Recently I was meditating on some things that I felt that the Lord had told me he wanted me to do. As I envisioned myself attempting to obey the Lord, I saw myself over come with self doubt, unbelief, and fear. I heard the voice of others who were observing me saying, "Who does he think he is?" and "What are you doing here?" In my mind I began to crumble.
Suddenly my thoughts became like a vision and I saw myself wrapped up and reinforced in Jesus and I began to advance through the crowd of antagonists effortlessly. The Lord began to speak to me saying, "I have never asked you to do anything that you could accomplish on your own. Neither have I ever asked you to do something that was impossible to do in Me." The Lord has not set us up to fail. He has called us as sons to learn, grow and mature. The sooner we understand the secret of abiding, the sooner we will begin to advance.
Ever since, the Lord has been speaking to me about a deeper place of abiding. What we often misunderstand is that though He is always ready to abide in us, we abide in Him sporadically. But He is faithful, and if we ask Him, He will take us to a deeper place. We do not have to find it ourselves. Actually, this place is beyond our reach unless He leads us there. But a willing and trusting heart will be escorted into new realms of grace and peace.
Interestingly, it is often the difficult circumstances we face that push us to a deeper place in Him. Life presses against us and we will either be crushed or find the place of safety in His abiding presence. We are forced to find our life in Him. I sometimes wake up early in the morning with panic or unrest that is profound and terrifying and I have fallen on my face crying out for relief. The agony of my soul compels me to go deeper until I find refuge from the pressure. I stay there until I know that I have been heard. When the breakthrough comes, I step into clarity, peace, and confidence and I can tell that I have been clothed with the armor of His presence. It is only then that I am able to accurately assess the situation and lay hold of the solutions I need to deal with the current crisis.
I have come to understand that this is my training ground. I used to dread it. But now I let it serve me. I hate the pressure that life brings on me, but the secret place is becoming a place of great delight regardless of what forced me to go there.
David asked the Lord to "train his hands for war." There is a training that goes on in the secret place that can be found no where else, for it is in this place that the Lord fashions our heart and reinforces our inner man. As we emerge from this place equipped, we will be armed with "the word that sustains the weary" and be able to to give "to every man an answer" and find solutions for the complexities of life.
In days to come, the pressures of life are going to increase. It is time to find a deeper place of abiding!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
The New Voice of Authority
What you are about to read, you already intuitively know. But I pray that it will encourage as well as challenge you nonetheless...
A new voice of authority is rising among God’s people. This voice is not coming from the trained professionals. It isn't necessarily coming with slick packaging. It may even be a bit rough around the edges. Nevertheless, a voice is rising with the ring of authenticity that is undeniable.
It is immerging from the simple hearted people who have decided to believe God’s word over any other. They have humbled themselves before the Lord, listened to His voice and have obeyed His word. Their obedience may well have led them into "deep waters," where only Jesus can sustain them and save them. But pleasing the Lord has become the deepest passion of their hearts and when the Spirit clearly prompts, obedience is the only option.
The mysteries of God's word resist the proud, the arrogant, the intellectually superior, because for these "seeing is believing" and the mysteries do not open up except to the humble, the contrite, the obedient.
Divine revelation will often disrupt before it sets right. It breaks a person before it makes him. Confusion typically comes before understanding, tongues before interpretation, the evening before the morning, weeping before the shout of joy.
The depth of God’s word is revealed in a person before it is made manifest outwardly. This is simply one of the ways of the Lord. Those who understand this cease to be offended by the delays or the silences.
Those who speak with this new voice are not trying to make a name for themselves. They are not anxious to make their voice heard. They are quietly content to allow others to speak. In pleasing the Lord they have all the reward they are looking for. But when they start to share what is on their hearts, the atmosphere changes and everyone knows that the one speaking has walked out something with God. These voices are not just speaking the truth. They are witnesses to the truth.
The days have arrived when the overcoming church will no longer have an ear for mere teaching rooted in intellectualism, or charismatic cleverness, or entertainment. Those who speak in the name of the Lord must become “witnesses” to the truth. The church is listening for the sound of death... and resurrection!! "Deep is calling to deep." One cannot witness to what he or she does not participate in. The times call for an authentic words, tested-in-the-fire words, from authentic voices.
Let the true witnesses arise.
A new voice of authority is rising among God’s people. This voice is not coming from the trained professionals. It isn't necessarily coming with slick packaging. It may even be a bit rough around the edges. Nevertheless, a voice is rising with the ring of authenticity that is undeniable.
It is immerging from the simple hearted people who have decided to believe God’s word over any other. They have humbled themselves before the Lord, listened to His voice and have obeyed His word. Their obedience may well have led them into "deep waters," where only Jesus can sustain them and save them. But pleasing the Lord has become the deepest passion of their hearts and when the Spirit clearly prompts, obedience is the only option.
The mysteries of God's word resist the proud, the arrogant, the intellectually superior, because for these "seeing is believing" and the mysteries do not open up except to the humble, the contrite, the obedient.
Divine revelation will often disrupt before it sets right. It breaks a person before it makes him. Confusion typically comes before understanding, tongues before interpretation, the evening before the morning, weeping before the shout of joy.
The depth of God’s word is revealed in a person before it is made manifest outwardly. This is simply one of the ways of the Lord. Those who understand this cease to be offended by the delays or the silences.
Those who speak with this new voice are not trying to make a name for themselves. They are not anxious to make their voice heard. They are quietly content to allow others to speak. In pleasing the Lord they have all the reward they are looking for. But when they start to share what is on their hearts, the atmosphere changes and everyone knows that the one speaking has walked out something with God. These voices are not just speaking the truth. They are witnesses to the truth.
The days have arrived when the overcoming church will no longer have an ear for mere teaching rooted in intellectualism, or charismatic cleverness, or entertainment. Those who speak in the name of the Lord must become “witnesses” to the truth. The church is listening for the sound of death... and resurrection!! "Deep is calling to deep." One cannot witness to what he or she does not participate in. The times call for an authentic words, tested-in-the-fire words, from authentic voices.
Let the true witnesses arise.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)