entertains us and can move us, Gods manifest presence invades every part of who we are and never leaves us the same. It creates in us a thirst that can never be quenched by anything other than His presence. It tears down and builds up, it raises us up from the dark valley floor to the lofty heights of His glory.
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There is the presence of God to be found in glorious, enthusiastic and energetic worship, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and you leave strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of presence of God in worship, the kind of presence that there seems to be such a famine of throughout the land. The first kind of presence we spoke of lifts your heart, 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 breathes as the Spirit of God slowly penetrates our very being and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. It saturates our very DNA.
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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 every part of who we are. The landscape is being changed by this flood, the very topography of our lives is being altered by its powers and everything that is not securely rooted to Godly foundations are simply swept away. Changed forever. And when the flood recedes we are left with a glorious afterglow. As the deer pants for the water-brooks, I wonder, do our hearts pant after this kind of encounter.
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The Lord Himself does not need professional worship teams. He does not need people to encourage us to stand up, 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 program of churches and the professional class of worshiper leaders and pastors we have 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.
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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 our souls for a 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. The Spirit of God is dynamic and those filled with His “dynamis,” change the environment around them because the environment inside them has been filled to capacity and is overflowing its banks. Lord fill us again to overflowing with the kind of presence that invades every part of who we are.
Exo 33:7 And it came to pass, that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.
The tabernacle was outside of the camp, it was at a distance from the people. The people had sinned greatly and publicly in their worship of the idols of this world and now the tabernacle was taken outside the camp. It is comforting to note that the tabernacle, simply meaning dwelling place, could still be seen by the people. It was right there, within sight of them and they were encouraged to seek the Lord. ” And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.” Now before doing this we learn that they stripped themselves of their “ornaments.” These ornaments were rings and ear-rings and so on, riches from the world they left behind that had been used to create an idol which they had bowed down and worshiped and had corrupted themselves with in the sight of God.
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The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? (Isa 33:14)
We know from Hebrews 12 that God Himself is the burning fire. And so to the hypocrites and sinners that dwell within Zion, dwell within Christendom, fear and terror besiege them in the day of trouble. Let not those who abandon the Word of God so recklessly think that they will stand in the evil day to come. The inner man is revealed in the day of trouble. Can you imagine the double fear of those who stand without God. First their human enemies will strike terror into their hearts and then when they see Gods mighty hand move, a true terror now is revealed for everything is exposed in the light of the fire of God.
What a difference for the child of God. To stand in the presence of the fire of God when one is covered by the Blood of the Lamb is to behold His glory and marvel. Those who know God and know His presence are comforted by the fire of God in the midst of calamity. In fact calamity only intensifies the presence of God in the hearts of the redeemed. This chapter tells us that they who dwell and magnify God in the midst of the consuming fire are those who walk in righteousness.The man who speaks truth and stands upon Truth is the man who dwells in a high place and that high place is the presence of God and that presence is as a refuge to him. He stands upon the Rock, he hides behind the Rock, his eyes have seen the King of beauty and they have beheld the Kingdom that was and is and is to come. This is their strength and quiet assurance. Read the rest of this entry »
Psa 27:13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
In another translation is says ” I would have despaired…….” Can you say that this is your strength? As the deer panteth for the waterbrooks does your soul longeth for and rely upon the very presence of God in the here and the now and in the midst of your current situation? This is the strength of the saint who dwells in the wilderness. Gods remnant child in these last days draws his or her strength from the glory and the goodness and the presence of God. He is our strength in times of testing. David declares that the Lord is his light and salvation, and therefore whom shall he fear?
In these last days brothers and sisters, when the darkness presses in, when on every side we are surrounded by wickedness and sin, when church after church slides away into apostacy or into the deadness of their vain traditions, our hearts shall not fear! No, for we who seek to dwell in the presence of the Lord, we who can enquire of Him before His throne night and day and gaze upon the beauty of His holiness, we shall not be afraid. For in the latter days of our troubles His very presence shall be our hiding place. This place shall be our high tower, we shall run into it and be safe. Joy and gladness and praises shall be as a never-ending fountain in our heart, a wellspring of peace and contentment found before His throne yes, but also in the presence of our enemies. Goodness and mercy shall follow us as the day follows the night. The sun rises on every day and mercy and grace are born anew at the breaking of every dawn in the hearts of those who diligently seek His face.
Behold He comes brothers and sisters, He seeks, He knocks upon the door. He stands behind our wall, He is looking through our window and gazes through the lattice of our souls. He calls gently to us in a still small voice. Shall we be away with Him? Shall we find some reason to ignore this calling unto Himself? The Bridegroom comes and He is calling His own. Will you rise now and cry aloud in the city streets ” I seek the one that I love?” Can you with all boldness and complete disregard for your own humility seek Him where He can be found? Will you leave the safety of what you have always known to seek Him in a place where you have never been? The old song says ” Though none go with me, still I will follow.” Beautiful words and sentiment, but will you? Will you still follow? Will you flee into the darkness of the night that is haunted with the shadows of ancient traditions? Will you unashamedly say to those whom you meet in these places ” I seek the one that I love?” If He cannot be found where you are brothers and sisters, then flee into His presence. ” When I found the one that I love I held Him and would not let Him go.” (Song of Solomon 3:4)
Yes brothers and sisters, the saints that have found the one that they love will not let Him go. No created force will ever compel them too. Not the fires of hell nor the condemnations of men. They will cling to that old rugged cross, they will revel in the beauty of His Holiness, they will sing His praises in the deepest dungeon in the midnight hour because of the glorious love that they have encountered in the arms of their Savior. A love so deep and so enduring is a hell shaking love. In the fires of this love we are more than conquerors. We have been consumed by a passion so fierce that it will defy even the powers of hell as we stand before the throne of grace. Come Lord Jesus come. Your Bride awaits and has forsaken everything for your namesake and for the burning love of our hearts that has taken us so completely. We shall be stripped bare and humiliated before men in an effort by hell to rob us of our witness but there is no force in all the Kingdom of darkness that can take us from your hand. You were stripped and humiliated for us and you endured it all for the joy and the glory set before you. We shall find our strength in your arms in that moment we shall overcome just as you overcame. All glory to God in the highest and peace to His saints, my brothers and sisters on earth.
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.(Isa 57:15)
God is high and lifted up. He is glorious in His majesty. In the presence of God there is fulness of joy. In this place there is nothing impossible. Our minds are lit up by His mere presence, the manifest presence of God. To come up and into this place is to dwell with Him. This is where we are changed. This is where the attractions of this world and everything it has to offer loses all of its meaning. One moment in the manifest presence of God does more good than a lifetime of struggling against sin. For in this light we see the true darkness of our souls and we long to never again walk among the shadows. This life is but a shadow and this flesh is the vehicle that must be inhabited until that happy day when the mere moments in His presence is transformed into eternity. If we desire God, if we truly desire to come into His presence, then we shall be as the deer that panteth for the waterbrooks.
Humility and brokenness is the door and the lintel that ushers us into this Holy place. Everything about our walk with the Lord is a contradiction to the world. In order to live we must die. In order to be truly rich, we must become poor to the things of this world. In order to lead we must serve. In order to ascend unto that holy place of His presence we must bow low. It is in the deepest valleys that the saint will discover the greatest mountaintops.We must stoop down low on bended knee in order to ascend that hill and truly see. The greatest danger of the one who brings trials and tribulations and persecutions upon the saints is that they create the perfect environment for the most radical encounters with the Living God that they will ever have had. This is why the saint who genuinely desires a radical encounter with the living God is such a danger to the enemy of our souls. If he pushes too hard against the saint, he pushes Him deeper into the heart of God and that becomes a witness that has a life all of itself. The Spirit of Glory that stands for all time.
Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Jer 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
It seems obvious from the Scriptures that what God builds He can also tear down and replace. In fact, when God does a new thing, then the old must die. Shiloh was corrupt and had displaced God by their system. God was gone but they still continued to function in their religious activities. It was replaced. The Temple system, that place where the Shekinah glory of God came down so heavily that the priests could not stand, was eventually corrupted. The presence of God was gone yet they still continued to function in their religious activities. Not one stone left unturned. It was replaced. A system, devoid of God, God tears down and replaces. In all of those systems there would be some good men and woman to be found and their hearts were for the glory of God. Not all men bow their knees to Baal. They would be ready for the new wine of God. Wherever the presence of God was, that was where they wanted to be. They were not idolators of a system , they were worshipers and followers of the living God. Any system which displaces God from His rightful place and begins to corrupt the people, God replaces. When the New Covenant was ushered in, the old had to die. When a new man is born in Christ, the old has to die. Christendom is corrupt, it has displaced God by its system. If you do not believe that God can tear down a system and replace it then you have missed that in His word. Shall you pray for Christendom? Shall you mourn its passing? Saints that belong to the Body will not mourn the passing of a system that has displaced God. They will simply follow His presence as they always have. We must simply allow the dead to bury their dead, when the blind lead the blind then the final destination is the ditch. Followers of the living God will follow the life of God and leave the cemetery behind.
We are living in a day and age where the understanding of diligence is almost lost. In a fast paced, constantly connected society, we we are being slowly and surely disconnected from God. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The sin of Cain was presumption. Let us not presume upon the presence of God. Let us bring our best to Him, starting with our time. Need to log of and diligently seek His presence ?
Hi saints. I would just like to inform you that we are having our remnant meetings coming up on July 12-14th at Cornerstone Church in Barnsdall Oklahoma. This church is pastored by Pastor Brian Long, a wonderful man of God who is featured many times on this site. He has a precious flock of saints there in Barnsdall, which is a small town near Tulsa. The nearest location, for hotels and such, would be Bartlesville. Now this church knows something of counting the cost and pursuing God where He can be found. Many of them have come out of mainline denominationalism in their hunger and desire to diligently seek the Lord in the times in which we live.
So brothers and sisters, if you are out there and are hungry and thirsty for the presence of God will you come and seek Him diligently with us? Are you lonely and desire genuine fellowship with the remnant saints? Like minded brothers and sisters who know the times in which they live and know the urgency of the hour and whose greatest desire is to press in close to Jesus. The focus of our meetings will be fellowship , first with the Lord and then with each other, a fellowship that strengthens and encourages us and lets us know that we are not alone. We believe this to be the first of many gatherings of the remnant saints around the country and the world. Our focus in sharing will be the attributes of God, making declarations of His holiness and His majesty, having Him high and lifted up that we may behold His glory.
Location Cornerstone Church 5th Main, Barnsdall, OK
I am so thank full to God for the servants who will be preparing food and also to the brothers and sisters who are working hard to prepare the sanctuary in time for these meetings. It is a beautiful thing to behold servant hearts.
The depths of the presence of God in meetings lies in the cross of Calvary. We must catch a vision of Calvary, a revelation, an illumination of what the Lord did, and this must come by the Holy Spirit. Only then can we truly have an ” outpouring,’ or a ” revival,” of meaningful depth which changes a man to his core and brings to life half dead Christians and those who have left their first love. I believe that we are headed towards such a thing. It is only by the true revelation of Jesus, a genuine manifestation of who He is, that the world gets a chance to accept or reject Him. Lets consider what happened in a broad overview of the life of Jesus and bear in mind that this is a type. Jesus turned the water into wine, He taught, He revealed teachings from heaven itself when He taught on the mount. Men tried to make Him their King, He rejected that and would not commit to them because He knew what ” was in man.” Again they tried to make Him their King, waving palm leaves. Again Jesus withdraws. In John 6, the majority reject who He is and go away. In the garden we see Peter reject Jesus for who He is and deny Him. Then we see the crowd, of Jewish people and their leaders, who represent the world, reject Jesus outright and choose Barabas , a freedom fighter, a man willing to fight and kill for freedom. They cry out that they have no King but Caesar and that they would have Jesus’ blood upon their heads and their children’s heads.
Now, how will we see this play out again? When Jesus reveals Himself in the last days saints, saints willing to take up their crosses and die, this will be totally rejected by the majority. The majority want leaders who will teach them how to pursue happiness and freedom in this life. They believe this is their right. They want to know how to live their best lives now. They, like the Jewish people, have no desire to follow a God that would have them die. Oh, they will follow men who will promise them miracles and blessings and riches and prosperity, but they will totally reject the God that calls them to lay down their lives, to leave their riches behind. In order for clarity, the Lord must raise up such a group of saints in this generation, in these last days. The choice will lie before men, follow the Lord to Calvary and beyond, or follow the man or men who will lead them to a better life now in this world. That is why in classic revivals of the past, the focus was never on miracles and healing’s.
The focus was on the centrality of Jesus, and Him crucified and resurrected. We do not hear men in revivals of the past cry out “is there a healing for me, is there a miracle for me, is there a better life for me.” we hear them cry out ” is there mercy for me, is there mercy for me.” And praise God, by a revelation of Jesus and what He did and who He is, they find out that there is indeed mercy at the cross to be found. There is life to be found, and that more abundantly, in the Christ who can wash us clean of our sins. There is such great love to be found in the revelation of Calvary. We find out in that revelation, just how much God loves us. This is what transforms men and makes them to shine like gold , treasure indeed to an impoverished generation. Is there such a move coming? Yes praise Jesus I believe with all of my heart that this move is almost upon us because the Lord is coming and He is coming soon and the birth-pangs happening even now.
I went along this Sunday to a service where I knew the preacher was and has been preaching on what we would call ” hyper grace.” It is always good to hear first hand and living in Kansas, we have every kind of church here so one can check out these teaching’s for one’s self. Listening to the sermon, I was reminded of an analogy given by Tozer I believe. He talked about a man of God who loved God and studied His Word all of his life and mined the depths of it and always pursued a deeper more intimate walk with the Lord. Near his death in old age, he proclaimed that the more he knew about God, the less he knew about God. Just how vast and ultimately unknowable He was to us mere mortals in this flesh, although He fills our minds and our hearts and spirits to their capacity. Now he longed to stand before God in his raised incorruptible body so that he could know as he is known. This, Tozer suggested, was a good servant. Now, along comes a 18 year old, listens to the old man’s dying words, and proclaims that since God is ultimately not able to be fully known in this flesh, then there is no point in studying His Word so much and pursuing a deeper walk. You see the point, they can both come to the same conclusion, but one is a good and humble servant and the other is a lazy servant who presumes upon God. I would suggest that one pleases God, and the other does not. Not unlike Cain and Abel.
Started a new page on Facebook, just simply called The remnant. We are going to be holding some meetings in July in a church I consider my home church even although I have only been there a handful of times 🙂 We have a sister in the Lord coming over from Scotland to lead worship and you can hear her here at the new page http://www.facebook.com/acalltotheremnant. Please go there and click like if you want to get the details of the upcoming meetings. If you have a strong desire to experience the presence of God in His glory and His majesty and His awesome reverence, then perhaps you may want to join us as we seek nothing more than His presence. God is indeed drawing out a hungry and a thirsty people, a people for such a time as this. A people who have an overwhelming desire for nothing more than Him , and who have been ruined for this world.
A long time ago the “Church,” was redefined by men as something separate from the people. They created a building and a system and they called it their own. This is always the folly of men. Consider this, consider what men would do with this. Say, we had in our possession , the bush that burned and the sand that surrounded it when Moses encountered the Lord.It would be venerated and visited by the masses of people and it would be worshiped. Yet all it would be would be a bush and some sand. It is the presence of God that makes the ground Holy, whether it is a bush, some sand, a building , a living room, a basement. God dwells within His people. They are the Church. They are living stones, built upon the chief stone, the cornerstone. When two or three of them gather together, then He is there in the midst of them. Two or three brothers and sisters. Not one, for one can worship and pray alone and come before the throne, but to the two or three there lies the promise. This corporate presence of God is unique and beautiful and Holy and majestic. It cannot be compared. It cannot because it was created that way, praise the Lord. Now if I know that and you know that then the enemy of our souls knows that too. This, I would charge, would become one of his greatest tasks, to destroy genuine gatherings of the saints. He has had much success but has ultimately failed. Just when he thinks he has down a wonderful job, then God begins to call all His children all over the world, His remnant children to come together for these, the final days. What seems like the enemy’s greatest victory will become his ultimate defeat. As the saints begin to gather in defiance of his works, then he will reveal himself and come against them with hell and all of its fury. And then, in the midst of all of that, the Bridegroom returns for His bride. The lion of Judah returns and He rides, not on a donkey but on a stallion. Not now as the Lamb but as the Lion. He comes to bring justice and judgement. There will be a fire in His eyes and a two-edged sword in His mouth, glory to God, glory to God
Brother Greg Gordon asked me earlier this week to come on and speak on a national prayer call called ” prayer surge” about my burden for the presence of God and the headship of the Lord as He is allowed His rightful place in meetings. Now I have to be honest, this is a subject that when I have shared that I have never failed to alienate some folks . These couple of subjects are like a mine-field because we really do not even have a working definition of what the presence of God is. And so before I speak about the Lord having His rightful place in meetings and how that actually ties in with the presence of God, let me define the term “ presence of God,’ as I see it and as I have experienced it and what I believe the Holy Spirit would say through me. I would like to start out by reading a letter I received from one of my readers and this would perhaps illustrate one of the reasons that I am involved with Gospel fellowship meetings and other meetings seeking to bring together what I would call remnant believers. And so the lady writes to me and says ………
Hi saints, if you have been coming to this site for any length of time you will know that I have two passions. One is the presence and the glory of God, and the other is poetry which I write when I feel moved of the Lord. I have just published a book called ” A poem for every Psalm” which combines these passions. The first part of the book is every Psalm followed by a poem the Lord gave me and asked me to write. The second part of the book speaks to the presence of the Lord . You can find this book here…………. https://www.createspace.com/3900708
A Call To The Remnant 